Where The Rubber Meets The Road (3/31/10)

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 (lots going on, mostly related to HCR - and I also posted here)...

House

Health-bill passage. Voting 219-212, the House sent President Obama a Senate-passed bill (HR 3590) overhauling American health care, which he signed into law. The House also sent the Senate a bill (HR 4872, below) containing changes in the new law requested by House Democrats. This year's final health-care law will be a combination of the two measures.

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.), Patrick Murphy (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.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Congratulations to everyone who voted in favor of the most important piece of legislation to emerge from the U.S. Congress in over 40 years, and an utter pox on those who voted No (this tells us the traitorous John Adler has sealed his fate, and to respond to the same awful decision by Tim Holden, click here).

Health-bill changes. The House passed, 220-211, a bill (HR 4872) similar to HR 3590 (above) but with changes designed to attract wavering Democrats. The bill contains an unrelated measure that would shift student loans to a system of direct lending by the Department of Education, excluding the private-sector lenders that now dominate the government program. This would save more than $80 billion over 10 years, with most of the savings used to expand the Pell Grants by which low-income youths pay for college tuition.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

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

And though voting in opposition to this also isn’t quite as bad as opposing health care reform, it still stinks to high Heaven (and even with “Man Tan” Boehner “holding” the private lenders “in his trusted hands,” as noted here, it still passed – good times).

Abortion dispute. Voting 199-232, the House defeated a Republican bid to add antiabortion language to HR 4872 (above). Democrats said that the new health law would contain "Hyde Amendment" language, which bars federal funding of abortions except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother, and that President Obama would reinforce the Hyde policy by executive order.

A yes vote backed the GOP motion.

Voting yes: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Pitts, and Smith.

Voting no: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Murphy, Schwartz, and Sestak.

And what is stated in the writeup is exactly what happened, which is unfortunate, really (meaning that the federal order adhering to "Hyde" was issued...love to see what would happen if men had to jump through the same hoops to get coverage for Cialis or Viagra as women have to jump through for abortion coverage).

Health-care repeal. Voting 184-239 against, the House defeated a bid by Republicans to repeal two revenue provisions of the new health law. The motion to HR 4849 (above) sought to repeal the law's $2,500 cap on contributions to Flexible Spending Accounts as well as its ban on using both FSAs and Health Savings Accounts to pay for over-the-counter drugs.

Voting yes: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, and Smith.

Voting no: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz and Sestak.

Personally, I would like to have seen an amendment introduced banning FSA funds from being used to pay for abortion – maybe someday (not much to say about these votes because, again, except for Adler and Holden, it’s all party-line stuff).

Summer jobs, disaster aid. Voting 239-175, the House sent the Senate a deficit-spending bill (HR 4899) to provide $600 million for summer jobs for youths and $5.1 billion for federal disaster relief. The bill defines the disaster aid as emergency spending and thus exempt from the "pay as you go" law. The bill extends until May a provision of last year's economic stimulus allowing the Small Business Administration to guarantee up to 90 percent of certain loans to companies.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

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

And oh yes, please tell me once more how the Repugs are supposedly “the party of small business” again when they oppose this (And why should the “gumint” have to pay for summer jobs for kids? Let ‘em all clean toilets and pick up trash at McDonald’s, right?)

OK, snark mode off…

Jobs bill. Voting 246-178, the House passed a deficit-neutral bill (HR 4849) providing tax breaks to spur investment in small businesses and public-works construction by states and cities. The $18 billion-plus cost would be offset by other changes in the tax code. Under the bill, those who make certain small-business investments before Dec. 31 would receive a 100 percent exemption from capital-gains taxes on stock held for at least five years.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

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

I guess the “carrot” of the capital gains tax reduction was enough to bring Mike Castle on board; it looks pretty certain that he’ll get the Biden/Kaufman Senate seat and flip it to an “R” this fall, sadly...love to be wrong, though.

(And yet another banner week for Joe Pitts comes to a close; to do something about it, click here.)

Senate

Health-law changes. Senators passed, 56-43, a bill (HR 4872, House vote above) making several changes in the new health law. In part, the changes consist of removing special deals for states such as Florida and Nebraska; increasing Medicaid funding for all states; narrowing the doughnut hole in the Medicare prescription-drug plan; delaying until 2018 a new excise tax on high-end medical insurance, and starting Medicare taxation of well-off taxpayers' investment income. The bill was sent to the House for technical corrections and then to President Obama for his signature.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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.).

This is the “reconciliation” fix that Harry Reid should have sought last year to prevent this soap opera from dragging out for another three months as I and many others called for (of course, I took hallucinogenic drugs and watched “School House Rock” and didn’t know what I was talking about…or something).

Health-law repeal. Voting 58-39, the Senate tabled (killed) a Republican amendment to HR 4872 (above) to immediately repeal the new health law.

A yes vote was to kill the amendment.

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

“Diaper Dave” Vitter, come on down! (re: he sponsored this amendment…nice try – all amendments listed here).

Health-law opt-out. Voting 58-41, the Senate tabled a Republican amendment to HR 4872 (above) under which states could opt out of the new health law on grounds that it usurps powers reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment.

A yes vote was to kill the amendment.

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

Next up, we have Kay Bailey Hutchison, fresh off her failed attempt to unseat “Goodhair” Perry as governor of Texas (here).

Medicare savings. Voting 56-42, the Senate tabled a GOP amendment preventing the new health law's $500 billion in Medicare savings from being used to subsidize premiums in the state-based insurance exchanges. The amendment to HR 4872 sought to use the savings instead for Medicare solvency.

A yes vote was to kill the amendment.

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

I believe this came from Judd Gregg (I’ll never understand why Obama ever wanted him as Commerce Secretary, by the way).

Medical-device taxes. Voting 56-42, the Senate defeated a GOP amendment to HR 4872 that sought to strip the new health law of its $40 billion in taxes on medical devices over 10 years. That sum accounts for about one-tenth of the new law's revenue stream.

A yes vote was to kill the amendment.

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

Pat Roberts of Kansas, it’s your turn (thanks for playing our game – here are some lovely parting gifts).

Federal aviation budget. Voting 93-0, the Senate passed a bill (HR 1586) authorizing $70 billion for aviation programs through fiscal 2012. In part, the bill funds the operation of the Federal Aviation Administration, improvements at airports, air-service subsidies for smaller cities, and a sweeping upgrade of air-traffic control.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

This week, Congress is in Easter-Passover recess until the week of April 12.