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Aderholt speaks to area Republicans
Prior to addressing the group attending the Republican Party’s first fundraiser of 2005, Aderholt presented long-time Republican supporter Col. George Newman (U.S. Army Retired) with the annual James Wyatt “Spirit of America” award. Newman was chosen from nominees from 14 counties in the U.S. 4th Congressional District. Aderholt also presented Newman with an American flag that was flown over the capital in his honor. During his talk, Aderholt touched briefly upon several current issues of concern to those present and Americans in general. Aderholt prefaced his remarks by stating, “I am proud to be a member of the only political body in the Congress directly elected and responsible to the people … I do thank you for the opportunity to represent you and serve in that seat. I know when I represent you up there and I am voting for those legislations that come across my desk and come up in the chamber, I am voting not for myself, but for between 600,000 and 700,000 people that live in North Alabama.” Aderholt, who has been on vacation while Congress has been in a week-long recess, said he would resume his duties Wednesday when Congress goes back in session. “This,” Aderholt said, “is the time of the year when we are trying to work on all the appropriation bills for the year. We have 11 appropriation bills we have to get through the House and the Senate.” Those 11 bills, he said, are the ones that fund the federal government’s programs, agencies and departments, with the exception of the entitlement programs. “If those 11 bills are not passed then the federal government cannot operate,” said the member of the House Appropriations Committee. Among those items to be worked on are an agriculture bill, two other bills in committee and two that need to be completed before the break in August dealing with transportation and energy. The transportation/reauthorization bill will provide funding for items such as new highways and airports, which Aderholt expects will pass and be signed by President Bush. The energy bill, Aderholt said, “is an issue a lot of people have been concerned about … because of the gas prices. We do need an energy policy for the country – we have not been operating under an energy policy.” According to Aderholt, the country’s dependence on foreign oil makes the need for an energy policy important so we can have direction on how to move forward. Stem cell research is an issue, Aderholt said, that has a lot of people’s attention. “It’s a very confusing issue until you really get down and study the issues,” Aderholt said. He added, “I know a lot of you are aware the President made the decision in 2001 to ban federal funding in embryonic stem cell research. The week before last, there was a bill that came up in the House to overturn the President’s policy regarding the use of federal funds in embryonic research.” While there was disagreement among Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate, Aderholt said, “personally I thought the president was right to not use federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. “A lot of people,” the father of two children said, “say if you don’t use the federal funds, then how can you have stem cell research?” Aderholt clarified the problem by stating, “You can have adult stem cell research, which is perfectly legal using federal funds; you just can’t use them for embryonic stem cell research. Embryos are created to be destroyed and I think the president felt, and I believe correctly so, that was not the appropriate way the country should go, because science and ethics have to be balanced.” Aderholt further added, “You hear the media – that is the national media – not the local media, that I am referring to, they try to confuse the issue, but I will tell you that George Bush and many, many Republicans are for stem cell research. It’s just the embryonic ones that are created for the purpose of destruction they are against funding.” Another issue, that of the judges being debated in the Senate, Aderholt said, while it was not “part of my job … it is certainly an issue I am interested in.” The fifth term congressman said, “I had a little bit different perspective than some of my colleagues did on the judges issue. I thought what (Senate Majority Leader) Sen. (Bill) Frith (R, Tenn.) should have done was gone forward with the Senate going into filibuster and stay there 24 hours a day debating the bill.” Aderholt believed that “after the American people heard the Democratic Senators tying up the whole Congress over a Pricilla Owens or a Mississippi judge I think that would be a place far better for their own decision making than for the American people to say it is time to move forward. I think that the Senate made a mistake, which is easier for me to say because I am not there. But it would have required them to be there 24 hours a day to have a filibuster like that.” Aderholt then compared the sight to the filibuster scene in the 1939 film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” starring Jimmy Stewart. The congressman went on to say the filibuster is what should have happened, but with tongue-in-cheek he said, “senators [Richard] Shelby and [Jeff] Sessions would have had to been there 24 hours a day – so they might, had you talked to them, have had a different perspective on it.” And he added, “The American people would have seen that the bills they were stopping, like the gas prices and the appropriation bills, were simply because they didn’t like the views of a couple of judges on a federal circuit and bring down the whole United States Congress.” Aderholt concluded his speech and answered several questions from the audience. Of major concern to one questioner was the illegal immigration issue as it related to Marshall County. Aderholt responded, “Marshall County probably has one of the highest rates of illegal immigrants in any county in the state of Alabama. I probably represent more Hispanics than any member of the state delegation, because of so many illegal aliens being in this area. I will say I think the whole system of immigration needs to be reformed and I think there needs to be an overhaul from the beginning to the end. Certainly, if someone wants to come in legally … and do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, and pay into the system and for health care … those are the type of people we want.” “Unfortunately,” Aderholt who sits on the Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Subcommittee, said, “we do have so many who are here who try to fleece the system.” While Aderholt admitted the president does not have a lot of support for his policy in Washington on this issue, he repeated his personal position would be that the system needs to be reworked from the front end of the immigration issue to those illegally coming across the border.” Aderholt answered a question regarding a national sales tax or flat tax by concluding that whether either of those options was the right way to go was hard to say. “There are things about both of them that I like, I have not really come down as far as one or the other. I tend to like the flat tax … but I am very open to a national sales tax if it was proven to work.” Aderholt didn’t feel there was a sufficient amount of interest and support across the country to accomplish either one at present, and until there was a grassroots ground swell of the people putting pressure on the Congress nothing would be done to change the present tax system. One questioner, calling those (primarily Democrats) who seem to oppose everything put forth by the Republicans as obstructionists, asked for Aderholt to comment. Aderholt, among other comments, replied, “I think they get a lot of pressure from their leadership on the Democrat side are telling their members we cannot support the President’s agenda even if there are good things in it, because that makes us look bad. So to characterize it as being obstructionist is a pretty accurate way to do it.” In answering a question on pro-life issues, Aderholt mentioned a partial victory by the passing in the House of a piece of legislation that would ban transportation of a minor across state lines for an abortion. It now has to pass in the Senate. While admitting there are those who simply have a different perspective, there are those who simply want to oppose the President because he is a Republican, and both Houses are controlled by the Republicans, he said. Aderholt, a strong supporter of religious freedom and values, said in answering a question surrounding freedom of religion and the movement to remove In God We Trust from our pledge and our money, “I was really shocked while attending a hearing on the Ten Commandments … when people out on the streets … were handing out papers that said, A Secular Pledge – For a Secular Nation, and that was their goal. “Being able,” Aderholt said, “to say you recognize God as a part of the foundational and moral fiber of this country is fundamental to our society.” In light of the recent questions surrounding the travel records of Republican Minority Leader Tom Delay, a facetious question as to whether he had his travel records in order, (to which he answered yes) brought a response in defense of Delay. “He is an effective leader in the House of Representatives, and because he is so effective there are a lot of Democrats that are trying to attack him,” he said. The Marshall County Republican Party Chairman, Jason Upton, speaking of future political campaigns, told the gathering, “we are committed to putting forth a Republican ticket that all Marshall County people can be proud of and can offer there support to.”
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