Vote Notes on Legislation

House Amendment 1 to HR 2029 – Omnibus Spending Act: NO. This is the 2,000-plus page $1.15 trillion spending act to fund the government through September 30, 2016. A bill of this complexity always has good and bad provisions, and the question comes down to whether in balance it moves the government in the right direction.

House Amendment 2 to HR 2029 – Tax Extenders Act: YES. Called the "Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act" this 233-page bill provides a complex list of changes to the tax code. Once again, there is both good and bad.

H.R. 22 – TEA 21 "The Highway Bill": No. The Highway Trust Fund – accent on the "Trust" – was a promise made to highway users that the gas taxes they paid at the pump would be used for highways. Period. That promise was broken long ago and now shattered by this act. HR 22 is a five-year, $305 billion highway bill, but only $207.4 billion will be spent on anything remotely resembling highways (and much of that wasted on environmental mitigation, inflated labor costs and highway beautification projects). $48.7 million will be raided to prop up failing mass transit systems.

S. 1177 - Every Student Succeeds Act (or the Bill Formerly Known as No Child Left Behind): YES. George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" has been a disaster. Its stated goal was to bring every child to grade-level proficiency by 2014. Instead, for the first time in 25 years student achievement is declining with just 33 percent of 8th graders proficient in math and 34 percent in reading. So what to do?

H.R. 4038 – American SAFE Act: Yes. This bill requires that refugee applicants from Iraq and Syria not be admitted to the United States until and unless the FBI Director, Homeland Security Secretary and Director of National Intelligence all certify that the applicant is not a security threat. To the extent that it requires an official to take direct responsibility for this certification, it is a small improvement over current law, but I am afraid will simply be used as a rubber stamp.

H.R. 1314 – Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015: NO. M. Stanton Evans once observed that there are two parties in our country: the evil party and the stupid party, and when they adopt a bipartisan measure it is usually something evil and stupid. This deal replaces the budget that Congress enacted in May, which pointed the country back toward fiscal solvency, with a plan that puts us on a trajectory that never balances.