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McHenry: Washington climate difficult
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Published: July 3, 2009
U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry was in Mooresville on Thursday afternoon and took time to talk about the new climate in Washington since President Barack Obama took office.
McHenry, whose 10th District includes the southern third of Iredell County, said things have definitely changed in the past few months.
"Oh lord," he said, "'it's been a challenge. And there have been some challenging issues."
McHenry, consistently ranked among the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, noted those issues would be difficult ones for either party to deal with.
But the Democrats, with majorities in both chambers of Congress, have not found needed answers, he said.
"We are in tough times right now," McHenry said. "And that's regardless of partisan politics. But newfound power tends to be extreme and we're seeing that they are not handling it well."
McHenry called the 60 percent Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress "historic."
But, he added, "they haven't produced results commensurate with that strength."
At the top of the list of things that haven't been working, McHenry said, is the so-called stimulus package.
"The big thing we are dealing with now is getting the economy going," he said. "And what they have tried has been a failure."
McHenry said a proposal he and other Republicans had to jump start the economy was shot down.
"But that bill would have added infrastructure, cost half as much and produced twice as many jobs," he said.
As it is, McHenry said, the news on the jobs front just keeps getting worse.
"We just heard today that we lost another 450,000 jobs," he said.
"And they say what they're doing is working. Well I'd hate to see what this would look like if it wasn't working."
And closer to home, it's even worse.
"Iredell County is near 13 percent unemployed that is a very serious number," he said. "And we need real relief, not talk about raising taxes and throwing money at this."
Beyond the economy, McHenry said the bill passed by the House last week to address the issue of global warming is not the answer to environmental problems.
"Nobody is more concerned about the environment then I am," McHenry said. "But China and India, the largest polluters, are not going to adhere to anything in this and adding $1,400 to the average family's (annual) power bill is not the answer."
McHenry also said the much-debated national health care plans that have been floated by Obama and top congressional leaders are not the direction the United States should move. He said the plans are being patterned around those used in Great Britain and Canada.
He said the long-term health care in both those nations is far behind that of the U.S.
"And the cost of this is going to be enormous," he said. "So the whole thing is of great concern to me."
McHenry was in town to present federal grant checks to the Mooresville and Lake Norman fire departments.
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