Boustany makes campaign stop in V.P.

With the November 8, 2016 election approaching, politicians are beginning to make campaign stops around the state. The first to make an appearance in Evangeline Parish was United States Senator hopeful Charles Boustany, who visited the Ville Platte Rice Dryer on Wednesday.
Boustany, who is a retired cardiovascular surgeon, will face off against 23 others vying for the U.S. Senate seat that David Vitter has occupied for the last 11 years.
The current U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 3rd congressional district spent Wednesday morning talking to farmers from Evangeline and neighboring parishes about what he plans to work on making happen for the agricultural community.
Before delivering his speech though, Boustany, who is a Republican, was introduced by Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Michael Strain, who spoke highly about the congressman and the differences he has made for Louisiana in Washington D.C.
Strain said, “At one point, all of our rivers and ports were silting in. Because this, we couldn’t get ships up the Mississippi River. We couldn’t get ships in the port of Lake Charles. Why? Because they were sucking out all of the dedicated tax from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. The majority of this money, which should be used to dredge the rivers and maintain the ports, wasn’t being used for that. They had already swept away billions of dollars, and that was a dedicated tax.”
The commissioner then went on to explain how Boustany worked to change how these dollars were being spent.
“Charles worked to help put together the RAMP (Realize America’s Maritime Promise) bill, and the focus of that bill was simple,” said Strain. “The RAMP bill said that the money collected to dredge the rivers and maintain the ports will be used to dredge the rivers and maintain the ports.”
Even through the fight to have this bill passed into legislation, Strain said, “Charles never backed up. He fought against leadership when it was necessary, and now today the majority of that money is going back to dredging the rivers and maintaining the ports.”
When Boustany addressed the crowded room mostly made up of farmers, he said, “I want to start by thanking you for allowing me to come speak to you today. You are the people that deal with a variety of pest, with the biggest pest being Washington.”
Boustany then reminded those in attendance that “the first people that fought to make this country great were farmers,” and therefore as a U.S. Senator he would fight for Louisiana’s farmers.
Boustany said, “I am one of the only 24 candidates running that has voted for farm bills, and I will work to be a champion in the U.S. Senate for agriculture.”
During the congressman’s speech he touched on topics that dealt with exporting rice to Cuba, which is currently buying a lower quality rice for a higher price from other countries.
“Ronald Reagan was willing to sell grain to the Soviet Union, our enemy, bcecause he knew that the strength of the U.S. economy is the biggest foreign policy tool that we have to change society,” said Boustany. “If we open up trade in Cuba, we will change the opinion of the Cuban people to be more pro-American, and they will look at Castro and say ‘This is the guy that denied us all of those years.’ This will create an opportunity to change that little island nation, that we shouldn’t have any reason to fear. This is the United States of America. We are the most powerful economy in the world, and we need to use our economy to win their hearts over.”
Being successful at opening up trade with Cuba will be a difficult task however, because according to Boustany, there will be a push back from the Florida Cubans. It is a task though, that the Lafayette man is will to fight.
Boustany said, “Florida Cubans do not like this, because they do not want a single penny going to Cuba as long as Castro is in office. That’s what we are fighting, but it is a fight we are not going to give up on.”
As Boustany prepared to close out his speech, he had one request.
Boustany said, “I am going to fight for you, but I need you guys to fight for me too. We are being held back by Washington politicians, and I don’t want you guys to have a single level of doubt that I will fight to change that for you.”