As the 1st session of the 110th Congress comes to a close, I want to give you a snapshot of what the Senate has been up to for the past year.
As a United States Senator for nearly nine years, I have never seen anything like the current mismanagement of the legislative process by the Democrats. It is no wonder Congress has a record low approval rating. Only one of the twelve spending bills has been signed into law by the President. The last time this occurred was in 1987 when the Democrats controlled the House and Senate while Ronald Reagan was President. History has repeated itself.
I believe in fiscal responsibility that does not bloat the budget with needless pork. Recently, a conservative taxpayer group gave me one of its highest ratings on supporting anti-pork measures. Not all earmarks are bad. Some are vital projects that help the American people. The Democrats have included over 12,000 earmarks in the 2008 spending bills. An example of needless pork that Democrats were trying to push through was a $1 million earmark for the Woodstock Museum in upstate New York. We don’t need to spend one million of your hard earned dollars to celebrate the "groovy era" of America. And we certainly don’t need to borrow money from our grandchildren to celebrate Woodstock. Thankfully, under Republican pressure the earmark was voted out of the Labor-Health and Human Services spending bill.
While this Congress has been working on 12,000 earmarks for pet projects, the price of a barrel of oil is closely inching towards the century mark. In early October, I delivered a speech at the Kentucky Energy Summit, hosted by the Center of Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky. Like having a personal diversified stock portfolio, America needs diversified energy sources. In Lexington, I stressed that America needs to cure its addiction to foreign oil and invest in coal-to-liquid fuel (CTL). For the last two years I have been working with both Democrats and Republicans to push this important technology.
Earlier this year, the United States Air Force successfully tested CTL fuel in a B-52 bomber. The CTL fuel performed better than conventional aviation fuel and can burn cleaner than other biofuels. This technology works, and if mass produced, will reduce our dependancy on foreign oil.
Another important issue that Congress has failed to act on this year is immigration. Our nation’s immigration policy has daily consequences for our businesses, schools, communities, and our national security. It is an issue I hear about often from Kentuckians, and one I am glad people are watching closely.
In October, I supported Senator Lindsey Graham’s amendment to the Defense spending bill that would have appropriated $3 billion for border security. The amendment passed 95-1 in the Senate, but under Democrat pressure, the amendment was stripped out of the final bill that the President signed into law. I was shocked Democrats took out this important measure which was sorely needed to protect our southern border, not only from illegal immigrants but terrorists as well. When the Senate speaks nearly unanimously on an amendment related to our homeland, it should be adopted into law and not thrown into the trash.
I am also closely monitoring the developments of our brave Americans fighting overseas. The current situation in Iraq has steadily improved under the stewardship of General David Petraeus. Overall Iraqi civilian and coalition troop deaths are on the decline. The surge that was outlined in February and fully implemented this summer is working. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – when an increase of violence usually occurs – casualties by terrorist activity were down 77 percent in Baghdad. That is great news, but it does not mean we are out of danger. We must keep at it, and let the Generals on the ground dictate troop movements, not politicians in Washington beholden to special interests.
Democrats have pushed a total of sixty votes in both chambers of Congress to politicize the war in Iraq. It is a sad state of affairs to watch this overall assault both on the troops and the commanders on the ground by the likes of liberal groups such as Move On. If these groups are successful in swaying leaders in Washington, the outcome of the War on Terrorism would be disastrous and will make our homeland less safe.
As we head into the holiday season, I want to remind Kentuckians of a couple of important dates that will help those men and women in uniform. December 4th is the deadline to send packages addressed to individual solders to both Iraq and Afghanistan. December 19th is the deadline to send packages to military personnel not in the war zone. These brave young men and women have fought valiantly to protect our freedoms here at home. If you can send a package, I am sure it will put a smile on a service member’s face. Our military families will also have a hard time with the coming holiday season. A seat at the table will be vacant. As a community, we must come together and help those families who are the backbone of our fighting men and women overseas.
Finally, I wish all Kentuckians a Merry Christmas and hope you all have a great holiday season and a Happy New Year. God Bless.
