-By Warner Todd Huston
Last week, the House of Representatives passed HR 1. This bill was the 2011 continuing appropriations act, the bill that makes provisions to fund the federal government. It also contained $61 billion in cuts.
There were 21 different cost cutting measures in the bill. So, how did our Illinois Representatives vote on HR 1? How many of the amendments did our reps vote “yes” for?
Republicans
Walsh (R, 8th): 100%
Manzullo (R, 16th): 95%
Roskam (R, 6th): 81%
Johnson (R, 15th): 76%
Shimkus (R, 19th): 67%
Hultgren (R, 14th): 62%
Schilling (R, 17th): 57%
Schock (R, 18th): 57%
Dold (R, 10th): 38%
Kinzinger (R, 11th): 38%
Biggert (R, 13th): 25%
Congratulations to Joe Walsh for being a 100% man! Manzullo and Roskam are not too shabby, either. Sadly a few of our newest Reps are in Democrat territory with their weak support of the most number of cost cutting measures. I mean, 38 percent for Kinzinger?? That is horrible. Is Adam Kinzinger a big government guy after all his claims on the campaign trail? Left-winger Biggert’s Democrat-styled votes are no surprise. One is continually surprised she is still pretending to be a Republican.
Here are the percentages of votes for cost cutting by Illinois Democrats:
Democrats
Costello (D, 12th): 29%
Lipinski (D, 3rd): 14%
Quigley (D, 5th): 5%
Schakowsky (D, 9th): 5%
Davis (D, 7th): 0%
Gutierrez (D, 4th): 0%
Jackson (D, 2nd): 0%
Rush (D, 1st): 0%
Unsurprising, of course. Everyone knows that Democrats are for massive overspending and will oppose most any cuts quite despite what Obama claims his party stands for. It is surprising, though, that communist representative Jan Schakowsky voted for any of the cost cutting measures. I’d have expected her vote to be in negative territory on votes for cost cutting! Ha, ha. The one thing Schakowsky voted to cut was the cash for the National Drug Intelligence Center (Republicans Schilling and Kinzinger quixotically voted to save this funding).
So, what were all these cost cutting measures? The Heritage Foundation assembled the stats for us. Here are the explanations of each of these cost cutting amendments and the vote counts for them (PDF of report):
House Vote 51 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – National Drug Intelligence Center
February 16, 2011 – Flake, R-Ariz., amendment that would strike the $34 million that the bill would provide for the National Drug Intelligence Center at the Justice Department. Adopted in Committee of the Whole 262-169: R 217-22; D 45-147; I 0-0.
House Vote 52 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Research Facility Construction
February 16, 2011 – Latta, R-Ohio, amendment that would decrease funding for construction of research facilities at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology by $10 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 184-247: R 157-82; D 27-165; I 0-0.
House Vote 54 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Legal Services Corporation
February 16, 2011 – Duncan, R-S.C., amendment that would strike all funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which would be provided $324.4 million under the bill. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 171-259: R 170-68; D 1-191; I 0-0.
House Vote 55 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – ARPA-E Funding Reduction
February 16, 2011 – Biggert, R-Ill., amendment that would strike the $50 million in funding that the bill would make available for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at the Energy Department. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 170-262: R 165-75; D 5-187; I 0-0.
House Vote 58 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Energy Efficiency Programs
February 16, 2011 – Latta, R-Ohio, amendment that would decrease funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at the Energy Department by $70 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 137-293: R 135-103; D 2-190; I 0-0.
House Vote 61 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Land Acquisition
February 16, 2011 – Lummis, R-Wyo., amendment that would strike all funding, including unobligated prior-year funds, that would be made available for the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service to buy new federal land. That funding totals $35 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 213-216: R 207-32; D 6-184; I 0-0.
House Vote 63 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – EPA Science and Technology
February 16, 2011 – Flake, R-Ariz., amendment that would reduce funding for EPA science and technology programs by $64 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 199-230: R 190-48; D 9-182; I 0-0.
House Vote 64 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – EPA Environmental Programs and Management
February 16, 2011 – Pompeo, R-Kan., amendment that would reduce funding for EPA environmental programs and management by $8 million. Adopted in Committee of the Whole 239-185: R 228-9; D 11-176; I 0-0.
House Vote 65 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – EPA State and Tribal Assistance
February 16, 2011 – Reed, R-N.Y., amendment that would reduce funding for EPA state and tribal assistance grants by $10 million. Adopted in Committee of the Whole 228-203: R 219-21; D 9-182; I 0-0.
House Vote 67 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – USDA Forestry Programs
February 17, 2011 – Pompeo, R-Kan., amendment that would reduce funding for state and private forestry programs of the U.S. Forest Service in the Agriculture Department by $7.4 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 171-256: R 168-70; D 3-186; I 0-0.
House Vote 68 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – National Endowment for the Arts
Adopted in Committee of the Whole 217-209: R 214-22; D 3-187; I 0-0.
House Vote 69 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs
February 17, 2011 – Canseco, R-Texas, amendment that would strike the $4.5 million in funding provided in the bill for the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program. Adopted in Committee of the Whole 248-177: R 223-13; D 25-164; I 0-0.
House Vote 70 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Presidio Trust Fund
February 17, 2011 – Reed, R-N.Y., amendment that would strike the $15 million in funding provided in the bill for the Presidio Trust Fund. Adopted in Committee of the Whole 239-186: R 224-10; D 15-176; I 0-0.
House Vote 72 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Community Service Block Grants
February 17, 2011 – Flake, R-Ariz., amendment that would reduce funding for payments under the Community Service Block Grant program by $100 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 115-316: R 115-124; D 0-192; I 0-0.
House Vote 75 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – National Labor Relations Board
February 17, 2011 – Price, R-Ga., amendment that would strike the $233.4 million in funding provided in the bill for salaries and expenses at the National Labor Relations Board. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 176-250: R 176-60; D 0-190; I 0-0.
House Vote 76 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – U.S. Institute of Peace
February 17, 2011 – Weiner, D-N.Y., amendment that would strike the $42.7 million provided in the bill for the United States Institute of Peace. Adopted in Committee of the Whole 268-163: R 226-13; D 42-150; I 0-0.
House Vote 77 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – East-West Center
February 17, 2011 – Canseco, R-Texas, amendment that would strike the $10.7 million provided in the the bill for the East-West Center.
Adopted in Committee of the Whole 274-155: R 230-7; D 44-148; I 0-0.
House Vote 78 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Multilateral Foreign Assistance
February 17, 2011 – Heller, R-Nev., amendment that would reduce funding for various accounts used for multilateral assistance through international financial institutions, organizations and programs by a total of $211.2 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 190-241: R 180-59; D 10-182; I 0-0.
House Vote 79 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Amtrak Grants
February 17, 2011 – Sessions, R-Texas, amendment that would decrease funding for capital and debt service grants to Amtrak by $446.9 million. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 176-250: R 176-60; D 0-190; I 0-0.
House Vote 103 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Overall Funding Cut
February 18, 2011 – Blackburn, R-Tenn., amendment that would reduce funding for the legislative branch by 11 percent and all other funding under the measure by 5.5 percent. Continuing appropriations for the Homeland Security Department, the Veterans Affairs Department, the State Department, and aid and funding for Israel would be exempt from these reductions. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 147-281: R 147-92; D 0-189; I 0-0.
House Vote 143 – HR 1: Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations – Fiscal 2006 Spending Levels
February 19, 2011 – Mulvaney, R-S.C., amendment that would bar funds made available in the bill from being used in excess of fiscal 2006 spending levels with some exemptions. Rejected in Committee of the Whole 93-328: R 93-144; D 0-184; I 0-0.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
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