Rooney ready to hit the ground running
When U.S. Rep.-elect Francis Rooney (R-19) takes the oath of office in January, he and his Republican cohorts will get right to work to reverse many of the policies put into place under President Barack Obama.
That is what he told members of the Fort Myers Republican Women’s Club during their luncheon Tuesday at the Helm Club at the Landings in Fort Myers.
Rooney said he has set up his staff and offices at the Cannon Building and in Washington, D.C., where Chris Berardi and Nick Carr will hold down the fort.
He also went up to Washington for orientation and immediately voted in the Republican conference on a motion that any item that costs more than a half-billion dollars would be required to have a full accountable vote and not a voice vote.
“Made sense to me, that’s a lot of money to me. I was for it, all the incoming, conservative and Freedom Caucus people were for it, but all the old-timers weren’t,” Rooney said. “They lost.”
Rooney said one of his objectives is to restore the Everglades and clean up the Okeechobee watershed. He had a PowerPoint presentation and made Republican leadership “endure watching that” in hopes of getting the funding for the bills they have passed.
“We’re trying to breed some understanding for the problem we have here of cleaning up the water. When I get up there in January, I will continue that,” Rooney said, adding that House Speaker Paul Ryan asked, “What the deal was with the water.”
Rooney said the GOP has the golden opportunity to turn back eight years of Obama and rein in the size of government. He said Obamacare would be the first up, and that could be taken care of through reconciliation, which would allow a bill to be passed through a straight vote.
“They will try to run every possible bill through reconciliation, including Obamacare. The problem is, they may not be able to run the replacement through it,” Rooney said.
Rooney said phasing out Obamacare in phases before offering a replacement would be stupid, saying they would need a complete replacement package before repeal.
“Americans are not going to want to think they don’t have health care and will expect a responsible solution. Lord knows we’ve killed enough trees writing about what to do,” Rooney said.
Rooney said he is excited about the GOP tax plan calling for immediate deduction of capital expenditures, saying it would stimulate job growth and the economy. He also said he would get involved in foreign policy in an attempt to “get the country back in a leadership role” and to roll back regulations and executive orders.
Rooney warned that if anyone expects to see him in person the first few months of the year, they may be disappointed. There will be between 20 and 30 percent more work days in the first few months in office in an attempt to execute the GOP agenda.
“The last eight years have been such a menace in so many different areas of the government that no matter where you are, we have a lot of work to do,” Rooney said.
Rooney has brought a lot of excitement to local leadership.
“I’ve had the opportunity to meet Mr. Rooney on several occasions. I think he’s going to do an outstanding job and I’m happy to support him,” said State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen. “We’re working on bringing business to Florida and he has worked hard to educate himself on the water issue and how he can play a role in helping us.”
Cape Coral City Councilmember Marilyn Stout said she thought Rooney was great and that he will do a great job representing Southwest Florida, especially on the water issue.
“He is forceful, he knows a lot of the leadership well from his past support and he listens,” Stout said. “He will bring great things to Southwest Florida. We depend on the tourists and you can’t have tourism with the water quality we’ve had.”