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GREENSBORO — Rep. Mel Watt spent 35 minutes of his town hall meeting speeding through a litany on the economy and federal education spending and was about to turn to health care when he paused for a moment.

Looking into a crowd of about 50 people gathered at Allen Middle School, the Democrat said, “I don’t know that there is a whole heck of a lot to say about health care.”

It might have been more correct to say there wasn’t much left to say.

Over the past year, the battle over reforming the U.S. health insurance system has been front-page news and the subject of vocal debate on all sides. Last summer, town hall meetings were disrupted by those angry at what Congress was doing and how Congress was doing it.

There were no disruptions Tuesday night. The only audible audience response to a health care remark was a smattering of applause when Watt summed up, “The bill is passed.”

One of the three health care-related questions Watt fielded came from Chris Shores, 34, of Winston-Salem, who asked why Congress didn’t add tort reform — efforts to decrease medical malpractice lawsuits — to the health care bill.

“Tort law, personal injury law, has always been a matter of state law,” Watt said. Since medical procedures are subject to state laws and standards of care, he said, the state legislature should tackle the issue.

“That’s the appropriate place for tort reform,” Watt said.

Tuesday was Shores’ third town hall meeting with Watt in two days. He said he was new to Watt’s district and wanted to learn more about his representative before the fall election.

Brenda Slade, 57, of Greensboro asked Watt if he would favor changing the federal mandatory sentencing laws that gave her son a life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime.

Watt said he hadn’t yet reviewed a bill passed by the Senate on the topic of making federal drug sentences more fair. And he was unsure if that bill could be used to help people such as Slade’s son.

“Normally, except in extraordinary circumstances, we don’t make criminal laws retroactive,” Watt said.

Joshua Leonhardt of Charlotte asked Watt several questions, including how the congressman could reconcile the health care reform bill’s mandates to carry insurance with the Constitution’s 10th amendment that reserves powers not expressly enumerated to the states and the people.

Watt needed help getting focused on the question, asking Leonhardt to remind him of the 10th amendment’s language.

“I’d look at the preamble to the Constitution that talks about the health and welfare and national defense of our country,” Watt said. “You can’t make a compelling case to do national defense or some of the other things that are mentioned in the preamble... and then say the federal government has no role to play in the health of the nation. I just don’t understand that argument.”

After the town hall meeting, Leonhardt, a Republican, was not happy with Watt’s answer.

“I’m a little embarrassed because he’s my representative,” he said, disturbed that he had to remind Watt of the 10th amendment’s language.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com