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

January 25, 2008

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year to all of you. The Senate has reconvened after the holiday break and I am looking forward to working hard for Georgia and to watching this busy presidential election. Since Congress adjourned in December, I have spent these last few weeks visiting constituents in Georgia and visiting our troops in Iraq. In the first week of January, I met with U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and in Africa, and I’ll tell you more about that below. I also spent several days meeting with constituents in Georgia in the towns of Blairsville, Cleveland, Dahlonega, Dublin, Eatonton, Milledgeville and Young Harris, so I could hear firsthand the issues on your minds before returning to represent your interests in Washington, D.C.

Visit to Iraq, Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea
I made my third trip to Iraq a few weeks ago to check the progress of our U.S. troops and to thank them for the work they are doing. I am pleased to report that there has been a dramatic drop in violence and that conditions on the ground have improved so much that I was able to remain overnight in Baghdad and to walk the streets – both of which had been prohibited on my previous trips in 2006 and 2005. We also met with several Iraqi government officials on this trip and I believe this year is the “window of opportunity” for the Iraqi government to prove it is capable of achieving and maintaining stability. They must prove themselves before we withdraw our troops from the country and before President Bush leaves office at the end of this year. I got the distinct impression from our meetings with Iraqi government leaders that they understand this sense of urgency and they understand that the commitment from the United States is strong but our patience is not without limit.

On this same trip, I also visited two African nations: Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea. In Djibouti, I toured its global port and met with U.S. soldiers at Camp Lemonier, the U.S. military’s largest footprint in Africa. In Equatorial Guinea, I toured a liquefied natural gas facility that has begun sending $25 million shipments of liquefied natural gas to the plant at Elba Island near Savannah, Georgia. As a result of the huge investment from oil companies in Equatorial Guinea, the country has gone from being the world’s poorest nation to having the world’s fastest growing economy. Its vast supply of gas will help the United States reduce our reliance on gas from other regions of the world.

Economic Stimulus Package
President Bush and U.S. House of Representative leaders have crafted an economic stimulus package this week to help keep our economy growing and creating jobs. The economic growth package will include rebate checks for those with adjusted gross incomes under $75,000 for a single taxpayer and $150,000 for married couples. Rebate checks will include a base amount determined by the greater of two options: (a) Income tax paid in 2007, with a maximum of $600 for a single taxpayer and $1,200 for married couples; or (b) $300 for an individual and $600 for a married couple, provided the individual or couple earned income of at least $3,000 in 2007. A children’s bonus also will be included in the rebate check calculation. Anyone qualifying for the base amount also receives an additional $300 per child, with no cap on the number of children.

I believe there is a commitment within both parties to find common ground and pass an economic stimulus package quickly. Whatever happens in our economy will largely be determined by how we choose to respond to the current situation, including what action the government takes. There are short-term measures Congress can take to make a difference. We need to be focusing on prudent and appropriate steps that will put money back in the pockets of consumers and have an immediate and positive impact on the economy. Then Congress can focus on taking long-term steps to stabilize the economy. This includes reducing the federal deficit, changing our budget process and sticking to spending priorities and pursuing fundamental changes to our tax system.

I am also working on drafting legislation to offer a tax credit to homebuyers as a way to help stimulate the economy. This was a strategy that was very successful during the mid-1970s and I believe it would help today. I will have more details for you in next week’s newsletter after I fine-tune the draft legislation.

Water
I continue to fight every day for Georgia in the decades-old war over water with Alabama and Florida. I hope the governors of the three states will be able to reach an agreement soon. On Monday, Senator Chambliss and I met with Brigadier General Joseph Shroedel of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as leaders from the West Point Lake Coalition and the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce. During that meeting, we continued to encourage the Corps to begin updates of the outdated water control manuals for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) and Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basins in order to reflect 21st century water demand and usage in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Georgia’s water issues have raised a lot of discussion regarding the idea of interbasin transfers, which would involve cities pulling water from one river system and piping it into another river’s watershed. However, I believe interbasin transfers are not a viable solution.

Presidential Line-Item Veto Power
Yesterday, I announced I am co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would allow the President to use the line-item veto to either eliminate or reduce appropriations in any bill passed by the Congress. We must take bold and immediate steps to end the reckless spending that is threatening the future of our nation. This amendment will give the President much-needed authority to remove items from appropriations bills that are considered wasteful on a national perspective.

Congress passed a line-item veto bill in 1996, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. The 1996 bill allowed the president to cancel, but not reduce, spending items in appropriation bills. The legislation I am co-sponsoring would give the President more flexibility by allowing him to cancel or reduce any appropriation passed by Congress. One of the problems we have in America with deficit spending is spending money on projects that by anybody’s definition are unnecessary projects. We need to have politicians justifying what they just spent rather than promising what they will spend.

What’s on Tap for Next Week?

Next week President Bush will speak to Congress in his annual State of the Union address. The Senate will also continue debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson