It Wasn't Just Bush Who Ruined Our Economy: Rob Andrews Helped Him
Andrews Voted for Bush's "Paris Hilton" Tax Breaks At A Great Cost to New Jersey's Working Families

From the onset of the Bush Administration, as President Bush pushed his irresponsible plan to give massive tax breaks to the super-wealthy, he once again had the same key Democratic ally: Rob Andrews.  Within months of Bush becoming president, Andrews sided with the new Republican Administration and voted for Bush's proposal to eliminate the inheritance tax on the super-wealthy [HR 8, Vote# 84, 4/04/01].  In fact, Andrews' pattern of siding with multi-billionaires over working families was obvious even before George Bush came to power, when he chose to support the Republican majority in Congress over the protest of President Clinton and his Democratic colleagues by voting to repeal the same tax in 2000. [HR 8, Vote #254, 6/9/00]

At the time of Andrews' vote on behalf of George Bush, the proposal was projected to cost a whopping $185 billion, while benefitting only a miniscule fraction of the wealthiest Americans.  In fact, despite its devastating effect on the nation's treasury, it would have helped only a scant 2,900 estates. [Dallas Morning News, 4/5/01] 

To make matters worse, when Democrats sought to bring a fair inheritance tax proposal forward in 2003, Rob Andrews again sided with the Bush Republicans and voted against the majority of his House Democratic colleagues.  The Democratic proposal sought to shield small business and family farms from the inheritance tax, but retain the tax on the nation's wealthiest families.  Again, Rob Andrews chose the financial interests of Paris Hilton and Bush friends like multi-millionaire big oil executives over working families.  [HR 8, vote #287, 6/18/03].

But Andrews' collaboration with the Bush Administration on helping the extremely wealthy at the expense of working families did not stop there.  The following year, when Democrats put forward a proposal to reform Bush's unfair tax cuts, close tax loopholes and restore programs cut by Bush, Andrews again stood with the Republicans and voted against the Democratic plan.  [H Con Res 393, Vote #88, 3/25/04]

"Working hand in hand, Rob Andrews and George Bush have supported economic policies that have led our nation to the brink of a recession.  From the very outset, it became clear to President Bush and his Republican allies in the House that they could count on Rob Andrews to provide them with his vote for their most extreme policies.  Whether siding with George Bush to provide tax cuts to the extremely wealthy while leaving middle class families in a lurch, siding with Bush to co-author the Iraq war resolution and lobby for its passage or siding with Bush to kill sensible Democratic fiscal proposals that would have helped prevent the current economic crisis our residents face, Rob Andrews has shown himself to be consistently on the wrong side of New Jerseyans during his nearly two decades in Congress," said Lautenberg spokeswoman Julie Roginsky.

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