By KEVIN NEVERS

For U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, the proposed extension of the South Shore commuter line to Valparaiso and Lowell is a no-brainer.

Quite simply, it would be “transformational for our economy,” he told a crowd of constituents at the Westchester Library Service Center at a town forum on Thursday.

By a conservative estimate, Visclosky said, the South Shore extension would create 26,000 jobs and over 30 years generate $82 billion in economic activity. “How many more steel mills would we have to build to get those jobs?” he wondered.

Visclosky conceded that the projected cost of the project, $1 billion, is formidable. “But this is about the future of Northwest Indiana and getting off the dime,” he said. “There is a cost to doing nothing.”

Still, Visclosky added, half of the cost or $500 million would come in the form of federal funding. “Half of it is money we’ve already sent to Washington, D.C., and can’t get back,” he said. And $150 million more would come in the form of a commitment by the Regional Development Authority.

“To stand still and do nothing and simply hope for the best is not going to do it,” Visclosky said. “We have to make something happen. We have to invest in ourselves.”

Visclosky did say that decisions about the use of land properly rest with local officials. “Land use is a local issue. Local officials act more responsibly about using land. That’s where the decision should lie, at the local level.”

Visclosky’s comments about the South Shore extension came near the end of the forum, in response to a question from the floor about “this South Shore nonsense.” He opened the event with prepared remarks about four pressing national issues.

Iraq

On the subject of the war in Iraq Visclosky repeated his position: he opposed it from the beginning, does not believe President Bush made a “compelling” case for it, and said that “there was no coherent plan about what to do when we got there.”

The Iraqis, meanwhile, are unable to provide their own security and still haven’t returned oil production to the pre-war level, Visclosky said. Fifteen of the 40 nations which have sent troops to Iraq have now withdrawn their forces and by this summer another quarter of the remaining nations may do the same. It’s time, he told constituents, for the U.S. to do so as well, hence his support for a resolution which would immediately re-deploy American troops consistent with their safety, create a “rapid response force” in the region, and “ratchet up” diplomatic efforts “for solving problems over there.”

Nevertheless, Visclosky spoke of the need to honor the “commitment, courage, and service” of U.S. troops in Iraq. “We owe it to them to get them equipment and resources for success on the battlefield and for their own security, as well as to assist them in their efforts for returning to civilian life.”

Health Care

Health care costs and accessibility remain problematic, Visclosky continued, as 47 million Americans have no insurance at all. Many of those who do have access have concerns about its quality, he said, and many more who have access through employer-provided insurance are loathe to leave jobs they don’t like for fear of losing their benefits.

Half of all bankruptcies in Indiana, Visclosky added, are the result of someone’s becoming “very ill” in a household.

There are three basic options, Visclosky said: to “stay the course” and maintain the status quo with employer-provided health insurance; to enact a program like Massachusetts’, in which people are required under law to have health insurance, to which they must contribute based on their ability to pay or be penalized; or to enact “a unified program sponsored by the U.S. government.”

Visclosky did not specifically take a position on any of the three options.

He did note that President Bush twice vetoed a bill which would have expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program from 6 million to 10 million children. “We’re confronted by an Administration that denies a problem exists,” he said.

Economy

The outsourcing of jobs remains a problem, Visclosky said. “We can’t stop businesses from outsourcing jobs but we don’t have to subsidize the effort.” He accordingly supports legislation which would render businesses which do outsource jobs ineligible for loans and grants

An aggressive China also remains a problem, where—amid “unsafe, very poor working conditions” and a “lack of environmental standards”—toxic products are exported to the U.S., subsidized products are dumped on our shores, and the currency is manipulated against the U.S. dollar. The result: a “huge” Chinese trade surplus.

President Bush failed to act on legislation which would have addressed currency manipulation, Visclosky told constituents, while on the subject of illegal dumping on the domestic steel pipe and tube market the U.S. trade representative was content to engage in “a dialogue” with China.

Energy

Still, for Visclosky’s money the $3.19 per gallon price of gas—as well as the rising cost of winter heating natural gas—is easily the most “immediately” important issue for Northwest Indiana residents. Not only is “an international cartel manipulating the price of oil internationally,” he said, but U.S. oil companies are “squeezing profits” from average Americans. By way of example, Visclosky pointed to a $400 million retirement package granted an oil company executive.

For Visclosky the national reliance on foreign oil and climatic change are both national security issues. “Changes are going to have to be made,” he said.

Still, nothing Congress does or can do will have any sort of immediate effect. “I can’t tell you prices at the pump are going to go down next week,” Visclosky observed.

But as chair of the Energy and Water Subcommittee, he has been ensuring that federal funding has been increased for vehicle technology research, biofuel research, and solar, wind, and geothermal research, as part of the effort to move the U.S. away “from a carbon-based economy.”

Visclosky also voiced his support for new legislation which increased vehicle mileage standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, the first such increase since 1975, he said.

The Pledge

The forum opened with Chesterton Middle School eighth-grader Michael Leopold’s introduction of Viscolsky. Leopold also led attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The forum was the twelfth of 24 which Visclosky has scheduled throughout the 1st District.

Posted 1/11/2008