Where The Rubber Meets The Road (5/25/07)

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 correction. In last Sunday's Inquirer, incorrect information was provided about the House's vote on Iraq war funding. Here is the correct information: The House passed, 221-205, and sent to the Senate a bill to release $96 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan war funding in two steps. About $43 billion would be provided immediately and $53 billion in July if President Bush certifies Iraq has met certain benchmarks.

A yes vote was to pass the bill (HR 2206).

Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), 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.).

Not voting: Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.) and Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.).

Glad the Inky straightened that out so Joe Pitts knew what he voted “no” to.

Federal budget. The House approved, 214-209, the conference report on a five-year budget that for 2008 projects $2.9 trillion in spending, a $252 billion deficit, full funding of President Bush's defense request, and more than he seeks for domestic items.

A yes vote was to approve the conference report on the budget (SCR 21).

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Schwartz and Sestak.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Saxton and Smith.

Though I think it was good on balance for Patrick Murphy to join the Blue Dog coalition, I haven’t seen him line up with Tim Holden, his sponsor into that clique, on too many votes, so I’m not sure how good a fit Patrick is for those people (and I mean that as a credit to Patrick, by the way – I noted his vote on this last week but really haven’t seen any follow-up in the media since).

Defense budget. The House passed, 397-27, and sent to the Senate a $646 billion military budget for 2008. The bill authorizes $142 billion for ongoing warfare, raises military pay 3.5 percent, and orders the most thorough evaluation since 1947 of the U.S. military's core mission.

All Philadelphia-area representatives voted for the bill (HR 1585).

Iran attack ban. The House defeated, 288-136, a measure stipulating that no funds in HR 1585 (above) could be used to attack Iran except in response to an Iranian strike against the United States.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Brady, Fattah and Schwartz.

Voting no: Andrews, Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Saxton, Sestak and Smith.

I thought this was a bit interesting, partly that Allyson Schwartz, who voted for the Iraq Supplemental without a timeline for withdrawal, now voted (wisely, I think) to tie Dubya’s hands concerning involvement with Iran.

As for those who voted no, including Patrick Murphy (more on the amendment here), I can imagine that they didn’t want to set a bad precedent. However, I fail to understand how they cannot see that Bushco’s wretched reign has been full of bad precedents, and anything they could possibly do to prevent this narcissistic, delusional head case from starting what would be an almost biblical slaughter at the hands of Iran (yes, I really said that – THEY haven’t had their military hammered in the Middle East for over four years now) would be welcome.

This was another bad development for Democrats in what has been a truly dark last few days, and they brought it on themselves.

Interrogation videotapes. The House rejected, 229-199, a proposal to require that the U.S. military's prisoner interrogations be videotaped and that prisoners in U.S. custody be given access to international humanitarian officials.

A yes vote was to add the amendment to HR 1585 (above).

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Fattah, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts and Saxton.

Wow – how could Chris Smith do the right thing here while Patrick didn’t?

A minute ago, I said Patrick and Tim Holden hadn’t lined up in their votes much. I really wish they hadn’t done so here.

Guantanamo Bay. The House voted 220-208 to require the Bush administration to present a plan for relocating all detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The document is to include data such as the number of prisoners being held without charges.

A yes vote backed the amendment to HR 1585 (above).

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz and Sestak.

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

Glad to see somewhat of a return to sanity and the partisan status quo here (with the Repugs showing their true colors, as always).

Senate

Iraq war funding. The Senate defeated, 67-29, a measure to start a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq within 120 days and stop war funding by March 31, 2008. The amendment was offered to a water projects bill (HR 1495) that later passed.

A yes vote was to stop funding the Iraq war.

Voting yes: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Voting no: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey Jr. (D., Pa.), and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

This was Reid-Feingold, of course (noted here and here - and by the way, Carper is a coward also, but we already knew that).

Iraq benchmarks. In a 52-44 vote, the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes needed to approve a proposed cutoff of nonmilitary reconstruction funds to Iraq unless the government there meets certain political and security benchmarks. The vote occurred during debate on HR 1495 (above).

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Specter.

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

As noted here…

(Sen. John) Warner’s amendment would require the president to produce reports in July and September on the Iraqi government’s progress toward certain benchmarks, and unless he certified that they were moving forward, reconstruction aid would be withheld. But the president could waive that sanction.

More toothless nonsense…

Federal budget. The Senate approved, 52-40, the conference report on budget plan for fiscal 2008-2012 (SCR 21, above).

A yes vote was to adopt the budget plan.

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

Voting no: Specter.

This week, both chambers sent to Dubya the revised $96 billion war appropriations bill. The House debated lobbying rules, while the Senate took up immigration reform and a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Abu Gonzalez.