Where The Rubber Meets The Road (4/25/08)

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.

House

Privatized tax collection. The House repealed, 238-179, a 2004 law used by the Internal Revenue Service to hire private firms for collecting delinquent taxes. These firms have taken in far less than they have cost the government, although backers say their performance will improve. Now before the Senate, the bill (HR 5719) also requires that withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts be accompanied by documentation that the money will be spent on health care.

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.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

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

The ’04 bill became law in 2004 as noted here and was praised by former IRS commissioner Mark Everson, which means immediately that it was a mistake (haven't heard much from him since he resigned from the Red Cross for having a pre-Spitzer "personal relationship with a female subordinate" while married here; at least he had the decency to step down, unlike a certain Louisiana senator).

Good job by Congress to tighten this up (and kudos in particular to Repugs Smith and LoBiondo for doing the right thing – definitely a “no-brainer” vote for a Dem).

Global debt relief. The House voted, 285-132, to nearly double the number of poor nations eligible to receive international debt forgiveness if they use the freed-up funds for purposes such as improving living conditions, democratizing their governments, and combating terrorism. The bill (HR 2634) is a first step toward qualifying up to 25 countries for the 12-year-old Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, which is run by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Andrews, Castle, Gerlach, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz, Sestak, Smith.

Voting no: Dent, LoBiondo, Pitts and Saxton.

As the AFL-CIO tells us here…

Some of the world’s most impoverished nations are paying so much in debt service to wealthy nations and institutions such as the World Bank that their governments cannot provide access to clean water, adequate housing or basic health care.

In fact, these nations already have paid back their debts time and again. But skyrocketing interest rates and compound interest make repayment impossible. For example, in 1970–2002, Africa received some $540 billion in loans and paid back $550 billion in principal and interest. Yet today, Africa remains burdened by a debt of $295 billion.

…

The United Nations estimated in 2003 that 30,000 children die each day due to preventable diseases. Debt service payments take resources that impoverished countries could use to cure these illnesses.

The legislation, which the AFL-CIO strongly supports, would cancel impoverished country debt; remove harmful economic policy conditions from the cancellation process; mandate transparency and accountability from both governments and international financial institutions; and establish a framework for more responsible and transparent lending practices in the future.

I know John Edwards, among others, has talked about restoring our moral credibility in the world, and signing this bill into law will be a step along that looong journey (though I’m sure George W. Milhous Bush won’t lend his signature to it...269 days to go, people).

And votes like this make me really wish that Chris Smith weren’t such an anti-choice zealot, since he truly “stands up” on a host of other issues (and as soon as LoBiondo does something good with 5719, he does something bad here; and do you really have to wonder about Pancake Joe Pitts on this, Mr. “Human Rights” – to help Bruce Slater, click here).

Student loan expansion. Voting 383-27, the House passed a bill (HR 5713) increasing by $2,000 per year the ceiling on the so-called Stafford Loans that students obtain from private lenders. At present, the ceiling on such loans ranges from $3,500 per year to $10,500 per year for undergraduates and higher for graduate students.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Senate

Highway, transit spending. Voting 88-2, the Senate passed a bill (HR 1195) that would speed the release of billions of dollars of previously authorized funds for highway and transit projects. Now headed to a House-Senate conference, the bill gives a green light to hundreds of earmarked projects and makes technical changes to expedite spending on other projects.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (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.).

And by the way, for the record, Repugs Judd Gregg and Jim DeMint voted no; guess our crumbling infrastructure isn’t important to those guys.

This week, the House debated the Coast Guard budget and a bill on contractor fraud, while the Senate considered a bill on veterans' benefits in areas such as housing, insurance and pensions (I believe it passed - we'll find out).