Paul and Vitter are Out-of-Touch with Louisiana
Baton Rouge, La – Before Sen. Rand Paul announced his quixotic quest for the presidency on Tuesday, he threw his weight behind trying to influence the Louisiana gubernatorial race. Paul endorsed Sen. David Vitter this spring citing their similarities and shared views on policies that demonstrably hurt Louisiana families. In response to Paul’s announcement, the Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Director Stephen Handwerk released the following statement:
“The Rand Paul-David Vitter agenda is terrible for every Louisianian, including women, college students and those still denied health coverage. They favor Washington special interests like Grover Norquist over hardworking people all across the state.
“Both of these men oppose raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, even though it would put more money in the pockets of our families. And they both oppose efforts to close the pay gap, even though Louisiana women earn only 67 cents to every dollar a man makes, the largest gender pay gap in the country.
“Rand Paul and David Vitter both voted against legislation that would allow student loan borrowers to refinance their loans at lower rates, which would have benefitted 330,000 Louisiana students at a time when the GOP’s disastrous budget has slashed funding for higher education.
“The agenda Rand Paul and David Vitter are pushing likewise does not expand Medicaid, which would provide the much-needed funds for our state hospitals and enable Louisiana tax payers to begin rebuilding from the debacle the GOP budget created.
“On issue after issue, Rand Paul and David Vitter’s extreme views have proven to be bad news for Louisiana. Neither of them can be counted upon to do what is best for our state and for our country.”
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