Looking into the New Year lets ask for better representation from Rep. Tom Graves. This is a lengthy post, but I think you will find the facts and summary of Toms voting record eye opening and awakening. I also encourage you to share this with everyone you know in the 14th District. Rep. Tom Graves the U.S. Representative of the 14th District of which we live in was elected into office in 2012. Prior to redistricting Tom represented the 9th District beginning in 2010. Tom has continually made claims to be a constitutional and fiscal conservative as well as a Tea Party conservative. His voting record has started to prove otherwise and continues to slide further away from his supposed conservative principals the longer he remains in office. On Tom Graves website he says he uses a 5 Way Test before voting on a bill. 1. Does it adhere to the Constitution? 2. Does it lesson the tax burden? 3. Does it reduce the size of government? 4. Does it promote personal responsibility? 5. Does it promote liberty and justice for all? Tom Graves has been failing his own guidelines and test when it comes to casting votes for the people of the 14th District. Toms voting record on the supporting the U.S. Constitution: 1.Tom voted for CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) twice, but fortunately it failed in the Senate. CISPA would allow for voluntary information sharing between private companies and the government in the event of a cyber attack. What is so bad about that? It would allow companies to easily hand over users private information to the government thanks to a liability clause which essentially means CISPA would override the relevant provisions in all other laws including privacy laws. CISPA is written broadly enough to permit your communications service providers to share your emails and text messages with the government, or your cloud storage company could share your stored files. This bill if passed would have violated both the 1st and 4th Amendment. Comcast and AT&T were the two highest paying lobbyist for CISPA which Comcast donated $4000.00 while AT&T donated $9000.00 to Toms campaign chest while Tom attempted to throw the U.S. Constitution and the privacy of his constituents under the bus. 2. Tom voted to extend FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) which enables the NSA (National Security Agency) to us its PRISM program which is a mass electronic surveillance data mining program that collects your stored Internet communications. A violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 3. Tom voted for the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) for 2014 and 2015. The NDAA gives President Barack Obama power to apprehend and detain Americans indefinitely on no more authority than his own suspicion of their complicity with enemies in the “War on Terror.” Thats a dangerous thing. Americans now have to worry about being held without charge if the president decides to act and deploy the armed forces to round up suspects or those he considers a threat which could be anyone including those that that use free speech disapproving of the government and its leaders, and detain them indefinitely without trial. Once again Tom votes against your constitutional rights. Namely the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments. NDAA 2015 also includes significant federal land grabs, gives billions to the Middle East, and gives our military personnel a slap in the face with only a 1% pay increase while also cutting their housing allowance. Toms voting record on government spending: 1. Tom voted to raise the debt ceiling. 2. Tom voted for HR 933 the continuing resolution that continued to fund Obamacare and other wasteful spending. 3. Tom voted for HR 807 Full Faith and Credit Act which effectively raised the debt ceiling and continued wasteful spending. 4. Tom voted for the Ryan – Murray Budget Deal. This bill continued to spend money we do not have and taxes a additional $13 billion out of taxpayers pockets over the next 10 years. It also cuts future veteran retirement benefits and raised airline ticket prices through increase TSA fees that will go into the U.S. Treasury, not the TSA. I call it a tax. 5. Tom voted for the Omnibus Spending Bill 2014. It continued run away government spending. It spent $45 billion more than budget caps established in 2011. 6. Tom voted to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank also known as the Boeing Bank which is a corporate welfare program and crony capitalism that provides loan guarantees to foreign companies paid by the taxpayers. 7. Tom voted recently for the CRomnibus a $1.1 trillion budget that continues to fund Obamacare and President Obama’s unconstitutional executive order for amnesty for over 5 million illegal immigrants. This spending bill also gives Tom a $1000 monthly subsidy for his car. Tom claims this bill cuts federal spending by $456 million. That equals to only 1 day of federal spending. Tom Graves when running for re-election this year bragged that he has cut spending the last 4 years in a row saving taxpayers $165 billion. Sounds great doesnt it? Lets look a little closer at those numbers. That averages $41.25 billion a year. The federal government spends roughly $10-$11 billion a day so Tom has saved us roughly 5 days of government spending a year. I would not consider that a significant amount or a super large spending cut from the federal budget. Tom has voted to hurt working Americans: 1. Tom voted for KORUS. A free trade agreement with South Korea. After 2 years it has cost 60,000 US jobs and has increased our trade deficit. Votes that show Tom has moved from his conservative roots to becoming a moderate and follower of them within the Republican party: 1. Tom has voted for John Boehner twice as the Speaker of the House. 2. Tom voted for moderate Rep. Kevin McCarthy as the new House Majority Leader over the conservative Rep. Raul Labrador. Not only did Tom vote for Kevin, but he also gave the endorsement speech encouraging his fellow party members to vote for a moderate over a conservative. Rep. Tom Graves has been rewarded by the moderate Republican establishment leadership well by being appointed to the chair of the Appropriations subcommittee in the next Congress while ignoring the wishes of the conservative voters of the 14th District. Now lets look at Toms conservative score cards from some highly recognize conservative groups on how Toms voting record has moved from conservative toward moderate. 1. Freedom Works-2011 112th Congress 100%, 2012 112th Congress 95%, 2013 113th Congress 82%, 2014 113th Congress 86%. 2. Heritage Action-2011 97%, 2014 80% 3. Club for Growth-2011 100%, 2012 93 %, 2013 88%, 2014 has not been given out yet, but based on key votes on government spending Toms rating will be low. 4. Freedom Index-111th Congress 88%, 112th Congress 82%, 113th Congress 73% I hope you are seeing the trend the longer Tom Graves has been office. I am a long time conservative Republican and I am very concerned at the direction our party is moving in including our own Tom Graves. I have meet Tom a few times and he is a very nice guy. Very nice doesnt cut it with me nor should it with you if he votes with the moderate establishment and against your conservative wishes and values. I do not know of anyone that called or wrote Tom to ask him to vote for continued run away government spending, to vote for trillion dollar budgets, to vote for continue funding of Obamacare, to vote to fund President Obamas amnesty for illegal immigrants, to vote to have our privacy and God given constitutional rights taken away, to vote to give our jobs away, to vote for increase government fees, to vote to cut veterans benefits, or to vote for moderate House leadership. Im not asking you to believe me. I am asking you to do your own research and homework to prove me wrong. You will find all of Toms of votes and records listed are factual. Tom told me once in person when I was questioning some of his votes , If the voters are ever not happy with how I represent them they can always change that at the polls. I remembered it in 2014 and will remember it again in 2016 if Tom does not return to his conservative roots and representing the conservatives of the 14th District that put him in Washington DC; not the wishes of the moderate establishment Republican leadership that only desires further run away federal spending, big government, crony capitalism, and undermining the U.S. Constitution. We need a fighter for freedom, liberty, and smaller government for the 14th District in Washington DC. Can Tom Graves be that man? His record does not reflect that he is. We must demand that Tom be that man or we will replace him in 2016.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 12:13:56 +0000