When U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10) showed videos on his trips to Iraq and Ethiopia at the chamber luncheon last Friday, Leesburg resident Brian Chavez hesitated to talk about local issues.
“It was hard to talk about our local issues after the presentation he gave,” Chavez said following the Chamber of Commerce’s Federal Legislative Update, a part of the 2003 Leadership Series that invites elected officials and dignitaries to speak to the membership about federal, state and local issues. “Transportation, air quality and business … those are our backyard things. … Those are long-term, long-standing issues that will be around.”
Wolf’s videos showed Chavez that “we’re a global world” and that the “global world will affect us eventually.”
For instance, the nation’s trade deficit with China is $103 billion this year and is expected to climb to $120 billion next year and to $330 billion within the next five years. If China fails to comply with the World Trade Organization (WTO), local businesses could be hurt, Wolf said. “We have a critical, critical position we have to deal with. Locally, jobs are lost to this,” he said.
Last week, Wolf met with representatives from a Loudoun technology company that laid off 130-150 employees after China started up the same high-tech work in a country that has no minimum wage or overtime requirements. The circuit board company is located on Route 28, Wolf said. He could not give further details.
WOLF MENTIONED federal legislation that will affect the county’s transportation network. The Transportation Appropriations Committee, which Wolf serves as a member, included in the state’s annual appropriations bill for transportation $25 million for the Rail to Dulles project and another $1 million to widen Interstate 66 inside the beltway. In July, the committee forwarded the bill to the House floor for a vote.
“It’s a nice token, that’s what it is,” said Rosemary Pelletier of Leesburg, president of PPSi, adding that the Rail to Dulles project will cost $3.8 billion to build rail from West Falls Church to Dulles. “I’m not impressed.”
Randy Collins, chamber president, had a different take on Wolf’s presentation. “I think the congressman touched on some of the major issues,” he said. “Obviously, he’s a man who’s very passionate about human rights around the world. It’s a good reminder there are bigger issues out there that everyone should be made aware of.”
Wolf visited Iraq in May to assess the level of human assistance being provided after the war with Iraq and to review reconstruction efforts. “I saw very sick children, many of whom are probably now dead,” Wolf said in the report. “Poverty is widespread. Buildings are dilapidated. Trash and rubble litter the streets. Many of the trees have been cut down and used for firewood because propane was so scarce under Saddam [Hussein]’s rule. The water is putrid.”
Wolf provided nearly 20 recommendations in the report that are based on his observations and conversations with those he met during the visit, which was from May 25-26, with the next day a visit to Kuwait. Wolf found security to be the first priority, along with re-establishing the judicial system, improving communication systems and involving Iraqis in rebuilding the country. He recommended visits by the Commission on Post Conflict Reconstruction and members of Congress.
“We need to internationalize this,” Wolf said. “We need to make sure everything we do gets down to the women and children. … The money being spent is not being filtered down.”
Wolf also visited Ethiopia and Eritrea from Dec. 29, 2002 to Jan. 4, 2003 to assess the famine crisis there.