Louisiana Voters Just Can't Trust McCain's Double-Talk, Says Democratic National...

Louisiana Voters Just Can't Trust McCain's Double-Talk, Says Democratic
National Committee

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ahead of tomorrow's electoral
contest in Louisiana, John McCain recently said that "one of the adverse
effects of the government's botched early response to Hurricane Katrina...is
that Americans are more skeptical about their government's ability to
accomplish its goals, whether winning in Iraq or dealing with terrorism." [The
Times Picayune, 2/8/08] Yet it is exactly the same John McCain, the real John
McCain, who voted against increased funds for FEMA, who voted against making
FEMA an independent agency, who opposed a national catastrophe fund saying
that people who "build homes where hurricanes hit...have to assume a great
part of that liability," who voted against appropriating billions of dollars
on Katrina recovery efforts, and who even voted against establishing a
commission to investigate the botched response to Katrina and make immediate
corrective measures. And when it comes to the state's agriculture, McCain has
voted repeatedly against Louisiana sugar farmers throughout the years.

"John McCain is just another Bush Republican who when given the chance to help
families whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, turned his back,"
said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "It's clear that a
McCain presidency would just be a third Bush term and Louisiana voters know
they can do better than that."

FEMA

2006: McCain Voted Against Increased Funds for FEMA. McCain voted against the
Schumer motion to waive the fiscal 2006 budget resolution with respect to the
Gregg point of order against the emergency designation of the Schumer
amendment (No. 4600). The Schumer amendment would provide an additional $301.4
million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund.
[H.R. 5441, S.V. 199, 7/13/06, failed 46-54]

2006: McCain Voted Against Making FEMA an Independent Agency. McCain voted
against the Clinton amendment (No. 4563) that would remove the Federal
Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security and
establish it as an independent, Cabinet-level agency. It would require the
agency's head to have significant expertise in the area of emergency
preparedness and response. [H.R. 5441, S.V. 193, 7/11/06, failed 32-66]

KATRINA/RITA RELIEF

2006: McCain Voted Against Appropriating $109 Billion, Including $74 Billion
for Iraq, $28 Billion for Hurricane Relief. In 2006, McCain voted against
appropriating roughly $109 billion in emergency supplemental funding for
fiscal 2006. It would provide $72.4 billion in fiscal 2006 funds for the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan and foreign aid, not counting an almost 3 percent
across-the-board cut to defense funds in the bill. It would provide more than
$28 billion for hurricane relief, approximately $2.3 billion for pandemic flu
preparations and $1.9 billion for border security efforts. President Bush has
threatened to veto any spending bill that exceeded $95 billion, which the
Senate bill does by $14 billion. 35 senators, including George Allen, signed a
letter promising to sustain that veto. [HR 4939, Vote 112, 5/4/06, Passed
78-20, D 43-0; R 34-20; I 1-0]

2006: McCain Voted Against Establishing a Commission to Study the Response to
Hurricane Katrina. McCain voted against a Clinton, D-N.Y., motion to waive the
Budget Act with respect to the Collins, R-Maine, point of order against the
Clinton amendment to the Grassley, R-Iowa, substitute amendment. The Clinton
amendment established a commission to investigate the response to Hurricane
Katrina, including the federal government's role and the impact of the
disaster. The substitute would extend a series of tax cuts set to expire
between 2005 and 2010, including the research and development tax credit, the
state and local sales tax deduction in states without income taxes and the
welfare-to-work credit, by two years. It also would extend through 2006
protections for middle-class taxpayers from alternative-minimum tax liability
exemptions and include a new tax deduction for charitable giving by taxpayers
who do not itemize. [Vote 6, HR 4297, 2/2/2006, Motion rejected 44-53: R 0-53;
D 43-0 (ND 39-0, SD 4-0); I 1-0]

2005: McCain Voted Against Granting Access To Medicaid For Hurricane Katrina
Victims For Up To Five Months. In 2005, McCain voted against the Lincoln
amendment that would grant access to Medicaid to Hurricane Katrina victims for
up to five months; it also provided full federal funding for Medicaid in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for up to one year; provide $800 million to
compensate providers caring for Katrina evacuees; it temporarily suspended the
Medicare Part B late enrollment penalty; and permit states hit by or serving
evacuees to access the TANF Contingency Fund. It would be offset with funds
unspent by the FEMA. [S 1932, Vote 285, 11/3/05, Failed 48-51, D:43-0, R:4-51,
I:1-0]

2005: McCain Voted Against Establishing A Congressional Commission To Examine
The Federal, State And Local Response To Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, McCain
voted against the Clinton amendment to establish a congressional commission to
examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by
Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the
States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the
aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in
the future. [HR 2862, Vote 229, 9/14/05, Failed 44-54, D:43-0, R:0-54, I:1-0]

1995: McCain Voted Against Allowing A Simple Majority To Waive The Budget
Requirement For Natural Disaster Emergency Relief. In 1995, McCain voted to
table an amendment that allows a simple majority to waive the Balanced-Budget
requirement for emergency relief from natural disasters. [S 1, Vote 66,
2/14/95, 70-28, D 17-28; R 53-0]

FLOOD INSURANCE, CATASTROPHE FUND

2007: McCain Bragged About His Opposition To A National Catastrophic Insurance
Fund. In his speech to CPAC, McCain highlighted his opposition to the national
insurance fund, bragging, " I campaigned in Florida against the national
catastrophic insurance fund bill that passed the House of Representatives..."
[John McCain CPAC Remarks As Prepared For Delivery, 2/7/08]

2007: McCain Uncommitted to Insurance Fund. In a campaign event in Florida,
McCain said, "If people are going to build homes where hurricanes hit, they
have to assume a great part of that liability. We don't have that many
hurricanes that hit Arizona, as you know. We need to all work together and see
if the present unacceptable situation can be remedied, and if that requires
some federal action, I'm for it - but not just insuring anybody for any
circumstance. I'm not going to do that. I would not support such a thing."
[St. Petersburg Times, 9/2/07]

SUGAR/AGRICULTURE

2001: McCain Voted to Phase-Out the Sugar Program, Eliminate Price Supports
for Sugar. McCain voted against the Reid motion to table (kill) the Gregg
amendment. The Gregg amendment would phase-out the sugar program in the
substitute amendment and require the Agriculture secretary to eliminate the
price support loan for sugar and lower the loan rate for beet and cane sugar
crops harvested each year between 2003 through 2005 in a way that would
uniformly lower the loan rate to zero for the 2006 crops. The substitute would
reauthorize federal agriculture programs for five years, including a dairy
provision that would authorize $2 billion in direct federal subsidies to milk
producers. [S. 1731, S.V. 364, 12/12/01, passed 71-29]
2001: McCain Wanted To Let Vietnamese Catfish Flood Domestic Market. "The
familiar whiskers of the catfish have made their way to the floor of the
Senate amid a dispute with Vietnam, once a nemesis of the United States but
now among its newest trading partners. With little debate, Congress has
decreed that only catfish belonging to a biological genus native to North
America be allowed such a label, effectively shutting Vietnamese fish out of
the U.S. market only weeks after the two countries signed their first trade
agreement..[McCain] is fighting to let the Vietnamese catfish take its place
on American tables..[McCain] tried to pass an amendment to another bill that
would have knocked the rule off the books. Mr. McCain, exasperated but still
fighting, delved deeply into animal taxonomy during the debate to prove his
point: Catfish is catfish. Domestic producers, under the cover of science, are
seeking an unjustified favor from the government, he insisted. 'The catfish
lobby's advertising campaign on behalf of its protectionist agenda has few
facts to rely on to support its case,' Mr. McCain said, 'so it stands on
scurrilous fear-mongering to make its claim that catfish raised in good old
Mississippi mud are the only fish with whiskers safe to eat.'" [Washington
Times, 12/28/01]

2000: McCain Again Tried to Block the Sugar Program. McCain voted against the
Cochran motion to table (kill) the McCain amendment that would prohibit the
use of any funds by the Agriculture Department to implement the sugar program.
[H.R. 4461, S.V. 219, 7/20/00, passed 65-32]
1999: McCain Sponsored an Amendment to Eliminate Sugar Subsidies. McCain
sponsored a motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Reed point of
order against the McCain amendment. The amendment would authorize
approximately $1.8 billion a year for three years to establish a pilot school
voucher program, paid for by eliminating certain subsidies for ethanol, oil,
gas and sugar. [S. 1429. S.V. 238, 7/30/99, failed 13-87]

1999: McCain Sponsored an Amendment to Block the Sugar Program. McCain voted
against the Cochran motion to table (kill) the McCain amendment to the Daschle
amendment. The McCain amendment would prohibit the Agriculture Department from
using funds in the bill for the sugar program, which provides loans, import
restrictions and price-supports for the industry. [S. 1233, S.V. 254, 8/4/99,
passed 66-33]

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
www.democrats.org.

This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

Luis Miranda of the Democratic National Committee, +1-202-863-8148