Last week, I assigned myself the task of summarizing every single awful No vote by U.S. House Repug Joe Pitts in his re-election bid against challenger Bruce Slater (prompted by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s completely expected endorsement of Pitts in PA-16 and Jim Gerlach in PA-06), and believe me when I tell you that that was an experience that I don’t want to endure again for a good while (I hope the post was illuminating to some degree).Well, I now have the much happier task of reviewing the many positive votes (mostly) by Dem U.S. House Rep Patrick Murphy for PA-08 since his swearing-in as a member of the 110th Congress. Let’s begin…
And believe it or not, that’s about all I can come up with (tongue in cheek – I was beginning to wonder if this would ever end).He voted for better ethics rules and earmark reform (here). He introduced legislation to end the practice of “supplemental” budget appropriations for the Iraq war (here). He supported a nonbinding measure (H Con Res 63) opposing President Bush's decision to add 21,500 combat troops to Iraq and pledged congressional support of troops deployed there as well as veterans of the war (here). He voted for the Employee Free Choice Act (here). He voted to approve budgets totaling $280 million for standing committees and to establish a special advisory panel on global warming (here). He supported a bill to extend whistle-blower protections to civil servants at national security agencies, employees of government contractors, and federal workers who expose the distortion of scientific data for political purposes (here). He stood up again in support of our troops in Iraq (here). He voted against the Democratic budget here because he believed it was too much of a giveaway, which was a noble effort (though again, I think any politician in the U.S. Congress is going to have a problem honoring a pledge to uphold the budgetary line; not absolving fiscal mismanagement, but only acknowledging the reality – more here). He flip-flopped on the Delete Online Predators Act that he opposed when running against Mikey Fitzpatrick, a comparatively minor disagreement in the scheme of things, IMHO here (though there were some bigger ones, some of which were inevitable). He supported a bill that would spend $562 million over six years to make the Small Business Administration more responsive to companies harmed by natural disasters (he also supported another attempt to impose an Iraq troop withdrawal timeline – both here). He voted to expand the federal law against hate crimes to include offenses based on sexual orientation, gender or disability (and freed up more grant money for that purpose here). He voted for a bill to remedy illegal or unethical practices in the federal student loan program; also voted to grant civil-service job safeguards to 170,000 DHS employees (here). He supported a troop withdrawal timeline in the Iraq Supplemental bill upon which the Dems caved in the face of yet another hissy fit from Commander Codpiece (noted here). He voted to present a plan for relocating all detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (including data such as the number of prisoners being held without charges, though he opposed videotaping prisoner interrogations, curiously enough – here). He did a lot of good things to support the environment here. He opposed an Iraq war funding bill without a troop withdrawal timeline again here. This also shows how Patrick supports our veterans (here also). He wisely voted against reviving the Iraq Study Group here (a truly rare instance where he sided with Joe Pitts). He voted against raising congressional pay here. He voted for the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 - this bill passed the House with wide bipartisan support; it provided the single largest investment in higher education since the GI Bill (here). He and the congressional Dems voted to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations here. He authored two measures for inclusion into the Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2007; a permanent program that would identify active duty military members at risk of homelessness, and a proposal for the Veterans Administration to make its homeless veterans programs more accommodating for female veterans (here). He secured more earmarked funding than any other U.S. House representative from this area (and read this and try telling me why this is a bad thing). He endorsed Barack Obama for president here, which to me is true prescience despite what I said at the time (and no, I don’t care that PA went for Hillary Clinton – the Dems are coming home to their candidates and the Repugs mostly to theirs, though the people in the middle are going to decide things next Tuesday, as is usually the case). He tried to secure a quarter of a million dollars to help prevent gang violence here. He attended a working session/fundraiser with former Bucks Repug State Senator Joe Conti (the whole “reaching across the aisle” thing) here. He sponsored the National Flood Insurance Advocate, an independent office within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to help direct home owners and business owners through the often confusing national flood insurance program (here). He voted to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (here). He tried to pass the Clean Railroads Act which would close a long-existing loophole in federal law that “(allows) rail companies to run roughshod over state and local laws and the will of a community” (here). He offered to help launch an Army Corps of Engineers study of the Delaware River, even though the Bucks County commissioners (Repugs Cawley and Martin by name) refused to help fund this critical initiative; significant federal funding would not arrive to the district unless the study was completed first (here). He voted for legislation to raise the minimum wage (here). He voted for a bill expanding Trade Adjustment Assistance and extending the program to include workers in service industries and some government employees (here). He voted for a fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax, opposed by Dubya and the Repugs because it more than doubled taxes on hedge-fund and private-equity fund managers (wonder if anyone would have a problem with that now? – here). He voted for a bill to increase federal regulation of the lending practices now devastating the U.S. housing market (see above – here). He held a congressional field hearing to discuss ways to improve response to disasters at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center just outside Doylestown (PA) (here). He voted to raise vehicle mileage requirements by 40 percent by 2020, boost residential and industrial energy-efficiency standards, phase out the incandescent light bulbs now used in most U.S. homes, and increase production of ethanol and other biofuels sixfold by 2022 (here). He helped to let a veteran know he was exempt from property taxes when the man was not informed to that effect by the VA (here). He voted to override one of Dubya’s SCHIP vetoes here. He authored the Truth in Tuition measure added to the College Opportunity and Affordability Act that passed in the House in February; the Act forced all colleges and universities, both public and private, to publicly explain the reasons behind a tuition increase (and he also opposed the resolution honoring the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, the act of a true Philly homeboy - both here). He coauthored the Improper Payments Elimination and Recover Act of 2008, introduced in the U.S. House with Repug Brian Billbray of California; it required government agencies to report any improper payments involved in projects funded through those agencies that exceed $10 million or represented 2.5 percent of total project funding (also required the agencies to recover funding if they overspend by $1 million or more – here). He voted to override Dubya’s veto of a fiscal 2008 intelligence budget (HR 2082) that required CIA personnel to obey the Army Field Manual's ban on waterboarding and other forms of torture of prisoners (here). He played a big role in wrapping up the Washington’s Crossing Veterans Cemetery matter, a true bipartisan effort (and to be fair, Mikey Fitzpatrick worked on that also – here). He obtained more financial aid for the children of police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel killed in the line of duty (here). He handled himself well on “The Colbert Report” here (or at least I thought so anyway). He cosponsored the Safe Climate Act here. He advocated suspending gas and diesel taxes over last summer, along with Tom Manion (another disagreement with yours truly – here). He voted to direct the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to adopt rules for controlling combustible dust at factories (here). He introduced an amendment to a housing bill authorizing $7,500 tax credits for first-time homebuyers and allowing homeowners who don't itemize deductions to claim as much as $700 of their property taxes as a federal tax deduction (here). He supported Amtrak consumer fare cuts and supported efforts to add additional stops at the Cornwells Heights, PA station (also helped obtain a glucose monitor for a constituent family member suffering from juvenile diabetes, both here). He voted against a Dem spending bill that would have guaranteed a $340 billion deficit here. He voted to shelve the Dennis Kucinich resolution presenting 35 articles of impeachment against Dubya (yes, I understand the political cost, but it was still the wrong vote – here). He voted for the sham FISA bill here (and he defended his vote here). He supported cutting back on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to lower gas prices here. He voted to negate Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed the types of disabilities and number of disabled workers protected by the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (here). He voted to repeal subsidies to oil companies in favor of investing in alternative energy here. He voted to give oil companies a "use it or lose it" mandate to either drill on federal land they have leased or give up the right to do so (also voted to override Dubya’s veto of a bill cancelling a 10 percent payment cut to doctors, both here). He opposed a windfall oil profits tax (along with both Manion and Lingenfelter; another disagreement – here). He voted to direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to curb "excessive speculation" in the oil futures market that can lead to higher gas prices (also voted to bolster the federal law that bans pay discrimination based on gender – both here). He voted to remove most restrictions on gun possession in the District of Columbia (a most definite disagreement – here). He voted to set pro-consumer rules for credit-card firms (here).
I should also point out that I didn’t pay much attention to the whole “earmarks” thing because I thought it was a nonissue since they were disclosed. Also, I had nothing to say on the whole “book deal” matter, since there was never anything there to begin with as far as I’m concerned.
For anyone living in PA-08 who may be reading this, I hope this gives you more than enough reason to send Patrick Murphy back to Washington as our congressman next Tuesday (to help, click here, and here’s a message).
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