FOLEY — During his visit to Foley on Friday, U.S. Congressman Jo Bonner challenged Gulf Coast residents to consider electing a new president in November.

“You need to ask yourself if you think the country’s going in the right direction,” Bonner said to those present a Glenlakes Golf Clubhouse. “If you do, you need to choose (President Barrack Obama. If not, you need to choose (Mitt) Romney. Those are your choices.”

The Republican Congressman pointed to several of President Barrack Obama’s actions while in office, to exemplify his point. The most recent was the executive order allowing children of illegal immigrants to legally remain in the country. Another was the president’s signing of international treaties, which Bonner said is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“I keep a copy of the Constitution in my pocket,” Bonner said Friday. “I do not see where any president can enter into an international treaty. Only the Senate can approve treaties.”

The Congressman added that he thought that was the latest such Constitutional violation.

“This administration has been on steroids violating the Constitution,” Bonner said.

He also decried Obama’s healthcare plan, saying such a law would open the door to dictating other segments in the nation.

“I could tell you you’ve got to each green beans,” Bonner said, pointing to one of the approximately 10 audience members, and then to another, “and you’ve got to eat squash.”

Friday’s town-hall meeting in Foley was the last in Bonner’s tour of Southwest Alabama last week.

“This is our fifth town meeting,” he said.

Bonner added that while he supports a change in presidency, he doesn’t Obama is the cause of the nation’s problems.

“I would be misleading you if I said all of the problems of the country lie on the shoulders of Barrack Obama,” the Congressman said. “We didn’t get into this mess overnight, but we’re not going to get out of it overnight either.”

One issue he pointed to was the current state of Social Security.

“Last summer, we had $165 billion of your money coming into the cash register,” Bonner said, “and $311 of that going out.”

He said that’s a much different scenario that when the retirement program was established.

“When Social Security was created by Roosevelt and Congress, we had over 150 people paying into it for every person taking out,” Bonner said.

He predicted the program would no longer be feasible in the next 20 years.

Bonner also discussed the national debt and the recent threat to shut down the government if a federal budget wasn’t reached. According to the Congressman, such a movement would be counterproductive.

“There was a risk of soldiers not getting paid,” he said, listing additional federal employees whose pay would have been affected.

Bonner said he supports a smaller government. However, reducing programs is a quandry.

“It’s how much government do you want and how much are you willing to pay for it,” he said.

The Congressman said defunding programs for a smaller federal budget would be a cooperative action of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

“We can’t just kill a program because we want to,” Bonner said.

However, the Congressman said, such cooperation is ongoing to benefit Gulf Coast residents affected by Deep Water Horizon, with a tweaking of the Restore Act.

“The House and Senate are working together to change the law to say the fine money should come back to the Gulf states,” he said.

Additionally, the Congressman said he did no support the addition of toll booths along South Baldwin highways, unless such a project is initiated to fund the highway early on.

Bonner also discussed several additional issues Friday, including fossil-fuel subsidies.