Davis touts jobs at luncheon

Written by Byron Hensley | 23 February 2010

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Job creation was on the mind of U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis when he visited the area Tuesday as the guest at the Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce’s second “Power Luncheon.”
The chamber instituted the luncheons last year as a way to give local business people a chance to meet with government officials. Tuesday’s luncheon coincided with a tour Davis is taking of Tennessee’s 4th congressional district. He previously toured the district last summer to conduct a series of town hall meetings dealing with the subject of health care insurance reform. “One thing I didn’t see at those town hall meetings were businessmen.” Davis said the meeting with the chamber is part of a tour he has taken of the district meeting with chambers, industrial boards, etc. to ask the question, “What can Washington do to help you be better prepare to create jobs?”
While he came to solicit ideas for creating jobs from local business people, Davis came with some ideas of his own, including that of revisiting many of the free trade agreements the U.S. has signed with other countries over the years, agreements which have put companies which produce goods in America at a disadvantage to companies which employ cheap foreign labor.
He recalled that a few years ago, a small freshwater-shrimp business was started in district in Byrdstown. While initially successful, the company was eventually forced out of business due to competition from cheap shrimp imported from Thailand which was dumped on the American market.
“Why are we not doing everything to keep what we have, and not move it somewhere else?” he said.
Davis called Arnold Engineering & Development Center “a jewel” for the local economy. “There’s not a plane flying in our arsenal today that wasn’t tested at AEDC.”
He said that many military bases throughout the country which are closing are shifting operations to Huntsville, Ala.’s Redstone Arsenal, a fact which could benefit southern Middle Tennessee.
However, as the country reduces its production of the types of Cold War era weapons systems which have traditionally been tested at AEDC, efforts should be made to find new missions for the facility.
On the contentious issue of healthcare insurance reform, Davis said he did not vote for a reform bill that passed the House last year, because “It didn’t do what I thought it ought to.” But, he said, continually rising premiums are placing an increasing burden on small business which must be addressed.
“Health care has increased costs by 10 percent a year for a couple of years. We spend $2.3 trillion a year on health care today. If we do nothing about the costs, we will see a $3 trillion rise in the next 10 years.
“As we engage in dialogue about health care, we need to think of small businesses,” he said. Davis mentioned a friend who owns his own business and currently pays $1,800 a month for his health care insurance. Such prices place health insurance out of the reach of most residents in the district, some 65 percent of whom make $10 an hour or less, he said.
On the topic of energy policy, Davis said the U.S. needs to stop “Exporting dollars for crude oil….We send $350 billion a year to countries that are not our friend.” He said he was glad that the president in the State of the Union address last month expressed support for nuclear power, offshore drilling and clean coal technology as a way to reduce the nation’s economic decency on oil.
Davis said he supported the development of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power. He suggested another alternative, biomass, which creates energy from agricultural waste products, could be a potentially useful source in the district, given the number of cattle farms. But he said that as those sources are developed, the county should look at nuclear power and natural gas as “a natural bridge” to energy independence.
Davis was critical of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) passed in 2008, which provided $700 billion to bail out the big “casino banks” of Wall Street such as Goldman Sachs. “They don’t loan money to small business,” and their bailout has hurt small rural banks that provide capital to small business, he said. Davis suggested that Congress needs to take another look at the Glass-Steagall Act originally passed in the Great Depression, which prevented “casino banking” practices.
He said that there are several federal programs which provide low-interest loans, some of which are a part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment (stimulus) Act and some of which are pre-existing, which are available to help small businesses start and expand. “Local entrepreneurs have to be willing to use these assets,” he said.