In a speech to the Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann cast his vision for Tennessee’s Third District and the country while speaking on some of the major issues he sees facing Congress currently.
Touching on everything from the status of the Chickamauga Lock, which was recently allocated another $29 million by a Senate panel to restarting construction to current issues like the national debt, Iran’s nuclear program, and education, Rep.
Fleischmann gave a full briefing on the most important issues he is currently dealing with.
With regard to the lock, Rep. Fleischmann said that progress had been stymied by a ban on congressional earmarks and the broken nature of the trust fund which was not adequately funding construction.
However, he stated that construction is now scheduled to start next year thanks to funds from an increased user fee and diesel fuel tax and he has placed binding language in the bill for the appropriations committee on which he serves that will maintain the lock’s priority in congressional spending.
Rep. Fleischmann also spoke at length about national issues that he believes should be prioritized more heavily, specifically the $18 trillion national debt and the amount of mandatory spending is “squeezing discretionary spending.”
He stated that mandatory spending such as social security and medicare take up two thirds of the federal budget. As that grows it could put pressure on Congress to cut funding for other things, like defense, which may leave the nation vulnerable in future conflicts.
Rep. Fleischmann said, “We live in a very dangerous world.”
He pointed to Iran voicing a lack of confidence that a legitimate deal could be reached with the country on its nuclear program and that the United States cannot allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapons program as North Korea has done.
He said, “Iran continues to foster terrorism with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.” He said that stability is needed in the region with allies like Israel because the recent rise of ISIS has shown that terrorist groups can still be sadly successful in their efforts.
But Rep. Fleischmann also expressed hope about the future saying that he sees tremendous optimism and skill in the millennial generation in areas that older generations simply can’t identify with.
He said that it will be increasingly important to foster those technical skills that young people are developing so that they can step into well-paying jobs in new fields in manufacturing or research.