Congressman Byron Donalds

Congressman Byron Donalds provided the city of Cape Coral with an update on issues ranging from water quality to affordable housing and small business legislation on Wednesday.

The District 19 rep spoke before the Cape Coral City Council for roughly one hour where he discussed the problems facing small business, as well as bigger ones such as the challenge of finding enough people to fill jobs.

“I’m seeing small businesses trying to reopen and fill staffing needs, but people aren’t returning to work because of the government stimulus checks and the unemployment benefits people are getting,” Donalds said, using a trip to McDonalds as an example where there was one worker in the wee hours of the morning who was trying to get breakfast going.

Donalds said he didn’t support the last round of stimulus checks and would not support another round, though he said he would not put it past this Democratic-controlled Congress to attempt a fourth round.

In regards to affordable housing, Donalds said there isn’t much the federal government can do because many of those laws are made by local governments and their zoning ordinances.

“You don’t want the federal government to get involved. We don’t have the money,” Donalds told Councilmember Jessica Cosden. “Allocating funds for that is not the best use of federal money.”

Councilmember Robert Welsh was curious how the members of Congress get along and what Donalds thought of his first few months in D.C. as opposed to Tallahassee.

“There’s no camaraderie in Washington, while in Florida it was much different and things were much more efficient,” Donalds said. “I also noticed how old they are. They’ve been there so long, some of them have been there since the Clinton Administration.”

Donalds said he was heartened by the new blood that has been coming in on both sides of the aisle which has provided promise of perhaps getting some of the biggest issues in the nation resolved.

Mayor John Gunter wanted to know about water quality, something Donalds’ predecessors. most notably Congressman Francis Rooney, worked hard to improve through legislation to restore the Everglades.

“We’ve come a long way on this. Six years ago, we were nowhere. I’m happy that Donald Trump and Joe Biden seem to take this seriously,” Donalds said.

The government has been slow to do the 62 projects in the Everglades restoration plan, he said, but reminded everyone that moving huge bodies of water is not the easiest task.

When Donalds had the chance to speak on his own, he was brief, saying in spite what one might hear on the news channels, this is still the greatest nation in the world, where people tend to agree on more than people think.

“I am concerned where the politics are, but compared to other countries, it’s great where we are,” Donalds said. “What you see on TV, we’re really not that divided. If we can get to an agreement on that, we can get things done. We have new members who have a passion for getting things done and are through with just talking.”

Donalds had time to take a few questions from residents.

Pat Chrissy asked about the relationship between small business and big banks and how small businesses can be helped.

Donalds said most small business owners don’t have the time to deal with all the regulations as they can’t step away and spend the day dealing with such.

Donalds also said small businesses are no longer opting to deal with smaller banks but, instead, are going to the “too big to fail” institutions.