Shelby speaks with Clarke County Commissioner Patricia DuBose (left) and local Alabama Power office manager Donice Wood during his stop in Jackson. Also shown is Mike Dabney of Milton, Fla., who was visiting from out of town. U.S. Senator Richard Shelby visited Clarke County Saturday, Jan. 30, focusing on the economy, health care reform and national security during his discussion with constituents at Jackson City Hall.

The economy

Sen. Shelby said he has been very outspoken on the bank and car company bailouts, strongly opposing them. “Why should taxpayers bail them out,” he said. “I don’t believe any company is too big to fail. There is no guarantee in our economic system. That is how the business world works.”

He said that the chair of the Federal Reserve had assured Congress that everything was all right when “it had all gone to Hell.” He said it would be a mistake for Congress to run the country’s central bank. “We need regulatory reform that is meaningful.”

Chatom Mayor Harold Crouch (right) presents a city sweatshirt to Sen. Richard Shelby (left) at his Jan. 30 visit to the city. (SA photo by Ellen Williams) Shelby said his biggest concern was the national debt. “The Senate has voted to raise the national debt limit to $13.4 trillion. I don’t know how that will affect the value of the dollar worldwide,” he said. “Our credit will be at risk.”

Switching his focus to the current high unemployment rate, Shelby said that until the housing currently on the market is absorbed things would not turn around in the forest products industry. “We are facing a major crisis in the housing market,” he added.

National security

“Congress’ first obligation to the people is the security of the nation,” said Shelby. “It should be No. 1 within this country and throughout our interests all over the world. The Christmas Day Bomber should be a wakeup call. The British had banned him. Where was that in our intelligence? His father was a prominent banker who went to the United States embassy and tried to warn us. That is an awful hard thing for a parent to do. We need to heed such warnings from now on.”

Health care reform

Concerning the health care reform debate, Shelby said, “We have the best health care system in the world. That is evidenced by the number of people who come from abroad to seek treatment. Our current system can be built upon. To tear it down and have the government run it would be a mistake. The American people saw through that and are speaking out.”

He said there are a lot of things that can be done to improve the current health care system. One of those would be lowering the costs for small businesses. Another is tort reform. “While we shouldn’t exclude any bona fide lawsuit, there are currently too many lawsuits and too much defensive care taking place. Doctors practice defensive care to protect themselves.”

Global warming

On the subject of global warming, Shelby said, “I believe something is happening, but I don’t know if it is geological, caused by carbon dioxide emissions or some combination of these factors. To be successful in bringing about change we must have other countries join us. Cap and Trade (regulation of carbon dioxide emissions) would be nothing more than a tax on us. I won’t support that. We have a lot of coal, hydro and nuclear power being utilized. We should be careful in what we do, but we can’t ignore it. We have come a long way, but we can do better.”

During a question and answer session, Shelby also discussed health care for military veterans, aid to Haiti and gun control.

Washington County visit

Health care reform

At his Chatom City Hall meeting on Jan. 30, Sen. Shelby touched on many of the same topics as he did in Jackson.

He said the Obama administration is “..the most liberal, left-wing administration this country has ever had,” adding, it is more liberal than that of Franklin Roosevelt or Jimmy Carter. However,” he continued, “the American people have gotten concerned and are going to meetings and raising caine.” He said that the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts was evidence of this. He would not say the health care bill is dead, but it is short of breath.”

The question was raised about tort reform in reference to Obamacare. Shelby said American doctors are forced by frivolous lawsuits to practice defensive medicine, by ordering more expensive tests than necessary in order to protect themselves against suits.

These costs are passed on to insurance companies and to taxpayers via Medicaid and Medicare. He sees “bundling in large groups” for insurance, persuading people from unnecessary expensive emergency room care, and tort reform as real health reform.

National debt and

the shrinking dollar

Senator Richard Shelby was asked if the Congress is concerned about or if they have a plan to deal with the alarming national debt, and its potential effect of devaluing the dollar. The senator’s aide displayed a large graph showing the basic appropriation of the dollar. “These are the three fastest federal programs,” he stated, as he pointed to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Shelby told the group that at present the United States owes $14 trillion and before the present administration is over, will owe $20 trillion.

When pressed about how the “bottoming out of the U.S. dollar,” would affect everything from defense to the proposed health care plan to economic growth, Shelby said that to cut back spending necessary to reign in debt and boost the dollar would be “brutal.” “Have you ever tried to put toothpaste back into a tube when you’ve squeezed out too much?” The inference was that Americans have become dependent upon government entitlements and a cut back in spending enough to bring down debt and balance the budget would bring about strong citizen political reaction. Using his own Depressionera parents has an example, he said, “My parents never taught us that government should take care of us.”

Economy

Chatom Mayor Harold Crouch asked if Shelby thought the Obama stimulus would fill the short-fall in Alabama’s education budget. Shelby answered, “I can’t help you there because I opposed and voted against the stimulus.” Then he added, “We don’t really want (federal government) to balance the state’s budget do we?” Shelby added that several states, California in particular, want to be bailed out by the federal government; and he went on to say why this would establish a bad precedent.

One person said that because of excessive government regulations and taxation, he closed a business that at one time employed locally 20 to 30 people. Senator Shelby said he is in favor of a flat tax rate. “Did you know,” he asked,” that 5 percent of the people in this country pay most of the taxes; and 50 percent of the population pay no income taxes?”

Alabama’s senior senator said he supported the Federal Reserve for years, but “I got to digging and asking questions.” He now has reservations and opposition to how this agency is managed. “I did not support the Ben Bernanke confirmation,” he stated. Shelby does not support the Obama administration’s decision to raise taxes on banks because banks loan to small local business who in turn create local jobs.

National security

The senator said he does not feel that the nation is safe, in regard to terrorists. He cited the Christmas Day Bomber who had been barred from England and whose own father had gone to the American Embassy in Nigeria to warn against the radicalization of his son. “This administration campaigned on ‘Change,’ but what kind of change?” Shelby asked.

Richard Shelby is seeking re-election in November for his fifth term. He reminded those at Chatom that he is the number two member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is a Republican.