In Search of Wise Elder Statespersons - Continued
Guy T. Sturino
November 18, 2005
Yesterday I wrote about how the Congress works under the rules of the Majority Party. In that article I highlighted portions of the current spending measure in the House which extracted a major portion of the savings from those least able to afford it. Just as I was about to submit the article, a vote on the floor of the House scuttled the measure. Or so I thought. Watching Cspan during the day doesn?t tell me what is happening in the dark of night in the Capital.
Fortunately, checking in with the Huffington Post this morning, I was redirected to a Washington Post article which again startled me with a rude awakening. At the same time, the article gave me hope that at least some journalists are not being hamstrung by media owners with their own agenda.
Yesterday I said, ?The American public needs to hear, see and read about what our Senators and Congresspersons are doing on a daily basis . . . They need to know what is being voted on and who is taking what positions. What is fact and what is pure wind need to be sorted out by sincere journalists who take pride in knowing that the truth is the key to our collective futures.?
I know they didn?t read my article, but this morning Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post Staff Writers, turned what I thought was a pipe dream into reality. They gave the public much of what it needs, and hopefully other responsible news sources will do the same.
As a result, I?m putting the link to the Washington Post back on my desktop.
Now for what happened as I slept. Last night I went to bed thinking that the spending cuts, which I referenced yesterday, had been rejected. It turns out that this was a very foolish notion. At 1:41 A.M. this morning, while I was sleeping, the House passed HR 4241, Deficit Reduction Act which only moderately reduced its impact on lower income taxpayers.
What happened between 2:13 P.M. on November 17 and 1:41 A.M. on November 18 is that the Majority Leader made just enough concessions to just enough party members to get the legislation approved. It took eleven hours and twenty-eight minutes, but a sufficient number of people were found who could be convinced that there was enough in it for them to change their vote. Or so it would seem to the casual observer. The whole truth is a bit more complicated.
What really happened is that 22 Republicans changed their vote, 15 from Nay to Yea, and seven from Yea to Nay. One Democrat didn?t vote either time, (Boswell), and one Democrat (Towns) who voted in the afternoon, failed to vote later in the wee hours of the morning. The result was passage of a terrible piece of legislation for the working class by a 217 to 215-margin with two Democrats not voting. Do you suppose the time of the day and political favors or threats may have been involved?
For the record, those who originally supported the bill and then could not were: Johnson (IL), Jones (NC), McHugh, Ney, Shays, Smith (NJ) and Sweeney. Those who decided the cuts were liveable, at least for them, were: Castle, Emerson, Fitzpatrick (PA), Gibbons, Kirk, Moran (KS), Murphy, Nunes, Otter, Pickering, Platts, Renzi Rogers (AL), Stearns and Thomas. Unfortunately for me, my Representative, Thelma Drake, was not one who decided to oppose the Bill.
What was in the final Bill, and its potential impact can be found in the Washington Post. The data for the analysis I did to determine who changed their votes was not found there. For those who are interested, it was derived from official records that can be found at the link(1)below. This is the kind of analysis which should be posted in every local paper in the country. People need to know, whether they want to or not, what their representative is doing in Congress. When next November rolls around, for anyone to vote without this kind of information is not in the interest of a well working democracy.
Our fate is in our own hands.
(1)http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/index.asp.
Fortunately, checking in with the Huffington Post this morning, I was redirected to a Washington Post article which again startled me with a rude awakening. At the same time, the article gave me hope that at least some journalists are not being hamstrung by media owners with their own agenda.
Yesterday I said, ?The American public needs to hear, see and read about what our Senators and Congresspersons are doing on a daily basis . . . They need to know what is being voted on and who is taking what positions. What is fact and what is pure wind need to be sorted out by sincere journalists who take pride in knowing that the truth is the key to our collective futures.?
I know they didn?t read my article, but this morning Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post Staff Writers, turned what I thought was a pipe dream into reality. They gave the public much of what it needs, and hopefully other responsible news sources will do the same.
As a result, I?m putting the link to the Washington Post back on my desktop.
Now for what happened as I slept. Last night I went to bed thinking that the spending cuts, which I referenced yesterday, had been rejected. It turns out that this was a very foolish notion. At 1:41 A.M. this morning, while I was sleeping, the House passed HR 4241, Deficit Reduction Act which only moderately reduced its impact on lower income taxpayers.
What happened between 2:13 P.M. on November 17 and 1:41 A.M. on November 18 is that the Majority Leader made just enough concessions to just enough party members to get the legislation approved. It took eleven hours and twenty-eight minutes, but a sufficient number of people were found who could be convinced that there was enough in it for them to change their vote. Or so it would seem to the casual observer. The whole truth is a bit more complicated.
What really happened is that 22 Republicans changed their vote, 15 from Nay to Yea, and seven from Yea to Nay. One Democrat didn?t vote either time, (Boswell), and one Democrat (Towns) who voted in the afternoon, failed to vote later in the wee hours of the morning. The result was passage of a terrible piece of legislation for the working class by a 217 to 215-margin with two Democrats not voting. Do you suppose the time of the day and political favors or threats may have been involved?
For the record, those who originally supported the bill and then could not were: Johnson (IL), Jones (NC), McHugh, Ney, Shays, Smith (NJ) and Sweeney. Those who decided the cuts were liveable, at least for them, were: Castle, Emerson, Fitzpatrick (PA), Gibbons, Kirk, Moran (KS), Murphy, Nunes, Otter, Pickering, Platts, Renzi Rogers (AL), Stearns and Thomas. Unfortunately for me, my Representative, Thelma Drake, was not one who decided to oppose the Bill.
What was in the final Bill, and its potential impact can be found in the Washington Post. The data for the analysis I did to determine who changed their votes was not found there. For those who are interested, it was derived from official records that can be found at the link(1)below. This is the kind of analysis which should be posted in every local paper in the country. People need to know, whether they want to or not, what their representative is doing in Congress. When next November rolls around, for anyone to vote without this kind of information is not in the interest of a well working democracy.
Our fate is in our own hands.
(1)http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/index.asp.
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