Chelsea Burnette
Cordele Dispatch
Cordele —
U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss was in Cordele on Wednesday to speak at the Cordele Rotary Club meeting.
He was welcomed by Crisp IDC Executive Director Bruce Drennan. “It is my pleasure to introduce our guest speaker today,” he said. “Senator Chambliss was first elected to Congress in 1994 to represent Georgia’s 8th congressional district.
“He has since been honored with numerous awards for his work in the fields of agriculture, defense, budget and national security. Georgia Trend Magazine has consistently named him one of Georgia’s Most Influential Georgians, and in January 2009, he was named the ‘2009 Georgian of the Year.’’
Senator Chambliss was greeted with a round of applause and a standing ovation. “Politics is a fascinating business,” he said.
“It is going to be an interesting year with our elections. It’s going to be close and all boil down to our candidates.”
He reported that the economy has a $13 trillion debt, and it is rising every day. “Something must be done. I have introduced a bill which will use natural gas for 18-wheelers. We have enough natural gas to last us 100 years.”
Chambliss discussed the immigration problems in Arizona. “Our federal government is not doing what it’s supposed to do. Arizona is handling it in the way the government is supposed to handle it.”
He commended the local community for its inland port project. “It is a very creative and innovative idea,” he said. “We need those types of ideas all over the United States.”
Lastly, Chambliss commented on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We are on schedule to start pulling troops out of Iraq in July 2011. We should be out of there by the end of next year. Iraq will never be a totally safe and secure country. It just happens to sit in a very violent part of the world.
“The U.S. military is head and shoulders above any other military in the world,” concluded Chambliss. “I want to thank you for having me today and God bless you.”
