Free Republic

Sen. Bob Casey, among only seven senators on Monday who opposed a block in housing funding to the community group ACORN, said he'll follow suit on votes today designed to bar the organization from other sources of federal money. Sen. Mike Johannsof Nebraska will bring amendments to the floor today that would ban ACORN from getting federal money from the Department of the Interior, environment and other related agencies. None of those agencies currently provide ACORN funding, but Johanns wants to ensure they don't in the future. Casey characterized the measures as political moves at a time the Congress is...

WASHINGTON - A resurgent conservative activist community that last month zeroed in on U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has turned its ire to Democratic colleague Bob Casey over the freshman senator's vote against blocking federal funding for the community organizing group ACORN. Casey's vote Monday put him at odds with all but six of his Senate colleagues, who approved an amendment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2010 spending bill to bar federal money for the organization next year. The vote came after videos surfaced showing workers in multiple offices giving tax advice to a couple posing as a...

A former federal prosecutor with deep ties to Sen. Bob Casey has surfaced as the lead candidate to become U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, sources said. Attorney Peter J. Smith, a Wilkes-Barre native who lives near Harrisburg, said Tuesday he had been interviewed for the position but was reluctant to elaborate and chose his words carefully when asked whether he would get the job. "I have not heard anything officially," Mr. Smith said in a telephone interview from his Camp Hill home. "Sometimes, it's a long process." The U.S. attorney's office in the Middle District of Pennsylvania,...

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is one of only a few lawmakers casting a vote in support of ACORN, and the Democrat is taking a lot of heat for it. On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to block federal funds to ACORN, which has received federal housing grants to help low-income families learn how to get mortgages. Casey, D-Pa., was among the seven in opposition to that measure.

Oversight: As the Senate votes to de-fund Acorn, add pimping, tax evasion and human trafficking to voter fraud paid for with taxpayer dollars and you have an organized criminal enterprise. It's time to investigate.After Acorn workers were caught on tape in three cities allegedly abetting what they believed was a fraudulent-mortgage and sex-trafficking scheme, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip the group of funding in the Transportation/Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The amendment, offered by Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns, passed by an 83-to-7 margin and marked the third time this year that Republicans have tried to block...

U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey and Congressmen Bill Shuster and Mike Doyle today announced that the Pennsylvania High-Speed Maglev Project will receive $28 million in federal funding. The funding is in the form of a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration SAFETEA-LU Maglev Program. “This $28 million award is the most significant development in the 29 years we’ve been working on Maglev,” Senator Specter said. “The vision is to have a 250 mile-an-hour train traveling from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia with intermediate stops. Such a train would be a tremendous economic boon with thousands of new jobs in the...

Bob Casey Claims No Abortion Funding in Senate Health Care Bill, Draws Rebuke Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One of the two Democrats in the U.S. Senate to claim a pro-life position on abortion is drawing fire from pro-life advocates today for a comment he made in a recent town hall. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey told constituents that the Senate version of the government-run health care bill doesn't fund abortions. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4397.html

How do you outgun the NRA? Very, very carefully. Mark Pryor knows all about that. The Democratic senator from pro-gun Arkansas was nowhere to be seen on the Senate floor during Wednesday's showdown over a proposal, championed by the National Rifle Association, that would have gutted state gun-control laws across the nation. Toward the end of the vote, Pryor entered the chamber through the back door, took a few steps inside, flashed a thumbs-down to the clerk, and retreated as fast and furtively as somebody dodging gunfire. Several minutes later, the Democrats had racked up more than enough votes to...

Pennsylvania's U.S. senators praised Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination as a Supreme Court justice. As a Senate Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Democrat, will have an opportunity to question Judge Sotomayor during her confirmation hearing later this year. He supported her nominations as a federal district judge by President George H.W. Bush and to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton. "I applaud the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Her confirmation would add needed diversity in two ways: the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the high court," Mr....

Bishop Joseph Martino is a Bishop who has stood out for his deep, continual and unflinching pastoral oversight of the Diocese and all of the Catholic institutions under his care. He has also shown genuine pastoral care for Senator Robert Casey, the son of the late Governor Bob Casey who was a courageous and uncompromising champion of the Right to Life. His son, Senator Robert Casey has a decidedly mixed record concerning the fundamental Right to Life. His Bishop is engaging him regularly to remind him of his obligations to be what Pope Benedict has called "morally coherent" in discharging...

Bishop Joseph F. Martino said today that the decision by King’s College to have Sen. Robert Casey serve as commencement speaker on May 17 is, in view of his affirmative vote for Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, an affront to all who value the sanctity of life. Previously, the Bishop had asked Sen. Casey to reflect on his oft-stated pro-life beliefs and oppose the nomination of Gov. Sebelius who as a Catholic has been a committed advocate of abortion while she served as governor of Kansas. It is the Bishop’s position that his vote on April...

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pennsylvania is once again taking on Sen. Bob Casey, who claims to be one of two pro-life Democrats in the Senate. However, Casey, who has cast votes for funding pro-abortion groups overseas, drew negative attention again for another recent vote. Casey supported pro-abortion Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in her nomination for Health Secretary. Sebelius came under strong opposition from pro-life groups for her lengthy pro-abortion record vetoing numbers pro-life bills and her close relationship with late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. On Wednesday, the Diocese of Scranton released a statement from Martino reproducing an April 27...

Senator Casey Withdraws as Commencement Speaker at St. Vincent’s College By Deacon Keith Fournier 3/27/2009 Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) Did Senator Casey decide he did not want to face the flood of protests which would accompany his address? U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., has canceled his May 9 appearance without explanation. St. Vincent College spokesman Don Orlando says Casey gave no reason for canceling. U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., has canceled his May 9 appearance without explanation. St. Vincent College spokesman Don Orlando says Casey gave no reason for canceling. Senator Bob Casey Jr.’s father, the late, former Governor of Pennsylvania,...

Senator Bob Casey Jr. proclaims his pro-life credentials but fails to vote in a consistent manner to defend the fundamental right to life. He also missed an extraordinary opportunity to undo the injustice done to his father all those years ago at another Democratic Convention, when he spoke at the one in 2008. He failed to do so and many, including this writer, were deeply disappointed. He has come under increasing criticism as he defends the Administrations indefensible anti-right to life agenda and is regularly rolled out as one of President Obama’s Catholic supporters. Senator Casey has also been consistently...

I received an email this evening from one of my US Senators, Robert Casey. Here is a portion of the text: Dear Friends, It is difficult to quantify the outrage that taxpayers - AIG's new shareholders - have regarding the bonuses paid to AIG executives. I have included my thoughts in a video statement above. I've also included the letter I sent to AIG CEO Edward Liddy demanding answers. AIG must reverse course and do the right thing and forego the bonuses or face legislative action. It's ironic that he mentions the outrage that taxpayers have...He certainly didn't notice it...

Two key items showed up on the Diocese of Scranton's 2009 page for Press Releases, both with today's date of February 26, 2009: 1) A 2nd letter sent to Senator Bob Casey from Bishop Martino and, 2) An Official Notice on worthy reception of Holy Communion which states that "all ministers of Holy Communion, ordinary and extraordinary" are to deny Communion to those whose worthiness to receive Holy Communion is publicly known.

Conservatism Emerges on CNBCFebruary 25, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Amazingly, ladies and gentlemen, some of the brightest, most informed and effective conservatism is now found on CNBC. Larry Kudlow has a program called The Kudlow Report. It's at seven p.m. on CNBC. He's talking with Democrat Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania last night. Kudlow says, "Are the Democrats, your party, in danger right now? Are they on the edge of relapsing back to a 1967, 1907 style of big government spending, welfare entitlement? Is that a danger? Has your party relapsed into that old big-spending label?" Now, here's a montage...

Bishop Martino is making news again. He sent a letter to the President of the “Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Lackawanna County”, Mr. John Keeler. The letter begins “Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton plays no small role in the local annual observance of St. Patrick’s day. It has been the practice to offer Holy Mass there prior the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and on the Feast day itself”. The Bishops concern is that Catholic politicians who are in open defiance of the Church’s teaching on the fundamental right to life will be featured at these events, honored, and worse...

Dear Senator Casey: I wish to thank you for voting in favor of the Hatch Amendment to the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reorganization Act of 2009 which would have made unborn children eligible for child health assistance had it passed. I am grateful for what you have done on behalf of children in America who are without health care. It is with deep regret, however, that I learned of your vote against the amendment offered by Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) to the same Children’s Health Insurance Act. Senator Martinez’s amendment would have reinstated the Mexico City Policy. That policy, instituted...

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton continues to demonstrate leadership on the life issues.  He has written a letter to Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey, Jr. asking him to reconsider his vote against reaffirming the Mexico City Policy.  If only every bishop in the United States would write a letter like this to the Catholic members of Congress in their dioceses who voted to end the Mexico City policy! The full text of the letter is below (emphasis added):   January 30, 2009  Dear Senator Casey:  I wish to thank you for voting in favor of the Hatch Amendment to the Children’s...