David Powers

Press Office of David J. Stewart United States Senator Pennsylvania SENATOR STEWART: I AM UNABASHEDLY PRO-UNION "Today I co-sponsored the National Right to Unionize Act, to prevent states from using the government to oppose unions and aid in the the decline of union membership. I was a union worker for many years before our job was shipped overseas. I began my time in the Senate pushing for the repeal or renegotiation of the disastrous NAFTA trade agreement that shipped jobs overseas. I worked to try and secure union support for Republican candidates on the condition that our party would push itself toward more being a more overtly pro-worker party. I am still committed to that work and I am unabashedly pro-union."

Press Office of David J. Stewart United States Senator Pennsylvania SENATOR STEWART OPPOSES FEDERAL GRANTS TO CALIFORNIA "While I believe the federal government has a responsibility in most cases to take on a bulk of disaster relief, the collapse of a small element of the I-5 in California is a unique situation. The state of California is more than capable of restoring the bridge portion that collapsed through reallocation of funds. I believe that the structure offered up by Senator Atkins to make any federal money for the California-specific project should have been on a loan basis. The amendment to make less than half of the $5 billion a loan is not sufficient stewardship of the Pennsylvanian's tax dollars, when the state of California has an overflowing savings account that is sitting untouched with billions of dollars in it. I would have also liked to see some kind of a public-private partnership to handle the infrastructure cleanup and repair and invite in corporate sponsorship, instead of a fully-government run endeavor. I will be pushing for members of the Republican-majority in the House to clean this bill up and send it back."

Press Office of David J. Stewart United States Senator Pennsylvania SENATOR STEWART STATEMENT ON TERRORIST ATTACK IN THE U.K. "We have to protect our country from Radical Islamic Terrorism and heighten the guardrails on those coming into the United States from nations with high terrorist activity, including Syria. I support a temporary pause of refugee processing, while we establish extreme vetting procedures for refugees coming through the system. I also support a temporary pause on travel from Muslim-majority nations that do not meet the best of standards in terms of vetting or have high rates of criminal terrorist activity and upheaval, such as Libya; Iran; Somalia; Sudan; Syria; Yemen; Egypt; Saudi Arabia; the UAB and Turkey. We have to keep our country free of terrorism and terrorist activity and those who want to do us harm. I call on the president to do whatever it takes to protect our nation and secure our border."

Press Office of David J. Stewart U.S. Senate Minority Leader Pennsylvania MINORITY LEADER PRESSES SENATE DEMOCRATS TO GET MOVING ON TOP DIPLOMAT POST "We are at a critical time in the world, with foreign policy challenges across the global landscape. We cannot afford to hold up the nomination for Secretary of State any longer. We must get moving. Instead of trying to ram through a massive minimum wage increase; social engineering legislation; or abortion promotion bills - all of which he has had to backtrack on - I urge the majority leader to make the Secretary of State nomination a top priority. Let's start her hearings; get the debates up and running and move toward get this top diplomat post filled."

Press Office of David J. Stewart U.S. Senate Minority Leader Pennsylvania MINORITY LEADER: I LOOK FORWARD TO REBUILDING OUR PARTY AND WORKING WITH OUR NEW PRESIDENT "I am obviously heartbroken by the former president's cancer diagnosis and need to step down. In the meantime, I look forward to working with the new president on issues related to immigration and border security; reducing our national debt and eliminating excessive spending; supporting our law enforcement, our troops, and our veteran families; strengthening our national defense; and America's energy independence. I also look forward to rebuilding our party from the ground up. We will unify the Republican party, as I pick up the mantle entrusted to me to work across the whole of our party to mend broken fences and establish a new paradigm for the future of conservatism."

Press Office of the Freedom Caucus United States Senate Washington, D.C. FREEDOM CAUCUS ENDORSEMENT OF BIPARTISAN CHILD CARE PROPOSAL: FOR AMERICA'S MOTHERS The Freedom Caucus announces its support of the "Bipartisan Child Care, Development, and Protection Act" sponsored by Republican Senator Jim Cambridge and Democrat Senator Paulina Richards. Senate Freedom Caucus members believe strongly in lowering costs and eliminating barriers to family growth and sustainability for mothers across America. This legislation increases funding for child care programs; provides tax credits to mothers; delivers maternal resources; increases child care accessibility; directs President de la Cruz to address the global maternal health crisis; targets purveyors of child porn to protect American children; and enhances foster care for children who are less fortunate.

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Press Office of the Freedom Caucus United States Senate Washington, D.C. FREEDOM CAUCUS: WE MUST END UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES The Freedom Caucus announces its unequivocal support of the Fair Trade Act sponsored by caucus member and Senator Minority Whip, Kyle Van Horn, to tackle currency manipulation and unfair trade practices. America's trade imbalance and deficits continue to grow, ensuring American taxpayers are being ripped off by our trading partners, leading to loss of opportunities for America's small businesses and manufacturers. We've lost tons of jobs due to disastrous trade agreements that have crippled the American dream, stripping opportunity away from working people and American producers, as Wall Street and their special interests value foreign products and foreign interests above our own. The Freedom Caucus is changing the game in the Republican party and taking the political and financial establishment to task for their promotion of unfair trade. The Fair Trade Act would be a major boon for our position.

Press Office of David J. Stewart United States Senator Pennsylvania SENATOR STEWART: I FULLY SUPPORT THE EL CHAPO ACT "El Chapo is evil and deserves to be locked under our jails. This individual has ruined so many lives, destroying families and burning up young souls. I'm glad he's being extradited but I believe this is an awesome opportunity for America to use his ill-gotten assets to further our moral agenda of protecting our border and keeping drugs and criminals like him out."

SENATOR STEWART'S SPEECH AT CPAC 2017 "Hello to CPAC! I want to thank the entire CPAC staff for their hard work in putting this event together and extending an invite to Pennsylvania's finest. I was never supposed to be in politics, I was content being in my hometown, working hard with my best friends and coaching little league and picking up my daughter from her recitals. Jennifer and I had an amazing life back home, until the financial elite on Wall Street and the crooked politicians in Washington colluded with the globalists and the special interests to ruin our lives. They've colluded to ruin the lives of most small town Americans. So I had to run. As my mom used to say 'if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself', and boy wasn't she right. In the short time I've been in Washington, I've begun the work to redefine the Republican party from the party of protecting upper-class bourgeois interests to that of protecting the interests of the everyday man, the small town family, and the traditional American family! The fact is, since I've been in Washington, it's very clear that our political establishment are all-talk, no-action. They say they work for you but they're really in Washington to serve themselves. When I show up, though, they start acting! I've made the political establishment address the outsourcing of our jobs. I've embraced efforts to fix Obamacare, not just try to repeal it, and made the Democrats embrace it too! They tried to tell me Obamacare is fine, no need to tweak it. I said, people in my hometown are being killed by Obamacare, don't tell me that. After my pressure campaign, the Democrats have given in, admitting Obamacare's failure and they all voted with my proposal to give state's more control and to lower people's premiums. My conservative friends, we're gathered here today to send a message that we're here, we see you elitist snobs and self-righteous liberals, and we're not going to backdown! We won't back down on lowering taxes for American families! We won't back down from upholding our gun rights and protecting our communities from street crimes and gang violence flooding our suburban towns! We won't back down from holding the financial elite accountable when they risk our pension funds and ship our jobs overseas! We won't back down from 'Draining the Swamp' in Washington and preventing the establishment and elitists from selling us down the river! We won't back down from taking a sledgehammer to the Democrat-led revolving door of political corruption! We won't back down from the political establishment of both parties, by the way. We won't back down from sending a clear message to the political establishment in our own party that losing the White House to Obama and de la Cruz, three times in a row, is unacceptable! The liberal America de la Cruz sees is one invaded by illegal immigrants, flooding our streets with crime and chaos. In de la Cruz's America, the poor and middle class are taxed and nickel-and-dimed into oblivion, while the rich people in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street get by well and tell us what to do and what to say. In her radical feminist America, de la Cruz wants to strip men of our dignity, our manhood, and our power. de la Cruz is on the side of the rioters and criminals who bash our police officers and tear up our communities. If this is not the kind of America you want to live in, I want you to join this new conservative movement to redefine the Republican party and reject the Democrat political and corrupt machine! Thank you, CPAC, and get home safe!"

Press Office of David J. Stewart United States Senator Pennsylvania SENATORS, STEWART & VAN HORN, INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO INCREASE PENALTIES FOR COP-KILLERS "With Paul Watford's defense of a cop-killer making national waves, I want to make clear that these killers deserve the death penalty. No perpetrator of a murder of a police officer, a brave member of our law enforcement, should ever see the light of day again. We must send the message to the American people that defending our law enforcement is a high-priority. Our great men and women who defend us every single day should have the entire country and their leaders supporting them 100%. This is a much-needed proposal."

Press Office of David J. Stewart United States Senator Pennsylvania SENATOR STEWART'S AMENDMENT TO REDUCE HEALTHCARE PREMIUMS PASSES WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT "The Affordable Care Act is in need of major reforms. I went out on a limb and accomplished one of the few reforms to the law in order to lower costs for Pennsylvanians and everyday American people. By empowering states to lower premiums, we're delivering a big win for working families who cannot currently afford healthcare's exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses. Easing burdens on Pennsylvanians is at the core of my values as I serve everyday in the Senate chamber."

Press Office of the Freedom Caucus United States Senate Washington, D.C. What The Mainstream Media Won't Tell You About Paul Watford An Opinion Editorial in The Washington Post from Freedom Caucus Chair, David J. Stewart, Senator from Pennsylvania From the beginning of Paul Watford's nomination to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, the mainstream media and liberal Twitter warriors have trumpeted Watford like never before. Most conservatives began the opposition to Watford with the idea that we cannot take up a nomination from a term-limited, lame-duck administration and that any consideration will have to wait until after the election. While Watford basked in the glow of the left-leaning media shine and conservatives focused on the election, no one has really understood why Paul Watford may not be the best choice to sit on the highest court in our land. What's ironic about the hoopla regarding one of my Senate colleague's comments about affirmative action is that instead of defending affirmative action, the liberal peanut gallery immediately rushed to use Paul Watford's race as a defense mechanism. To immediately jump to conclusions, pin someone as racist and use race as a shield is a rather lazy way to defend a candidate at least and a dangerous and divisive political strategy at most. Far be it from me to defend liberal judicial activism, either, but I think that kind of divisiveness does no good for proponents of affirmative action or any other legal theory. Perhaps the real reason liberal commentators, political hacks, and the new administration would rely on racial division to boost Paul Watford is to muddy the waters and prevent Americans from learning about the activist Judge's true record. While on paper Judge Watford seems to be a qualified candidate, weaving in and out of private practice and public service, a peak behind the veneer of his career reveal a man hellbent on using the judicial system to activate extremist ideals. Take the year 2010, for example. Arizonians, motivated by the sensible idea of containing an overwhelming crisis at its Southern border, passed a law that would require cities and police departments to work with federal law enforcement in carrying out immigration laws already on the books. A legal activist and college creature of the west coast bay area and streets of LA, parachuted into Arizona to use his legal experience to fight the law. Representing the notoriously liberal ACLU, an organization that literally exists to use the judicial system to advance extremist liberal ideas, he argued before the same court bench of which he seeks a seat today, that states have no say in protecting their borders or stemming the tide of illegal immigration invasions of their cities and towns. Using the same kind of race-baiting and racial defense mechanisms we're seeing today, Judge Watford repeatedly used the idea of 'racial profiling' to advance his arguments. Before that, Watford involved himself in another ACLU-backed case defending cop-killing murderous savages from being subject to death penalty laws. After using his legal activism to garner the attention of another liberal legal activist, Barack Obama, now with presidential appointment powers, Paul Watford cashed in his chips, securing a spot on the Ninth Circuit Court. This court has typically been a haven for liberal activist judges in the past, and this time it was no different. Judge Watford used his new seat on the court bench to rule against another Arizona law that would've allowed law enforcement to keep apprehended illegal immigrants from fleeing responsibility through bail. Instead, Judge Watford argued, they should be allowed re-entry into our communities. Now, once again, Judge Watford is cashing in his chips. Democrat presidents have made clear that if you use a law degree to fight for liberal causes in court, you can find a permanent job with the cushion taxpayer-funded salaries and pensions on the Supreme Court, with the stroke of a pin. Fortunately for the American people, checks and balances come into play, with the job of the United States Senate to question nominations. Conservatives, and Americans in general, will not allow an extremist to glide-path to the Supreme Court. It is our job to ask the important questions, yes, even about affirmative actions, whether the candidate is a minority or not.

What The Mainstream Media Won't Tell You About Paul Watford Why the media, liberal commentators, and Democrats are quick to use Paul Watford's race to ice-out criticisms. by David J. Stewart From the beginning of Paul Watford's nomination to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, the mainstream media and liberal Twitter warriors have trumpeted Watford like never before. Most conservatives began the opposition to Watford with the idea that we cannot take up a nomination from a term-limited, lame-duck administration and that any consideration will have to wait until after the election. While Watford basked in the glow of the left-leaning media shine and conservatives focused on the election, no one has really understood why Paul Watford may not be the best choice to sit on the highest court in our land. What's ironic about the hoopla regarding one of my Senate colleague's comments about affirmative action is that instead of defending affirmative action, the liberal peanut gallery immediately rushed to use Paul Watford's race as a defense mechanism. To immediately jump to conclusions, pin someone as racist and use race as a shield is a rather lazy way to defend a candidate at least and a dangerous and divisive political strategy at most. Far be it from me to defend liberal judicial activism, either, but I think that kind of divisiveness does no good for proponents of affirmative action or any other legal theory. Perhaps the real reason liberal commentators, political hacks, and the new administration would rely on racial division to boost Paul Watford is to muddy the waters and prevent Americans from learning about the activist Judge's true record. While on paper Judge Watford seems to be a qualified candidate, weaving in and out of private practice and public service, a peak behind the veneer of his career reveal a man hellbent on using the judicial system to activate extremist ideals. Take the year 2010, for example. Arizonians, motivated by the sensible idea of containing an overwhelming crisis at its Southern border, passed a law that would require cities and police departments to work with federal law enforcement in carrying out immigration laws already on the books. A legal activist and college creature of the west coast bay area and streets of LA, parachuted into Arizona to use his legal experience to fight the law. Representing the notoriously liberal ACLU, an organization that literally exists to use the judicial system to advance extremist liberal ideas, he argued before the same court bench of which he seeks a seat today, that states have no say in protecting their borders or stemming the tide of illegal immigration invasions of their cities and towns. Using the same kind of race-baiting and racial defense mechanisms we're seeing today, Judge Watford repeatedly used the idea of 'racial profiling' to advance his arguments. Before that, Watford involved himself in another ACLU-backed case defending cop-killing murderous savages from being subject to death penalty laws. After using his legal activism to garner the attention of another liberal legal activist, Barack Obama, now with presidential appointment powers, Paul Watford cashed in his chips, securing a spot on the Ninth Circuit Court. This court has typically been a haven for liberal activist judges in the past, and this time it was no different. Judge Watford used his new seat on the court bench to rule against another Arizona law that would've allowed law enforcement to keep apprehended illegal immigrants from fleeing responsibility through bail. Instead, Judge Watford argued, they should be allowed re-entry into our communities. Now, once again, Judge Watford is cashing in his chips. Democrat presidents have made clear that if you use a law degree to fight for liberal causes in court, you can find a permanent job with the cushion taxpayer-funded salaries and pensions on the Supreme Court, with the stroke of a pin. Fortunately for the American people, checks and balances come into play, with the job of the United States Senate to question nominations. Conservatives, and Americans in general, will not allow an extremist to glide-path to the Supreme Court. It is our job to ask the important questions, yes, even about affirmative actions, whether the candidate is a minority or not. David J. Stewart is a United States Senator, representing the state of Pennsylvania. Senator Stewart is the chairman of the Senate Freedom Caucus.