*Links to Articles and Information about Senator Bennett: http://www.utahrising.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60%3Abennett&catid=902&Itemid=65* "Bend it Like Bennett" - a short video exposing the money trails between Senator Bennett and the "Big Money" special interest groups who keep funding his perpetual re-election campaigns.: http://www.ourcaucus.com/utah.html*
Ten Reasons to be Concerned about Senator Bennett's Voting Record:
1. Hailed as a “key Republican negotiator,” Senator Bob Bennett supported and voted for the massive $700 billion Wall Street bailout. (Roll Call Vote #213, 10/01/08)
2. “Few politicians have more ties to Freddie and Fannie than Utah Senator Bob Bennett, who topped all Republicans in campaign contributions from the mortgage duo since 1989.” (Salt Lake Tribune, 09/12/08)
3. Senator Bob Bennett sponsored and supported the so-called “Healthy Americans Act,” a trillion-dollar government takeover of healthcare that rivals ObamaCare for being a massive big government proposal. It would increase job-killing taxes, impose an individual mandate, increase health care costs, and would give Washington the authority to regulate every health care plan in the country.
4. Senator Bob Bennett broke his term limits pledge when he ran for re-election in 2004. Bennett has now been in the Senate for 18 years. (Deseret News, 10/07/98)
5. Bennett voted against an amendment that recommended eliminating free parking privileges at Washington airports for members of Congress. (Roll Call Vote #94, 04/20/94)
6. Bennett voted against an amendment that would defund the “Bridge to Nowhere” pork project. Over the course of his career, he has supported countless earmarks like $200,000 for a museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and $3.7 million for the AFL-CIO. He also voted against a one-year earmark moratorium. (Roll Call Vote #262, 10/20/05; #215, 07/06/09; #385, 10/23/07; #75, 03/13/08)
7. “Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett said he erred in voting three times in the 1990s for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and today the public need not be overly concerned with the $7 trillion federal deficit.” (Salt Lake Tribune, 02/20/04)
8. Bennett voted against an amendment that recommended that the Senate had a “moral obligation” to offset the cost of new government programs and authorizations, in order to reduce deficit spending and the national debt. (Roll Call Vote #140, 04/24/07)
9. Senator Bob Bennett was named “Porker of the Month” in February, 2002, by the anti-earmark group Citizens Against Government Waste (www.cagw.org).
10. Senator Bob Bennett voted against an amendment that would prohibit Social Security surplus funds from being spent on other government programs. (Roll Call Vote #65, 03/13/08)*
Other Key Points of Senator Bennett's Voting Record:
Voted to approve Cass Sunstein to the Regulation Commission (You can read more about Cass Sunstein here: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96301 ).o H.R. 1105
– Fairness Doctrine - Voted to allow funding to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine (This required radio and television broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints on controversial issues. The rule encouraged broadcasters to minimize controversial programming so as to avoid providing free air time for opposing viewpoints.)o H.R. 2997 \
– Voted for Agriculture Appropriations (Federal food subsidies are not within the proper role of government.)...o H.R. 5140
– Economic Stimulus (Voted for rebate checks that basically "created money out of thin air")o H.R. 3221
– Mortgage Relief –Voted for the bail out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (It is not within the proper role of government to be an insurer and wealth redistributor.)o H.R. 5501 – Voted for the Global HIV/AIDS Program. (Private charities, not tax dollars, should be used to provide foreign aid.)o H.R. 1424
– Voted for the Bailout Bill (This bill greatly increased the national debt and forced taxpayers to pay the price for the failures of private financial institutions.)o S.1927
– Voted for foreign-aid contributions – (Private charities, not tax dollars, should be used to provide foreign aid.)o House Joint Resolution 43
– Voted for a Debt Limit Increase (Raising the public debt limit by $850 billion facilitates continued, gross fiscal irresponsibility.)o H.R. 3043
– Voted for Labor-HHS Education Appropriations (Social-welfare programs and education are not part of the proper role of the Federal government.)o H.R. 2205
– Voted for Amtrak Reauthorization (Subsidizing a railroad)
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3 comments:
Top 10 Myths
1. Hailed as a "key Republican negotiator," Senator Bob Bennett supported and voted for the massive $700 billion Wall Street bailout. (Roll Call Vote #213, 10/01/08)
The first TARP vote was solidly bipartisan and prevented a worldwide systemic financial meltdown. It was not a bailout or stimulus vote – Senator Bennett vigorously opposed the stimulus, the auto bailouts, and all of President Obama’s spending proposals. His opponents try to blur the line between TARP and all the outrageous spending that followed, but Mitt Romney has called Bob Bennett’s TARP vote “correct and courageous.”
2. "Few politicians have more ties to Freddie and Fannie than Utah Senator Bob Bennett, who topped all Republicans in campaign contributions from the mortgage duo since 1989." (Salt Lake Tribune, 09/12/08)
This is misleading, in that direct corporate contributions are illegal, and Senator Bennett has received none. Individuals who work for Fannie and Freddie have donated to his campaign, but that didn’t stop Senator Bennett from spearheading legislation in the Senate Banking Committee that would have reined in Fannie and Freddie and tightened lending standards. (That bill was filibustered by Senate Democrats and never came to a vote.)
3. Senator Bob Bennett sponsors and supports the so-called "Healthy Americans Act," a trillion-dollar government takeover of healthcare that rivals ObamaCare for being a massive big government proposal. It would increase job-killing taxes, impose an individual mandate, increase health care costs, and would give Washington the authority to regulate every health care plan in the country.
Independent organizations have examined Club for Growth’s outrageous slander on this issue, and they have concluded that every aspect of the statement above is misleading and fundamentally dishonest. (Check factcheck.org for more information.) In addition, Senator Bennett’s free-market approach on health care reform has come under fire from the AFL-CIO, ACORN, and a number of left-wing groups. The Club for Growth should be wary of the company they’re keeping on this issue.
4. Senator Bob Bennett broke his term limits pledge when he ran for re-election in 2004. Bennett has now been in the Senate for 18 years. (Deseret News, 10/07/98)
In 1998, the Senator announced when he ran for his second term that he would not limit himself to two terms unless such limits were applied equally across the board to all federal office holders. He has voted for legislation that would accomplish this every time it has been brought up for a vote.
5. Bennett voted against an amendment that recommended eliminating free parking privileges at Washington airports for members of Congress. (Roll Call Vote #94, 04/20/94)
Senator Bennett voted against the elimination of the free parking at Washington airports to increase efficiency and cut the the costs of Congress, which saves taxpayers money. Otherwise, taxpayers would be footing the bill every time members of Congress took cabs or parked at a Washington airport to fly home to their states.
6. Blaming Senator Bennett for earmarks airdropped into bills by other members of Congress is a dirty political tactic, and, if equally applied, would tar almost all other senators – including Republicans - with the same brush. Senator Bennett has fought for transparency in the earmarking process to prevent this kind of nonsense. Senator Bennett never advocated any of the projects listed above.
He is, however, unapologetically in favor of upholding the Constitution when it comes to Congress’s authority to direct federal spending. Otherwise, that power would transfer over to the president and into the hands of one party.
7. Context is necessary. Senator Bennett’s issues with a balanced budget amendment stem from the danger of such an amendment being used as a Trojan horse for a massive tax increase. He has repeatedly said he would support a balanced budget amendment that appropriately caps taxes.
As for the deficit, Senator Bennett is very concerned – not about the raw dollar amount so much as the amount of debt measured as a percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP.) In 2004, our total debt was a high dollar figure, but nowhere near 150% of GDP, which is where our debt was in the years directly following the Second World War. Today, President Obama is driving our debt back to those dangerous post-World War II levels, and Senator Bennett is leading the charge to turn the train around. Bennett is one of the only members of Congress with plans to solve our Social Security crisis, rein in entitlement spending, and limit discretionary spending.
8. Again, context is necessary. Senator Bennett believes that the federal government’s plans to “offset costs” often comes in the form of tax increases, which he opposes.
9. Senator Bob Bennett was named "Porker of the Month" in February, 2002, by the anti-earmark group Citizens Against Government Waste (www.cagw.org).
Bennett believes earmarks should be transparent, but he makes no apologies for using the constitutional authority appropriately.
Earmarks constitute less than 1% of the total federal budget. But keep in mind that an earmark is a designation of where money will be spent, not an addition to the budget. If Senator Bennett refused to earmark money, it would simply be spent in Chicago instead of Utah. Eliminating all earmarks wouldn’t reduce the budget by a single dime. A member of the Senate who refuses to earmark funds for his/her state is sending all of those funds to another state. That would be irresponsible.
And, again, the Constitution gives the power of the federal purse to Congress. Earmarks keep that power out of the hands of the president, and Senator Bennett doesn’t want to give any more power to President Obama.
10. Yes, he did, because such a prohibition would cost the taxpayers billions of dollars and prevent them from getting any return on that surplus money. Currently, the money is not directly spent on other programs – it is invested in government bonds, which generate an appropriate return. Were it left alone, it would lose purchasing value to inflation, which would essentially constitute a hidden tax on everyone who pays FICA taxes.
Scott.. thank you for taking the time to write an intelligent reply. I disagree with the idea that the TARP helped anything. It was never used as it was advertised to the American people. I also don't like Mitt Romney and think that he is also a big gov. big spender. The only reason Romneycare hasn't bankrupted Mass is all the federal funds they are getting. And, don't tell me it was the dems who did that.. because Romney is at this moment campaigning on its success.
I think it's time for a change. We need to get all the big spenders R & D out of Washington.
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