7/21/2008 - At Bush Compound Today, McCain Shows Why He's Out of Touch with Economic Realities Facing Maine Families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY, JULY 21, 2008
CONTACT: REBECCA POLLARD, 233-7380
NOTE: Interviews in response to McCain's visit available.
New report on how McCain economic policies would affect Maine draws stark contrast to today's Collins-sponsored Kennebunkport high-dollar event
(PORTLAND, MAINE) - The economic policies that John McCain -- along with Susan Collins and George Bush -- has supported have been "atrocious for Maine" and "are largely to blame for the very harsh economic realities facing Maine families today," Maine Democrats said today in response to McCain's fundraising trip to Kennebunkport.
A new report released yesterday by Americans United for Change shows that for the cost of about two hours of the Bush tax breaks for the wealthiest 5% of Americans -- the same tax cuts that John McCain wants to keep in place (and that Susan Collins has consistently supported) - we could double the number of Mainers receiving LIHEAP assistance for home heating oil AND double the number of needy Maine children who get health care coverage from the federal S-CHIP program. (See more on the new report below).
Rebecca Pollard, spokeswoman for the Maine Democratic Party, said Monday that Mainers simply can't afford those policies any longer.
"While the people of Maine are worried sick about how they're going to pay their heating bills this winter, John McCain is coming here asking for $5,000 to play golf ," said Rebecca Pollard, spokeswoman for the Maine Democratic Party.
"This kind of extravagance is but a reflection of the economic policies that McCain has proposed, policies that consistently favor the wealthiest Americans and corporations-not hard-working Maine people."
Susan Collins is a host of one of John McCain's fundraisers in Maine, and is the only member of the Maine delegation to support every single one of George Bush's economic policies, which are now being promoted by John McCain. Among those: tax breaks for the wealthiest 1 percent of income earners, $14 billion in tax subsidies for Big Oil and Gas companies, and the refusal to protect taxpayer dollars by leading oversight of Iraq war contractors.
"No one knows better than the people of Maine that the economic policies passed by George Bush, Susan Collins and John McCain have been bad for Maine. This new report provides evidence of how those of us here in Maine would be affected by his policies-and it's not a pretty picture," Pollard said.
Click here to view the report, and here to hear a radio actuality on McCain's visit and the new report.
