Contact: Rob Ostrander 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Miller County, Mo. Senator Kit Bond today met with local residents in Miller County to provide a legislative update on recent actions in the Senate. Bond discussed the war on terror and the intelligence community, transportation funding, the energy bill and the war on meth in Missouri.

Bond began by recognizing our soldiers, sailors and airmen fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and stationed in other hot spots around the world.

“We must continue to recognize their effort and honor their commitment to defend our freedoms,” said Bond. “They are fighting the war on terror in other countries so we don’t have to fight it here. I have no doubt we will get the job done. America has the best-trained, most dedicated military force in the world available to do the job.”

Bond said the last thing Congress should be doing is politicizing intelligence.

“We have a tough battle ahead providing support for our troops in Iraq and developing an effective intelligence system that will provide better intelligence than we had prior to the Iraq war,” said Bond. “We need to focus our efforts on ensuring that we build a better system of gathering intelligence, not politicizing it for political gain.”

Bond noted the passage of the highway bill this year which provided almost $1.3 billion in new money for Missouri roads and bridges. The Senator also said the recently passed transportation spending bill took fiscal realities into account by eliminating some of the most expensive earmarks for Alaskan bridges.

Bond discussed his work to limit the use of certain federal funds on projects where eminent domain is used saying, “We need to take a closer look at how the use of eminent domain is affecting our communities. “In the bill we say that no funds can be used to support projects using eminent domain, unless eminent domain is employed only for a public use.”

Bond praised the new energy bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the President last summer as good news for the economy, both nationally and here in Missouri.

“We’ve got to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we’ve got to bring down the high cost of energy, and we’ve got to do more to encourage production of energy here in the U.S.,” said Bond.

Highlighting the war on meth, Bond said Missouri’s future depends on creating a safe environment for our young people. Since 2000, Bond has secured $15 million in funds for Missouri to fight the meth problem, including $1.75 million in next year’s federal budget. Bond was instrumental in working with local law enforcement to begin the Missouri Sheriffs Methamphetamine Relief Team (MOSMART).