Interview with Senator Trent Lott
by SCOTT COOPWOOD
DBJ Publisher
Last week, the DBJ conducted an interview with Senator Trent Lott concerning several topics of special interest to the
Delta. The following is a portion of that interview.
DBJ: In just nine weeks, the Delta has seen two new manufacturing companies make announcements that they are locating
here. Do you feel that this is a sign that the Delta’s economy is beginning to turn around?
Sen. Lott: This is obviously very good news. We need to continue to focus on economic development and one of the most
important things that we have taking place right now in Mississippi are the automotive suppliers that are coming into the
State primarily because of Nissan. But, these new facilities could eventually become suppliers to other automobile manufacturers
that are in our area besides Nissan, such as Toyota, and Mercedes in Alabama.
This is good for Cleveland, good for Greenville and of course Vicksburg has a couple of operations with increasing numbers
of workers at their plants.
DBJ: Where are we with I-69, the interstate system that will go through the Delta?
Sen. Lott: We continue to work on this. As you know, the only section of the likely I-69 route, which would run from
Canada to Mexico, that is actually being upgraded to interstate standards and work being done on it, is in Mississippi and
that is on 3304 which comes across from I-55 to Highway 61. We have been getting some funds for that and we are going
after more funds this year so when the time comes, we’ll have that route ready to go. We also need to get a bigger commitment
from the administration. We will have to make the big leap at some point to really fund a large portion of that
stretch that would run from Indiana down through Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. With Senator
Cochran in line to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee next year, I’m sure that he’ll help to make sure that
this happens.
DBJ: Obviously, we all know that the Delta could really benefit from the I-69 corridor.
Sen. Lott: I think that it could be critical to the Delta and future economic development. I have observed over the years
that economic development usually follows interstate construction. If you look at I-55, from Southaven, to Senatobia,
Batesville, Grenada, it provides access and this leads to economic development.
DBJ: It’s springtime here in the Delta and we’ll soon see our annual spring flooding on the Mississippi River and in the
Delta’s small rivers and bayous. Where are we on our flood control projects here in the Delta.
Sen. Lott: People who don’t live in the Delta don’t understand how wet it can be there and how floods can affect people’s
lives. We are all aware of the big flood of 1927. Year after year, if we didn’t have some of these flood control projects in
the Delta, people would have water and snakes in their houses, and a lot of people try to say that this (flood control efforts)
is not in the best interest of people, and/or minorities. Actually, most of the people that get hit the hardest are the low
income people that are inclined to live in some of the lower flood-plain areas. Senator Cochran and I continue to work on
our Delta projects — the Yazoo Pump, the Big Sunflower project. Year after year Democratic and Republican administrations
cut back or eliminate funds, and year after year Congress adds that money back. And, we are going to continue to do
that. We need to be sensitive to environmental concerns, we need to be sensitive to the impact it has on agriculture, and
the safety and quality of people’s lives. But, to me, there is no question that we need to continue to work to protect against
flood control problems in the Delta.
DBJ: Gun control and gun rights have been back in the national spotlight again, especially in Congress two weeks ago.
Where are we on this issue?
Sen. Lott: We had legislation where would limit the liability of gun manufacturers because we believe that limits on liability
are necessary since a lot of the bigger cities have been suing gun manufacturers for crimes committed with guns.
That’s like saying that you sue Ford Motor Company because someone is run over with a Ford automobile. The manufacturer
didn’t have anything to do with that. Somebody was being reckless in that automobile or somebody had made a mistake
by stepping out in front of it or whatever. So we needed to limit this liability and if we don’t we’re going to run the
few gun manufacturing companies that we have left in this country — out of the country. This does affect jobs. What happened
in this legislation was that some poison pill amendments were added to require that all gun purchases at gun shows
had to have a background check. That might sound good until you look at the practicalities and the technicalities of how you
do that, and they wanted to also expand the assault weapon ban which really is just a way designed to lead to gun control.
A bill that initially had the support of over 70 senators wound up being defeated 90 to 8 because it had just become such a
mess and I regret that. But, that’s what happened and we’ll just have to come back and try again another day.
DBJ: How would you assess Governor Barbour’s performance so far?
Sen. Lott: I think that Haley is doing very well. He’s finding out that this is a tough job. He is having to deal with spending
questions and deficits that were not caused by him. He’s working very hard and he is going to have a good relationship
with the legislature. I think Haley understands that economic development — jobs, highways, and education — that we have
got to find ways to improve all three of those in Mississippi. We need to also put more emphasis on job training in the state
as we attract new and different kinds of jobs. That training is going to have to be in place. I have a good relationship with
Haley and I don’t bug him a lot because I know being governor is a tough job and I’ll always try to be helpful from the federal
level in any way that I can.The best part of all of this is that I think we are now having the best cooperation between
city, county, state, and federal officials I have seen in my 31 years in Washington. We are beginning to really work and
pull together and we need this. I think this will pay some dividends for us before too long.
DBJ: What is your opinion on agricultural trade in the Delta? You, as we all were, were against the Vietnamese socalled“Catfish” that was coming into the Delta last year hurting our catfish farmers, hurting the price of real catfish. Do
you see any areas where other countries are trading unfairly in agriculture?
Sen. Lott: Trade is important to agriculture. I know that most of our agricultural organizations understand this. I know
that the Farm Bureau does and they have encouraged free trade. But, you have to add to this that it has to be fair trade.
You can not have countries dumping products on our market for the purpose of destroying the market or subsidizing their
products in such a way that Americans just cannot meet that sort of competition. If it is a fair, level playing field, American
agriculture, American companies will be able to compete and do very well. That’s what happened to catfish. The Vietnamese
were dumping a product on our market defined as catfish which was not a catfish as we know them. We’re dealing
with a similar problem right now with the shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico. We do need to be able to sell our products if it’s
rice, soybeans, cotton - in the world market. I just met with Delta rice farmers who have huge markets that they want to
be able to continue to trade in. For example, they are selling more and more rice into Brazil and into Central America and
they want to able to continue to export into other parts of the world such as Asia and in fact, we are selling our poultry
products into Russia. So, trade is very important and we are going to continue to work with agriculture and things are going
pretty well in agriculture. Prices are good and our farmers are feeling pretty good this year. But, it always helps to get a
decent price for your commodity or product. DBJ
