Mr. Joe Pitts  Refuses To Return Abramoff  Cash

 
 

Just how tangled up in the
GOP Culture of Corruption is Joseph Pitts?

 

 

 

HOW PITTS RESPONDS TO HIGH ENERGY PRICES

  • Rep. Pitts voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gouging.
  • Rep. Pitts voted for the GOP energy bill that gave billions to oil, gas and nuclear industries.
  • Big oil and gas industries have given Rep. Pitts $21,500. Any surprise?

REP. PITTS PUTS BIG BUSINESS AHEAD OF AMERICAN WORKERS

  • Rep. Pitts voted to strip overtime protection from millions of workers.
  • Rep. Pitts voted to allow federal loans to American companies that have escaped paying U.S. taxes by moving offshore.

GOP "HEALTH CARE"

  • Big drug interests have given $101,793 to Pitts over the Representative's career. They know who their friends are.
  • Rep. Pitts voted for the GOP Medicare Prescription Drug Bill that will give billions to businesses and the health care industry, while forcing seniors to accept annual increases in premiums and deductibles and a growing gap in coverage for the prescription drugs they buy.
  • Rep. Pitts voted against allowing millions of Americans to save their hard-earned dollars on prescription drugs by re-importing them from Canada, even though these were U.S. made and patient safety was ensured.

TIES WITH THE GOP LEADERSHIP

  • Pitts has taken $1,000 from House Majority Leader John Boehner.
  • Pitts voted with President Bush 91% of the time.
  • Pitts voted the GOP party line 97% of the time.

TIES WITH TOM DELAY
Pitts has:

  • Voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so as GOP Majority Leader.
  • Voted with Tom DeLay 94% of the time (through 3/31/2006)

SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS

  • Rep. Pitts voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton even if the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable. No surprise that Halliburton gave Pitts $1,000.
  • Rep. Pitts opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.
  • Rep. Pitts voted against granting a bonus to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and Reserve forces.

THE ENVIRONMENT

  • 1,861 water systems in 29 states have been contaminated with MTBE, exposing as many as 45 million Americans to this potential carcinogen, but Rep. Pitts voted to protect the companies responsible from lawsuits by communities that need their help to clean up these systems.
  • Rep. Pitts voted against bipartisan reform of the Endangered Species Act.
  • Rep. Pitts voted for a massive sell off of public lands to mining interests.

HOW DOES PITTS SUPPORT....

HIGHER EDUCATION?

  • While tuition costs are rising for ordinary Americans, Rep. Pitts voted to cut Federal student aid by $12.7 billion -- the biggest such cuts in history.

STEM CELL RESEARCH?

  • Rep. Pitts sided with social conservatives against patients with debilitating diseases and voted against expanding Federal funding of stem cell research.

 

SOURCES

1

Vote on price gouging: HR 3402, Vote #500, 9/28/2005

No

2

Vote on GOP energy bill: HR 6, Vote #445, 7/28/2005

Yes

3

Contributions from oil and gas industries: www.opensecrets.org

$21,500

4

Vote to strip overtime protection: HR 2660 , Vote #351, 7/10/2003

No

5

Vote to prevent federal loans to American companies that have relocated offshore for U.S. tax avoidance: HR 4818, Vote #386, 7/15/2004

No

6

Contributions from drug interests: www.opensecrets.org

$101,793

7

Vote on GOP Medicare Prescription Drug Bill: HR 1, Vote #669, 11/22/2003

Yes

8

Vote to allow prescription drug re-importation: HR 2427, Vote #445, 7/25/2003

No

9

Contributions from John Boehner: www.tray.com

$1,000

10

Voting percentage with Pres. Bush:
calculated through: www.cq.com

91%

11

Voting percentage with GOP caucus:
calculated through: www.cq.com

97%

12

Vote to weaken ethics rules: H Res. 5, Roll Call #6, 1/4/05

YES

13

Voting percentage with DeLay: calculated through 3/31/2006: www.cq.com

94%

14

Vote to stop contracts to corporations that overcharge: HR 4939, Vote #60, 3/16/2006

No

15

Contributions from Halliburton: www.tray.com

$1,000

16

Vote to expand access to TRICARE: HR 1815 , Vote #221, 5/25/2005

No

17

Vote for bonus for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans: HR 3289, Vote #554, 10/17/2003

No

18

Vote to hold MTBE producers accountable: HR 6, Vote #373, 7/14/2005

No

19

Vote on Endangered Species Act reform: HR 3824, Vote #505, 9/29/2005

No

20

Vote to sell off public lands: HR 4241,Vote #601, 11/18/2005

Yes

21

Vote to cut Federal student aid: S 1932 , Vote #670, 12/19/2005

Yes

22

Vote to expand stem cell research: HR 810 , Vote #204, 5/24/2005

 

 
Do you know how Joe Pitts voted?
 
 
  • Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels. The LCV (League of Conservation Voters) rated him 5% indicating an anti-environmental position.
 
  • Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR.
 
  • Voted YES on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects.
 
  • Voted NO on withdrawing from the WTO (World Trade Organization) which destroys the economy of developing nations.
 
  • Voted NO on campaign finance reform banning soft-money contributions.
 
  • Voted YES on limiting medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000 damages.
 
  • Voted YES on limited prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients.
 
  • Voted NO on allowing reimportation of prescription drugs.
 
  • Voted YES on continuing military recruitment on college campuses.
 
  • Voted YES on deploying SDI - “Star wars”.
 
  • Voted NO on $167 billion over 10 years for farm price supports indicating an anti-family farm position.
 
  • Voted YES on making the Bush tax cuts permanent indicating a tax program highly favorable the very wealthiest 19% of Americans.
 
  • He voted to reduce tax payments on Social Security benefits and was given a rating of 0% by the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) indicating an anti-senior voting record.
 
  • He voted for zero funding of OSHA’s ergonomic rules instead of the needed $4.5 billion. The AFL-CIO gave him a 7% rating indicating anti-working people voting record.
     
 
  • He voted against reducing Third World debt to the IMF and he voted in favor of every proposed so-called free-trade. He voted in favor of eliminating the estate tax. He was rated 100% by the US Chamber of Commerce indicating a pro corporate/anti-citizen voting record.
 
  • Rated 0% by the Assoc. of Retired Americans (ARA) indicating an anti-senior voting record.
 
  • The National Education Association gave him an 8% indicating an anti-public education position.
 
  • He supported legislation to report illegal aliens who receive hospital treatment and to increase immigrant visas for skilled workers. These are usually referred to as H1B visas which creates not only a brain drain in developing countries but allows corporations to pay these highly skilled technical workers extremely low wages and avoid hiring skilled American workers.
 
  • He was given an 11% rating by The American Public Health Association (APHA) indicating an anti-public health voting record.

"I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me,

 no matter how dumb my suggestions are."

-Homer Simpson

 

According to an Associated Press report, Congressman Joe Pitts believes that Homer Simpson is the reason why "fatherhood" is declining in the United States.  I only hold two university degrees and I could be wrong about this, but I have a suspicion that Homer Simpson has about as much to do with the decline of fatherhood in the United States as Tinky Winky has to do with homosexuality. On the other hand I'll bet Mr. Pitts thinks Tinky Winky of Teletubby fame is gay!

 

 

 

 

Even though Mr. Pitts decided to break his pledge to the people of the 16th District and serve only 10 years, I think the pressure's been too much for the congressman who wants to destroy our civil liberties with the same fervor that he wishes to chop down our national forests and drill up our national parks.  Let's help Mr. Pitts keep his pledge this November.