Rough week for Rick Nolan

May 27, 2014

Last week was rough for Rick Nolan. First, Nolan’s volunteer campaign committee was hit with a $5,250 fine by the Federal Election Commission for failing to report $230,423.83 in advertisement expenditures in its October 2012 quarterly report.

Then, following the lead of congressional candidate Stewart Mills, Nolan finally called for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation. This is not the leadership Minnesota expects from their elected officials.

Speaking of leadership failures, let’s not forget Nolan voted against funding for our military, veterans, and homeland security last year.

Nolan voted against the MilCon/VA Appropriations Bill (Roll Call #193, 6/4/2013), a bill that would provide $157.8 billion in fiscal 2014 for the Veterans Affairs Department, military construction and military housing. Only three other Members of Congress voted against VA funding.

This means Nolan:

Voted against funding programs to help our nation’s veterans
Voted against funding VA Health Care Programs
Voted against funding VA medical centers, outpatient clinics, contract hospitals, state homes and outpatient programs
Voted against funding for VA Compensation, Pension and Burial Benefits
Voted against funding VA medical, rehabilitative, health services and prosthetic research
Voted against supporting the VA’s goal of having a qualified military sexual trauma counselor on staff at each veterans center, including rural centers.
Voted against funding for VA Disability payments
Voted against funding the VA Home Loan Guaranty program

Nolan voted against the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (Roll Call #211, 6/6/2013), a bill that provides a total of $46.1 billion for the Homeland Security Department in FY 2014.

This means Nolan:

Voted against cybersecurity programs
Voted against airport security
Voted against disaster relief
Voted against funding FEMA
Voted against securing our borders

Rick Nolan voted against the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (Roll Call #244 , 6/14/2013), which authorized $638.4 billion in fiscal 2014 discretionary and mandatory spending for Defense Department programs.

This means Nolan:

Voted against funding our military.
Voted against a 1.8 percent pay raise for service members, more than the president’s proposal of 1 percent.
Voted against prohibiting the transfer of Guantánamo Bay detainees to the United States and its territories.
Voted against improving existing military housing projects.
Voted against taking aggressive action to address the military’s sexual assault crisis.

Rick Nolan voted against the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill (Roll Call #414, 7/24/2013), which appropriated $512.5 billion in non-war discretionary funding.

This means Nolan:

Voted against funding our troops in the field; funding for our national defense priorities; funding for military health care; funding for training, supplies and equipment maintenance; and against funding for military personnel accounts, including costs of pay, allowances, bonuses, survivor benefits and permanent change-of-station moves.
Voted against a pay increase for our troops.
Voted against increasing funding for sexual assault prevention and response programs and against denying retirement benefits to any service member convicted of rape, sexual assault or forcible sodomy.

NRCC Comment: “Rick Nolan has no credibility when it comes to standing up for America’s military and veterans. There is no excuse for Rick Nolan to consistently vote against funding for our men and women in uniform and our veterans, who risk their lives in defense of America. Nolan arguably has the worst voting record in Congress.”– Tyler Q. Houlton, NRCC Spokesman