Where The Rubber Meets The Road (3/20/08)

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.

Torture ban, spy budget veto. In a 225-188 vote, the House failed to reach a two-thirds majority for overriding President Bush's veto of a fiscal 2008 intelligence budget (HR 2082) that requires CIA personnel to obey the Army Field Manual's ban on waterboarding and other forms of torture of prisoners.

A yes vote was to override the veto.

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.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

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

Not voting: Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.) and Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.).

But not to worry; CIA head Gen. Michael Hayden (and those two titles combined will never sound right or sit right with me, by the way) said he only did it three times. Fortunately for us, though, he apparently didn’t destroy any record of that activity (did he?) as he did here.

And it’s easy to chastise the typical gaggle of Republican idiots for voting against this, but instead, I want to compliment Chris Smith on what was truly a gutsy vote.

Government surveillance. In a 213-197 vote, the House passed a bill (HR 3773) extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until Dec. 31, 2009.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

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

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

As mcjoan of The Daily Kos says here, one of the benefits of the bill is that it "puts the decision on whether the cases go forward where it belongs: in the hands of a judge instead of the administration or the Congress."

(And by the way, I mean no offense to Patrick Murphy when I say that I can’t understand how he can continue to include himself in a group of people that would tolerate someone like Jim Cooper.)

Ethics and rules dispute. The House voted, 207-206, to advance a measure (H Res 1031) establishing an outside panel, the Office of Congressional Ethics, to help police the conduct of its membership.

A yes vote was to advance the measure.

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

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

Nice to know that Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton and Smith are so above-board at all times. May they remain that way or face hell’s fury from the voters instead.

2009-2013 federal budget. In a 212-207 vote, the House approved a five-year Democratic budget (H Con Res 312) that for 2009 projects $3.06 trillion in spending, a $340.4 billion deficit, and $216.8 billion in interest payments on the national debt.

A yes vote backed the Democrats' budget.

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

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

Not enough corporate tax cuts for the Repugs, I suppose; at least the Dems didn’t leave this on the table as the Repugs did with 9 of 11 appropriations bills after they lost Congress in November 2006.

Update 3/25/08: The Inquirer noted the change related to Patrick Murphy's vote in a "Clearing The Record" column today.

Senate

Ban on earmarks. Senators refused, in a 29-71 vote, to ban earmarks from the fiscal 2009 budget resolution (S Con Res 70).

A yes vote backed the moratorium.

Voting no: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.), Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Wow, a shocking display of uniformity, I must say (and once again, earmarks are fine as far as I’m concerned…if they’re fully disclosed).

2009-2013 federal budget. In a 51-44 vote, the Senate approved a fiscal 2009-2013 budget (S Con Res 70) that will be reconciled with a similar House measure.

A yes vote was to approve the Democratic budget.

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

Voting no: Specter.

As always, screw you, Arlen (and I’m still waiting to hear more details on that book of yours, by the way).

Tax-change obstacle. In a 58-40 vote, the Senate failed to get 60 votes needed to apply the pay-as-you-go rule to tax-code changes as well as spending increases. This was an attempt by Republicans to block the Democrats' plan to allow Bush administration tax cuts for the well off to expire after 2010. Under the "pay-go" rule, 60 Senate votes would be required to allow those tax cuts to expire.

A yes vote opposed applying pay-go to tax changes.

Voting yes: Specter.

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

Kudos to the Inky for a change for fully explaining what this little maneuver was all about (as always with Our Man Arlen, it’s one step forward and at least one step back).