Russell Bruce
September 22, 2009
Zenobia Barrow
September 24, 2009
The main concern of U.S. Sen. David Vitter (D-LA) currently is health care legislation, but the senator spoke about other items that strike closer to the Tri-parish area during his talk last week at a Bayou Industrial Group meeting in Thibodaux.
Cap and trade legislation and proposals by the Obama administration for tax increases on oil and gas producers are a threat to the local economy, he said.
“Cap and trade is a massive tax on energy across the board,” Vitter said about the legislation limiting carbon emissions. “It’s the worst recession since World War II. In Louisiana we are an energy economy.”
Vitter said the Obama administration has eight different proposals in its budget to increase taxes on oil and gas producers.
“We want to decrease dependence on foreign oil,” he said. “This would be devastating for south Louisiana.”
Calling the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee protection system “a mammoth project,” Vitter said parish and state officials such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his coastal activities adviser Garret Graves are working together on building segments of the levee system.
Vitter pointed to the $30 million in funding he helped secure to construct the recently-completed seven-mile portion of Morganza levees in Dulac, built by the Army Corps of Engineers, and to three segments of Morganza levees in Chauvin and Montegut.
“It’s a modest but meaningful improvement in protection,” he said. Vitter vowed to work to include federal funding for Morganza in the next Water Resources Development Act bill. The last WRDA bill in 2007 authorized the Morganza system but did not provide funding for the project.
Vitter promised to use his seat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to secure funding for extending the new LA 1 Expressway, which leads to Port Fourchon.
“We’re aware of Lafourche and Terrebonne’s highway and flood protection needs,” he said, adding that the next big highway bill will come up in 2011.
Vitter also denounced the Employee Free Choice Act, or card check. “It’s payback to labor unions for their support of the Democratic Party,” he asserted.
Vitter said the legislation eliminates the ability of workers to vote – through a secret ballot – on whether to join unions. Card check would damage Louisiana’s status as a right-to-work state, he said, and place Louisiana at a disadvantage compared to some other states.
“It would be particularly devastating to Louisiana. We have reasonable labor costs,” he said. The bill is close to receiving the 60 votes needed for approval in the Senate, though Vitter contends some provisions in the bill were watered down to increase the chances of passage.
On health care legislation, Vitter said the public option would increase taxes on the most productive sector of society, drive up costs and siphon patients away from private insurance coverage.
“It’s a 1,000 page bill with radical overhauls,” he said. “They’re using a sledgehammer, not a scalpel.
“It pushes folks off of coverage that they like. It tells business they have to provide coverage or write a check to the government,” he added, referring to a proposal that allows businesses that do not provide health insurance for their employees to instead compensate the federal government.
“It’s a new cost on business,” he said. “It will cost us jobs.”
As an alternative, Vitter said he is in favor of permitting the purchasing of health insurance across state lines, accommodating patients with preexisting conditions, allowing the importation of drugs, expanding Health Savings Accounts, and tort reform.
Vitter said he believes President Barack Obama is governing too far from the left and that the Democrats are focusing excessively on two of their core constituents – government employees and recipients of government benefits – to win elections.
But Vitter opened his talk on a more accommodating note, telling the audience, “Lafourche and Terrebonne are at the top of growth in the U.S. There’s a lot to be thankful for.”
U.S. Sen. David Vitter spoke against cap and trade legislation proposals by the Obama administration, saying such measures would harm the local economy. * Photo by MIKE BROSSETTE
