Vitter blasts proposed spending

The nation is in a serious recession but the Democrats’ policies are making the downturn worse, said U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) in Houma last week.

In 2006, Vitter spearheaded $30 million in funding to build the seven miles of levee in Dulac nearing completion by the Army Corps of Engineers.

“We blasted the corps off their seats to build levees in Terrebonne but we still have a long way to go,” said Vitter, who has often lashed out at the corps for delays in building Morganza to the Gulf.

While saying he is focused on local issues, Vitter’s opening comments and responses to audience questions covered national issues, particularly cap and trade legislation.

Vitter vehemently opposes cap and trade, which puts limits on carbon emissions by manufacturers and, according to Vitter, would cost each family $176 more in taxes.

“The exported jobs will go from a trickle to a flood,” he said.

The senator called the legislation “the most onerous energy tax we’ve ever seen.”

While Vitter did not support the federal stimulus bill, he said subsequent spending proposals are even more troublesome.

He criticized taxes on domestic energy production, asserting that the taxes will have a negative impact on jobs in Louisiana.

“When gas was at $4 dollars a gallon, people said, “Why not produce more at home?'” he said. “When the price went back down, they went to sleep.”

Another big concern for Vitter is the current push for greater government involvement in healthcare.

He slammed those initiatives on two fronts: a government option would decrease medical innovation and would not cover all the uninsured.

“The Medicare and Medicaid system is going broke and what’s the solution?” he said. “Expand it: $1.6 trillion over 10 years to cover one-third of the uninsured and expand government’s role. You’ve heard the saying, “If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait till it’s free.”

“Obama wants a government option, but in three to five years it will be the only option,” he said. “It will be government healthcare. It’s a foot in the door.”

Vitter backed Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s attempt to turn down part of the money from the federal stimulus package because, like Jindal, he believes the state would eventually have to fund higher unemployment benefits.

Vitter also lamented decreasing bipartisanship in Congress in recent decades, asserting he has bucked the trend by opposing former President George W. Bush on the private sector bailouts and on the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

“I voted on substance,” he said.

Vitter, though, kept up the jabs at liberals, referring to the West Coast as the “Left Coast” when pointing to areas of the country, like New England, whose fuel comes partly from Louisiana.

As for the future of the GOP, Vitter offered advice when responding to an audience question about decreasing Republican influence in Washington.

“We don’t have a sitting president, not a candidate (for 2012),” he said. “We need to coalesce behind clear proposals like the Contract with America,” the series of conservative proposals that helped gain Republicans control of Congress in 1994.