CONWAY — U.S. Sen. John Boozman said Wednesday that if the United States doesn’t get its budget under control, it will face the fate that some other countries already have.

“Right now, we have humongous problems without a doubt,” Boozman, R-Ark., told the Conway Kiwanis Club. “So, we’ve got to start making some tough choices. ... We’ve got to get on the stick and do that.”

If the nation works out its debt problems, Boozman said, “we’ll be stronger than ever, especially if we can get” more independent on energy sources.

“If we don’t, we’re going to be in the same [situation] as Greece,” Portugal and other countries, he said.

If the country worked to use all of its energy resources - whether oil, natural gas or thermal energy - and did so in an environmentally sensitive way, “we could be energy-independent in 10 years,” the senator said.

Two members of the Kiwanis audience asked Boozman about the political rancor in Congress.

“I think that’s a very valid concern,” Boozman told one of them.

Earlier in his speech, Boozman had praised one Kiwanismember, former state Sen. Stanley Russ, D-Conway, and former U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, R-Ark., for being the kind of men who tried “to disagree without being disagreeable.”

Boozman said the Arkansas delegation “has really worked together very very well,” especially on issues related to Arkansas, even though its members do not always agree.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Sen. [Mark] Pryor’s office,” he said. Pryor, Arkansas’ other U.S. senator, is a Democrat. “I wish that we could mimic that in Congress,” Boozman said.

He noted, however, that rancor isn’t new on the national political scene. In the days of Andrew Jackson, politicians settled their feuds with slaps and duels, he said to laughter.

“There has been rancor through the years.”

In a brief interview later, Boozman said the challenge for Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in facing President Barack Obama in November is “to get the message out that he’s always been a turnaround-type person in regard to” finances.

The key to winning the presidential election will be in appealing to independent voters, Boozman added.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 16 on 05/04/2012