Steve King of Kiron, IA is beginning his second term as U.S. Congressional Representative from the 5^th District in Iowa. Rep. King addressed Club members regarding his insight and opinion on issues facing the President, congress, and our country. Rep. King serves on the Judiciary, Agriculture, and Small Business Committees of the House. He noted he couldn’t honor our invitation of last August because he was on a trade mission to Africa. Rep. King noted some southern African countries are losing population and have shrinking economies because of the high incidence of HIV/AIDS in their population. U.S. aid is used for medicine and food, but Rep. King noted those that are kept alive could still spread the disease and humanitarian agencies are not addressing this.

Rep. King reported some observations of the inaugural ceremonies in Washington, DC last week. He said it wasn’t much fun attending the parade and celebration balls because of the extensive security restrictions. In view of the approximately 120 million Muslim insurgents in the world against the principles of the U.S., Rep. King stated we have two choices. One is to be ultra security minded and guard everything. The other is seeing that the insurgents have freedom and democracy so they would want to expend their energies toward their families and livelihoods. Rep. King noted that countries surrounding Iraq are not against Muslim insurgents because they don’t want the freedom for their citizens.

Rep. King stated that Iowa is becoming an energy exporting state considering all the ethanol and bio-diesel production and wind generators coming on line. Rep. King has filled a bill to give small ethanol producers tax credits and expand the tax credit to bio-diesel producers. This would benefit producers in Iowa.

Rep. King expressed the need to restore the Constitutional rights of congress to select the judiciary below the Supreme Court. Over time this has been usurped by previous administrations. He also expressed the desire to change the national tax structure from a production tax to a consumption tax and eliminate the IRS agency.

Rep. King stated he was in favor of a national driver’s license and enforcement of current immigration laws. He also introduced a bill to create a ‘paper audit trail’ for voters so they can be sure of their ballot before it is cast and can be recounted after the election. He would also minimize the use of absentee ballots, as they are a source of fraud.