Senator David Vitter Louisiana
Senator Vitter served in the House of Representatives from 1999-2004 in Louisiana’s 1st district. He made his way to the US Senate in 2005 and was reelected in 2010 to serve until 2017. Vitter’s recent announcement that he will run for Louisiana governor in 2015 could lessen his time spent in the Senate but voters MUST be diligent and vie to vote this Tea Party member out of office in 2014!
As a senator, Vitter voted against several measures that would have helped Americans including bills laid out below:
- Jan 14 2014 bill to extend emergency unemployment compensation and in fact Vitter voted against unemployment assistance on more than one occasion
- Jan 19 2014, Vitter voted nay to authorize Guantanamo detainee release funds spelled out in one bill and yay to prohibit funds for release or transfer of detainees in an opposing bill
- Voted to authorize “religiously-affiliated” employers the use of discriminatory employment practices based on sexual preference/gender identity
- Voted to prevent President Obama from exercising his authority to suspend the debt limit in order to curtail default on US credit and in fact he directly voted against a default prevention act.
- Vitter voted nay to limit interest rates for certain federal student loans which would help students to get out of debt faster once graduated; and he also voted against a student loan affordability act.
- Voted against the use of funds to oversee the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that helps Americans with health care
- Nay on the Bring Jobs Home Act and the Small Business Jobs and Tax Act
- Voted against the American Jobs Act of 2011
Among Vitter’s publicly notable acts includes the September 2007 incident wherein he earmarked $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to fund a Christian organization called Louisiana Family Forum. This group is known for anti-evolution philosophy in which they use a tactic called “teaching the controversy” to force their beliefs on the public. Teaching the controversy utilizes a scheme called “intelligent design”. In short, intelligent design in and of itself is a means of teaching religion over evolution.
Once distribution of the monies became public, the fact that the religious group was deemed “tax exempt” and therefore not eligible for taxpayer financing spurred Vitter to claim the $100K allotment to the Christian group was meant to develop a plan for the promotion of “better science education”. Vitter pulled back the earmarked following an October 17, 2007 progressive request for its removal by the senate.
Vitter also voted against bailing out the car manufacturers and allowing them to get back on their feet. One might recall these corporations, dubbed the name “The Big 3” that consisted of companies Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. Vitter called the idea of financing the Big 3 “ass-backwards” because they were to receive federal aid prior to restructuring their organizations.
Vitter put forth a slew of bills aimed to further punish formerly incarcerated persons and their families! The bills would take away food stamps from convicts and their families – even previously convicted and released inmates. The SNAP-related legislation he put forth would deny/reduce food for former inmates and their families for the rest of their lives! …and if that was not enough… Vitter later put forth legislation to prevent convicted persons from receiving federal housing assistance if their crimes fell under criteria for a certain amount of violence. This act would cause innocent family members, including children and elderly persons, to become homeless upon its passage…..
Vitter showed his opposition to immigration legislation by blocking a federal push for legal residency in 2007. This legislation would have helped a good 12 million undocumented persons to rectify their illegal status and stop living in the shadows. According to Vitter, however, the bill would provide amnesty to illegals. Vitter took his citizenship quest further by proposing an amendment requiring at least one parent of all children born in the United States to be a US citizen citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or an “alien” serving in the US military.
Vitter may claim he has intentions of running for Governor in 2015 but voters cannot allow his dreams of governorship to deter voting this Tea Partier out of office in 2014!!