NEWS RELEASE
Admiral Joe Sestak Discusses Support for Students and Educators
Sestak Continues to Walk in the Shoes of Other Pennsylvanians
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Danielle Lynch
610-505-5861
[email protected]
March 16, 2015
CARLISLE, PA – Admiral Joe Sestak discussed the importance of supporting students
and educators while walking 20 miles through Cumberland County today.
Joe with attendees of an event on education issues in Carlisle, PA
Earlier this month, Joe began his walk on the New Jersey border in Philadelphia
and will end it 422 miles later when he arrives at the border with Ohio. When Joe kicked
off his campaign, he said America is about “We the People,” and that — as Scout recalls
in To Kill a Mockingbird — “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes
and walk around in them.” Therefore, over the next few weeks, Joe will walk in the shoes
of Pennsylvanians he meets along his walk.
As a son of schoolteacher, Joe knows firsthand the importance of learning and
teaching. When Joe was a U.S. Congressman, he was concerned about college
1 affordability. In particular, he voted for bills that would increase the maximum for Pell
Grants. He voted for increased funding for the Work Study Program.
Joe fought for quality education for young children. He supported funding for
Head Start and Pre-K programs. He successfully authored legislation to reform the way
schools test students with disabilities and enhanced access to school lunches for lowincome students.
Joe improved educational opportunities for our nation’s veterans. For example, he
voted for and passed the post-9/11 GI Bill, which closely resembled the educational
benefits provided to veterans after WWII, and restored four-year college scholarships for
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Additionally, Joe voted for bills that helped teachers. He supported the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to improve teacher quality by providing
financial incentives for teachers and principals who raise student achievement and close
the achievement gaps in high-need schools.
Sen. Toomey, R-Pa., on the other hand, acts like he cares about students and
educators when he’s in Pennsylvania but then votes against them back in Washington,
D.C. Toomey voted against three education budgets as a Senator, which included funding
for programs for children ranging from elementary school to college. He’s also voted
against several bills that would decrease interest rates on federal student loans. Toomey
once called government student loans the “nationalization” of the student loan industry.
Toomey also voted against programs that would help young students. For
example, he voted against Head Start funding as a Senator. He voted against special
education funding for children with disabilities.
Toomey voted against educational programs for veterans. He voted against
funding for the post-9/11 GI Bill. He voted to end the Veterans Retraining Assistance
Program (VRAP), which helped over 75,000 veterans learn new skills to find jobs, and
then denied he voted to end it, saying, “I want to know why it was terminated.” Additionally, Toomey voted against teacher training programs. He voted against
increased funding for class size reduction. He opposed Recovery efforts, which created
and retained education jobs in Pennsylvania.
Joe’s campaign is about accountable leadership that serves “We the People.” He
believes the biggest deficit in America today is the “trust deficit” and is running to restore
Americans’ lost trust in their political leaders by being accountable to serve those whose
shoes public servants should be walking in.
That is why Joe looks forward to walking alongside Pennsylvanians as he works
to restore the American Dream. There are too many in the U.S. Senate who believe you
are on your own, and our present Senator—who votes against veterans, women, senior
citizens, and our children, as well as small business owners on a consistent basis—is not
the answer for restoring the American Dream.
“We must restore trust in our leaders,” Joe said. “Now more than ever, the
governmental leaders’ role must be accountability for restoring the alliance of rugged
individualism and common enterprise so that ‘We the People’ can take back the Dream.”
2 3 4 5 6 Born and raised in Delaware County, former 3-star Admiral Joe Sestak served in the
Navy for 31 years. He served as a Congressman for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional
District from 2007-2011. As a Congressman, Joe served on both the Armed Services and
Education & Labor Committees, and was Vice Chairman of the Small Business
Committee. According to the office of the House Historian, Joe is the highest-ranking
former military officer ever to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. As an
Admiral, he led a series of operational commands at sea, including Commander of an
aircraft carrier battle group of 30 U.S. and allied ships with over 15,000 sailors and 100
aircraft that conducted operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. After 9/11, Joe was the first
Director of “Deep Blue,” the Navy’s anti-terrorism unit that established strategic and
operations policies for the “Global War on Terrorism.” He served as President
Clinton’s Director for Defense Policy at the National Security Council in the White
House, and also as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations responsible for development of
the Navy’s five-year $350 billion warfare requirements. He holds a Ph.D. in Political
Economy and Government from Harvard University. Joe most recently taught courses
on Ethical Leadership and on Restoring the American Dream at Carnegie Mellon
University and Cheyney University, and was the General Omar N. Bradley Chair in
Strategic Leadership, a joint faculty appointment at the United States Army War College,
Dickinson College, and the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and School of
International Affairs. He also remains active in foreign affairs, education, disaster
response, small businesses, energy and the environment, and health care, among other
issues, through a variety of non-profits and other organizations, including the U.S
Department of State.
7