Senate Porkers

Many things are flying under the radar as we pay attention to the healthcare debate that is currently in the house.  One of these is the fact that Sen. DeMint put forth a bill that would ban earmarks for one year in all legislation.  We are in major debt and it just keeps getting worse.  The least our government should do is to have an open and transparent process of where the money is going, not sticking in earmarks at the last minute, which means many senators don't even know what they are voting on nor is there any debate on if the money should be spent on that particular thing.  Here is how the vote went:


Senate Vote On 1-Year Earmark Moratorium



Yes = Supported Earmark Ban


No = Opposed Earmark Ban


Republican Hall of Shame



Alabama: Sessions (R), Yes --- Shelby (R), No

Alaska: Begich (D), No --- Murkowski (R), No

Arizona: Kyl (R),Yes --- McCain (R), Yes

Arkansas: Lincoln (D), No --- Pryor (D), No

California: Boxer (D), No --- Feinstein (D), No

Colorado: Bennet (D), No --- Udall (D), No

Connecticut: Dodd (D), No --- Lieberman (I), No

Delaware: Carper (D), No --- Kaufman (D), Yes

Florida: LeMieux (R), Yes --- Nelson (D), No

Georgia: Chambliss (R), Yes --- Isakson (R), Yes

Hawaii: Akaka (D), No --- Inouye (D), No

Idaho: Crapo (R), Yes --- Risch (R), Yes

Illinois: Burris (D), No --- Durbin (D), No

Indiana: Bayh (D), Yes --- Lugar (R), No

Iowa: Grassley (R), Yes --- Harkin (D), No

Kansas: Brownback (R), Yes --- Roberts (R), No

Kentucky: Bunning (R), No --- McConnell (R), Yes

Louisiana: Landrieu (D), No --- Vitter (R), Yes

Maine: Collins (R), No --- Snowe (R), No

Maryland: Cardin (D), No --- Mikulski (D), No

Massachusetts: Brown (R), Yes --- Kerry (D), No

Michigan: Levin (D), No --- Stabenow (D), No

Minnesota: Franken (D), No --- Klobuchar (D), No

Mississippi: Cochran (R), No --- Wicker (R), No

Missouri: Bond (R), No --- McCaskill (D), Yes

Montana: Baucus (D), No --- Tester (D), Didn't Vote

Nebraska: Johanns (R), Yes --- Nelson (D), No

Nevada: Ensign (R), Yes --- Reid (D), No

New Hampshire: Gregg (R), No --- Shaheen (D), No

New Jersey: Lautenberg (D), No --- Menendez (D), No

New Mexico: Bingaman (D), No --- Udall (D), No

New York: Gillibrand (D), No --- Schumer (D), No

North Carolina: Burr (R), Yes --- Hagan (D), No

North Dakota: Conrad (D), No --- Dorgan (D), No

Ohio: Brown (D), No --- Voinovich (R), No

Oklahoma: Coburn (R), Yes --- Inhofe (R), No

Oregon: Merkley (D), No --- Wyden (D), No

Pennsylvania: Casey (D), No --- Specter (D), No

Rhode Island: Reed (D), No --- Whitehouse (D), No

South Carolina: DeMint (R), Yes --- Graham (R), Yes

South Dakota: Johnson (D), No --- Thune (R), Yes

Tennessee: Alexander (R), No --- Corker (R), Yes

Texas: Cornyn (R), Yes --- Hutchison (R), No


Utah: Bennett (R), Didn't Vote --- Hatch (R), Yes


Vermont: Leahy (D), No --- Sanders (I), No


Virginia: Warner (D), No --- Webb (D), No (lucky me)

Washington: Cantwell (D), No --- Murray (D), No

West Virginia: Byrd (D), Didn't Vote --- Rockefeller (D), No

Wisconsin: Feingold (D), Yes --- Kohl (D), No

Wyoming: Barrasso (R), Yes --- Enzi (R), Yes

Democratic No Votes

Adler



Altmire


Baird


Barrow


Boccieri


Boren


Boucher


Boyd


Bright


Chandler


Childers


Artur Davis


Lincoln Davis


Chet Edwards


Gordon


Griffith


Herseth-sandlin


Holden






Kissell


Kosmas


Kratovil


Kucinich


Betsy Markey


Marshall


Massa


Matheson


McIntyre


McMahon


Melancon


Minnick


Scott Murphy


Nye


Peterson


Ross


Shuler


Skelton


Tanner


Taylor


Teague

Senator Obama's Voting Record on Healthcare Reform

Here is some interesting information on then Senator Obama's votes regarding healthcare reform.


Throughout his years in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama joined Democrats to defeat meaningful health care reform proposals that would have helped to solve many of the problems he now says can only be addressed by a $2-trillion government takeover.

A sampling of Sen. Obama’s greatest NAY’s below:

NO on Allowing Americans to Deduct Their Health Care Costs. S. Con. Res. 70 (110th Congress, 2nd Session, Roll Call 82).
The Senate rejected an effort to allow for an above-the-line federal income tax deduction for individuals who do not receive health insurance through their employers. The amendment offered by Sen. DeMint (R-SC) failed on March 13, 2008 by a vote of 45-51.

NO on Allowing Americans the Freedom to Purchase Health Insurance Across State Lines. H.R. 976 (110th Congress, 1st Session, Roll Call 305). The Senate rejected an effort to allow Americans to purchase individual health insurance across state lines. The amendment offered by Sen. DeMint (R-SC) failed on August 2, 2007 by a vote of 37-62.

NO on Allowing Americans to Use Their OWN HSA Funds to Cover Health Insurance Premiums. H.R. 2 (110th Congress, 1st Session, Roll Call 26). The Senate rejected an effort to allow Americans to use their tax-free Health Savings Account funds to purchase health insurance. The amendment offered by Sen. Ensign (R-NV) failed on January 25, 2007 by a vote of 47-48.

NO on Preventing the Erosion of Private Health Coverage. S.Amdt. 2537 to S.Amdt. 2530 to H.R. 976 (110th Congress, Session 1, Roll Call 299)The Senate rejected an effort to minimize the erosion of private health coverage. The amendment offered by Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) failed on August 2, 2007 by a vote of 37-62.

NO on Expanding Access to Small Business Health Plans. On Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Committee Amendment (110th Congress, Session 2, Roll Call 119). The Senate rejected an effort to allow for the expansion of health care access and reduced costs through the creation of small business health plans and through modernization of the health insurance marketplace on May 11, 2006 by a vote of 55-32.

NO on Preserving Employer-Sponsored Coverage. S.Amdt. 2596 to S.Amdt. 2530 to H.R. 976 (110th Congress, Session 1, Roll Call 301)The Senate rejected an effort that would require individuals who are eligible for SCHIP and employer-sponsored coverage to use the employer-sponsored coverage instead of SCHIP. The amendment offered by Sen. Vitter (R-LA) failed on August 2, 2007 by a vote of 35-64.

NO on Requiring Health Insurance for Illegal Immigrants. S. 1348 (110th Congress, 1st Session, Roll Call 188). The Senate rejected an effort to require illegal immigrants seeking “Z Visas” to maintain a minimum level of health coverage. The amendment offered by Sen. DeMint (R-SC) failed on June 6, 2007 by a vote of 43-55.

Blogpost from Sen. DeMint on 7/21/09