Thursday, October 3, 2013

Which Democrats Are Joining the GOP for Government a la carte?

On Tuesday, I wrote a diary on the beginning of piecemeal budgeting by the GOP, what I'm calling here "government a la carte." On Tuesday, the GOP efforts failed because they did not reach a 2/3 margin necessary to suspend the rules and achieve passage---even though several dozen Democrats gave them support on each measure.

Since then, however, they've continued with government a la carte and have been able to go straight to passage. Democrats, of course, should oppose government a la carte on principle. The GOP should not be able to pick and choose which programs they want to keep funding and which they don't, building a government from the ground up and leaving everything they dislike unfunded. We all know that Republicans are happy to see programs like WIC and agencies like the EPA go unfunded.
Of course, the emphasis above had to be on the "should" because Democrats tend not to be brimming with principle. One can understand to an extent why certain Democrats in weakly held seats might want to vote with the Republicans so that they can't be accused of "hating our veterans" or "voting against our national parks" (even though the Republicans actually want to cut all of those programs quite deeply.) But "only to an extent." If Democrats could message their way out of a paper bag, it wouldn't be a problem.

Yesterday, the GOP decided to fund parks, museums, and memorials and the NIH. Today, it decided to fund reserves and veterans benefits.

The first vote yesterday was to continue appropriations for National Park Service operations, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It passed 252 to 173, with 23 Democrats joining for government a la carte:

Ron Barber (AZ-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Bradley Schneider (IL-10)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

Next, the GOP decided it felt like continuing to fund the NIH. The bill passed 254 to 171, with 25 Democrats supporting this example of government a la carte:

Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
William Keating (MA-09)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Bradley Schneider (IL-10)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
John Tierney (MA-06)

First up today was the Pay Our Guard and Reserve Act, which would continue “appropriations during a Government shutdown to provide pay and allowances to members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces who perform inactive-duty training during such period.”

It passed 265 to 160, with 36 Democrats voting with the GOP for budgeting a la carte:

Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Timothy Bishop (NY-01)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
John Carney (DE-AL)
Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
William Keating (MA-09)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Dan Maffei (NY-24)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Bill Owens (NY-21)
Ed Perlmuter (CO-07)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Gary Peters (MI-09)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Tim Ryan (OH-13)
Bradley Schneider (IL-10)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

Next up was a bill to continue making appropriations for veterans benefits. It passed 259 to 157, with 35 Democrats voting with the GOP for budgeting a la carte.

Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Timothy Bishop (NY-01)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
William Keating (MA-09)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Dan Maffei (NY-24)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Bill Owens (NY-21)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Gary Peters (MI-09)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Bradley Schneider (IL-10)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
John Tierney (MA-06)

Here are the 20 Democrats that voted with the Republicans each time:
Ron Barber (AZ-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Bradley Schneider (IL-10)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

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