This is a new feature that I plan to do on a regular basis; hopefully, a weekly basis, once I purchase a new computer. For the first month of the 111th Congress, there were 46 roll call votes in the House,and there are 6 votes I am focusing on in the House:
There are some surprises here. The Presidential Records Act was to deny President Bush the power to seal his records forever, and allow the House to investigate the Bush Administration's malfeasance. So it was surprising to see Reps. Scalise and Alexander vote for it. Perhaps they were voting to ensure that the Clinton records would stay open or something.
Other than that, the only other surprise is Representative Cao. He did vote for the Presidential Records Act as well as the Paycheck Fairness Act, which posits that workers, regardless of gender, should be paid equally for the same work. But he didn't vote for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which supplied the remedy for when an employer pays a woman (or a man) less than his job counterparts. Rep. Cao also voted to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program, and expand it to include an additional 10 million children.
Other than Rep. Cao, the rest of the Louisiana Republican delegation - Rep. Scalise, Rep. Fleming, Rep. Alexander, Rep. Cassidy and Rep. Boustany - voted against equal pay for women, and against ensuring that Louisiana's children have health insurance.
The entire Louisiana Republican delegation in the House voted against the shelling out the rest of the TARP funds to the nation's banks. Interestingly, Reps. Alexander and Scalise flipped their votes ... perhaps because they trusted President Bush more than they trust President Obama? It seems that the Louisiana Republican delegation is in the same boat as Rush Limbaugh - they want to see the economy fail.
On Friday, Congress took up the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which seeks to ensure that women have a remedy when their right to equal pay for equal work has been denied by their employer. Seems fair, no?
Well, the Supreme Court, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, applied a strict constructionist view of the statutes governing pay in the workplace, and denied women the right to sue their employer over sex discrimination in pay if they didn't bring such a suit within 180 days of a corporation deciding to discriminate against the worker. What the Supreme Court majority failed to understand in this case was that most businesses do not publish their pay scale for all workers to see, so it is not likely that anyone will know that they are being paid less than their colleague within a 180 day period.
According to the entire Republican delegation representing Louisiana in Congress, it is not fair to make businesses that pay women who perform the same work as their male counterparts accountable to the legal system unless such a suit is brought with 6 months of receiving less pay as their male counterpart for the same work. In fact, to the Louisiana Republican delegation - Steve Scalise, Joseph Cao, John Fleming, Rodney Alexander, Bill Cassidy and Charles Boustany - it is downright discriminatory to those businesses, who ought to be able to discriminate against women in the workplace at will, and never face repercussions for doing so.
As Jeffrey at Library Chronicles notes, the vote made by Congressman Gao is not one that Congressman Jefferson would have made. I would add that Congressman Cazayoux would have voted differently than Congressman Cassidy as well.
I should note that the bill passed overwhelmingly, thanks to the new Democratic majority in the U.S. House, 247 to 171, with 15 Members not voting.
A few days ago, it came out that Senator Landrieu will be the Chairwoman of the Senate's Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the 111th Congress when the Senate convenes in January.
Senator Landrieu released this statement after the Senate leadership announced her ascendancy to the chair(wo)manship of the committee:
"Bolstered by my seats on other key committees for our state, this assignment provides the seniority to fight even harder for Louisiana's more than 350,000 small businesses.
Small businesses are the backbone of the Louisiana economy. I intend to use my gavel to ensure that they play an active role in our nation's economic recovery, and that the federal government is a supportive and efficient partner in their success. Under the leadership of Senators Kerry and Snowe, we have also made significant progress this year in enacting improvements to the SBA's disaster recovery programs, and I hope to build further on our success."
Today, Senator Landrieu outlined her priorities for the Small Business Committee in a letter to President-elect Obama:
Elevate the Small Business Administration to its previous Cabinet-level rank again
Increase SBA funding to help America's 25.8 million small businesses
Ensure that small businesses are given a fair shot at landing the forthcoming infrastructure contracts
I am looking forward to Senator Landrieu's leadership on the Small Business Committee, as I believe she will fight for the small business owner in the Senate over the next 6 years.
