Articles
Jan 18 2006
Shelby: Doing all he can for state
Andalusia Star News
By Jeffery L. Biggs
A handful of
Introduced by Andalusia Mayor Jerry Andrews, those gathered in the Community Room at Covington County Bank listed to Sen. Shelby talk about some of the many projects currently underway in Covington County with federal assistance — most notably the Andalusia-Opp Airport expansion.
“$30 million has been secured for the airport,” Sen. Shelby said. “We are going to make this a first class facility. For years other parts of the country have benefited from good federal projects. We want
The airport expansion project is arguably the largest project underway using federal dollars in the county, but
“I’m doing all I can to bring money to help bring industry, infrastructure, and trade to help
“The economy is good across the country, but it’s good in
But the economy wasn’t the only thing on the senator’s mind. Like so many others,
“The worst thing we can do is cut and run (in
Referencing another war that divided much of the country, Sen. Shelby said
“We cannot experience another unilateral withdrawal like
Of course one of the hottest topics on most senior citizens minds right now is the new Medicare drug program — something the senator spoke about, along with Medicare and Medicaid funding.
“The new drug program was meant to give seniors choices and lower drug prices. It’s caused a lot of confusion,” Sen. Shelby said, holding up a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal outlining some of the program’s features. “It took me several times to read this before I understood it. The drug companies placed this ad and it’s just hard to understand. The program is hard to understand and we (Congress) are getting the message, and I think the administration is, too.”
He added the Congress will likely tackle the issue in the upcoming session.
From there, the senator’s talk also included the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito — whom the senator said he will vote for. “I believe he’s well qualified,” he added.
The budget, “We’re looking at a $2.4 trillion budget with 21 percent paid in to Social Security, 19 percent paid in to national defense, and 12 percent to Medicare and 8 percent to Medicaid. That’s almost half the budget.”
Immigration — “There are 12 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in this country right now,” he said. “That will be a hot issue in the Congress, but there are some who just don’t want to touch it. People come into this country, and we know they come in, we just don’t know if they leave. There’s got to be a better way to keep track of them.”
And of course, back to
“I don’t believe we had the best intelligence to start with, but on the other hand, we do know he had chemical weapons and was seeking other weapons,” the senator said. “Yes, we made mistakes in
As for four-laning