Note from Bill Goodman: KET just returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., for a series of One to One interviews that began airing this week. My colleague Renee Shaw provides the highlights of tonight’s One to One interview with Congressman Ed Whitfield which airs on KET tonight at 6:30 ET.
Elected to Congress in 1994 as the first Republican to represent Kentucky’s First Congressional District, Hopkinsville native Ed Whitfield blasts President Obama for exacting environmental policies that, he claims, can effectively shutter the coal industry.
In the third of a series of interviews with Kentucky’s congressional delegation, Whitfield tells host, Bill Goodman, that President Obama’s tightened controls on mine permitting and coal-fired power plants point to a deliberate strategy aimed at shutting down the industry. Whitfield is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the full House Energy and Commerce Committee. His western Kentucky district has underground coal mines.
Congressman Whitfield also discusses the “The Freedom to Fish Act” backed also by U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. It is meant to reverse the Army Corp of Engineers’ fishing restrictions at the Cumberland River system which ban public access to waters downstream of dams managed by the Corps.
On Washington gridlock, Whitfield explains why complex issues are hard to resolve given deeply held political ideologies, differing geographical backgrounds, and lack of outside socializing among members.
In fixing what he perceives as a “broken” budget process, Whitfield says Congress should work from the President’s plan and go to a biennial, or two-year, budget cycle.
Whitfield also discusses the Syrian conflict, immigration, and reviving gun legislation. Of the latter, Whitfield laments there are more pressing and important matters, and he predicts gun legislation will continue to stall out in the 113th Congress.
Watch Bill Goodman’s full interview with Congressman Ed Whitfield tonight at 6:30 ET. Tomorrow night, Bill talks with 2nd District Congressman Brett Guthrie.