Paul Yes Votes

On this weekend’s podcast, Ivan asked me to name some things that Ron Paul actually voted “yes” on in congress. Since he is only known for voting “no” I said I had no idea without doing some research. Feeling obligated to follow up, here are the 10 most recent things Ron Paul voted “Yes” to in the House. (My source is here.) Note that the first couple directly contradict something I said in the podcast. Oops.

1. 2007 Jul 23 – Vote 689: H RES 519: Honoring the Life and Accomplishments of Tom Lea on the 100th Anniversary of His Birth
2. 2007 Jul 23 – Vote 688: H RES 553: Mourning the Passing of Lady Bird Johnson
3. 2007 Jul 23 – Vote 687: H R 404: Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act (To require the establishment of customer service standards for Federal agencies.)
4. 2007 Jul 19 – Vote 672: H R 3043 – Davis of Kentucky Amendment (An amendment to prohibit funds to be used to pay a bonus or other performance-based cash award to any employee of the Social Security Administration or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services who holds a position to which such employee was appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or a Senior Executive Service position.)
5. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 668: H R 3043 – Flake of Arizona Amendment 15 (An amendment numbered 15 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds for the American Ballet Theatre, New York, New York, for educational activities.)
6. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 666: H R 3043 – Barton of Texas Amendment (An amendment to strike the proviso on page 36, beginning at line 5 which states that within the amounts provided for part A of title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act, funds are included to ensure that the amount of any funding provided under such part to a metropolitan area for the program year beginning in 2007 is not reduced by an amount that is more than 8.4 percent, and the amount of any funding provided under subpart II of such part to a transitional area is not reduced by an amount that is more than 13.4 percent, relative to the amount of the total funding provided under such part to the metropolitan area or transitional area, respectively, for the program year beginning in fiscal year 2006.)
7. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 665: H R 3043 – Dingell of Michigan Amendment (An amendment to prohibit the use of funds be used to pay the basic pay of any individual serving as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, Social Security Administration, whose appointment to such position has not been confirmed by a vote of the Senate pursuant to section 702(b)(1) of the Social Security Act. )
8. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 662: H R 3043 – Lamborn of Colorado Amendment (An amendment numbered 56 printed in the Congressional Record to strike line 7 and all that follows through the comma on page 104, line 12. )
9. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 661: H R 3043 – Shadegg of Arizona Amendment No. 55 (An amendment numbered 17 printed in the Congressional Record reduce appropriations for the Corporation for National and Community Service. )
10. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 660: H R 3043 – Price of Georgia Amendment (An amendment numbered 65 printed in the Congressional Record to reduce funding for the Student Financial Assistance account by $64,987,000. )

So that’s actually 10 yes votes in under a week.

The full total of Ron Paul votes in the last 7 full days (2007 Jul 17 to 2007 Jul 23) is:

• 28 – Yes
• 15 – No
• 14 – Not Voting

That gives a 26% no record, 35% if you don’t count the times he didn’t vote… but still not a 95% no record as I stated in the podcast… at least in the last week of votes. Oops again.

In my defense though, looking at the 10 listed above, you can see that even the Yes votes look like they are amendments which are actually against things. So even when voting yes, he is voting against something. But I guess that is always true in a way, so I’ll just shut up now.

Well, maybe not quite yet. One more set of stats from this last set of votes. Not counting the times he did not vote:

• 18 votes – Voted agreeing with Repub position against Dems
• 13 votes – Voted agreeing with position supported by both parties
• 9 votes – Voted opposite from position supported by both parties
• 3 votes – Voted agreeing with Dem position against Repubs

Interesting I guess. Note though that if you look at the list of “Important Votes” from Project Vote Smart instead of just the last week of all votes, you see a much larger percentage of “No” votes.