Where The Rubber Meets The Road (2/11/09)

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 (given my likely sporadic posting for the rest of this week, I’d better get this done now).

House

Children's health insurance. Voting 290-135, the House sent President Obama a bill (HR 2) expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) coverage from 6.6 million children to about 11 million children.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., 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: Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.).

And upon passage, the bill was signed into law by President Obama; as noted here (registration required - sorry):

"Today's reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program is a victory for the children of this country. With the stroke of President Obama's pen, states now have the funds to provide insurance coverage to more than 11 million children nationwide. During uncertain economic times, the White House and Congress have come together to wisely prioritize children's health," David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, AAP president, said in a statement.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) had a similar positive response. "Passage of this bill addresses an urgent need to cover children who fell 'between the cracks' and were not receiving any health insurance coverage," Kristin Kroeger Ptakowski, AACAP's senior deputy executive director, told Medscape Psychiatry.

The funding increase, by the way, will be covered by an increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, as noted in the story.

Also, I’m pretty sure that this is at least the sixth time that Joe Pitts has voted against SCHIP, though fortunately, the bill passed in spite of his obstruction.

How any voter can profess to have a single brain cell of intelligence and continue to vote for this cretin in light of this is something I will never, ever understand.

Digital TV delay. Voting 264-158, the House sent Obama a bill (S 352) that would delay from Feb. 17 to June 12 the deadline for converting over-the-air U.S. television signals from analog to digital. But the bill allows individual stations to switch before the new deadline, and many have announced they will do so.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, LoBiondo, Murphy, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith. Voting no: Adler, Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden and Pitts.

As noted here by New York Times columnist Gail Collins, the conversion was a total mess anyway (thanks again, 109th Congress!), so this will buy needed time.

Updste 2/12/09: And speaking of the House, kudos to Patrick Murphy, among others, for helping to block a House congressional pay raise here.

Senate

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Voting 75-21, senators confirmed Eric H. Holder Jr. as the 82d U.S. attorney general and the first African American in that post. A yes vote was to confirm Holder.

Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Ted Kaufman (D., Del.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Yep, I tend to go with the assessment from d-day and Crooks and Liars here that Specter backed off on Holder due to the fact that wingnut Pat Toomey declared he wouldn’t “primary” Specter, and the only reason why Specter would challenge Holder is to burnish his wingnut “cred.”

However, I have a feeling that Specter’s admittedly courageous vote on the stimulus that just passed the Senate (here, jumping ahead a bit) will earn him a primary challenger anyway (welcome to Republican Land, where the only “benefit” of doing the right thing is to get yourself utterly hosed).

"Buy American." Voting 31-65, the Senate refused to strip a pending $900 billion-plus economic-stimulus measure (HR 1) of a "Buy American" requirement for public-works projects funded by the bill.

A yes vote opposed the "Buy American" provision.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez and Specter.

The fact that anyone would propose an amendment like this was so unbelievable to me that I did some checking to find out who sponsored it. And guess who did?

John W. McBush, that’s who!

Yeah, the guy chiming in on the wingnut chorus that the just-passed stimulus bill was “generational theft,”; in response, he and his fellow clueless Repug Arizona Senator Jon Kyl should take a look at this.

And this provides more background on McBush’s criticism of “Buy American” provisions.

“Wow,” indeed.

Republican tax cuts. Voting 40-57, the Senate defeated the main Republican alternative to the Democrats' stimulus bill (HR 1, above). The GOP measure was projected to cost $420 billion, including $275 billion in tax cuts.

A yes vote backed the GOP alternative.

Voting yes: Specter.

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

Which would have accomplished absolutely nothing except prolong our economic misery (as always, screw you, Arlen).

This week, the House is taking up a bill to conserve public lands, and both chambers will vote on an economic-stimulus report. At week's end, Congress begins a Presidents' Day recess until Feb. 23.