Louisiana Voters Just Can't Trust McCain's Double-Talk, Says Democratic National Committee

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ahead of tomorrow's electoral contest in Louisiana, John McCain recently said that "one of the adverse effects of the government's botched early response to Hurricane Katrina...is that Americans are more skeptical about their government's ability to accomplish its goals, whether winning in Iraq or dealing with terrorism." [The Times Picayune, 2/8/08] Yet it is exactly the same John McCain, the real John McCain, who voted against increased funds for FEMA, who voted against making FEMA an independent agency, who opposed a national catastrophe fund saying that people who "build homes where hurricanes hit...have to assume a great part of that liability," who voted against appropriating billions of dollars on Katrina recovery efforts, and who even voted against establishing a commission to investigate the botched response to Katrina and make immediate corrective measures. And when it comes to the state's agriculture, McCain has voted repeatedly against Louisiana sugar farmers throughout the years.

"John McCain is just another Bush Republican who when given the chance to help families whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, turned his back," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda . "It's clear that a McCain presidency would just be a third Bush term and Louisiana voters know they can do better than that."

FEMA

2006: McCain Voted Against Increased Funds for FEMA. McCain voted against the Schumer motion to waive the fiscal 2006 budget resolution with respect to the Gregg point of order against the emergency designation of the Schumer amendment (No. 4600). The Schumer amendment would provide an additional $301.4 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund. [H.R. 5441, S.V. 199, 7/13/06, failed 46-54]

2006: McCain Voted Against Making FEMA an Independent Agency. McCain voted against the Clinton amendment (No. 4563) that would remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security and establish it as an independent, Cabinet-level agency. It would require the agency's head to have significant expertise in the area of emergency preparedness and response. [H.R. 5441, S.V. 193, 7/11/06, failed 32-66]

KATRINA/RITA RELIEF

2006: McCain Voted Against Appropriating $109 Billion, Including $74 Billion for Iraq , $28 Billion for Hurricane Relief. In 2006, McCain voted against appropriating roughly $109 billion in emergency supplemental funding for fiscal 2006. It would provide $72.4 billion in fiscal 2006 funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and foreign aid, not counting an almost 3 percent across-the-board cut to defense funds in the bill. It would provide more than $28 billion for hurricane relief, approximately $2.3 billion for pandemic flu preparations and $1.9 billion for border security efforts. President Bush has threatened to veto any spending bill that exceeded $95 billion, which the Senate bill does by $14 billion. 35 senators, including George Allen , signed a letter promising to sustain that veto. [HR 4939, Vote 112, 5/4/06, Passed 78-20, D 43-0; R 34-20; I 1-0]

2006: McCain Voted Against Establishing a Commission to Study the Response to Hurricane Katrina. McCain voted against a Clinton, D-N.Y., motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Collins, R-Maine, point of order against the Clinton amendment to the Grassley, R-Iowa, substitute amendment. The Clinton amendment established a commission to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina, including the federal government's role and the impact of the disaster. The substitute would extend a series of tax cuts set to expire between 2005 and 2010, including the research and development tax credit, the state and local sales tax deduction in states without income taxes and the welfare-to-work credit, by two years. It also would extend through 2006 protections for middle-class taxpayers from alternative-minimum tax liability exemptions and include a new tax deduction for charitable giving by taxpayers who do not itemize. [Vote 6, HR 4297, 2/2/2006, Motion rejected 44-53: R 0-53; D 43-0 (ND 39-0, SD 4-0); I 1-0]

2005: McCain Voted Against Granting Access To Medicaid For Hurricane Katrina Victims For Up To Five Months. In 2005, McCain voted against the Lincoln amendment that would grant access to Medicaid to Hurricane Katrina victims for up to five months; it also provided full federal funding for Medicaid in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for up to one year; provide $800 million to compensate providers caring for Katrina evacuees; it temporarily suspended the Medicare Part B late enrollment penalty; and permit states hit by or serving evacuees to access the TANF Contingency Fund. It would be offset with funds unspent by the FEMA. [S 1932, Vote 285, 11/3/05, Failed 48-51, D:43-0, R:4-51, I:1-0]

2005: McCain Voted Against Establishing A Congressional Commission To Examine The Federal, State And Local Response To Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, McCain voted against the Clinton amendment to establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future. [HR 2862, Vote 229, 9/14/05, Failed 44-54, D:43-0, R:0-54, I:1-0]

1995: McCain Voted Against Allowing A Simple Majority To Waive The Budget Requirement For Natural Disaster Emergency Relief. In 1995, McCain voted to table an amendment that allows a simple majority to waive the Balanced-Budget requirement for emergency relief from natural disasters. [S 1, Vote 66, 2/14/95, 70-28, D 17-28; R 53-0]

FLOOD INSURANCE, CATASTROPHE FUND

2007: McCain Bragged About His Opposition To A National Catastrophic Insurance Fund. In his speech to CPAC, McCain highlighted his opposition to the national insurance fund, bragging, " I campaigned in Florida against the national catastrophic insurance fund bill that passed the House of Representatives..." [John McCain CPAC Remarks As Prepared For Delivery, 2/7/08]

2007: McCain Uncommitted to Insurance Fund. In a campaign event in Florida, McCain said, "If people are going to build homes where hurricanes hit, they have to assume a great part of that liability. We don't have that many hurricanes that hit Arizona, as you know. We need to all work together and see if the present unacceptable situation can be remedied, and if that requires some federal action, I'm for it - but not just insuring anybody for any circumstance. I'm not going to do that. I would not support such a thing." [ St. Petersburg Times, 9/2/07]

SUGAR/AGRICULTURE

2001: McCain Voted to Phase-Out the Sugar Program, Eliminate Price Supports for Sugar. McCain voted against the Reid motion to table (kill) the Gregg amendment. The Gregg amendment would phase-out the sugar program in the substitute amendment and require the Agriculture secretary to eliminate the price support loan for sugar and lower the loan rate for beet and cane sugar crops harvested each year between 2003 through 2005 in a way that would uniformly lower the loan rate to zero for the 2006 crops. The substitute would reauthorize federal agriculture programs for five years, including a dairy provision that would authorize $2 billion in direct federal subsidies to milk producers. [S. 1731, S.V. 364, 12/12/01, passed 71-29]

2001: McCain Wanted To Let Vietnamese Catfish Flood Domestic Market. "The familiar whiskers of the catfish have made their way to the floor of the Senate amid a dispute with Vietnam, once a nemesis of the United States but now among its newest trading partners. With little debate, Congress has decreed that only catfish belonging to a biological genus native to North America be allowed such a label, effectively shutting Vietnamese fish out of the U.S. market only weeks after the two countries signed their first trade agreement..[McCain] is fighting to let the Vietnamese catfish take its place on American tables..[McCain] tried to pass an amendment to another bill that would have knocked the rule off the books. Mr. McCain , exasperated but still fighting, delved deeply into animal taxonomy during the debate to prove his point: Catfish is catfish. Domestic producers, under the cover of science, are seeking an unjustified favor from the government, he insisted. 'The catfish lobby's advertising campaign on behalf of its protectionist agenda has few facts to rely on to support its case,' Mr. McCain said, 'so it stands on scurrilous fear-mongering to make its claim that catfish raised in good old Mississippi mud are the only fish with whiskers safe to eat.'" [Washington Times, 12/28/01]

2000: McCain Again Tried to Block the Sugar Program. McCain voted against the Cochran motion to table (kill) the McCain amendment that would prohibit the use of any funds by the Agriculture Department to implement the sugar program. [H.R. 4461, S.V. 219, 7/20/00, passed 65-32]

1999: McCain Sponsored an Amendment to Eliminate Sugar Subsidies. McCain sponsored a motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Reed point of order against the McCain amendment. The amendment would authorize approximately $1.8 billion a year for three years to establish a pilot school voucher program, paid for by eliminating certain subsidies for ethanol, oil, gas and sugar. [S. 1429. S.V. 238, 7/30/99, failed 13-87]

1999: McCain Sponsored an Amendment to Block the Sugar Program. McCain voted against the Cochran motion to table (kill) the McCain amendment to the Daschle amendment. The McCain amendment would prohibit the Agriculture Department from using funds in the bill for the sugar program, which provides loans, import restrictions and price-supports for the industry. [S. 1233, S.V. 254, 8/4/99, passed 66-33]

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SOURCE Democratic National Committee