By Rep. Alan Farley
Jefferson County files for bankruptcy. The State general fund budget is 400 million in the red. Now, our U.S. Supreme Court endorses the foundation of ObamaCare. I say “God Bless America”. We are once again given chances to prove why we are the greatest nation in the world, and blessed by God. The Bible story of the three Hebrew boys in the furnace comes to mind. After a while, the evil king realized there were actually four men walking around in that fiery furnace. HE is still here. (No, I’m not making any references to the evil king).
Jefferson County will get its act together. Our new commissioners, and county manager, are slowly identifying the holes in the boat, and plugging them. Our previous commissioners were in the big ship building business. Obviously they forgot about the stories of the Titanic. They built a titanic of a sewer system. And, a titanic county owned hospital. Both were built for the operators, not the passengers. Or, patients. (We owe over 3 billion on a sewer system that is used by approximately 55% of the residents of the county. We own a hospital that costs 93 million a year, and has 35-55 beds filled each night).
We have a governor who doesn’t get paid. When we took office the state unemployment was approaching 10%. The Republican leadership is making adjustments, but with the country’s economic depression, and 136 years of titanic builders in Montgomery, it is a slow process to get this furnace to a proper operating temperature.
Like most states, Alabama is facing a difficult budget situation. Applying fiscally conservative principles, Alabama Republicans have cut more than half a billion dollars out of the state budgets since gaining control of the Legislature in 2010. We also passed a long-needed reform of the state’s employee pension system that will save more than $5 billion over 30 years. That’s a lot of fat-trimming.
It just goes to show how completely different our approach is from President Obama and the Democrats. We are trying to reform government and rein in wasteful spending, and President Obama has forced a shocking expansion of government that raises taxes on businesses and families. We’re trying to incentivize business and create jobs, and President Obama is mandating job-killing bureaucratic regulations.
ObamaCare needs to be repealed and replaced with a conservative approach to better healthcare. We’ve seen first-hand in Alabama that less government works. That’s why we’re taking conservative approaches to incentivize businesses and create jobs while President Obama chooses bigger government over the people. As with the Titanic, “Man the Lifeboats”!
Remember, “We are One Nation under God, Indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for All.” Keep your head up, and “God Bless America”!!!
