Where The Rubber Meets The Road (3/30/07)

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

House

War funding, withdrawal. The House passed, 218-212, and sent to the Senate a bill (HR 1591) to appropriate an additional $100 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq while requiring withdrawal of most U.S. forces from Iraq to begin by March 2008.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

This is what happens when the voters of this country decided to install the Democrats in charge of the House, as Patrick Murphy notes here (and count on the Repugs to do the wrong thing; to a man, they sold out our military and our country yet again).

Gulf Coast recovery. The House passed, 302-125, and sent to the Senate (HR 1227) a bill to ease federal housing rules and authorize funds to speed the Gulf Coast's slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina 19 months ago.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Pitts.

For this particularly shameful no vote, I dedicate the following to Joe Pitts…

Senate

U.S. attorneys. Senators voted, 94-2, to repeal a USA Patriot Act provision used by the Bush administration to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation. The vote on S 214, which now goes to the House, was to close a loophole central to the ongoing dispute over the administration's firing of U.S. attorneys.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey Jr. (D., Pa.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Not voting: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.).

As noted previously, Chuck Hagel and Kit Bond voted against this, thus incurring my wrath (for whatever that’s worth), though Hagel more than made up for it with his courageous vote on the Iraq Supplemental in the Senate.

Spending plan. The Senate passed, 52-47, a budget (S Con Res 21) calling for $2.9 trillion in federal spending in the 2008 fiscal year, which begins in October. Nonmilitary spending would increase by $18 billion under the plan, about a 4 percent increase that is much larger than passed in recent years by GOP-controlled Congresses.

A yes vote was to approve the budget.

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

Voting no: Specter.

This provides more information on the budget resolution.

I am absolutely at a loss to understand, by the way, why Specter would vote No here, especially since he won unanimous support for an amendment to this resolution that sets up a fund to help asbestos victims, as noted here (of course, the press release contains typically pejorative Repug BS about “an irrational tort system”).

Tobacco tax increase. Senators voted, 59-40, to raise the U.S. tax on a package of cigarettes from 39 cents to $1 and to dedicate the $20 billion-plus in new revenue over five years to a federal program that funds health insurance for poor children. The vote amended SCR 21 (above).

All Philadelphia-area senators voted to raise tobacco taxes.

Medicare drug premiums. The Senate defeated, 52-44, a proposal to require individuals with incomes over $80,000 and couples above $160,000 to pay higher premiums for the Medicare prescription-drug program. The vote occurred during debate on the federal budget (SCR 21, above).

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Lautenberg, Menendez and Specter.

Not voting: Biden.

It’s called political survival (re: the Medicare vote).

Social Security surpluses. The Senate defeated, 52-45, an amendment to SCR 21 (above) to stop the practice of Social Security surpluses' being spent as part of the federal budget's general funds.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Specter.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Lautenberg and Menendez.

Not voting: Biden.

This was Amendment 472 sponsored by John Ensign of Nevada and co-sponsored by Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Huckleberry Graham of South Carolina, all Repugs, and I have to admit that I’m not sure if I oppose this or not.

Of course, Al Gore once talked about a Social Security “lockbox” and was promptly ridiculed during the 2000 presidential campaign by Chimpy, so the Repugs should consider this as a bit of payback.

This week, the House considered the fiscal 2008-2012 budget resolution. The Senate took up an Iraq funding and troop-withdrawal measure.