Latta raps Obama policies, Dem Senate

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

U.S. Representative Bob Latta was in town Friday to talk to fellow Republicans at the county party’s monthly luncheon held at Willow Bend Country Club.

Although billed as an update on Congressional happenings this session, Latta’s speech mostly criticized the Obama administration and Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate for their failures to move forward on new energy initiatives and other legislation.

Latta hammered a number of presidential policies, targeting especially President Obama’s failure to give the go-ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline and efforts to increase off-shore drilling.

The congressman took his audience of party faithful back to the problems faced by motorists during the oil embargo of the mid-1970s. “Do you remember there were days when you couldn’t buy gas because the gas station was closed,” Latta said. “There were days you couldn’t buy gas because you either had an odd or even number and they said you couldn’t buy gas that day.”

Although giving the Obama administration no credit for the situation, the congressman said technological advances in shale oil exploration and energy exploration on private and government-owned land has significantly increased both oil and natural gas production in the United States.

“Today, the rest of the world is asking us what we are doing in this country to have this incredible production going on here,” Latta said. “Because of the technology today, we are leading the world in bringing up gas and oil.”

Unfortunately, the congressman said, the president threatens to snatch “defeat from the jaws of victory,” with his environmental policies, which include increasingly stringent environmental regulations on coal-fired electric power plants, as well as holding up the Keystone XL pipeline and obstructing efforts to increase off-shore oil exploration.

Latta also touched on another favorite topic: the surfeit of federal regulations that has drastically increased the cost of doing business in this country. Noting that the cost of federal regulations has risen from $1.7 trillion to $1.9 trillion, the congressman called for more reasonable regulatory policies that would not unduly restrict U.S. businesses’ ability to compete.

Latta also rapped U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrat senators for their legislative inaction. The congressman claimed that the House has sent 300 bills to the Senate that Reid and Democrats have killed through inaction.

Friday’s meeting also included an update on the upcoming general election, with Central Committee Chairman Marty Burchfield urging fellow Republicans to support party candidates, particularly Ohio Supreme Court candidates Judith French and Sharon Kennedy, and vote early, if possible.

Latta added his support to that of Burchfield, urging local Republicans to vote in November. “We’ve got to do our part, and I always tell folks that the biggest part we’ll ever do is vote,” the congressman noted.