Just More of the Same

FALSE MCCAIN ATTACK: “I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will govern as President. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not.”

THE FACTS: SEE BELOW A FEW EXAMPLES OF OBAMA WORKING ACROSS THE AISLE TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN

• CQ: “Barack Obama Likes Republicans. And Republicans Appreciate Obama.” CQ reported, “Barack Obama likes Republicans. And Republicans appreciate Barack Obama.” [CQ, 9/10/07]
• Obama And Lugar Passed Law Boosting U.S. Efforts To Keep WMDs And Other Dangerous Weapons Out Of The Hands Of Terrorists. In 2006, Obama and Lugar introduced The Cooperative Proliferation Detection Act, which was passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously on May 26, 2006 and was eventually incorporated into the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006 and signed into law on January 11, 2007. According to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report on its legislative activity in the 109th Congress, “The committee passed S. 2566, The Cooperative Proliferation Detection, Interdiction Assistance, and Conventional Threat Reduction Act of 2006 by unanimous consent on May 26, 2006. The legislation authored by Chairman Lugar and Senator Obama enhances: (1) U.S. cooperation with foreign governments to destroy conventional weapons stockpiles around the world; and (2) the United States’ ability to provide assistance to foreign governments aimed at helping them detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction. The legislation, which garnered 26 co-sponsors (including 8 committee members), sought to energize U.S. programs to secure lightweight anti-aircraft missiles…The initiative was modeled after the Nunn-Lugar program that focuses on weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. The legislation was signed into law on January 11, 2007, as a part of H.R. 6060, the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006.” [P.L. 109-472, 1/11/07; House Report 109-706, 9/3/06; S. 2566, 109th Congress; S.1949, 109th Congress; Senate Report 110-40, 3/29/07]
• Lugar Said It Was Accurate That Said Obama Reached Out To Him And They Passed Legislation To Lock Down Loose Nuclear Weapons. “Republican Sen. Dick Lugar (IN) today said an Obama campaign ad which features him is ‘accurate.’ The ad makes the point the Obama previously ‘reached out’ to Lugar to ‘help lock down loose nuclear weapons.’ Lugar is widely considered one of the most knowledgeable in the area of nuclear weapons proliferation and the coauthored of the 1991 Nunn-Lugar Act on cooperative threat reduction. ‘He did’ reach out, Lugar said. He explained that in 2005, Obama asked if he could join Lugar on a trip to Russia and other countries to visit sites under the Nunn-Lugar program. ‘After that, we had legislation that we cosponsored together which passed’ dealing with dangerous missiles. ‘So I am pleased we had that opportunity to work together,’ Lugar said. ‘I’m pleased we had the association Sen. Obama describes.’ But Lugar made clear up front that while the ad was accurate, and he’s comfortable with the association, ‘There is no chance I will consider running with Barack Obama.’” [MSNBC, 7/15/08]
• Obama and Coburn Passed A Bill Creating A “Google-like” Database For The Public To Search Details About Federal Funding Awards. In 2006, Obama and Coburn co-authored a bill to create a “Google-like” database of information on federal spending. The bill requires the OMB by January 1, 2008, to make available to the public a searchable, free website that includes the (1) amount; (2) transaction type; (3) funding agency; (4) North American Industry Classification System code or Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number; (5) program source; (6) an award title descriptive of the purpose of each funding action; (7) the name and location of the recipient and the primary location of performance; and (8) a unique identifier of the recipient and any parent entity. The site must allow users to conduct separate searches that distinguish between awards that are grants, sub-grants, loans, cooperative agreements, and other forms of financial assistance and awards that are contracts, subcontracts, purchase orders, task orders, and delivery orders. [S. 2590, Passed by Unanimous Consent, 9/7/06; Became PL 109-282, 9/26/06]
• Obama And Hatch Passed Legislation To Protect Individuals’ Rights To Continue Donating To Charities And Religious Organizations During Bankruptcy. In 2006, Obama was an original cosponsor of a bill that protected individuals’ rights to continue donating to charities and religious organizations during bankruptcy proceedings. The Hatch-Obama bill responded to a court ruling that above-medium income debtors in Chapter 13 bankruptcy could not deduct charitable contributions, including religious contributions, from their payment plans. The ruling was based on an interpretation of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). Hatch and Obama authored S. 4044 to ensure that all individuals in bankruptcy, no matter their income, would be able to continue giving to charity and their church. The bill passed the senate by unanimous consent and was signed by the president. [S. 4044, Signed 12/20/06, Became Public Law No. 109-439]
• Obama Worked With Bond On Proposals Providing Improvements In Health Care For Recovering Soldiers Which Were Passed Into Law, Including Requirements For Post-Deployment Mental Health Screenings And National Study On The Needs Of Iraq War Veterans. H.R. 976, passed by the Senate on August 2, 2007, includes several provisions from bills originally sponsored by Senators Obama and McCaskill. The provisions would improve health care services and health care tracking for service members, and would require post-deployment, face to face mental health screenings for returning service members within 30 days. The bill also adopts other Obama-McCaskill legislation, the HERO Act, which would launch a major national research endeavor into the readjustment needs of returning service members, veterans and their families. The bill also included measures to improve and reform the disability rating process. [Vote 307, H.R. 976, Passed, 68-31, 8/2/07; S. 713, 110th Congress; S. 1271, 110th Congress; Obama Press Release, 7/25/07; H.R. 4986, Became Public Law No: 110-18, 1/28/08, Press Release, 1/29/08]
• Obama Passed Law To Create The Darfur Peace And Accountability Act Of 2006. Obama co-sponsored a bill that would impose sanctions against individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, to support measures for the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations, and to support peace efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan, and for other purposes. Gwen Ifill said, “Two senators from opposite sides of the aisle have joined together to call for increased U.S. involvement in Darfur. They are Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, and Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois.” [109th, HR 3127 (S. 1462), Passed by Unanimous Consent, 9/21/06; PL 109-344, 10/13/06; Newshour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, Gwen Ifill, 2/16/06]
• Obama and Brownback Wrote Op-Ed Together, On Darfur. In an op-ed, Brownback and Obama wrote, “For two years the Bush administration has made commendable efforts to improve the lives of people in Darfur. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has become personally invested in the crisis, recently completing his fourth trip to the region in the past seven months. The United States has spent almost $1 billion aiding refugees and displaced persons who might otherwise have died of disease or starvation. And the U.S. military has helped airlift and fund African Union troops stationed in the Darfur region of Sudan. Yet, despite American engagement, Darfur’s humanitarian, security and political conditions are deteriorating. If the United States does not change its approach to Darfur, an already grim situation is likely to spiral out of control… The Bush administration has helped reduce suffering in Darfur, but the situation is dangerously adrift. And when the history of this tragedy is written, nobody will remember how many times officials visited the region or how much humanitarian aid was delivered. They will only remember the death toll.” [Obama and Brownback Op-Ed, Washington Post, 12/27/05]
• Obama Passed Near-Unanimous Death Penalty Overhaul Package. Obama was the chief co-sponsor and voted for bill creating the Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee Act. The proposal, which was approved on a 57-1 vote, was virtually identical to reforms pushed in 2002 by then-Gov. George Ryan. If passed by the House and signed into law by the governor, the bill would let judges rule out a death sentence for someone convicted solely on the testimony of a jailhouse informant, accomplice or single witness; let the state Supreme Court overturn a death sentence that was “fundamentally unjust.; Reduce the crimes eligible for the death penalty by focusing on “inherently violent” offenses; Expand defendants’ access to genetic evidence used against them; Ban police officers from the police force if they committed perjury in a murder case; and Require juries to consider a defendant’s history of abuse or mental illness when deciding whether to impose the death sentence. Obama said, “As far as the Bill goes, it doesn’t address whether the death penalty is applied fairly to all races and in all regions of the state. And it doesn’t appease those who want capital punishment eliminated.” [93rd GA, SB 0472; 4/3/03, 3R P; 57-1-0; 5/29/03, HA1 SC; 56-3-0; 11/5/03, OAV P; 58-0-0; P.A. 93-0605, 11/25/03; Pantagraph, 4/4/03; Associated Press, 4/24/03]
• AP: “Obama Teamed With Republican Legislators And Law Enforcement Groups” To Pass Death Penalty Reform And Racial Profiling Legislation. “Obama was able to pursue two issues that had been blocked for years – racial profiling by police and changes to the state’s death penalty system. Rather than writing his own versions of the bills and then using the party’s new power to pass them, Obama teamed with Republican legislators and law enforcement groups. Together, they worked out compromises. One required police to report on the race of the people they stopped for traffic violations. The other, part of a larger capital punishment overhaul, required police to videotape their interrogations in murder cases. ‘He was open to the concerns of the law enforcement community,’ said Laimutis ‘Limey’ Nargelenas, a lobbyist for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. ‘All of us knew the Democrats had the House and the Senate and the governor’s office, so he could have rammed it through. But he was willing to work with us.’” [AP, 6/25/08]
• Obama Passed Law Creating The Illinois Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Program, Which Passed Nearly Unanimously. Obama was a chief co-sponsor of the bill to create the state of Illinois’ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The bill created flexibility for victims of domestic violence, set a five-year limit for receiving public assistance, banned anyone convicted of a serious drug-related Class X or Class 1 felony from ever receiving assistance, required that all recipients develop a personal plan for self-sufficiency, listing the steps they will take to move from welfare to work, exempted those over 60 and adults with children younger than 1. According to the State Journal-Register, “The bill pours more money into day-care spending…as a result, an estimated 90,000 families would be able to take advantage of the child care benefit, subject to legislative appropriation of necessary funds. That represents a six-fold increase from the current number… State Sen. Barack Obama, D-Chicago, called the bill a good start but urged members not to rule out future changes to the system. He said there is a need for a commission to oversee the changes and ensure the system is working properly.” [¬90th GA, HB 204, 3R P 56-1-1, 5/31/97, PA 90-0017, 6/19/97; State Journal Register, 6/1/97]
• Obama Worked With Republicans To Enact An Overhaul Of Welfare In Illinois And Was Thanked By Republicans During The Debate For His Long Hours Helping Them Improve The Bill. The AP wrote, “After federal officials agreed on an overhaul of the nation’s welfare system, Obama worked with Republicans to enact those changes in Illinois. During the debate, two GOP senators made a point of thanking Obama for his long hours of helping them improve the bill.” [AP, 6/25/08]

FALSE MCCAIN ATTACK: “I’ve fought lobbyists who stole from Indian tribes.”

THE FACTS: MCCAIN REFUSED TO INVESTIGATE CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS

• McCain’s Investigation Ignored Congressional Republicans Even Though He Acknowledged They Bore Responsibility In The Lobbying Scandal. McCain acknowledged that Members were responsible for their conduct in Congress surrounding the lobbying scandal, saying, “[W]e should not forget that we, as Members, owe it to the American people to conduct ourselves in a way that reinforces, rather than diminishes, the public’s faith and confidence in Congress.” But during his investigation, McCain stated that his investigation would not include the legislative actions taken by Members of Congress saying, “We stop when we find out where the money went.” The AP reported that, “The intervention by congressional Republicans … was all but ignored in recent hearings on Capitol Hill led by [McCain] that examined Abramoff’s lobbying inside Interior. [Senator McCain, CQ Transcriptions, 1/25/06; Roll Call, 3/10/05; AP, 11/17/05]

• Abramoff Helped Juan Carlos Benitez, a McCain Bundler, Obtain a DOJ Post Where He Oversaw Abramoff’s Clients Employment Practices. “As Mr. McCain releases the names of hundreds of ‘bundlers’ — his top money collectors — one person who popped up is Juan Carlos Benitez, a lawyer and lobbyist whom Mr. Abramoff had championed for a Bush administration post. According to a 2006 report of the House Committee on Government Reform, Mr. Abramoff had urged the appointment of Mr. Benitez as special counsel for immigration-related unfair employment practices. He was named to the position in 2001. The committee’s report said Mr. Benitez’s job at the Justice Department ‘gave Benitez authority’ to conduct investigations into unfair labor practices that were ‘issues of importance to Abramoff clients.’ For Mr. McCain, Mr. Benitez raised $50,000 to $100,000, according to the McCain Web site.” [New York Times The Caucus Blog, 7/16/08]

• Reed Paid Millions By Scanlon and Abramoff To Rally Support To Close Texas Casino. During an ongoing investigation involving Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon and Ralph Reed, The Washington Post obtained emails showing the trio manipulating a Texas Casino for millions of dollars. “The e-mails reveal how closely Abramoff and Scanlon worked in tandem with Reed, whose longtime opposition to casino gambling and his connections to churches made him a powerful ally in Texas’s effort to shut down the Tigua casino that Cornyn said was operating illegally.” The New York Times reported in June 2006, “A bipartisan Senate report documented more than $5.3 million in payments to Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition and a leading Republican Party strategist, from an influence-peddling operation run by the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff on behalf of Indian tribe casinos. The report by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee portrayed Mr. Reed, now a candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in his home state of Georgia, as a central figure in Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying operation, the focus of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.” [New York Times, 6/23/06; Washington Post, 8/30/04]

• The Hill Noted Reed and Norquist Have Never Been Called to Testify During McCain’s Senate Indian Affairs Hearings. The Hill noted, “In an interview with The Washington Post, Norquist denied that ATR was used to conceal the source of funds sent to his and Abramoff’s old friend, former Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed, and others. But Norquist and Reed never have been called to testify under oath.” [Editorial, The Hill, 6/28/06]

• Reed Raised Money for McCain and Served on McCain’s Victory 2008 Team. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported, “Republicans around Georgia received an invitation from Reed, who will serve as a host of a ‘special event’ for McCain at the downtown Marriot Marquis on Aug. 18. Reed noted, “I have agreed to serve as a member of the McCain Victory 2008 Team.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution Political Insider Blog, 8/8/08]

FALSE MCCAIN CLAIM: “My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance.”

FACTS: MCCAIN’S HEALTH CARE PLAN DOES LITTLE TO REDUCE THE RANKS OF AMERICA’S UNINSURED AND WOULD ERODE EMPLOYER-BASED HEALTH SYSTEM

• Under McCain’s Plan, Health Insurance Benefits Would be Taxed For The First Time, Resulting In A $3.6 Trillion Tax Increase On Working Families. McCain’s health care plan would eliminate the payroll deduction on health care benefits, which would have the effect of raising taxes on working families by $3.6 trillion. [New York Times, 5/1/08]

• McCain’s Plan Undermines The Employer-Based Health Care System And Will Lead To Workers Losing Coverage. McCain’s health care plan would begin to dismantle the employer-based health care system, removing the incentives employers have to provide health care coverage, resulting in employees losing their health care. [New York Times, 4/30/08; Washington Post, 4/30/08]

• The Health Care Tax Credit McCain Offers Would Cover Less Than Half The Cost Of An Average Health Care Plan. The McCain health plan would give families a $5,000 tax credit to purchase health insurance. However, in 2007, the average family health insurance plan cost $12,000 – more than double the value of McCain’s health care tax credit. [“Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/11/07; “‘Call To Action’ On Health Care Reform,” John McCain 2008 press release, 4/29/08; Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07]
  McCain’s Health Care Plan Does Little to Help America’s Uninsured. McCain’s plan does not focus on “reducing the ranks of the uninsured,” of which there are about 47 million, or one in seven Americans. According to the New York Times, “The McCain campaign has no estimate of how many of America’s 47 million uninsured would likely gain coverage under its plan.” It “has been estimated to reduce the number of uninsured in the U.S…by three to nine million.” [Wall Street Journal, 10/11/2007, 4/30/2008; New York Times, 3/2/2008]

• McCain’s Erosion Of Employer System Would Take Away Millions of Americans’ Insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “158 million people nationally” had “employer-sponsored health insurance” in 2007. McCain’s elimination of the employer tax incentive to provide coverage would put these 158 million Americans’ coverage in jeopardy. According to an analysis conducted by the Center For American Progress, “business owners would no longer need to cover their workers to get tax benefits for their own coverage…The entire employer health insurance system could unravel, ending this as an option for Americans who prefer it.” In addition, the McCain plan “would not require insurers to provide health coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.” [Kaiser Family Foundation, “Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey, http://kff.org/insurance/ehbs091107nr.cfm ; Center For American Progress Action Fund, “Analysis of McCain’s Health Care Announcement,” 4/29/2008; New York Times Political Blog, “The Caucus,” 4/29/2008, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/mccains-health-care-plan/#more-4961]

FALSE MCCAIN ATTACK: “BOTH PARTIES AND SENATOR OBAMA PASSED ANOTHER CORPORATE WELFARE BILL FOR OIL COMPANIES”

THE FACTS: ENERGY BILL ACTUALLY RAISED TAXES ON OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY, MCCAIN SUPPORTS TAX BREAKS FOR BIG OIL

• AP Fact Check: Congressional Research Service Showed That The Energy Bill Actually Raised Taxes On The Oil And Gas Industry. The AP reported, “Clinton is on shakier ground when attacking Obama for supporting “Dick Cheney’s energy bill,” and not just because it’s a stretch to assign the vice president name – red meat to Democrats – to the legislation. The 2005 act that she describes as packed with billions of dollars in oil industry breaks actually raised taxes on the oil and gas industry by about $300 million over 11 years, according to the Congressional Research Service. The nonpartisan analysis found $2.6 billion in tax cuts for the oil and gas industry and $2.9 billion in tax increases. The bulk of tax breaks went to other sources of energy, including alternative fuels favored by both Clinton and Obama.” [AP, 2/15/08]

• McCain’s Tax Plan Will Cut Taxes For Oil Companies by Nearly $4 Billion – Including $1.2 Billion for Exxon. A study by the Center for American Progress Action Fund noted that the corporate tax rate cut included in the McCain tax plan “would deliver a $3.8 billion tax cut to the five largest American oil companies” – ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Valero Energy, and Marathon. According to their analysis of Exxon’s financial statements, the company would receive a tax savings of $1.2 billion under the McCain plan. [“The McCain Plan to Cut Oil Company Taxes by Nearly $4 Billion,” Center for American Progress Action Fund, 3/27/08]

• McCain Spokesman: McCain Opposes A Bipartisan Compromise to Expand Domestic Oil Production Because of Provisions that Would End Tax Breaks for Oil Companies. “A spokesman for Sen. McCain said that while he ‘applauds the bipartisan effort,’ he wouldn’t support the proposal because ‘he cannot and will not support legislation that raises taxes.’” [Wall Street Journal, 8/2/08]

FALSE MCCAIN ATTACK: “For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we’ll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage.”

THE FACTS: MCCAIN HAS REPEATEDLY OPPOSED VITAL TRAINING FOR WORKERS IN HARD-HIT INDUSTRIES

• McCain Opposed $1 Million In Job Training Programs For Young People. In 2003, McCain sponsored an amendment to delete several provisions from the war supplemental spending bill, including $1 million for the Jobs for America’s Graduates school-to-work program for at-risk young people for Training Employment Services. [2003 Senate Vote #118, 4/3/2003, McCain: Y]

• McCain Voted Against a Pilot Program to Provide Low-Interest Loans to Workers in Job Training or Assistance Programs. In 2002, McCain voted to kill an amendment requiring the Labor Department to establish a pilot program providing low-interest loans to workers in job training or job assistance programs to enable workers to continue making their mortgage payments. (CQ) McCain: Y [2002 Senate Vote #119, 5/21/2002]

• McCain Voted Against Providing Additional $4.1 Million For Job Training And Other Domestic Programs. In 1992, McCain voted against transferring $4.1 billion from defense to domestic programs, including Head Start, child immunization programs and the Job Corps program. (CQ) McCain: N [1992 Senate Vote #208, 9/16/1992, McCain: N]

• McCain Voted Against Providing $1 Billion In Economic Assistance, Including Job Training. In 1992, McCain voted against providing $1 billion for various programs designed to help those struggling economically, including job training funding. [1992 Senate Vote #146, 7/2/1992, McCain: Y]