Where The Rubber Meets The Road (2/12/10)

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 (and I also posted here).

House

National debt limit. Members voted, 217-212, to raise the U.S. debt limit by $1.9 trillion to $14.29 trillion. The measure was then joined to a "pay as you go" bill (below) and sent to President Obama.

A yes vote was to raise the federal debt limit.

Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: John Adler (D., N.J.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

This vote by Patrick Murphy earned the praise of the Bucks County Courier Times this morning (here), a paper whose readership is composed largely of retired or nearly-retired Republican individuals who don’t want to spend dime one on anything they see as some dastardly liberal plot. And in the same column praising Patrick, they also found a way to compliment Mikey Fitzpatrick, of course, as if he were the very model of financial prudence.

But it’s a funny thing – I happened to come across this post which mentioned some of the appropriations Fitzpatrick managed to bring home to PA-08 while he served in Congress. And I would really appreciate it if Fitzpatrick made it clear to us how many of these were achieved through the earmarks the Courier Times so despises…

• $1.25 million for a state-of-the-art fire training center in Lower Bucks County

• $250,000 grant for the Bristol Borough Police Department which will upgrade the department’s crime fighting technology infrastructure

• $425,000 for the Bristol Weed and Seed Program and Neighborhood One Project

• $450,000 to expand the capacity of Street Road by creating additional thru lanes and turning lanes

• $3.5 million to install bus shelters and transit signage, expand parking lots and improve bus access station improvements at Croydon and Levittown Stations In Bucks County

• $3 million for the Neshaminy Creek Flood Mitigation Program in Bucks County

• $50,000 to restore the historic Andalusia property

• $40,000 to restore the historic Delaware Canal

• $2.4 million for transportation enhancements along the Delaware Canal between Yardley and Bristol

• $5.9 million for US Route 13 corridor reconstruction, redevelopment and beautification

• $250,000 grant for Bucks County to distribute to police departments to upgrade the departments crime fighting technology infrastructure

• $1.6 million for Route 313 turning lanes, truck climbing lanes in Doylestown, Plumstead and Hilltown Township

• $750,000 for the September 11 th Garden of Reflection Memorial

• $3.3 million for the Swamp Road Improvement Project

• $300,000 for the Quakertown Rail Investment Study

• $10 million for the Pennsylvania Turnpike- I-95 Interchange Project in Bucks County

• $50,000 to restore the historic Honey Hollow property

• $220,000 for a virtual business incubator at Delaware Valley College

• $750,000 for an array of construction, infrastructure improvement and tourism projects along the 160 mile Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Trail

• $2 million for a two-lane extension of Bristol Road from US 202 to Park Avenue, Chalfont and New Britain

Sooo…if Fitzpatrick manages to bring home $300 grand for a Quakertown, PA rail study, for example, that’s providing good constituent service. However, if Patrick Murphy provides $100,000 for the Edgely Fire Department, then that’s engaging in wasteful spending…???

"Pay as you go." Members passed, 233-187, a rule under which tax cuts or entitlement spending hikes must be offset. If they are not offset, 60 Senate votes and a House majority would be needed to approve them.

A yes vote was to enact "pay as you go."

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

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

As noted here, the House merely followed their Senate peers on this one, voting for it before they voted against it, if you will.

Cybersecurity programs. Members authorized, 422-5, $396 million in National Science Foundation grants to boost cybersecurity research and instruction at universities.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

And Joe Pitts voted yes for cyber security? Sweet Mother of Abraham Lincoln! Nancy Pelosi must have slipped him a “mickey” or something :-).

Senate

Patricia Smith confirmation. Senators voted, 60-37, to confirm New York Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith as the Department of Labor solicitor. This followed the GOP's nine-month delay of her nomination.

A yes vote was to confirm Smith.

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 (D., Pa.).

Martha Johnson confirmation. Senators voted, 82-16, to end a GOP filibuster against the nomination of Martha N. Johnson to head the General Services Administration. She was then confirmed, 96-0, eight months after she was nominated.

A yes vote was to advance the nomination.

Voting yes: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez and Specter.

Oh, and before I forget, here's wishing Snarlin' Arlen a happy 80th (here).

This week, the House debated the 2010 intelligence budget and whether to end the health-insurance industry's antitrust exemption. The Senate took up a jobs bill.