Bills

Roll Call 943 (12-16-11) H.R. 3672 Making appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes.

Passed 351 – 67, 15 not voting. Became Public Law No: 112-77 (signed by the President 12-23-11).  GOP and Democrat selected vote.

Bill Summary:  Provides $8.1 billion in disaster relief funding.

Analysis:  Appropriations for FY2012 disaster relief were considered separately from the minibus and megabus.   Many representatives found it politically more difficult to oppose the disaster aid compared to the megabus.   Only 67 voted against the disaster aid, whereas 121 had opposed the megabus.

Commenting on an earlier House vote, the Establishment’s New York Times reported:

“Democrats and Republicans agree that [disaster] assistance is one of the government’s main responsibilities, but disagree over how much of the cost can be anticipated and how much, if any, should be offset.” [Emphasis added.] —“House Rebukes G.O.P. Leaders Over Spending,” New York Times, 9/21/11

         If the Times is correct, then both parties agree that the Constitution is irrelevant. Nothing in the Constitution authorizes the federal government to provide state and local disaster aid.   At one time in our nation’s history, that was understood. In one of his most famous vetoes (1886), President Grover Cleveland rejected the “Texas Seed Bill” on constitutional grounds (see the excerpt from his veto message below). The bill would have provided minimal disaster assistance to a number of drought-stricken Texas counties.

In late 2011, the two major parties publicly disagreed over whether disaster relief appropriations should be subject to the cap laid out in the debt ceiling deal worked out between Boehner and President Barack Obama in August. In an immediately prior roll call (942), House Republicans voted 234 to 0 to offset disaster aid with a 1.83 percent cut to non-security spending. They were joined by 21 Democrats in passing the offset.

However, the offset vote was pure posturing as the offsets were included in a separate bill.   The Democrat-controlled Senate agreed to the disaster aid, but refused the offsets, ergo the House effectively agreed to disaster relief funding with no offsets.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Nays and (bad vote) to the Yeas. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Read more

Roll Call 941 (12-16-11) H.R. 2055 Latest title: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 [Megabus]. (Earlier title vehicle: Making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies….) Conference report.

Bipartisan “megabus” passed 296 to 121, 16 not voting. Became Public Law 112-74 (signed by the President 12-23-11).  GOP and Democrat selected vote.

Bill Summary:  Funds the majority of the federal government through the remainder of the fiscal year (ending September 2012). Provides for $915 billion in discretionary spending and $126 billion in military funding — maintaining the cap of $1.043 trillion laid out in the debt ceiling deal worked out between Boehner and President Barack Obama in August.

Analysis:  This $1.043 trillion, business-as-usual “megabus” approved by bipartisan majorities should dispel any illusion that partisan politics might provide the answer to America’s economic crisis.

In November, Congress approved a “minibus” consisting of three of the 12 regular annual appropriations bills. The remainder were lumped into this megabus.

Lumping so many diverse programs together prevents a determined House, if there were one, from playing hardball with the President and Senate to begin defunding unconstitutional programs.

Nevertheless, it is encouraging that 86 House Republicans broke ranks with their Party’s leadership, joined by 35 Democrats, to vote against the megabus. One of those, Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), stated:

“Aside from spending levels being simply too high, this is a 1,200-page bill that we’re voting on only a few hours after it was finalized. We’ll be discovering for months to come what’s actually in it. This is unacceptable. We promised to do better.”

         The substantial resistance to the megabus undoubtedly reflects the fact that congressmen, worried about their re-election, do listen to their constituents. Moreover, they realize that most of their constituents, even if uninformed, are dead set against business as usual.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Nays and (bad vote) to the Yeas. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Read more

Roll Call 789 (10-13-11) H.R. 358 Protect Life Act. To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [Obamacare] to modify special rules relating to coverage of abortion services under such Act.

Passed 251 to 172, 10 not voting. Died in Senate.

Bill Summary:  Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to prohibit federal funds from being to used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion services.

Analysis:  Under the existing law federal funds cannot be used for abortion services, but they can be used to fund plans that offer abortion services, as long as those services are financed separately. The proposed change would insist that completely clean plans be offered as alternatives and no mixed plans receive federal funding.

GOP leaders used this roll call to position Republicans as determined opponents of both abortion and Obamacare, looking for every opportunity to challenge a piece of the 2010 “health” law. No surprise, H.R. 358 died in the Senate.

However, voters are misled if they think GOP leaders would press seriously for a repeal of Obamacare should Republicans control the White House and Senate. Obamacare was a major step forward toward the complete nationalization of healthcare — a revolutionary socialist and Insider Establishment goal spanning decades.

The leaders of both parties are beholden to that Establishment, and the historical record shows that Republicans have ultimately caved to, and sometimes championed, federal inroads in health care. However, Republicans have positioned themselves as the champions of the conservative resistance, even as they lead that resistance into defeat.

We do not bother to score the Republicans on this easy vote that goes nowhere. However, we do score the Democrats.   Those Democrats who support Obamacare and abortion services deserve the red Xs while those 15 Democrats who bucked their party leadership to support the proposed reform deserve appropriate applause.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Ayes and (bad vote) to the Noes. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Roll Call 784 (10-12-11) H.R. 2832 To extend the Generalized System of Preferences, and for other purposes [Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011]. On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment (Senate vote number 150, 9-7-11).

Passed in House 307 to 122, 4 not voting. Became Public Law No: 112-40 (signed by the President 10-21-11).  GOP and Democrat selected vote.

Bill Summary:  Extends federal aid and retraining programs (trade adjustment assistance [TAA]) for workers whose jobs move overseas because of so-called free trade agreements.

Analysis:  This measure continues an unconstitutional function of the federal government and uses the aid stick to subject states to federal regulations over state matters.

Moreover, recent free trade agreements are misleadingly named.   They do not promote free trade, but heavily regulated trade, supervised by international and regional organizations (such as the WTO and the NAFTA tribunals) — an unconstitutional delegation of authority.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Nays and (bad vote) to the Yeas. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Roll Call 764 (10-6-11) H.R. 2681 Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011.

Passed in House 262 to 161, 10 not voting. Died in Senate.

Bill Summary:  Exempts the cement industry from an array of federal pollution regulations. Requires the EPA to promulgate new, achievable pollution standards for the industry and gives the industry a minimum of five years to comply.

Analysis:  This measure would give needed relief to one American industry suffering from unreasonable regulations of the unconstitutional Environmental Protection Agency. The Insider Establishment has used the EPA as a hammer in its war to deindustrialize America.

Unfortunately, this measure is purely defensive, addressing symptoms and not the root causes of the problem. Moreover, it is pure GOP posturing, since it had no prospect of becoming law. However, we give credit to those 25 Democrats who bucked the subversive agenda of their party’s leadership and supported the relief measure.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Ayes and (bad vote) to the Noes. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Roll Call 741 (9-23-11) H.R. 2401 Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011. To require analyses of the cumulative and incremental impacts of certain rules and actions of the Environmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes.

Passed in House 249 to 169, 15 not voting. Died in Senate.

Bill Summary:  Nullifies the proposed EPA rule entitled “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial- Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generating Units” and any final rule that was based on such proposed rule and issued prior to this Act’s enactment.

H.R. 2401 also requires the President to establish the Committee for the Cumulative Analysis of Regulations that Impact Energy and Manufacturing in the United States to analyze and report on the cumulative and incremental impacts of covered rules and actions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning air, waste, water, and climate change.

Analysis:  This bill is another step toward highlighting how the EPA is needlessly undermining cheap energy and America’s productivity in the name of phony environmentalism.   The measure attempts to limit some specific examples of EPA abuse in such a way as to achieve an easy consensus among those representatives least wedded to environmental extremism.

Unfortunately, H.R. 2401 is defensive at best. A real solution requires targeting the EPA itself and the forces which fastened it upon America.

Moreover, the roll call was largely a GOP posturing vote, as it clearly had no future in the Senate, nor on President Obama’s desk should it have gotten that far. Accordingly, we only score the Democrats on this roll call, giving credit to the handful that stood against the liberal grip on their party.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Ayes and (bad vote) to the Noes. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Issue: H.J. Res. 77, Relating to the disapproval of the Presidents exercise of authority to increase the debt limit, as submitted under section 3101A of title 31, United States Code, on August 2, 2011.

Result: Passed in House: 232 – 186, 2 present, 11 not voting.

Bill Summary:  H.J. Res. 77, if enacted into law, would have prevented an increase in the national debt ceiling.

Analysis:  As part of the debt ceiling deal agreed to in August (see House Roll Call 690 (S.365) (8/1/11) Budget Control Act of 2011, the debt ceiling would be raised by $2.1 or more in stages corresponding to agreed cuts in ten-year spending. This amount was expected to tide the federal appetite over until after the 2012 elections.

However, the agreement also included a disapproval process for the interim increases when the debt threatened to bump against the ceiling. The disapproval process had little teeth. Congress (i.e., both houses) would have to enact a joint resolution disapproving the increase to block it – an unlikely event with the Republicans controlling the House, the Democrats the Senate, and the White House able to veto the resolution.

So the almost unanimous vote by House Republicans to block the debt increase was mostly posturing. However, we give credit to the four House Democrats who bucked their party leadership and refused to agree to raising the limit.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Ayes and (bad vote) to the Noes. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Issue: H.R. 2018 Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011. 

Result: Passed in House 239 to 184, 8 not voting. Died in Senate.

Bill Summary:  H.R. 2018 would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to restore some State authority for making determinations relating to the State’s water quality standards.

Analysis: This measure was a halfway attempt to limit the unconstitutional EPA’s most egregious abuse of authority in determining state water quality standards.

The bill was supported by all but 13 Republicans as well as by 16 Democrats. Many of the Democrats supporting the measure were from Appalachia, where the coal industry had been pushing hard to return more regulatory power to the states.

Although H.R. 2018 was a laudable bill, the roll call was largely a GOP posturing vote as there was insufficient support in the Senate to advance the legislation and not enough support in the House to override President Obama’s threatened veto. Accordingly, we score only the votes of the House Democrats.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Yeas and (bad vote) to the Nays. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Issue: H.R. 2417 Better Use of Light Bulbs Act.  Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass (2/3 vote required).

Result: Failed, 233 to 193, 1 present, 4 not voting. Democrats scored.

Bill Summary:  Repeals light bulb efficiency standards enacted four years earlier in H.R. 6, The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (House Roll Call Roll 1177).

Analysis:  Absent repeal, the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act forces the marketplace to phase out the traditional incandescent Edison light bulb in favor of more expensive (but more energy efficient) compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) (containing mercury).

The 2007 legislation should never have been enacted in the first place. The legislation is replete with unconstitutional federal micromanagement of domestic life — using the “green” dogma as the pretext for an incredibly intrusive power grab.   Note that this bipartisan legislation was signed into law by the “conservative” President George W. Bush.

Four years later, the GOP effort at repeal of a small, highly visible portion of the intrusion on personal freedom was pure Republican posturing. It was brought up under rules that required a 2/3 majority to pass. And so the bill failed 233:193. Moreover, even if it had passed the House it had no future in the Democrat-controlled Senate or on President Obama’s desk.

However, the duplicity is much worse. In 2007, 95 Republicans joined 219 Democrats to saddle America with the unconstitutional intrusion. Four years later, more than half of those 95 Republicans would vote for repeal when it didn’t count!

         Nevertheless, we applaud those 5 Democrats who voted for repeal, against the position of their party leadership.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Yeas and (bad vote) to the Nays. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)

Read more

Issue: H.R. 3 No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.

Result: Passed in House, 251 – 175, 6 not voting. Democrats scored.

Bill Summary:  Permanently bans all manner of federal funding to pay even indirectly for almost all abortions. Includes tax breaks or subsidies for insurance plans and locally raised D.C. tax revenue.   (The current, annually extended exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest, or that endanger the woman’s life, would remain.)

Analysis:  Federal government support for abortions is both unconstitutional and immoral. It is government’s responsibility at all levels to protect innocent life, not encourage its termination. (The issue is not when biological human life begins but when human life deserves to be considered a person, worthy of legal protection.)

The subversive origins of the drive for abortion on demand are generally ignored in the public debate.   The collectivist effort to build government power to the point where it can remake society includes allowing government to decide which life is a burden on society and unworthy of protection.

Not only are the unborn threatened, but also the elderly and infirm who do not meet new quality of life standards required for government financed health care. And once government sanctions euthanasia, it opens the door for a megalomaniac, such as a Hitler, to justify war on anyone he decides as undesirable.

This roll call was an easy vote for the Republicans, as it was designed to position them before their pro-life constituents. But the measure died in the Senate. We do not score the Republicans on this easy one, but we give credit to the Democrats who embraced the legislation.

However, when Congress really wants to get serious about halting the abortion holocaust, it must use its Article III, Section 2 power to curtail the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in matters of abortion — a precursor to rolling back Roe vs. Wade.

We have assigned (good vote) to the Ayes and (bad vote) to the Noes. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)