Posts Tagged ‘Earmarks’

PA GOP News Brief – 7.28.10

1. Philadelphia Daily News: Sestak’s tone-deaf when it comes to earmarks

2. The Hill: Voters can’t shake deficit worries

3. Delaware County Times: Corbett: Businesses need help from state

4. Delaware County Times: Public health insurance divides 7^th district candidates

5. The Hill: Obama flubs on creating new jobs

1. Philadelphia Daily News: Sestak’s tone-deaf when it comes to earmarks

Joe Sestak readily admits he has trouble answering questions succinctly.

He says that much of what he’s asked about is so complicated that he needs time to explain things. He also says this is a drawback in his profession and tells me that he works on it “constantly.”

The Democratic congressman and Senate candidate should work a little harder to reconcile taking campaign contributions from those benefiting from federal “earmarks” (which direct money to be spent on specific projects) while claiming “a personal policy” against doing so.

2. The Hill: Voters can’t shake deficit worries

The federal budget deficit will matter more to voters this year than it has in the past decade, according to polls.

While it continues to trail the near-double-digit unemployment rates and overall state of the economy as a leading concern for voters, it is proving central to the 2010 election.

“It used to be that people had vague concerns about the deficit. They knew there was one, but it didn’t seem to really matter,” said Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely candidate in the 2012 presidential race. “Now average people outside of politics are zoomed in on it. You go to the grocery store or the dry cleaners or some place and average people, they make comments about the debt, the deficit and spending.”

The rise in deficit worries is exposing the political risk in a key plank of the Democratic agenda: pumping taxpayer money into the economy in the short term, while attempting to keep deficits and debt in check in the long term.

After barely registering for at least a decade, deficits began rising rapidly among voter concerns in 2009. Massive Tea Party protests around the country since early last year helped stir up public attention and unrest.

By February of this year, 11 percent of those polled by Gallup said the federal deficit was the most important issue facing the nation.

3. Delaware County Times: Corbett: Businesses need help from state

The next governor needs to reduce spending and remove any barriers for small businesses to flourish, said Pennsylvania Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett during a visit to Archway Press Inc. in Sharon Hill Tuesday.

Corbett said such small businesses need government to be on their side. He has proposed cutting business taxes and holding the line on new taxes, streamlining tax paperwork, aligning state and federal investment expenses, and eliminating the inheritance tax.

4. Delaware County Times: Public health insurance divides 7^th district candidates

While the Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District kicked off an economic tour Tuesday, the Republican candidate denounced a public health insurance option.

State Rep. Bryan Lentz, D-161, of Swarthmore, is running against Republican Pat Meehan, a former U.S. attorney, for the seat currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who is running for U.S. Senate.

…

Meehan kicked off his business tour back in May with a stop at the Ridley Park Business District. Since then, Meehan has hosted a roundtable discussion, forums and other events with small-business owners and executives.

Meehan on Tuesday said he was concerned about U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) call for a public health insurance option. He said it “will cost the taxpayers billions of dollars and over time crowd out private insurance companies, leaving consumers with no choice but to sign up for a government plan.”

5. The Hill: Obama flubs on creating new jobs

The Obama administration has been focused on the wrong jobs numbers. Instead of obsessing over the president’s sagging job approval ratings, the focus should have been on a job-creation initiative.

We finally have a genuine “most important issue or problem” according to every poll out there, yet the president doesn’t seem to be responding, except to try and keep people on unemployment benefits. Even a public jobs initiative would be welcomed at this juncture, but things won’t really get better in this economy until consumer confidence rises in response to the availability of more jobs in the private sector.

The president isn’t the only one who seems confused about this matter. Last week a Quinnipiac University poll announced that Americans believe jobs are more important than deficit reduction. “American voters say 64-30 percent that reducing unemployment is more important than reducing the federal budget deficit,” said the pollsters’ release. It went on, “Even Republicans say 58-38 percent that reducing unemployment is more important.”

Mike Barley
Director of the Communications and Technology Departments

Republican Party of Pennsylvania
717-234-4901, ext. 115
mbarley@pagop.org

PA GOP News Brief – 7.20.2010

1)  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Donations Pit Senate Hopefuls

2) Centre Daily Times: Toomey, Sestak spar on earmarks, jobless benefits

3)  The Morning Call: Giuliani stumps for Dent, Barletta

4) Bucks County Courier-Times: Specter Asks White House For Job

5)  Lancaster New Era: Editorial: Obama policies lacking promise

6) Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Editorial Fatal conceit

1)      Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Donations Pit Senate Hopefuls

Sniping in the Pennsylvania Senate race continued Monday with Republican Pat Toomey calling on Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak to return thousands of dollars in donations and Sestak blaming Toomey, a former congressman, for the recession.

Sestak, of Delaware County, said he wouldn’t give back donations from top executives of companies to which he’d steered federal money…

“If you make a pledge and you don’t keep it, isn’t that being unaccountable?” said Toomey spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik.

2)       Centre Daily Times: Toomey, Sestak spar on earmarks, jobless benefits

The candidates running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania are sparring over earmarks and unemployment benefits.

Republican Pat Toomey on Monday called on Democrat Joe Sestak to return more than $100,000 in campaign donations from people who work for companies that received federal earmarks that he steered.

Sestak says he routinely returns money from the senior officers of those companies, but it’s hard to track donations from lower-level employees.

3)       The Morning Call: Giuliani stumps for Dent, Barletta

Republican Rudy Giuliani on Monday brought his message of fiscal conservatism and national security to fundraisers for Congressman Charlie Dent and U.S. House hopeful Lou Barletta, picking up criticism along the way.

The former New York City mayor highlighted his reaction to the terrorist attacks that launched his national profile and made his 2008 presidential primary bid possible.

“On Sept. 11, that evening, I asked the people of New York City not to take out their aggression against people who are Arab or Islamic,” he told reporters at Hotel Bethlehem. “And they didn’t. And that was the right thing to do. That doesn’t mean we have to close our eyes to what’s going on because a country that closes its eyes is a country that’s in danger.”

4)        Courier Times: Specter Asks White House For Job

An ABC News report citing unnamed sources that Sen. Arlen Specter might be discussing a government job with the White House inflamed the chairman of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party on Friday.

The report by the network’s senior White House correspondent, Jake Tapper, said Specter, D-Philadelphia, “informed the White House that he would like to consider remaining in public service after his Senate terms ends at the end of this session, and White House officials are keeping an open mind about possible job openings for him.”

The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Specter’s office declined to comment.

But state GOP Chairman Bob Gleason criticized the White House for helping political allies with jobs while failing to create jobs for average Americans or a business-friendly climate.

“After all the scrutiny the White House took over the job offer they presented to Joe Sestak and the dozens of unanswered questions still hanging out there, one has to wonder what they are thinking, considering Arlen Specter for a job,” Gleason said.

5)       Lancaster New Era: Editorial: Obama policies lacking promise

If it sounds too good to be true …

The American public would be wise to keep that familiar adage in mind when listening to the Obama administration’s upbeat assessment of last year’s $862 billion stimulus law.

A new White House report claims the stimulus has “saved or created” between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs.

That’s up from a previous report, when the figure was between 2.2 million and 2.8 million.

The number grows, it seems, with each passing quarter in a manner similar to Pinocchio’s nose.

Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, says the law “appears to be stimulating private investment and job creation at a time when the economy needs it most.”

Really? Where are all these jobs?

6)        Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Editorial Fatal conceit

Consider it a metaphor for Obamanomics.

The special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program says the Obama administration’s auto task force acted prematurely in forcing General Motors and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships.

IG Neil Barofsky says the companies didn’t adequately consider the jobs that would be lost in related businesses and how that would affect the recession. He also says the task force did not have a firm idea of the supposed cost savings.