ROLL CALL:
House Votes to Help Stop Drunk Drivers at Border
On October 16, by a vote of 296 to 94, the House passed the Sober Borders Act (HR 2155), a bill aimed at increasing the enforcement of impaired-driving laws at U.S. borders. The bill, considered under the suspension of the rules procedure, required a two-thirds vote. It is unlikely the Senate will take up the measure in the lame-duck session.
The bill would make driving in "an impaired manner" at land border entry points a federal offense, closing what sponsor Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) called "a glaring loophole in the law." For the first time, Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents would be able to stop alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers who are trying to enter the United States, something they are now not able to do. This would mean that federal officers, in effect carrying out state laws, could administer chemical tests if they see a suspicious car, or they could detain offenders of driving-related drug and alcohol laws. It would also require the INS to post notices at U.S. borders notifying drivers of the law.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D.-Tex.) argued that the officers at the nation’s borders don’t need to be bogged down by additional regulations that are unrelated to combating terrorism. "[T]his legislation will impose new duties unrelated to terrorism on immigration inspectors at the border," she said.
Jackson-Lee said she was also opposed to the new legislation because, under the Assimilative Crimes Act, state law is already automatically incorporated into federal law in areas where there is no state jurisdiction. This, she said, includes U.S. borders. "Essentially, H.R. 2155 is enlisting INS officers to enforce state law," said Jackson-Lee.
However, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, argued that, since current federal law does not allow border inspectors to test or detain suspected drunk drivers, people at the borders are at risk. He said that they are "vulnerable to injury or death simply because the INS inspector had to call up the local police and it is only when the local police arrive on the scene can there be a stop."
Jackson-Lee also complained that the bill would permit greater racial profiling, but Sensenbrenner replied that this is not an issue, since all cars are stopped, regardless of the race of the driver or passengers.
Sponsor Flake said that all the new bill would do is fill in a hole in current law. "[T]his is simply closing a glaring loophole in the law that allows someone in a border port of entry, at a land port of entry to drive totally intoxicated, and INS officers are powerless to stop them, unless they want to do it as a citizen for which they risk liability that they are unwilling to assume."
A "yes" vote was a vote to give Customs and INS officers the authority to enforce drug- and alcohol-related driving laws for those trying to cross U.S. land borders. A "no" vote was against giving border inspectors this authority.
REPUBLICANS FOR (202): Aderholt, Akin, Armey, Bachus, Baker, Ballenger, Barr, Bartlett, Barton, Bass, Bereuter, Biggert, Bilirakis, Blunt, Boehlert, Boehner, Bonilla, Bono, Boozman, Brady (TX) , Brown (SC), Burr, Burton, Buyer, Calvert, Camp, Cannon, Cantor, Capito, Castle, Chabot, Chambliss, Coble, Collins, Cox, Crane, Crenshaw, Culberson, Cunningham, Davis, Jo Ann, Deal, DeLay, DeMintDiaz-Balart, Doolittle, Dreier, Duncan, Dunn, Ehlers, Emerson, English, Everett, Ferguson, Flake, Fletcher, Foley, Forbes, Fossella, Frelinghuysen, Gallegly, Gekas, Gibbons, Gilchrest, Gillmor, Gilman, Goodlatte, Goss, Graham, Granger ,Graves, Green (WI), Greenwood, Grucci, Gutknecht ,Hansen, Hart, Hastings (WA), Hayes, Hayworth, Hefley, Herger, Hobson, Hoekstra, Horn, Hostettler, Houghton, Hulshof, Hunter, Hyde, Isakson, Issa, Istook, Jenkins, Johnson, Sam, Johnson (CT), Johnson (IL), Jones (NC), Keller, Kelly, Kennedy (MN), Kerns, King (NY), Kingston, Kirk, Knollenberg, Kolbe, Latham, LaTourette, Leach, Lewis (CA), Lewis (KY), Linder, LoBiondo, Lucas (OK), McCrery, McHugh, McKeon, Miller, Dan, Miller, Jeff, Moran (KS), Morella, Myrick, Nethercutt, Ney, Northup, Norwood, Nussle, Osborne, Ose, Otter, Oxley, Paul, Pence, Petri, Pickering, Pitts, Platts, Pombo, Portman, Pryce (OH), Putnam, Quinn, Radanovich, Ramstad, Regula, Rehberg, Reynolds, Rogers (KY), Rogers (MI), Rohrabacher, Ros-Lehtinen, Royce, Ryan (WI), Ryun (KS), Saxton, Schaffer, Schrock, Sensenbrenner, Sessions, Shadegg, Shaw, Shays, Sherwood, Shimkus, Shuster, Simmons, Simpson, Skeen, Smith (MI), Smith (NJ), Smith (TX), Souder, Stearns, Sullivan, Sununu, Sweeney, Tancredo, Tauzin, Terry, Thomas, Thornberry, Thune, Tiahrt, Tiberi, Toomey, Upton, Vitter, Walden, Walsh, Wamp, Watkins (OK), Watts (OK), Weldon (FL), Weldon (PA), Weller, Whitfield, Wicker, Wilson (NM), Wilson (SC), Wolf, Young (AK), Young (FL)
DEMOCRATS FOR (94): Ackerman, Allen, Baca, Baird, Barcia, Becerra, Berkley, Berman, Berry, Blagojevich, Blumenauer, Borski, Boswell, Boucher, Boyd, Cardin, Condit, Costello, Cramer, Davis (CA), Davis (FL), DeFazio, Deutsch, Dingell, Doyle, Edwards, Engel, Eshoo, Etheridge, Farr, Frank, Gordon, Hall (TX), Hill, Hoeffel, Holden, Holt, Hooley, Hoyer, Inslee, Israel, Jefferson, John, Kanjorski, Kaptur, Kind (WI), LaFalce, Langevin, Lantos, Larsen (WA), Levin, Lipinski, Lofgren, Lucas (KY), Maloney (NY), Mascara, Matheson, Matsui, McCarthy (NY), McGovern, McIntyre, McNulty, Meehan, Miller, George, Moore, Moran (VA), Murtha, Nadler, Neal, Olver, Pascrell, Phelps, Pomeroy, Price (NC), Roemer, Ross, Schiff, Skelton, Smith (WA), Snyder, Spratt, Stenholm, Strickland, Tanner, Tauscher, Taylor (MS), Thompson (MS), Thurman ,Turner, Udall (CO), Visclosky, Waxman, Wexler, Wu
REPUBLICANS AGAINST (0)
DEMOCRATS AGAINST (93): Abercrombie, Andrews, Baldwin, Barrett, Bentsen, Bishop, Bonior, Brady (PA), Brown (FL), Brown (OH), Capps, Capuano, Carson (IN), Clay, Clyburn, Conyers, Crowley, Cummings, Davis (IL), DeLauro, Dicks, Doggett, Evans, Fattah, Ford, Frost, Gonzalez, Green (TX), Gutierrez, Harman, Hastings (FL), Hilliard, Honda, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee (TX), Johnson, E. B., Jones (OH), Kennedy (RI), Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kleczka, Kucinich, Lampson, Larson (CT), Lee, Lewis (GA), Lowey, Lynch, Markey, McCarthy (MO), McCollum, McDermott, Meek (FL), Meeks (NY), Menendez, Millender-McDonald, Mollohan, Napolitano, Oberstar, Obey, Ortiz, Owens, Pallone, Pastor, Payne, Pelosi, Rahall, Rangel, Reyes, Rivers, Rodriguez, Rothman, Roybal-Allard, Sanchez, Sandlin, Sawyer, Schakowsky, Scott, Serrano, Sherman, Solis, Stark, Stupak, Thompson (CA), Tierney, Towns, Udall (NM), Velazquez, Watson (CA), Watt (NC), Weiner, Woolsey, Wynn
INDEPENDENTS AGAINST (1): Sanders (VT)
REPUBLICANS (20): Bryant, Callahan, Combest, Cooksey, Cubin, Davis, Tom, Ehrlich, Ganske, Goode, Hilleary, LaHood, Manzullo, McInnis, Mica, Miller, Gary, Peterson (PA), Riley, Roukema, Stump, Taylor (NC)
DEMOCRATS (21): Baldacci, Carson (OK), Clayton, Clement, Coyne, DeGette, Delahunt, Dooley, Filner, Gephardt, Hinchey, Hinojosa, Luther, Maloney (CT), McKinney, Peterson (MN), Rush, Sabo, Shows, Slaughter, Waters
ROLL CALL:
House Passes Continuing Resolution to November 22
On October 17, by a vote of 228 to 172, the House passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) designed to keep the federal government running through November 22. (The Senate then passed the same measure.) Because the current budget expired September 30 and Congress has so far failed to pass 11 of the required 13 appropriations bills for the next fiscal year, the House needed to pass a CR to make sure that the government continues to receive funding.
This CR will keep domestic programs functioning at fiscal 2002 spending levels until November 22, safely after the election. Congress has already passed just the defense and military construction appropriations, in good part because Democratic efforts to block the President’s Homeland Security legislation in the Senate have taken so much time away from appropriations negotiations and votes.
Because they are not expected to vote on any other legislation until after the November 5 election, House members were allowed to go back to their respective immediately after voting on the CR, subject to being called back to Washington on 48 hours’ notice from the speaker of the House. Right now, both houses are scheduled to start holding sessions on November 12.
Some Democratic senators blamed House members for the delay in passing appropriations bills for fiscal year 2003.
Although it was his party in the Senate that failed to produce a budget for 2003, Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D.-S.D.) accused House members of not being "serious about completing the appropriations bills in November" because they chose to have the resolution expire on the Friday before Thanksgiving. "It will be extraordinarily difficult, in the several days before Thanksgiving, for us to get all the parties together to settle all the issues that have been insoluble for the past several months," he said.
Daschle accused House Republicans of ignoring the basic needs of Americans by passing the CR. He said, "The House Republican proposal seems designed to be on auto-pilot until next year, a recipe for a CR that starves basic government programs essential to the health and well-being of millions of Americans." Congressional Republicans and the White House, however, argue responded that by spending money only at the 2002 level-hardly a starvation diet-taxpayers will be saved billions of dollars that Democrats want to add to a variety of programs.
Republicans in the House argue that they have passed a budget, but the Democrat-controlled Senate would not accept it and Democrats in the Senate would not even propose one of their own. Rep. Bill Young (R.-Fla.) said, "[T]he House did its job. It was not our fault that the other body [the Senate] controlled by the other party refused to even take up a budget. Just like in the House, their party did not offer a substitute for our budget." As HUMAN EVENTS reported in the spring (March 25), Democrats are politically unable to produce budget suggestions this year. This is because they accuse Republicans of planning to spend the so-called Social Security surplus, but Democrats know that any plans not to do so would involve deep cuts in their beloved social programs.
A "yes" vote was a vote to pass the Continuing Resolution to continue spending at the 2002 level in order to keep the federal government running through November 22. A "no" vote was a vote against the Continuing Resolution.
REPUBLICANS FOR (202): Aderholt, Akin, Armey, Bachus, Baker, Ballenger, Barr, Bartlett, Barton, Bass, Biggert, Bilirakis, Blunt, Boehlert, Boehner, Bonilla, Bono, Boozman, Brady (TX), Brown (SC), Bryant, Burr, Burton, Buyer, Callahan, Calvert, Camp, Cannon, Cantor, Capito, Castle, Chabot, Chambliss, Coble, Collins, Cox, Crane, Crenshaw, Culberson, Cunningham, Davis, Jo Ann, Davis, Tom, Deal, DeLay, DeMint, Diaz-Balart, Doolittle, Dreier, Duncan, Dunn, Ehlers, Emerson, English, Everett, Ferguson, Flake, Fletcher, Foley, Forbes, Fossella, Frelinghuysen, Gallegly, Gekas, Gibbons, Gilchrest, Gillmor, Gilman, Goode, Goodlatte, Goss, Granger, Green (WI), Greenwood, Grucci, Gutknecht, Hansen, Hart, Hastert, Hastings (WA), Hayes, Hayworth, Hefley, Herger, Hobson, Hoekstra, Horn, Hostettler, Houghton, Hulshof, Hunter, Hyde, Isakson, Issa, Istook, Jenkins ,Johnson, Sam, Johnson (CT), Johnson (IL), Jones (NC), Keller, Kelly, Kennedy (MN), Kerns, King (NY), Kingston, Kirk, Knollenberg, Kolbe, Latham, LaTourette, Leach, Lewis (CA), Lewis (KY), Linder, LoBiondo, Lucas (OK), McCrery, McHugh, McInnis, McKeon, Miller, Dan, Miller, Jeff, Morella, Myrick, Nethercutt, Ney, Northup, Norwood, Nussle, Otter, Oxley, Paul, Pence, Peterson (PA), Petri, Pickering, Pitts, Platts, Pombo, Portman, Pryce (OH), Putnam, Quinn, Radanovich, Ramstad, Regula, Rehberg, Reynolds, Rogers (KY), Rogers (MI), Rohrabacher, Ros-Lehtinen, Royce, Ryan (WI), Ryun (KS), Saxton, Schaffer, Schrock, Sensenbrenner, Sessions, Shadegg, Shaw, Shays, Sherwood, Shuster, Simmons, Simpson, Skeen, Smith (MI), Smith (NJ), Smith (TX), Souder, Stearns, Sullivan, Sununu, Sweeney, Tancredo, Tauzin, Taylor (NC), Terry, Thomas, Thornberry, Tiahrt, Tiberi, Toomey, Upton, Vitter, Walden, Walsh, Wamp, Watkins (OK), Watts (OK), Weldon (FL), Weldon (PA), Weller, Whitfield, Wicker, Wilson (NM), Wilson (SC), Wolf, Young (AK), Young (FL)
DEMOCRATS FOR (26): Berkley, Blagojevich, Dicks, Engel, Gutierrez, Hill, Hoeffel, Holden, Holt, Hoyer, Israel, Kanjorski, Lofgren, Lucas (KY), Luther, Mascara, Matheson, McCarthy (NY), McKinney, Mollohan, Moore, Moran (VA), Murtha, Ross, Shows, Wynn
REPUBLICANS AGAINST (6): Bereuter, Moran (KS), Osborne, Ose, Shimkus, Thune
DEMOCRATS AGAINST (165): Abercrombie, Ackerman, Allen, Andrews, Baca, Baird, Baldwin, Barcia, Barrett, Becerra , Bentsen, Berman, Berry, Bishop, Blumenauer, Bonior, Boswell, Boucher, Boyd, Brady (PA), Brown (FL), Brown (OH), Capps, Capuano, Cardin, Carson (IN), Clay, Clyburn, Condit, Conyers, Costello, Coyne, Cramer, Crowley, Cummings, Davis (CA), Davis (FL), Davis (IL), DeFazio, DeGette, DeLauro, Deutsch, Dingell, Doggett, Doyle, Edwards, Eshoo, Etheridge, Evans, Farr, Fattah, Ford, Frost, Gephardt, Gonzalez, Gordon, Green (TX), Harman, Hastings (FL), Hilliard, Hinchey, Honda, Hooley, Inslee, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee (TX), Jefferson, John, Johnson, E. B., Jones (OH), Kaptur, Kennedy (RI), Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kind (WI), Kleczka, Kucinich, LaFalce, Lampson, Langevin, Lantos, Larson (CT), Lee, Levin, Lewis (GA), Lipinski, Lowey, Lynch, Maloney (NY), Markey, Matsui, McCarthy (MO), McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, McIntyre, McNulty, Meehan, Meek (FL), Meeks (NY), Menendez, Millender-McDonald, Miller, George, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal, Oberstar, Obey, Olver, Ortiz, Owens, Pallone, Pascrell, Pastor, Payne, Pelosi, Peterson (MN), Phelps, Pomeroy, Price (NC), Rahall, Rangel, Reyes, Rivers, Rodriguez, Roemer, Rothman, Roybal-Allard, Sabo, Sanchez, Sandlin, Sawyer, Schakowsky, Schiff, Scott, Serrano, Sherman, Skelton, Smith (WA), Snyder, Solis, Spratt, Stark, Stenholm, Strickland, Stupak, Tanner, Tauscher, Taylor (MS), Thompson (CA), Thompson (MS), Thurman, Tierney, Towns, Turner, Udall (CO), Udall (NM), Velazquez, Visclosky, Watson (CA), Watt (NC), Weiner, Wexler, Woolsey, Wu
INDEPENDENTS AGAINST (1): Sanders (VT)
REPUBLICANS (15): Combest, Cooksey, Cubin, Ehrlich, Ganske, Graham, Graves, Hilleary, LaHood, Manzullo, Mica, Miller, Gary, Riley, Roukema, Stump
DEMOCRATS (17): Baldacci, Borski, Carson (OK), Clayton, Clement, Delahunt, Dooley, Filner, Frank, Hall (TX), Hinojosa, Larsen (WA), Maloney (CT), Rush, Slaughter, Waters, Waxman
