The end of Pat Toomey's political career?

Did US Sen. Pat Toomey commit political suicide by siding with Senate Democrats to oppose President Trump's emergency declaration on the Southern Border? Pretty much. Or maybe Toomey has already decided his current term in the U.S. Senate will be his last. In that case, he's a lame duck and has no clout whatsoever.

Extremely disappointing to see Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania among "The Dirty Dozen" GOP RINOs who voted with Democrats to overturn President Trump's National Emergency Declaration on the US-Mexico border.

Here are the names of the 12 RINOs who voted with Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats today: Lamar Alexander, Roy Blunt, Susan Collins, Mike Lee, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Patrick J. Toomey, Roger Wicker.

 

Watchdog group endorses Toomey for U.S. Senate

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee has formally announced its endorsement of former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in the race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

From a CCAGWPAC press release:

"Pat Toomey is a proven leader in supporting limited government and eliminating excessive spending," said CCAGWPAC Chairman Tom Schatz. "Pat Toomey's voting record as a three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives demonstrates that he will always represent the best interests of the taxpayers.

He was recognized by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) as a 'Taxpayer Hero' with a lifetime rating of 95 percent for his three terms in the House of Representatives and was a 'Taxpayer Super Hero' in 2001 for receiving a perfect score of 100 percent. With this type of record, taxpayers can take comfort that if elected to the U.S. Senate, Pat Toomey will continue to work to eliminate waste, fraud, and mismanagement in government.

On the other hand, Pat Toomey's opponent, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) received a CCAGW vote rating of zero percent in 2009 and has a lifetime CCAGW rating of 5 percent.

These ratings reflect the fact that Rep. Sestak supports pork-barrel earmarks and wasteful government spending as well as tax increases. These policies have not resulted in creating jobs or helped to improve the U.S. economy."

On May 11, 2010, Rep. Toomey signed CCAGW's "No Pork Pledge," meaning he will not request any earmarks if he is elected to the Senate. In contrast, Rep. Sestak secured wasteful pork-barrel earmarks for 99 projects worth nearly $102 million from fiscal years 2008-2010. CCAGW this week will be challenging Rep. Sestak to renounce his earmark addiction and sign the "No Pork Pledge."

"Rep. Toomey has a demonstrated ability to lead Congress to improve the future economic outlook. America needs leaders who say 'no' to wasteful spending and the ongoing pork-fest in Washington. Pat Toomey will work to cut the record budget deficit and reduce taxes, which will improve the lives of every Pennsylvanian and all taxpayers," concluded Schatz.

For more about CCAGWPAC, which supports political candidates who will fight to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in government and represent the best interests of taxpayers, visit the group's Web site at www.ccagwpac.org

Toomey video takes a shot at Sestak

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak voted for the health care bill, but why doesn't he know how much it costs?

Pat Toomey on Obamacare

Government health care will wrap patients in red tape

By Pat Toomey

Over the past decade, Americans have struggled as the price of health care has soared at a much faster pace than workers' earnings and the general rate of inflation. In Pennsylvania alone, premiums have skyrocketed 86 percent from 2000 to 2007, rising 6.4 times faster than earnings.

And yet, the mammoth bill being pushed through Congress does nothing to address this serious core problem.

Instead, the plan will deny millions of people choice, cost American jobs and give government bureaucrats the power to dictate what should be private medical decisions between a doctor and patient.

At the heart of the bill that presently has gone the farthest through Congress is an employer mandate that forces all but the tiniest businesses to provide workers with a government-approved insurance plan. If they fail to meet this mandate, they are hit with a new tax ranging from 2 percent to 8 percent of the company’s payroll.

As a result, millions of workers will either lose their employer-provided health insurance or lose their jobs altogether. For many large businesses, the new tax will be preferable to the $12,000 average they now pay for employee insurance, pushing millions of people out of their current coverage and into the clutches of the government’s new health care bureaucracy. For many small businesses, the mandate and accompanying tax impose a burden they simply can’t afford. They will be forced to lay off workers, adding further to our current jobs crisis.

The nonpartisan Lewin Group's analysis shows the health care proposal will shift almost 90 million people from their employer-based insurance to the new government-run plan. These individuals and families suddenly will have to contend with government agents who have the power to deny treatment, determine how much a life is worth and counsel patients on "dying with dignity" in order to cut costs.

That's not the American way. And it's totally unnecessary to address the central problem in health care – rising consumer costs. Instead of a government-run health care plan that subjects millions of individuals to bureaucratic red tape, we can institute a few important policies that will go a long way toward reducing costs and giving individuals more control over their health care decisions.

First, it is high time Congress eliminated the long-standing unfair discrimination built into our tax code. Congress should give individuals who buy health insurance the same tax deduction that employers enjoy when they buy health insurance for their employees. This will automatically make health care more affordable for millions of uninsured Americans.

Second, Congress should give individuals and businesses the right to buy insurance from other states. Believe it or not, the current law prohibits a self-employed Pennsylvanian from buying health insurance from a neighboring state. Instead, he has to choose from a limited array of prices and benefits that might or might not meet his unique needs or those of his family. In Pennsylvania, this system gives some health insurance companies a near monopoly, and it’s a big part of the reason costs have climbed so high. Changing this law will force health insurance companies to compete with each other across the country, much as life and car insurance companies do today.

Finally, Congress should crack down on frivolous medical lawsuits. Everyone agrees that patients should have a right to hold doctors accountable for negligence and malpractice, but runaway lawsuits have created an environment of skyrocketing premiums for doctors and hospitals who have done nothing wrong, and those enormous costs get passed on to patients.

In addition to the direct costs of litigation, lawsuit abuse forces health care providers to practice costly, defensive medicine – ordering tests and procedures that are not medically necessary – in order to reduce their risks of being sued. Comprehensive legal reform that stops junk lawsuits will bring down health care costs for everyone.

These policies might not seem as "bold" as the one making its way through Congress. But if "bold" means fewer choices in health care, government intervening between doctors and patients, higher costs, higher taxes, a higher deficit and fewer jobs, then "bold" is the wrong way to go. The country needs thoughtful and targeted solutions, not taxpayer-funded extreme makeovers.

Instead of a government-run health care plan that subjects millions of individuals to bureaucratic red tape, we can institute a few important policies that will go a long way toward reducing costs …

Pat Toomey, a resident of Lehigh County, is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. For information, go to www.toomeyforsenate.com

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Prediction: Arlen Specter won't seek re-election

If you didn't catch Thursday's "Talking Politics with Tony Phyrillas and Mike Pincus," you missed a lively discussion about the future of Sen. Arlen Specter.

Mike and I agree that Specter is finished in the Republican Party. If he runs for re-election in 2010 as a Republican, Specter will lose in the GOP primary, most likely to former Congressman Pat Toomey, who came close to knocking off Specter in 2004.

Mike gave two good reasons why Specter can't win, even though he's the incumbent and has a ton of money. First, Specter has lost all support in the Republican Party even from the pragmatic party officials who held their nose and supported Specter despite his tendency to vote with Democrats. Second, most of the "moderate" Republicans who supported Specter in the past left the party in 2008. They are now registered Democrats or independents and are unlikely to switch their party affiliation back to Republican so they can vote in the 2010 GOP primary. Specter's base is gone.

Specter's only option for retaining his Senate seat is to switch his party affiliation to Democrat. The question is, would the Democrats take him back? Pennsylvania is trending blue and the Democrats could win the Senate seat without Specter, so why take a GOP retread when the Dems could run a younger, more liberal candidate. If Specter can wheel-and-deal his way to the Democratic Party nomination, it sets up a November 2010 showdown between Toomey and Specter. And that's a toss-up.

But there's another scenario, one that Mike and I believe is more probable. Specter will not seek re-election in 2010. This would go a long way in explaining why he betrayed the Republican Party and supported Obama's trillion-dollar bailout plan.

Specter can bow out of the 2010 race by citing health reasons (not to mention that he'll be 80 by the time the election rolls around).

This clears the way for Pennsylvania's worst nightmare. Gov. Ed Rendell will probably succeed Specter in the U.S. Senate seat.

Rendell did say after his 2006 re-election to a second term as governor that it was his last political campaign, but Rendell has lied before.

And despite the damage Rendell has done to the state during his failed tenure as governor, he's still popular enough with Democrats (and the Specter RINOs) to easily win the Senate seat. Bob Casey Jr. and Ed Rendell reunited in the Senate. Oh, the horror.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS