Burr Talks Politics, Economy at High School

By Joel Frady

United States Senator Richard Burr faced a crowd the morning of Monday, May 18, that didn't hesitate to ask

questions about the big issues: job creation, free trade, defining marriage, standardized testing and the state of Social Security were just some of the topics addressed.

Burr wasn't holding a press conference in Washington, DC, however; he was speaking to a crowd of 250 local students in the auditorium of Ashe County High School in West Jefferson. Burr spent an hour speaking with the students and responding to their questions, promising to "try to answer them, or dance around them as best as I can."

Before taking question, Burr described the legislative process and spoke about the current crisis.

"This is the worst economic times of my lifetime, and certainly of your lifetime," he told the students. He added that "we're $5 trillion in debt" and that "the federal budget has gotten to a magnitude that, without serious changes, is going to spin seriously out of control.

"The federal government is still buying everything they want," Burr continued. "The number one fear you should have today is if the government doesn't put the brakes on spending taxpayer money."

He later noted, "The federal government doesn't have enough money to buy our way out of this economic crisis."

Burr offered a solution to help the current economic crisis, however, saying that Washington needs to focus on the housing crisis since, due to the falling values of real estate, millions of Americans currently owe more on their home mortgages than their homes are worth.

"When what it is worth gets real close to what you owe, you change from buying things that you want to buying only things that you need," said Burr. He said the problem could be alleviated by "massively offering every American that wants to the opportunity to re-finance their house at 4.5 percent for 30 years. When you do that, on average, it would put an additional $268 a month into every person's pocket that refinanced." He later noted that if the federal government does not address the issue, "we're going to continue to see Americans affected in an adverse way. The result of that is many people will lose their home, and that doesn't have to happen."

When a student asked Burr if he could "see a light at the end of the tunnel" regarding the current economic crisis, and if the government's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would work, Burr responded: "the truth is, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel because we [the federal government] haven't done what we needed to turn the economy around."

Burr pointed out that, in his opinion, the federal government has overstepped their boundaries in the last few months. Burr challenged the students to "find where in the [United States] Constitution" it grants the government "the power to remove the CEO of a company. We just did that to General Motors - we demanded that the CEO be removed and demanded that half the board be removed."

Burr added that these actions, to him, were " a big red flag" because "the United States government does not have the power to do that.

"The federal government was never intended to own a stake in a private company," he continued. "That's just not the role of the federal government. We've gotten into the business of picking winners and losers." He gave the example of the additional challenges currently facing Ford dealerships.

"General Motors is [offering] zero percent financing with your money," said Burr, "but Ford is trying to gut it out without taking federal money."

He later noted that "the federal government was never meant to be competition for the private sector."

Another question Burr faced was whether or not the federal government should address the definition of marriage. Burr said that the issue should be addressed on the state level, but noted that there are "numerous references to marriage" in federal regulations, "primarily in the IRS code," and that the federal government should only address the issue "where it's used to clarify federal law. I don't see it as a federal responsibility."

When asked about the state of Social Secutiy, Burr said "it is unsustainable in its current configuration," down from 16 citizens paying in for every one taking out when the program began to it's current 2.75:1 ratio, and he predicted that "it will change drastically."

He noted, however, that the Medicare system "is in worse shape," that it could "be done in 2017" and that "we've got to address Medicare before we get to Social Security."

Burr was asked about President Barack Obama, who he described as "a good friend" that he disagrees with 90 percent of the time.

"I'm there to support him when I agree with him and to fight for what I believe in when I disagree with him," Burr said.

Burr also fielded a question about being a member of the minority in the Senate as opposed to being a member of the majority. Burr said "it stinks," but noted that it has "been liberating because the majority are the ones responsible for setting the agenda" which gives him the opportunity to "delve more into policy."

Terry Williams, who teaches history and civics at the high school, said that none of the questions the students asked were pre-written and that the students came up with the questions "off the cuff.

"That's the reason I was so pleased with their questions," he said. He noted that his civics class studies the legislative process, so "to have a United States senator to speak about the process is certainly invaluable for Ashe County students."

Burr also told the audience that if any of their questions were not answered, they could e-mail him or call his offices and he would respond to their questions.

To contact Burr, call (202) 228-1616 or click to burr.senate.gov.