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BUTLER TWP. – Saying he “has had it” with defending the recently passed health care reform bill against false allegations, U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski Wednesday told the Hazleton Chamber of Commerce that he is determined to “debunk the myths” and “refute the criticisms” of the legislation. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, who will turn 73 on Friday, said the health care reform law that was enacted last week will not slash Medicare as many critics have claimed and it will help small businesses afford health coverage for all of their employees. Kanjorski spoke at a breakfast hosted by the Keystone Job Corps Center....

They will not say so publicly, but U.S. Reps. Chris Carney and Paul E. Kanjorski are not on speaking terms. Carney, D-Dimock Township, wanted to be the next Pennsylvania member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee that controls federal spending. As senior member of the state's Democratic congressional delegation, Kanjorski could have helped him get that appointment to a vacant committee seat. Instead, the delegation last week voted to recommend a suburban Philadelphia congressman to congressional leaders who will fill the vacancy. The two congressmen refuse to say much about their spat, but their silence and veiled swipes at each...

Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Carney’s bid to follow in the footsteps of his two Republican 10th District representative predecessors by sitting on the powerful House Appropriations Committee will have to wait A secret ballot vote conducted Thursday by the 11 members of the Pennsylvania Democratic congressional delegation resulted in U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Murphy, of Bristol, Bucks County, being recommended for a seat on the committee. The House Democratic Steering Committee will have the final say and could accept that recommendation or opt to choose someone else, even from another state. The vacancy opened up in February when U.S. Rep...

Event held at GOP office in Wilkes-Barre. Kanjorski spokesman issues response. WILKES-BARRE – The Republican Party rolled out a college student, a small business man, a physician and its candidate for Congress Thursday to blast Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski for voting for the national health care bill. Barletta, 54, is unopposed in the May 18 Republican primary. Kanjorski, 72, is serving his 13th term in Congress. He is opposed in May by Democratic Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O’Brien. Barletta spoke next to a stack of papers – the 2,308-page health care bill in the local GOP headquarters. “We already...

U.S. Reps. Chris Carney and Paul E. Kanjorski said they hope that their “yes” votes for the health care reform reconciliation bill won’t make voters say “no” at the ballot boxes this year. A day after casting their votes on the historic piece of legislation, the two stood by their decisions and said they were made in the best interest of their constituents, not their own political careers. They said their upcoming election battles did not factor into their decision. “Electoral politics did not come in to play,” Carney, D-Dimock Township, said on Monday. “You don’t govern based on upcoming...

By voting for health care reform Sunday, U.S. Reps. Chris Carney and Paul E. Kanjorski gambled that voters will understand the benefits in time to re-elect them later this year. Kanjorski, D-11, Nanticoke, a congressman since 1985, admitted he risked his political future and called it one of his most difficult votes ever. Carney, D-10, Dimock Township, in office since 2007, did not see his vote as politically risky and said voting yes was not difficult. Their opponents Monday predicted an end to their days in Congress. "People are livid," said David Madeira, one of three vying for the Republican...

Calling it among top three most difficult votes he has cast in 25 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski voted for the Democrats' health care reform bill. In a telephone interview just before the vote, Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, portrayed the bill as essential to the country's economic future. As part of his decision, he extracted a promise that could save local jobs at Sallie Mae's student loan servicing center in Hanover Township, he said. "If we lose this fight today, it will be 15, 20 years before we get a president and a Congress that would take this on,"...

Lawmakers in our area have issued statements on how they will vote today on President Barack Obama’s health care reform proposal. U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, said in a press release issued just before 6 p.m. today that he intends to vote for the legislation, which he said will be voted on later this evening. "Today, I will vote for legislation designed to improve the affordability and accessibility of health care. Americans already spend more on health care than the people of any other nation. If we take no action, health care costs are expected to double over the next...

Yes, maybe and no. U.S. Rep. Chris Carney came out in favor of the health insurance reform bill Saturday, while colleague Paul Kanjorski was still undecided and the Diocese of Scranton expressed its opposition. In the multi-layered national debate surrounding the legislation to be considered by the House today, questions about abortion funding loomed large in many corners, including Northeast Pennsylvania. In a statement released Saturday afternoon, Mr. Carney, D-10, Dimock Twp., said he would vote for the bill, saying he believes it "continues the longstanding ban on public funding for abortion, a factor that weighed heavily on my mind...

Two undecided northeastern Pennsylvania Democrats may decide the fate of health care overhaul legislation slated for a House vote this weekend. That hardly makes Congressmen Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney happy. Their political futures hang in the balance. "It's an issue that creates enormous public grief for them," says Pennsylvania political analyst Professor Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. "It's not popular. Pieces of it are. But on the whole, people are against it." Kanjorski, whose 11th District includes Monroe County, and Carney, whose 10th District encompasses Pike County, haven't tipped their hands about how they'll vote....

WILKES-BARRE – Northeastern Pennsylvania Tea Party members hoped that by protesting outside U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s Wilkes-Barre office they would convince him to vote against the proposed health care bill now in Congress. Glen Senese of Pittston joined about 20 other team members for the 90-minute protest as they walked up and down the sidewalk directly in front of the Stegmaier Building on Tuesday. Senese, 49, said politicians such as Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, are ramming the health care bill down people’s throats, even though he said most Americans do not want health care reform. “This is the first time I can...

U.S. Rep. Chris Carney will send $21,000 from his campaign war chest to a local charity, keeping a promise that if embattled U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel were ever found to have violated House ethics rules, he would return the money. “I have long said that I would give to charity any contributions from Mr. Rangel if the ethics committee found wrongdoing. I will be donating the contributions my campaign has received from Mr. Rangel to the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute,” Carney said. Carney’s campaign has received $21,000 from political action committees associated with the embattled Charles Rangel, 79, since the...

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He had a tough race in 2008 against Republican Lou Barletta in a political climate that favored Democrats. This year, U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski is seeking a 14th term in what's shaping up as a Republican year. Mr. Kanjorski faces a significant Democratic primary challenger in Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien. If he wins, a third challenge by Mr. Barletta again or a first by hedge fund manager Chris Paige looms in the fall. "I'd be cocky beyond imagination (to predict victory) ... but I don't know if I'm going to survive," Mr. Kanjorski said during an editorial board...

Corey O’Brien, the Democratic primary challenger to Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), said the 13-term congressman’s approval ratings are so low that there’s no way he can win re-election this year. O’Brien, a Lackawanna County Commissioner, told POLITICO that voters are disenchanted with the congressman due to the region’s struggling economy, Kanjorski’s support for bank bailouts and the ethical cloud still hanging over his earmarks. Kanjorski won reelection in 2008 with just 52 percent of the vote, racking up 18,000 fewer votes in his district than President Barack Obama. His 2008 opponent, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, is running again this cycle....

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta who is seeking a rematch with Democratic incumbent Paul Kanjorski to represent the 11th District of Pennsylvania in Congress has endorsed Tom Corbett for governor. Corbett is getting a tenacious battle in the GOP primary from underdog Sam Rohrer, who represents the 128th District in the State House.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner must have felt as if he'd made a wrong turn in the Rayburn House Office Building, and instead of taking a seat before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform had wound up at the Committee on Insult and Abuse. It was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement: Republicans and Democrats alike seemed to detest the guy. They were asking about his role in the $180 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG, too-generous government payouts to AIG's business partners, and efforts to hide details of the deal from the public. But really, they were just angry...

CNBC program from yesterday. YouTube

President Barack Obama's proposed tax on big banks is a good idea because taxpayers deserve to recover all the money they spent bailing out the financial system as soon as possible, U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski said. The bailout was so successful, Wall Street is back to paying large bonuses to its executives, fueling the perception that Congress cares more about Wall Street than Main Street, Mr. Kanjorski said. "It is vitally important now that we show the American people that we are having success on Main Street as well as Wall Street," he said. Mr. Kanjorski, D-11, Nanticoke, chairman...

Overall spending by House and Senate candidates in 2008 declined nearly 3 percent compared with 2006, and the money candidates took in also dropped, though not as steeply. The data are contained in a recent report released by the Federal Election Commission. The data also provide top 50 lists for various categories including the top spenders, the highest debts owed and the incumbents that entered the 2009-10 election cycle with the most cash-on-hand. Several local candidates made the lists. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, ranked 33rd nationally in terms of money spent by incumbent House members. He was 42nd in...