Letters to the Editor

• @gar and others re the obama vapormail

  [Read the article: Clinton: "This campaign goes on"]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Again, with this stupid Obama email, alleging that Obama has been a legislative powerhouse whereas HRC has spent the whole time naming and dedicating things. I can't believe no one has challenged this after its appearance in many, many threads.

  According to the LOC site provided in the email (you know, the one that calls everyone 'mindless twits'), Obama hasn't authored 890 bills since entering the Senate. The numbers:

  110th Congress sponsored 113; co-sponserd 375

  109th Congress sponsored 152; co-sponserd 427

  From GovTrack (links below):

  Statistics: Hillary Clinton has sponsored 354 bills since Jan 22, 2001, of which 307 haven't made it out of committee (Extremely Poor) and 2 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers). Clinton has co-sponsored 1723 bills during the same time period (Average, relative to peers).

  Statistics: Barack Obama has sponsored 129 bills since Jan 4, 2005, of which 120 haven't made it out of committee (Poor) and 1 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers). Obama has co-sponsored 545 bills during the same time period (Average, relative to peers).

  About HRC's allegedly content-free legislative record, Kathysites at Bill Maher's site (http://boards.hbo.com/topic/Maher-Member-Created/Senate-Records-Clinton/1900002592) assembled this little record from thomas.loc.gov, which I'm pasting in below the links.

  I'm not anti-Obama or pro-HRC; I am anti-BS and disinformation.

  Links:

  http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d108query.html ,

  http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=300022 (Clinton) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400629 (Obama)

  HRC:

  107th Congress 2001-2002

  sponsored 161 bills co-sponsored 495

  108th Congress 2003-2004

  sponsored 138 bills co-sponsored 688

  109th Congress 2005-2006

  sponsored 177 bills co-sponsored 720

  110th Congress 2007 -

  sponsored 150 bills co-sponsored 477

  A few of the bills passed into law

  S.1422 : A bill to provide for the expedited payment of certain benefits for a public safety officer who was killed or suffered a catastrophic injury as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty in connection with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

  Note: For further action, see H.R. 2882, which became Public Law 107-37 on 9/18/2001.

  S.1622 : A bill to extend the period of availability of unemployment assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in the case of victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

  Note: For further action, see H.R. 3986, which became Public Law 107-154 on 3/25/2002.

  S.2496 : A bill to provide for the establishment of investigative teams to assess building performance and emergency response and evacuation procedures in the wake of any building failure that has resulted in substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential of substantial loss of life, and for other purposes.

  Note: For further action, see H.R. 4687, which became Public Law 107-231 on 10/1/2002.

  S.1425 : A bill to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize the New York City Watershed Protection Program.

  Note: For further action, see H.R.2771, which became Public Law 108-328 on 10/16/2004.

  S.272 : A bill to designate certain National Forest System land in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

  Note: For further action, see H.R.539, which became Public Law 109-118 on 12/1/2005.

  S.1283 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a program to assist family caregivers in accessing affordable and high-quality respite care, and for other purposes.

  Note: For further action, see H.R.3248, which became Public Law 109-442 on 12/21/2006.

  Rather than trivializing her record by clumping resolutions honoring deceased Americans into the same category as bills passed into "law" maybe we should add some of the amendments she sponsored that were agreed to by the Senate, for example:

  S.AMDT.2066 to H.R.3061 To provide funding for services for children relating to crises.

  S.AMDT.2082 to H.R.3061 To make funding available under title V of the Public Health Service Act for mental health providers serving public safety workers affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

  S.AMDT.155 to S.CON.RES.18 To establish a deficit neutral reserve fund for influenza vaccine shortage prevention.

  S.AMDT.3147 to S.CON.RES.83 To restore funding for the Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Contact Center

  S.AMDT.4361 to S.2766 To require that Congress be apprised periodically on the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement.

  S.AMDT.4868 to H.R.5631 To make available from Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide, certain funds may be used for community-based programs that provide mental health and readjustment assistance to members of the National Guard and Reserve and their families on their return from deployment.

  S.AMDT.1106 to H.R.2360 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to report to Congress regarding the vulnerability of certain facilities and measures to provide greater security, and for other purposes.

  S.AMDT.328 to H.CON.RES.83 To strengthen our national food safety infrastructure by increasing the number of inspectors within the Food and Drug Administration to enable the Food and Drug Administration to inspect high-risk sites at least annually, supporting research that enables us to meet emerging threats, improving surveillance to identify and trace the sources and incidence of food-borne illness, and otherwise maintaining at least current funding levels for food safety initiatives at the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture.

  S.AMDT.516 to S.1 To provide for the conduct of a study concerning the health and learning impacts of sick and dilapidated public school buildings on children and to establish the Healthy and High Performance Schools Program.

  Permalink Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:05 AM