Jun 26, 2012
Congresswoman Hayworth Can’t Defend Cutting Medicare, Blocking Disaster Relief
Congresswoman Hayworth Can’t Defend Cutting Medicare, Blocking Disaster Relief
Congresswoman Nan Hayworth (NY-18) enters the general election as a highly vulnerable incumbent who will be forced to defend her votes to drastically cut Medicare and force seniors to pay more for health care while protecting tax breaks for millionaires, Big Oil, and corporations shipping jobs overseas, as well as her efforts to block disaster relief for her district following Hurricane Irene. Even Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner has said that Republicans like Congresswoman Hayworth are “frankly pretty vulnerable.”
“Hudson Valley voters are looking for a break from Congresswoman Hayworth’s extreme Tea Party agenda,” said Josh Schwerin, Northeast Press Secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Congresswoman Hayworth will have to spend the next four months defending the indefensible, her vote to drastically cut Medicare while protecting tax breaks for millionaires and Big Oil, and her shocking abandonment of her constituents when she attempted to block disaster relief following Hurricane Irene.”
Background
Congresswoman Hayworth Voted to Slash Medicare, Protect Tax Breaks for Big Oil and Millionaires, Encourage Companies to Ship Jobs Overseas. On March 29, 2012, House Republicans supported a budget that would end Medicare’s guaranteed benefit, protects $40 billion in tax breaks for big oil, provides people earning more than $1 million a year with an average tax cut of $394,000, and provides incentives for corporations to shift profits and jobs overseas. [H Con Res 112, Vote #151, 3/29/12; Center for American Progress, 3/20/12; Center for American Progress, 3/20/12; Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 3/27/12; Tax Policy Center, Table T12-0078 and T10-0132; Citizens for Tax Justice, 3/22/12]
Congresswoman Hayworth Demanded That Disaster Aid Be Offset By Additional Cuts. “After U.S. Rep. Nan Hayworth spent Monday and Tuesday touring storm damage in her district, she backed the position of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that additions to the disaster relief fund must be offset by federal budget cuts elsewhere. ‘We're facing a natural disaster in the middle of an economic disaster,’ Hayworth said Wednesday. ‘The federal government has to balance its budget the way our families do.’” [Times Herald-Record, 8/31/11]
Congresswoman Hayworth Voted To Make It Harder to Rebuild After Natural Disasters. On September 23, 2011, Congresswoman Hayworth voted in favor of HR 2608, a continuing resolution meant to fund the federal government through November 18, 2011. The legislation provided $3.65 billion for disaster assistance, roughly $3 billion less than what the Office of Management and Budget estimated the federal government needed in funding. [HR 2608, Vote #727, Office of Management and Budget, 9/5/11; The Hill, 9/23/11]
House Speaker John Boehner: Republicans like Congresswoman Hayworth 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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