The effects of McConnell/Bush

Today's Courier-Journal makes some good points:

It's a tribute to the power of Sen. Mitch McConnell's example that Rep. Ben Chandler and Democratic senatorial nominee Bruce Lunsford have kissed (OK, it was a hug) and made up.

So put off are Mr. Chandler and Mr. Lunsford by the relentless, unapologetic McConnell support for President Bush (you know, the guy who invaded Iraq on false pretenses, assaulted American principles and traditions, tried to sabotage Social Security, left New Orleans in the lurch, ran up a stunning national debt) that they've put aside old grievances. The congressman told the Kentucky delegation at the Democratic convention, "I want you all to know... that I am strongly supportive of Bruce Lunsford." The two shook hands and hugged. They agree on a number of things, but the most important is that Mitch McConnell and George W. Bush have earned a ticket out of Washington.

Obama acceptance speech believed to set TV record

Reuters has the story:

Over 38 million Americans tuned in for television coverage of Barack Obama accepting the Democratic nomination for U.S. president on Thursday in what is believed to be the most watched convention speech ever.

...Obama's historic address, by the first African American chosen to lead a major political party in the race for the White House, averaged 38.4 million U.S. viewers across all major networks, Nielsen Media Research reported on Friday.

That figure is the highest for any single night of any major party convention going back to 1996, the last election cycle for which Nielsen keeps night-by-night data.

In case you missed Obama's speech, you can watch it below:

Good, bad, ugly on health care

There's a good editorial in today's Herald-Leader:

Uninsured Kentuckians increased by 1.6 percentage points to almost 15 percent of the population. An average 569,000 Kentuckians lacked health insurance from 2005 through 2007.

...Money remains the biggest obstacle to Gov. Steve Beshear's campaign promise to insure all Kentucky children. It would require an additional $40 million from the state to cover all eligible kids.

...Those are dollars that would support health care, churn through the economy and, more important, prevent childhood health concerns from becoming lifelong disabilities.

Click here to read the entire editorial.

Ky disapproves of Bush

A new poll from Survey USA shows that even here in so-called "red-state" Kentucky, we disapprove of the job Bush is doing:

Do you approve or disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing as President?

Approve 37%
Disapprove 61%
Not Sure 2%

So why is John McCain running for a third Bush term?

McConnell's Latest Ad Just Another McCON Job

Today Bruce Lunsford issued this press release:

McConnell’s Latest Ad Just Another McCON Job
McConnell Continues to Distort the Truth in Latest Attack Ad

LOUISVILLE— There he goes again. After being called out by Kentucky’s leading newspapers and television stations for telling a “bald-faced lie” about Bruce Lunsford’s energy position, Mitch McConnell continues to distort the truth in his latest attack ad.

Citing a New York Times editorial that calls Barack Obama’s proposal to tax oil companies with a windfall profits tax to pay for an energy tax rebate a “gimmick,” the new McConnell ad falsely extends that claim to the Lunsford Eight-Point Energy Plan. The reality is Bruce Lunsford has not called for an energy tax rebate.

Lunsford instead has called for a gas tax holiday, which would offer an immediate savings of 18 cents per gallon at the pump. The holiday would be paid for via a windfall profits tax. Oil companies are raking in record profits and should pay their fair share in taxes. It should be noted that Mitch McConnell also claims to support a gas tax holiday, but doesn’t offer a plan for how he’s going to pay for it.

The ad continues to spread lies that Bruce Lunsford opposes offshore drilling and that his plan “doesn’t drill where vast oil reserves are.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Mitch McConnell again intentionally ignores the facts and tries to foist another McCON job on Kentuckians,” Lunsford spokesman Cary Stemle said. “The facts are clear; Bruce Lunsford has said he would drill offshore, and he has called on Big Oil to drill on the more than 68 million acres of land already under lease, as well as calling for tapping into our oil shale supply.

McConnell has already been called out by scores of reputable media outlets for telling blatant lies, yet he continues to spread false information about Bruce Lunsford. Kentuckians are smart and they’re starting to see that whenever McConnell opens his mouth, he’s trying to pull another McCON job.”

On the Radio

Per the Herald-Leader's political blog, the AFL-CIO is running anti-McConnell radio ads in Lexington and Louisville:

A key labor union has started its first radio ad of the 2008 Kentucky U.S. Senate race -- a 60-second spot that slams Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell for supporting President Bush's tax cut package.

"McConnell backed Bush’s tax cuts for the rich – massive giveaways that sent the deficit through the roof and the economy into a tailspin," the AFL-CIO ad's announcer says. "So the big question is, who’s Mitch McConnell really working for? Folks like you who are getting the short end of the stick? Or the fat cats on Wall Street who Bush is giving all the breaks?"

The commercial also blames those tax breaks for sending "the deficit through the roof and the economy into a tailspin."

(CLICK HERE to hear the ad.)

Also on the radio today, Jeanne Shaheen delivered the weekly Democratic radio address this morning:

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will offer a plan for reviving the economy and "rebuilding" the middle class at next week's Democratic national convention, former New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen said today.

Obama's plan would cut taxes for middle-class families and small businesses, giving 95 percent of Americans as much as $1,000, Shaheen said. Obama today announced he has chosen Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, to be his vice presidential running mate.

"We will not stop speaking out until we fix this economy and make it work for the middle class again," Shaheen said in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address. "And we'll do all this while bringing down the budget deficit, cutting unnecessary spending and government waste in Washington, and responsibly ending the war in Iraq."

(CLICK HERE to hear Shaheen's entire address.)

Lunsford's new ad

Bruce Lunsford released this press release yesterday:

Lunsford Asks Kentucky “How Are You Doing?”
McConnell and his special interest friends make millions while Kentuckians pays the price

LOUISVILLE — “How are you doing?” That’s the question posed in the new television commercial released today by Bruce Lunsford, his fourth of the general election. In the new ad, which will run statewide, the Democratic nominee for Senate addresses viewers directly and notes that Big Oil CEOs got paid an average of $15 million last year and Mitch McConnell has become a multi-millionaire while working on the taxpayer dime. Lunsford continues to point out that McConnell favors special interests over Kentuckians and has grown out of touch after 24 years in Washington, while Kentucky families are hit hard by the Bush-McConnell economy.

“Mitch McConnell’s buddies in Big Oil just recorded the biggest profits in history,” Lunsford says, “How are you doing? On average, Big Oil CEOs got paid $15 million last year. How about you? And after 24 years in the Senate, Mitch McConnell has become a multi-millionaire. Guess who paid for that? You did. I’m Bruce Lunsford and I approve this message, because when your Senator and his special interest pals are doing so much better than you, it’s time for a change.”

This is Lunsford’s fourth television ad, and the Louisville businessman is zeroing in on McConnell, who has been in the Senate for 24 years.

“While Mitch McConnell’s buddies at Big Oil have seen record profits this year, and earned an average of $15 million in pay last year, Mitch McConnell has become a multi-millionaire on the taxpayer dime,” said campaign spokesperson Cary Stemle. "Mitch McConnell has forgotten where he comes from and is not on our side. He is no longer the Senator from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky; he is now the Senator from Big Oil. It is time for a change.”

You can watch the ad below:

Teetering budget could crash without new revenue

In his column today, Larry Dale Keeling of the Herald-Leader discusses Kentucky's dire need of new revenue:

As Gov. Steve Beshear toured the state in recent weeks, he continued to tout his proposals to raise the cigarette tax 70 cents a pack and to let voters decide whether Kentucky needs casino gambling and the hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue that would come with it.

He has plenty of reason to keep making that pitch. The two-year budget that went into effect July 1 underfunds a variety of critical services and is shakily balanced at best.

...If the wads of chewing gum holding this budget together do start to come unglued in the next few months, or if the impact of the deep cuts in services prove so painful that even the Republican-controlled Senate recognizes the need for more revenue (yeah, I know, that's unlikely), a special legislative session after the November election might be the most practical way to deal with the cigarette tax issue.

Obama lashes McCain over five-million-dollar claim

Obama's hitting McCain hard for being out-of-touch. The AFP has the story:

Democrat Barack Obama berated his White House rival John McCain Monday as an out-of-touch economic illiterate who would make the rich richer at a time of financial pain for most US voters.

At a rally in a sweltering high school gymnasium here, Obama mocked McCain for remarking at a weekend forum with religious leader Rick Warren that only those earning more than five million dollars a year were really rich.

"This explains why his tax plan gives hundreds of thousands in tax breaks for people earning 2.5 million, because they're only middle class," the Illinois senator told a jeering crowd of 1,800 people.

Click here to read the entire article.

McCON Job

Kentucky's leading media outlets have harsh words for Mitch McConnell's tactics: they label them a "McCONnell Job."

Lunsford’s Statement on Social Security

Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Bruce Lunsford released the following statement regarding today’s 73rd anniversary of Social Security:

“For nearly three-quarters of a century, Social Security has helped provide America’s seniors with a safe and secure retirement and helped millions of other Americans who have fallen on hard times. Rather than work to strengthen Social Security, Mitch McConnell has led the charge in Washington to privatize Social Security and reduce the guaranteed benefits our greatest generation has earned. That is wrong.

Despite Mitch McConnell’s best efforts to dismantle it, Social Security continues to provide much-needed support for our seniors, and many others, and we must do all that we can to strengthen and preserve this vital program.

Additionally, we must repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which unfairly impact many of Kentucky’s teachers and government pension employees.”

Children's health care act must be renewed

Dr. Arnold W. Strauss (medical director of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) has an excellent op-ed piece in today's Enquirer:

Eleven years ago, the health of our nation's children took a major leap forward with the enactment of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by Congress. This federal legislation, which passed with strong bipartisan support, has provided an essential source of health care coverage to children whose parents cannot afford health insurance.

...Despite the best efforts of many in Congress on both sides of the aisle, SCHIP was not re-authorized in 2007. The program was briefly extended, but that extension ends March 31. Now is the time to ensure that the SCHIP program continues to thrive and that no child loses coverage.

...I believe every child in Ohio and Kentucky should have and deserves coverage. Help ensure that our children have the best and healthy start in life by urging Congress to properly fund and re-authorize SCHIP as soon as possible.

Drilling lies into voters' heads

Today's Herald-Leader has a must-read editorial about the Republicans' wrong-headed energy policies. Here's an excerpt:

...facts be damned, the Republicans are on message and staying there. They are reducing a complex, deep-rooted problem that's been building for decades into a simplistic slogan: Drill.

...But debate based on facts would take the Republicans off message. And message matters more than truth.

Example: McConnell's bald-faced lie about Democrat Bruce Lunsford's position on opening more of the ocean to drilling.

Click here to read the entire editorial.

McCain Double Talk on Ethics

The DNC issued this press release today:

On the campaign trail, John McCain likes to brag about chairing the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that investigated criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff's role in the Republican culture of corruption. But that is not stopping John McCain from raising campaign cash with one of Abramoff's closest business partners: scandal plagued conservative activist Ralph Reed. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Reed has "agreed to serve as a member of the McCain Victory 2008 Team" and will host a fundraiser for his campaign on Monday, August 18.

In 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy charges after a federal investigation unearthed an extensive effort to buy influence with Republican lawmakers by showering them with gifts and campaign contributions. Emails made public during the investigation revealed that Reed had received at least $4.2 million from Abramoff to help his clients. Despite his shady ties to Abramoff, McCain never called Reed to testify before his committee. In fact, despite acknowledging wrongdoing among his colleagues, McCain refused to investigate fellow Republicans in Congress. Now, despite the scandal surrounding Reed--and despite objections from nonpartisan watchdog groups--The Hill reports that McCain is refusing to cancel Monday's fundraiser. [Washington Post, 1/16/06; The Hill, 8/13/08]

DNC Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement on McCain's double talk on ethics and lobbying reform:

"John McCain's decision to cozy up to one of the central figures in the Republican culture of corruption shows how far he is willing to go to win. Despite all of his rhetoric about reform, McCain's willingness to accept tainted money raised by tainted Abramoff cronies like Ralph Reed shows that McCain simply cannot be trusted to bring change to Washington politics. A maverick no more, the John McCain of 2000 wouldn't even consider voting for the John McCain of 2008."

Offshore drilling myths

Bob Herbert has an excellent column about offshore drilling in today's New York Times:

Here’s what the Energy Information Administration, the statistical agency that provides official data for the federal government, had to say about the anticipated additional output from offshore drilling:

“Because oil prices are determined on the international market... any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.”

Did anyone mention that to the bikers who were so fired up by John McCain’s “drill here and drill now” mantra? Or to the 63 percent of respondents to an ABC News poll who want the embargo on new offshore drilling to be lifted by the federal government?

Click here to read the entire piece.

Gov Beshear coming to Kenton County

Governor Steve Beshear announced in today's Enquirer that he's coming to Kenton County:

On Wednesday, I will be in Edgewood at Dixie Heights High School. The program begins at 6 p.m., and I will be accompanied by cabinet secretaries and top policy-makers in my administration.

You will have an opportunity to ask me questions and express your views. Afterward, each of the cabinet secretaries or their representatives will be available to answer your questions and listen to your specific concerns.

...I need you to tell me, and those who seek to represent you, what you want from your government. What should be our priorities on your behalf? What are your needs? What do you want us to focus on in the months and years ahead?

Here's a map to Dixie Heights High School:

View Larger Map

Lunsford: No tolls for Brent Spence

Be sure to read this story in today's Enquirer about tolls for the Brent Spence Bridge:

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford said Saturday he opposes using tolls to pay for the planned $3 billion replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge in Northern Kentucky.

"There is no issue more important than the bridge," Lunsford, a Northern Kentucky native and Louisville resident, said before addressing about 40 people who turned out for a Saturday candidate Meet and Greet in Wilder.

...Beginning early last year, McConnell, the Bush administration, other members of Congress and some local leaders suggested tolls as a way to pay for the project. Their argument was, with the federal funds scarce, state and local leaders should consider "creative" methods of financing, including tolls.

If you're not aware of the Republican agenda of increasing the nation's reliance on tolls, just read this March 17 article from the Washington Post:

For [Department of Transportation general counsel D.J.] Gribbin, [DOT top policymaker Tyler] Duvall and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, the goal is not just to combat congestion but to upend the traditional way transportation projects are funded in this country. They believe that tolls paid by motorists, not tax dollars, should be used to construct and maintain roads.

They and other political appointees have spent the latter part of President Bush's two terms laboring behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and public transportation. They have also sought to turn highways into commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin's view, unleashing the private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T transformed telecommunications.

Crowley: Mitch's claims in ad 'a stretch'

Pat Crowley has a good column about Mitch McConnell's dishonest ads in today's Enquirer. Here's an excerpt:

In one ad, McConnell takes Lunsford to task for holding investments in energy companies.

...I haven't seen a stretch like this since I tried to put on a pair of jeans I bought a few years ago.

There are lots of reasons why gas prices are high, mainly too much demand and not enough supply coupled with the lack of a cogent energy policy in this country. McConnell could even shoulder some blame for the latter; he's been in Washington for 24 years, why hasn't he come up with a solution before the current plan he is pushing, one that calls for more drilling, oil exploration innovations and even incentives for electric car technology? Oh, that's right, it's an election year.

McCain embracing harmful Bush policies

The Associated Press reports on today's Democratic radio address, delivered by Barack Obama:

Barack Obama accused Republican rival John McCain on Saturday of embracing Bush administration policies that he said shortchange Americans by favoring an extended war in Iraq at the expense of fixing the nation's underfunded schools and crumbling roads and bridges.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, used a national radio address to trumpet his campaign proposals to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and to conclude the war in Iraq responsibly "by asking the Iraqis to take responsibility for their future and to invest in their own country."

The Illinois Democrat pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report that found the Iraqi government could end the year with as much as a $79 billion budget surplus while at the same time spending only a fraction on reconstruction costs that are largely borne by the U.S. McCain will only continue Bush war policies with an "open-ended commitment" that has been unsuccessful, Obama said.

You can read a transcript of Obama's address by clicking here.

More McConnell lies

Today's Courier-Journal takes on Mitch McConnell over his latest falsehood:

Not satisfied with continuing to air a fraudulent ad that absurdly tries to blame his opponent for the run-up in gasoline prices, Sen. Mitch McConnell now has put more flim-flam on TV.

Sen. McConnell's latest commercial says that Democrat Bruce Lunsford "wouldn't open a single new acre for offshore drilling." That's simply not true, and Mitch McConnell knows it.

There's a word for a politician who knowingly spreads untruths. That word is "desperate."

Click here to read the entire editorial.

Democratic ranks swell

Good news from today's Enquirer:

After years of watching Republicans pick up new voters, Kentucky Democrats are gaining in voter registrations across the state.

Between November and July 15, Democrats gained 30,554 new voters while Republicans picked up 5,470 registrations, according to numbers first reported by the BluegrassReport.org blog and the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Click here to read the entire article.

Lunsford on Iraqi budget surplus

Bruce Lunsford issued this press release yesterday:

Statement from Bruce Lunsford Regarding Iraqi Budget Surplus

LOUISVILLE – U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford expressed outrage today after reading published reports that the Iraqi government will amass a whopping $79 billion budget surplus by the end of the year from oil profits. Only a small percentage of the surplus is being spent on reconstruction costs with the American taxpayers paying for the bulk.

“Iraq is running up billions of dollars in surpluses, while American soldiers are risking their lives and the American taxpayer is footing the bill,” Lunsford said. “George W. Bush and Mitch McConnell should quit writing a blank check for Iraq and instead focus on our urgent needs at home. While we’re busy building bridges in Iraq, roads and bridges are in urgent need of repair and replacement here in Kentucky.”

According to a recent GAO report, U. S. taxpayers have spent about $48 billion to rebuild Iraq since Fiscal Year 2003. $23.2 billion of that money went toward security, oil, electricity and water projects. By comparison, from 2005 through April of this year, the Iraqi government spent only $3.9 billion on similar projects.

Additionally, much of the Iraqi budget surplus is held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That deposit is so large that the United States has paid $435.6 million in interest payments to Iraq through the end of 2007.

“The Iraqi government must be held responsible and pay their fair share of reconstruction costs,” Lunsford said. “Adding insult to injury, while we are paying $4 a gallon for gas we are also paying the Iraqi government more than $430 million in interest payments. The American taxpayer needs relief.”

Lunsford's new ad

Bruce Lunsford released a new ad today; take a look.

McConnell's crude oil policy

Today's Herald-Leader has an editorial on Mitch McConnell's obstructionism:

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell won: The Senate went home for five weeks without doing anything to lower energy prices or expand supply.

McConnell, who filibustered three energy bills, is holding out for a vote on off-shore drilling. He's hoping voters will blame Democrats and, even more improbably, his opponent, Bruce Lunsford, for prices at the pump.

...what McConnell is doing is good for the oil industry and may even prove to be smart politics. But it's not responsible leadership.

Kentucky's Senate race heating up

There's a good article in today's Courier-Journal:

[Recent] moves are seen as an indication that Lunsford's campaign against Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell is moving into a more active phase and that the national Democratic Party is taking more interest in the race.

Achim Bergmann, a Lunsford campaign strategist, said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has decided to make a bigger commitment to the campaign.

..."This has always been one of the top races in the country," [DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller] said. "I know McConnell for months has tried to poor-mouth this race and pretend that he doesn't have anything to worry about, but the truth is he does and he's shown that by starting TV ads in December and launching negative ads this month."

Mitch's dishonest ads exposed

Mitch McConnell's recent campaign ads are blatantly dishonest. Luckily for us, the media doesn't seem very interested in letting him get away with it. Here's what the non-partisan FactCheck.org said about Mitch's deceptive ads:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is running an ad blaming his opponent for contributing to high gasoline prices in the state. We find that's a big exaggeration. At most, prices are 12.1 cents per gallon higher as a result of the 1980 tax change that was favored by Democratic candidate Bruce Lunsford. That's less than 3 percent of gas prices today, and actually less than the rise in general inflation since 1980.

And check out what WDRB in Louisville had to say about Mitch's tactics:

We should all be used to deceptive political advertising that twists facts and smears opponents, but why would a man in Mitch McConnell's position think he has to resort to such tactics?

...Please senator, stop insulting our intelligence.

Apparently, Mitch's voting record over the past 24 years is too weak for him to campaign on that. Pathetic.

Top 10 Reasons...

This is funny -- some group at Fancy Farm was passing out the following Top 10 List:

Top 10 Reasons to Re-elect Mitch McConnell:

10. $4 per gallon gas is too cheap.

9. Chinese jobs are more important than ours.

8. Health insurance is overrated.

7. Millionaires deserve tax breaks more than I do.

6. The minimum wage is too high.

5. I prefer my tax dollars going to build bridges in Iraq instead of building bridges in Kentucky.

4. Working three jobs is the American Dream.

3. Seniors shouldn't get a free ride called Social Security and veterans don't deserve benefits.

2. $9.5 trillion in national debt just isn't enough.

1. I want the next six years to be worse than the last six.

(Courtesy of Larry Dale Keeling of the Herald-Leader)

Lunsford on energy policy

Today's Herald-Leader includes an op-ed piece on energy policy from Democratic senatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford. Here's an excerpt:

Brought on by years of inaction by Washington, the gas-price crisis is a multifaceted challenge that calls for action in the form of immediate relief, increased domestic production as well as long-term solutions to America's oil addiction.

There are no easy outs and no single idea that will solve the crisis. We must work on multiple fronts and involve the free market in a significant way.

My eight-point energy plan includes an emphasis on developing clean and renewable energy. Both of the major presidential candidates have said this, and even T. Boone Pickens, the conservative billionaire Texas oilman, has said this is one problem we can't drill our way out of.

Click here to read the entire piece.

Today's David Hawpe column

Don't miss David Hawpe's column in today's Courier-Journal. Here's an excerpt:

Mitch McConnell is spending zillions of dollars on TV commercials and glossy mailers, absurdly suggesting that [Democratic senatorial candidate Bruce] Lunsford is responsible for the wallet wallop you've been taking at the service station. This kind of slicksterism, which McConnell pioneered and perfected throughout a long, long career, has been widely denounced, by those who don't just laugh it off. But he won't quit.

This year, [Kentucky] may be No. 1 when it comes to political fakery and farce.

Thanks, Mitch.

KY's newspapers editorialize Mitch

Today's Courier-Journal addresses Mitch McConnell directly:

You agreed to give back the $10,000 your campaign took from the political action committee of your friend and colleague Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who has been indicted on federal corruption charges. You're going to hand it over to charity.

Now what about the additional thousands that your political action committee has taken from Mr. Stevens' PAC since 2005?

...Democratic senatorial nominee Bruce Lunsford called on his opponent to "do the honorable thing" and give all of the Stevens money back. But why he would expect ethical behavior from Sen. McConnell, who refuses to quit airing commercials and sending slick mailers, making laughable attempts to blame Mr. Lunsford for the high price of gasoline.

The Herald-Leader adds this:

Congress is scurrying to get something, anything, done before breaking for five weeks. McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, has been busy leading filibusters that:

■ Blocked curbs on oil speculation that some think is contributing to price increases.

■ Blocked home heating and cooling assistance for low-income, elderly and disabled people.

■ Blocked the continuation of tax credits for wind and solar energy, clean coal and electric vehicles.

Let's hope Bruce Lunsford beats Mitch this fall!

McConnell Votes Against Troops

The DSCC issued this press release today:

McConnell Votes Against Troops
Blocks Defense Authorization Bill in the name of partisan politics

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last night voted against the Defense Authorization bill which included a pay raise for servicemembers and improvements in healthcare for troops and their families. The bill McConnell opposed authorizes weapons systems, including $3 billion to defeat IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Mitch McConnell took political games to a dangerous new level last night when he voted against our troops,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “Mitch McConnell’s vote against equipment for the brave men and women who risk their lives to keep us safe, a pay raise for our troops, and healthcare for our servicemembers and their families is inexcusable. If Mitch McConnell is so fixated on scoring political points that he’ll vote against our troops then he’s been in Washington too long.”

McConnell Votes Against Defense Authorization Bill. Mitch McConnell voted against the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2009. [Vote 195, 7/31/08]

McConnell Voted Against 3.9 Percent Pay Raise for Military Personnel. The bill McConnell voted against authorizes a 3.9 percent across-the-board pay raise for military personnel. [Senate Armed Services Committee Press Release, 5/1/08]

McConnell Voted Against Healthcare for Troops. The bill McConnell voted against authorizes $26.1 billion for the Defense Health Program, which includes $1.2 billion to reverse the Bush administration’s proposal to raise fees on troops and their families. [Senate Armed Services Committee Press Release, 5/1/08]

McConnell Voted Against $3 Billion to Protect Troops from IEDs. The bill McConnell voted against authorizes $3 billion in funding to protect troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from improvised explosive devices, which have killed 1,713 American service members in Iraq. [Senate Armed Services Committee Press Release, 5/1/08; iCasualties, accessed 8/1/08]