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Senate Candidates Square Off
Van Hollen’s history contrasts with Edwards’ grassroots ideology
Rep. Donna Edwards was the first to take a direct swipe at her main Democratic rival for the open seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski….Within two sentences, Edwards launched into the first direct comment against Van Hollen — who represents District 8 — saying, “I think here is where there is and has been, frankly, a fundamental difference between myself and Chris Van Hollen. … Mr. Van Hollen was ‘willing to consider’ — those were his own words — cuts to Social Security and Medicare.”….
As to Edwards’ criticisms, he said that he evaluates each trade deal on its own merits. He supports expansion of Social Security, pushing back against Edwards’ assertions that she made that day and in less direct terms in her candidacy announcement video. “I actually led the effort to convince the president not to put the chained [Consumer Price Index] proposal in his second budget,” which limits the inflationary growth of Social Security benefits, said Van Hollen. “At the same time, frankly, I persuaded him not to put a cut in federal employee benefits in his budget. That is on the record.” Read more…