E-Newsletters

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.

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.

Energy prices continue to climb having a major impact on family budgets in Missouri. Meanwhile, our nation's unemployment rate continues to hover around double digits. In Washington, those problems are seen as two separate issues. They shouldn't be. We can create a win-win situation for Missourians if we find solutions that tackle both problems simultaneously.

We can both create jobs and push us further down the path of energy independence. I would pursue an all-of-the-above solution for energy independence. A part of the solution is nuclear energy.

In our world today, we strive to do things quicker. Jules Verne wrote the classic novel, "Around the world in eighty days" in 1873. In 1929, it took the Graf Zeppelin 21 days to circle the globe. In 2006, Steve Fossett set the world record for the fastest trip around the world at 67 hours and one minute.

Americans expect things to happen and we expect them to happen quickly. Unfortunately, there are very few quick fixes for rising gas prices. We are paying the price for being dependent on other nations for our energy.