K12> senate rejects funding for education

From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:24:42 -0500
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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>From Capitol Hill Blue

Politics
While on campaign trail, Kerry & Lieberman miss key votes
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Apr 21, 2003, 08:10

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman was wrangling support for his presidential bid in
Keene, N.H., and Sen. John Kerry was winging his way to sunny Florida to
meet with the teachers' union in mid-January when the Senate rejected
increased funding for education and Medicaid.

The amendment lost by two votes.

Two months later, Kerry was in Chicago raising money for his presidential
campaign and Sen. John Edwards was also out of town when a Democratic
amendment to fully fund President Bush's education reforms was defeated -
also by two votes.

Such close roll-call votes are rare, and with Republicans controlling the
Senate, Vice President Dick Cheney would be available to break any ties. But
as the 2004 presidential campaign heats up, the four senators vying for the
Democratic nomination are spending more time on the road talking about
issues, and less time voting on them.

Kerry, D-Mass., leads the pack with the most votes missed as of April 12. So
far this year he has missed nearly four out of every 10 votes, not counting
the two that came when he was recuperating from prostate surgery in February.

Lieberman, D-Conn., comes in second. He failed to vote on 22 percent of the
134 Senate roll-call tallies this year. Edwards, D-N.C., has missed 16
percent, and Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., missed 2 percent. Graham's total does
not include the 16 votes he failed to cast during his heart surgery and
recovery in February.

Republicans, who hold the White House and don't have to field candidates
from within Congress, trumpet the absences as "playing hooky." The
Democratic contenders insist that in nearly all cases their votes would have
made no difference in the result.

"There are going to be times when every senator running for president in '04
will miss votes, but Senator Lieberman takes his responsibility of
representing the people of Connecticut very seriously," said Lieberman
campaign spokesman Jano Cabrera. "Our goal is to try to make missing votes
the exception, not the rule."

Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander said the campaign is in constant
communication with the Democratic leadership. "John Kerry has committed to
Senator (Tom) Daschle, that he will be there for any close vote. The
unfortunate reality is that when you are running for president you are going
to miss votes."

"Anytime the presidential candidates have been needed, they have been
there," said Ranit Schmelzer, spokeswoman for Democratic Minority Leader
Daschle, D-S.D. "It's worked out so far; we expect it will continue to work."

But Republicans say a vote doesn't have to be close to be important.

"Why is something important in a stump speech and not important enough to
merit your attention to show up for a vote?" said Republican National
Committee spokesman Dan Ronayne. "It seems that they're missing an awful lot
of votes on issues that they talk about being of great importance."

Lieberman, for example, has been an ardent supporter of the war in Iraq, but
when the Senate voted to fund the war, he was en route to California's
Silicon Valley for a fund-raiser. And, although he was a main sponsor of the
bill creating the Department of Homeland Security, he was lunching with
Democrats in Manchester, N.H., when the Senate confirmed Tom Ridge as the
department's secretary.

He did, however, postpone that New Hampshire trip for a few hours to vote on
an amendment to strengthen air pollution controls. The amendment failed
46-50. And just 10 days ago he flew back from Iowa on two hours' notice to
vote on the budget resolution.

Kerry has also shuffled his schedule for votes. When the Senate was debating
a bill to ban late-term abortions in mid-March, he made a quick detour to
Washington between campaign stops in Boston and New York to vote to support
a woman's right to have an abortion. It was a nonbinding resolution, but
Daschle asked all four candidates to be there, and it passed 52-46. But
Kerry and Edwards missed the final vote on the abortion ban, which passed
64-33. Both have voted against the ban in the past.

So far, missing votes hasn't created a political storm for any of the
candidates and it may be a non-issue, according to political analyst Stuart 
Rothenberg.

"The line of attack on missing votes is pretty obvious: `They're not doing
their job now, why should they get a promotion,'" said Rothenberg. "But I
think voters understand it's hard to hold a job and run for a job."

The problem will come, he said, if one of them misses either a vote that is
critical to their constituents or one where a single vote would have made
the difference.

But, he noted, "it's not as if one guy is missing all the votes and
everybody else is there. The fact that they're all missing votes gives the
individual candidates cover."

2003 The Associated Press

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K12> senate rejects funding for education

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