Olympia Snowe page @ RemoveRINOs - conservative republicans and independents replacing RINOs with Constitutional conservatives

"Backing Obama's Stimulus is hardly the first time the two have broken from their party; it has occurred quite regularly over the years on budget, health, tax and environmental policy. But now it comes as Republicans are much more vulnerable, holding just 41 seats, and knowing that the loss of Ms. Collins and Ms. Snowe deprives them of what little power they retain to block Democratic legislation." - Carl Huse, The New York Times

"Senator Specter cites John F. Kennedy, who said: 'In politics, nobody gets everything, nobody gets nothing,
and everybody gets something.' In this case, the Democrats get almost everything, and the American
taxpayers get to look forward to generations of debt. We have three 'moderate' Republicans to thank for that
crowning achievement. Let’s remember who they are." - Pat Toomey commenting in National Review on Specter, Collins, and Snowe's defection, which enabled passage of the Obama stimulus

Voted FOR 2008 TARP (ACU-16).

Voted AGAINST a 2009 proposal to return $350 billion of unspent TARP (ACU-18).

Voted FOR Obama's 09 stimulus. Thanks to Collins, Snowe, and Specter, the stimulus can be called "bipartisan."

Voted AGAINST a Republican plan for comprehensive tax cuts (ACU-18).   This G.O.P. alternative to Obama’s
stimulus would have cut taxes on capital gains done away with the “marriage penalty”, made the Bush tax cuts
permanent, given a $1,000 tax credit for each child, eliminated the “death tax” for inheritances under $5 million,
lowered corporate rates from 35 to 25 percent, done away with the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Instead, Snowe chose to back Obama’s “stimulus” (i.e., to print $800 billion for random pork projects)

Voted AGAINST a 2003 Republican measure to cut 350 billion dollars in taxes over 11 years (ACU-11).

Voted AGAINST a 2005 measure to repeal the Clinton tax hike on Social Security benefits. The measure also sought to extend tax cuts by five years. - Fortunately, the Republican party was able to pass the measure without Snowe's help (ACU-13).

Voted FOR a 2004 Democrat amendment that would make tax cuts harder to enact (ACU-12).

Voted AGAINST a 2006 Republican amendment that would make spending increases harder to enact (ACU-14).

Voted FOR a 2005 amendment to remove language in budget that would have safeguarded tax cuts (ACU-13)

Voted AGAINST a 2007 amendment that would have extended Bush's '01 tax cuts (ACU-15).

Voted AGAINST ending the death tax in 2007 (ACU-15).

Voted AGAINST a 2007 measure to end the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Like so many federal measures, the AMT began somewhat modestly - aimed at taxing only the wealthiest Americans--but it grew with inflation until it had swallowed 20 million middle-income earners.

Providing, perhaps, one of the best glimpses into this senator's soul, Snowe's support for the AMT leaves little doubt that she favors a statist government that, once unleashed, cannot be scaled back (ACU-15).

Voted AGAINST a 2008 measure to repeal Clinton's tax hike on Social Security benefits (ACU-16).

Voted AGAINST repealing dividend taxes. An affront to economic growth and economic liberty, this practice constitutes double taxation against private investors. One of only three GOP senators to vote against the repeal, Snowe teamed up with John McCain and Lincoln Chafee to nearly sabotage this tax reform. Dick Cheney's tiebreaker is all that prevented these three senators from getting their way (ACU-11).

Voted AGAINST a 2006 extension of tax cuts worth $70 billion dollars. This extension also protected cuts in
capital gains (ACU-14).

Voted FOR a 2008 measure that camouflaged a permanent tax hike on energy, by hiding it in a one-year
suspension of the AMT. In so doing, she gave the Democrats (and herself) cover for raising taxes. If you want to
know the senator's true feelings about the AMT, please see the previous item (ACU-16).

Voted FOR a 2005 amendment that would have hiked taxes on the oil industry (ACU-13).

Voted FOR raising taxes $7.2 billion to expand “green energy” programs (ACU-14). Just as an aside, these
programs only cost $4 billion. No word where the other 3.2 billion went (WP-5).

Voted FOR a 2003 measure to force the US. to comply with the Kyoto Treaty despite our never having ratified it

Voted FOR raising CAFE standards (ACU-13). For a look at the link between higher CAFE standards and increased traffic fatalities, as well as the folly of the economic justifications for higher standards, see what Dennis Kneale has to say: "New CAFE" (CNBC-1)

Voted FOR a 2005 job-killing bill in hopes of keeping the climate from changing. The real kicker is that the bill, which required "greenhouse emissions" be brought down to 2000 levels, openly acknowledged it would kill jobs. For more information about the bill's recklessness (and zaniness), please see the following National
Review piece by Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute: "Surrender Monkeys in The Senate:
Senate Republicans follow the French president’s lead on global warming" (ACU-13).

Voted FOR a 2008 amendment imposing a cap on CO2 emissions in hopes of keeping the climate from changing (ACU-16). With a flair for short-sightedness usually reserved for democrats, Snowe voted for this economically
devastating amendment (devastating, had it passed) in June of 2008, just as the economy's downhill slide was
picking up speed.

For insight into how this kind of legislation cripples an economy, you can turn to Europe, where CO2 caps have already been tried. In his address to the British Institute of Energy Economics, former Energy Secretary Lord Howell of Guildford puts it clearly: "After the Credit Crunch Comes the Energy Crunch."

For info on the general silliness of the global warming debate, please see the following piece by Nigel Lawson, another former U.K. Energy Secretary: "The REAL inconvenient truth: Zealotry over global warming could damage our Earth far more than climate change."

Voted AGAINST drilling for oil in ANWR in 2005 (ACU-13).

Vote AGAINST offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (ACU-14).

Voted FOR the Dems' 2007 Energy Policy, which imposed draconian new regulations on the energy sector. As the ACU explains, these measures included "a rise in automobile mileage to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a ban on the incandescent light bulb, new energy efficiency mandates for appliances, the use of 15 billion gallons of biofuels by 2015, and the taxpayer subsidy of new energy technologies" (ACU-15).

Voted AGAINST a 2007 measure allowing the state of Virginia to drill for oil off its own shores (ACU-15).

Voted AGAINST a 2008 measure allowing states to drill for oil off their own coasts and allowing oil exploration in ANWR (ACU-16). For the record, Snowe's vote came just as the U.S. neared the height of the 2008 gas crisis.

Voted AGAINST allowing greater oil exploration on the outer-continental shelf (ACU-16). Once again, her vote came just as the country neared the height of the 2008 gas crisis (see above).

Voted FOR hiking taxes on energy companies to fund "green initiatives" (ACU-16). Mysteriously, Snowe refuses to fight high fuel prices by increasing fuel supplies; rather, she chooses to fight high fuel prices by taxing fuel.

Voted FOR 2007 resolution disapproving of the surge: Had Snowe gotten her way, we would have surrendered
to Al Qaeda, granting them victory in their most clearly defined battlefield against us (ACU-15).

For an inside look at the importance of Iraq to Al Qaeda, please read the following field report, courtesy of Michael Totten and Colonel Mike Silverman: "Al Qaeda Lost"

Voted FOR forcing the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq by June 2009. Had the measure passed, it would have forced
withdrawal by back-handedly allowing congress to micro-manage our troops and place untenable restrictions on
their efforts (ACU-16).

Voted AGAINST strengthening missile defense (ACU-16).

Voted AGAINST an amendment to better enforce immigration. As the ACU explains, the amendment “would have increased funding for immigration and customs enforcement by about $200 million, added 5,760 detention beds, and permitted the hiring of more immigration enforcement personnel” (ACU-13).

Voted FOR a 2006 amnesty bill for illegal aliens. As the ACU explains, this precursor to the amnesty bill of 2007 was a bill "overhauling U.S. immigration laws and offering a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants in the country." The bill was spun as a "guest worker program" (ACU-14).

Voted AGAINST a border fence that, according to the ACU, would have provided for "the construction of 370 miles of double-layered fencing and at least 461 miles of vehicle barriers along the U.S. - Mexico border"

Voted AGAINST cap on future discretionary spending to hold it at 2006 levels.She then repeated her opposition to spending controls the following year (see Item 7 above) (ACU-13).

Voted FOR the Democrat's $410 billion Omnibus Spending Bill of 2009, a mere 4 weeks after voting for Obama's
$710 billion stimulus. In so doing, this is what Snowe voted for:

More than 8,000 earmarks.

An 8% increase from the previous year's budget.

The cancellation of a school voucher program in the District of Columbia. (Rugy-1).

Voted FOR formally admonishing the FCC for implementing a rule that allowed more freedom in broadcast
ownership (ACU-11). This admonishment, a thinly veiled attack on Fox News, is best remembered for Rupert Murdoch’s deadpan dismissal of Fritz Hollings during a senate hearing (Fallows). Not surprisingly, Snowe sided with Hollings.

Voted FOR extending the “assault weapons” ban (i.e., ban on collectibles) (ACU-12). For more info about this
infringement on ownership rights and the truth about these weapons, please see the following by gun-rights
advocate Alan Korwin: "New York Times Recognizes 10 Years of Errors."

Voted FOR an amendment that bans “means testing” when implementing the Medicare prescription-drug
benefit. Such means-testing seeks to target an entitlement to only those individuals most in need, thus limiting
the scope, cost, and bureaucratic reach of the program (ACU-11).

Voted FOR bailing out the auto industry (ACU-16). Four months later, our president was firing CEOs. Either Olympia Snowe favors nationalizing industry, or she's too short-sighted to deserve our trust. Either way, she's bad for the G.O.P.

Voted AGAINST 2008 earmark reform that would have imposed a one-year moratorium on all pork-barrel earmarks. After the moratorium expired, the reform would have continued to make these ear-marks more difficult to pass (ACU-16).

Voted FOR a 2008 mortgage bailout scheme that, according to the ACU, “would further nationalize the mortgage
industry, raise limits on some risky loans, and [add] another $4 billion grant program to be handed out by local governments” (ACU-16).

Voted FOR the 2007 expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $60 billion (ACU-15). This program was created in 1997 only to provide insurance to children from uninsured families who were narrowly above poverty. But 10 years later, the Dems moved to expand the program - and, as always, the devil was in the details. Under threat of Bush veto, she chose to join force with the Democrats and do the following:

Re-define "children" to mean "21-year-old adults."

Re-define "$80,000 income" to mean “just above poverty."

Let some taxpayers pay for other taxpayers' insurance (even if the former make less than the latter and purchase their own insurance).

Give incentives for states to “recruit” new enrollees and thus make this big program even bigger. (Carney-1)

Voted FOR the 2009 expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $32.8 billion. According to the ACU, “The bill raises taxes, expands the program to include legal immigrants and pregnant women, and loosens citizenship requirements. Although the program was designed to help poor children, the bill prohibits the government from covering poor children first” (ACU-18).

Every time you hear it said that "once Washington puts something into place, it's just going to keep getting
bigger and bigger" - you can and should think of Olympiia Snowe.

Voted AGAINST limiting 2009 spending to $1 trillion (ACU-16).

Voted AGAINST school vouchers in 2001 (ACU-9).

Voted AGAINST funding the D.C. school voucher program in 2009 (ACU-18).

Voted FOR Cash for Clunkers (ACU-18).

Voted FOR Campaign Finance Reform, one of the greatest abridgments of free speech in our history (WP-6).

Read what Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation says about Campaign Finance Reform: "Campaign Capital; Repeal McCain-Feingold Law And Mandate Disclosure Instead."

Hear what McCain himself says about it on The Don Imus Show: "John McCain Admits That McCain-Feingold Is Unconstitutional."

Read what Doug Patton of Humanevents.com, says about this criminalization of free speech: "McCain-Feingold Doing What Its Authors Intended."

Voted AGAINST a 2009 amendment to reinstate the Bush/Reagan policy of withholding aid from foreign agencies that perform abortions - a.k.a. “Mexico City Policy” (ACU-18).