Just How Many Bills Has Kerry "Passed?"
Factcheck.org article
If a senator makes $158,100 per year (according to this), and Kerry has been a senator for 20 years, he's made $3,162,000 to: save several dolphins, authorize $53 million in grants for woman-owned small businesses, name a federal building after Fredrick C. Murphy, fund the National Sea Grant College Program, and grant a visa and permanent US residence to Kil Joon Yu Callahan.
However, Kerry also made two bills almost identical to the House version, and the House version was passed in the senate to avoid compromises between the senate and house. These bills: awarded a congressional gold medal to Jackie Robinson (posthumously), and Increased the maximum research grants for small businesses from $500,000 to $750,000.
Kerry also passed 24 Senate resolutions that had no chance of becoming laws. These resolutions include a ban on commercial mining of minerals in Antartica, encouraging Europe to ban driftnets for European Community fishing fleets, and to rename the Committee on Small Business.
Additionally, Kerry passed bills in the senate to allow 10 foreign-built vessels to transport cargo or people along the US coastline. Because there were 10 different ships, Kerry passed 10 different bills, one for each ship. None of these passed the House.
I'm sure people wonder who Kil Joon Yu Callahan is, or why Kerry thought any commercial company would even want to mine in Antartica, or why Kerry bothers with foreign fishing nets and a few dolphins. I have the same questions. IN 20 years, couldn't Kerry have passed just one big peice of legislation?
At the final presidential debate, Bush said Kerry had passed only five bills during his career, and Kerry said he had passed 56. Actually, we found eleven measures authored by Kerry have been signed into law, including a save-the-dolphins law, a law naming a federal building, a law giving a posthumous award to Jackie Robinson last year, and laws declaring "world population awareness weeks" in 1989 and 1991.
Bush counted only measures technically defined as "bills," leaving out four "joint resolutions" that also have the force of law, and he also omitted two laws whose House versions were adopted in a form nearly identical to Senate versions authored by Kerry.
When Kerry said "I've actually passed 56 individual bills that I've personally written" he was counting everything that had passed the Senate, whether or not it cleared the House. He also counts 24 resolutions that have no force of law.
If a senator makes $158,100 per year (according to this), and Kerry has been a senator for 20 years, he's made $3,162,000 to: save several dolphins, authorize $53 million in grants for woman-owned small businesses, name a federal building after Fredrick C. Murphy, fund the National Sea Grant College Program, and grant a visa and permanent US residence to Kil Joon Yu Callahan.
However, Kerry also made two bills almost identical to the House version, and the House version was passed in the senate to avoid compromises between the senate and house. These bills: awarded a congressional gold medal to Jackie Robinson (posthumously), and Increased the maximum research grants for small businesses from $500,000 to $750,000.
Kerry also passed 24 Senate resolutions that had no chance of becoming laws. These resolutions include a ban on commercial mining of minerals in Antartica, encouraging Europe to ban driftnets for European Community fishing fleets, and to rename the Committee on Small Business.
Additionally, Kerry passed bills in the senate to allow 10 foreign-built vessels to transport cargo or people along the US coastline. Because there were 10 different ships, Kerry passed 10 different bills, one for each ship. None of these passed the House.
I'm sure people wonder who Kil Joon Yu Callahan is, or why Kerry thought any commercial company would even want to mine in Antartica, or why Kerry bothers with foreign fishing nets and a few dolphins. I have the same questions. IN 20 years, couldn't Kerry have passed just one big peice of legislation?
posted by Chris at
1:27 PM
1 Comments:
Yes, it's certainly possible that inaction is helpful in the US government, but nothing over 20 years makes me a bit worried. People claim to want government inaction because they resent the few abuses of power or financing of useless programs. However, government does play a critical role in the nation's infrastructure. I think that, at the least, Kerry should have some decent bill or amendment that actually does something.
20 years to help some dolphins and give permanent residence to a guy I've never heard of just doesn't seem like enough.
By
Chris, at 9:40 PM, October 17, 2004
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