PA Bill Number: HB2235
Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...
Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...
Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024
Pat Toomey draws lower grade in new NRA ratings :: 10/06/2016
In a new round of grades from the nation's leading gun-rights group, Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey barely passed.
The National Rifle Association gave Toomey, who is facing a tough re-election battle, a "C" in its grades for this year's candidates. That's a downgrade from Toomey's 2010 Senate bid, when he drew an "A" grade and the powerful group's endorsement.
The NRA does not specify which votes or public statements it uses in its ratings, but it opposed Toomey's most well-known action on gun policy: the gun background-check bill he crafted with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
That bill failed to advance from the Senate in 2013 and again in 2015 after being proposed as an amendment to other legislation. Toomey says he still backs the proposal, though he's said repeatedly that he doesn't see a path forward given the makeup of the current Senate.
"Pat Toomey is proud of his work across the aisle to keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill, while also safeguarding law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights," Toomey spokesman Ted Kwong said in response to the NRA rating. "As with many issues, we will only achieve progress on common-sense gun safety measures if we work to build bipartisan consensus, rather than talk past each other with more partisanship."
In addition to the background check bill, Toomey also crafted a proposal earlier this year for determining whether those on a federal terror watch list can purchase a firearm. That measure was drafted in consultation with the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Introduced after the June shooting at an Orlando nightclub, Toomey's bill didn't get a Senate vote. Toomey supported Republican-drafted measures that were voted during that renewed gun debate, though neither of those bills had enough support to move forward.
The NRA rating comes as Toomey is running in a tight contest against Democratic challenger Katie McGinty, who drew an "F" rating.
Toomey has received the endorsements of Bloomberg's gun-control group, and of another national advocacy group led by former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was seriously injured in a mass shooting.
Bloomberg's group has aired television ads supporting Toomey. Toomey's campaign has touted the support of Giffords in its own ad, which staffers had to revise to remove a negative reference to McGinty. Giffords' group praised McGinty as well.
Asked about the NRA ratings, McGinty spokesman Sean Coit pointed to McGinty's endorsement from Pennsylvania-based gun-control group CeaseFirePA, and accused Toomey of being "not serious" about passing gun safety legislation.
"I'm sure there are two things not lost on the NRA: the NRA knows they can count on Pat Toomey and the NRA knows that giving him something other an "A" could be helpful for him" this campaign year, Coit said.
