Meet Joe Sestak, AKA, Joe SaysTax - Watch the First Joe SaysTax Video

Allentown, PA – For many months, the Toomey campaign has acknowledged and commended Congressman Joe Sestak for being a person who honestly believes in the positions he espouses. That stands in stark contrast to Senator Arlen Specter, whose only discernable principle is his own reelection. But that doesn’t mean Joe Sestak’s sincerely held views are good for Pennsylvania.

As voters are now learning more about Sestak on their television screens, they should also get to know the real Joe. To help, the Toomey campaign is releasing a new video today, entitled, “Joe SaysTax.” It’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek look at the not so funny way Sestak recklessly spends our tax dollars.

All across Pennsylvania, hardworking families and businesses are struggling, and what does Joe say? He says tax Pennsylvanians and spend more of their hard-earned money.

Joe SaysTax thinks the first Wall Street bailout wasn’t enough, so he voted to release a second Wall Street bailout even though 99 of his Democratic colleagues voted against it.

Joe SaysTax thinks the $787 billion stimulus wasn’t big enough and said he would have voted for a $1 trillion stimulus.

Joe SaysTax thinks the job-killing cap-and-trade bill wasn’t big enough and would have voted for even more burdensome regulations and taxes.

Joe SaysTax thinks the $2.3 trillion health care bill legislation did not go far enough and even voted for a version in committee that would have allowed states to outlaw private health insurance altogether.

Joe SaysTax is so outside the mainstream, it’s no wonder that last week Pennsylvania Democratic Chairman T.J. Rooney told Politico: “If we want to keep this seat in Democratic hands, the only person capable of delivering that victory is Arlen Specter. I can’t say, honest and true, if the shoe’s on the other foot, that we’ll have the same race in November. The results could be cataclysmic.” Rooney also said it will be easy for [opponents] to “paint Joe Sestak as a far-flung lefty.” (Politico, 05/06/10)

All in all, Joe SaysTax has voted for at least $4.71 trillion in new spending over the past year and a half:

Cap-and-Trade . . . . . . . . . $821.2 billion
Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.3 trillion
Auto Bailout . . . . . . . . . . . $105 billion
Stimulus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $787 billion
Wall Street Bailout . . . . . . . $700 billion
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4.71 trillion

“Joe Sestak is so liberal and so outside the mainstream, his solution for every problem is to impose more taxes on Pennsylvanians and spend more of their hard-earned money,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said. “On issue after issue, from Wall Street bailouts, to the so-called stimulus, to government-run health care, to job-killing cap-and-trade, Sestak has pushed for legislation even more extreme than those endorsed by Nancy Pelosi. Now that’s really extreme.”

Documentation:

Cap-and-Trade
Sestak voted for the cap-and-trade legislation. (RC #477, 06/26/09)
Sestak thought the cap-and trade bill did not go far enough, saying: “I was disappointed in this bill because I thought it was eviscerated during the process too much.” (Netroots Nation, 08/14/09)
Cost: $821.2 billion (CBO, 06/05/09)

Health Care
Sestak voted for the final health care legislation. (RC #165, 03/21/10)
Sestak said the final bill did not go far enough, saying, “I’m disappointed in the bill frankly, frustrated, I wanted a robust public option.” (MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell Reports, 12/17/09)
Sestak voted for a version of the health care bill in committee that would have allowed states to outlaw private health insurance altogether. (Education & Labor Committee, 07/17/09)
Cost: $2.3 trillion (Senate Minority Budget Committee Report March 26, 2010)

Auto Bailout
Sestak voted to bail out the auto industry. (RC #690, 12/10/08)
Cost: $105 billion (CNNMoney, “CNNMoney.com’s bailout tracker")

Stimulus
Sestak voted for the stimulus. (RC #70, 02/13/09)
Sestak thought the stimulus did not go far enough, saying, “This bill is actually a bit small in my opinion, but it’s the right step.” (ABC WPVI, 02/27/09) He also said he “would have voted for $1 trillion.” (NBC WCAU, 02/27/09)
Cost: $787 billion (Associated Press, 02/14/09)

Wall Street Bailout
Joe voted for the first half of the Wall Street bailout (RC #681, 10/03/08) and for the release of the second half. (RC #27, 01/22/09)
Joe thought a year of Wall Street bailouts was not sufficient and opposed a bipartisan effort to let the bailout expire after one year. (Press release, 09/26/09).
Cost: $700 billion (New York Times)

Pat Toomey for U.S. Senate Mon, 05/10/2010 Contact—Nachama Soloveichik • 484.809.7994 • 646.528.1029 Tim Kelly • 484.809.7994 For Immediate Release—May 10, 2010

VIDEO CREDIT: ToomeyForSenate

Congressman Chris Lee Weekly Republican Address TEXT PODCAST VIDEO 05/15/10

Podcast of the address: Download MP3 for PODCAST

Delivering the Weekly Republican Address, Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) says that with Washington’s out-of-control spending spree hurting our economy, Democrats’ failure to pass a budget represents a “missed opportunity” to provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and grow our economy. The lawmaker notes that, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, the House has never failed to pass a budget in the modern era. In the address, Rep. Lee talks about the need to cut spending now and discusses some of Republicans' common-sense solutions to do just that. Now in his first term in Congress, Rep. Lee represents the Buffalo area, where, on Thursday, President Obama tried to defend his ineffective trillion-dollar ‘stimulus.’

“Hello – I’m Congressman Chris Lee, and I have the great privilege of representing New York’s 26th Congressional District, which includes the suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester.

“President Obama visited our area this week, and it was my hope that he would listen – really listen – to what the people are saying. I’ve been in Congress 16 months now, but it doesn’t take that long to figure out that Washington does more talking than listening. And it certainly does more spending than saving, often in the name of creating jobs that never seem to come. The trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ was supposed to keep unemployment below eight percent, but joblessness is now near ten percent.

“The new health care bill is faring no better. It was supposed to lower Americans’ health care costs, but the Obama Administration’s own experts determined that it will actually increase them. It was supposed to help reduce the deficit, but the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office now says the new law will cost taxpayers more than one trillion dollars.

“And now, after leaving taxpayers on the hook for massive ‘stimulus’ programs and permanent bailouts, Democrats in Washington have no credible plan to put our fiscal house in order. In fact, House Democrats may not even offer a budget this year.

“Families are making tough choices each month in order to live within a budget, and government should be doing the same. One Democratic leader in Congress has called the budget ‘the most basic responsibility of governing.’ Another Democratic leader has said, ‘if you can’t budget, you can’t govern.’ But now these same Democrats just want to continue spending money we don’t have, and they want to do it without a budget.

“This is a remarkable failure of leadership: according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, not passing a budget resolution would be unprecedented in the modern era.

“And for you and your families, it means a missed opportunity to provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and boost the economy. What’s worse, the fewer sacrifices Washington makes now, the more Americans will be asked to give up later in the form of massive, job-killing tax hikes.

“This is a recipe for economic disaster, and it has to change.

“Consider this: since President Obama was sworn into office, our national debt has risen by more than $2 trillion to a record $12.9 trillion. In just two more years, according to the President’s own estimates, our national debt will surpass the size of our entire economy. And unless we change course, our debt will reach levels now being experienced by Greece, whose debt is projected to reach 125 percent of its economy this year. Greece is already in the process of receiving an international bailout.

“We are seeing in Europe today what happens when debt spirals out of control, how it shakes the confidence of consumers, manufacturers, and small businesses, and how it creates an insurmountable obstacle to economic recovery. We’re also seeing in Europe that government is not immune to the same fate that befalls any business or family that recklessly spends more than it earns: you run out of money and you go bankrupt.

“So our choice is this: make the tough decisions required to put our fiscal house in order or continue to duck them. That’s why Republicans have proposed several initiatives to cut spending now and make Washington do more with less, just as families and small businesses are. We have asked President Obama to use his authority under the law to force Congress to consider spending cuts. We have also imposed an immediate, unilateral earmark ban and called for the savings to be used to reduce the deficit. And we have proposed strict budget caps to limit federal spending on an annual basis. Less spending, more jobs: it’s that simple.

“President Obama and Democrats in Washington should listen to the American people, who want us to work together on common-sense solutions to stop the spending spree and focus on helping manufacturers and small businesses create jobs. A responsible budget would be a good place to start.

“Thank you for listening.”