Published: February 08, 2006 07:29 pm      

Rep. Scott responds to State of the Union

Hopes for progress in Iraq, recovery in Gulf

In the State of the Union address delivered last Tuesday night, President Bush declared the U.S. a society “addicted to oil,” making a radical departure from his statement of a year ago calling for drilling in Alaska in order to preserve America’s way of life. This was a welcome departure for 13th District Congressman David Scott.

“The president’s calling for researching alternative fuel methods was the most positive thing he said all night,” said Congressman Scott from his Washington office this past Wednesday. “We are in a precarious position as a nation, and I hope that the president takes this a bit further, especially in regards to the automotive industry. Our dependency on foreign oil is financing terrorists.”

President Bush said that he wanted to reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil, and would cut imports from the region by 75 percent by 2025. Yet, a day after the State of the Union address, Bush’s energy secretary and national economic adviser said the president “didn’t mean it literally.” What the president meant, they said, was that alternative fuels could possibly displace an amount of oil imports equivalent to what America is likely to import from the Middle East in 2025.

Reduction of foreign oil dependence found further obstacles on Capitol Hill, where Republicans questioned the practicality of alternative fuels, while Democrats claimed the president was crying wolf, having called for foreign oil reductions in last year’s energy bill.

Surprisingly, President Bush focused briefly on Iran, but talked at length about ending tyranny, the process of democratization and Iraq, offering that; “every step toward freedom in the world makes [the] country safer.”

“I agree with the president on a lot of issues,” said Scott, “but we differ there. You can’t force democracy on people that are impoverished. Democracy can’t flourish without a property ownership structure. I’ve been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran; we don’t understand the type of poverty those people are dealing with – it’s worse that any ghetto we have in the U.S. This is the best recruiting tool for terrorists; they’re talking to kids that have no future – nothing. And they’re telling them that we’re there to occupy their country, to take their oil, and to destroy Islam. You’ve got young people lining up to become suicide bombers.

“We can’t make any more blunders; there can be no more arrogance – none of this ‘bring ‘em on’ or ‘mission accomplished.’ We’ve got to win the peace by ourselves; that’s going to be the most difficult thing to do.

“We can win any war; our soldiers are doing a magnificent job, but we don’t have anyone to win the peace. Our soldiers go in and win a certain territory, but there’s no one there to stabilize it. They end up having to go back to that territory again. This is going to take time and also a rethinking of our foreign policy.”

In a State of the Union address dominated by the president’s restatement of foreign policy and defense of the “domestic surveillance program,” there was little room for discussion of the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast and the City of New Orleans or Medicare.

“With this domestic spying – we are a land of laws,” said Scott. “The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] was established to deal with this. Did the president break any laws? I don’t know, but all the president had to do was go to Congress and say that he needed to make certain changes in order to protect us.”

According to FISA’s provision, the president may authorize, through the Attorney General, electronic surveillance without a court order for one year provided it is only for foreign intelligence information, with no likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party. Yet, the president’s “domestic surveillance program,” which has been in existence since 2004, has authorized the interception of faxes, e-mails and phone conversations of hundreds – if not thousands – of Americans.

“Congress will not deny the president any tool he needs in order to insure the country’s safety,” said Scott, “but FISA stipulates a ‘foreign party.’

“And not one mention of Medicare last night,” said Scott. “What an opportunity that the president could have had. He could have spoken to the problems surrounding it, but now it’s a debacle. He could have said that we’re going to extend eligibility beyond May and say that we’re going to give Americans all year. And our veterans: the president is always talking about the sacrifice they’ve made and how thankful we are for their service, yet our veterans have to pick between disability or retirement pay. How about both? How about they get both disability and retirement pay? And how about increasing military pay, so we can truly show our military how much we value them,” said Scott.

President Bush devoted six sentences of the State of the Union address to discussing the government’s commitment of $85 billion to the rebuilding of devastated areas in Mississippi and New Orleans, although never mentioning the words “Hurricane Katrina.”

“Congress has to make sure that the money is actually spent on rebuilding,” said Scott. “Not all money that is allocated is actually spent; there have to be checks and balances. If you’re going to rebuild an area, there have to be checks and balances. Look at Iraq and all of the no-bid contracts: it’s been scandal after scandal for Halliburton, and this country deserves better leadership.”

David Scott is the U.S. Representative for the 13th District of Georgia, representing part of the City of Atlanta and portions of 11 counties: Clayton, Fulton, Gwinnett, Dekalb, Rockdale, Henry, Newton, Walton, Fayette, Butts and Spalding.