Recent Programs - Sen. Corker

U.S. Senator Bob Corker Addresses Rotary Club

by Bob Augustin Jr.

      United States Senator Bob Corker was the special guest of the Lawrenceburg Rotary Club at its October 17, 2008 meeting.  Sen. Corker told the club that he was impressed by the fact that the Lawrenceburg Rotary Club owned its own building.  The Senator said he had visited many service clubs over the years and none of them owned their own building.  He said he was a member of the Chattanooga Rotary Club and they rented.

        Sen. Corker then addressed several issues currently facing the country.  Sen. Corker said, as member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he was working to free America from its dependence on foreign oil supplies by promoting alternative domestic sources of fuel.  Our dependence on foreign oil is not only an economic issue but also a national security issue and they two cannot be separated.  That is why, Corker continued, he also asked to serve on the Forgeign Relations committee in the Senate.

       As a small businessman, Sen. Corker said that he wanted to serve on the Small Business and Entrepeneurship Committee and the Banking Committee.  When some of his colleagues who had served in the Senate for many years heard that he wanted to be on the Banking Committee, they told him to choose another committee because banking was dull and boring and he nothing exciting every happened.  The Senator smiled and said that anyone who had watched the news lately knew how wrong they were.

      Regarding the banking crisis, Sen. Corker said that he supported the rescue plan to try to avoid an economic calamity that would effect every Tennesseean's and every American's ability to get a car loan, a home loan, a student loan, use a credit card or even cash a paycheck.  He also noted that he had voted against the $168 billion so-called economic stimulus package last spring and likened it to throwing money in a mud puddle.  "There is a stark difference between that giveaway and this investment plan", he continued.  "Through this resuce plan, we will purchase assets that will hopefully produces gains, and 100 percent of any money made will go toward the paying down of the debt.  If our resources are invested properly, the federal government will get all of its money back and the taxpayers may even see a return on the investment."