By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
U.S. Senator and former majority leader Mitch McConnell spoke at the Glasgow Rotary Club on April 17.
His brief remarks, which brought both regional and national media to Barren County, covered a wide array of topics from his opinion on defense spending and foreign aid to tariffs and taxes.
He opened his remarks with his view on the current rain and flooding the commonwealth experienced that resulted in the deaths of six people and damaged numerous buildings, property and roads.
“The flooding a few weeks ago was dramatic,” McConnell said. “I think the best way to look at it is that these things do happen and it generally brings people together; people volunteer to help and that’s one of the many reasons I’m proud to be a Kentuckian.”
Espousing the same sentiment some have used to justify their opposition to the incoming Wood Duck solar project, McConnell said Kentucky is losing its farmland.
“We’ve got 75,000 farms in Kentucky – and I understand [Barren County] has more farms than any other county in our state – but we’re losing farmland,” McConnell said. “Hopefully a combination [of estate tax exemption and preferential tax treatment] will allow us to continue to be [an] important farming state.”
Turning to “things going on right now,” McConnell said he has never been a “tariff enthusiast,” comparing Trump’s tariffs to former President Herbert Hoover’s Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act passed in 1930.
“It wasn’t the sole reason for the Great Depression, but it was a factor,” McConnell said. “Put me down as not yet convinced that these are the best way to go, but we’ll see, maybe it’ll turn out the way the president hopes it will.”
“In the past Kentucky has not benefited from tariffs,” McConnell said.
Contrasting with tariffs, he discussed foreign aid, America’s global leadership and national defense.
“I think the most important thing going on in the world right now is our relationship with the rest of the world,” McConnell said. “The single biggest supporters I’ve ever met of foreign assistance are generals in our military. You get a lot of support for not a whole lot of money and it’s a lot cheaper than being in [a] war.”
“It’s a lot cheaper to prevent a war than to be in one,” he added.
McConnell ended by thanking those in attendance, which included virtually all the Barren County government elected officials, officials from other counties and those from private business, and vowing to “run through the tape,” representing the commonwealth in Washington D.C. for his remaining year-and-a-half.
“I’ve been around a while and I want to thank all of you whether you voted for me or not for seven wins,” McConnell said. “It’s been the honor of my life to have the chance to look out for the finest state in America.”
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