Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has distributed a “Strategy Memo” to Republican candidates outlining what he describes as the “closing argument” they can use to win votes in the 30 days before the midterm elections.
“This year, the House Republicans’ Pledge to America has set the stage for a powerful, symbolic closing argument for candidates seeking to unseat the left-wing, big-spending, job-killing Democrats: paychecks versus food stamps,” Gingrich states in the memo, posted on Wednesday on the Human Events website.
In June, the U.S. government gave out more food stamps than ever before in history, according to Gingrich.
He also notes that, in January 2007, when Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid took over Congress, food stamp use was around 26.5 million and unemployment was 4.6 percent. Today, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the unemployment rate is 9.6 percent.
Gingrich compares those figures with the four years after Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, when food stamp use fell by 8 million Americans and unemployment dropped from 5.6 percent to 4.2 percent.
“You can use this vivid contrast between the record of the Pelosi-Reid Democratic Congress and the last time the Republican Party took control of Congress to powerfully illustrate the difference for every American between the Democratic Party of food stamps and the Republican Party of paychecks,” Gingrich tells GOP candidates.
“You can also present this clear choice to voters by hammering Democrats on their decision to adjourn Congress without fixing the tax code. In January, taxes are scheduled to rise on virtually every American” due to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.
“Considering the perilous state of the U.S. economy, this decision by the Democrats to raise taxes is the very definition of irresponsibility.”
Gingrich observes that small business owners who are considering hiring new employees probably will decide not to hire because they believe their taxes will go up in January.
“Republicans have made it clear they intend to prevent these tax increases on working Americans,” Gingrich declares.
“Which future do I want? More food stamps? Or more paychecks?
“This is the choice we want to drive home again and again for voters from now until Election Day.”
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