Santorum in '93: More Government Needed in Health Care (mandate)

mother jones ^ | 0310 | Andy Kroll and Tim Murphy

[Fred]

Rick Santorum's pitch to Republican voters is simple: He is the "true" and "consistent" conservative in the GOP's presidential nomination fight. He describes himself as "a candidate who, throughout [his] career, has not only checked the box on conservative issues but has fought for conservative issues." And he slams front-runner Mitt Romney for flip-flopping on abortion and the Wall Street bailouts and, most of all, for passing government-mandated health care reform in Massachusetts. If elected president, Santorum vows, he will end the "tyranny" of President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Yet as an up-and-coming congressman in the early 1990s, Santorum took a much different line. Then—like now—health care was one of the nation's most divisive issues. In 1993

[Pinkbell]

Mother Jones? We’re going to the far left now to destroy a conservative candidate because he’s not our favorite? Wow.

[Pinkbell]

That’s from 1996. I don’t think anyone today would say that Rick Santorum is not pro-life. He’s attacked by the liberals (and even some conservatives) as being TOO pro-life.

[ansel12]

1996? He said that he was pro-abortion all his life until he decided to run for office, and even that conversion was weak, as you can see in post 36.

In 1996 he is trying to destroy the pro-life movement by fighting for the man promising to drive it from the party, to be President.

By 1997 he was campaigning for Christine Whitman “when I find someone I agree with on 90 to 95 percent of the issues, I enthusiastically campaign for them because they’re heading this country in the right direction.” as you can see in post 31.

As we all know, in 2004, Santorum was still endorsing and campaigning for the man who would destroy the pro-life movement.

Watch that video in post 11, that was Arlen Specter, with backer Rick Santorum announcing a Presidential run on this platform, “”“I pledge to lead the fight to strip the strident anti-choice language from the Republican National platform…”””.

[Patton@Bastogne]

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====== RICK SANTORUM'S Incredible CONSERVATIVE Voting Record ======

(Source: Free Republic's Psycho-Freep, 2012-03-05)



NEA

Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.




Bankruptcy

Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.




Defense and Foreign Policy

Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.

Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.

Voted for the START II Treaty

Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.

Voted to ban antipersonnel landmines

Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.

Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same payraises as uniformed military.

Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyranical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.

Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.

Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.

Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea

Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.

Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.

Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program




Nominations

Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture)

Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge

Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN

Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge

Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit

Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge

Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge

Voted for James Brady to be District Judge




Union Labor

Voted against National Right to Work Act

Voted against Real of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages

Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor

Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding

Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.

Voted for Job Corps funding

Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization

Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.

Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.

Voted to exempt IRS union representative from criminal ethics laws.

Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.




Guns

Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.

Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device

Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.

Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.

Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.




Reform

Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.

Voted twice for a Congressional payraise.

Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapits, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.

Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.

Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.

Voted for a McCain amendment to require State and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.




Immigration

Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators

Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens

Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.

Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to to the earnings of their sponsors.

Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.




Taxes

Voted against a flat tax.

Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs

Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.

Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.

Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.

Voted twice for internet taxes.

Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.

Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.

Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.

Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.

Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.

Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.

Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.




Welfare

Voted against food stamp reform

Voted against Medicaid reform

Voted against TANF reform

Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion

Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.

Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.




Government Waste

Sponsored An amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million

Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA)

Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion

Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.

Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million

Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL)

Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry

Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation

Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.

Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%

Voted against transferring $20 million from Americorps to veterans.

Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.

Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.

Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.




Spending and Entitlements

Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies an new entitlement.

Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.

Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.

Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.




Health Care

Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.

Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.

Voted against a allow consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.




Education

Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing

Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.

Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.




Energy

Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.

Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.





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[C. Edmund Wright]

When you take the mandate notion from The Heritage Foundation and others in context, and RS does, I will. Til then, turn about is fair play.

Actually, I don’t think I’m out of context. But I actually hope I am - so the full impact of how that feels will be realized.

[SnakeDoctor]

I already said, I really don’t care what somebody said in 1990. I don’t buy that one 30-year-old quote, dug up out of some archive, can invalidate an entire record. That goes for Gingrich as much as Santorum.

Rick Santorum’s pro-life record speaks for itself.

SnakeDoc

[SnakeDoctor]

Gingrich has made it into the record books for a lot of reasons, not all of them good. His political record is good. His personal record is not.

Honestly, that’s the only reason I’d take Santorum over Gingrich. If his personal life weren’t a complete catastrophe, I’d be wholeheartedly supporting him. You don’t need to sell me Newt Gingrich. I like Newt.

I think they’re both electable. I think they’d both be a good President. I think they’re about even on policy ... they agree more than they disagree. I think Gingrich has a better resume. I think Gingrich is a better debater. I think Rick Santorum is a better, more trustworthy, man. It is really as simple as that.

When Bill Clinton was President, the question was “if his own wife can’t even trust him, why should I?” With regard to Gingrich, I just don’t have a good answer to that question.

SnakeDoc

[jellybean]

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee, but I don't understand your post. You will what? Continue to bash Santorum regardless of the facts? Take the word of Mother Jones over actual video evidence from 1994 showing Santorum arguing against a federal mandate?

Where in the video (in or out of context) does Santorum approve of mandates?

[C. Edmund Wright]

No more out of context than RS claiming that what Newt and the Heritage Foundation supported is “the exact thing we are fighting with Obama Care” - no more than that.

How does it taste?

[HamiltonJay]

Santorum is not now, and never has been a small governemnt, get out of my wallet and off my back, conservative. He has always been and always will be a big government, social conservative. Ala the “compassionate conservative” mold. That’s just reality, anyone thinking Santorum is going to stem the tide of government expansion, is fully ignorant of the man and his career.

He certainly is not a liberal, and he may be to the right of Romney, but he is not a fiscal conservative, he’s not a small government conservative... never was, never will be.

[jwalsh07]

I was 42 in 1993 and yet our opinions on the candidates are identical. Herpetologist or grunt? Either is admirable. :-}

[SnakeDoctor]

Actually, I’m neither a herpetologist, nor a grunt. Swiped the handle from “The Unit”. Just thought it sounded good, I guess.

I think a “snake doctor” is actually a type of dragonfly ... though I’m not an entomologist either. Heh.

SnakeDoc

[9YearLurker]

Just like he wanted more grants, loans and subsidies to bring down the cost of college.

The guy doesn’t have an economic conservative bone in his body.

[ansel12]

Gingrich has made it into the record books for a lot of reasons, not all of them good.

He earned his place in the history books for leading a conservative revolution and changing America, Speaker Gingrich really made it into the text books and will be there generations from now. I don't think you took it literally, which you should have.

[SnakeDoctor]

I understood you the first time. Your elaboration doesn’t change anything I said.

SnakeDoc

[ansel12]

I really don’t care what somebody said in 1990. I don’t buy that one 30-year-old quote, dug up out of some archive, can invalidate an entire record.

What single quote? Did you look at post 11, post 31, post 36, post 43?

It is a collection of his radical pro-abortion actions for for almost his entire life.

[SnakeDoctor]

And, I don’t care.

Santorum’s record is as pro-life as anyone’s can be. He is perfectly rated by National Right to Life, and 0% from NARAL. Decades-old quotes can’t negate decades-long record of pro-life advocacy. I’m perfectly satisfied with Rick Santorum’s pro-life credentials.

The rest is just tiresome campaign bluster ... and I don’t give it any more weight than I give Gingrich’s supposed anti-Reagan quotes.

Heh. “Radical pro-abortion.” Come on. You’re getting lost in your own rhetoric.

SnakeDoc

[jellybean]

So, you either didn’t watch the video or, if you did, you’ll continue to misrepresent his position on government mandates in the 90’s. Got it!

[trappedincanuckistan]

“I believe that the federal government should set up a system where we create the right incentives for you to make efficient choices.”

“I take a much more proactive position in government in solving problems than most Republicans, because I believe government has a role. A lot of folks believe, ‘Well, just keep government out of it.’ I don’t believe that.”

These are direct quotes that give insight into Rick’s view of the role government. There are many many more that illustrate his hostility to individualism. The other night I even watched a YouTube clip of him taking issue with the limited government forces within the Tea Party. He is big government through and through.

[ansel12]

You don’t care that Santorum’s record is to try and destroy the pro-life movement?

Santorum was trying to get Arlen Specter into the White House. Look at Specter’s Presidential platform as he announced it. Santorum endorsed and campaigned for his candidacy and this platform..

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/64281-1

3:46 mark: “In 1996, I intend to win the other house — the White House — with ten commitments to America… including a woman’s right to choose…

13:22 mark: “Even though we have this historic opportunity for these achievements, there are those in our party who would lead us down a different path — and squander this unique moment in our nation’s history — by using our political capital — to pursue a radical social agenda — that would end a woman’s right to choose…

13:48 mark: “When Pat Robertson says there is no constitutional doctrine of separation between Church and State, I say he is wrong…

14:31 mark: “When Ralph Reed says a pro-choice Republican isn’t qualified to be our President, I say the Republican Party will not be intimidated or blackmailed by those kinds of threats.I, and millions of other pro-choice Republicans, will not be disenfranchised and made second class citizens.

15:33 mark: “… it is not Christian, or religious, or Judeo-Christian to bring God into politics; or to advocate intolerance and promote exclusion.

15:54 mark: “I want to take abortion out of politics. I want to keep the Republican Party focused on the vital economic and foreign policy issues — and leave moral issues such as abortion to the conscience of the individual. I believe abortion is an issue to be decided by women…

16:40 mark: “I pledge to lead the fight to strip the strident anti-choice language from the Republican National platform…”