One of the annoying things about the Clerk of the House of Representatives’ webpage is that it is very difficult to identify who voted yes and no on a bill. Unlike the Senate page (example here), which sorts the votes alphabetically and by home state, the House version only identifies the minority by the use of italics. It doesn’t give you a home state and it doesn’t give you a first name, either. It takes forever to find all the Democrats who vote for egregiously bad Republican bills. And maybe that’s the point. Representatives don’t want to make it easy for voters to see what they’re doing.
Yesterday, six Democrats voted for John Boehner’s version of a bill that reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act. After a couple minutes of scrolling back and forth, I have determined these six Democrats to be John Barrow of Georgia, Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, Jim Matheson of Utah, and Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Just so we’re clear that this bill is a disgrace, 23 Republicans voted against it. If you have the time, watch Rachel Maddow’s coverage of the bill from last night’s program. Or you can read some of the coverage at Think Progress. To give but one example of how bad this bill is, imagine that you became an American citizen by marriage. Imagine that your husband is beating the tar out of you every night. Imagine that your immigration status depends on you remaining married to your husband. We have a program for people in that situation. The Republicans’ House bill would change the law to notify the husband if the wife seeks help. It’s as if the Republicans are taking the name of the bill (the Violence Against Women Act) literally.
The House bill also declines to follow the Senate in strengthening the Act to protect Native American women, women who are in the country without documents, and victims in same-sex relationships. If you want to know why I am unenthusiastic about Shelley Berkley’s vital campaign for U.S. Senate, there can be no better example than her support for this bill. It’s completely inexplicable. She is the only Democratic woman to vote for it. Does she believe that the people of Nevada are in favor of wife-beating? Is this law going to ruin the mail-order bride business and hurt the Vegas chapel industry?
But this isn’t about one deranged Democrat, or even six of them. This is about a War on Women that goes on, building momentum, every single day. For example, this is on today’s agenda:
Late this afternoon, a House subcommittee will gather to hear testimony on a bill that would prohibit abortions in D.C.—and only D.C.—after 20 weeks. Both the bill and hearing are the work of Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who has said that he is constitutionally charged with imposing laws on D.C.
As we reported earlier this week, though, one person won’t be speaking at the hearing—D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who requested the opportunity to speak on behalf of D.C. constituents but was denied.
I honestly think Barry Goldwater is doing backflips in his grave.
