Google Ads

Site Stats

S-CHIP Crumb-bum Roll Call Redux

by: James L.

Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 2:59 PM EDT

A few weeks ago, we highlighted a long list of incumbents in marginal districts that voted against State Children's Health Insurance bill in the House. Today, I want to bring to attention all the Republican lawmakers who listened to their moral conscience and changed their votes to override the President's veto of the S-CHIP bill that will expand health care to millions of needy children:

District	Incumbent	Party	PVI

Oh, that's right. There WEREN'T ANY. In fact, the only vote changes on the Republican side of the aisle since last time were that Rep. Peter King (NY-03), who voted for the package originally, skipped town and failed to cast a vote against his beloved President today, and Babs Cubin (WY-AL), Wally Herger (CA-02), and Ted Poe (TX-02) actually found the time to show up and vote against children today. Bravo, folks.

So let's take the opportunity to tally up the following Republican'ts occupying districts with a PVI of R+6 or weaker who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with George Bush today and against children and families who deserve health coverage:

District	Incumbent	Party	PVI
NJ-03	Jim Saxton	R	D+3.3
MI-09	Joe Knollenberg	R	R+0.1
OH-01	Steve Chabot	R	R+0.5
IL-11	Jerry Weller	R	R+1.1
MI-11	Thaddeus McCotter	R	R+1.2
MI-08	Mike Rogers	R	R+1.9
WI-01	Paul Ryan	R	R+2.2
MI-07	Tim Walberg	R	R+2.5
MN-02	John Kline	R	R+2.7
IL-06	Pete Roskam	R	R+2.9
FL-08	Ric Keller	R	R+3.0
NC-08	Robin Hayes	R	R+3.0
FL-24	Tom Feeney	R	R+3.1
NY-26	Tom Reynolds	R	R+3.5
MI-04	Dave Camp	R	R+4.0
CA-26	Dave Dreier	R	R+4.1
FL-07	John Mica	R	R+4.1
FL-15	Dave Weldon	R	R+4.1
FL-09	Gus Bilirakis	R	R+4.3
AL-03	Mike Rogers	R	R+4.3
FL-18	Ileana Ros-Lehtinen	R	R+4.3
NJ-05	Scott Garrett	R	R+4.4
FL-25	Mario Diaz-Balart	R	R+4.4
IL-16	Don Manzullo	R	R+4.5
CA-50	Brian Bilbray	R	R+4.6
IL-13	Judy Biggert	R	R+4.7
IL-14	Dennis Hastert	R	R+4.8
MO-06	Sam Graves	R	R+4.8
VA-04	Randy Forbes	R	R+4.9
FL-04	Ginny Brown-Waite	R	R+5.1
MN-06	Michele Bachmann	R	R+5.1
NY-29	Randy Kuhl	R	R+5.2
FL-12	Adam Putnam	R	R+5.3
NJ-11	Rodney Frelinghuysen	R	R+5.5
VA-05	Virgil Goode	R	R+5.6
NM-02	Steve Pearce	R	R+5.7
VA-02	Thelma Drake	R	R+5.9
AZ-03	John Shadegg	R	R+5.9
CA-44	Ken Calvert	R	R+6.0
CA-46	Dana Rohrabacher	R	R+6.0

Let these names be known now -- they are the fringe minority that's siding with an unpopular president against a bi-partisan bill championed by conservative Republican Senators like Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch. Shame on all of them--including the long list that this chart misses. Dishonorable mentions go to Democrats Jim Marshall and Gene Taylor, who both occupy steeply Republican districts, but who both need a spine transplant.

James L. :: S-CHIP Crumb-bum Roll Call Redux

Tags: S-CHIP, House, 2008 Elections, (All Tags)

Print Friendly View

Send As Email

S-CHIP Crumb-bum Roll Call Redux | 16 comments

Back home in CA-26

Russ Warner has been hitting Dreier hard on S-CHIP.

My blog
Twitter
Scribd
28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)

by: californianintexas @ Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 20:39:45 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Show Joe Knollenberg the Support for SCHIP

Over at Peters for Congress, you can participate in the Red Wagon Campaign: print out a wagon, color it in with your child, and send it to Knollenberg's office to show the overwhelming support for SCHIP.

I'm proud to work for Gary Peters, because Joe Knollenberg is out of touch.

by: JordanOOO @ Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 20:41:55 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Got a letter today from Biggert IL-13

Claiming again "the bill includes irresponsible provisions that would overextend the program to provide benefits to adults, illegal aliens, and families with annual incomes up to $83,000". Repeatedly the lies over and over again isn't going to win the argument for her.

by: markg8 @ Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 21:20:06 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Just called Grassley's office

Thanked the staffer for the Senator's work on SCHIP and asked him to call Biggert and Roskam and fill them in on the facts of the bill. To fix that typo above repeating the lies over and over again isn't going to win the argument for her.

by: markg8 @ Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 21:35:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Saxton

Saxton is really asking for a challenge, isnt he?

by: AC4508 @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 05:41:37 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

RE: Dishonorable mentions to Marshall and Taylor

There's like 70+% of Republicans who support this program, so I don't see why it should have taken much of a spine to support SCHIP. I fail to see why opposing it gains these guys anything.

Can you really imagine bragging in campaign commercials about how they bucked their party to torpedo health insurance coverage for 10 million kids? Yes, there's some value to them in showing "independence" from the Democrats but there's nothing helping them by opposing a bill that everybody - not just Democrats - support.

by: PeterB @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:56:55 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

It's the cigarette tax

They are from rural tobacco farm areas. It hits the local economy for them. Do they want kids on state health insurace? Probably. Do they want their consitutents to run into financial problems due to their crop costing more? No.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

by: trowaman @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 09:27:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

And yet...

none of the Democrats from other tobacco states (Virginia, North Carolina, Bennie Thompson in Mississippi, etc.) were fine with voting for the bill.

I won't shed a tear if Marshall loses re-election in 2008. Nor when Gene Taylor retires. I'm normally a supporter of conservative Democrats who can win Republican districts, but these guys don't even try to be Democrats.

by: Johnny Longtorso @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 12:28:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Hey now

I'm not one to rush to their defense, especialy Marchall, but I will say the best reason to keep Taylor around.

Katrina.

He did what no one else would to keep Katrina in the news and on the minds of capitol hill congressman, including pitching a tent in the committee room. He does well for his district.

As for your other arguments; we have ONE democrat not representing urban Virginia, Bennie is from a minority district where the poverty factor outweighs the crop, and as for NC, we had 2 of our guys vote against the bill on the first run and switched their vote for the override.

Oh well, I'd argue Marshall is our second most likely incumbent to lose in 2008 (behind Mahoney), so don't sweat him too much. Carney and Boyda might not be too far behind him though (Lampson may have caught a break in the quality of his challengers), we'll see how their races play out.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

by: trowaman @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 13:26:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Marshall

I am officially in support of Marshall losing in the primary. I'm tired of having the Democratic Party spend millions of dollars to save his sorry ass, only for him to stab us in the back. I would rather spend that money on protecting people like Carol Shea-Porter and electing more reliable Democrats.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

by: TheUnknown285 @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 14:27:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

meh . . .

I kinda know how you feel having Lampson as my rep. But I know it's either him or no Democrat at all. He does what I want just enough to where I keep the bumper sticker on my car (NASA *cough*).

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

by: trowaman @ Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 16:19:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

It is not just the state they are from.

Taylor and Marshall's districts have a higher percentage of their constituents as tobacco farmers than most of the other Democrats from tobacco growing states. In fact, many Democrats from tobacco growing states have almost zero tobacco farmers in their districts.

Taylor and Marshall are voting their constituents and we should not fault them for that. Any Democrat representing those districts would vote similiarly.

by: publius2481 @ Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 00:33:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

So...

all the 15% of people who opposed this bill live in their districts, then?

by: Johnny Longtorso @ Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 12:56:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I am saying that if the tobacco tax was not a part of the bill, then they could vote for it. As the bill was constructed, it would have been risky to vote for it. We have to face the reality that in order to move a progressive agenda, Democrats need to win elections in conservative districts. Taylor and Marshall are much better than a Republican from these districts. They may vote against us a third of the time, but a Republican would vote against us ALL the time. Also, to expand the party's electoral strength, we need to get Democrats elected in these districts. When people begin to like Marshall and Taylor, they start to realize that Democrats do alot of good and will vote more Democratic in other elections. We must think long-term and not just short-term.

by: publius2481 @ Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 16:54:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I agree

However, I had a discussion wth one of my friends earlier about this, kinda.

I was talking about how it appears Hoyer is MOSTLY holdign up the progressive agenda and how if he got booted there would be more liberal legislation with teeth brought up for votes. He went on about how that legislation would hurt our guys like Taylor, Edwards, Lampson, etc. I countered with "yes it would, but we'd ick up the middle" As in the 50/50 district up this time would have a better chance fo going dem in the next cycle if we did legislation with teeth.

So I think that is the question. Do we want the conservative end that is hard to grasp each cycle, or do we go hard core progressive and take the complete middle at the conservtive democrat's expense?

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

by: trowaman @ Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 17:48:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Balancing

I think you have to try and balance the two. Bringing up items like S-CHIP is a good idea because it has broad based support. Other issues that are more divisive we should hold off on. If we can expand are majority in the House it will be easier to pass those items.

by: publius2481 @ Sun Oct 21, 2007 at 16:50:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]