A Weekly e-Newsletter from
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)

March 2, 2007

Dear Friends,                              

During last week’s Senate recess, I was able to travel around Georgia for several meetings and spoke at Rotary Club luncheons in Ellijay and Bremen.  It was wonderful to be able to meet with many of you and hear your thoughts on the new Congress.  I got the important message that, despite what we may be led to believe by the media, you still support our troops and doing whatever is necessary to win in Iraq and the global War on Terror. 

Support for Troops

On Wednesday, I took that message back to Washington and spoke on the Senate floor in support of U.S. efforts in the War on Terror.  This week, the Senate debated a bill that would implement several recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  While many of us may differ, there’s one thing we don’t differ on – the fact that we’ll give our troops the support and the finances and everything they need to carry out the mission to which they are assigned.  President Bush recently proposed sending more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq as part of a strategy to help the Iraqi government assume more control and more accountability for securing the country. I support the President’s strategy as the best hope of giving the Iraqi government an opportunity to secure the country and achieve political reconciliation.  The people of Iraq are about to be on the doorstep of having equity in their country for the first time in all of time.  We’re this close to accomplishing the ultimate goal, which is a peaceful democracy in Iraq, terrorism without a sanctuary and a statement that people are more important than power and dictators and terror. And the United States is the country that has in history led and today needs to lead as well. After 9/11, within days the United States of America changed and the President announced to the Congress that we would no longer, as a nation, have a defense policy based on reaction. We would have a defense policy based on preemption, because we learned on 9/11 you can’t wait to find the smoking gun in terrorism to react. If you do, it’s too late.

Repeal the Tax Code

Today, I introduced legislation to repeal the U.S. tax code by 2010 and to force Congress to vote to reauthorize it or replace it with a new system.  My bill also creates a commission that would be required to examine and to recommend to Congress plausible replacements for the tax code. A flat tax and a national sales tax must be among the options it examines.The Tax Code Termination Act would terminate the current tax code on December 31, 2010. To ensure a smooth transition to a new system, Congress must approve a new tax code by July 4, 2010. If a new system is not approved by July 4, 2010, Congress would be forced to vote to reauthorize the current tax code. History has taught us that if we don’t impose a deadline and terminate the tax code by a date certain, overhauling our inefficient system is nearly impossible.  All options should be on the table and the only way to fairly consider all of them is to start from scratch.  Original co-sponsors of the legislation include Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and David Vitter (R-La.). 

In Georgia, we have a saying when people are always treating the symptom and not treating the cause. We say they’re avoiding the 800-pound gorilla in the living room. Well, we have a six-pound gorilla that's in the United States Capitol. It’s called the U.S. tax code. Printed in the eight-point type, the U.S. tax code weighs six pounds, but the burden is more than an 800-pound gorilla on the back of American business and on the back of American families.

Border Security

During last week’s recess, I traveled to the U.S.–Mexico border in Arizona with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to view how our progress on the new fence, the increase in ground control radar and the increase in border agents are helping to stem the tide of illegal immigration.  Along with six other members of Congress, Secretary Chertoff and I traveled to the Arizona portion of the Yuma Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Yuma Sector patrols 118 miles of border with Mexico, between the Yuma-Pima County line in Arizona and the Imperial Sand Dunes in California. As a result of the construction of 80 miles of double-barrier fencing, the installation of ground control radar and the doubling of border patrol agents from 400 to more than 800, the number of people trying to enter the United States illegally in the Yuma Sector has dropped dramatically in the past couple of years, from about 118,000 arrests down to 15,000 arrests. 

This visit proves to me that a combination of aerial surveillance, ground radar, physical barriers where appropriate and the right kind of border patrol force will dramatically reduce and ultimately end illegal immigration.  During the visit, we viewed existing infrastructure as well as new fencing construction authorized through last year’s Secure Fence Act. The area is a primary focus for the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Border Initiative, a multi-year plan to secure America’s borders and reduce illegal immigration. We also toured the Arizona-Mexico border on-the-ground and via helicopter and briefed on border activity by officials from U.S Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

There is no way you can reform legal immigration unless you first stop the porous borders and the flow of illegal immigrants, and this trip today has convinced me of that more than ever.  I stand ready to work with any senator on comprehensive immigration reform as long as securing the borders is the foundation of that reform. 

New Orleans/Katrina Rebuilding Efforts

On Monday, I visited New Orleans for the first time since the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to assess the rebuilding efforts and to participate in a field hearing that the Environment and Public Works Committee held at the Louisiana Supreme Court.  Given this Committee’s jurisdiction over the Civil Works mission of the Army Corps of Engineers and my position as the Ranking Member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, I was especially interested in hearing from the Corps regarding their hurricane response operations and their ongoing reconstruction and restoration efforts in the New Orleans area.  I will do all I can to work with my colleagues on this Committee and in the Senate to provide the proper oversight of the Corps and to ensure that they fulfill their obligations to the people of New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. 

Rural Policing Institute

Today, the Senate approved an amendment Senator Chambliss and I co-sponsored to S.4, the “Improving America’s Security Act of 2007 ,” to assist law enforcement personnel by creating a special, rural-focused law enforcement training institute that would be administered by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, known as FLETC, located in Glynco, Ga.  The amendment was overwhelming approved by a vote of 82 to 1.  The Rural Policing Institute is unique in that experts will be deployed directly to rural communities and provide at-home training on a local level for individuals who may not otherwise have access to specialized training opportunities.  By having a program where we can send instructors to these rural police departments, we maximize our training capabilities and ensure that these officers are able to receive on the job training without reducing manpower.  This program is a win-win for our law enforcement personnel, for FLETC and for the American taxpayer.           

What’s on Tap for Next Week?

Next week, the Senate will continue debate on legislation that would implement several recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson