HOUSE VOTE SCORES: MASS DEMOCRATIC AGREEMENT WITH LABOR STANDS

Friday, October 24, 2008

(PAI)

HOUSE VOTE SCORES:

MASS DEMOCRATIC AGREEMENT WITH LABOR STANDS

By Mark Gruenberg

PAI Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (PAI)--If you were a House Democrat this year--at least before the month-long August congressional recess and the subsequent controversial votes on the $700 billion bank bailout package--the overwhelming probability was that you agreed with the AFL-CIO on key votes it picked during the second session of the 110th Congress. The Republicans were another story.

Analysis of the voting records, posted on the federation’s website, shows 203 of the House Democrats never disagreed with labor’s stand in the 13 votes the federation used for its interim 2008 scorecard, although some of them missed votes. Another 21 disagreed with labor only once. None opposed workers more than a third of the time.

By contrast, four House Republicans never voted in agreement with the federation, and another 10 voted with labor only once in the 13 times. Thirty-seven Republicans agreed with the federation on more than half of the 13 votes. They were led by New England’s last Republican, Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.). He agreed with the federation’s stand on 11 of the 13 votes. Another 11 Republicans nationally were each 10-3. The other 150-plus Republicans fell in between.

Votes are only one part of a lawmaker’s record on labor issues and the AFL-CIO cautioned the tally is incomplete. It does not, for example, cover a slew of key votes after the August recess, notably those on the bank bailout legislation and on money bills and a second stimulus package, with extended jobless benefits.

Nevertheless, voting, as the most-public record of a lawmaker’s stand with or against workers, is used by unions and their allies to decide whom to support both with campaign dollars and at the polls. Within that mass Democratic agreement, delegations from California, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts were virtually unanimous in agreeing with the federation’s stands.

* CALIFORNIA: Of the 442 votes the AFL-CIO tallied among California’s 34 Democrats, the score was 423-2, with 17 missed votes. Seven of the misses were by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. By tradition, which Pelosi sometimes breached, the speaker does not vote. The two “wrong” votes, by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, were on mine safety and the first economic stimulus bill. Her sister, Rep. Linda Sanchez, was 13-0.

Rep. Brian Bilbray from San Diego was the Golden State’s top Republican (5-8), while Rep. John Campbell (0-10) was one of the “zeroes.” Other GOPers were in between.

* NEW YORK: The Empire State’s 23 Democrats, including the upstaters, voted

with labor by a combined 287-0, and other 12 votes were absences. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), co-chair of the GOP’s Labor Caucus, had a 7-6 mark, trailing two other New York Republicans: John McHugh (10-3) and retiring Rep. James Walsh (8-5).

* ILLINOIS: Democrats agreed with labor by a combined 124-4. It would have been higher except Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago was ill and had a 2-0 mark, with 11 absences. Reps. Phil Hare--a former UNITE shop steward--Jerry Costello, Rahm Emanuel, Jan Schakowsky, Daniel Lipinski and Jesse Jackson Jr. posted 13-0 scores. Reps. Danny Davis and Luis Gutierrez were each 12-0 with an absence.

Three of Illinois’ Democratic “wrong” votes came from Rep. Melissa Bean, who angered union backers earlier by voting for CAFTA. This time, Bean voted against the Democrats’ budget resolution, against Pelosi’s successful plan to suspend “fast track” rules and sidetrack the U.S.-Columbia “free trade” agreement, and against extending jobless benefits by only 13 weeks, not 26. Scores from Illinois Republicans ranged from retiring moderate Rep. Ray LaHood (9-2, two absences) down to three GOPers with 3-10 scores. Embattled North Shore GOP Rep. Mark Kirk had a 7-6 record.

* MINNESOTA: Republicans John Kline and Michele Bachmann were the delegation oddballs: The only ones who mostly voted against workers. Bachmann, who recently gained notoriety among even other Republicans for calling some of her colleagues “anti-American,” had a 3-10 score. Kline, an outspoken foe of workers’ bills as a top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, had a 4-9 mark.

Retiring moderate GOP Rep. James Ramstad was 9-3, with one absence. Min-nesota’s five Democrats were a combined 62-2, with an absence on one vote by James Oberstar and both “wrong” votes by Collin Peterson. Peterson’s “wrong”s were on mine safety and the first economic stimulus bill. Freshman Rep. Tim Walz (D), a teacher and union member of Education Minnesota, the joint AFT-NEA affiliate, was 13-0.

* MISSOURI: GOP Reps. Todd Akin of the St. Louis suburbs (2-11), House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (2-10-1) and Kenny Hulshof (1-5, seven absences) were the exceptions in the Show Me State’s pro-worker record. The two other Republicans were each 8-5, and the four Democrats were each 13-0. On the Illinois side of the Mississippi, Rep. John Shimkus (R) had a 3-9 mark, with one absence, on labor votes.

* OREGON: Oregon’s four Democrats were a combined 50-1, with one absence. The lone “wrong” vote, by Vic DeFazio, came when Democratic leaders, caving in to GOP President George W. Bush, voted to extend jobless benefits by 13 weeks, and not by 26 in high-jobless states, such as Oregon. DeFazio wanted the 26 weeks. Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) had a 12-1 record, with his “wrong” vote against the first stimulus bill early in the year. ###

Press Associates, Inc. (PAI) -- 10/24/2008