Georgia congressional members see U.S. economy as top job for President Trump

ALBANY — Members of Southwest Georgia’s congressional delegation said Friday that they thought President Donald Trump, who was sworn into office shortly after noon, would get the nation moving in the right direction.

“Job one is getting the economy going again and getting people back to work,” U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Sea Island, said in a look ahead at the first 100 days of the Trump administration. “You’ll see all this work on Obamacare first. Then there will be the tax package that will follow that. Following both of those will be the work to get the economy going.”

The Republican-led Congress already has taken initial steps toward dismantling and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Perdue, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Marietta, and U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, and Austin Scott, R-Tifton, attended the inauguration Friday at the nation’s capital. About 60 Democrats in Congress boycotted the ceremony over Trump’s campaign tactics and his recent feud with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta.

During a 16-minute speech after he was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts, Trump said he would focus on creating good jobs, improving the nation’s infrastructure, national defense, public safety, fighting poverty, better spending on education, national security, getting international agreements that placed America first, and improving the nation’s infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. He also pledged to “eradicate” radical Islamic terrorism.

“During the weeks and months ahead, I look forward to working with the president and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get the best results for Georgia and America,” Isakson said. “Under the new administration, I look forward to great support for our military, a serious path to defeat the Islamic State and terror groups, and to provide better support for our veterans.

“I look forward to getting our economy moving and providing better job opportunities for all Americans. By rolling back burdensome government regulations and leveling the playing field, we can allow hardworking Americans and job-creators to again reach their full potential.”

Both Isakson and Scott noted the importance represented by the peaceful transition of power at the seat of U.S. government.

“I have a tremendous amount of confidence in President Trump that he will lead our nation in the right direction,” said Scott, who early in the Republican primary campaign had been critical of Trump. “I look forward to working with the president to get our country back on track and to ensure the United States of America is once again a secure, safe and prosperous nation for all Americans.”

In his inaugural speech, Trump was critical of those in Congress who he said were “constantly complaining” while not addressing problems and criticized Washington politicians for taking care of themselves and others in the beltway on trade deals, but not everyday Americans. Some political observers have questioned whether statements like that would make Congress resistant to Trump’s plans.

“This guy’s an outsider, he’s a business guy and he wants results,” Perdue said. “When you break eggs in a place like this, it’s not going to be pretty.”

Iskason said Congress is “already taking steps toward bringing relief to families and businesses by unleashing free-market competition to bring down the cost of health care and health insurance premiums. I am also committed to continuing to work to ensure that Georgia’s ports are ready to ship American goods wherever they are needed.”

Perdue, a proponent of reducing the corporate tax rate, said he wants to ensure there’s a business perspective on the tax plans. He said he wanted to “slow this down to where we can really look at it. We have past precedent around the world, and we know what happens. In Europe, for example, I lived there when they were putting the VAT (value-added tax) in place. It caused bigger government. It’s a tax grab basically.”

He said he was concerned about a border tariff being a component.

“In my view, it’s regressive,” Perdue said. “It just hammers low-income and middle-income consumers, and it really doesn’t foster growth. Frankly, it’s a Schumer Tax, it’s what he talked about in the early 2000s.”

Perdue said one thing that worries him is higher interest rates.

“I worry about interest rates and our debt,” he said. “If we’re successful, we’ll get the economy going. Right now, the bond market is already anticipating growth. Interest rates are bubbling up.

“What’s going to happen with this debt size we have, we’ll be paying much more interest, and that really concerns me in the short-term.”

Perdue said he saw success as “getting people back to work” and said he’d like to see the GDP get back to 3-4 percent growth, but that it wouldn’t happen in Trump’s first year in office.

“This is a heavy lift,” he said. “We have to undo a lot of regulatory things that are killing this economy.”