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Highlands Today

Mahoney Talks About 2007 Accomplishments, 2008 Goals

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: January 7, 2008

After the Democrats took control of the Congress in 2007, they tried to limit funding on the war in Iraq. Some voters wanted the Democrats to stop the war. When will that happen?

Mahoney didn't see it that way: "I don't think that's the right characterization."

Instead, he wants President Bush to refocus on the war on terrorism.

Mahoney, D-Palm Beach, who was elected to represent Highlands County and the 16th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, spent Friday talking to television stations and newspaper reporters about his first year in Congress.

"When this president was elected in 2000, he promised he would never engage in nation building," Mahoney said. After Sept. 11, 2001, Bush declared war on terrorism.

But instead, Mahoney said, terrorism has grown all over the world, and America has spent its time and money on rebuilding Iraq. Bush should go after Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, Mahoney said.

Florida Problems

During his first term, Mahoney and other Democrats moved legislation through the House that established a national catastrophic fund to lower insurance rates. It's still awaiting a vote in the full U.S. Senate.

Mahoney has also worked on the Everglades problem, which affects Highlands County. Fresh water in rivers is flowing out to sea instead of staying where it can irrigate crops or fill lakes, and tainted water is causing algae blooms in the Everglades.

"We need to give people the money to start fixing that thing," Mahoney said. "We need to make the federal government stand up and meet its obligations in the Everglades."

In 2008, Mahoney will work on funding to fix Fisheating Creek, where he used to own a ranch, and the Kissimmee River.

"We're allowing the water to run off, and six months later we're in a drought," Mahoney said.

Veterans Funding

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Mahoney said, "is finally funded at the level we need them to."

It's ridiculous, he said, that veterans who served in 1945 must endure a new deal, to pay fees and co-payments and meet income requirements.

After President Bush vetoed a measure that would have built a veteran's service office in Sebring, Mahoney and other Democrats passed a different bill, and came up with $400,000.

On Monday, Mahoney and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson will announce projects that affect Highlands County. In combination with the energy bill, the farm bill will guarantee that blenders – the people who make gasoline with ethanol – will buy ethanol made, not just from corn, but from orange pulp and peels discarded at the juice factories. Currently, peel and pulp is also being used in cattle feed.

Finally, Mahoney said, he will push the federal government to fully fund border security, including Florida coasts and ports.

"The Bush administration talks tough on border security, but they've never funded it," Mahoney said.

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