Governor-Elect Nikki Haley (S.C.) Meets With Congressional Members

Governor-Elect Nikki Haley Meets With Members Of The U.S. House, Senate


South Carolina Gov.-elect Nikki Haley met Monday with the state's freshman-packed U.S. House delegation and its two veteran U.S. senators as they agreed to work on key issues such as deepening Charleston's port and bailing out the state's schools.

Haley met with freshman Reps. Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney and Tim Scott, along with veteran Reps. Jim Clyburn and Joe Wilson and U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint. All are Republican except for Clyburn, who will be No. 3 in the Democratic House leadership come January.

"There were no egos in that room," Haley said at a post-meeting news conference with the delegation. "It was a group of people that understood South Carolina needed to come first and it was very much one of great spirit - great energy - in how we are going to get things done."

Cooperation among the delegation has been lacking on some issues lately. Graham and DeMint have disagreed over where to find money for a port-deepening study.

"When the ports came up, it was not: 'We can't do this.' It was 'How are we going to get this done.' They were unified in the fact they understand the ports are vital to economic development," Haley said.

DeMint also opposed a measure championed by Clyburn that would bring $143 million in federal bailout cash to South Carolina schools.

The state will lose the money and up to 2,600 teaching jobs unless Congress intercedes, state Education Superintendent Jim Rex said.

"It can only be fixed by our congressional delegation," Rex said. "They are going to have to pull together because it has to be fixed in the House and Senate."

DeMint said news accounts have mischaracterized his opposition to Clyburn's efforts get the public school bailout cash.

"We talked about it, but we're not sure how to resolve it," DeMint said. "Both of us are supportive of the state getting its fair share."

South Carolina failed to meet criteria in a federal bailout law to qualify. That means other states that met the criteria would have to agree to give South Carolina a break from the laws they followed. "That doesn't mean we're going to give up on it, though," DeMint said.

It was a rare meeting for the delegation.

Clyburn, a Democrat who becomes the delegation's senior member in January, said the last joint meeting of the delegation was in the early 1990s as the state futilely tried to keep the Charleston Naval Base and Charleston Naval Shipyard open.

Haley, who takes office in January as Sanford's term limited two terms end, said she hopes to have meetings with the delegation every three months.


View Larger Map


Sources: CNN, MSNBC, The State, Youtube, Google Maps