Where The Rubber Meets The Road (11/23/07)

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 funds, Iraq pullout. The House passed, 218-203, and sent to the Senate a bill that paired $50 billion in war spending with a nonbinding call to pull most U.S. troops from Iraq by Dec. 15, 2008.

A yes vote was to pass HR 4156.

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.).

Hey Repugs, this CNN story tells us that 68 percent of those polled opposed the war, a record high. And support for the war has dropped from 34 percent to 31 percent (probably those who think “the surge” is working solely because our troops' casualties are down recently, though 2007 will still mark the highest number of any troop fatalities in the war).

Clueless idiots all.

Surveillance. The House passed, 227-189, and sent to the Senate a bill that would give the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the power to approve electronic spying on terrorism suspects. The bill requires probable-cause warrants for surveillance, except in dire emergencies.

A yes vote was to pass HR 3773.

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

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

And in a related story, as they say, it looks like new AG Michael Mukasey may be surprising us a bit here by investigating Dubya’s warrantless spying program (though you should still “color my cynical” here; I’m preparing to expect the usual “eyewash” stuff from this bunch, but you never know).

Mortgage oversight. The House passed, 291-127, and sent to the Senate a bill to increase federal regulation of the lending practices now devastating the U.S. housing market. The bill, in part, curbs subprime lending and requires states to license all types of mortgage providers.

A yes vote was to pass HR 3915.

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

Voting no: Pitts and Saxton.

Pitts should follow Saxton out the door for this loathsome vote on top of his many, many others (more here from Paul Krugman today).

Update 11/26/07: By the way, in Krugman's column, he notes that John Edwards has a plan to make corporations manage themselves more responsibily; more information on that can be found here.

Domestic spending veto. In a 277-141 vote, the House failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to override President Bush's veto of a bill appropriating $606 billion in 2008 for the Departments of Education, Labor and Health and Human Services.

A yes vote was to override Bush's veto of HR 3043.

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

Voting no: Pitts and Saxton.

See above minus the Krugman reference – sometimes it just gets tiresome to point out how wretched those two are.

Senate

War funds, Iraq pullout. The Senate failed, 53-45, to reach the 60 votes needed to advance a House-passed bill (HR 4156, above) appropriating an additional $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while setting a goal of pulling most troops out of Iraq by Dec. 15, 2008.

A yes vote was to advance the bill.

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

Voting no: Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

And as a reminder, I should note that the 60 votes were required to prevent the Repug filibuster.

And I have a question; can someone please review the vote total from this link and tell me why the hell Chris Dodd voted no?

And as always, screw you, Arlen.

Farming. The Senate failed, 55-42, to reach the 60 votes needed to advance a new farm bill projected to cost $286 billion over five years. The bill would extend the current system of payments and subsidies for growers of major crops, such as cotton, corn, rice, wheat and soybeans; renew nutrition programs, such as Food Stamps; promote land conservation and rural development; and provide special funding for fruit and vegetable growers.

A yes vote was to advance HR 2419.

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

Voting no: Specter.

Depending on who you talk to, the hangup here is either over a renewable fuels standard or excessive Repug amendments added to the bill (Repug pretty boy John Thune of South Dakota is blaming Harry Reid, which, despite my misgivings over his “leadership,” makes me sympathetic to Reid).

And, once more for Black Friday, screw you, Arlen.

Congress is now in recess until Dec. 3.