This Week in Accountability

B_VinylBoy

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In an effort to make sure we know exactly who is causing the drama in Politics, I'll attempt to create an ongoing thread that lists how certain politicians vote on very important issues that affect everyone in our society. I'm sure this will be greeted with the usual complaints, sneers and overall rhetorical bitterness from certain anonymous adversaries who will see this as another one of those "liberal" threads. However, this is merely a thread to illustrate who voted NO on these important bills... nothing more, nothing less.


Wednesday, March 3rd
By now, we all know the problems brought upon by Senator Bunning from Kentucky when he decided to stand alone and block a bill that would temporarily extend unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless. Yesterday, he eventually stood down to allow a vote to happen. Much to the delight of many people, the bill did pass the Senate with a whopping 78 yes votes. Alas, there were still 19 of them who said no despite the reports of several people in America losing their benefits due to the week long grandstanding.

Here are those no voters:
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay (Go fig) :rolleyes:
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay

Full results can be seen here.
 

unabear09

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great idea. I'm subscribing to this thread to keep up with what is REALLY going on in our country and who is voting for what. Thanks!
 

B_nyvin

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Republicans in general are against "spending" at this point, which is what they've molded their agenda to. This would explain those senators voting against it. Not that I support them in anyway.
 

B_starinvestor

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In an effort to make sure we know exactly who is causing the drama in Politics, I'll attempt to create an ongoing thread that lists how certain politicians vote on very important issues that affect everyone in our society. I'm sure this will be greeted with the usual complaints, sneers and overall rhetorical bitterness from certain anonymous adversaries who will see this as another one of those "liberal" threads. However, this is merely a thread to illustrate who voted NO on these important bills... nothing more, nothing less.


Wednesday, March 3rd
By now, we all know the problems brought upon by Senator Bunning from Kentucky when he decided to stand alone and block a bill that would temporarily extend unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless. Yesterday, he eventually stood down to allow a vote to happen. Much to the delight of many people, the bill did pass the Senate with a whopping 78 yes votes. Alas, there were still 19 of them who said no despite the reports of several people in America losing their benefits due to the week long grandstanding.

Here are those no voters:
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay (Go fig) :rolleyes:
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay

Full results can be seen here.

Footnote: Bunning was FOR the extension of benefits - he just wanted the funds to be used from stimulus money INSTEAD of piling on to the deficit.

Not trying to take your thread off-topic, VB - but at what point is somebody going to stop this spending spree? It is beyond out of control. It is absolutely reckless.
 

B_VinylBoy

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Footnote: Bunning was FOR the extension of benefits - he just wanted the funds to be used from stimulus money INSTEAD of piling on to the deficit.

Not trying to take your thread off-topic, VB - but at what point is somebody going to stop this spending spree? It is beyond out of control. It is absolutely reckless.

Watching the news last night, Bunning did make at least one bit of sense. He stated that it's crazy that we pass such a measure without finding a means to pay for it. That is true, but there was an obvious emergency looming that could directly affect millions of our own people and it couldn't be ignored. So where do you find the money, and if we don't borrow it then which federal programs do you cut in order to fund it? That's the major problem here, because his grandstanding on this UI extensions bill forced thousands of federal workers to go without pay, and hundreds of thousands of people who were getting UI being sent out to pasture in just one week. This was obviously not the best move. The money in the stimulus bill is being used to try and create jobs, so it's understandable if people wouldn't want to use money geared to get people employed to maintain UI benefits.

Taking the money from people who need it, then making futile excuses as to how it encourages people "not to work" as Senator Kyl suggested and how they just need to "work harder", when they wouldn't be eligible for UI if they weren't working to begin with, only causes more immediate problems. I know how it feels to be on UI. It's not fun. You know your time is severely limited and it feels like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and send you penniless on the streets. It's very low pay that barely allows you to keep yourself fed and perhaps pay one or two utility bills if you live in a city. It also does a number on one's morale to be part of the system, making it difficult to motivate oneself to move on. The last thing a person on UI needs to see is a politician on camera, in their suit playing the role of humanitarian, telling them in so many words that they're essentially worthless. I know when I finally was able to pull myself out of a jobless slump and find adequate work after nearly 2 years dealing with the dot com crunch, I got pretty emotional.

Slightly off-topic, but a valid discussion considering the bill that we're talking about.
 
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B_starinvestor

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Watching the news last night, Bunning did make at least one bit of sense. He stated that it's crazy that we pass such a measure without finding a means to pay for it.

I agree that those on UI shouldn't be punished because of the streetfight that was occurring in D.C.

My sense is that Bunning was able to use a national stage to get some political points and a sounding board against the admin. spending. I'm not condoning it - but I think that was the strategy.

You know - I think a lot of the repubs are going to go back to their constituents before November - when we are still mired in this dogshit economy - and say 'I voted against this spending, that spending...etc., etc.' and probably swing more than a few votes.
 

B_talltpaguy

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Footnote: Bunning was FOR the extension of benefits - he just wanted the funds to be used from stimulus money INSTEAD of piling on to the deficit.
Too bad there's no voting record proving that false assertion.

Instead, what we have is a string of votes over the years that indicate that Bunning has never, ever cared about funding emergency spending bills with credit when his party is on power. He only votes 'no' now, when the opposition is in power.

Bunning is playing pure politics, because there is no ideological consistency to his voting record, only a consistency of irresponsible and destructive partisanship.


Not trying to take your thread off-topic, VB - but at what point is somebody going to stop this spending spree? It is beyond out of control. It is absolutely reckless.
You'll have to ask the Republicans why they voted against PayGo, why they repealed the balanced budget act when they controlled the White House and Congress, and why Federal budget bills that they signed into law account for about 75% of our total Federal debt.
 
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D_Sir Fitzwilly Wankheimer III

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B_talltpaguy

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You really didn't look at the graph too well did you? Did you look at estimated debt increase for Barack alone, not to mention the dollar figure.
You're right... Obama is going to have to raise those taxes back up on the rich that we could never afford to lower in the first place... In fact, we're going to have to raise them higher than they were before, to pay for the interest on the debt that paid for their tax cut in the first place.
 

B_VinylBoy

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Now for another installment of "This Week In Accountability"...

Wednesday, March 17th
The U.S. Congress gave final approval to an $18 billion jobs bill offering companies a tax break for hiring the unemployed. It passed with a 68-29 vote, gaining the support of eleven Republicans. Here are the 29 senators that voted against it, which include 28 Republicans and one Democrat:

Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Graham (R-SC), Nay
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Kyl (R-AZ), Nay
Lugar (R-IN), Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Wicker (R-MS), Nay

Full results can be seen here.
 

B_VinylBoy

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A very important vote happened tonight in the Senate regarding cloture on Financial/Wall Street Reform. And the results - All Republicans, along with one Democrat voted against it. 57 to 41.

So, yet another filibuster in the Senate. This time in favor of Wall Street. I guess when it came to certain conservatives complaining about the lack of transparency with the current administration, they didn't mind wanting to take the discussion behind closed doors when it became about money. :rolleyes:

As soon as the vote count is posted on the Senate page, I will update.