BY LINDA BENTLEY | jUNE 8, 2011
Rep. Quayle paints bleak economic picture and frustration with Senate
‘Consumer confidence just fell off a cliff over the past two months’
CAVE CREEK – U.S. Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Dist. 3, who has been meeting with state and local representatives and constituents to ensure their concerns are being addressed in Washington, held a brief town hall meeting prior to Monday night’s council meeting.Painting a bleak economic picture, Quayle stated economic indicators are negative and expressed frustration with the Senate, which he said has not passed a budget in approximately 770 days.
Cave Creek Mayor Vincent Francia is pictured escorting
U.S. Rep. Ben Quayle to the town council chambers where Quayle held a brief town hall meeting before the regularly scheduled council meeting.
Photo by Linda Bentley
He said the House has been working toward a pro-growth agenda, with policies and initiatives so job creators will take risks.
Addressing border issues, Quayle said there is a bill in a Homeland Security package that will grant border agents access to federal lands along the Mexican border without agents having to request prior permission.
Currently, they may only enter federal lands without prior permission if they are engaged in “hot pursuit.”
Quayle said they’ve been working on initiatives to make our country more competitive and initiatives that will allow us to harness our own natural resources, which will bring good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced.
Plans have been brought forward to fix Medicare, which Quayle said is estimated to become bankrupt as early as 2020.
He said he is hoping to get some serious conversations going on the subject.
A person in the audience asked Quayle if he believes Congress has the will to make the tough decisions regarding Medicare and Social Security that need to be made or if indecision will eventually lead to economic collapse.
Quayle said he hoped that wasn’t the case but said “kicking the can down the road” could lead to the “biggest financial catastrophe we’ve ever known.”
However, he said, “Right now, everyone can see the problem,” adding, “Saving these programs is vital. The issues are so big and affect so many people.”
Noting bills continue to go to the Senate to die or be stonewalled by Sen. Harry Reid, Quayle said, “I don’t think it’s going to happen, unfortunately.”
While the Senate and President Obama himself are blockades to repealing Obamacare, Quayle said they’re trying to dismantle it piece by piece and at least get rid of some of the most onerous provisions.
Quayle stated, “Rather than discussions on raising the debt limit, we need to discuss how we got here,” but said regardless of their goals, they cannot get there with this administration.
“Consumer confidence just fell off a cliff over the past two months,” said Quayle, “A grave concern to all of us.”
The audience didn’t seem to derive much comfort from his statement, “We’ve not had negative GDP growth yet.”
Bob Moore asked Quayle about foreign aid and questioned if we receive ROI (return on investment).
Quayle said it depended on the country, although he wasn’t sure what criteria were used for ranking them, but it was something he could find out.
Quayle stated the government needs to get rid of programs and agencies that have proven to be ineffective and called public unions a “perverse structure,” while pointing out the Davis-Bacon wage mandates for federal construction jobs can drive up costs by as much as 30 percent.
Mayor Vincent Francia asked Quayle if there was any one thing that stands out about his experience so far.
Although he stated being a freshman legislator is like drinking water out of a fire hose, Quayle said it is in knowing they’ve done the right thing making the decisions they’ve made.
“I can sleep at night,” he said.
