MS Officials Denounce Federal Legislation on Health Care and the Environment

The Neshoba County Fair attracts thousands of people every summer to the red clay hills of east Mississippi. Governor Haley Barbour is pictured in the blue shirt.

Mississippi officials use the Neshoba County Fair as an opportunity to blast federal legislation on health care and the environment. MPB's Lawayne Childrey.

The party atmosphere turned serious at the Neshoba County Fair Thursday. That’s when Governor Haley Barbour took the stage and told the audience that the Obama Environment bill could increase the amount that families pay for energy by up to 50%.

“Even middle class families can’t stand a $750 electric bill. They say it’ll create green jobs. Well if it’s a jobs bill why does the Waxman-Markey bill include billions of dollars of special employment funds for all the people who will lose their jobs because of the affects of this very bill?”

Outside of the packed pavilion, the state’s insurance chief, Mike Chaney weighed in on what's being called Obama care. Chaney says he's worried that the governments plan would dictate to the private free market.

“As an example the healthcare plan that private people might offer might include care for autism which we encourage folks to do today. Federal programs don’t have that. So they may cut out autism care they may cut out care for kidney transplants just to keep cost down. And one of the problems that we see with that is what happened in Canada. If you’re 65 years old in Canada and need dialysis you gotta go outside of the country to get it.”

Barbour, who is the head of the Republican Governors Association has been making appearances across the country sharing his conservative ideas and lending his support to GOP candidates. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.