18 posts tagged “congress”

...and to think, this all began with hanging chads in 2000. I prefer paper and we should all dip our fingers in India ink to prove we have voted. It was good enough for Iraq.

Rep. Rush Holt to Push for Paper Ballots and Vote Count Audits for 2008 - AlterNet

http://www.alternet.org/election08/71...

A new effort to ensure the 2008 presidential election is held using verifiable paper ballots and random audits to ensure accurate vote counts is underway in Congress. Early next year, Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., will introduce the "Confidence in Voting Act of 2008," which would provide $500 million to counties and other election jurisdictions to replace controversial paperless electronic voting systems before the 2008 presidential election. The bill envisions voters using paper ballots that are marked by hand, or ballots that are printed on Election Day after voters use a computer to make their choices. An electronic scanner, like a standardized test, would then tally the ballots. The bill also provides $100 million for audits, where 3 percent of all paper ballots -- including absentee and early voting -- would be hand-counted to verify the electronic count before winners would be certified. Those audits would be public, according to the New Jersey congressman....

I hope Dodd can block this bill, which would give immunity to telecoms for crimes they may have (probably did) committed against American citizens. Chris Dodd is a true patriot in trying to block this bi-partisan action.

Dodd's Anti-Spying Immunity Filibuster Fizzles, But He Fights On - Wired.com

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007...

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) promised to filibuster a bill that would have given amnesty to the telecoms that helped the government spy on Americans without getting court warrants. But Dodd's threat proved empty did not materialize earlier today after Senate voted 75-16 for cloture on the introduction of the Intelligence committee bill, limiting debate on the bill to 30 hours. 60 votes would have been enough to stop any move to filibuster the bill. UPDATE: A Dodd campaign spokesman writes in to say that Dodd plans to filibuster the bill, when and if, the Senate rejects his amendment to strip immunity from the bill. Given that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) laid the groundwork so that any amendment requires 60 votes, the immunity stripping is likely to fail. After that Dodd would need to be given time to speak and then attempt to hold the floor. There are procedural maneuvers that could stop his filibuster, but THREAT LEVEL is waiting to learn more about which arcane Senate rules would be in effect. A Dodd spokesman says that after the first amendments is voted on (Dodd's), then once he is given time, he can speak for as long as he can. /UPDATE

From the AP via DemocraticUnderground.com:

Congress is moving to put all armed contractors operating in combat zones under military control, acting on a Pentagon recommendation that could run into resistance at the State Department. The Senate this month included such a requirement in its 2008 defense authorization bill. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Wednesday he is confident the House will go along with the idea and include it in a final bill sent to President Bush.

Gosh, do you think the bill may even call them mercenaries instead of the politically correct "contractors?" You do realize the reason we pay the folks all this money? Two reasons: Pay back in the form of no-bid contracts to Bush supporters and a military draft would make this war seem like Vietnam (doh).

If you missed the PBS Frontline program that aired this week, Cheney's Law, I urge you to go to pbs.org and watch the entire episode. It is very scary how much power that Cheney and others want to place in the hands of the President. Our democracy remains in peril when, by means of so-called signing statements, the President can essentially say he is ignoring the laws he is signing. Very power-hungry stuff that should alarm all of us.

Since the Democrats in Congress have no stomach for impeaching Bush and Cheney as we did with Nixon, it will take a new President committed to turning this around or our democracy may be lost. The second video I posted below takes a more extreme viewpoint than I do, but I thought it worth a watch.

Which is the party of Big Oil? The Grand Oil Party (GOP), of course.

The oil industry and its supporters in Congress scored a big victory this afternoon as Senate Republicans blocked a package of tax breaks for renewable energy that would have been paid for by the major oil companies. Fifty-seven senators, most of them Democrats, voted in favor of the package, and 36 against it. But under Senate rules requiring 60 votes to shut off debate, the measure fell three votes short. [NY Times]

The bill called for $32 billion in tax breaks for renewable and clean energy programs and energy conservation, all but about $3 billion to be paid for by oil taxes.

Remember this when you fill up next time and the next time you vote.

With all the bad news that we hear of murder, terrorism, the war in Iraq, the spread of nuclear weapons, poverty, suffering, homelessness, hunger, disease, etc., it is often quite easy to get so discouraged by the events on the world stage to do anything. We feel helpless in the face of world events. I feel it. I know you do too.

I know that when I get personally discouraged, especially during the darkness of winter, that I literally have to start counting my blessings to get out of my funk. I don't want to sound trite here, because I really do this. Instead of dwelling on the negative, I compare how I'm living with how most of the rest of the world lives, and I know that things really aren't so bad after all.

Lately, I am starting to think of how things will soon be much, much better. Not just for me. No. For most of us. Given the state of politics in the US, I dare say that we will probably elect a Democrat as President in 2008 and the election of a fillibuster-proof Senate (60 vote majority, not counting Lieberman). Although I still want Gore to run, I can support any of the Democratic candidates...and will. There is not a Republican in the race that I would support because I want change...major change. Obama's entrance into the contest has certainly raised hope in a lot of places. I like him too.

So, all things are possible. We can do more than dream. We can plan to work in a campaign to make things happen. Instead of feeling helpless, we can feel powerful and be powerful.

We can look for candidates who want to house the homeless, to feed the hungry, to bring healthcare to the sick and non- or under-insured, to add more police again to our streets as crime is now rising again, to reduce our oil addiction and reduce greenhouse gases, to restore America's leadership and reputation as a democratic nation, to strengthen Social Security to help those retired and nearing retirement (as I am), to help those poor people on the Gulf coast who are still suffering from Katrina and government inaction even now, and...well the list is almost endless. "Imagine," as John Lennon sang. All things are possible with new beginnings.

Tom Price once again voted against even the majority in his own party against a bill to help communities improve their wastewater systems. Tom Price: too far right for his district. [Previous post] [Washington Post U. S. Congress Votes Database]

Water Quality Investment Act - Vote Passed (367-58, 8 Not Voting)

The House passed this $1.7 billion bill intended to help communities modernize their wastewater systems.

Rep. Tom Price voted NO

Tom Price is the elected Representative from my Georgia district in suburban Atlanta. He almost always votes with the very far-right of the Republican Party. I have decided to start posting his key votes that depart from the Republican majority opinion because I think most people don't know how extreme he is. This is the first major vote so far in the new Congress.

Vote 32: H R 5: This bill would lower the interest rate on student loans. The legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 and decrease the interest rate on federally subsidized student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent in stages over five years. It would impact undergraduate student borrowers in the Federal Family Education Loan and Direct Loan programs....The House passed the bill on Jan. 17, 2007, with a vote of 356-71. All House Democrats voted for the bill, joined by 124 Republicans. [Washington Post]

Price voted No.

Bush has no problems giving tax cuts to the rich or wanting to eliminate estate taxes for the wealthiest 1% of the population, but don't look for him to advocate helping the poor. Dubya grew up in a wealthy home with a silver spoon in his mouth. He just cannot relate to the poor and downtrodden. (emphasis mine)

In the past, Mr. Bush proposed trimming Medicare payments to health care providers for a few years, but he now proposes to make the cutbacks permanent, so that hospitals and nursing homes would never receive a full update for inflation. Medicare advocates say these cutbacks in payments to healthcare providers almost certainly will affect Medicare beneficiaries’ access to quality healthcare services. 

In addition, the budget would shift costs to states by capping Medicaid payments to government health care providers. The president proposes cutting Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, through $13 billion in spending cuts and $12.7 billion in administrative-cost savings over five years. The budget proposal prohibits the use of increased revenues to address problems facing both the Medicare program and the U.S. health care system, and is likely to face an uphill battle in Congress. [Alliance for Retired Americans]

While this proposal is going nowhere, one has to weigh these politics that hurt the poorest in our society to those that spend billions on a needless and disasterous war.