Campaign 2010

Jun 26, 2012

Upstate Voters Frustrated by Congressman Hanna’s Anti-Middle Class Voting Record

Congressman Richard Hanna (NY-22) enters the general election as a vulnerable incumbent who will be forced to defend his vote for a budget that drastically cuts Medicare in order to protect tax breaks for millionaires, Big Oil and companies shipping American jobs overseas. The more swing voters learn of his anti-middle class voting record, the worse things get.  Even Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner has said that Republicans like Congressman Hanna are “frankly pretty vulnerable.”

 

“New York voters are looking for a break from Congressman Hanna’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.  “Now Congressman Hanna will have to explain his anti-middle class voting record to everyone else. Congressman Hanna voted to export jobs, end guaranteed Medicare benefits, cut college aid, and threatened to cut veterans’ benefits by up to 25 percent. He hasn’t just lost support with his own party – he’s lost support of independents and seniors.”

 

With historically low congressional approval ratings and Democratic strength on the generic ballot, Congressman Richard Hanna faces a tough race ahead.

 

Background 

 

Hanna Voted for the House Republican Budget. On March 29, 2012, House Republicans voted in favor of the House Republican budget. [H Con Res 112, Vote #151, 3/29/12]

 

  • …Which Would Slash Medicare. The House Republican budget cuts funding for Medicare and converts the plan into a voucher system. The plan weakens a guarantee to the elderly and risks driving up costs for future beneficiaries. [New York Times Editorial, 3/20/12; Center for American Progress, 3/20/12]

 

  • …Encourages Companies to Ship Jobs Overseas. The House Republican budget would change our current corporate tax structure into a “territorial” tax system, which would exempt offshore profits of U.S. corporations from the corporate income tax. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, “A territorial system would increase the existing incentives for U.S. corporations to move their operations offshore or use accounting gimmicks to make their U.S. profits appear to be ‘foreign’ profits generated in offshore tax havens.” [Citizens for Tax Justice, 3/22/12]

 

  • …Cuts Critical Education Programs. “The Department of Education would be cut by more than $115 billion over a decade.  9.6 million students would see their Pell Grants fall by more than $1000 in 2014, and, over the next decade, over one million students would lose support altogether. This would derail bipartisan education reforms and deeply undermine K-12 education and college opportunity […] Roughly two million slots in Head Start would be eliminated over the next decade — cutting 200,000 children from the program in 2014 alone.” [OMB, 3/21/12]

 

Hanna Threatened to Cut up to 25 Percent from Veterans Benefits. On July 19, 2011, House Republicans voted for “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act,” a bill whose goal is to limit federal outlays to 18 percent of gross domestic product. While there are a number of different ways the government could slash federal spending to limit federal outlays to 18 percent, if that if the budget cuts were spread around equally, all programs would receive a 25% cut—including veterans’ benefits. [HR 2560, Vote #606, 7/19/11; HR 2560, 7/19/11; HR Res 1, Report No. 112-117, 6/23/11; SJ Res 10; 3/31/11; HJ Res 56; 4/7/11; see also: Republican Legislative Digest for HR 2560, 7/19/11; Center for American Progress, 7/18/11]

 

House Speaker John Boehner: Republicans like Congressman Hanna 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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