Beech Tree News Network

Congressman Brett Guthrie (R), who represents Kentucky’s 2nd Congressional District which includes Butler County, was in Morgantown on Thursday, as a part of his tour of county seats in his district. Guthrie spoke with constituents for over an hour at the Butler County Extension Service and covered a variety of topics.

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Guthrie opened his comments by talking about the Butler County Schools Technology Center. He told the crowd that the Technology Center is one of the things he is most proud of from his career in politics. He used that point to enter into a dialog about the lack of accomplishments of the Obama Administration, and the lack of cooperation between members of the two opposing political parties. 

“Let’s find stuff we agree upon,” said Guthrie of the divided Congress. He used the example of a recent bipartisan bill signing ceremony at the White House to illustrate his problems with the President. Guthrie said instead of using the moment to celebrate a moment of cooperation between the parties that President Obama used it as a chance to “wag his finger at us,” in Guthrie’s words. He continued saying, “At every turn he seems to make a choice to be divisive.”

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Another topic that drew questions was the recent scandal involving Veteran’s Administration hospitals. Several people in attendance shared their comments and stories about the V.A. Guthrie was asked if he expected there to be prosecutions stemming from the investigation. He answered that he thought there should be prosecutions over the problems with the V.A. and pointed out that the falsification of records, etc. were all examples of fraud and those responsible should be held accountable.

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Guthrie said that the House of Representatives came up with an overhaul plan for V.A. hospitals at a cost of $17-billion, far short of the $52-billion fix proposed by the Senate. He used this as yet another example of the inability of the parties to work together.

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The Obama Administration’s war on coal was a topic of much discussion. Guthrie bluntly told the crowd that the Obama Administration is “trying to put coal out of business.” The Congressman told the crowd that if America doesn’t burn her coal that China will, and asked, “Who will burn it cleaner, the US or China.”

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Guthrie made several points about the US energy policy. He cited recent estimates that the United States could have enough oil reserves to last another 200 years or more and stated, “It’s the EPA that’s stopping it from coming out of the ground.”  He also made the point that one reason gas prices are so high is that EPA regulations make it almost impossible to open new petroleum refineries in the United States, adding that no new refineries or pipelines have been built since the 1970’s. 

The Congressman closed his remarks by saying he is proud he was able to help get CorVac to Morgantown, and is still working to find more industry partners for the County. “Bringing people to Butler County is my job,” said Guthrie. 

His final question drew a short, direct answer. He was asked what it was going to take to get America moving forward again. He answered, “What we can do from a federal level is get the economy growing again.” He closed his remarks saying that the easiest way to stimulate the economy would be reforming the tax code and unleashing our energy reserves.

Story and Photos by Joe Morris, Beech Tree News