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Is Senator Toomey keeping campaign promises?

Nearly every newly minted U.S. senator promises some variation of “I’m going to hit the ground running.” It sounds good to their supporters flush with victory. More often than not, new senators spend a few months if not a full year getting their bearings, often being tapped to preside over the Senate in order to get a grasp of the often Byzantine rules of the chamber. Indeed, few freshmen senators get much national media exposure unless they are being mentioned for president, whether that is a foregone conclusion (Hillary Clinton) or somewhat inexplicable (Rand Paul).

Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey is probably not running for president in 2012, though Roll Call floated his name for Vice President in 2012 and he has emerged as a Tea Party favorite. But is he is not exactly a Congressional rookie either – he served three terms in the U.S. House between 1999 and 2005 and then presided over the pro-business, small government Club for Growth. (Unsurprisingly, Club for Growth was Toomey’s top campaign contributor, donating $823,000, almost eight times as much as his second largest donor, hedge fund firm Elliot Management.)

With that in mind, how does his early work in the Senate stack up against his campaign promises 13 weeks into the 112^th Congress? On his campaign website, Toomey listed a dozen issue areas:

Jobs and the economy (cut taxes and deregulate)

Bailouts (oppose)

Spending (cut)

Taxes (cut for both individuals and business)

Health care (no government involvement/read more)

Immigration (no amnesty, secure borders)

Israel (support, two-state solution, oppose Iran)

Families and Marriage (pro-life/no tax money for abortion, against gay marriage)

Second Amendment (pro-gun ownership)

Energy/Resources (For more domestic drilling and nuclear, against Cap and Trade)

National Security (Strong military, strategic missile defense)

Veterans (support for numerous programs, support for Military Voter Protection Act to make military voting easier)

Toomey’s Senate record so far

The best measure of a Senator’s record is his or her record on votes. The Senate has not taken many votes in the 112^th Congress, but there have been a handful of key votes so far. Toomey has voted to renew expiring portions of the Patriot Act, for two continuing resolutions to temporarily fund the federal government with some budget cuts, for HR 1 providing for a full year continuing resolution, against reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, against the Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act and for an amendment to exclude Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees from federal collective bargaining rights.

Another measure of a Senator’s priorities and accomplishments is to look at his or her sponsored legislation. So far, Toomey has introduced one bill and offered two amendments to bills according to the Library of Congress’ Thomas service. All three seem to deal with the federal debt of $14.3 trillion and a looming vote on increasing the debt ceiling.

Toomey and Louisiana Senator David Vitter are pushing a plan that would force the government to place priority on interest payments on the debt over all other spending should Congress not raise the debt ceiling. Toomey’s S.163, the Full Faith and Credit Act would do just that. In an ominous sign for Toomey’s preferred policy, an amendment to the America Invests Act that would do essentially the same thing was defeated by a vote of 52-47. Thomas does not have a summary for Toomey’s other amendment, but it appears to be another iteration of the Full Faith and Credit Act.

He also wrote an op-ed earlier this month outlining his positions on the debt in which he also called for a Constitutional amendment mandating a balanced federal budget. A “sense of the Senate” resolution came up for a vote the day after that op-ed, and garnered 58 votes in favor, though such a resolution requires 60 votes (three-fifths) for passage.

Toomey is also a cosponsor on 27 other bills and amendments. Some of the more notable bills include:

Prohibiting EPA from taking any action related to global warming

Repealing the Affordable Care Act (or the Job-Killing Health Care Law if you prefer)

Repealing a 2007 law mandating a transition to energy efficient light bulbs

Overturning FCC rules on net neutrality

Save our States Act which would delay implantation of the Affordable Care Act until a final judicial review

Repealing the excise tax on medical device manufacturers

Forcing a Congressional review of major rules propagated by Executive Branch agencies

Establishing a National Right to Work law

A resolution calling from free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama

The bi-partisan Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act which eliminates a portion of the health care law requiring small businesses to report certain business to business transactions

Mandating secret ballots on union votes

Committee Assignments

Committees are often derided as a place for good legislation to die. In reality a lot of bad legislation dies in committee too. The central role of committees is take bills that have been submitted, decide what bills to consider, amend them with committee members’ ideas and advance them for a vote in the whole chamber. This agenda-setting function shapes the bills that the full Senate will consider. Similarly, subcommittees shape particularly specialized legislation for the full committees and the full Senate. Granted, the Senate amendment process is much more open on the Floor than the House, thus somewhat undermining the role of Senate committees, committee assignments are still important.

Toomey was assigned to the following committees:

Banking (subcommittees on Housing, Transportation and Community Development; Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection; and Securities, Insurance and Investment)

Budget (this committee has no subcommittees)

Commerce, Science and Technology (subcommittees on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security; Communications, Technology and the Internet; Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance; and Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security);

Joint Economic Committee (this committee includes members from both houses and has no subcommittees)

Rhetoric vs. record

With only 13 weeks gone in the current Congress, it is certainly too early to pass judgment on Toomey’s record. Still, it is obvious that he is working on most of the issues he listed on his campaign website. He has pushed for the repeal of the 2010 health care law and cutting both taxes and spending. He sits on the committee that oversees the bank bailout. He co-sponsored the bill forbidding EPA from considering global warming in its actions which would render cap and trade a moot point. He voted for HR 1, including the cuts to Planned Parenthood.

In total, Toomey has already taken definite action on six (bailouts, taxes, spending, health care, families and marriage, energy/resources) of the 12 issues he listed on his campaign site (seven if you agree with the “job-killing health care bill” narrative). On the other issues, the Senate has not taken major actions and Toomey does not sit on committees that would handle those issues.

The record also shows Toomey focusing on other issues, though they did come up in the campaign. Toomey has lined up with the opponents of net neutrality and he sits on the subcommittee that deals with those issues. Toomey and other opponents argue that regulations are not necessary to prevent internet service providers from slowing/blocking certain sites or charging more for those services. They note that competition among ISPs would remove incentives to engage in such practices. Opponents also argue that additional government regulations would discourage ISPs from expanding broadband to underserved rural areas. Proponents worry that removing net neutrality – the idea that all internet content should be treated equally – could result in many users not having access to certain content or high bandwidth usage services such as Netflix and YouTube.

Toomey has also sponsored anti-union legislation including the national right-to-work bill, the TSA collective bargaining measure and the secret ballot bill. Even though Toomey did not discuss his position on unions on his campaign website, his stance should come as no surprise after he took a shot at teachers’ unions during a debate against Joe Sestak. The national right to work act, like similar state laws, would give workers the right not to join a union as a condition of employment. The secret ballot proposal is a traditional counter to a card check law. The TSA collective bargaining bill failed Feb. 16. The legislation creating TSA after the September 11 attacks prohibited collective bargaining, but allowed individual union membership. A Federal Labor Relations Authority opened the door for a vote that would open the door to limited collective bargaining among TSA officers.

Similarly, Toomey did not explicitly discuss free trade agreements on his campaign site, but the Club for Growth does call for expanded overseas trades and fewer trade barriers.

Whether you agree with him or not, Pat Toomey has lived up to his campaign rhetoric.

March 29, 2011 at 5:18 pm

--Chris McGann

Tags: Club for Growth, Hillary Clinton, pa2012.com, Pat Toomey, Patriot Act, U.S. Senate

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