Isakson in Stephens County for Town Hall Meeting

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson stops in Stephens County. Isakson held a town hall meeting Wednesday afternoon at North Georgia Technical College’s Currahee Campus. The senator began the town hall with brief remarks about what is happening in Washington, D.C. Isakson said that America has never faced more difficult challenges than it faces today.

“The biggest challenge being too much spending,

too much debt,” said Isakson. “We (Congress) have to get our act together. We have to get discretionary spending down. We have to get the tax code reformed and we have to be sure that your Medicare that you paid for and your Social Security that you paid for is there for you and we are going to have to reform those programs to do so.”

Isakson went on to say that he feels moving from an annual budget to a two-year budgeting process in Washington could help with tackling federal spending issues. He said he has presented such a proposal for consideration in the nation’s capital.

“We are going to pass two-year appropriations bills and budgets in odd-numbered years and then every even-numbered year, we are going to focus entirely on oversight to find the waste, fraud, abuse, and savings that you know you can find in programs,” said Isakson of what his proposal would do.

Following his opening remarks, Isakson took questions from those in attendance.

A number of the questions dealt with the management of Lake Hartwell by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with people voicing frustration over lake levels and the Corps’ response to their concerns.

One person told Isakson that he feels the Corps needs to be more open to changing its rules and regulations.
Isakson agreed. The senator said that the Corps needs to re-visit its water control plan for Hartwell.

“The Corps of Engineers has got to get back in the business of modernizing its water control plans under which they operate the dams,” said Isakson.

He said there were water level problems at Lake Lanier because of a poorly managed water control plan.

“(The plan) took too much water out of the top basin too early in the season and then when the drought really hit, the water was already downstream,” said Isakson, who called for higher full pool levels to increase storage. “When you do have a drought, your water level starts out much higher so you don’t go down as far.”

Others in attendance asked Isakson if he could arrange for the Corps of Engineers to come to northeast Georgia and hold a public meeting about the management of Lake Hartwell. Isakson said he would make that request and help try to facilitate such a meeting.