PROVIDENCE — Their concerns mirror those that make headlines every day: the war in Iraq, global warming, affordable housing, universal health care, funding for public education, the safety of the nation’s bridges, teenage gun violence.

About 25 city residents, all with pet peeves about how Washington politicians are addressing some the nation’s most pressing problems, sat around a table in a conference room at the John Hope Settlement House last evening and questioned their congressman, Democrat James Langevin, about some of the issues that are of most concern to them.

It was the climax of a long day of meeting with constituents, one that began for the four-term congressman just 33 hours after the House adjourned for the month of August.

Langevin began the session by talking about some of the things Democrats have been able to accomplish this term: oversight hearings on the financing and “mismanagement” of the war in Iraq; a bill passed that will bring more money to the states for health-care coverage for poor children in single-parent homes; a defense appropriations bill that allocates more money for building submarines that will create more jobs in Rhode Island; and two renewable energy bills.

Those who came seemed to agree with his views on just about everything. But many expressed frustration with the pace at which Democrats, who now have control of Congress, are going about “undoing the damage” created by Republican legislators and President Bush over the last several years.

Joel Greenwald peppered Langevin about why the Democrats hadn’t started impeachment proceedings against the president. Americans, he said, are mad at the Democrats now, “not the Republicans” because you were voted in to end the war in Iraq, and you didn’t do what you promised during the campaign “and end the war.”

President Nixon resigned when impeachment proceedings began, Greenwald noted.

“Do you know how long the Nixon impeachment process took?” Langevin said. If Congress began impeachment proceedings now, he said, “everything we’ve been doing” to address other pressing issues “would come to a screeching halt. … I want to address [domestic] issues that were ignored during the last 12 years,” said Langevin.

But Greenwald kept pressing. “Did the country fall apart when Nixon was impeached?” he asked. “You have a way of stopping Americans from dying…”

Thomas Foley, another Providence resident who said he was disgusted about the way injured Iraq war veterans were being treated at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, tried to calm the waters. He reminded Greenwald what would happen if President Bush were to be forced from office.

“Do you know who the vice president is?” he said. “He’s even worse.”

Langevin, said he’d voted against going to war in Iraq from the outset and was in favor of a plan to start withdrawing troops from Iraq. But he said U.S. troops should not be pulled out all at once and that they need to be given necessary supplies and equipment to support their safety. He also said that currently, there isn’t enough support in the House and Senate to set a deadline for withdrawal of the troops, though he had voted for a bill that would have brought all of the troops home by next April.

Several of those in attendance said they were concerned with the nation’s health-care crisis. Langevin said he supports universal health care with the federal government negotiating a variety of plans that citizens could choose from.

Julie Silvia of the George Wiley Center told the congressman said that utility shutoffs “are almost at an all-time high” in Rhode Island and “we’re only in August.” She said she had heard that the president had $200 million that could go to the states to help the poor who can’t afford utilities but that “if it is not allocated by Sept. 1, it will go back into the general fund.” Langevin promised to look into that.

Wil Fleming, who serves on the board of the John Hope Settlement House, said he was concerned about the lack of affordable housing and a new Rhode Island law that allows the state to incarcerate 17-years-olds in prison instead of the Training School — something Langevin said he opposes but has no power, as a federal officer, to change.

Langevin said he supported recently enacted legislation to create a pool of money to create more affordable housing “like we did in the ’60s and ’70s when we built elderly high-rises.”

Peter Lee, president of the John Hope Settlement House, said he was concerned that not all students “are able to reach the bar” mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. Langevin said he thinks that overall the legislation is good but that more funding needs to be allocated for literacy programs and teacher training.

Some constituents had issues that Langevin said he was powerless to act on — such as the one Kamil Onipede, president of the Nigerian Community of Rhode Island, brought up: rising property taxes in Providence. “A lot of foreclosure is going to be happening” because people just can’t afford to pay more property taxes, he said.

Bonnie Stevenson, who lives in Washington Park, said she was concerned with the number of young men who commit crimes with handguns. “If someone is selling guns out of the back of their cars or their garages, there’s no way to track that” or hold the gun manufacturers responsible?

Langevin said that while those types of weapons sales are illegal, he did not think Congress could pass a law that would hold the manufacturers responsible. “But we can hold dealerships accountable for the guns they sell” and he says he supports a measure that would allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to audit gun dealers’ books.

Langevin is scheduled to meet with more constituents today in Glocester and Foster. On Thursday, from 5 to 7 p.m., he will take more questions at the William Hall Library in Cranston.

tbreton@projo.com