Duncan Says Hurricane Spending Excessive

LESLI BALES-SHERROD
THE DAILY TIMES

OCTOBER 11, 2005

The federal government does not need to spend $200-250 billion on hurricane relief U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. said Monday at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.

That was just one financial issue the fiscally conservative Duncan touched on Monday during a federal legislative briefing at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.

Duncan, a Republican from Knoxville, was the only member of the local congressional delegation to attend; Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., sent a field representative while Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., was not represented.

Having led an 11-member delegation to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi last week, Duncan told chamber members the devastation is ``more dramatic when you see it in person'' and ``far worse in Mississippi.'' However, Duncan said he does not think the federal government needs to spend $200-250 billion on hurricane relief.

``We've already appropriated $62 billion ... and we've got a lot of money left (to spend),'' he said.

Duncan cited constituents' concerns that the federal government is sending ``too much money too fast down there.'' As chairman of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, Duncan will be holding three hearings on hurricane relief later this month.

Asked whether the federal government will be better organized and prepared the next time a natural disaster strikes, Duncan said there were lessons learned, but defended the hurricane response as ``better and quicker than any other country'' would have responded to a similar disaster.

``We sometimes legislate to what the big thing is on the 24-hour news channels, and that is not a way to legislate,'' Duncan said. ``Will we ever handle it perfectly? No, but we'll be in better shape next time.''

Asked by Dave Thomas of Thomas PC Consulting why a Republican-controlled administration, House of Representatives and Senate are continuing to spend money and make government bigger, Duncan could only defend himself as one of the ``tightest'' members in the House.

``Every bill up there has a motherhood-and-apple-pie title to it,'' Duncan said, noting he voted against Head Start legislation because Congress had increased its funding 100 percent during the last 10 years, which is three times the rate of inflation.

``Congress needs to learn to say no,'' Thomas said.

FairTax discussed

In keeping with a financial theme, Duncan said he supports a ``FairTax'' that would replace federal income taxes -- including personal, estate, gift, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment and corporate taxes -- with a single rate federal retail sales tax.

``Everybody who is paying what they owe (in federal income taxes) is paying for drug dealers, illegal immigrants and the so-called underground economy,'' Duncan said.

A FairTax would solve that problem by taxing consumption instead of income. The more you buy, the more you pay, according to the Americans for Fair Taxation Web site.

And spending up to the poverty level is tax-free through a monthly rebate, which makes the option ``one of the best ways'' to help the poor, Duncan said.

But Duncan warned the legislation, which was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means in January, will be ``difficult to pass, at least in the immediate future.''

``The IRS is strongly opposed, as are groups with (tax) breaks,'' Duncan said. ``Plus the Senate and House finance committees don't want to do it because they would lose a lot of their power.''

Carolyn Carter Jensen, field representative for Frist, said Frist looks forward to considering all proposals, but has not formally taken a position on the FairTax because hearings are still being held.

Other issues

In other discussion, Duncan said

* He supports an energy bill that would not immediately lower gasoline prices at the pumps, but would in two or three years.

* He thinks passengers flying in from foreign countries should be checked at the airport for avian flu like they were during the SARS scare.

* He thinks U.S. troops should get out of Iraq. Duncan, who opposed the war from the beginning, said that when he hears people say clichés like ``stay the course'' and ``finish the job,'' it reminds him of one finding out he is going the wrong way down the interstate and deciding to continue anyway. ``The sooner we get out of there, the better,'' he said.