How They Voted This Week
House
2010 foreign-affairs budget. Voting 318-106, the House approved a $48.8 billion foreign-affairs budget (HR 3081) for fiscal 2010 that provides $9.6 billion to operate the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development while funding the hiring of more than 1,300 Foreign Service officers for duty mainly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. MIKE CASTLE voted to pass the bill.
Agriculture spending cut. Voting 185-248, the House rejected a proposed 5 percent across-the-board cut in fiscal 2010 appropriations (HR 2997) to fund agriculture and food programs, rural development, and agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The amendment would have trimmed $1.1 billion from the bill’s $20.5 billion in discretionary spending. The bill was later passed. MIKE CASTLE voted for the amendment.
Food and Drug Administration. Voting 135-292, the House refused to freeze the 2010 Food and Drug Administration budget at its 2009 level. The amendment to HR 2997 (above) sought to block a proposed 11 percent, or $373 million, increase in FDA spending for the budget year that begins in October. MIKE CASTLE voted against the amendment.
Senate
Mexican border fence. The Senate voted, 54-44, to require the government to build at least 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border by the end of 2010. The amendment was offered to a bill (HR 2892), later passed, that appropriates $42.9 billion for the Department of Homeland Security in fiscal 2010. TOM CARPER and TED KAUFMAN voted against the amendment.
Prescription-drug imports. The Senate approved, 55-36, an amendment to HR 2892 to permit individuals to import prescription drugs for their personal use from Canada. The measure would prohibit U.S. customs officers from confiscating Canada-bought pharmaceuticals at border crossings. TED KAUFMAN voted for the amendment, while TOM CARPER thinks you don’t need prescription drugs and should die.
Firefighter grants. Voting 32-58, the Senate refused to add $100 million for firefighter grants to the Federal Emergency Management Agency budget (HR 2892, above) in addition to $810 million already in the bill for that purpose. TOM CARPER and TED KAUFMAN voted for the extra $100 million.
Looks like Castle is playing it true to form. Straight Dem down the line hoping voters will forget about all the Tom Delay and George Bush party line votes.
Hell…the voters have already forgotten.
Who is tom Carper working for? Oh yeah…I forgot.
I’m OK w/ those Canadian prescriptions, but I do hope people use other courts than the US when they discover the prescriptions they thought they bought from wherever, weren’t the real deal, or included a few “off the label” ingredients.
But meanwhile, hurry up FDA and let’s get that concentrated fish oil over here from France, that is so cheap and the bomb in cholesterol issues!!! Don’t make me start using mules for fish oil!!!
I agree with you with the lawsuit aspect, JC. It should be allowed, but you assume the risk.
Well thank you DD, and for the record would you please note that in the last 24hrs. you have agreed w/ both Art and Joanne?
Is your editorial standing in jeopardy now?
My agreement with Art was snarky.
I really can’t understand having a U.S. Agency for International Developement when our own cities are in decline. That should of been one of the first things on the block. I wonder what kind of strings come with all of the aid flowing from that agency.
What’s wrong with the fence building? Besides, it will create jobs.
Hi,
Isabelle here form OpenCongress.org. I just wanted to write quickly and let you know that your recent blog post on H.R. 3081 got picked up by our blog aggregator and is now posted in our list of articles on that bill. Now people looking for information on the bill can find your article through its bill page on OpenCongress. Check it out here:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3081/blogs
Since you’re writing about bills in Congress on your blog, I encourage you to check out OpenCongress as a research tool and a source for finding out what’s hot in Congress. One of our main functions that you ca see off the homepage is to provide context to bills, showing which ones are being viewed by people the most, which are being blogged about the most, and which are in the news the most. You can also follow the OpenCongress Blog for updates on stuff that’s moving in Congress.
http://www.opencongress.org/blog
Best,
-Isabelle