The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, which includes the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy. The Roll Call was 229-186. Only five Republicans voted for the DADT amendment (Judy Biggert of Illinois, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, Charles Djou of Hawai’i, Ron Paul of Texas and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida). But nine voted for final passage on the bill containing it. The new Republicans were Mary Bono Mack of California, Mike Castle of Delaware (who is running for Senate), Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Mark Kirk of Illinois (who is running for Senate), and Dave Reichert of Washington. Ron Paul switched his vote to no, so he supports ending discrimination in our armed forces but does not support more money for unending war. In this he was joined by a good number of progressives. The Democrats who opposed the bill because it was good for gays?
Bobby Bright of Alabama
Travis Childers of Mississippi
Lincoln Davis of Tennessee
Jim Marshall of Georgia
Mike McIntyre of North Carolina
Gene Taylor of Mississippi
See a theme there? Maybe a familiar geographical aversion to extending civil rights to an oppressed minority? Anyone? You there?
BooMan FYI: There’s something wrong with how this post appears on the main page. Looks fine when you click through though.
Is the problem still there?
I think it’s proof Howard Dean’s “50-state strategy” is crap. With animals like these, what’s the goddamned point?
Well, not much of a point except for the vote they cast against Speaker Boehner.
Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy was about building the capabilities of some rotting state Democratic Parties. You might see some of the results of the rebuilding in South Carolina and Georgia this year. Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana Democrats seem not to have changed.
The point is that a Democrat on a lot of issues is more centrist than a Republican and more conducive in most situations to working with the Democratic leadership. I suspect that Pelosi’s attitude is that as long as she has the votes for passage, conservative (or progressive) Democrats can vote to provide cover for their re-election.
Good darn answer Tarheel.
Dean was all about building a majority. The simple fact is is that some parts of the country are more conservative than other parts. So even Democrats have to be more to the right to get elected.
nalbar
Meh. I think it’s not worth it. These people are sabotaging stuff left and right and I’m fucking sick of it.
I expect that DINOs help at a bare minimum by helping to maintain the majority status of the Dems which gives them pole positions for committees and procedural issues. Better that we maintain control of the House and not always get bills passed (or have them diluted) then never or rarely getting any bills passed.
DINO’s create problems that most people don’t fully understand, but they are still worth it, most of the time.
You really have to study committee assignments to understand how DINO’s function in Congress. For example, DINO’s are not allowed to serve on the Judiciary or HELP committees. That’s because we will protect choice and labor (including educational labor) at all costs. So the DINO’s get shunted off to the committees on Aging, Small Business, Indian Affairs, and Homeland Security where they can do little harm. But they need to raise a lot of money, so they also get to serve on Appropriations and Finance and Energy and Commerce. The committees are a little different in the House, but the same pattern applies.
The result is that the most endangered Democrats are in charge of all economic activity, including energy production, while the liberals are left to direct social policy.
They have Obama between a rock and a hard place. But I hope he vetoes the bill, then gets another one. DADT won’t change; but flagrant abuse of budget stuff needs to be “outed.”
I guess Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell didn’t vote. I can’t imagine them voting Yes.
It is geographical only in the fact that the conservative evangelical churches are stronger in the South. And they can make the difference between these folks being re-elected (if they sorta sit out) or defeated (if they go after a candidate). I’m not talking about the evangelicals who are a front for the Republican Party but the ones who are generally apolitical.
And it was the same churches that were averse to civil rights in the 1960s to the point that some entrepreneurial preachers (Falwell, Robertson, etc) made a career in politics out of it.
Kissell did vote for it. Schuler sat it out. So, neither voted against it.
It’s just how southerners are. Democrat or republican, they hate anything other than straight and white.
It really shouldn’t be surprising. It’s the same people, forever frozen in time, that fought a war killing 100s of 1000s of their friends and family so that they could keep slaves.
That kind of commitment will never change and can never be reasoned with.
You know, I have my problems with many aspects of “The South” since I moved down here from Ohio, but it’s exactly this kind of over the top condemnation of the entire population of a region that contributes to the giant chip on their shoulder that they still have.
Fuck them and their chip.
When they wish to be civilized and unbigoted, I’ll welcome them. Until then, they can go to hell (as can all the bigots who don’t live in Bigot Headquarts aka the south).
H.R. 5136 authorizes $567 billion in budget authority for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the national security programs of the Department of Energy (DOE). The bill would exempt enablers, such as force protection, medical evacuation, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) personnel from the President’s authorized 30,000 troop surge. The legislation would extend Building Partnership Capacity authority through 2012, and increases it from $350 million to $425 million, and allows this authority to be used to train and equip Yemeni Security Forces.
The legislation authorizes $1.1 billion for DoD’s counter-narcotics efforts and extends DoD’s counternarcotics authorities for Fiscal Year 2011, and includes a provision that would require the Administration to develop a National Military Strategic Plan to ensure Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.
The bill would authorize additional funds for the protection of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $3.5 billion for measures to counter improvised explosive devices, $3.4 billion for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and about $1 billion for up-armored Humvees.
Military Construction: The bill includes $20 billion for military construction, base realignment and closure, and family housing.
National Guard: The bill would provide $7.2 billion for new equipment for National Guard and Reserve units-$700 million more than the President’s request.
etc.
What economic crisis?