George Allen for United States Senate
It was great to see such a tremendous response to our “Ask George Allen” page, thank you for your questions! I’m sorry I can’t get to every one of them, but please keep them coming by submitting them here: I’ll try to answer as many as I can in the coming weeks! Click on the link below to see my answers to this week’s questions.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 27, 2011
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
It’s Time for Real “Energy Action”
From The Daily Caller
By George Allen
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Two months ago, President Obama announced his latest stimulus proposal, which is a continuation of the same failed policies we’ve seen over the last three years — higher taxes to fund more costly government spending programs.
Absent from the president’s rhetoric was any mention of unleashing America’s energy resources, a proven way to create more than a million new, good-paying jobs here in the USA.
Virginia and the nation deserve better. With 9.1 percent unemployment and more than 14 million Americans looking for work, it is time for this administration to start viewing America’s energy resources as a blessing, not a curse.
One of the major components of my comprehensive, pro-growth plan for jobs — “The Blueprint for America’s Comeback” — is the aggressive pursuit of energy freedom by opening up access to America’s plentiful energy resources and taking control of our own energy destiny.
Fortunately, an opportunity exists for the president to take real action right now to strengthen America’s energy security and create jobs.
Earlier this month, I joined Governor Bob McDonnell and leaders from across Virginia in urging the Obama administration to approve the construction of an advanced pipeline linking Canada and the United States.
The Keystone XL Project will bring more than 700,000 additional barrels of domestic and Canadian oil each day to refineries in Texas. Construction alone will mean jobs for as many as 20,000 Americans, and related economic activity is projected to bring around 100,000 additional hires. Property tax revenues in states through which the pipeline passes could exceed $5 billion, meaning more resources for schools, roads and public safety. And the energy flowing through the pipeline will be from our closest neighbor and ally, not from an unstable and unfriendly foreign regime.
With so much to gain, why is the White House delaying? The Obama administration has yet to approve the permit needed for construction to begin. Bureaucrats and politicians in Washington, D.C. are standing in the way of a project that would create thousands of new jobs, increase our long-term supply of affordable energy and generate revenues without raising taxes.
When it comes to energy, this is just the latest contradiction between the president’s words and his actions. Since 2008, President Obama has touted the job-creating promise of his energy agenda. Instead, we see misused taxpayer funds for unreliable, expensive energy schemes; higher fuel prices; blocked energy development of American coal, oil and natural gas resources; and continued high unemployment over 9 percent.
The good news is that America has the most plentiful energy resources of any country in the world. Our reserves and recoverable oil, natural gas and coal exceed the resources of such energy giants as Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.
Despite this bounty, our dependence on foreign oil is greater today than it was in the days of President Jimmy Carter’s gas lines. Federal bureaucrats continue to hold America’s energy resources “off limits,” and promising ventures like the Keystone pipeline are stopped at the Canadian border.
Read More: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/27/its-time-for-real-energy-action/
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It’s Time for Real “Energy Action”
The Daily Caller
By George Allen
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Two months ago, President Obama announced his latest stimulus proposal, which is a continuation of the same failed policies we’ve seen over the last three years — higher taxes to fund more costly government spending programs.
Absent from the president’s rhetoric was any mention of unleashing America’s energy resources, a proven way to create more than a million new, good-paying jobs here in the USA.
Virginia and the nation deserve better. With 9.1 percent unemployment and more than 14 million Americans looking for work, it is time for this administration to start viewing America’s energy resources as a blessing, not a curse.
One of the major components of my comprehensive, pro-growth plan for jobs — “The Blueprint for America’s Comeback” — is the aggressive pursuit of energy freedom by opening up access to America’s plentiful energy resources and taking control of our own energy destiny.
Fortunately, an opportunity exists for the president to take real action right now to strengthen America’s energy security and create jobs.
Earlier this month, I joined Governor Bob McDonnell and leaders from across Virginia in urging the Obama administration to approve the construction of an advanced pipeline linking Canada and the United States.
The Keystone XL Project will bring more than 700,000 additional barrels of domestic and Canadian oil each day to refineries in Texas. Construction alone will mean jobs for as many as 20,000 Americans, and related economic activity is projected to bring around 100,000 additional hires. Property tax revenues in states through which the pipeline passes could exceed $5 billion, meaning more resources for schools, roads and public safety. And the energy flowing through the pipeline will be from our closest neighbor and ally, not from an unstable and unfriendly foreign regime.
With so much to gain, why is the White House delaying? The Obama administration has yet to approve the permit needed for construction to begin. Bureaucrats and politicians in Washington, D.C. are standing in the way of a project that would create thousands of new jobs, increase our long-term supply of affordable energy and generate revenues without raising taxes.
When it comes to energy, this is just the latest contradiction between the president’s words and his actions. Since 2008, President Obama has touted the job-creating promise of his energy agenda. Instead, we see misused taxpayer funds for unreliable, expensive energy schemes; higher fuel prices; blocked energy development of American coal, oil and natural gas resources; and continued high unemployment over 9 percent.
The good news is that America has the most plentiful energy resources of any country in the world. Our reserves and recoverable oil, natural gas and coal exceed the resources of such energy giants as Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.
Despite this bounty, our dependence on foreign oil is greater today than it was in the days of President Jimmy Carter’s gas lines. Federal bureaucrats continue to hold America’s energy resources “off limits,” and promising ventures like the Keystone pipeline are stopped at the Canadian border.
While Washington Democrats like Tim Kaine and President Obama are telling Americans that the only way to get our spending under control is by raising taxes, here is just one outrageous example of Washington wasting our tax dollars on something we don’t need. This is the kind of failed Washington approach that has made annual record-setting trillion dollar deficits the norm, while unemployment remains stuck above 9%.
State Dept. spends $70K on Obama books
The State Department has bought more than $70,000 worth of books authored by President Obama, sending out copies as Christmas gratuities and stocking “key libraries” around the world with “Dreams From My Father” more than a decade after its release.
The U.S. Embassy in Egypt, for instance, spent $28,636 in August 2009 for copies of Mr. Obama’s best-selling 1995 memoir. Six weeks earlier, the embassy had placed another order for the same book for more than $9,000, federal purchasing records show.
About the same time, halfway around the world, the U.S. Embassy in South Korea had the same idea and spent more than $6,000 for copies of “Dreams From My Father.”
One month later, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, spent more than $3,800 for hardcover copies of the Indonesian version of Mr. Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope,” records show.
A review of the expenditures in a federal database did not reveal any examples of State Department purchases of books by former Presidents George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. The purchases of Mr. Obama’s literary work mostly, but not always, took place in the months after Mr. Obama captured the White House.
Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group, said if the federal government is looking to cut costs, eliminating purchases of Mr. Obama’s books is a good place to start.
“It’s inappropriate for U.S. taxpayer dollars to be spent on this,” she said. “This sounds like propaganda.”
But State Department spokesman Noel Clay said the book purchases followed regular government procurement rules. He said diplomats have long used books as a way to help broker talks on important foreign-policy matters.
“The structure and the presidency of the United States is an integral component of representing the United States overseas,” Mr. Clay said. “We often use books to engage key audiences in discussions of foreign policy.”
He also said books are purchased to stock the State Department’s “information resource centers,” which he said are located around the world and provide books about U.S. coverage of issues such as culture, history and values.
Yesterday’s Gallup poll confirmed what I have been hearing from Small Business owners throughout Virginia – Washington’s burdensome, counterproductive regulations are the biggest problem Small Business owners face in today’s economy. Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats shouldn’t have the authority to implement costly regulations that impact families and destroy jobs. Washington needs to listen to the voices of job creators in Virginia and implement pro-growth policies that help businesses create jobs, not smother businesses with unnecessary, counterproductive regulations and red tape.
Gov’t Regulations at Top of Small-Business Owners’ Problem List
Gallup.com
By Dennis Jacobe
October 24, 2011
PRINCETON, NJ — Small-business owners in the United States are most likely to say complying with government regulations (22%) is the most important problem facing them today, followed by consumer confidence in the economy (15%) and lack of consumer demand (12%).
Rounding out small-business owners’ top five problems in the Oct. 3-6 Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index poll is lack of credit at 10% and poor leadership by government and the president at 9%.
Looking ahead to 2012, approximately one in three small-business owners say they are very or moderately worried about going out of business. About the same number are worried about not being able to compete with large or global competitors, not being able to hire the number of employees they need, and not being able to pay their employees. Thirty percent worry they will have to reduce their number of employees.
On a personal basis, 67% of small-business owners are worried about not being able to put enough money away for retirement, and 49% are concerned about not being able to spend enough time with family or pursuing personal interests.
A-Team: Last week George Allen headlined a fundraiser for Republican House of Delegates candidate Brian Schoeneman in Centreville, where he talked about jobs, transportation and the importance of this year’s State and local elections. He also discussed how his Freedom to Work agenda would keep jobs and tax dollars in Virginia by increasing competition for construction contracts and repealing the Depression-era Davis Bacon wage laws that are driving up costs.
Brian Schoneneman Reception Attracts Dozens of Supporters
Centreville Patch
By Irene Oladei
Centreville played host to a number of local and state politicians this week, including former governor and senator George Allen.
Allen, who is running for senate in the 2012 election against former Virginia governor Tim Kaine, headlined the fundraiser for 37th District Republican candidate Brian Schoeneman on Tuesday at the Centreville home of Wayne and Vickie Hull.
Allen emphasized the economy and transportation in Northern Virginia during his remarks.
“The number one issue is jobs,” Allen said. “Federal and state decisions affect this.” He said that the federal government uses the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) wages, a Depression-era law, to determine how transportation contracts are granted for interstate projects throughout the state.
“Federally involved and federal-funded projects restrict competition in favor of unions,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of Virginia contractors are non-union.” He argued that a majority of federal transportation contracts go to contractors in neighboring states, costing Virginians not only jobs, but money.
A-Team: Thank you for all the great questions this week for “Ask George Allen.” If you would like to ask a question for the next “Ask George Allen” email, remember to submit it here. This week Michael asked whether George Allen would support zero-based budgeting in the U.S. Senate. To hear George Allen’s answer click on the video below.
Listen to Virginians, Mr. President
The Washington Times
By George Allen
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
President Obama just witnessed the defeat of his flawed stimulus bill that called for tax hikes to pay for more of the same failed policies that we have seen come out Washington. Even some Senate Democrats expressed the same concerns I have heard from Virginians – the bill is “terrible,” “invested far too little in actual job creation” and they can’t “support raising taxes so Washington can spend more.”
Such a setback should make apparent to the president what Virginia families know: Higher taxes and more government spending do not create jobs. Instead of working to reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit of America with the right economic, energy and education policies, the president has chosen to go on a taxpayer-funded bus tour to try to convince Virginians a second stimulus and higher taxes are a solution to our country’s problems.
As Mr. Obama makes a few stops in the Commonwealth on his bus tour, I hope he takes time away from his campaign events to listen to Virginians. The people of Virginia are anxious and worried about their families losing their jobs, looming tax increases, high fuel and electricity costs hurting their budgets and the rising health care costs and job impediments due to Obamacare. Here’s some advice:
1. Really listen: The president is visiting Virginia at a crucial time in the course of our history. America has had 32 consecutive months of unemployment above 8 percent, 1.5 million people have lost their jobs since the failed $825 billion stimulus and our confidence in the future is down. Incomes have dropped to levels not seen in 15 years. For the first time in the nation’s history, our credit rating is down – a further strain on the economy as well as our belief in the American Dream.
Families in Virginia know we are not better off due to the policies of Mr. Obama and former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine during the past nearly three years. As a result, more and more people are becoming pessimistic about the future, concerned that the opportunities to succeed that they had in life won’t be around for their children and grandchildren. The president should take a break from his campaign events to really hear this message.
2. Do what works: Rather than recycle failed policies, Mr. Obama and Mr. Kaine, who was also chairman of the Democratic National Committee, need to focus on how to turn our economy around. It is time for America’s comeback. It starts with a pro-growth agenda based on our foundational principles of freedom, opportunity for all and personal responsibility rather than mandates, dictates, redistribution and dependency on government.
Click here to read more
A-Team: Please take a moment to check out this new video reminding Virginians that Chairman Kaine will be just another reliable vote for President Obama and the same failed policies he defended for last two and half years as head of the Democratic National Committee.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 7, 2011
George Allen for U.S. Senate Campaign Announces Third Quarter Fundraising Numbers
Richmond, VA – Today, George Allen for U.S. Senate announced another strong fundraising quarter – raising over $900,000 in the last three months. To date, the Allen Campaign has raised $3.5 million and has $1.8 million cash-on-hand to start October.
“Susan and I are heartened by the incredible generosity and support that we continue to receive as we campaign to bring Virginians voices and values to the U.S. Senate. Our strong grassroots team is working hard and it’s invigorating to see the momentum build as we grow stronger by the day. Even as Susan and I continue to travel the Commonwealth campaigning and raising money for General Assembly and local candidates on the ballot this year, it is clear there is an urgency for action. We must reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit of America by putting economic, energy and education policies in place that will give America a competitive advantage for investment, American jobs and revenue. Susan and I look forward to continuing the conversations we’ve been having with Virginians on the campaign trail and sharing new ideas and positive solutions for Virginia families and businesses.”
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