Congressman Charlie Crist spent hours taking questions from constituents Saturday while hosting his first town hall since being sworn in to Congress.

  • Charlie Crist held town hall in St. Petersburg
  • He addressed issues like veterans services and the ACA
  • The town hall was held at USF St. Petersburg

Hundreds of people gathered at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg for the event.

Crist said he wanted to hear directly from the people about issues that matter to them.

Many wanted to know where Crist stands on veterans services.

"There's about 84,000 veterans in Pinellas County and growing so that's a good platform and it's a good voice," said Scott Macksam, St. Petersburg resident and retired Army officer.

Crist said that he would vote against lowering the amount of funds that go to the VA and is currently co-sponsoring a bill that would give lawmakers more access to information on veterans cases.

"I've talked to a lot of veterans about the fact that it was difficult to get your disability determination done and I understand how frustrating that must be that's why I'm co-sponsoring this bill to get more information to you the boss, the veteran," Crist said.

Many who attended the town hall spoke out in fear over the Trump administration. Local ecologist Cuthbert Hutton said that he’s worried the president will make cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"He can drastically understaff these departments in order to make them less productive and more inefficient," Hutton said.

Crist vowed to do everything in his power to make sure the budget will dedicate enough funds to adequately staff departments like the EPA.

Many questions were raised about healthcare.

Crist criticized the Republican Party for wanting to repeal Obamacare without coming up with an alternative plan. He is fighting to keep the Affordable Care Act but said it could use some improvements.

"I think it can be less costly," he said. "I'm confident of that and with some greater competition injected in some sort or fashion that's fair where you could cross state lines to get coverage."