The freedom index: a congressional scorecard based on the U.S. constitution

New American, The, July 21, 2008

26 2009 Budget Resolution. Senate

Concurrent Resolution 70, the Senate plan for a fiscal 2009 budget, was adopted 51-44 on March 14, 2008 (Roll Call 85). This non-binding budget recommends outlays of about $2.6 trillion for fiscal year 2009, with a deficit of $564 billion. A one-year moratorium on earmarks was rejected. A $35 billion economic stimulus package would be provided for, with no fiscal offset. Tax breaks aimed at low-income households would be extended, such as the 10-percent tax bracket, marriage penalty relief, and the child tax credit. However, an extension for other tax cuts, including reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends, was rejected.

We have assigned pluses to the "nays" because Congress must discontinue unconstitutional and deficit spending. Otherwise the dollar could collapse.

27 Mortgage Relief. H.R. 3221, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, passed 84-12 on April 10, 2008 (Roll Call 96). It was originally introduced in the House as an energy bill under another title and was passed as such in 2007. The Senate substituted a very different text, turning the bill into a vehicle for foreclosure prevention and returned it to the House for approval as three Senate amendments. House vote #29 is about the vote on Amendment No. 1, the centerpiece of the legislation.

Among the overall bill's many aspects, it reforms the Federal Housing Administration, providing it liquidity and changing its insurance program to help homeowners facing foreclosure to refinance; it includes a net operating loss proposal that Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) described as a multibillion dollar bailout of the homebuilders industry; it appropriates funding to states to redevelop foreclosed properties; and it would provide renewable-energy tax breaks. We have assigned pluses to the "nays" because it is unconstitutional for the federal government to be an insurer, and wealth redistributor.

28 Oil Security via Domestic Production. Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) offered an amendment (No. 4720) to S. 2284 that was rejected 42-56 on May 13, 2008 (Roll Call 123). This amendment to the Flood Insurance Reform bill would increase America's supply of energy and generate jobs by ending the moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing for the Outer Continental Shelf off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; open the oil shale reserves in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; encourage coal-to-liquid fuels; and seek to increase refinery capacity. Filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would also be suspended for 180 days in an attempt to lower gas prices short-term.

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We have assigned pluses to the "yeas" because America is dangerously dependent on foreign oil and we should increase domestic oil production to mitigate an expected decline in foreign oil exports to America. Time is fleeting for preparing for a supply crisis.

29 Farm Bill. The version of the five-year, $289 billion farm bill considered here (the conference report on H.R. 2419) is identical to that described under House vote #30.