The 10 Dumbest Votes in the U.S. House
Part of my job at the Club for Growth is to research the votes taken in the U.S. House. Over time, I've come across some of the dumbest votes you can imagine, so for the heck of it I thought I'd collect ten of them and post them on the blog. Now, to be sure, these aren't the only dumb votes out there. There are scores of dumb votes taken every year, but these particular votes struck me as monuments to dumbness. And I also don't claim these to be absolute. If I did this same exercise tomorrow, I could come up with 10 completely different votes that I would consider the most dumb-gusting.
One more thing - these votes are dumb for different reasons. The vote result might be what's dumb. Or the topic of the vote. Or the circumstances surrounding the vote. No matter what...they are all dumb.
In no particular order:
MOHAIR SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 383, 2000) - Offered by then-Rep. Mark Sanford, this vote sought to defund all mohair subsidies. Pray tell, what exactly is mohair? Webster's dictionary says it's, "a fabric or yarn made wholly or in part of the long silky hair of the Angora goat." From 1995 to 2005, taxpayers have been on the hook for $40 million on mohair subsidies. For more information, don't ask the Mohair Council of America, the leading special interest group defending and receiving the subsidies. Their website has all the friendliness of a tumor. But the House still sided with them. The vote failed, 166-255.
CONGRESSIONAL PAY RAISE (Roll Call 580, 2007) - Where else but in Congress can a person give himself a raise? Worse still, if you had a 27% approval rating, do you think you'd deserve a raise? Well, in Congress, you would and it would be automatic! Back in 1989, they voted to put the pay raise on auto pilot, but thankfully, every year a House member offers a motion asking that the House decline the pay raise. The vote to kill this procedural maneuver almost always wins and it is always a bipartisan affair.
FREE MONEY FOR CRIMINALS! (Roll Call 224, 2007) - Earlier this year, the House passed a bill that would give assistance (read: free money and loans) to small businesses in natural disaster areas. As part of that bill, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) offered a motion to send the bill back to committee with instructions that language be include which would prohibit giving this free money to convicted felons. Seems reasonable, right? Well, "reasonable" doesn't sell in the U.S. House. The motion failed, 204-218.
VIAGRA SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 312, 2005) - Did you know that Viagra used to be subsidized through Medicaid and Medicare? Rep. Steve King (R-IA) offered an amendment to remove the subsidy in 2005. According to the New York Times, "Mr. King said it was wrong to tell taxpayers that "we're going to take the money you earned on overtime to pay for Grandpa's Viagra." Thankfully, the House sided with King, but 121 members still wanted to keep it up (the subsidies, that is).
CLINTON'S BIRTH PLACE (Roll Call 23, 2006) - This vote was to designate Bill Clinton's birth home in Hope, Arkansas as a national historic site. To be fair, this isn't ridiculously offensive. It arguably pays respect to the office and not to the man. That's probably why it passed, 409-12. But I liked Rep. Lynn Westmoreland's response after the vote was taken. In opposition to the bill, he said, "President Clinton says we don’t need tax cuts for wealthy people such as him. Well, if he has spare money, maybe he can help the taxpayers out by fully funding the maintenance to keep his birthplace open to the public. He could also solicit donations. There are many options in the private sector that would avoid adding another obligation on taxpayers."
CRIMINALIZE PRICE-GOUGING (Roll Call 115, 2006 and Roll Call 404, 2007) - These two votes aren't dumb because of the issue (well kinda), but because of the explicit flip-flop done by most of the Republicans involved. In 2006, while in the majority and under public pressure from high gas prices ahead of the election, the GOP voted with the Democrats to pass a bill that would criminalize price gouging (even though nobody knows how to define "price gouging"). However, now that they are in the minority with the election behind them, most Republicans voted to oppose criminalization. Well, at least they're moving in the right direction.
VOTES UNDER SUSPENSION - According to House procedures, the Committee on Rules establishes how a bill is managed on the floor. There are closed rules and open rules and modified rules that dictate how bills will be offered, how many amendments will be allowed, and how much time will be spent on debate. However, when bills are assumed to be non-controversial with bipartisan support, the House will sometimes "suspend" the rules and vote on the bills in an expeditious manner. Because of this, a 2/3rd super majority is required for passage. But that's usually a low hurdle. To get an idea of the really dumb votes that get passed under suspension, go here. If you want to get a weekly list, go here.
PORK, PORK, PORK (Roll Call 636, 2007) - This year, the House voted on 50 separate amendments that would have defunded several different pork projects. These amendments included some doozies. My favorite was the vote on the $1 million pork project for the "Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure" in Johnstown, PA. What's especially dumb about this project is that, prior to the vote, nobody could confirm the existence of the Center! Here's a video of the debate. In the end, the House happily handed the mysterious "Center" one million smackeroos with a vote of 326-98! To view the other 49 amendments and how every House member voted on them, see the Club's RePORK Card.
YOUR HOUSE? NO, MY HOUSE! (Roll Call 350, 2005) - Remember that disastrous Supreme Court decision which said the 5th Amendment didn't really mean what it says? In Kelo v. City of New London, the Court essentially held that it was okay in certain circumstances to take private property from one person and give it to another person. Rep. Scott Garrett sought to restrict this newly realized lever of government power by disallowing its application in an appropriations bill. Thankfully, his amendment passed, but there were still 189 congressmen who voted against it. When those 'NO' voters realized that their reflexive big government response was not popular with the American public, they were lucky enough to vote on a subsequent bill the placed similar restrictions on eminent domain abuse. But, alas, the second vote didn't unring the bell of their original vote.
TICK TOCK THEY DON'T STOP - As mentioned before, the Committee on Rules establishes how a bill is managed on the floor, including how long the voting machines remain open. Large, important bills usually have a 15-minute window in which every member can vote. However, in 2003 the GOP-controlled House left the window open for almost 3 hours on the massive Medicare drug bill so that they could twist some arms. As one member recalled, "I saw a woman, a member of the House, a lady, crying when they came around her, trying to get her to change her votes. It was ugly." But don't think for a minute that the Democrats are without guilt. During the Agriculture appropriations debate earlier this year, a GOP motion was being voted on. The electronic scoreboard said 215-213 when the Democrat member in charge gaveled the vote. The Republicans clearly won, but the Democrats maintained that the motion failed. Here's a video of the debate.
