Snowe talks issues
with lunchtime diners at Bradley’s
PRESQUE ISLE — Visiting with lunchtime diners at Bradley’s Citgo & Convenience Store on North Street in Presque Isle, U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) recently asked residents to discuss their top concerns and priorities. Snowe greeted several patrons, listened to their ideas and answered questions.
“I appreciate the time people took to share their thoughts and concerns with me,” said Snowe. “We talked about jobs and the economy, about our nation’s debt crisis, and how lawmakers in Washington can better work together to solve the problems of our day. I assured those I met with that I am devoted to reining in our nation’s dangerous $14 trillion debt and enacting pro-growth solutions that create jobs and maintain our global competitiveness for generations to come. It is an honor to serve the people of Presque Isle and the state of Maine, and I am dedicated to finding solutions to the challenges faced by families every day.”
Contributed photo
U.S. SEN. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE (R-Maine) recently met with lunchtime diners at Bradley’s Citgo & Convenience Store on North Street in Presque Isle. Snowe has been holding meetings and doing street tours frequently throughout the state. While at Bradley’s, she greeted several patrons, listened to their top concerns and priorities, and answered questions. Posing with the senator are, from left: Carla Cyr, Bradley Cyr, Snowe, Mike Cyr, owner; and Greg Cyr.
Snowe has been holding meetings and doing street tours frequently throughout the state.
“I was pleased to have such a meeting in Presque Isle,” she said. “Everywhere I’ve gone, Mainers have raised legitimate concerns with respect to the mounting debt and budgetary recklessness, and my Presque Isle meeting was no different, as we discussed topics ranging from the importance of creating private sector jobs rather than expanding government to the imperative of forging energy independence for America to the over-regulation of our small businesses that is stifling economic growth precisely at a time when we are trying to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression.”
The senator, who has served in the U.S. Senate since 1994, said she “consistently finds these conversations to be thoughtful and reflective of the real concern and frustration shared by countless Mainers and Americans” that while government has grown, people haven’t seen any improvement in their own lives.
“I’ve been able to let them know that I certainly share their frustration because I feel it as well – as, frankly, I have always been a champion for fiscal responsibility and more limited government from my earliest days in the U.S. House and the Senate,” said Snowe. “Regrettably it is only now that the Congress is seriously focusing on budgetary matters that have been of deep concern to me, and to the extent that I have long believed is essential for America’s future.
“Indeed, in 2001, the last year of federal surpluses when we had a $128 billion surplus, I proposed a legislative ‘trigger’ mechanism that would have established specific targets to preserve our surpluses and reduce our federal debt, which at the time was $3.6 trillion,” she said. “And if I hadn’t met with opposition even from Republicans, maybe could have forestalled today’s $14.1 trillion debt. I introduced a so-called ‘lock box’ measure back in 1999 that called on Congress to reject any budget that would spend any portion of the Social Security surpluses for programs other than Social Security. And I’ve battled time and again for constitutional balanced budget amendments, from my very first term in Congress.”
Snowe said she couldn’t agree more that “outdated, ineffective and unnecessary government regulations are strangulating our small businesses.”
“That is why, as Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business Committee, I have introduced legislation – along with Sen. Tom Coburn – to build on current laws requiring federal agencies to review their regulations within 10 years of their date of enactment, to now mandate that federal agencies conduct reviews at least once every 10 years or else the regulation would expire,” she said. “The rationale is simple: If a regulation is not important enough for an agency to conduct a simple review at least once every 10 years, then it is not important enough to be on the books.”
In addition to meeting with lunchtime diners at Bradley’s, Snowe met later in the day with local Republican leaders at the Hampton Inn to find out what was on their minds.
