Vote Notes on Legislation
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.
7/29/15 H.R. 3236 – Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act: NO This bill pays for three months of highway and transit spending with savings promised ten years from now – and according to the CBO, still adds at least $1.2 billion to the nation's debt. Further, it guarantees another funding cliff this fall, adding to the debt limit and fiscal year deadlines we already face.
7/23/15 H.R. 1599 – Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015: YES. This bill creates a uniform system across the U.S. to govern the labeling of so-called "genetically modified" foods. Mankind has genetically modified crops and livestock since the dawn of recorded history (it's called cross-breeding, and it gives us seedless grapes and sweeter corn). Our understanding of genetics has taken a quantum leap in recent years, and so has our success at developing genetic modifications.
7/15/15 HR 3038 – Highway and Transportation Funding Act: NO. This bill is a five month extension of highway and transit spending, paid for over the next TEN YEARS. This is the J. Wellington Wimpy school of economics that got us in this mess ("I would gladly pay you a dollar of savings ten years from now for a dollar of spending today.)" Highway taxes should finance highways and transit fees should fund transit – this assures these projects are paid for by users who make their choices based on accurate price signals.
H.R. 2576 – The TSCA Modernization Act: NO. This is a well-intentioned bill that accomplishes the opposite of what it is designed to do. Its purpose is to expedite and standardize the evaluation of toxic chemicals. Instead, it grants sweeping new powers to the EPA, removes the consideration of cost when conducting a risk evaluation, removes the "least burdensome regulation required" standard from current law, dedicates an unaccountable revolving fund in the Treasury for EPA evaluations, and still allows states to adopt more stringent standards.
H.R. 805 - Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act of 2015: NO. The Obama Administration is attempting to transfer control of the Internet (specifically its Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions) from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to an unaccountable international agency -- an absolutely horrible idea. The House has rightly passed appropriation restrictions that forbid the use of federal funds to do so.
HR 2577 - Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriation: No. Although this appropriation fits within the overall architecture of the budget, it is so stuffed with wasteful spending that I cannot vote for it. Federal interstate highways, railways, airways and harbors that link the nation together are vital and legitimate federal responsibilities that should be – and once were – paid by the users of these facilities.