U.S. Sen. John Breaux, D-Crowley, recently visited Nicholls to inform members of the community of the recent happenings in Congress, and how they affect the community.Breaux spoke of the change in power in the senate, the newly passed tax bill, efforts to create a national energy bill, federally funded insurance for children and the Conservation Reinvestment Act, also known as CARA.

Breaux said the defection of Vermont senator Jim Jeffords from the Republican Party, which caused a shift in the balance of power, will be positive for Louisiana.

“This is a change of earthquake proportions,” Breaux said.

“If anything, our role has been enhanced as centrists, and I think it’s good for Louisiana and the country,” he said.

“What we were able to do as centrists, I think, contributed to getting the tax bill passed.”

Breaux spoke of the newly created 10 percent tax bracket.

“That will affect everybody here regardless of which bracket you’re in, because the first $12,000 you owe will now be taxed at a 10 percent rate instead of a 15 percent rate. So, no matter what income level you are in, creating a new, lower rate affects all of us.”

He also spoke of Louisiana’s role as an energy producer.

“We are at the center of activity as an energy producing area. We’re working on trying to come up with a national energy bill, because we don’t really have a good policy now.

“The policy now is to import 55 percent of all the energy we use in this country. Those of us from this area know that is unacceptable.

“If we imported 55 percent of the food we ate, we would have people marching in the streets saying that is unacceptable. That’s what we do with energy, and that’s very unfortunate,” he said.

Breaux said government alone cannot solve the problem; businesses and people should encourage conservation.

“We’re not going to be able to build enough windmills, enough solar panels and enough electrical lines to solve the problem by ourselves.

Breaux said the development of traditional sources of energy like oil and gas, as well as nuclear power must be increased. Producers, he said, must also find ways to use coal in a clean and safe manner.

“It’s really interesting; we have a Democratic energy bill, which emphasizes conservation, and we have a Republican energy bill, which emphasizes production. I’m a sponsor of both of them because I want to try to take the best of both and put them together in one package, which I think is the right way to solve the problem.”

Breaux also spoke of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act or CARA.

“The CARA bill is the conservation bill that passed the House of Representatives last year and did not pass the Senate particularly because of opposition from western states.”

Breaux said the bill would have provided Louisiana with a substantial amount of financial resources to help offset the impacts on energy development, particularly in the offshore area.

“All of you know that outside of our three-mile limit offshore, it’s all federal waters, and the federal government gets 100 percent of the revenues from leasing that property for oil and gas development.”

Inside the limit, the states get all of the revenues.

“The concept is to say, ‘That’s not right,'” Breaux said.

“We in Louisiana want to have some piece of that to offset cost that we legitimately have to occur.”

Breaux said President George W. Bush has indicated his support of the bill.