Jun 26, 2012
Congressman Gibson Can’t Defend Cutting Medicare, Shipping American Jobs Overseas
Congressman Chris Gibson (NY-19) enters the general election as a highly vulnerable incumbent who will be forced to defend his vote to drastically cut Medicare and force seniors to pay more for health care while protecting corporations that ship jobs overseas, and tax breaks for millionaires and Big Oil. Congressman Gibson’s attempt at an election year flip-flop won’t make voters forget his extreme record. Even Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner has said that Republicans like Congressman Gibson are “frankly pretty vulnerable.”
“New York voters are looking for a break from Congressman Gibson’s extreme Tea Party agenda and his part in the most unpopular Congress in history,” said Josh Schwerin, Northeast Press Secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Congressman Gibson will have to spend the next four months defending the indefensible, his vote to drastically cut Medicare while protecting corporations that ship jobs overseas, and tax breaks for millionaires and Big Oil. It was clear that Congressman Gibson was panicking when he decided to try to convince voters that his vote to slash Medicare never happened.”
Background
Congressman Gibson Voted to End Medicare, Give Tax Breaks to Millionaires, Protect Tax Breaks for Big Oil. On April 15, 2011, Congressman Gibson voted for a budget which “would essentially end Medicare.” If enacted, this budget would begin affecting millions of seniors almost immediately by increasing the costs on prescription drugs and long-term care. For future beneficiaries, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will increase health care costs by an extra $6,359 by 2022. The Republican plan would also lower the top tax rate to 25% and will provide people with incomes over $1 million an average tax cut of $125,000 per year. The plan would secure no deficit-reduction contribution at all from closing special interest tax breaks, such as breaks for big oil companies. [H Con. Res. 34, Vote #277, 4/15/11; Wall Street Journal, 4/4/11; National Journal, 6/2/11; CBO, 4/5/11; Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/20/11]
Congressman Gibson Voted To Let Companies Hide When They Ship Jobs Overseas. On March 8, 2012, Congressman Gibson voted against amending HR 3606, to include the Outsourcing Accountability Act a measure proposed by Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI), which would require large American companies to disclose how many of their jobs are based in the United States and how many are based abroad. The legislation attempts to provide a degree of transparency regarding how many American jobs are being outsourced. [HR 3606, Vote #107, 3/8/12; Washington Post, 2/1/12]
House Speaker John Boehner: Republicans like Congressman Gibson are “Pretty Vulnerable.” During a Fox News interview, Speaker John Boehner claimed that Republicans had a 1-in-3 chance of losing control of the House of Representatives. “We have 50 of our members in tough races, 89 freshmen running for their first reelections, and we have 32 districts that are in states where there is no presidential campaign going to be run, no big Senate race, and we call these orphan districts,” he said. “You take 18 of them, California, Illinois and New York, where you know we’re not likely to do well at the top of the ticket, and those districts are frankly pretty vulnerable.” [The Hill, 4/23/12]
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