Parsing The Waxman-Markey Vote

Annuit Coeptis ^ | June 27, 2009 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

Nancy Pelosi et al. got the Waxman-Markey carbon tax bill through the House of Representatives by a very narrow vote yesterday. All accounts indicate that Pelosi pulled out the stops, calling in every favor and twisting every arm she could, to get her “legacy” legislation through. Interestingly, Harry Reid is going to hold the bill in the Senate until this fall, conceding that he lacks the votes to pass it.

The Senate, of course, consists of representation per state, not by population. If you parse the demographics, you can understand why Reid may not be able to get a cap-and-trade bill through.

[hoosiermama]

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SENATE

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2280335/posts?page=1

.

Even if your senator is currently listed as against the bill, give them plenty of ammo to stay that way. Therefore:

WRITE EARLY! CALL OFTEN!

[Jess Kitting]

I know this might be a dumb question, but here goes:

Must a bill pass both the House and the Senate before it goes to the president?

(I was under the impression that the House could send a bill directly to the president for his signature.)

[Boiling Pots]

Not only must it pass both houses of Congress, but it has to be exactly alike.

If the Senate passes their form of Cap and Trade, it will go to whats called a Conference (made up of some House and some Senate members, where they will reconcile the two. Once they have a reconciled bill, it must pass both houses again before its sent to President Obama.

[cotton1706]

No, every bill or resolution must pass both bodies.

[Hoodat]

Yes, it must pass both houses. It must also be the same bill. Most times, the second body will pass a bill that is slightly different (i.e. changes have been made). When that happens, both bills come before a joint committee which hashes out the differences to come up with a bill that both bodies can support. That final bill is then re-introduced to both houses and voted on. If that final bill passes, it goes to the President's desk for signing.

Of course with this President, there will be a five day delay before he signs it because that is what he promised the American people he would do.

/sarc>

[yazoo]

This stupid bill will never get passed the Senate. Nevertheless, Congress needs to feel the heat for what they have tried to do. Republican congressmen who voted for this piece of crap legislation should be thrown out on their ear. This is the single biggest tax increase in American history and would do more to force businesses to relocate overseas than anything the government could have done.

[Jess Kitting]

Thanks for the information.

That is (somewhat) good news.

If the Senate delays it until September, that will give legislators an opportunity to read the bill and the American people time to discover what an economic disaster it would be for the country.

[TWohlford]

“Congress needs to feel the heat for what they have tried to do.”

Freeper question —

Can I get a dump on the votes taken by the House since January? I’d love to compare my new Congressman’s votes to Nancy Pelosi’s votes, for instance, and then contrast that to the votes of other Michigan reps (specially the GOP ones).

I gotta make sure that this vote that Schauer made yesterday drags him to the bottom in November ‘10,

[Highest Authority]

Does anybody have a list of who voted FOR this mess? In particular, which Rhinos?

[jay1949]

“Congress needs to feel the heat for what they have tried to do.”

Amen.

[jay1949]

Hold your nose, grit your teeth, and go here:

http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/111/house/1/477

[jay1949]

You can get a free trial for Congressional Quarterly, which publishes comprehensive voting records, here:

http://corporate.cq.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=12

[jay1949]

Also, these might be helpful:

http://www.votesmart.org/official_five_categories.php?dist=voting_category.php

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/

[KansasGirl]

Pelosi is an evil witch.

[cotton1706]

Don’t forget that right now he’s short three senators, Franken, Byrd and Kennedy. The republicans need a number of demoocrats to stick with them on a filibuster.

In the meantime, when Reid asks for unanimous consent to waive the reading of the bill and any amendments, there should be an objection so they’d be forced to read every word.

[Redleg Duke]

Let me guess, you are a recent graduate of the public school system!

[tet68]

Couldn’t we call this the Waxman-Malarkey bill?

[NoobRep]

There are many in the Senate that want a environment bill but are opposed to the capping of carbon emissions. If you are in a state that produces coal, your utilities bill would double under this bill.

They may pass some type of bill but it will be nothing like the one shoved through the House yesterday.

[Texas56]

It’s okay to ask; at least you are willing to learn about your government.