SENATE VOTES: 49 DEMOCRATS, MAINE’S REPUBLICANS AGREE WITH FED

Friday, October 24, 2008

(PAI)

WASHINGTON (PAI)--In an overwhelming show of party unity, 49 of the Senate’s 51 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents voted in agreement with stands that the AFL-CIO took on eight key votes the federation selected covering the first half of 2008, federation voting tables show. And so did Maine’s two Republicans.

The data covers votes through July 15, and thus does not include key issues after the August congressional recess, such as the $700 billion bank bailout. But Democratic unanimity was notable, especially since the Democrat with the most “wrong” votes--three--was Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), all for parliamentary reasons.

The federation picked eight key votes during the first half of the year, and posted them on the legislative section of its website, along with 13 key House votes. Four of the eight Senate votes were Democratic attempts to stop GOP filibusters against labor-backed legislation. Three of those failed and Reid had to switch his vote on each for parliamentary reasons to be on the “winning” side if he wanted to revisit the issue.

Besides Reid, only three Senate Democrats did not have a perfect 8-0 record, and two of them were sick. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (W. Va.) was 7-0. Labor Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.) was 5-0 and missed three votes while being treated for a brain tumor. The sole real Democratic “wrong”--not counting Reid--was when Evan Bayh (Ind.) opposed the Democrats’ budget resolution on March 14.

On the GOP side of the aisle, even with the filibusters, most Republicans who found themselves in contested re-election races voted more often in agreement with the AFL-CIO than in disagreement--and several voted against their own party’s filibusters.

Leading the way was Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) at 8-0. She faces the voters next month. Her GOP Maine colleague, Olympia Snowe, was also 8-0. Sens. Norman Coleman (R-Minn.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) were each 7-1, with their “wrong” votes being on the budget resolution. Sen. Arlen Specter was 6-2. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), seeking re-election while on trial, was 5-2 with an absence. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) was 5-3 and Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) was at

4-4. Only Specter, Murkowski and Snowe are not up for re-election.

Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and the South Carolina delegation brought up the rear. Kyl and Allard were 0-8, Coburn was

0-7, South Carolinian James DeMint was 0-8 and his GOP colleague, Lindsay Graham, was 1-7. Allard’s “wrongs” opposed Colorado Democrat Ken Salazar’s eight “rights.”

Despite the pressures of the presidential campaign, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), were each 8-0. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) missed all eight votes. ###