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Rick Noriega for Texas: News
News : Press Releases - Cornyn Calls 89% of Texans Economic 'Chicken Littles'
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Holly Shulman / (713) 857-9637
Martine Apodaca / (713) 447-3269
October 30th, 2008 John Cornyn: Out of Touch with Texans' Economic Woes Houston, Tex. – Speaking in Waco yesterday, John Cornyn stated that, in regards to our nation's economic crisis, "Some of the 'Chicken Little' comments about the sky falling, this is unprecedented, I mean it's really overblown." This may be news to the 89% of Texans who rate the economy as worse than a year ago in a new University of Texas poll.
"It shows how out of touch John Cornyn is from Texans' daily concerns that he thinks worries about our economy are 'overblown'," said U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega. ''Both expert economists and Texas families know that we're living through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression."
Cornyn's out of touch comments echo the words of former Senator and current Cornyn contributor Phil Gramm, who stated this summer that "we have sort of become a nation of whiners" and called our nation's current economic hardships a "mental depression" and "not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day."
Despite what Cornyn and Gramm may believe, economic fears are not 'overblown.' According to a recent poll of economists conducted by the Wall Street Journal, economic experts expect the economic crisis to "deepen," and U.S. GDP to contract for the most prolonged stretch in "more than half a century." In Texas, families are already feeling the economic crisis in numerous ways. A recent report from Families USA showed that, for example, Texas family health care premiums have skyrocketed while paychecks have stagnated. In fact, since 2000, families premiums have jumped 87%, while paychecks have only risen 15%. Now, with unemployment rising in Texas and throughout the nation, families are feeling the economic squeeze even more.
Cornyn's comments also underscore six years' worth of out of touch economic votes that hurt Texas families:
JOHN CORNYN'S OUT OF TOUCH ECONOMIC RECORD
FACT: Cornyn Voted to Bailout Wall Street with $700 Billion Taxpayer Dollars.
- Cornyn Voted for $700 Billion Wall Street Bailout. In 2008, Cornyn voted for passage of the bill that would authorize up to $700 billion to be given in installments to the Treasury Department to establish a program to buy certain mortgage-backed securities and other assets relating to mortgages. The agency would be required to insure the assets and set up systems for congressional oversight. By unanimous consent, the Senate agreed to raise the majority requirement for passage of the bill to 60 votes. The bill passed 74-25. [HR 1424, Vote #213, 10/01/08]
FACT: Cornyn Has Voted for Massive Amounts of Pork and Secured Millions in Earmarks.
Cornyn Voted for Massive Amounts of Pork. John Cornyn is one of the more outspoken critics of congressional earmarks, a.k.a., pork, but he has voted for bills that contained massive amounts of pork. Sen. Cornyn has voted for spending money on Alaskan sea otters, rural obesity studies, traffic jams in North Dakota, marketing specialty cheeses from Wisconsin, an indoor rainforest in Iowa and a waterfree urinal conservation initiative. [Stanford Report on Sen. John Cornyn, Roll Call 28, 2003; 2003 Pig Book, Citizens Against Government Waste, Roll Call 34, 2003, Roll Call 3, 2004, 2004 Pig Book; Citizens Against Government Waste, Roll Call 215, 2004; 2005 Pig Book, Citizens Against Government Waste, 2006 Pig Book, Citizens Against Government Waste; Voting Record, Project Vote Smart]
- Cornyn Secured $154,531,780 in Earmarks in 2007. According to the Houston Chronicle, Cornyn secured $154,531,780 in Earmarks in 2007. [Houston Chronicle, 3/23/08]
- Cornyn's Earmarks Disclosed After He Denounced Them. According to The San Antonio Express-News, "Cornyn joined Hutchison and the local congressional delegation in seeking the earmark for the river improvements project. Still, he said, 'every earmark ought to be debated and voted on in the clear light of day. The current system is broken and it needs to be fixed'…Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan watchdog group, ranked Hutchison 23rd in the Senate for earmarks, securing $254 million in funds through requests with other congressional members. Cornyn ranked 53rd, getting $154 million for projects in Texas." [San Antonio Express-News, 3/29/08]
- Citizens Against Government Waste Classified $154,761,233 in Cornyn Earmarks as "Pork". According to the non-partisan Citizens against Government Waste Sen. John Cornyn requested $154,761,233 in earmarks in 2008 which they labeled as pork in their 2008 Pig Book. [2008 Congressional Pig Book, accessed, 10/15/2008]
FACT: Cornyn Has Consistently Voted Against Reigning in Spending.
- Cornyn Voted for Increasing the Debt Limit by More Than $2.5 Trillion. John Cornyn voted to allow the government debt to grow by more than $2.5 trillion. [Roll Call 202, 5/23/03; Roll Call 213, 11/17/04; Roll Call 54, 3/16/06]
- Cornyn Cast Deciding Vote For Final FY04 Budget Resolution Increasing Federal Deficit to Record Levels. Critics argued that the final budget resolution would increase the federal deficit to record levels of $347 billion in 2003 and $385 billion in 2004 and would result in a $1.7 trillion deficit in 2013. It narrowly passed, with Vice President Cheney breaking a 50-50 tie. [Vote 134, 4/11/03; AP, 4/11/03; Senate Budget Committee Democratic Caucus, 4/11/03]
- Cornyn Admitted Bush Tax Cuts He Supported Caused Deficits. During a 2005 interview, Cornyn admitted that Bush's tax cuts were responsible for increasing the deficit. Cornyn said, "Of course we knew we had economic stagnation and needed to stimulate the economy, and that's frankly the main reason why I supported the budget cuts -- excuse me, the tax cuts, which have led to some deficits…" [CNN, Inside Politics, 2/9/05]
FACT: Wealthiest 1% of Texans Received 34.9% of the Bush Tax Cuts Cornyn Supported.
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