George Allen for United States Senate
Susan and I enjoyed walking in the George Washington Birthday Parade on a beautiful day in Old Town Alexandria with Patrick Murray, Councilman Frank Fannon and Councilwoman Alicia Hughes! Thank you to all our extraordinary volunteers who helped carry signs, hand out bumper stickers and walk along the parade route – it was a great way to spend Presidents’ Day!
Click here to see more photos from the Parade!
Allen: Tax cut to be offset by gas hikes
Senate hopeful in Martinsville on Saturday
Sunday, February 19, 2012
By DEBBIE HALL – Bulletin Staff Writer
Savings from a payroll tax cut approved by Congress on Friday will be wiped out by soaring fuel prices, according to former Gov. George Allen.
The $143 billion payroll tax cut, in effect, “shows how out of touch” its supporters are “with struggling families paying high gasoline prices,” said Allen, who is seeking to regain his former seat in the U.S. Senate in November.
Allen, who made a private campaign stop in Martinsville on Saturday, is among several contenders in the Republican Party’s June primary, including Del. Bob Marshall, tea party activist Jamie Radtke and Bishop E.W. Jackson, and Virginia Beach attorney David McCormick. The winner will run in the Senate election on Nov. 6.
Under the tax cut measure, workers would continue to receive a 2 percentage point increase in their paychecks, and people out of work for more than six months would keep jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week, The Associated Press reported. It would also head off a steep cut in reimbursements for physicians who treat Medicare patients, the AP added.
The tax cuts, jobless coverage and higher doctors’ payments would all continue through 2012, according to the AP.
“I’m one who is always looking at ways to reduce the tax burden on working families, but this is a typical patchwork approach,” Allen said of the measure.
Allen said he supports the production of oil and natural gas off the coast and earmarking royalties for road and transportation projects.
He also supports the Keystone XL pipeline project. President Barack Obama refused to approve the project recently after he said Republicans tied it to a provision for a short-term extension to the payroll tax cut that required him to either issue a permit to allow the 1,700-mile pipeline to be built or explain why it was not in the national interest by Feb. 21, according to USA Today.
The $7 billion project proposed by TransCanada would create a pipeline “linking a secure and growing supply of Canadian and American crude oil with the largest refining markets in the United States, significantly improving North American security supply,” according to www.transcanada.com.
Allen said he would rather America buy oil from “a good neighbor and ally” such as Canada than countries that conduct terrorism or have ties to terrorists.
The pipeline project also would help put people back to work, he said.
Read more: http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=32143
George Allen met with dozens of friendly folks at the famous W&W Produce in Stuart, VA on his way to Martinsville. He first met the owner Worley when he was running for Governor and always enjoys stopping in whenever he is in Patrick County. The people at W&W were concerned about the impact rising gasoline prices were having on their monthly budget and grocery bills.
Click here to see more pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150580364006705.379834.299306621704&type=3#!/media/set/?set=a.10150580364006705.379834.299306621704&type=3
As Governor, I promoted Virginia farmers and businesses throughout the world from Egypt and Europe to Mexico and Asia. We need to expand opportunities. Our government should not discriminate against Virginia farmers and businesses.
Obama targets tobacco – and Virginia jobs
By Barry DuVal
Richmond Times Dispatch
In today’s global economy, American producers face increasingly intense competition for access to major markets from other producers around the world. At a time of such economic turmoil, it is imperative that the Obama administration pursue every avenue to enhance America’s competitiveness and open opportunities for American products in the world’s leading markets. The administration’s consideration of a proposal to exclude tobacco exports from an important free-trade deal with Asian-Pacific countries is a step in the wrong direction and cause for serious concern.
On March 1, the Obama administration’s trade representatives will travel to Melbourne, Australia, to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a multi-lateral free-trade agreement between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.
This trade agreement represents an enormous opportunity for the American economy to reach some of the fastest-growing markets in the world. The nine countries currently negotiating the agreement constitute 40 percent of global trade, and the United States’ negotiating partners account for 60 percent of all U.S. exports and 75 percent of our agricultural exports.
The Obama administration should be commended for taking the initiative to foster a more productive trading relationship with the critically important Asian-Pacific region. However, American companies and producers should be alarmed by certain provisions under consideration by the administration that would exclude all tobacco leaf and tobacco products from the agreement or from important protections being offered to other products.
These exclusions would have disastrous consequences for the thousands of farmers in Virginia’s tobacco-growing regions, not to mention the local economies that are built on the foundation of tobacco production. Depriving Virginia’s tobacco farmers of access to the most important markets in the global economy will destroy farming jobs all across Southside and Southwest Virginia and threaten the livelihood of these communities.
Read more: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/member-center/share-this/print/?content=ar1697757
It was a privilege and an honor for me to speak to the veterans in the Roanoke area – not as a member of their ranks – but as a Virginian and an American who feels tremendous respect for the sacrifices that our veterans and their families have endured to protect our country and our freedoms.
We must have the will, the skill, & the firepower to keep America strong for Freedom – and America should always keep our promises to our veterans for the benefits and health care they have earned. It’s not an entitlement, it’s a promise. I have pledged to always fight on behalf of veterans and their families to honor their enduring, consistent service to America, commitment to their community and to the defense of our Country. Click here to read my Compact with Veterans: Honoring the Men and Women Who Stand Strong for Freedom.
Click here to see more pictures from the event: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150580303811705.379819.299306621704&type=3#!/media/set/?set=a.10150580303811705.379819.299306621704&type=3
Check out the coverage of our visit to downtown Charlottesville today. I was also able to to drive by George’s old law office building and see Historic Charlottesville where I used to give tours when George was in the General Assembly. Twenty-five years later, he is the same man with a genuine desire to help all Virginians and the Country.
Click here to watch the interview: http://youtu.be/jI-2dafbKCg
George Allen visits Coca-Cola bottling plant, City Market building on pass through Roanoke
by Mason Adams
U.S. Senate candidate George Allen is pushing ahead with a campaign that seems to be aimed solely at Democrat Tim Kaine. During a stop at the City Market Building in Roanoke today, Allen took a couple of shots at Kaine but didn’t mention any of his fellow Republicans running for the GOP nomination.
The Allen campaign also released a web video trying to tie Kaine to President Barack Obama — a tactic it’s used for months and will likely continue up through election day. (For his part, Kaine is hitting Allen on his term in the Senate and also trying to tie him to the social legislation currently in the General Assembly.)
Allen’s spending more time in western Virginia this week, speaking to veterans at a breakfast tomorrow morning in Vinton before swinging down through Pulaski, Wytheville, Bristol, Abingdon, Hillsville, Patrick County, Martinsville and Danville.
Allen continued to call for “unleashing America’s energy resources” by cutting back on regulations. He called for extension of the Keystone XL pipleline from Canada to the midwest.
Thank you to the Montgomery County GOP for inviting me to speak at their monthly luncheon! I always enjoy hearing from our strong A-Team members in Blacksburg, and especially the active and engaged Virginia Tech College Republicans, who will be instrumental in helping spread our positive message of pro-jobs-growth solutions for America’s Comeback. Read more about my visit to Blacksburg in this article from the Roanoke Times below, and click here to see more photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150579848251705.379732.299306621704&type=3
Roanoke Times: Senate Hopeful Allen Touts his ‘Comeback’ Plan
http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/305006
By Mike Gangloff - February 17, 2012
BLACKSBURG — Former Virginia Gov. George Allen pitched a “blueprint” of increasing domestic energy production, strengthening the military and requiring the federal government to balance its budget as he campaigned Thursday for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
“Other than national defense, I’d like to see the federal government stay out of our lives and out of our business,” Allen said, bringing cheers from a lunchtime audience of about 100 people at a Montgomery County GOP gathering.
Allen is seeking the seat that he lost in 2006 to Democrat Jim Webb, who is retiring from the Senate.
This year’s contest — one that will be closely watched nationally — is a battle between governors; former Gov. Tim Kaine is the presumed Democratic nominee. Kaine warranted few mentions during Allen’s lunchtime talk.
U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was named about as often as Kaine. Neither was invoked anywhere near as many times as President Barack Obama, who Allen said headed an administration that was “distant, remote” from the concerns of most Americans, yet intrusive “into a mess of things that are none of their business.”
Speaking about his “Blueprint for America’s Comeback,” Allen drew his biggest audience response with mentions of “Obamacare.” Audience members booed as Allen cited health care reform as a prime example of government meddling in the private sector. Cheers erupted as Allen said, “I want to be the deciding vote to repeal ‘Obama-care.’”
Click here to read more: http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/305006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 16, 2012
New Web Video: “I’m Doing What The President Wants Me To Do”
Henrico, VA – On the eve of the third anniversary of the passage of the failed $800 billion stimulus, the George Allen for U.S. Senate Campaign today released its newest web video entitled, “I’m Doing What The President Wants Me To Do,” highlighting Tim Kaine’s loyal, unabashed support for President Obama and his agenda, which has led to an unprecedented spending binge in Washington over the last three years.
Chairman Kaine campaigned across the nation claiming the $800 billion failed stimulus would “help jumpstart the economy” as well as “create or save over 3 million jobs.” Instead, Americans have endured 36 straight months of unemployment over 8%, Washington is now borrowing $48,000 a second, and we have seen the first ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.
“’I'm doing what the President wants me to do,’ those are Tim Kaine’s words, not mine. On every major issue over the past several years, Chairman Kaine has been in lockstep with President Obama and out of step with Virginia families and small business owners,” said Dan Allen, Allen campaign senior advisor. “And now he’s running to be President Obama’s Senator, not Virginia’s.”
“Wants Me To Do”
Transcript:
TIM KAINE: Hello everyone, I’m Tim Kaine.
PRES. OBAMA: Former Governor of Virginia and one of my greatest friends.
TIM KAINE: I’m an unabashed supporter of the President.
SUPER: President Obama’s Senator. Tim Kaine. Unabashed support for the $800 billion failed stimulus.
TIM KAINE: … a stimulus plan that will help jumpstart the economy …
SUPER: JUMPSTART
PRES. OBAMA: … a major milestone on our road to recovery.
SUPER: MAJOR MILESTONE
SUPER: 36 straight months. Unemployment over 8%.
TIM KAINE: We’ll create or save more than 3 million jobs.
PRES. OBAMA: It will save or create more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.
SUPER: Factcheck.org [MASTHEAD]: “Stimulus Has FAILED To Live Up To Initial Expectations”
TIM KAINE: I’m doing what the President wants me to do.
SUPER: “I’m doing what the President wants me to do”
SUPER: We know, Tim. But what about us?
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