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| Chambers hear Granger’s take on the issues Wednesday, February 03, 2010 Edwin Newton
About 300 community and business leaders from Springtown and Azle turned out for a special luncheon featuring Congresswoman Kay Granger last Thursday.
The luncheon, co-hosted by the Springtown and Azle area chamber of commerces, was held at the Azle Community Center.
Granger, who represents Parker County, spent about 25 minutes talking about President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address which she had witnessed on the House floor the previous night. The economy – and the vital role of small business in reviving it – was another of Granger’s main topics. Before she got into politics, Granger was a teacher. Fearing she couldn’t raise a family on her salary, she started a business. Her political ambitions did not go past a couple of terms on the Fort Worth city council – but fate decreed otherwise. Granger ran for Congress in 1996 when Pete Geren stepped down. She is now seeking her 8th term in Washington, and facing challenges the nation has never seen before.
Granger faces an energetic opponent in Aledo resident Mike Brasovan, who is running against her for the Republican nod in the March primaries. And she’s got plenty to do in Washington D.C., where the economic downturn is in its second year and answers are still hard to come by. Granger started out by saying “good riddance” to 2009. “It was a bad time for all of us,” she said. She said she is “deeply concerned” about how 2010 is shaping up already – beginning with an unemployment epidemic that has claimed approximately 3.5 million jobs over the past 12 months or so. Many small businesses have become casualties as well. “People are in danger of losing their businesses,” she said. “Our goal is to restore our economy and the opportunities we once had. Let’s start by putting people back to work.” It’s not like the president and the current congress haven’t been coming up with ideas. It’s just that many of them haven’t worked, she noted. Granger said a $787 million stimulus package passed last year did not do enough to increase employment. She said most of the new jobs created have been associated with the federal government. And she was critical of the billions of dollars in bailout money the government paid to financial institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Much publicized bonuses and deferred compensation for financial executives have come out of those bailouts, which have done little to stimulate the economy. There is a well deserved “lack of trust” between the people and their government, she said. Granger said she is “appalled” at how the money has been misused – at taxpayer expense. “That’s a heavy, heavy blow when people are just trying to make ends meet,” she said. “That’s your money.” Granger is one of 70 Republican representatives who signed a letter objecting to the bonuses. Unfortunately, Granger and many of those same representatives voted to authorize those bailouts in 2008 – a move she said she now regrets. Granger also decried the fact that federal dollars supposedly earmarked for roadway infrastructure in Texas have not yet reached that destination. Forcing businesses to finance unemployment benefits doesn’t put people to work either, she said – it just makes folks more unemployable. And federal tax cuts for families are offset by the fact that many family breadwinners have already lost their jobs. If someone is paying less taxes this year, it’s probably because they lost their job or are making less money, she said. A proposal to use $30 billion from federal bailout funds repaid by big banks to help community banks lend money to small businesses is not the answer, either, she said. “I love community banks,” she said. “But you don’t give it to someone who doesn’t ask for it. Stop the bailouts.” The president’s proposed three-year spending freeze won’t do a lot of good, either, she said. Experts say such a freeze would make less than a 1 percent dent in the deficit. The massive health care proposal drew much of Granger’s attention, as she criticized the Obama administration and Congressional leaders for keeping the health care talks “secretive” and behind doors. The president – who campaigned for openness in government – has been widely criticized on this point as of late. Granger cited a physician friend in Congress who is an expert on health care, yet was excluded from the discussion. She said the discussion needs to be open for all to see. She said it is not health care that needs reform, but the way people gain access to it. She pointed out that people come to the U.S. from all over the world for better quality of health care, and U.S. medical schools train physicians for the world. “Congress and the president need to go back to the drawing board on a plan the will work and not get the country further into debt,” she said. Granger said America needs to go back to its financial roots, too – its small businesses – to dig out of the economic quagmire. “You’re not going to spend your way out of it,” she said. “You’ve got to build your way out of it.” She said 95 percent of the business being done in Texas is via small businesses, and noted that America needs to do a better job controlling the taxes it imposes on its own businesses. More taxes on imports need to be levied. “We’ve all got to be part of the solution,” she said. “I talked to a small businessman the other day. He said. he hoped he didn’t have to layoff anyone. We don’t want businesses to go away. “We can work our way out of it,” she said. “We’re Americans. Our quality of life, our sense of entrepreneurship, our service to community – that’s what we need to rely on.” |
