Where The Rubber Meets The Road (7/6)

As published in last Sunday's Inquirer,here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.

House

Voting rights. The House rejected, 254-167, a proposal to strip the 1965 Voting Rights Act of a requirement that voting officials provide ballot information in multiple languages. The vote occurred during debate on the Justice Department's 2007 budget (HR 5672).

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

Voting yes: Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.) 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.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.)

Not voting: Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) and Tim Holden (D., Pa.).

This amendment even came up in the first place because of an organization called ProEnglish led by someone named KC McAlpin. ProEnglish, according to this Kos link, is one of thirteen like-minded organizations founded by anti-immigrant advocate John Tanton. Tanton's multi-million dollar web of groups includes not only ProEnglish and another group called NumbersUSA, but also the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Anyway, a form letter was generated to House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner in response to what should have been an automatic renewal of the act, but instead, the letter proposed removing the multiple languages provision in concert with the anti-immigrant activities of the Tanton organization. Further down in the comments to the Kos story is a list of the House reps who signed the McAlpin letter, and Weldon’s name is on that list (didn’t see Pitts).

Go get ‘em, Joe!.

Medical records. The House defeated, 230-189, a bid to deny funding in HR 5672 (above) for the FBI's issuance of National Security Letters to obtain medical records in terrorism investigations without subpoenas.

A yes vote was to subject the warrantless subpoenas of medical records to secret court review. (A yes vote backed the amendment.)

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah and Schwartz.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Fitzpatrick, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton, Smith and Weldon.

Not voting: Gerlach and Holden.

So basically, this was a vote to make the FBI comply with the law when obtaining medical records in terrorism investigations (could that be MORE OF A BROAD, CATCH-ALL CATEGORY?).

And it failed.

How nice.

Medical marijuana. The House defeated, 259-163, an amendment to HR 5672 (above) to bar federal legal action against patients in the 11 states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes.

A yes vote supported the amendment.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady and Fattah.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Fitzpatrick, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton, Schwartz, Smith and Weldon.

Not voting: Gerlach and Holden.

Oops, sorry...I’m a little late on this because I was tokin’ on a “big fatty,” and I lost my concentration for a minute.

And why exactly are the Repugs the party of “states rights” again? Can someone run that by me one more time?

Pay way too much for gas, become embroiled in war without end, face the prospect of a missile attack on the West Coast, watch our good-paying jobs disappear offshore, deal with global warming and climate change, and keep trying to prosecute cancer patients who are just trying to alleviate their pain.

This whole goddamn country is turning into more and more of a horror movie every day.

Offshore drilling. The House passed, 232-187, and sent to the Senate a bill to end a policy that for a quarter century has banned oil and gas drilling in U.S. coastal waters except the western Gulf of Mexico. The legislation (HR 4761) would permit drilling to within 50 miles of shore unless a state extends the line to 100 miles.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Brady, Dent, Holden and Pitts.

Voting no: Andrews, Castle, Fattah, LoBiondo, Saxton, Schwartz, Smith and Weldon.

Not voting: Fitzpatrick and Gerlach.

Let’s just start ripping up all of our coastlines to feed our oil dependency, shall we? Let’s just DESPOIL EVERYTHING AND EXACERBATE THE PRODUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GASES THAT ARE SLOWLY KILLING US, OK??!!

Concerning the yes votes, I should mention that, some weeks ago, Joe Pitts voted against HR 5253 directing the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and prosecute price-gouging by sellers of gasoline and other fuels. He was the only one from this area who did, though, and the vote passed. Now, he’s voting to rip up our coastlines.

Is a Democrat running against this guy? If anyone knows who that may be, please let me know so I can do all I can to help this person.

Also, though I’ve beaten up on Mikey for a variety of reasons, he has done some good things on the environment. I don’t think he would have voted yes, but we’ll never know, will we?

Press condemnation. The House passed, 227-183, a nonbinding resolution (H Res 895) to condemn newspapers for publishing stories on a classified antiterrorism program that tracks global banking transactions.

A yes vote was to pass the resolution.

Voting yes: Castle, Dent, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton, Smith and Weldon.

Voting no: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden and Schwartz.

Not voting: Fitzpatrick and Gerlach.

A totally farcical, party-line vote on this, especially given the fact that Dubya said he would do this anyway shortly after 9/11, and Fitzpatrick was smart to miss it and not look like he’s as big of a yahoo as his Repug brethren (though please understand that this is a tongue-in-cheek remark – it’s not my intent to give Fitzpatrick credit for this).

Senate

Flag amendment. In a 66-34 vote, the Senate failed to get the 67 votes needed to approve a House-passed constitutional amendment (SJ Res 12) allowing Congress to outlaw the desecration of the American flag.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Voting no: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.), Thomas Carper (D., Del.) and Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.).

I can see that Menendez would vote for this as a nod to his immigrant ancestry and the fact that he’s in a race with Baby Kean in New Jersey that will probably heat up big time in the fall, but it was still good that the vote failed…it only becomes an issue in an election year and is made into sport by jingoistic Repug politicians who use it as a means for political cover.

Flag law. The Senate defeated, 64-36, a substitute for SJ Res 12 (above) that sought to punish desecration of the American flag by statute instead of by amending the Constitution. The measure would have criminalized such acts as burning a flag with intent to incite violence, destroying a flag stolen from federal property, or burning a flag at a veteran's funeral.

A yes vote backed the substitute.

Voting yes: Biden, Carper, Lautenberg and Menendez.

Voting no: Santorum and Specter.

This makes eminently more sense, so that’s why the Repugs killed it.

Oman trade accord. The Senate passed, 60-34, and sent to the House a measure (S 3569) implementing a free-trade accord with Oman. The pact would remove or lower duties and tariffs now impeding U.S. trade with the Arab Gulf state.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Santorum and Specter.

Voting no: Biden, Carper, Lautenberg and Menendez.

I thought this was interesting. Part of the reason this would be opposed is because Oman officially boycotts trade with Israel, though according to the information from this link, this has not been enforced since 1994. Also, Democrats have expressed concerns about the alleged use of slave labor in Oman. Finally (again, from the linked text)...

Some concerns have been raised about whether the Oman FTA would allow companies from Oman and companies that conduct business activities in Oman to control U.S. ports. Specifically, the U.S. Schedule of Annex II (Investment and Services Non-Conforming Measures) to the Agreement includes landside aspects of port activities, operation and maintenance of docks, loading and unloading of vessels directly to or from land, marine cargo handling, operation and maintenance of piers, waterfront terminal operations, and other related activities. Under the terms of this Agreement, companies from Oman would be entitled to conduct these activities in the U.S. In light of the of the recent Dubai Ports World experience, concerns have been raised as to whether the Administration would invoke national security provisions or exceptions in the case of foreign acquisitions of strategic infrastructure and assets.

Well, the measure passed anyway, so we’ll see what happens next in the House (and, as the paper noted, Congress is in recess until July 10).