Hey there all you folks out there on the EENR this Monday! This is the Critter Watch, and we do it because, of course, we all know that we have to keep a close eye on those Congress Critters of ours; you never know what they'll vote forsellauction off give away next...
(photo by Cam in Van on Flickr)
You'll notice that I have tinkered a bit with the format, and I will probably continue to improve upon it as we go along, both to make it less academic to read (for you) and to write (for me). And so I bid you welcome to the Absolutely Brand Spanking New & Improved Critter Watch here on the EENR!
First, as always, I want to give you the two links to everything Congress, both of which are excellent sources of information:
The first is for The Library of Congress, affectionately called THOMAS after Thomas Jefferson. Here you can look up just about anything that Congress has done (even previous Congresses.)
The second link is to the GPO Access site regarding Legislative Branch Resources. This page has quick links to many Legislative documents, including Rules, Procedures, Calendars, Reports, etc...
This week the focus will be three pieces of legislation: the War Funding bill, the FISA bill, and the "Sense of the Congress" Iran resolution.
This will tell everyone how their Congressperson voted on the latest war funding request. 149 Representatives sent the right message and opposed funding. Normally, this isn't nearly enough to win a vote, but thanks to the 132-strong Repub sit-in, staged to protest money going to veterans' education benefits and extended unemployment insurance, 149 carried the day.
Apparently House Democrats found their backbone. Funding for the Iraq War failed to pass in the House today. Democrats split the Iraq War funding bill into three parts so they could vote to support unemployment funding for the troops among other things and vote against funding for the war at the same time. Here's a snippet from MSNBC:
First, the Democratic leadership put a bill on the floor, separated into three parts, which would have provided funding for Iraq and Afghanistan operations, as well as new benefits for military veterans and an extension of unemployment benefits for people who had lost their jobs.
The three-part design would have allowed anti-war House Democrats to vote "no" on the Iraq and Afghanistan funding, but "yes" on the other parts of the measure.
This was done in the belief that GOP members of the House wouldn't allow the measure to fail. The Democrats assumed they could voice their opposition to war, but without any real legislative repercussions
But 132 Republicans refused to play their part in what they saw as a charade. They voted "present" rather than supply the votes necessary to pass the Democratic-designed measure.
Thanks for voting present Republicans! You did play our game!
