Pryor calls debt nation's most pressing issue

U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor braved the heavy rains and winds Wednesday to appear at a town hall meeting at Osceola City Hall. Pryor came into the building soaking wet after touring the Plum Point Power Plant, a coal-powered energy plant located near Osceola.

The most pressing issue in our nation's capital, Pryor said, was the national debt.

"It's not fair to blame and point fingers" at each other for the national debt, he said. "It's been going on for many,many years."

In the last 40 years, the United States budget has been balanced only five times, the senator said.

If all senators and representatives agree to work together to solve the problem, it will happen, he said.

"We all share responsibility. Now, it's time for us to get together and work through this."

Pryor said a group of six senators has been working on a plan to help get spending under control and allow the excess to help repay the multiple-trillion dollar debt over the next several years, he said.

The group is working with the debt commission, a bi-partisan group that has spent the last year looking at ways to solve the problem. Pryor said he and others in Congress are trying to "stop all the games and get our act together."

Arkansans and all other citizens may see some tough cuts in the future to help reduce spending and the national debt. Pryor said he is committed to making sure those cuts are carefully considered before they are made.

"We can't just chop, chop, chop," he said.

The senator also spoke about taxes and how the code is very complicated.

"It's complicated because of the special deals it provides for special people," Pryor said. The way the current code is written, General Electric did not pay any taxes this year, he said. And Google, the large Internet company, received tax credits that allowed it to keep its employees in Europe.

"Why should we give a company a break for have workers in another country?" the senator asked.

In spite of these problems, the senator said he was optimistic about the future.

"Lots of things that are happening in the world are scary," he said. "But folks in this country are notorious for coming together to accomplish a goal. We shouldn't be scared. We should instead see this as a wake-up call to all work together,"

The Federal Trade Commission and the Commodity Futures Trade Commission are looking at the world's oil markets in an effort to make trading more fair, the senator said. Congress is also working on getting more oil leases approved on federal lands, he said.

"There is now drilling on federal lands all over the country," the senator said. But 70 percent of those current oil leases are not being drilled. It could take five years or more to see sustainable oil production from the new drilling sites, he said.

Shallow water and deep water drilling is beginning to pick up in the Gulf of Mexico, the senator said, which could have a positive effect on gas prices. The price of fuel affects the cost of everything, especially the transportation of goods. "$4 a gallon gas is no good for the economy."

Pryor also spoke about the national healthcare bill.

"Even the healthcare industry recognizes the need to change" the national healthcare climate, the senator said. "We have the best health care available in this country, but not everyone can afford it."

While the end result of the health care bill is not certain, Pryor said he is confident that the changes will be good for the people of Arkansas.

The senator said he supported the complicated bill because it was a chance to make changes where they were desperately needed. If the plan does not solve the problems with the nation's healthcare, it can always be changed, he said.

"We'll continue to tweak it to fix things as we need to," he said.

dhilton@blythevillecourier.com