Mississippi Sens. Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran, both Republicans, today were named Guardians of Small Business by The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business association. The federation said they were being honored for outstanding voting records on behalf of America’s small-business owners in the 113th Congress.

NFIB President and CEO Dan Danner said, “Small-business owners are very politically active – paying close attention to how their lawmakers vote on issues and stand by those who stand for them.”

NFIB’s “How Congress Voted,” which serves as a report card for members of Congress, was also unveiled this week. The report presents key small-business votes and voting percentages for each lawmaker. Those voting favorably on key small-business issues at least 70 percent of the time during the 113th Congress are eligible for the Guardian award.

Congressmen Steven Palazzo and Alan Nunnelee, both also Mississippi Republicans, received the honor Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) have endorsed an effort to give the public and stakeholders more time to comment on carbon emissions regulations being promoted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cochran and Wicker are among 53 senators who signed a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy that seeks a 60-day extension to the public comment period on proposed EPA rules and guidelines for carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. The senators argue that the extra time is warranted because of the scope and complexity of the rules that will have significant effects on costs and use of electric generation.

“The carbon emission limits set by the EPA for our state will affect energy costs for all Mississippians.  The EPA hasn’t provided our stakeholders, including utility companies and (the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality), with enough information to determine whether the rules are fair, justified or even workable,” Cochran said.

The letter argues that the additional 60 days would give including utilities, state regulators, regional generation and transmission organizations and others time to not only study the rule, but also the more than 600 supporting documents released by EPA.

Both Cochran and Wicker are original cosponsors of S.Res.512, a resolution calling for the EPA to withdraw its proposed rules and guidelines related to carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. S.Res.512 faults the EPA and Obama administration for an overly broad interpretation of the Clean Air Act, for disregarding the legislative process and for failing to complete a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed rules.

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Just moments into his address to the nation on Wednesday night, President Obama succinctly defined the nature of the barbaric group that calls itself the Islamic State.

“Now let’s make two things clear,” the president declared, “ISIL is not ‘Islamic.’ No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria’s civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.”

The United States, the president said, is now even more committed to being among those standing in its way. “Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.”

It is a strategy whose tactics have yet to be fully revealed.

Hopefully our actions will match the expectations of Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., who said after the president’s speech that the nation needs a strategy “that responds to these threats with force and justice.”

As Palazzo noted, “I believe one lesson learned here is that it’s just as dangerous to rush away from war as it is to rush into it.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., also cautioned that the situation we face is “complex, challenging and fluid.”

Regrettably, there seem to be few foreign policy issues that do not match all or part of that description.

“We live in a volatile and dangerous world,” said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. “The barbaric actions of Islamic State are abhorrent to us, and our nation must act with resolve to protect both the innocent and our security interests.”

Let us all hope that the use of force will be judicious and that justice will be swift.
This editorial represents the views of the Sun Herald editorial board. Opinions expressed by columnists, cartoonists and letter writers are their own.

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Cochran focusing on Childers, not McDaniel

August 12, 2014

In a visit to Greenwood Monday, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran was focusing on economics and his fall general election campaign against Democrat Travis Childers despite lingering challenges from his primary opponent.

Cochran held a coffee reception with supporters Monday morning at the historic Elks Lodge in downtown Greenwood before touring the newly expanded Milwaukee Electric Tool plant and joining the Greenwood Rotary Club for lunch.

The longtime Republican incumbent said he wasn’t worried about a legal challenge to his June 24 runoff victory in the Republican primary over his tea party-backed challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

“I’m not thinking about that challenge or worrying about it,” Cochran said. “I’m campaigning in a positive way on my abilities and my proven experience to get things done for the betterment of Mississippi.”

The bitterly fought campaign against McDaniel – Cochran’s toughest re-election bid since first being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978 – has continued to drag on, with the challenger alleging in a lawsuit that irregularities and illegally cast ballots robbed him of the election.

As part of the challenge, McDaniel’s lawyers have pointed to a paid interview by Meridian preacher Stevie Fielder, who claimed that the Cochran campaign tried to recruit him to solicit black voters in Lauderdale County to back Cochran by offering to pay them $15 each.

Attorney General Jim Hood has since claimed that it was Noel Fritsch, a McDaniel campaign spokesman, who paid Fielder $2,000 to tell that story. Both Fielder and Fritsch deny Hood’s accusation, and Fielder has insisted that Cochran campaign aides did approach him with the scheme.

Monday, Cochran said he didn’t know whether the conversations had taken place or not. “I wasn’t part of it,” he said. “I’ve not been involved in the argument one way or the other. I’m campaigning on my performance as a U.S. senator and my ability to do the job in a way that reflects credit on the people of Mississippi.”

Cochran said that his appeal to both white and black voters in the normally politically polarized state is based on his long track record of representing the interests of the entire state.

“I think people … know that I don’t have prejudices that bias me for or against one race or color or creed,” Cochran said. “I am trying to represent all of the people of Mississippi, whatever their political inclinations or economic background may be.”

Cochran said his focus in the Senate has been on spurring economic growth in Mississippi and promoting strong jobs growth throughout the state.

He said he wouldn’t be second-guessing President Barack Obama’s decision to order airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq or the president’s decisions to pull U.S. troops out of the country.

“I’m respecting the decisions they are making on the details and the challenges that they are facing on the battlefield,” Cochran said. “I’m not going to purport to say that I know how to do it better.”

Cochran did say that President Obama’s reported intention to use executive orders to bypass Congress on immigration reform to grant legal status to potentially millions of illegal immigrants would be constitutional overreach.

“Ultimately that’s the role for Congress to play, not the president,” Cochran said. “He doesn’t have the capability of unilaterally devoting the energies of his administration to that kind of initiative.”

The senator, who’s running for a seventh term, made an appeal for all Republicans to unite so the party can win in the fall election. That appeal came before an overwhelmingly pro-Cochran crowd.




The majority of the overflow crowd in Founders Square backed Cochran and dozens waved “Thad” signs and gave him a standing ovation.

When Cochran came out, he got a standing ovation and held he crowd very well.

“I’m running on my own and trying to do what’s best for Mississippi…” says Senator Cochran.

Republican Sen. Thad Cochran said Thursday that he’s asking for the support of Mississippi voters in November “no matter your skin color, or how much money you have.”

“If you’ve been near a television set, you might have heard or seen some things about me,” Cochran said. “Some of the pictures I saw even made me look a little bit older than I thought I was. But I’m not bothered by it — not too much.”
 
Cochran, 76, then referenced a former Neshoba County Fair speaker who once faced questions about his age — President Ronald Reagan, who spoke here in 1980. “I think Ronald Reagan turned out to be a pretty good president.”

“The past seven months have included a hard-fought primary campaign,” Cochran said before a boisterous and large crowd underneath and surrounding the tin-roofed Founders Square Pavilion where he spoke just after his Democratic challenger, Travis Childers. “I am honored to be the Republican nominee for the state of Mississippi. I accept your nomination.”

The last of the political speeches at the Neshoba County Fair wrapped up Thursday morning, and for some, it was the kickoff for the United States Senate general election.