Yesterday, the House passed H.R. 3219, the Department of Defense appropriations bill for the fiscal year ending in September, 2018. The final vote was 235-192, 5 libertarian-leaning Republicans refusing to go along with it and 5 of the most right-wing Democrats-- all Blue Dogs-- voting with the GOP and giving Ryan and McCarthy the opportunity to claim the bill is "bipartisan."But don't you dare criticize the 5 bribe-laden Blue Dogs unless you don't mind be accused of being a purity freak. All 5 have "F" scores from Progressive Punch and they are all among the most consistent supporters of the Trump-Ryan agenda among House Democrats. Here they are-- along with the amount of bribery they've taken from the masters of war:
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)- $338,850• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)- $91,644• Charlie Crist (Blue Dog-FL)- $45,250• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)- $7,870• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- $6,261
Doug Applegate, the former Marine colonel and progressive congressional candidate running against Trump rubber stamp Darrell Issa in southern California remarked "I wish Republicans would be as fiscally conservative when it comes to useless walls as they are with helping the sick and the poor. #NoWall"Carol Shea-Porter, a major supporter of the military explained to her New Hampshire constituents why she voted against the bill. "As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a former military spouse, I work every day to protect and enhance our national security. However, I could not vote for today’s irresponsible defense and energy appropriations package because it would set the stage for Congress to underfund priorities directly related to national security, including the State Department and the FBI, and would also slash investments in science, research and development, and clean energy. This week, an energy business in my district reached out to me to articulate their opposition, which I share, to this bill’s elimination of clean energy programs including the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which helps our military. Finally, I could not vote for this bill because of the $1.6 billion it allocates for President Trump’s useless border wall, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico.”That's right... Trump's wall is back and no pesos are going into it, just U.S. tax dollars, something Trump promised voters would not happen. How did it pass? CNN explains:
Despite Trump's pledge to make Mexico pay for the wall, the bill earmarks taxpayer money to construct a carrier along the southwest border. To avoid having those Republicans who oppose the measure vote on it directly House Republican leaders tucked it into a procedural measure that set the debate plan for the so-called "minibus" funding bill for several federal agencies... The wall funding was added to a measure that combined funding bills for the Pentagon, energy and water, legislative branch, military construction and Veterans Affairs.
We asked Jim Thompson, the progressive running in the Wichita-based Kansas congressional district-- a civil rights attorney and military veteran-- what he thought about the Republicans sneaking spending on Trump's wall into the Defense Appropriations bill. It doesn't look like he would have voted for it: "Congress agreed to spend $1.6 billion on a wall between the United States and Mexico. This wall is a sleight of hand trick by Republicans in Congress and President Trump who want to distract Americans from healthcare and the Russia investigations. As they dangle this wall in front of our eyes, they hope to repeal healthcare and slip the Russia investigations under the rug. How many children would that feed? How many houses, roads or bridges would that build? How many school loans would this pay off? How many small business would this help? How much health care would this provide? At a time, when our country is sinking further into debt, our infrastructure is decimated, our access to healthcare is in doubt, and our education system is in shambles, President Trump wants to build a wall. This wall will not result in fewer drugs coming into our country. It will not result in fewer undocumented workers. This wall will not guarantee us security. The only thing this 30 foot high wall will guarantee is that 31 foot tall ladders and shovels will go on sale in Mexico."
