The Truth About Rick


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The Truth About the Second Amendment

Rick Santorum has an A+ rating by the NRA. “He [Rick Santorum] was the most effective advocate of bringing it [legislation to protect gun companies from frivolous lawsuits] to the floor and getting a vote scheduled. He used his influence to get it to the floor. Without that, we would have lost every American gun company.” – Wayne LaPierre, CEO – National Rifle Association

Rick’s Plan: Rick Santorum fully supports the 2nd Amendment rights of gun owners in the United States, and has completed the Gun Owners of America 2012 Presidential Candidate survey. You can download the survey and read Rick's responses here.

The Truth About Earmarks

Rick’s Plan: Everybody is talking about fixing earmarks as if they are the sole source of today’s deficit woes, despite the fact that all Republican candidates for President enthusiastically participated in the process, and that earmarks have now been halted. He supported earmarks like all of his competitors becausethe question of who decides where to spend federal taxpayer dollars has already been decided by the Constitution — it’s the Congress. He worked hard to have local and community leaders decide local priorities rather than Washington bureaucrats. He feels strongly that any abuse should be stopped and corruption should be prosecuted and supported the current moratorium.

Rick’s focus is not on debating 1% of our fiscal challenges but on facing 100% of them. Rick is committed to cutting $5 trillion of federal spending over 5 years, supports a Balanced Budget Amendment, and will reform Medicare and Social Security and end other entitlements for the able-bodied just as he has already done with welfare reform. These are the fiscal challenges that will determine our nation’s economic future and impact the future upward mobility and opportunity of America’s families.

Unlike Governor Romney and Speaker Gingrich, Rick Santorum has always opposed the TARP bailout, the biggest earmark in history. John McCain claimed earmarks “dramatically expanded on Newt Gingrich's watch.” Mitt Romney on federal earmarks generally: “I’d be embarrassed it I didn’t always ask for federal money whenever I get a chance.” The fiscally conservative think tank, the Cato Institute, issued a Fiscal Report Card on American Governors in 2004 and gave Romney a “D” for spending. Out of the 25 freshmen Republican governors rated, Romney had the 2^nd worst score. Romney also established a Federal grants office to scour opportunities for Federal funding and bolster the state’s presence in Washington, DC.

During an interview on Fox Business after his second run for the presidency Congressman Ron Paul pointed out eliminating earmarks wouldn't cut one penny from the federal budget. Neil Cavuto asked: “But would you argue, then sir, that, when John McCain was here saying the whole earmark thing itself is what’s out of control?” Paul: “Oh, no, no. He – he – totally misunderstands that. That’s grandstanding. If you cut off all the earmarks, it would be 1% of the budget. But if you vote against all the earmarks, you don’t cut one penny.”

In 2009 Ron Paul had more earmarks in a spending bill than any other Republican that same year. Congressman Paul, representing a single district, made over $157 million in earmark requests for 2011, one of only four House Republicans to request any earmarks. Additionally, he made over $398 million in earmark requests for 2010, again one of the leading Republican House members. For Congressman Paul, getting the earmarks are fine as long as you vote against the overall bill so you can keep up the hypocrisy and claim that you are against earmarks. This is impressive Texas sized grandstanding.

In contrast, Rick Santorum stands true to his conservative principles while serving his constituents. “According to the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), across the 12 years in question, only 6 of the 50 senators got A’s in more than half the years. Santorum was one of them. Moreover, while much of the Republican party lost its fiscal footing after George W. Bush took office — Santorum was the only senator who got A’s in every year of Bush’s first term. None of the other 49 senators could match Santorum’s 4.0 GPA over that span.” http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/was-santorum-senate-spendthrift_629850.html

The Truth About "No Child Left Behind"

Parents and citizenry should hold schools accountable and have educational options for their children. Steps were taken in this direction in No Child Left Behind, but it should have been initiated at the local level where the consumers, taxpayers, and children are. States may choose to adopt common core standards, but they should not be forced on states, private schools, or home schools.

Rick’s Plan: Education is the responsibility of the consumer, the parent. Putting “parents first” is how best we put “students first”. Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children with local school systems supporting, as desired. As a homeschooling parent and consumer of different schools, he has learned the importance of flexible and personalized approaches to education for each child to best maximize their potential.

The Truth About Arlen Specter

Rick Santorum supported Arlen Specter’s Senate reelection bid to ensure that judges who respect the right to life would not be impeded in their confirmation hearings. Rick got a commitment from Arlen Specter that no matter who George W. Bush would nominate, he would support that nominee. This commitment ensured that conservative pro-life judges John Roberts and Samuel Alito were confirmed as Supreme Court Justices.

Rick’s Plan: The time has come to break up the 9th Circuit and send a message that judicial activism is not acceptable and to provide other Western states appellate judges that better reflect their values and the U.S. Constitution. If elected president, Rick Santorum will apply a three-part litmus test for jurists: They need to be well-qualified, ethical and constitutionalists. In addition, his nominees will have a clear record of supporting the principle that judges should in no way rely upon any foreign or international law for the purpose of interpreting the U.S. Constitution and laws.

The Truth About Right to Work

In the Senate, Rick voted to allow states to determine their own right-to-work laws. These laws protect employees from having to join unions in order to work for a company. Today, Rick believes that a National Right-to-Work law is important to curb union abuses and further strengthen the manufacturing sectors of our economy.

The Truth About Medicare Part D

The Medicare Modernization Act (created Part D) contained a number of market-based initiatives that Rick Santorum supported, including the creation of Health Savings Accounts, something that Rick authored and championed for well over a decade. In the end, while the MMA did not include as many reform initiatives and offsets as Rick would have liked, the MMA did include many competitive reform initiatives, such as the creation of HSAs and Medicare Advantage. In large part because of Rick’s leadership, the Medicare drug benefit was structured as a premium support model – first establishing what Rick, Chairman Paul Ryan, and other leading conservatives are now advocating for the entire Medicare program. Because of the competitive, market-based structure of the Medicare drug benefit the program cost 37% below original projections, with premiums that are 35% less than projected. http://spectator.org/archives/2012/02/20/rick-santorums-part-d-vote

The Truth About The Debt Ceiling

Under President Obama our national debt has exploded to more than $15 trillion dollars and we continue to spend approximately 40% more than we have each year. The growing burden of this debt and reckless lack of discipline is one of the primary economic and national security challenges that our nation now faces. Rick Santorum has been “rocking the boat” and fighting the Washington establishment to reform this budget process since he first became a U.S. Senator. As far back as 1995 he was taking heat from the establishment when he called on the Republican Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to resign after he switched his vote to defeat the Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by just one vote. It was a critical lost moment of opportunity to work together to take away the credit card and put America on a budget. We have been in need of tough budget reforms ever since.

The Senate, including Senator Santorum, voted in favor of raising the debt ceiling in the 2000s, but those were increases made as we ramped up spending for the wars and in response to the 9/11 attacks on America's financial center. Our fiscal situation has dramatically worsened since Rick Santorum left Congress and this unrestrained spending has undermined our economy. President Obama’s ongoing commitment to increase spending and raise taxes only further hamstrings our economy. Rick Santorum supports tough budget reforms including a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution and legislation that would prevent Congress from being paid if they do not pass fiscally responsible and timely spending bills.

Rick’s Economic Plan: Rick Santorum’s “Made in America” will cut $5 trillion from the federal budget over 5 years, pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to force Congress and the President to live within our means, lower and simplify taxes on personal and corporate income and savings, and allow only commonsense, predictable regulations to grow our economy and restore our fiscal health. Americans want problem solving and a brighter future for their children. We can no longer kick the fiscal can down the road if we want to restore America’s greatness and opportunity for present and future generations.

Rick Santorum's First 100 Days Economic Freedom Agenda

1) UNLEASH AMERICA’S ENERGY: I’ll approve the Keystone Pipeline for jobs and energy security. I’ll sign an order unleashing America’s domestic energy production without picking winners and losers on Day One. I’ll allow states to choose where they want to explore for oil and natural gas and to set their own regulations for hydrofracturing.

2) STOP JOB KILLING REGULATIONS: I’ll eliminate all regulations promulgated by the Obama Administration which have an economic burden over $100 million dollars, on Day One, including repeal of the EPA rule on CO2 emissions that have already shut down six power plants and furlowed 500 workers. I will order a review of all regulations, making sure these regulations use sound science and common-sense cost benefit analysis.

3) REIN IN SPENDING TO SECURE OUR FUTURE: I’ll propose spending cuts of $5 trillion over 5 years, including spending cuts for the remainder of fiscal year 2013. I will propose budgets that spend less money each year than the year before, and I’ll reduce the non-defense related federal workforce at least 10 percent, without replacing with contractors.

4) REPEAL AND REPLACE OBAMACARE: I’ll submit legislation to Congress to repeal ObamaCare and issue an executive order ending related regulatory obligations on the states on Day One. I’ll work with Congress to replace ObamaCare with competitive choices of healthcare plans to improve the quality and limit the cost of healthcare, while protecting those with uninsurable health conditions.

5) BALANCE THE BUDGET: I’ll submit to Congress a budget that will balance within 4 years and I’ll call on Congress to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution which limits federal spending to 18 percent of GDP.

6) PRO-GROWTH AND PRO-FAMILY INDIVIDUAL TAX POLICY: I’ll submit to Congress my comprehensive pro-growth and pro-family tax policies to strengthen opportunity in our country, with lower rates of 10 percent and 28 percent. To help families, I’ll triple the personal deduction for children and eliminate the marriage tax penalty throughout the tax code.

7) RESTORE AMERICA’S COMPETITIVENESS: I’ll cut the corporate tax in half to a flat-tax rate of 17.5 percent to make America competitive internationally, and I’ll allow corporations to expense all business equipment and investment. I’ll eliminate taxes on IRS Code Section 199 manufacturing activity to attract manufacturing back to America. I’ll take the lead on tort reform to lower the cost of doing business in America and to reduce the cost of products and services to consumers. Repeal Dodd-Frank, which is making it harder for businesses to get access to credit and for Americans to buy houses and refinance.

8) NEGOTIATE AND SUBMIT FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS: Because a substantial portion of Americans work for companies which export, I’ll initiate negotiations in the first 100 days and submit to Congress at least five free trade agreements to increase our exports during my first year in office.

9) REFORM ENTITLEMENTS: I will cut means-tested entitlement programs by 10 percent across the board, freeze them for four years, and block grant them to the states as I did as the author of welfare reform. I will reform Medicare and Social Security so they are fiscally sustainable for seniors and young people.

10) REVIVE HOUSING: I’ll submit a plan to Congress to phase out within several years Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s federal housing role, reform and make transparent the Federal Reserve, and allow families whose homes are “underwater” to deduct losses from the sale of their home in order to better get a fresh start in difficult economic times.

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