What are our representatives in Washington up to?
Home heating oil seemed to be very much on the congressional delegation's minds over the past month. The Republicans in the House delegation are distancing themselves from President Bush. Nancy Johnson's web site looks like a liberal Democrat's page, these days. Is that the Sierra Club honoring her? Is that Bill Clinton? Huh. Strange days.
So what have they been doing?
Sen Joe Lieberman (D)
Sen. Lieberman has joined a bipartisan group dedicated to reducing our dependency on oil by promoting fuel-efficient cars.
Lieberman and Sen. Dodd also secured billions of dollars in defense spending for Connecticut, as part of the massive new defense appropriations bill. Feel free to make oinking sounds.
Lieberman met with President Bush's Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito, and assures us that he will not overturn Roe v. Wade.
Sources
"U.S. can cut oil consumption, Lieberman says." Associated Press 17 November, 2005.
Miga, Andrew. "Senate defense bill includes billions of dollars for Conn. firms." Associated Press 16 November, 2005.
Reynolds, Maura. "Senators Feel Assured on Abortion After Alito Visit." Los Angeles Times, 9 November, 2005.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D)
Dodd is helping to sponsor a media shield law that would protect journalists from being compelled to reveal sources. He also contributed to the defense spending bill that will net billions for Connecticut companies.
Dodd also wants oil companies to pay a windfall profits tax.
Sources
Kaplan, Jonathan E. "Libby case will help move shield law, says Pence." The Hill 16 November, 2005.
Dalrymple, Mary. "Dem. Senators Use Tax Bill to Squeeze Cos.." 17 November, 2005.
Rep. John Larson (D-1)
Larson was the only member of the congressional delegation to oppose new restrictions on eminent domain.
Larson is also trying to gain a leadership post in the House. At least it would give him something to do.
Sources
"Larson only Conn. lawmaker to vote against eminent domain bill." Associated Press 3 November, 2005.
Hearn, Josephine. "Supporter lists escalate Dems’ vice-chair battle." The Hill 27 October, 2005.
Rep. Rob Simmons (R-2)
Connecticut members of the House helped to pass federal funding for eastern Connecticut.
Moderate Republicans, Simmons, Shays and Johnson among them, helped to block oil drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve.
Simmons also missed the BRAC vote to go to Vegas, but it was a sure thing and he had an appointment.
Sources
"U.S. House OKs Millions For Projects In Region." New London Day 11 November, 2005.
Schultz, Jennifer. " Johnson leads GOP moderates to block drilling for Arctic oil." New Britain Herald 11 November, 2005.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-3)
DeLauro introduced legislation banning advance notification of inspections by DOL, a bill aimed mostly at Wal-Mart.
DeLauro also panned the White House's avian flu plans.
Source
Gruenberg, Mark. "Wal-Mart in Trouble II." International Labor Communications Association 14 November, 2005.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4)
Shays has been in the news for proposing new regulations on Internet communications.
Shays also met with controverisal Iraqi leader Ahmed Chalabi, which drew criticism from Democrats.
Source
Urban, Peter. "Shays under fire for meeting with Iraqi." Connecticut Post 15 November, 2005.
Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-5)
Johnson has proposed new legislation regarding health care techonology and infrastructure.
She has also been promoting Medicare programs in her district.
Source
Broder, Caroline. "Senate bill falls short for HIT funds, Johnson introduces legislation." Healthcare IT News 28 October, 2005.
19 comments:
Crazed DeanFan rant on Lieberman in 3,2,1...
Nancy is independent? Congrats to her, when did that happen--today?
Nice to see that Sen Joe has joined a bipartisan group. He should enjoy working with some Democrats for a change
Today, all 201 Democrats were joined by 22 Republicans to defeat a budget bill which would have been the first education cut in 10 years and slashing spending on several health care programs.
Each congress person from Connecticut voted against the bill, with one exception.
If anyone from Connecticut was going to vote for these large cuts in social spending, I would have guessed it would be Nancy Johnson, whom people often portray as the most conservative of the delegation.
But no, it was Chris Shays, who tries to present himself as moderate and independent that voted for these cuts.
I'm glad the cuts were defeated, and I'm sure that people in the Farrell campaign are glad to have more ammo to attack Shays on.
First, some background on how draconian and unconscionable these Republican budget proposals are. The $50 billion in proposed cuts to Food Stamps, medicaid, child support enforcement, SSI, and student loans would not reduce the deficit one penny because they are being made primarily to help pay for $70 billion in new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. That's what Republicans call "shared sacrifice". (And here's more background.)
Second, Nancy Johnson, while fearful enough of backlash from her district to play the moderate today, voted a couple weeks ago for a budget bill that increased cuts to low-income programs by 800%. The House Ways & Means Committee (on which Johnson sites and for which she accrues her campaign wealth) was asked to find $1 billion in cuts. But without objection, Johnson voted for a more draconian version that instead made $8 billion in cuts. Now she can vote against the cuts she unconditionally supported.
The untold story behind the local Republican reluctance is the constant pressure exerted on them by a wide coalition of groups in CT over the past several months (as well as the upcoming election). In other words, Johnson, Simmons, and Shays are afraid of the consequences of voting their actual views.
Since the CT news media pays little or no attention to DC budget deliberations and less to the impact on CT residents, Simmons and Johnson will likely be given a free ride, unless their opponents call them on it.
The House leadership will continue to try to pull in the CT Republicans, so we need to keep the pressure up.
DeanFan,
John Larson has praised Murtha's call for an immediate withdrawal of troops.
Rosa, where are you?
America will not have a good foreign policy until all the Vietnam era pontificators are eating all bran in Boca Raton before their shuffleboard match
Is it blatantly obvious to anyone else that DeanFan84 works for the DeStefano campaign?
It's all well and good, but if DeanFan is a clue to how far left the DeStefano team is, then how on earth are the Dems going to stand a chance after the primary?
With Deaniacs running the campaign, dems are easy to paint into a corner... Remember what happened with Dean himself during the presidential campaign?
Right.
DeanFan, please proceed to rant, rave, and deny.
Marty,
As a well recognized staffer for the DeStefano campaign, as a person who volunteered for the Dean campaign and as a friend of DeanFan84, I can tell you that DeanFan84 does not work for the DeStefano campaign, nor is the campaign run by ‘Deaniacs’.
DeanFan84 and I don’t always agree with one another nor do either of us agree all the time with Mayor DeStefano. However, DeanFan84 has a passion about how we can work together to help New Haven, to help Connecticut, and to help our country be a better place. I am proud to have him as a friend. I am proud that the DeStefano campaign attracts people that are passionate about politics and truly want to make our state a better place.
Don’t worry about the Deaniacs. That strategy worked well for Bill Aniskovich and Win Smith and I’m sure it will work for your candidate.
Also, feel free to continue to stereotype the campaign as a bunch of Deaniacs and ignore the broad based support that Mayor DeStefano has. Let all your friends in whichever campaign you support know that they don’t have to worry about Mayor DeStefano. We would hate for them to waste any time and money campaigning against Mayor DeStefano.
Aldon, Herb Sherpardson's mistakes did more to cause Win Smith and Aniskovich to lose than anything the Deaniacs did
feel free to continue to stereotype the campaign as a bunch of Deaniacs
Good or bad, the campaign has embraced this image. I seem to remember an article on DeStefano that began with him reading from Joe Trippi's book, and I've actually heard him boast that his campaign employs people who worked on the Dean campaign.
Again, this can be good or bad depending on one's views, but I think the DeStefano campaign has geared themselves that way, not been painted that way.
Personally, the idea of any far-left Democrat winning the governor's office is laughable to me. History should have already taught us that. We haven't had a D governor in 20 years because at the end of the day, we are a decidedly moderate state.
Let me preface my comments by saying that I am a registered Republican and have dealings with both DeStefano and Malloy as a former Councilman from a large town.
As a first time ready, Aldon and deaniac need to realize that DeStefano hasn't a snowball's chance in you know what at winning CT. He is too far to left on most issues and doesn't have great record of success to run on. Malloy does. And he is much more appealing to the average person politically. If dems want to "beat Jody" they should unite behind DeStefano now. Malloy is by far the better candidate and the only person I can see taking away from the Governor's supporters which is, lets face it, the only way to win. Smarten up guys.
I meant to say unite behind Malloy...oops.
DeanFan, you can't be serious. did i read that right? you are taking other people to task about 'labeling' and 'stereotyping'? i think i am writing what everyone else is thinking, sounds alot like the pot calling the kettle black. i too have a strong disdain for labels and stereotypes and would appreciate it if you practice what you preach so all Democrats can be under the same tent again. we dont need to be sitting at the same tables, but at least under the same tent and the venom you spout for the DLC and moderates of the party do not allow for that.
Anonymous,
Don't get me wrong. I am a proud 'Deaniac' working for Mayor DeStefano. Of course there are also some proud Clark supporters working for the DeStefano campaign, and as much as it may displease DeanFan84, we also have some Lieberman supporters working for the campaign.
It goes back to reflect the broad based nature of DeStefano support (and staffers).
However, let's let Rell's supporters keep thinking that it is only a radical fringe that can be disregarded.
Back to our Congressional Delegation, there is a post up in Mass. about a recent FEC ruling that may take a little bit of air out of Shays' Internet Communications bill.
Check out over at Left in Lowell
Howard "Hamptons" Dean " has no fear of hard work"
I doubt anyone in his family tree has done any since about 1798
I am also curious what you mean by DeStefano being too far to the left. At debates I saw and read about for his mayoral race, his opponents claimed he was pandering too much to big businesses and to the wealthy folks looking to rent or buy $3,000/month apartments downtown. Having heard Mayor DeStefano's plans to help ensure towns are able to offer entry-level houses to the middle-class, I knew these accusations were ridiculous. But reading "anonymous's" comments about DeStefano being too far to the left makes me wonder how the average Connecticut resident views him. Or views Malloy for that matter.
The problem is, this site is obviously not the right place to ask that question. As much as I like reading the posts, I don't really think anything I say, or anything Aldon, or TrueBlue, or Anonymous says, is going to change any minds as to who they are supporting. I can already predict what the responses are going to be from each one of those bloggers, so what is the point of even posting? I am a DeStefano supporter that realizes that he is involved in a tough primary and an even tougher general, which is why I look at these types of sites. I am curious to know if there are any TRUE undecideds that consistently check these posts that are swayed by any of our comments.
DeanFan
by affiliation, then do you consider Hilary Clinton to be a K-Street loving corporate whore?
Post a Comment