Figures said people are “really finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Look where we are. We went from a nation in the black to a nation in the red. Now we’re up to trillions of dollars in the red,” she said. “My opponent voted with the president 98 percent of the time.”
But Sessions broke with the Bush administration in voting against the financial bailout bill on Oct. 1. “Though well-intentioned, the administration’s plan represents unprecedented governmental intervention in the economy,” Sessions said in a statement. Sessions said he doesn’t believe in “protecting reckless investors” but supports “maintaining a healthy framework for investment.”
Figures said she doesn’t think anybody will be immune from the financial crisis. Without action by Congress, she said more jobs will be lost.
Sessions, who serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he has pumped gas at stations across the state while campaigning.
“I’ve seen people in Mobile buy $5 worth of gas. That’s all they had,“ he said. ”It just drives home that this surge in gasoline prices is sucking out large amounts of our American wealth that they could otherwise be using on other things important to them.“
Figures said people are ”really finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. You hear that more than anything else--economy and gas prices.“
On the Iraq war, Sessions said he “could not be more proud and pleased with the success of the surge and the progress in the last two years.”
“I think if we can continue this progress in Iraq and it emerges as a strong and decent country that’s independent and stable, it would be a very positive development for the Middle East,“ said Sessions, who has visited U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and neighboring countries multiple times as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Figures said she was not in a position to visit Iraq or Afghanistan. ”I was against the war from the beginning,“ she said. She said no weapons of mass destruction were found. ”Iraq was not responsible for 9/11,“ she said.
Sessions said he hopes the US can withdraw “as soon as we possibly can. That’s my goal.” He said announcing a withdrawal timetable would be a “mistake--clearly not sound policy. It just tells our enemy when they should be prepared to attack.”
[One opponent] said he supports having extra punishment for a crime committed because of something the victim can’t change, such as their race or a physical or mental defect, but he said sexual orientation should not be included. “Your sexual orientation is a choice, and that can be changed,“ he said.
”I’m not sure it’s just a choice by the person,“ said Senator Vivian Davis Figures.
Voting for the bill were Senators Little, Ross, Smitherman, Sanders and Figures, all Democrats. Voting against it were Senators Mitchell and Bedford, both Democrats, and Byrne, a Republican.
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The above quotations are from Columns and news articles distributed by the Associated Press.
Click here for other excerpts from Columns and news articles distributed by the Associated Press. Click here for other excerpts by Vivian Davis Figures. Click here for a profile of Vivian Davis Figures.
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