As a race car driver, it was Austin Theriault’s job to go around in circles. Now, he’s spinning his wheels to hide the fact that he’ll be a rubber stamp for a harmful, extreme agenda in the US House of Representatives.
Aimless Austin Theriault talks a big game. He talks a lot. But at the end of the day he’s not in the driver’s seat. He’s proven that when it comes time to lead, he’d rather follow — even if it means putting Maine’s future on the wrong course.
Austin Theriault says he cares about the economy, but carries water for an agenda that’s bad for Maine workers, industries, and consumers:
Theriault said he would have voted against the federal budget deal that funded projects to improve economic resiliency in Maine’s lobstering industry.
This year, Theriault said he would have voted against a federal spending package that helped avert a harmful government shutdown. The federal spending package included almost $1.5 million in funds to help increase economic resilience for workers in the lobstering industry.
Theriault championed a bill that increased inspection costs on low-income Mainers and hurt smaller auto repair shops.
He cosponsored a bill that increased inspection costs on low-income Mainers and would drive away business from smaller auto repair shops. The bill gave Maine state police the power to create a surveillance program to track vehicle inspections, and Austin supported an amendment to make the surveillance of Maine vehicle owners mandatory.
Theriault says he supports working people but has fought against Mainers’ rights in the workplace.
He voted to advance several “right to work” bills that depress workers’ wages and limit workers’ rights — including one that would have punished workers with jail time.
He voted against laws to strengthen worker protections for free speech and unionization.
He voted against a pro-labor bill that cut red tape for union employees, despite support from labor unions and Maine’s Department of Labor.
He voted against removing barriers to unionization.
Austin Theriault loves a photo op with seniors, but time and again sides against them when it matters:
Theriault has a long record in support of making life harder for seniors in Maine.
He opposes the historic law lowering prescription drug costs for Maine’s seniors, including by capping insulin at $35.
He voted against a bill that would have mandated that Pharmacy Benefit Managers pass savings along to Maine seniors, rather than pocketing Mainers’ money.
He voted against funding wage increases for caretakers of seniors and for long-term care facilities.
He voted against increasing funding for civil legal services, which help fund legal defenses for seniors and allow seniors to fight elder abuse and threats of eviction.
Austin Theriault talks tough, but has opposed legislation to secure the border
Theriault said Mainers deserve a secure border but said he would have opposed legislation to secure the border.
He said he opposed legislation that would have added 22,000 border patrol agents to help secure our border — the largest border patrol force in U.S. history.
He stands with radical leadership that killed any chance of advancing a bipartisan immigration deal negotiated in the Senate — a bill heralded as the toughest action on border security in decades — because his party didn’t want to get it done while a Democrat was in the White House.
Austin Theriault tries to hide it, but he’s an anti-choice extremist who opposes reproductive freedom
Theriault ran as an anti-abortion extremist. He completed a questionnaire clearly stating: “Abortion access should be restricted.”
He praised the disastrous overturning of Roe v. Wade, allowing extreme bans on abortion without exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life.
He voted against expanding abortion access in cases of medical emergencies and letting Mainers have a say in whether to protect abortion rights in the state constitution.
Austin Theriault says he’ll put Mainers before party, but his words show he’ll only carry water for House GOP leadership — even when it hurts Maine:
He says that he couldn't have supported bipartisan legislation passed by Congress to fund the government. For Maine, he said he would have voted to:
Block funding to build a DDG-51 Destroyer in Bath
Withhold $66 million to improve border security in Maine
Block a $25 million increase for seniors and low-income Mainers to keep warm in the winter
Prevent the hiring of 22,000 border agents
Deny US service members the largest pay raise 20 years
Stand in the way of $300 million for improvements to Bath Iron Works
Block $1.2 billion for drug interdiction and counter drug activities
Withhold funding child care, Head Start, and special education
Nix $4.6 billion for substance use prevention and treatment
Cross out $140 million for Small Business Development Centers
Deny $18.5 million for veterans outreach from the Small Business Administration
Theriault says he cares about Maine communities, but when it was time to help Mainers affected by disastrous winter storms, Austin didn’t care. He showed with his vote that he:
Opposed helping communities rebuild from the storms
Was against helping small businesses repair their buildings that were damaged
Thought it was right to block repairs to state parks, historic sites and public land so that Mainers can continue to experience the outdoors.
