Quayle pays visit to Carefree

MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 7/6/2011

Ben Quayle, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona’s 3rd congressional district, spent more than an hour in Carefree Friday discussing issues facing the Congress with members of the Carefree Town Council and a handful of area residents.
“For far too long both Republicans and Democrats in Washington have spent money like drunken sailors,” he said. “We’ve got to get our financial house in order.”
Quayle opened the meeting by giving a brief overview about his first six months in office in which the rookie Republican expressed frustration over the lack of speed in which things are done.
“It has been a steep learning curve, but I’m not alone,” he said. “We’ve got 87 new Republicans and 100 new representatives overall so it’s pretty exciting with so many people that are passionate about helping to set a direction for our country. In the House we’ve passed some good legislation with bi-lateral support only to see it go nowhere in the Senate.”
He then opened the floor to questions from the group that assembled at the Town Hall Council Chambers.
The economy was one of the main focuses.
“We’re working to try and get rid of drilling restrictions off the Gulf Coast and in Alaska,” Quayle said. “We could create more than a million jobs over the next decade by removing restrictions on business and reigning in regulatory agencies so we can tap into our abundant energy resources.
We have the capability of being energy independent here in North America.”
Being supportive of business was one of Quayle’s themes throughout his visit.
“The President has chastised business for keeping its money on the sidelines, but you can’t force them to spend their hard earned dollars,” he said. “We should be asking business what we can do to make them more willing to invest.”
In a global economy Quayle said there are far too many disadvantages for companies trying to do business in the United States.
He pointed out a 35 percent corporate tax rate and made an example of Boeing’s
effort to open a second plant in South Carolina being nearly run aground by government agencies.
“When you talk to business owners, it doesn’t matter whether they’re small, medium or large, none of them have confidence,” he said. “They don’t know what the future will hold.”
“I’m not very optimistic myself,” he said. “I want 5 or 6 percent growth, but it’s just not happening. We have food prices, up as much as 40 percent as we give out ethanol subsidies. We need to get rid of those subsidies and start using our plants and grains for sustenance rather than fuel.
As for the banking industry and the housing market Quayle said the government programs have come at a big ticket price, but for the most have failed to aid those home owners that it was intended to benefit.
The ominous nature of a growing national debt has Quayle and his colleagues
very concerned.
“Unfortunately we have 23 Senate Democrats that are up for reelection and they don’t want to have their people in the position to make tough votes,” he said. “They’re moving so slow.”
When the discussion turned to the home front, here in Arizona, the forest fires
and illegal immigration were the two main issues.
“It’s a shame that some of the prettiest country in Arizona, up there in the Northeastern part of the state will be lost for generations in terms of the beauty,” he said. “We can bring in private enterprise to help. They’ll get particle board and we’ll have forests that
are thinned properly so these things can’t happen on such a large scale.”
Quayle said one of the most challenging aspects in fixing Arizona’s issues with illegal immigration and drug smuggling is making people aware of the magnitude of the problem.
“I’d love to bring everyone in Washington down here to see the garbage piled on the Mexican side of Nogales so high that they can literally step over the fence marking the border or see the intricate tunnels being built to bring drugs into this country,” he said. “We’ve made some progress in Yuma, but Tucson is still a mess. We’ve got a
lot of work to do.”
While Quayle’s comment was centered on the amount of work facing the legislature in regards to fixing the drug trafficking issue, his overall tone suggested that the sentiment rings true in much broader terms.