Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
Quote of the Day:
“If it’s just not practical to expect them to know exactly what they’re voting on… ummm… shouldn’t we change the system so it is practical?” – Ben Smith, Fighting Words Blog
How They Voted
Many people are wondering which Senators voted for and against the cloture vote that defeated the Immigration Bill. The roll call vote is available for all to see here.
That same week (June 25-30), the House passed 15 bills totaling 338 pages, and the Senate passed 5 bills totaling 22 pages. We provide bill descriptions, the length of the bills, and links to roll call votes at the end of this post, below my signature.
If you don’t believe members of Congress actually read the bills they voted for, tell them to pass the Read the Bills Act here.
You can learn more about the Read the Bills Act here.
RTBA Coalition
The Read the Bills Act Coalition is an effortless way for blogs, talk shows, and other websites to spread the word about the Read the Bills Act. By joining the Coalition, you will be added to the roll at DownsizeDC blog.
If you would like to add your site to the Read the Bills Act Coalition, find out more here.
We have two new members this week:
Liberty and Accessibility
Days of Infamy
Tune In
Also, Downsize DC President Jim Babka is on the radio again for his regular Friday appearance with Jerry Hughes. They’re going to discuss voter disgust and how we can win on Real ID.
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DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
The following are the bills the House and Senate passed last week. The bills were passed by voice vote except where indicated. For roll call votes, you can click the link to see how individual members of Congress voted. The descriptions of bills are essentially verbatim from the Congressional Record Daily Digest. Page numbers of bills are based on the pdf display of the latest version from the Government Printing Office.
6 Federal Building Designation Bills – 1 page each
H.R. 2139 – FHA Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act of 2007 13 pages
H.R. 1065 – Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2007, to streamline the regulation of nonadmitted insurance – 22 pages
H.R. 2286 – Bail Bond Fairness Act of 2007: H.R. 2286, to amend title 18, United States Code, and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure with respect to bail bond forfeitures – 6 pages
H.R. 1281 – Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007 – 10 pages
S. 277 – Grand Teton National Park Extension Act of 2007 – 7 pages
H. R. 1830 – Extending the authorities of the Andean Trade Preference Act until September 30, 2009, by a 2/3 yea-and-nay vote of 365 yeas to 59 nays, Roll No. 583 – 6 pages
H.R. 2643 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, by a yea-and-nay vote of 272 yeas to 155 nays, Roll No. 579 – 115 pages
S. 1704 – Temporarily extending the programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965, clearing the measure for the President. – 4 pages
H.R. 2829 – Making appropriations for financial services and general government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008 – by a yea-and-nay vote of 240 yeas to 179 nays, Roll No. 606 – 149 pages
SENATE
S. 1612 – International Emergency Economic Powers Enhancement Act:, to amend the penalty provisions in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. – 4 pages
S. 1704 – First Higher Education Extension Act of 1965 – 4 pages
S. 966 – Department of State Crisis Response Act:, to enable the Department of State to respond to a critical shortage of passport processing personnel, after agreeing to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute – 4 pages
S. 1701 – Transitional Medical Assistance and Abstinence Education Program Extension, to provide for the extension of transitional medical assistance (TMA) and the abstinence education program through the end of fiscal year 2007- 4 pages
H.R. 1830 – Andean Trade Preference Act Extension, to extend the authorities of the Andean Trade Preference Act until September 30, 2009 clearing the measure for the President – 6 pages