Congressman Peter Visclosky spoke to students and faculty about his views on a variety of topics including the bailout, the current United States energy situation and health care at Valparaiso University School of Law on October 22, 2008.
Visclosky, a native of Northwest Indiana, is the Congressional Representative for the first District of Indiana, which is comprised of Porter, Lake, Jasper, Newton and Benton counties. He is also the chair of the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.
In addressing the recent bailout package passed by Congress, Visclosky said he, “took great umbrage as an accounting major,” with the total amount of the bailout and the short time frame in which it passed. He said he felt that alternatives should have been explored, and that liquidity issues and market stability should have been addressed as well as possible changes to current bankruptcy laws. Visclosky also said that current executive compensation needs to be dealt with as some corporate executives, “are being paid 250 times what the average U.S. worker makes.”
As to other possible approaches, Visclosky said that when Sweden faced a similar financial crisis, the government took control of assets. “We should have considered what they did,” said Visclosky instead of a, “no strings attached” bailout.
In discussing what the government is considering in addition to the bailout, Visclosky said that Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, “is moving towards dealing with the liquidity issues of the financial crisis.” He also stated that there is a strong movement afoot in Congress to do another stimulus package, with proposed figures ranging from 61 billion to 300 billion dollars.
Visclosky also noted that problems with the future market were raised in the late 1990’s while President Clinton was in office, but the Clinton administration passed up the proverbial first bite of the apple.
Regarding the current U.S. energy situation, Visclosky said that he would like the U.S. to, “move to a carbon free economy.” As chair of the Energy and Water Development subcommittee, Visclosky has been looking into renewable sources of energy for the past few years and he believes that the energy problem is one that can be solved.
Visclosky said that you have to throw money at the problem, but also spend it as wisely as possible. For example, “I can’t promise to do anything to lower the price of gas, but I can do something to get better gas mileage in vehicles,” said Visclosky. He also stated that there is more coal in Indiana and Illinois than in all of Saudi Arabia, and that research is ongoing to determine if coal can be used in an environmentally sound way.
In researching other possible solutions to the energy issue, Visclosky said that part of the research they are looking to do is on building technology – “how do you build buildings that are energy efficient and do not need outside energy to run” their systems. Other areas in which energy research is being performed include solar and geothermal energy as well as wave and tidal action. Visclosky said that there is some thought that the Atlantic and Pacific coasts could provide vast amounts of energy for the U.S.
Regarding health care, Visclosky said, “the system is not working for people’s health currently.” He also stated that over the last two years, 89 million Americans under the age of 65 found themselves without health care at some point. “That’s wrong in this country; it’s the wrong social and economic policy,” said Visclosky. We need to find a, ”much more efficient system to provide health care,” and we also need to draw the line as to how we’re going to have medicine provided, said Visclosky. “People come here from all over the world to seek treatment at certain institutions or from certain people, but quality is not universal” in our current health care system, said Visclosky.
Visclosky also briefly talked about the war in Iraq and improving the current infrastructure, but said that specific policies regarding these issues depend on the outcome of the presidential election in November.
Visclosky is also in favor of extending the South Shore train service to Valparaiso and Lowell, Indiana to promote new economic growth in those communities and not just provide transportation to Chicago.
Rachel is a 3L and can be reached at Rachel.Sharron@valpo.edu
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