Allen touts job growth plan in Danville

Developing the nation’s energy resources is a key component of U.S. Senate hopeful George Allen’s plan to grow jobs in Virginia and the country.

On Wednesday, the former Virginia governor sat down with the Danville Register & Bee to discuss his “Blueprint for America’s Comeback,” which outlines goals and ideas Allen believes would help Virginia’s competitiveness and job growth. The Republican front-runner and Democrat Tim Kaine, a former governor, are vying for retiring U.S. Sen. Jim Webb’s seat in next year’s election.

While Allen’s blueprint encourages increasing domestic energy production, he hasn’t taken a stance on uranium mining in Virginia, and said he is waiting to read the National Academy of Sciences uranium report due soon. While it’s up to the General Assembly to decide whether to lift the state’s 30-year moratorium, he advises state lawmakers to analyze the NAS report carefully as they need to make a “serious monumental decision.”

While jobs are important, so is public health and safety, he said.

Allen’s blueprint includes allowing resource exploration off Virginia’s coast, shale natural gas and coal-bed methane development, improving clean coal technology, recycling spent nuclear fuel and energy efficiency. Developing energy resources could create thousands of jobs while providing revenue for the federal government and more affordable energy for Americans, he said.

Making energy more affordable particularly helps rural areas like Southside, where people drive longer distances, he said. Additionally, affordable energy costs could attract data centers or other firms to an area. Right now, Allen said high fuel costs are “punishing” small businesses.

Allen’s plan also includes simplifying the tax code, reducing tax and regulation burdens on businesses, repealing and replacing health-care reform and reining in federal spending with a balanced budget amendment.

He understands frustrations with and the uncertainty created by the current Congress, as federal lawmakers have come to repeated stalemates on spending.

“My view is they ought to be withholding their pay right now,” Allen said.

To prevent the threat of government shutdowns, Allen’s blueprint includes a “Paycheck Penalty Act” proposal that would withhold lawmakers’ pay until they complete annual appropriations bills. Allen said he is willing to work with other lawmakers, as he had to get Democrats’ support on past initiatives, like welfare reform when he was governor in the 1990s. He would like states to have the flexibility to reform their own Medicaid and food stamp programs.

“Our country cannot continue dawdling. We can’t have a government that is delaying, putting of and punting decisions … It’s an emergency in many respects, more than just urgency, to get this country moving in the right direction,” Allen said, adding other countries are “going pedal to the metal.”

While in Danville, Allen toured Luna nanoWorks, a developer of nanotechnologies, and the Center for Applied High Performance Computing, the home of a new Cray XMT2 supercomputer, on Bridge Street.

“Technology and innovation is how America is going to compete and succeed in the future,” Allen said about local firms’ endeavors.

Bozick reports for the Danville Register & Bee.