EXTREMISM WATCH: THERE HE (SESTAK) GOES AGAIN
Contact: Nachama Soloveichik or Tim Kelly - 484.809.7994
Allentown, PA – For months, Joe Sestak has talked about reducing the deficit even as he voted for increased deficit spending.
- “Now what we have to do—and I do wish the Administration had done a better job this year—is not only set the stage, but begin to address—which I wish the Bush Administration had done—is our national debt.” – Joe Sestak, Fox News, 11/02/09
- “Without a question, this President and President Bush should have also set getting our debt back out of arrears as a top domestic priority.” – Joe Sestak, CNBC, 10/07/09
- “We've got to stop the hemorrhaging … so that people still work and get revenue so we don't have much budget outlays and a bigger deficit.” – Joes Sestak, Fox Business Network, 01/29/09
But it is much better to judge a politician by the votes he casts, and when it comes to his voting record, Joe Sestak is as liberal as they come.
Last Thursday, Joe Sestak joined Nancy Pelosi in voting for a bloated $446.8 billion Omnibus spending bill that constitutes a 13% increase over last years comparable spending bills and contains 5,224 earmarks worth over $3.8 billion (RC #949, 12/10/09). Twenty-eight Democrats voted against the huge increase in spending, including Pennsylvania Democrats Chris Carney (PA-10) and Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03).
Arlen Specter supported his big-spending Democratic colleague, voting for the $447 billion Omnibus in the Senate on Saturday (RC #374, 12/12/09). Three Senate Democrats voted against this massive increase in spending (Sens. Bayh, Feingold, and McCaskill).
“When was the last time Joe Sestak voted to cut government spending in a meaningful way?” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik asked. “At every opportunity, Sestak has voted to increase spending—from the Wall Street bailout (RC #213, 10/01/08), to the auto bailout (RC #690, 12/10/08), to the stimulus (RC #70, 02/13/09), to the FY 2009 Omnibus (RC #86, 02/25/09), to the job-killing cap-and-trade legislation (RC #477, 06/26/09), to government-run health care (RC #887, 11/07/09), to the FY 2010 Omnibus (RC #949, 12/10/09).”
When you add it all up, that’s $4.475 trillion in new spending Sestak has voted for in the fourteen months.
Wall Street bailout: $ 700 billion
Auto bailout: $ 110 billion
Stimulus: $ 787 billion
FY 2009 Omnibus: $ 410 billion
Cap-and-trade: $ 821 billion
Health care: $1,200 billion
FY 2010 Omnibus: $ 447 billion
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Total $4.475 trillion
“When Pat Toomey was in Congress, he consistently voted to cut wasteful spending and for policies that would force Congress to live within its means. In recognition of his principled opposition to wasteful and out-of-control spending, Pat received top honors from taxpayer watchdog groups like Citizens Against Government Waste. That is exactly the kind of principled leadership taxpayers could use in Washington right now—not Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter’s extremism.”
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