WASHINGTON -- Freshman U.S. Sen. David Perdue's first speech on the floor this evening laid out priorities for the fiscal battles that he said inspired his turn from businessman to senator, while launching an attack on the Obama administration's foreign policy and use of power domestically.
"I rise today because I believe our republic is in grave danger," Perdue said. "We need to create a new beginning by dealing with the very real crisis of leadership we face today. It’s why I ran for the Senate in the first place, because we need a new perspective in Washington."
In some ways the 16-minute address was a meatier version of his campaign stump speech -- he twice referred to himself as an "outsider" -- with updates for the Iran nuclear deal debate set to roil the Senate this week.
His economic prescriptions included tax code changes. Perdue hopes eventually for a national sales tax to replace the income and corporate taxes (known as the FairTax), but in the meantime he will settle for reducing the corporate rate, ending the "repatriation tax" for companies to bring back overseas profits and getting rid of "corporate welfare."
He said that those immediate steps would "allow us to fund our infrastructure needs," among other benefits. A bipartisan group of senators has proposed to use a reduction -- but not elimination -- of the repatriation tax to pay for more road funding.
Other freshmen have carried bigger national profiles so far: Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., caused an international stir with his letter to the Ayatollah of Iran. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
In fact, Perdue was one of the last members of the Senate's freshman class to give a "maiden speech" on the floor. He said he waited until after the 100-day mark "out of respect."
While opining about how he was honored to serve in a line of great Georgians, Perdue revealed he has in some ways not been impressed with the Senate in his first 100 days:
"From what I've seen so far up here, there is not a great enough sense of urgency in tackling this skyrocketing debt. There are no innocent parties up here. Both sides have pushed us to the brink, contributing to this unsustainable level of debt we face today."
Perdue, in fact, found himself going against most of his brethren this month to vote against a change to Medicare physician payments that is projected to add to the long-term debt. Both chambers are expected to pass a budget blueprint this week, but the policies it uses to theoretically balance the budget in 10 years have no chance of becoming law at this point.
Still, Perdue said Congress should spend more money on the military in order to deal with all of the world's threats. Perdue also wants to curtail "out-of-control regulators" and extract more domestic energy "while protecting our environment."
To do all this, Perdue argues, will take political courage:
"To create a new beginning, it's time for this eminent body, the United States Senate, to rise above partisan politics and do the right thing. It starts with leadership. It starts with making hard decisions. It starts with telling the American people the unvarnished truth. It starts with no longer kicking the can down the road. It starts with having the courage to actually solve these problems, independent of how it might affect our own re-election."
When he was done, several Republicans heaped their senatorial praise on Perdue, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
McConnell, whom Perdue once vowed to oppose for leader but then supported in a closed-door vote, called Perdue's remarks an "insightful and accurate assessment."
"Not only did he lay out the biggest challenges, he certainly laid out the best solutions to getting this country moving again," the leader added.
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