McGinty swings far left
We don’t need a Bernie Sanders-like senator representing Pennsylvania
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ran for president on a platform of pushing the Democratic Party far to the left. Now, Mr. Sanders is continuing his ideological fight by campaigning with like-minded Democratic candidates who will join his extreme wing of the Democratic Party in the Senate. That’s why Mr. Sanders is coming to Carnegie Mellon University today to campaign with Pennsylvania Senate candidate Katie McGinty.
The self-identified socialist has chosen to anoint Ms. McGinty first of the nation’s Senate candidates with an in-person visit, because a liberal like Ms. McGinty is exactly the kind of senator Mr. Sanders wants at his side in Washington.
On security issues, there is little distinction between Ms. McGinty and Mr. Sanders. Both support closing down the prison for terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, both support the dangerous sanctuary-city policy that has resulted in the sexual assault of young children in Philadelphia, and both are ardent supporters of President Barack Obama’s reckless nuclear deal with Iran.
Perhaps most alarming, both Ms. McGinty and Mr. Sanders have clung to the Iran deal despite a wave of news reports detailing the administration’s ransom payments to the world’s largest state sponsor of terror. Even as Republican and Democratic senators alike have opposed the deal, Katie McGinty and Bernie Sanders adopted nearly identical responses. Mr. Sanders praised the deal as “the best way forward,” while Ms. McGinty hailed it as “the best path.”
Similarly, Mr. Sanders and Ms. McGinty might as well be twins on fiscal issues like taxes and spending. Both support trillion-dollar spending programs that would be paid for on the backs of hardworking middle-income families. The liberal duo favor a single-payer health care system, even though left-leaning studies concede it will cost an astronomical $32 trillion over 10 years. Both support the medical-device tax in Obamacare — which hits Pennsylvania especially hard, since the industry supports approximately 20,000 jobs at over 600 companies in the commonwealth. And this extreme team even supports the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, which would hit families of all income levels with a $30 billion per year payroll tax increase.
Finally, Mr. Sanders and Ms. McGinty have both built careers as supporters of massive regulatory expansion that would destroy jobs across America. For example, both are fond of a radical cap-and-trade energy plan that essentially would tax nearly every aspect of our daily lives. According to an estimate by members of the nonpartisan Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, this tax could destroy 66,000 jobs across Pennsylvania. The National Association of Manufacturers pegged that number at a whopping 2.4 million jobs nationwide. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania household energy costs would rise $1,200 per family.
Numerous Pennsylvania Democrats joined Republicans in Congress in opposing this terrible job-killing policy. But Ms. McGinty is following Mr. Sanders’ liberal lead and calls herself the “biggest cheerleader” for the cap-and-trade energy tax.
It is clear that Ms. McGinty is not running for the U.S. Senate to be an independent voice for Pennsylvania, but to be a prized foot soldier in Mr. Sanders’ left-wing crusade. But even Pennsylvania Democrats rejected Mr. Sanders’ far-left agenda in the primary this spring.
Pennsylvania is a big, diverse state filled with hardworking families across the political spectrum. They support a strong foreign policy that prioritizes American security. They support responsible government spending that protects their hardearned tax dollars over wasteful spending that props up special interests. They are looking for policies that create good-paying jobs.
This November, Pennsylvania voters face a stark choice between Katie McGinty and Sen. Pat Toomey. Unlike Ms. McGinty, Mr. Toomey is a pragmatic leader who has fought to lower tax rates for all Pennsylvanians and the small businesses that make up the backbone of our economy.
Mr. Toomey is one of the strongest opponents of the Iran deal and has fought tirelessly to keep Pennsylvania safe, working to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists and to dismantle sanctuary cities.
As Ms. McGinty fashions herself in the mold of self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, this choice will become even more stark.
Katie McGinty will soon find out what a majority of Pennsylvanians already know: Mr. Sanders’ extreme, job-killing agenda — now shared by Ms. McGinty — may be a good fit for Vermont, but it is not a good fit for Pennsylvania.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, RButler, represents the 3rd Congressional District.