jcookc6

Here is John Kerry's record in the Senate. The people of Massachusetts should be ashamed of themselves. I am from Massachusetts, but can proudly say I never voted for him or his mentor Ted Kennedy.
http://www.factcheck.org/article282.html
Just How Many Bills Has Kerry Passed?

Bush said Kerry passed five bills. Kerry said he's passed 56. Who's right? That depends on the definition of "passed" and "bills."

October 15, 2004

Modified: October 16, 2004

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Summary



At the final presidential debate, Bush said Kerry had passed only five bills during his career, and Kerry said he had passed 56. Actually, we found eleven measures authored by Kerry have been signed into law, including a save-the-dolphins law, a law naming a federal building, a law giving a posthumous award to Jackie Robinson last year, and laws declaring "world population awareness weeks" in 1989 and 1991.

Bush counted only measures technically defined as "bills," leaving out four "joint resolutions" that also have the force of law, and he also omitted two laws whose House versions were adopted in a form nearly identical to Senate versions authored by Kerry.

When Kerry said "I've actually passed 56 individual bills that I've personally written" he was counting everything that had passed the Senate, whether or not it cleared the House. He also counts 24 resolutions that have no force of law.
Analysis



During the Oct. 13 debate in Tempe, AZ, Bush and Kerry contradicted each other on the number of bills Kerry has passed. Both can't be right, so we asked each campaign for their list of specific bills, and we took a look. What we found is that both men were playing word games.

Passed How Many Bills?

Bush: He introduced some 300 bills and he's passed five.
Kerry: Once again, the president is misleading America. I've actually passed 56 individual bills that I've personally written and, in addition to that, and not always under my name, there is (sic) amendments on certain bills.

Bush: "passed five"

When Bush said Kerry "passed five" bills, he was counting five bills Kerry authored that passed the Senate, the House, were signed by the president, and became law.

That's technically accurate but omits six other pieces of Kerry legislation that have become law.

The Bush campaign's backup lists five bills, which we verified:

*
S.791: Authorizes $53 million over four years to provide grants to woman-owned small businesses. (1999)
*
S.1206: Names a federal building in Waltham, Massachusetts after Frederick C. Murphy, who was killed in action during World War II and awarded (posthumously) the Medal of Honor. (1994)
*
S.1636: A save-the-dolphins measure aiming “to improve the program to reduce the incidental taking of marine mammals during the course of commercial fishing operations.” (1994)
*
S.1563: Funding the National Sea Grant College Program, which supports university-based research, public education, and other projects “to promote better understanding, conservation and use of America’s coastal resources.” (1991)
*
S.423: Granting a visa and admission to the U.S. as a permanent resident to Kil Joon Yu Callahan. (1987)

The Bush campaign left out two bills authored by Kerry which passed the Senate and later became law in a slightly different form approved by the House, under the same titles and mostly same substance. (This occurs when House and Senate versions differ so slightly that one house adopts the other's version rather than go to the trouble of a House-Senate conference to work out a compromise.) The citations were provided by the Kerry campaign, and we verified them:

*
H.R.1900 (S.300): Awarded a congressional gold medal to Jackie Robinson (posthumously), and called for a national day of recognition. (2003)
*
H.R.1860 (S.856): Increased the maximum research grants for small businesses from $500,000 to $750,000 under the Small Business Technology Transfer Program. (2001)

In a related article in January we quoted an Associated Press article that turned up only eight laws that bear Kerry's name. The AP's count omits these two House measures which technically don't bear Kerry's name and a private law (S.423) granting a visa and permanent residency to Kil Joon Yu Callahan that we are including in our count of 11.

We've also included -- as did The AP -- four "joint resolutions" that are not technically "bills" but which have the same force when passed by both houses and are signed into law by the president. All four created national events:

*
S.J.Res.158: To make the week of Oct. 22 – Oct. 28, 1989 “World Population Awareness Week.” (1989)
*
S.J.Res.160: To renew “World Population Awareness Week” for 1991. (1991)
*
S.J.Res.318: To make Nov. 13, 1992 “Vietnam Veterans Memorial 10th Anniversary Day.” (1992)
*
S.J.Res.337: To make Sept. 18, 1992 “National POW/MIA Recognition Day." (1992)

Kerry: "passed 56"

Kerry counted all measures he wrote that were approved by the Senate. While Bush defined “bills” in the strictest sense, Kerry included bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions with no force of law, and even simple Senate resolutions that aren't even considered by the House. Kerry would have been more accurate to say he wrote 56 "measures" that passed the Senate, including 11 that became law. (Kerry's total of 56 does not include the private law.)

Padding the Numbers

Of Kerry's total, 24 were concurrent resolutions or simple Senate resolutions that had no chance of becoming law. Some examples.

*
S.Res.123: To change the name of the Committee on Small Business to the "Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship." (2001)
*
S.Res.133: To make May 21, 1991 “National Land Trust Appreciation Day.” (1991)
*
S.Res.144: To encourage the European Community to vote to ban driftnets for all European Community fishing fleets. (1991 )
*
S.Res.216: Honoring Milton D. Stewart for his leadership and service at the Small Business Administration. (2002)
*
S.Con.Res.26: Calling for the United States to support a new agreement providing for a ban on commercial mining of minerals in Antarctica. (1991)

Kerry's total also includes 10 Senate-passed bills that would have done nothing more than grant waivers to specific foreign-built vessels to transport cargo or people along the US coastline despite a 1920 law requiring that only US-built vessels be allowed to operate between US ports. Because there were 10 different vessels, Kerry introduced 10 separate bills. All died in the House.
Sources



"Civics 101: John Kerry's Thin Senate Record," press release, Bush-Cheney '04, 14 Oct 2004.

"56 Bills and Resolutions Kerry Passed," press release, John Kerry for President, 13 Oct 2004.
Related Articles
Kerry Exaggerates Role in Some Key Legislative Battles

He says he "led the fight" on several fronts, but few bills bear his name.

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I do not think this a right wing source, but a truthful source that calls them as they see them.

daswig

Hey, it could have been worse. He could have been very sucessful in passing legislation, and we could all be living in a communist police state, which is where he seems to want to take us.

Seandq

I'm going to leave this alone, you too Republicans dream of your plans for world domination.

seretogis

The public education system fails again.

__________________
seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

irateplatypus

my biggest disappointment with this campaign is the lack of attention paid to kerry's senate record from both sides.

i mean, they jump from a period of time before he even held office (swiftvets) to the last year and a half. i'm guessing that even well-informed voters are relatively uneducated about the bulk of senator kerry's political career.

__________________
If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

filtherton

Doesn't bother me, though the thread title is a bit flame baity.

tecoyah

Oh....I don't know....they seemed a bit too republican for me, as well.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

daswig

Tecoyah, I, at least, have very strong Libertarian tendencies. I'm pro-choice, and anti-war on drugs. Either of those two things would disqualify me as being a Republican in the eyes of most fundie republicans. That doesn't mean I don't see Kerry for exactly what he is...an opportunistic parasite with communistic tendencies who has repeatedly betrayed America.

If the Democrats had offered a remotely moderate candidate, I'da voted for him or her. They didn't, they offered the most far to the left nutjob they have serving in a national office. I s'pose it could have been worse...they could have nominated Cynthia McKinney...

daswig

oh, yeah, forgot to mention, I'm even a card-carrying ACLU member...

filtherton

It's hard to take you seriously when you claim to want to vote democrat when you consistently quote right wing talking points. Calling kerry's actions treasonous when no one ever actually sought to even charge him with treason is a little disingenuous, don't you think.

daswig

Please list the POSITIVE things I've said about Bush on this board.

It's a matter of the lesser of two evils. Bush is definitely the less dangerous in my book.

As for Kerry being charged with a crime, well, we just don't know, because he STILL refuses to release ALL of his military records. From what have been released, it certainly does look like Kerry was originally separated from the service in less than honorable conditions. Otherwise, why would he need to be re-discharged in 1978, instead of 1972?

filtherton

So you think it would be reasonable of me to go around claiming that bush was a tax cheat even though i have really no way of knowing for sure?

daswig

filtherton, can you give ANY other possible scenario for Kerry to have to be re-discharged in 1978, instead of 1972 when he was supposed to be discharged? He sure as hell didn't stay in those extra 6 years voluntarily....

Why will Kerry not release those 100 pages of documents that are still being withheld?

Kadath

You'd think you'd be a litte more discrete and have a tighter grip on your reigns there, laddie. Everyone makes mistakes.

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it's quiet in here

Beatlefan58

Well said. The legislature in Arkansas meets every two years for 10 weeks. I've long thought life would be better if they met every 10 years for 2 weeks. The less a legislature does, the better I tend to like it.

daswig

Frankly, let them meet as much as they want, but for every law they pass, they must repeal 2 pre-existing laws.

the government that governs least governs best.

filtherton

So you think it would be reasonable of me to go around claiming that bush was a tax cheat even though i have really no way of knowing for sure?

tecoyah

Why will Bush not release those 28 pages of information, related to Saudi Arabia.....that the 9/11 commission released to him?

Why will Bush not release his own copies of the "missing" military files that would aparently "Prove" he was not AWOL from the Nat'l Guard?

I simply don't know.......but I guess I could just speculate, and proclaim it as fact.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

daswig

On the 28 pages: Probably because they actually have some bearing on national security. Regarding Bush's "private file" on his service record, you have some evidence that he actually KEPT a private file? If not, how can you expect him to release documents he does not possess? With Kerry's files, we're not talking about private files, we're talking about official records which are still in military custody.

filtherton

Keep on rationalizing. That buzzing sound you feel in the back of your head is just the pleasant hum of cognitive dissonance. You might find that you think it is pretty once you get used to it.

daswig

filtherton, hasn't Bush ordered all of his records held by the Pentagon to be released? Has Kerry done the same?

filtherton

I think i will just pretend that my speculation is fact. Bush is also a tax evader and was wearing a wire during the debates.

daswig

Spoken like a true Clintonian Democrat....

Boo

I guess I read more into this than a grammar error and a bipartisan smegma throwing contest.

I read that the guy that will provide health care for all americans (with no tax increase), save Iraq from the Bush cronies and balance the budget has no ability to get a measure to pass. While I believe that $53 million for grants to encourage woman-owned small businesses, renaming a federal building for a Medal of Honor recipient, saving dolphins, funding the National Sea Grant College Program, and granting a visa are HUGE contributions to our world. I believe (without discrediting his achievements) that he had ample opportunity to achieve much more. Clinton wasted 4 years trying for health care. Are we going to have "more of the same" if Kerry gets elected? What makes people believe that Kerry can fulfill his promises?

IMO - If he were to write a resume based on this he would have a seriously hard time finding employment. Small fish - Big pond.

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beofotch5

I didn't know there was such a thing.

MSD

Well, this thread certainly went nowhere, fast.