Cemex
THE SIGNAL: Last week U.S. Senator Barbra Boxer, D-Ca., introduced legislation in the Senate to try and kill any hopes of opening a massive Cemex mine in Soledad Canyon. How does Boxer's legislation compliment the Soledad Canyon Mine Act that you introduced in the house last year?

McKEON: She put in the same bill that I had.

THE SIGNAL: It's the sixth version of the bill, the battle between Cemex and Santa Clarita has been going on for two decades, how is this bill different and what kind of progress has been made in resolving the conflict between the mine and (Santa Clarita)?

McKEON: A lot of progress has been made, getting (Boxer) to drop a bill in the Senate was pretty good progress. Because in order to make it happen we have to pass a bill in the house and senate. So by getting her to drop a bill the same as mine, that's great progress.

I think when go from, you had the city fighting Cemex both of them spending a lot of money on lawyers. We've gotten to the point where we've addressed the issues, we're in agreement on the issues, and now we need to get it passed. That is not an easy thing to do but again we've made a lot of progress I feel good about our potential.

Illegal immigration
THE SIGNAL: Santa Clarita's City Council is poised to support seven pieces of federal legislation, you sponsored aimed at curbing illegal immigration at Tuesday's City Council meeting. You cosponsored four of the measures within the last 2 months and 3 in the last two weeks. Have illegal immigration debates in Santa Clarita influenced your decision to support these measures and if so, how?

McKEON: I've supported these measures for years, This has been a long fight we have been involved in for many years. Each congress I have endorsed similar bills, supported similar bills, and I'm not surprised the discussion that has happened in Santa Clarita because it's a very important issue and it has been for years. I've made several trips down to the border to see the progress that's been made down there and we are doing some things that have gotten better but we have a long way to go. It's a major issue nationally and locally.

All around the country, wherever I go. When I go back to Virginia, it's a major issue and we need to get serious about addressing it.

THE SIGNAL: What kind of affect does having local governments, like Santa Clairta, supporting this kind of federal legislation? What kind of affect does that have?

McKEON: Well again it shows how important (the issue) is everywhere. You know the saying all politics is local. People are very interested in this issue, as I said, everywhere in the country. So when you get city councils focusing in on it, it shows that people have real concerns and these things need to be addressed.

As you've pointed out, I've introduced six bills over many, many years on Cemex. It takes a long time to get some things through in Congress. Some things happen a little quicker, it just depends on the layout, the lay of the land, and how things are moving.

It has taken a long time to make any kind of progress on this illegal immigration issue. So when you see people getting involved and expressing their views on a local area, that's a good thing. Hopefully it will help us in moving forward in Washington with some solutions to this.

Federal stimulus
THE SIGNAL: You have said the $800 billion dollar federal stimulus has created no new jobs and...

McKEON: No, I didn't say it hasn't created no new jobs. When you throw out that kind of money it's bound to create some jobs. What I have said is, since that bill was passed, we were promised it would create 3 million new jobs, but in fact what has happened is we have lost 4 million jobs. What I said was it's been basically ineffective and for the amount of money that's been spent, very few jobs have been created.

(Editor’s note: In a press release from his office dated Feb. 17, McKeon was quoted as saying, “The question is ‘Did the Stimulus Bill create new jobs?’ The answer is no. ... The reality is new jobs have not been created. In fact, millions of jobs have been lost, despite the $800 billion boondoggle that was rushed through Congress.”)

THE SIGNAL: The Congressional Budget Office estimated (the stimulus) has saved or created between 1 and 2 million jobs and then 25 in Santa Clarita...

Health care reform
THE SIGNAL: You have been critical of the Democrats health care proposal calling it a big government scheme that will kill jobs and increase taxes. However, CBO said most people will still have access to private insurance and insurance premiums for about 100 million Americans would likely decrease. What are your concerns with the democrats bill and what does the Republicans proposal do differently?

McKEON: Well, right now I don't even know what the Democrat bill is. They've had so many bills. The one that they brought before us when I was on the, I had the, responsibility on the Education Labor Committee to, I was a ranking member when they brought the bill, and so we had the job of trying to fix it as they brought it to committee to mark it up and when they presented it to us, I think it was on a Monday, it was 1,017 pages.

And when we went in on Wednesday, the actually marked the bill up it was 1,040 pages. And then it was I don't know what it ended up with after it was passed, because they took it out of our committee and two other committees and then they put together a bill between those three bills and brought it to the floor and we got it just before we went to floor and it was now 2,000 pages. And the bill that passed the Senate is like 2,700 pages.

Now the President has put in another bill. So we don't know what the bill is. They haven't finished the bill. You know there's been a lot of talk about what's in the bill, it's a Senate bill, a House bill, and a President's bill. And until we get a chance to see it, find out how much it's going to cost is really hard to know exactly, but I imagine there will be some of the things they talked about all along still in the bill.

JR: Such as?

McKEON: Such as government basically taking over healthcare, and I have real concerns about that. They said in their bill they set up a committee that will determine what kind of help is available to people, what kind of you know they'll determine the coverage that people get and what kind of coverage it should be and I hate to see the government coming between me and my physician. I just, I think that's a bad deal. That's just one thing. We'll just have to wait and see what they finally come up with.

The Republicans' plans, I don't know if you've been following this issue, but we have. We've presented lots of different plans. The President even said that some of our proposals they accepted. We don't know which ones. Again, we just have to watch and see what they come up with in their final version. And that will be changed as they've looked to make different deals to get people's votes.

THE SIGNAL: How would a government committee to determine who would get insurance coverage be different than what private insurance companies do already?

McKEON: I always would rather see private companies rather than the government making these decisions. They've already done it in Medicare. And the cost of Medicare just keeps skyrocketing. They haven't displayed the ability to cut costs and that was one of the major problems.

You know, most people, polls show about 80 percent of people like the insurance coverage they have. They don't want to lose it. And if their program goes through, they will lose it. And I think they started out with the idea saying we're going to cut health care costs, they haven't been very effective at that in their bill.

And so we just it's a frustrating thing because the Democrats have cut the Republicans out of participating in the bill.

When you're talking about changing a sixth of our economy, making such a huge change. In fact, (President) Obama said the same thing himself several times. You've probably been able to see that stuff on the blogs and the Internet. Speeches that he gave saying when you're changing this part, this much of the government, you can't do it with a simple 50 plus one.

You have to vie-in from a broad segment of the population of people that the population doesn't support it, and the Republican's don't support it. And a lot of Democrats don't support it. They're trying to ram something through just to show that they can get something passed at this point. And that's not the way democracy should work. Not the way government should work.

‘Don't ask, don't tell'
THE SIGNAL: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., introduced legislation (Wednesday) to repeal "don't ask don't tell" calling it discriminatory and detrimental to national security. You have voiced opposition against the measure. What are your concerns with repealing "don't ask don't tell"?

McKEON: "Don't ask, don't tell" has been effective. It has been successful. We haven't seen any evidence that it should be changed or repealed. Other than emotional issues, we have no documentary evidence. I have asked for a thorough study, as has the Secretary of Defense, and I think that we should have that study done before any change is made, just because of politics.

I think I'm concerned about the readiness of the forces, what effect this could have when we're engaged in fighting two wars. What kind of burden would this put on our armed services. And so, I just think we should just follow what the Secretary suggests and do some real fact finding, getting information before we jump into this.

THE SIGNAL: Okay, well, those were my questions. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.

McKEON: You bet.