Where The Rubber Meets The Road (6/29/07)

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

Foreign affairs budget. The House passed, 241-178, and sent to the Senate a $34.2 billion foreign operations budget for fiscal 2008, up 8 percent from 2007.

A yes vote was to pass HR 2764.

Voting yes: 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.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.) and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Iraq study. The House voted, 355-69, to amend HR 2764 (above) to revive the Iraq Study Group, which would conduct a follow-up outside critique of U.S. policies in Iraq.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

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

Voting no: Fattah, Murphy and Pitts.

This idea from Repug Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut is cruel, stupid, and utterly ridiculous, and here’s why; We’re waaay beyond studying whether or not we should be leaving at this point.

And amazingly enough, Joe Pitts ends up doing the right thing here for a change, though for the wrong reason I’m sure; would that others had followed him, Chaka Fattah and Patrick Murphy.

Contraceptives. Members voted, 223-201, to amend HR 2764 (above) to allow U.S. donations of contraceptives to groups overseas that provide or advocate abortions. The vote made an exception to the government's "Mexico City Policy," which since 1984 has sought to ban all forms of U.S. aid to global family-planning organizations that provide or advocate abortions.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

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

Voting no: Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton and Smith.

Assuming this gets through the Senate, the minute that were to occur, Dubya would grab that veto pen into his hand faster than you can say Pat Robertson.

Senate

Energy. The Senate passed, 65-27, and sent to the House a bill to raise vehicle mileage standards by 40 percent by 2020, cut federal support of fossil-fuel production, promote renewable fuels, punish any price gouging by oil firms, and improve the efficiency of appliances and lights.

All Philadelphia-area senators voted for HR 6.

OPEC lawsuits. The Senate voted, 70-23, to hold OPEC nations answerable under U.S. antitrust law when they limit supplies and fix prices on the world oil market. The vote amended HR 6 (above).

A yes vote backed the amendment.

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 Biden (D., Del.).

Pardon me while I withhold my praise for this, but I’ll cheer when I see legislation like this that is applicable to oil companies that are based or do business in the US of A (and no, I won’t hold my breath waiting for it).

This week, the House debated fiscal 2008 spending bills and possibly energy legislation, while the Senate took up killed bills on union organizing and immigration reform.