Burr, a five-term Republican congressman from Winston-Salem, attracted a full house for a luncheon meeting of the Moore Republican Women at National Golf Club.
In a freewheeling, off-the-cuff address to the Republican Women, Burr made it clear that he is wasting no time on his campaign for the Senate seat being vacated by Edwards, a Democrat and a former Moore County resident.
In an interview prior to his address, Burr touched on issues relating to health care, the economy and the postwar effort in Iraq. Burr said it is not his intention to engage in name-calling or mudslinging during his campaign against an as-yet-unknown Democratic candidate.
However, Burr, who represents the 5th District, said he will respond if necessary.
“It’s not my nature (to sling mud),” Burr said. “But sometimes campaigners are required to defend themselves.”
Burr said he enters the senatorial race with the understanding that he must communicate clearly and mobilize voters to action.
“You can take it to the bank that I will be consistent in the way I vote in Congress and in the Senate,” he said.
Admitting to an independent streak, Burr said that he tries “to remember the human face” when voting on legislation.
“If you’re not passionate about the issue and don’t see the people you’re representing, then you shouldn’t be there,” he said. “Independence is something that voters value.”
Prescription Drug Bill
If elected, Burr said, the first legislation he would probably introduce would be related to health care, an issue that he says has captured about 60 percent of his time in recent sessions.
Although he did not support President George Bush’s prescription drug bill, he said the record shows that “at the end of the day, I have voted more with President Bush than against him.”
Burr said he objected to the president’s drug bill because he saw in that legislation many of the same problems facing Medicare at this time.
“I believed that it was not the right road to take,” he said.
Burr said he would prefer a program allowing for flexible spending accounts, opening the way for participation by a variety of entities, ranging from business to nonprofits.
“I fear that all we have done so far is prepare a mirror structure of Medicare as we see it today,” he said.
This “mirror structure” has a tendency either to cut benefits or to cut reimbursements for benefits, he said. With such cuts, he fears that the prescription drug program would result in the same Medicare problems seen across the country with doctors dropping out of the program and arbitrary reimbursements.
Burr said research in medicine and pharmaceuticals is at the core of the health care issue today. He mentioned such critical needs as further research into treatment and prevention of diabetes and breast cancer.
“We don’t want to discourage federal investment into this research or to discourage private investment,” he said.
Despite his support for President Bush, Burr called himself an independent thinker who makes up his own mind on most issues.
“I think I’m fairly independent thinking, and I’m interested in a lot of issues,” he said when asked what his priorities would be if elected to the U.S. Senate.
Good intentions can go tumbling with one mistake, he said, citing his personal response to the 9/11 terror attacks. He was sitting on the House Intelligence Committee at the time.
Economy Recovering Slowly
As for the economy, Burr said he sees “daylight” at the end of the tunnel and believes a slow recovery is on the way.
“I’ve said that 2004 (the campaign) is about jobs, jobs, jobs. I still think it’s about jobs,” he said. “I’d like to believe that this is not a normal recovery we’re going through right now.”
Burr said that a strong need for this recovery is restoration of trust in corporations, something Americans lost with the scandals involving Enron and WorldCom and other major companies. The congressman said there is a need to pay more attention to regulatory agencies to make sure they are doing their job of overseeing issues arising from huge corporations in order to prevent the disasters of the past two years.
“The economy and the job situation are primary,” he said. “It’s something that demands attention in Washington.”
Progress In Iraq
Contrary to critics of the president’s effort in Iraq, the plan is beginning to work and show positive results, he said.
“We are bogged down in Iraq,” he said. “We are bogged down for two reasons.”
Burr said one factor is the unexpected appearance of outside influence with the arrival of mercenaries intent on breaking down the American and British reconstruction efforts.
The other reason is the sorry state of the infrastructure in Iraq, something that has not worked adequately in years. As soon as electricity, running water and sewer services are restored, spirits will pick up in Iraq, he predicted.
Burr quoted one Iraqi man who, upon learning that the sewer lines were again functioning, said he welcomed the news, especially since the sewer system had not worked in 10 years.
“I am aware that critics say Bush had no plan,” Burr said. “But there was a plan, a plan that had to be altered because of these unexpected forces. Now we’re seeing the first steps in that plan.”
The Bush plan was slowed down because the infrastructure was in worse shape than anyone could predict and because outside influences showed up at an unexpected rate, he said. Burr said that repair of the crippled infrastructure cannot move at a speedy pace as long as private contractors must place their employees at risk because of the two unexpected factors.
Burr, who was traveling with one aide Monday, grew up in Winston-Salem, where he still makes his home with his wife, Brooke, and their two sons.
He is the first Republican to publicly declare his candidacy for the seat now held by Edwards and is regarded as the frontrunner for the nomination.
