Michael Guest visits county to assess needs

Congressman Michael Guest visited Simpson County last Wednesday.

The legislators are currently on August recess, which allows them time to come home and spend time with family while also catching up with elected officials and community leaders within their district.

Guest said, “We use that time to make sure that we are out and can understand the needs of the district as a whole and the particular parts of the district. This a good time for us to reconnect.”

Guest and his team traveled to Starkville, Scott County, Simpson County, and the Jackson metro area.

He said, “As we are out we’re talking to elected officials, mayors, supervisors. The one thing we hear that comes up time and time again is infrastructure and the need for additional federal support for roads, bridges, water, sewage, and rural broadband.”

Guest said rural broadband has been something that the federal and state government has invested in to ensure that people have access to high speed internet.

He said, “ That used to be something that people weren’t really depending on, it was more of a luxury, if you will. But now it has become much more of a necessity because we know people are working from home, going to school, shopping, worshipping, and even getting their health care from home.”

The internet has become a major factor in businesses relocating to an area, thus the need for improved infrastructure to provide broadband access to rural areas.

Guest said, “ Businesses relocating or expanding want to know about  your internet. It used to be about your school system, public safety, or your work force. Now they want to know if you have access to high speed internet because so much of the business is conducted online now.”

Guest said these are they types of projects that they are trying to prioritize and are searching for individual projects or robust federal investments as a whole in traditional infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water, and sewage.

Guest highlighted the BEAM program that has been established in Mississippi that is working to identify underserved areas and provide high speed internet access. Federal money has been sent to the state, which will partner with private companies to make these dollars go further and provide internet access. Guest said these dollars will not necessarily flow down to the county, but they will flow down to the legislature to be distributed based on the data.

Guest also spoke on his office’s constituent service work.

He said, “A lot of time people think about the office in which I serve and they stay focused on what we do in D.C. in our committee work and voting on legislation. But I also have a staff that is exclusively Mississippi which deals with constituent service needs.”

Guest explained that this staff helps his constituents with any individual issues they’re having with some federal agency.

He said, “Maybe it’s the IRS and you’re owed a refund and you can’t get your money back, or maybe it is a veteran that is not getting the care that they need at the VA. Someone who has applied for social security disability and they truly qualify and has been denied. Or even someone who is getting ready to travel outside the country and you need a passport in an expedited manner. I have a team here that works on those issues, and they advocate on behalf of constituents of the third district.”

Guest said his team often reaches a positive resolution for the people in District 3. He stressed how important it was for everyone to know that these services are offered in addition to the Washington D.C. duties carried out by his office.

Guest said, “We have a very strong district presence, and we want to help out. I encourage your readers that if they have these types of issues, to please reach out and contact our office and let us see if there are things that we can do to help get those issues resolved in a positive manner.”

Michel Guest is running unopposed this election cycle. However he encouraged everyone to go out and exercise their right to vote.

In closing he said, “We have federal election coming up November 5. We will be voting for president, and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker is on the ballot for reelection this time. We also have a Supreme Court race as well as some other judicial races. I want to encourage everyone to go vote. I think it is so important that we exercise our right to vote. Many of our military men and women have fought for and in some case died to protect our freedoms. One of those freedoms we sometimes take for granted is voting and being able to select our leaders. Any time we don’t vote in an election we are not honoring their sacrifice. So I encourage everyone, regardless of who you are supporting this election cycle, to please get out and vote. It’s such an important civic duty and we owe so much to those who have come before us.”