A new feature detailing what Lancaster County’s representative in the U.S. House, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, says and does in Washington, D.C.

For the week of April 27-May 1, Pitts:

• THURSDAY: Gave President Barack Obama bad marks on the House floor. “Madam Speaker, yesterday marked President Obama’s 100th day in office. In that short time, the Obama administration has managed to launch a war on critical pro-life and pro-family policies. As a result, foreign organizations that promote and perform abortions are eligible for U.S. taxpayer family planning money that has been increased to $545 million a year this year. Life-destroying research will be eligible for more taxpayer dollars. Medical professionals’ rights to practice according to their consciences will be under threat. Foreign organizations will be allowed to receive Federal tax dollars despite support for coercive abortion policies like forced abortion, forced sterilization, and the UNFPA in China. Contentious organizations like Planned Parenthood will be granted massive amounts of hardworking American tax dollars. Such actions certainly contradict the President’s pledge to find common ground with pro-life Americans. As the old adage goes, ‘Actions speak louder than words.’ Yesterday was a sad day for America’s unborn and for those who would like to protect them.”
• THURSDAY: Voted against The Credit Card Holders’ Bill of Rights, which passed the House 357-70. The bill would prohibit so-called double-cycle billing and retroactive rate hikes and would prevent companies from giving credit cards to anyone under 18. If they become law, the new House provisions won’t take effect for a year, except for a requirement that customers get 45 days’ notice before their interest rates are increased. That would take effect in 90 days.
• WEDNESDAY: Talked about debt on the House floor. “Madam Speaker, Debt Day is the day on which the government runs out of money in a given year and all of the government spending for the rest of the year is borrowed money. For 2009, Debt Day fell on April 26, this past Sunday. This is an astonishingly early day in the year to run out of money. Last year, it was August 5. So in 4 months, this Congress and this administration has shattered all previous records for debt levels, moving Debt Day up in the calendar over 3 months from last year. President Obama and this Congress make the Bush deficit look trivial. Friends, this is the most valuable and expensive credit card in history, a Member of Congress voting card. This Congress has taken out their credit cards and saddled our children and grandchildren with debt, mortgaging their future. Since the first of the year we’ve spent $350 billion in TARP, billions in auto bailouts, $787 billion in stimulus, $410 billion in omnibus, $3.5 trillion in the budget–mostly borrowed money–all of this debt dumped on future generations.”
• WEDNESDAY: Spoke and voted against the federal hate-crimes bill on the floor. “Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1913, the hate crimes legislation. “This bill would be more appropriately termed the ‘thought crimes act,’ as it seeks to criminalize certain types of thoughts. Our legal structure was established to punish actions, not thoughts or beliefs, and this bill would set a dangerous precedent. It will threaten our most basic right to free speech established under the First Amendment. Religious groups who hold certain convictions based on their faith could, in fact, be targeted by this law. In Sweden, a pastor was convicted by a trial court and sentenced to jail time for a hate crime after preaching a sermon that discussed biblical views of homosexuality. And in New York, the State hate crimes laws were used to justify taking down billboards on sexual immorality that a local pastor had paid to post. This legislation seeks to create categories of citizens who are either more or less protected under the law depending on what category they fall into. This framework flies in the face of one of the most fundamental principles of our justice system. Chiseled in stone across the front of the Supreme Court building are the words ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’ This means that all citizens, regardless of sexual identity or anything else, are to receive equal protection from the law. I support this basic principle that has long guided our Nation’s system of justice. But this bill undermines that principle. It seeks to establish different groups of citizens with different levels of protection under the law. And the bottom line is that this legislation simply isn’t necessary. If someone commits a violent crime, they should be punished to the full extent of the law regardless of who the victim is. I urge you to preserve equal justice under the law and oppose H.R. 1913.”
• WEDNESDAY: Was appointed to the Congressional-Executive Commission on the People’s Republic of China.
• TUESDAY: Criticized U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party. “I’m deeply disappointed that Senator Specter would choose to align himself with so many of the irresponsible policies we are seeing the Democrats attempting to implement in Washington.  From a trillion dollar energy tax, to government-run healthcare, to a $3.6 trillion budget, and deficit spending as far as the eye can see, I am saddened that Senator Specter has chosen to be a part of the party that has brought us these kinds of irresponsible policies.”