E-Newsletters
In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson sent two men on an expedition to explore the interior of the country, then known as the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark set off from St. Louis up the Missouri River looking for a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. They did not find it. This was not the last time that the Missouri River would confound our government.
Americans pause this week as we observe Memorial Day. No doubt many Americans will take advantage of the holiday to enjoy the outdoors. Some will attend cookouts with their neighbors; others will use the long weekend to visit family and friends. Americans work hard and they will no doubt enjoy a little extra time to spend with friends and family.
You may have noticed at the store you can now buy a little bottle that promises to give you five hours of energy. I don't know whether it actually works or not. I do know that the United States needs an energy boost, but there is no magic bottle to do it. The only solution is to increase our domestic production.
Our country's history has many examples of political patronage. Past presidents were able to appoint many civil service positions- including Postmaster General. Many big cities had political machines run by bosses who were able to steer jobs and contracts to favored supporters.
Those days are largely gone now. Companies compete for federal tax dollars based on criteria like price and quality. This practice takes politics out of the equation.
I am constantly amazed at how many bad ideas can be generated in Washington D.C. I like to say that its 17 square miles of logic free environment and the latest idea is just more proof.
The Administration wants to study alternative ideas for funding transportation projects like taxing the owners of a vehicle for every mile that they drive. In order to figure out how many miles each vehicle was driven, an electronic device would be installed to keep track.
The only thing better than twenty-twenty eyesight is hindsight. Hindsight is the ability to see history's mistakes and understand why. As gas prices continue to rise, our past inaction is partly to blame.
In 2001, I voted for a bill to expand the exploration of American sources of energy. The critics complained that it would do nothing to help gas prices for 10 years. Now ten years later, we have the same problem of supply not keeping pace with increases in demand.
Only in Washington would it make sense to raise the gas tax at a time when Missourians facing record prices at the pump. Yet, that is exactly what some national groups are asking Congress to do.
The current federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. In addition, many states have added their own gas tax on top to help pay for their infrastructure improvements.
It is important to remember that almost all of us are the children of immigrants. Our parents or grandparents or great- great-great grandparents came to America because it was and still is a land of opportunity. America as a nation is great because of immigration, not in spite of it.
Even today, America continues to welcome immigrants who come here legally. It is not legal immigration that upsets Americans, it is illegal immigration. Our country has become far too tolerant to those who have broken the law.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It's a lesson that history teachers like to drill into their students. However, in Congress, bad ideas are rarely subjected to a historical review.
The old adage of putting the ‘cart before the horse' seems pretty relevant to the on-going debate about immigration reform in Congress. No plan for immigration reform will work until we control the border. The fact is though, we don't control our own borders.
I have long advocated that the best solution along our porous southern border is an actual fence. I voted for 700 miles of fence along the border, and in 2007, I introduced legislation that called for a real fence across the entire border. Only a fraction of that fence has been completed.