Where The Rubber Meets The Road (7/20)

As recorded in the Philadelphia Inquirer last Sunday, here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week:

House

• Voting Rights Act. Voting 390-33, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a bill (HR 9) to extend the Voting Rights Act for 25 years beyond its scheduled expiration next year. The 1965 law outlawed discriminatory policies such as poll taxes and literacy tests, and was expanded later to require voting materials in certain jurisdictions to be printed in languages in addition to English. The bill would continue to require certain states and localities with a history of systematic voting discrimination to clear changes in their voting laws in advance with the Justice Department.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

All Philadelphia-area lawmakers voted yes.

It's about freaking time...now it's the Senate's turn to act like grownups.

• Foreign-language ballots. Voting 185-238, the House on Thursday refused to strip the Voting Rights Act renewal (HR 9, above) of its requirement that certain jurisdictions provide ballots, notices and other voting materials in languages in addition to English.

A yes vote backed the amendment that proposed the change.

Voting yes: Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.) and Curt Weldon (R., Pa.).

Voting no: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

I would call this vote “your basic slam dunk,” meaning that none of the “no” voters will be eating at Geno’s Steaks anytime soon, I’m sure (and Crazy Curt helps out Admiral Joe once more on this one, though, as noted last time, Weldon signed that letter from anti-immigrant nut John Tanton that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago).

And this makes me wonder what kind of a “Democrat” Tim Holden is anyway.

• Pre-clearance of voting changes. Voting 96-318, the House on Thursday defeated an amendment to HR 9 (above) making it easier for certain states and localities, mostly in the South, to be freed of the pre-clearance requirements of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Pitts.

Voting no: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Saxton, Schwartz, Smith and Weldon.

Another no-brainer, and once more, I must ask – nay, PLEAD – with anyone who may know who is running against Joe Pitts so I can do all I can to help this particular Democrat.

• Internet gambling limits. Voting 317-93, the House on Tuesday sent the Senate a bill (HR 4411) to limit Internet gambling. The bill would bar credit cards, banks and other companies from processing most types of online wagers, and make it a felony for most gambling operations to do business using the Internet or wireless communications. But it drew criticism for exempting state-run online lotteries as well as Internet wagers on horse and dog racing.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Pitts, Saxton, Schwartz and Weldon.

Voting no: Andrews, Holden and LoBiondo.

Not voting: Smith.

As nearly as I can determine on this, the state exemption that was contained in the legislation would nullify the impact of the legislation on curbing internet gambling (similar to what happened when this type of legislation came up about three years ago, only this time with exemptions for horse and dog racing also…don’t want to do anything to financially hurt those existing types of gambling, I suppose).

It sounds like the point of this bill is to make it look like fraud is being kept out of the whole process of gambling online (and absolving large financial services concerns from any liability by keeping them out of it, officially), though I wonder just what kind of loopholes are contained in it that are ripe for exploitation (the phrase “most gambling operations” is a telling one as far as I’m concerned).

I tried to learn more about why Andrews, Holden, and Lo Biondo voted against it, but I was unsuccessful, unless it is merely because they oppose gambling in principle.

Senate

• Commuter rail security. On a 50-50 vote, the Senate on Wednesday defeated an amendment to increase, from a committee-approved $150 million figure to $1.15 billion, spending for fiscal 2007 to protect mass-transit and inter-city rail systems against terrorists. The amendment was proposed to the Homeland Security Department's fiscal 2007 budget (HR 5441).

A yes vote backed the amendment.

All Philadelphia-area senators voted yes.

As Joe Biden, among others, has pointed out, Bushco and the Repugs have invested $25 billion in airline security since 9/11, but only $600 million for rail and transit systems that carry a lot more passengers.

I haven’t been able to track down a record of the vote on this one. My guess is that it was scuttled by the usual Repug wackos, and probably with Ben Nelson helping out too for good measure.

• Gun confiscation. Voting 84-16, the Senate on Thursday passed an amendment to HR 5441 (above) to bar law enforcement officials and other first responders from seizing citizens' legally possessed firearms in official disaster zones such as post-Katrina New Orleans.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.), Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Voting no: Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Somehow I think that, in the middle of another disaster such as Katrina (and God help us if we have another one, but we have to prepare for that likelihood), police and especially first responders are going to be more preoccupied with rescuing people, providing medical assistance and getting them to safety than trying to take their legally purchased firearms, but our politicians have to throw a bone to the growling mongrel otherwise known as the NRA leadership from time to time, or else they’ll be snubbed when they need a campaign contribution (and again, it’s a mystery to me why the MBNA twins don’t get that).

• Mexican border fence. Voting 29-71, the Senate on Thursday rejected an amendment to HR 5441 (above) authorizing Homeland Security to build 370 miles of fencing and hundreds of miles of vehicle barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border. The $1.8 billion cost was to have been funded by an across-the-board cut in other Homeland Security programs.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Carper and Santorum.

Voting no: Biden, Lautenberg, Menendez and Specter.

What planet is Tom Carper on, given the fact that he actually voted for this in light of the fact that most illegal/undocumented workers are flown in anyway?

And as far as Little Ricky is concerned, click here.

• Prescription drug imports. The Senate on Tuesday voted, 68-32, to let U.S. citizens import Food and Drug Administration-approved prescription drugs from countries such as Canada without interference from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The amendment was attached to HR 5441 (above).

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Biden, Carper, Lautenberg, Menendez and Specter.

Voting no: Santorum.

And as far as Little Ricky is concerned, click here (yes, this is a recording...and he actually is wondering why he’s trailing Casey by double digits?).

This week. The House will take up a Pledge of Allegiance measure and a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage. The Senate will debate stem-cell research.

The House, as you can see, is plainly stuck in its election-year agenda, though at least the Senate ended up doing the right thing before Dubya’s latest embarrassment.