ROLL CALL:
House Rejects Democratic Move for Added Spending
On February 13, by a vote of 193 to 226, the House rejected a Democratic motion to recommit the already bloated 2003 omnibus spending conference report (H.J.Res 2) and add yet more spending.
In spite of the fact that the post-conference bill sets spending records in many categories, Democrats continued to complain on the House floor that the trough wasn't big or full enough. In particular, they said that environmental programs and "first responders" were being shortchanged.
Republicans easily defeated the motion to recommit, with only one Republican-liberal Rep. Jim Ramstad (Minn.)-defecting.
With regard to "first responders," Democrats and Republicans have fought since Sept. 11, 2001, over whether "homeland security" money should go to prevent terrorist attacks, or to pork up the budgets of local police and fire departments. Democrats, who favor the latter approach, were upset by the spending bill and called for more giveaways to local governments.
To that end, Rep. David Obey (D.-Wis.) made the motion to recommit, which would have added yet more spending to the bill for environmental and local government programs. "If indeed you want to send [local first responders] the resources they need, rather than duct tape, vote for the motion to recommit," he said.
Obey also pressed the environmental issues while speaking on the House floor.
His motion, he said, "will simply strike the anti-environmental riders [which would turn] over the forests of the country to the timber companies lock, stock and barrel." Obey did not mention that U.S. national forests were originally created in order to ensure a supply of timber.
The motion to recommit would also affect the issue of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). One of the few good items to come out of the House-Senate conference was a provision removing some restrictions from last year's the House-passed Interior Department spending bill that prohibited the use of fiscal 2003 funding for any activity related to oil drilling in ANWR-even research. Although Republicans continue to point out that domestic oil drilling is essential to the nation's long-term energy independence, and that ANWR is a desolate tundra that would not be harmed by oil-drilling, Democrats oppose all efforts to move ANWR drilling forward in order to curry favor with one of their core constituencies, the radical environmentalists.
Rep. Pete Stark (D.-Calif.), one of the most strident left-wingers in the House, unleashed a scathing attack on the Republican-sponsored bill in arguing for the motion to recommit.
"I cannot in good conscience support this Republican bill because it will open the door to an unprecedented assault on our environment," he said. "It grants logging companies unfettered access to public lands to devastate and degrade our national forests."
Stark also complained that there was not enough education funding, even though the bill contains $3 billion more than the President's request.
"This bill continues to shortchange education and will leave our children behind regardless of the President's rhetoric to the contrary," Stark said.
A "yes" vote was a vote for the Democratic motion to recommit the omnibus spending bill to add more outlays. A "no" vote was a vote against the motion.
REPUBLICANS FOR (1): Ramstad
DEMOCRATS FOR (191): Abercrombie, Ackerman, Alexander, Andrews, Baca, Baird, Baldwin, Balance, Becerra, Bell, Berkley, Berman, Berry, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Blumenauer, Boswell, Boucher, Boyd, Brady (PA), Brown, Corrine, Brown (OH), Capps, Cardin, Cardoza, Carson (IN), Carson (OK), Case, Clay, Clyburn, Conyers, Cooper, Costello, Cramer, Crowley, Cummings, Davis (AL), Davis (CA), Davis (FL), Davis (IL), Davis (TN), DeFazio, DeGette, Delahunt, DeLauro, Deutsch, Dicks, Dingell, Doggett, Dooley (CA), Doyle, Edwards, Emanuel, Engel, Eshoo, Etheridge, Evans, Farr, Fattah, Filner, Ford, Frank (MA), Frost, Gephardt, Gonzalez, Gordon, Green (TX), Grijalva, Gutierrez, Harman, Hastings (FL), Hill, Hinchey, Hinojosa, Hoeffel, Holden, Holt, Honda, Hooley (OR), Hoyer, Inslee, Israel, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee (TX), Jefferson, Johnson, E. B., Jones (OH), Kanjorski, Kaptur, Kennedy (RI), Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kind, Kleczka, Kucinich, Lampson, Langevin, Lantos, Larsen (WA), Larson (CT), Lee, Levin, Lewis (GA), Lofgren, Lowey, Lucas (KY), Lynch, Majette, Maloney, Markey, Marshall, Matheson, Matsui, McCarthy (MO), McCarthy (NY), McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, McIntyre, McNulty, Meehan, Meek (FL), Meeks (NY), Menendez, Michaud, Millender-McDonald, Miller, George, Miller (NC), Moore, Moran (VA), Nadler, Napolitano, Neal (MA), Oberstar, Obey, Olver, Ortiz, Owens, Pallone, Pastor, Pelosi, Peterson (MN), Pomeroy, Price (NC), Rahall, Rangel, Reyes, Rodriguez, Ross, Rothman, Roybal-Allard, Ruppersberger, Rush, Ryan (OH), Sabo, Sanchez, Linda, Sandlin, Schakowsky, Schiff, Scott (GA), Scott (VA), Serrano, Sherman, Skelton, Smith (WA), Snyder, Solis, Spratt, Stark, Strickland, Stupak, Tanner, Tauscher, Thompson (CA), Thompson (MS), Tierney, Towns, Udall (CO), Udall (NM), Van Hollen, Velazquez, Visclosky, Waters, Watson, Watt, Waxman, Weiner, Wexler, Woolsey, Wu, Wynn
INDEPENDENTS FOR (1): Sanders
REPUBLICANS AGAINST (219): Aderholt, Akin, Bachus, Baker, Ballenger, Barrett (SC), Bartlett (MD), Barton (TX), Bass, Beauprez, Bereuter, Biggert, Bilirakis, Bishop (UT), Blackburn, Blunt, Boehlert, Boehner, Bonilla, Bonner, Bono, Boozman, Bradley (NH), Brady (TX), Brown (SC), Brown-Waite,V., Burgess, Burns, Burr, Burton (IN), Buyer, Calvert, Camp, Cannon, Cantor, Capito, Carter, Castle, Chabot, Chocola, Coble, Cole, Cox, Crane, Crenshaw, Culberson, Cunningham, Davis, Jo Ann, Davis, Tom, Deal (GA), DeLay, DeMint, Diaz-Balart, L., Diaz-Balart, M., Doolittle, Dreier, Duncan, Dunn, Ehlers, Emerson, English, Feeney, Flake, Fletcher, Foley, Forbes, Fossella, Franks (AZ), Frelinghuysen, Gallegly, Garrett (NJ), Gerlach, Gibbons, Gilchrest, Gillmor, Gingrey, Goode, Goodlatte, Goss, Granger, Graves, Green (WI), Greenwood, Gutknecht, Harris, Hart, Hastert, Hastings (WA), Hayes, Hayworth, Hefley, Hensarling, Herger, Hobson, Hoekstra, Hostettler, Houghton, Hulshof, Hunter, Hyde, Isakson, Issa, Istook, Janklow, Jenkins, Johnson, Sam, Johnson (CT), Johnson (IL), Jones (NC), Keller, Kelly, Kennedy (MN), King (IA), King (NY), Kingston, Kirk, Kline, Knollenberg, Kolbe, LaHood, Latham, LaTourette, Leach, Lewis (CA), Lewis (KY), LoBiondo, Lucas (OK), Manzullo, McCotter, McCrery, McHugh, McInnis, McKeon, Mica, Miller, Gary, Miller (FL), Miller (MI), Moran (KS), Murphy, Musgrave, Myrick, Nethercutt, Ney, Northup, Norwood, Nunes, Nussle, Osborne, Ose, Otter, Oxley, Paul, Pearce, Pence, Peterson (PA), Petri, Pickering, Pitts, Platts, Pombo, Porter, Portman, Pryce (OH), Putnam, Quinn, Radanovich, Regula, Rehberg, Renzi, Reynolds, Rogers (AL), Rogers (KY), Rogers (MI), Rohrabacher, Ros-Lehtinen, Royce, Ryan (WI), Ryun (KS), Saxton, Schrock, Sensenbrenner, Sessions, Shadegg, Shaw, Shays, Sherwood, Shimkus, Shuster, Simmons, Simpson, Smith (MI), Smith (TX), Souder, Stearns, Sullivan, Sweeney, Tancredo, Tauzin, Taylor (NC), Terry, Thomas, Thornberry, Tiahrt, Toomey, Turner (OH), Upton, Vitter, Walden (OR), Walsh, Wamp, Weldon (FL), Weldon (PA), Weller, Whitfield, Wicker, Wilson (NM), Wolf, Young (AK), Young (FL)
DEMOCRATS AGAINST (7): Hall, John, Mollohan, Murtha, Stenholm, Taylor (MS), Turner (TX)
REPUBLICANS (9): Collins, Combest, Cubin, Everett, Ferguson, Linder, Smith (NJ), Tiberi, Wilson (SC)
DEMOCRATS (7): Allen, Capuano, Lipinski, Pascrell, Payne, Sanchez, Loretta, Slaughter
ROLL CALL:
House Passes Bloated 2003 Spending Bill
On February 13, by a vote of 338 to 83, the House passed the extremely bloated final version of the 2003 omnibus appropriations bill (H.J.Res. 2), which contained stunning amounts of pork.
After passing a far more reasonable omnibus bill earlier in the term, the House gave its approval to a House-Senate conference report that had a number of expensive earmarks tacked on.
Because of this, 31 mainly conservative House Republicans voted against the measure, joining 51 House Democrats, almost all liberals who wanted greater spending.
Two of the conservatives voting against the bill-Pat Toomey (R.-Pa.) and Jim Gibbons (R.-Nev.)-are plotting Senate runs for next year. Toomey has already announced his primary bid against Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) (see page 1), and Gibbons is expected to challenge Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.).
Many Democrats opposed the bill because they wanted more spending. (See rollcall at left.)
Appropriations Chairman Bill Young (R.-Fla.) touted the bill his committee had created, which will fund all of the government's functions for the next seven months except those related to defense and military construction. Those items were funded in separate bills last year.
"It is an important defense bill, a homeland defense bill, and an antiterrorism bill," said Young. "It is a must-pass bill. It includes funds for our troops in Afghanistan, our intelligence agencies, homeland security, law enforcement, first responders, education programs and many other important operations of our government. It includes money for election reform, something that has been very important to the members of the House."
Conservative Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) voiced strong opposition to the bill, noting that the 3,000-page document was thrown at congressmen just hours before the vote. "I object to the process as well as the product," he said. "We had a House rule which says that we ought to have three days to review any omnibus bill like this. We are given a couple of hours. We waived that provision. We should not have."
Flake brought attention to some earmarks in the bill that he was able to identify by quickly skimming through it. "In the bill, if one is a baseball fan, we will find $750,000 earmarked for the Baseball Hall of Fame. If we look a little further, if one is not a baseball fan, we can find $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Why we have that as an omnibus bill from the federal government I do not know.
"If one still is not a rock and roll fan or baseball fan, we can look further in the bill and find an earmark for $90,000 for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. I did not even know there is a Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Perhaps there is not, but now there will be. Who knows what else is in this bill and report. We will be discovering it for months. We should not do business like this. It should not be done."
Later, Flake spoke to HUMAN EVENTS about $800,000 in "education" spending that went to the Grammy Foundation, a group associated with thousands of multi-millionaire entertainers (see page 5).
Flake called for an outright rejection of the bill. "Let us start over," he said.
But his idealistic approach was easily put down by a strong coalition of Republicans and Democrats that passed the bill by a huge margin, hoping to move ahead now to the 2004 appropriations bills.
A "yes" vote was a vote for the $397.4-billion fiscal 2003 omnibus spending bill. A "no" vote was a vote against the bill.
REPUBLICANS FOR (190): Aderholt, Bachus, Ballenger, Barrett (SC), Barton (TX), Bass, Beauprez, Bereuter, Biggert, Bilirakis, Bishop (UT), Blackburn, Blunt, Boehlert, Boehner, Bonilla, Bonner, Bono, Boozman, Bradley (NH), Brady (TX), Brown (SC), Brown-Waite, V., Burgess, Burns, Burr, Burton (IN), Buyer, Calvert, Camp, Cantor, Capito, Carter, Castle, Chocola, Coble, Cole, Crane, Crenshaw, Culberson, Cunningham, Davis, Jo Ann, Davis, Tom, Deal (GA), DeLay, DeMint, Diaz-Balart, L., Diaz-Balart, M., Doolittle, Dreier, Duncan, Dunn, Ehlers, Emerson, English, Feeney, Fletcher, Foley, Forbes, Fossella, Frelinghuysen, Gallegly, Garrett (NJ), Gerlach, Gilchrest, Gillmor, Gingrey, Goode, Goodlatte, Goss, Granger, Graves, Greenwood, Harris, Hart, Hastert, Hastings (WA), Hayes, Hayworth, Herger, Hobson, Houghton, Hulshof, Hunter, Hyde, Isakson, Issa, Istook, Janklow, Jenkins, Johnson, Sam, Johnson (CT), Johnson (IL), Keller, Kelly, Kennedy (MN), King (IA), King (NY), Kingston, Kirk, Kline, Knollenberg, Kolbe, LaHood, Latham, LaTourette, Leach, Lewis (CA), Lewis (KY), LoBiondo, Lucas (OK), Manzullo, McCotter, McCrery, McHugh, McInnis, McKeon, Mica, Miller, Gary, Miller (MI), Moran (KS), Murphy, Myrick, Nethercutt, Ney, Northup, Norwood, Nunes, Nussle, Osborne, Ose, Otter, Pearce, Pence, Peterson (PA), Pickering, Platts, Pombo, Porter, Portman, Pryce (OH), Putnam, Quinn, Radanovich, Regula, Rehberg, Renzi, Reynolds, Rogers (AL), Rogers (KY), Rogers (MI), Rohrabacher, Ros-Lehtinen, Saxton, Schrock, Sessions, Shaw, Shays, Sherwood, Shimkus, Shuster, Simmons, Simpson, Smith (NJ), Smith (TX), Souder, Stearns, Sullivan, Sweeney, Tauzin, Taylor (NC), Terry, Thomas, Thornberry, Tiahrt, Turner (OH), Upton, Vitter, Walden (OR), Walsh, Wamp, Weldon (FL), Weldon (PA), Weller, Whitfield, Wicker, Wilson (NM), Wolf, Young (AK), Young (FL)
DEMOCRATS FOR (148): Abercrombie, Alexander, Andrews, Baca, Becerra, Bell, Berkley, Berman, Berry, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Boswell, Boucher, Boyd, Brady (PA), Brown, Corrine, Capps, Cardin, Cardoza, Carson (IN), Carson (OK), Case, Clyburn, Cramer, Crowley, Cummings, Davis (AL), Davis (CA), Davis (FL), Davis (TN), DeLauro, Dicks, Dingell, Dooley (CA), Doyle, Edwards, Emanuel, Engel, Fattah, Ford, Frost, Gonzalez, Gordon, Green (TX), Gutierrez, Hall, Harman, Hill, Hinojosa, Hoeffel, Holden, Holt, Honda, Hooley (OR), Hoyer, Inslee, Israel, Jackson-Lee (TX), John, Johnson, E. B., Jones (OH), Kanjorski, Kaptur, Kennedy (RI), Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kleczka, Lampson, Langevin, Lantos, Larsen (WA), Larson (CT), Lee, Levin, Lowey, Lucas (KY), Lynch, Majette, Maloney, Marshall, Matheson, Matsui, McCarthy (MO), McCarthy (NY), McCollum, McGovern, McIntyre, McNulty, Meehan, Meek (FL), Meeks (NY), Menendez, Michaud, Millender-McDonald, Miller (NC), Mollohan, Moore, Moran (VA), Murtha, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal (MA), Oberstar, Obey, Olver, Ortiz, Owens, Pallone, Pastor, Pelosi, Peterson (MN), Pomeroy, Price (NC), Rahall, Rangel, Reyes, Rodriguez, Ross, Rothman, Roybal-Allard, Ruppersberger, Ryan (OH), Sabo, Sanchez, Linda, Sandlin, Schiff, Scott (GA), Scott (VA), Serrano, Sherman, Skelton, Slaughter, Snyder, Solis, Spratt, Stenholm, Strickland, Stupak, Thompson (CA), Thompson (MS), Turner (TX), Udall (NM), Van Hollen, Velazquez, Visclosky, Waters, Wu, Wynn
REPUBLICANS AGAINST (31): Akin, Baker, Bartlett (MD), Cannon, Chabot, Cox, Flake, Franks (AZ), Gibbons, Green (WI), Gutknecht, Hefley, Hensarling, Hoekstra, Hostettler, Jones (NC), Miller (FL), Musgrave, Oxley, Paul, Petri, Pitts, Ramstad, Royce, Ryan (WI), Ryun (KS), Sensenbrenner, Shadegg, Smith (MI), Tancredo, Toomey
DEMOCRATS AGAINST (51): Ackerman, Baird, Baldwin, Balance, Blumenauer, Brown (OH), Clay, Conyers, Cooper, Costello, Davis (IL), DeFazio, DeGette, Delahunt, Deutsch, Doggett, Eshoo, Etheridge, Evans, Farr, Filner, Frank (MA), Gephardt, Grijalva, Hastings (FL), Hinchey, Jackson (IL), Jefferson, Kind, Kucinich, Lewis (GA), Lofgren, Markey, McDermott, Miller, George, Rush, Schakowsky, Smith (WA), Stark, Tanner, Tauscher, Taylor (MS), Tierney, Towns, Udall (CO), Watson, Watt, Waxman, Weiner, Wexler, Woolsey
INDEPENDENTS AGAINST (1): Sanders
REPUBLICANS (8): Collins, Combest, Cubin, Everett, Ferguson, Linder, Tiberi, Wilson (SC)
DEMOCRATS (6): Allen, Capuano, Lipinski, Pascrell, Payne, Sanchez, Loretta
