Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in the Capitol in 2014. AJC file
So David Perdue isn’t running for anything in 2016. But Johnny Isakson is.
At this afternoon’s gathering of the Georgia Chamber in Macon, Georgia’s senior senator, facing re-election next year, first acknowledged The Deal of the Week – a proposed $8 billion purchase by the Southern Co. of natural gas provider AGL Resources.
He directed his first comments toward Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers, who was in the audience. Said Isakson:
“I got a tip on Sunday night about the big deal that was going to be announced on Monday morning about AGL, the Southern Co., and Georgia Power. I was so excited, because it sounded like such a great deal, that I woke up on Monday morning and rushed to my TV to turn on Bloomberg, to see what the market had done in response.
“They had lost 1,080 points at 9 a.m. I said, ‘We’re in deep trouble.’ But then I pulled AGL up, and they were the only stock on the New York Stock Exchange that was up. So you’ve obviously made the right decision.
“…With the merger that’s taking place between AGL and Southern company and Georgia Power, you’re going to have the largest and most powerful energy company in the United States…If you’re a manufacturer in Georgia, looking for someplace to go, where are you going to go? You’re going to go to Georgia.”
Isakson also gave Gov. Nathan Deal and the Legislature a pat on the back for raising taxes to fund a $1 billion-a-year increase for road and bridge repair in Georgia. Said Isakson:
“The day that new revenue system went into effect, gas prices dropped 40 cents a gallon. So whatever increase there was got absorbed in the decrease in petroleum. God had a hand in Nathan Deal’s getting it done.”
In the last few weeks, Isakson has stepped up his criticism of President Barack Obama’s Middle Eastern policy – in particular, the Iran nuclear deal. Said Isakson:
“The only enforcement we have in the deal are inspections. Who do you think is going to do the inspections? The Iranians. The IEA and Iranians have negotiated a deal that says they’ll do the inspections to make sure they’re doing it right. That’s like [Roger] Goodell at the NFL telling all the players, ‘You mail a urine sample in and we’ll see if you’re okay.’
“…It’s a choice between strength and acquiescence. And I think it’s about time we stopped acquiescing to the Iranians and start to show our strength.”
Isakson blamed the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq for the rise of the Islamic State – and condemned it as “an insult” to the men and women who served there.
Isakson said that ISIL needs to be destroyed, but deferred when it came to the means:
“How you do that is a judgment question….If somebody would cut off your head, burn you in Times Square, or kill themselves in order to kill you, there’s only one to deal with it. Kill them first. We need to get aggressive and take them out.
“It doesn’t mean a land war in the Middle East. It means a commitment to our men and women in uniform, to give them the authority and orders that’s to do what’s necessary in that part of the world….”
As proof that a Republican-run Congress is getting its act together, Isakson pointed to this:
“We fixed…the formula by which Medicare doctors are reimbursed each year. For 19 years, Congress has given doctors a one or one-and-a-half percent increase, not figuring out how to pay for it. This year we solved it. We did it by means-testing some of the benefits. That’s what America is going to have to do a whole lot more of….
“I’m proud to have been part of the group that did that.”
What Isakson didn’t mention is that he and Georgia’s junior senator, David Perdue, split on this very issue.
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