A Senators Record

[Tmy]

You here alot of Kerry bashing saying that he hasnt done much as a Senator.

I was wondering........what makes a super-Senator??? When it comes down to it all he can really do is vote Yes/No on bills. And that gets him into trouble too. Cause if he doesnt like a line item, or a budget amount he can only vote "no".

If you have the "No Drowning Kittens" bill and theres a line item to give $2 million to encourage teen drinking, and Senator votes "NO" it gets turned into "SENATOR IS FOR DROWING KITTENS!!!!"

 

[pgwenthold]

You here alot of Kerry bashing saying that he hasnt done much as a Senator.

I was wondering........what makes a super-Senator??? When it comes down to it all he can really do is vote Yes/No on bills. And that gets him into trouble too. Cause if he doesnt like a line item, or a budget amount he can only vote "no".

If you have the "No Drowning Kittens" bill and theres a line item to give $2 million to encourage teen drinking, and Senator votes "NO" it gets turned into "SENATOR IS FOR DROWING KITTENS!!!!"

You say that as if it is a bad thing?

 

[Mr Manifesto]

Speaking of senators' records, how many bills has Cheney passed? I read on a blog it was a grand total of 2 (compared to Kerry's 57), but because it was only a blog (and a very lefty blog at that), I don't want to trust it without more reliable evidence.

 

[BPSCG]

You here alot of Kerry bashing saying that he hasnt done much as a Senator.

I was wondering........what makes a super-Senator??? When it comes down to it all he can really do is vote Yes/No on bills.

As if bills just come miraculously into being, like free energy. Or do you believe in that, too?

News flash: Senators and their staffs write bills, then introduce them for debate and possible final passage.

So what's Kerry's record? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[jj]

You here alot of Kerry bashing saying that he hasnt done much as a Senator.

I was wondering........what makes a super-Senator??? When it comes down to it all he can really do is vote Yes/No on bills. And that gets him into trouble too. Cause if he doesnt like a line item, or a budget amount he can only vote "no".

If you have the "No Drowning Kittens" bill and theres a line item to give $2 million to encourage teen drinking, and Senator votes "NO" it gets turned into "SENATOR IS FOR DROWING KITTENS!!!!"

Well, he wasn't a senator, he was a rep, but Everitt Dirksen certainly made at least one record.

There's quite a bit of misrepresentation of voting records these days, it's a shame that both halves of the congress allow such weenie amendments.

 

[RandFan]

Kerry is for drowning kittens? I've got to get that out on email right away to everyone in my address book.

 

[Snide]

Kerry is for drowning kittens? I've got to get that out on email right away to everyone in my address book.

Make sure to ask them if they'd vote for Kerry if they knew he fathered an illegitimate black child.

Sorry, that was uncalled for

 

[Silicon]

So what's Kerry's record? Inquiring minds want to know.

57 Bills and resolutions passed.




From Congressman John Sprat, as quoted in a Kerry press release:

Dick Cheney served in the Congress for 11 years. I served with him for most of these years. In that time, he only passed two bills. One was to build a flood plain on the Colorado River and the other was a bill to help a constituent. What’s even more telling about Dick Cheney’s record in the House is not what he supported but what he opposed – things like Headstart and funding for seniors. It seems pretty dishonest for Bush and Cheney to be attacking John Kerry - who passed 57 bills in the Senate – for his legislative accomplishments.

Republican talking points have been all over calling Kerry unaccomplished as a Senator.

This press release from Kerry trumpets not only the 57 bills and resolutions that Kerry sponsored and passed, but also trumpets his leadership in the senate on various laws that he worked on, like the Clean Air Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the COPS Program.


And then, they add a little touch of anti-spin. They end with this little bit of civics lesson, just to explain why the Republican attack, which they turned back on Cheney, shouldn't have been an attack in the first place:

The number of bills that bear your name is a poor measure of legislative accomplishment. For example, Ted Kennedy, who most would acknowledge as the most accomplished Democratic Senator in a generation, has had just 9 bills signed into law in 10 years. Of the more than 400 bills Kennedy sponsored in 108th, 105th and 104th Congresses none were signed into law. And Bill Frist, the Republican Majority Leader, has sponsored 88 bills in the 108th Congress and zero have become law. In the 107th Congress, Frist sponsored 52 bills and 1 became law. It was a bill to authorize and urge the President to promote democracy in Zimbabwe.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0803c.html






(Thanks, Atrios, for making me look smart!)

 

[Tmy]

Great stats! Ive been meaning to call in the local talk radio show. THe host is constantly bashing Kerrys senate record. With great lines like "most Liberal Senator" ....(I guess Kerry won some sort of Liberal Senator pagent) and whining about his absentee non voting.

Is it bunk to say Kerrys an unaccomplished senator??

 

[varwoche]

This "most liberal senator" business is highly debatable.

Especially given the importance of Iraq in this election cycle, and Kerry's not-so-liberal record on same.

Here's a scholarly analysis that ranks Kerry as #27, pretty much dead center amongst democrats. The ranking methodology is explained in detail. (Raw data is downloadable -- THUMBS UP for this.)
http://voteview.uh.edu/sen108.htm

 

[Brown]

I never--and I mean NEVER--take at face value what a partisan organization says about a senator's voting record or legislative sponsorship. That holds true for organizations that support the senator and for those that support a rival.

The dynamics are just too complex to make an assessment based upon a handful of statistics, even if the statistics are accurate.

 

[Silicon]

Fantastic link, Varwoche!

Any math-heads or statisticians take a look at that scheme? How reliable is it?