Rep. Bishop visits Valdosta

By Sharah Denton

VALDOSTA — U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) took questions on a wide variety of topics Saturday during a visit to Valdosta.

Bishop spoke at a meeting of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), Azalea City Chapter 1044, at the Austin’s Cattle Company restaurant.

“I am delighted to be here. I am proud of the history we have together for families, veterans and retirees,” he said.

Bishop said many federal employees are not receiving their fair share of Social Security benefits.

“I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that federal employees and their families are given their benefits,” he said.

He described a joint bipartisan committee with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate working together to improve the economy and jobs.

“It is very important that the bipartisan committee devise a plan for a long term, economic policy,” he said, “It is essential that congress passes a bipartisan legislative initiative. “

Bishop said the committee is set to convene in early September to discuss and agree on various issues.

“Our top priority has to be jobs. Our unemployment rate is astronomical,” he said.

He discussed providing American children with skills are essential to the work force and the decline in American graduates in math, engineering and science.

“I am very concerned. We have got to ensure that our young people have the skills for well paying jobs,” he said.

Bishop admitted that although he hates that America is falling behind China, India and European countries, that it is

a reality and something to take seriously.

“The majority of terminal degree graduates in math, science and engineering are not native born Americans,” he said, “China produces ten times more MBA (Master of Business Administration) graduates in I.T. (Industrial Technology), science and math.”

“We need American solutions; coming together across party lines and work together, we all have to join together to make a difference,” he said.

After his speech, Bishop took questions from the participants.

• The first question asked was: Why are people calling the recent health care plan by President Obama “ObamaCare?”

“One of the ways to discredit something is to discredit the name. Non-supporters of Obama associated his health care initiative with negativity,” answered Bishop.

• Another question was presented asking why are people show disrespect to the president to the extent of calling him either “mister” or simply by his last name.

“In my lifetime, this is the first president that has received the disrespect of this magnitude of any president. We should respect our commander-in-chief regardless if we agree with him or not,” answered Bishop.

He said everyone should honor and respect the office and the holder of the office simply because he is the president.

Bishop spoke about the honor and respect that China shows its leaders although it is a Communist country.

He recalled he recalled how everyone focused on simply doing what was best for China when he visited that country a few years ago.

“I wish America would get back to that kind of patriotism,” he said.

• Later, when asked about concerns of dependency on imported oil, Bishop explained that there were other forms of energy that would make America less dependent. By using nuclear and renewable energy he said, a decrease in the country’s dependency would take place. Unless the U.S. becomes energy independent, the country will constantly be dealing with problems in the Middle East, he said.

• Many participants voiced their concerns about water conservation.

“We have got to use our natural resources wisely,” he said, “We have learned and put in place funding for utilizing water and measuring how much we use.”

Bishop said water was a vital and critical natural resource for survival and should be taken seriously.