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Thompson's worries? Spending, taxing, borrowing |
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Local Content -
Local News
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Written by Tom Chapin
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Saturday, 09 May 2009 |
U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson speaks at a Chamber Legislative Lunch Friday at the Punxsutawney Country Club. (Photo by Tom Chapin/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Marking 122 days as the Fifth District representative in Congress, Glenn Thompson told guests gathered at a Chamber Legislative Lunch Friday that there are only a handful of things worrying him.
"We're spending too much, we're taxing too much, and we're borrowing too much," said Thompson, who represents the 17-county Fifth District. "That about covers it.
"This president loves to spend. So does Congress," he said, referring to President Barack Obama.
He said in the president's first 100 days, the administration has spent $34 million per minute.
Thompson — who was among those who voted against Obama's stimulus bill a few months ago — focused much of his discussion Friday on the Waxman-Markey Bill, which he said is veiled as clean energy legislation, but is actually a cap-and-trade, or an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.
This cap-and-trade — or, as Thompson calls it, "cap-and-tax" — approach, he said, would be to make energy costs so high, that people would not use it.
"The next stimulus would be candles and whale oil," Thompson said.
He said this Waxman-Markey Bill would increase household energy costs by $3,000 per year. The only predictions on the bill, if passed, Thompson offered would be that there would be higher unemployment rates and higher energy bills.
Thompson said Obama has cited Spain in its implementation of similar legislation about seven years ago, but when asking about the legislation's effects in that country, experts testified that Spain's unemployment rose from seven percent to 17 percent, and energy costs rose 31 percent.
Proponents of the legislation claim it would lessen carbon dioxide emissions. Thompson said humans emit only four percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, but wildfires contribute 10 percent.
Thompson said the Waxman-Markey legislation would "be awful on people living paycheck to paycheck."
Thompson also discussed some issues regarding the three committees — the House Agriculture, Education & Labor and Small Business committees — on which he serves.
• House Agriculture — Thompson said agriculture is Pennsylvania's No. 1 industry, and he has been among those trying to make sure the Farm Bill is enacted and not altered by the administration.
He also discussed his work with the forestry service and radical environmentalists who would rather see trees "in a museum."
Thompson said forests are resources: "It's not a park; it's a forest. A forest is a living organism, and if it is not managed properly, it's going to die.
"We're good stewards of what God has given us," he said. "That's why we live in rural Pennsylvania."
• Small Business — Thompson said when looking at proposed legislation, he seeks to side with smart government as opposed to big government.
He said he encounters big government quite a bit.
"I feel like a toddler in Congress," Thompson said. "I'm always saying, ‘No, no, no, no.'"
Two bills on which he has been working — and he considers examples of smart government — are one that would eliminate federal taxes on unemployment benefits, and another that would eliminate taxes on the first $70,000 of severance packages, which would help someone transition into his or her next job.
• Education & Labor — Thompson said he believes education should be the responsibility of the state, which should designate responsibility at the local level, where people can work as a team "to maximize each child's potential."
President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind law is scheduled for reauthorization next year, Thompson said. The NCLB goal is to send every child to college, he said.
"Sure, if it's right for him or her," Thompson said, adding, however, technical education should also be an option for students, because trained individuals for those jobs are highly sought.
Thompson said he opposes the federal government's "green school," a chance, he said, for it to become involved in education.
"I wouldn't have a problem with it if we were meeting our obligations now," he said.
Thompson said there are several items he sees on the horizon: One is a bill that would keep the feds from tolling Interstate 80, an idea that is not dead yet, he said.
Also, Thompson said he would like to repeal a three-percent excise tax on local telephone bills, a tax that was originally enacted to fund the Spanish-American War.
Prior to succeeding U.S. Rep. John Peterson in Congress, Thompson spent 28 years as a healthcare professional, and also served on the Bald Eagle Area School Board and as past vice-chair of the Private Industry Council of the Central Corridor.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 May 2009 )
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