The Voter’s Speakeasy

I once again had a the opportunity to get on the road with the Project Vote Smart Bus. This month long leg took us to Missoula, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and to both parties’ conventions in Denver and St. Paul.

Unfortunately, the political pulse was not very high in the weeks approaching the conventions, but most stops still brought quality turns by both voters and the media. I’ll give you a little summary of how the conventions went for PVS.

Denver We got to Denver Saturday night and the police presence was immediately known. Riot police even kicked us off the bus within an hour of us being there.

Our parking spot was in a parking lot with a few other buses (buses are all the rage right now, with Rock the Vote, ONE, the Breast Cancer Awareness Society, The Bush Legacy, CNN, CSPAN, The Daily Show, and even Trojan Condoms having buses at the Convention, so there was definitely much for us to compete with). We were about a half mile from the Pepsi Center and directly across from the Colorado Convention Center. It was a good spot and there was a lot of quality foot traffic. People that came by seemed to like Vote Smart, but obviously, this was not the most ideal spot for non-partisanship. It was great to see young people involved and families all there to be part of our political process. Downtown Denver was packed with delegates, voters, and vendors - you could buy almost anything with a picture of Obama on it. There was definitely a buzz in the air all week. Unfortunately, there was so much going on that PVS didn’t get much media attention.

One interesting note, Rock the Vote had a few trucks parked in the same lot as us. And though they too are a nonprofit, nonpartisan group, their tactics are definitely different than ours. They have corporate sponsorship and celebrity endorsements and use entertainment to attract people to voting. I for one am glad that Project Vote Smart sticks to it’s mission statement, and although it isn’t sexy and doesn’t bring in as much money, it give voters the information they need.

St. Paul - St. Paul was much different than Denver. There seemed to be no regular people around - just protesters and riot police. We talked to tons of people on Monday and Tuesday, but then the city was basically dead Wednesday and Thursday. All the delegates were bussed directly into the Convention Center and never interacted with anyone else. I supposed this is a safeguard due to protests in the past, but it was disappointing for PVS.

It was an interesting week.  A good number of people were still interested in our bus, but again, not as many as we hoped.

So, the Conventions weren’t as groundbreaking for Project Vote Smart as we hoped, but our presence there was necessary. We provide an alternative partisan politics as usual.

Here we are continuing the brief review of the votes taken before the Congressional August recess.  To view other blog posts from over the last sixteen months or so, click here.

On July 17, the House voted on HR 6515, a bill on oil exploration.  This bill would facilitate drilling in Alaska and also try to encourage oil exploration on land already leased.  The bill was considered under a suspension of the normal rules, meaning debate was limited and amendments were not allowed to be offered.  When a bill is considered under a suspension of the rules like this, a two-thirds vote is required to pass it.  The House voted 244-173 on this bill, but because the vote fell short of that two-thirds mark it failed (summary).  Remember that when viewing any PVS summary, you can click “How members voted” in the upper right to view the yeas and nays on that vote.

Tax revenue collected on gasoline has been lower this year than projected, leading to a decrease in the size of the Highway Trust Fund.  The House voted 387-37 on July 23 to pass HR 6532 (summary).  This bill would transfer about $8 billion from the general fund in the Treasury to the Highway Trust Fund.  It passed 387-37 and is currently sitting in the Senate Finance Committee.

Also on July 23, the House had a vote to pass HR 3221, the high profile housing assistance bill that contains many tax-related provisions and provisions addressing housing assistance and loan assistance programs.  This bill raises the national debt limit to $10.62 trillion from $9.82 trillion, expands federal mortgage insurance programs, provides grants to states to redevelop abandoned properties, imposes loan limitations on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and imposes other regulations on these two companies, provides a tax credit for first time home buyers that they will have to repay over the fifteen years following the purchase of their home, and provides a property tax deduction for the state and local property taxes paid, with a limit of $500 for an individual and $1000 for a joint filing (summary).  The Senate concurred with the House version by a vote of 72-13 (summary) and the President signed it into law on July 30.

The next day the House voted on HR 3999, a bill that would authorize around $1 billion for the rebuilding of structurally deficient bridges (summary).  It passed 367-55. Read the rest of this entry »

Good day, Informed Voter.  Thank you for using the Project Vote Smart website to educate yourself about your candidates and elected officials!  As you have probably noted, there are many different ways in which you can ascertain issue positions and potential inclinations of your candidates and elected officials.  Project Vote Smart provides information on key votes, interest group ratings, campaign finance data, and issue positions via our Political Courage Test, among many other types of information.  Below is a brief description of how to navigate the Key Votes sections of our website.

PVS provides coverage of your elected officials’ voting records at the national and state levels.  You can view a list of key votes by clicking on “Issues and Legislation” on the left side of the PVS home page (in the blue column).  The top link on the next page reads “CongressTrack: Key Votes.”  To view Congressional key votes, click on that link.  To view state key votes, click on the link below it, which reads “State Key Votes.”  We’ll assume that you are viewing Congressional key votes for the purposes of this blog entry, but they are organized very similarly (the primary difference in site navigation is that when selecting state key votes, you will be prompted to select a state before viewing any key vote summaries).

Once you have clicked on “CongressTrack: Key Votes” a screen will come up that provides three methods of searching through our key votes database.  1. On the left is a drop down menu that allows you to select a category.  Our categories for state and Congressional votes are always the same.  You can select a category here in which you are interested, and select a year on the next screen.  2. You can search for a piece of legislation by its number in the middle search engine.  You do not need to include the prefix of the legislaion if you do not wish to.  Once you have typed in the number click ‘Go’ or hit enter.  3. On the search engine on the right, you can search by keyword.  Again, click ‘Go’ or hit enter.

After searching by any of these methods, a list of votes matching your criteria will appear.  In this list, the date of the vote, the legislation number, the PVS title, and the outcome of the vote will appear.  PVS writes all of its own summaries on key votes.  To view the summary of a vote, click on the PVS title in this list. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a post that we have published on the Voter’s Speakeasy a couple of times over the last year or so, and we are posting it again here.  Many folks are not particularly familiar with the paths bills normally take to become law, and as usership of our site and blog increase, we want to make this post easily accessible to those of you who may need a refresher on this topic.

Most people learn how a bill becomes a law around junior high or even elementary school (Click here for a YouTube presentation of the Schoolhouse Rock video of a bill trying to become a law). But for many of us, that’s a long time ago, and most teachers didn’t get that in depth. You may remember that a bill passes the House and Senate and is signed by the president and then becomes a law. You may remember that if the President vetoes the bill, Congress can override the veto. If you remember these things, you’ve got the bare bones knowledge that you need to begin to understand the legislative process. We’ll go a little more in depth here. Remember, sometimes legislation does not take a well-worn route to become a law, and there is always politics to be played.  Sometimes agreements are reached between the parties that dictate strict debate times or prohibit amendments, etc.  Almost every step described below is a generalization and may occasionally be altered or bypassed in specific instances. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is a continuation of our review of some of the key votes taken by Congress before their August recess.  Click on the “summary” links to view more information about that piece of legislation.  According to the calendar on the Senate website (view here as a pdf), the Congress is expected to reconvene on September 8.  If you would like to view blog posts about other votes taken in Congress over the last year or so, click here.

On June 26, the House took a vote on HR 6251 under a suspension of the rules (summary).  This bill would require a business that holds leases to drill for oil or gas on federal land to develop those leases before being granted leases to additional land.  The vote was 223-195, but failed because of a requirement that it have a two-thirds majority.  Considering a bill under a suspension of the rules limits debate on the bill and prohibits amendments, but also carries that two-thirds majority requirement for passage.  Also, remember that you can view the yeas and nays for any vote by clicking on “How Members Voted” in the upper right of the summary page.

Also on June 26, the Senate took a vote on the whole of HR 2642.  This bill provided new extensions for unemployment benefits, additional education assistance for veterans (new GI bill), funding for midwestern flood cleanup, funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a moratorium on certain actions related to the administration of the Medicaid program (summary).  This was the final vote on the bill, and this summary reflects the final version that was signed into law by the President.  The vote passed the Senate 92-6. Read the rest of this entry »

Good day, Informed Voter,

Congress is on their annual August recess, but here is a quick recap of some of the voting activity in the House and Senate during late June and July.  Look for more votes next week.

There have been several votes over the last couple of years on funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and another such vote was taken by the House on June 19.  This was a House concurrence vote with a Senate amendment on HR 2642, and it provided $165.35 billion over fiscal years 2008 and 2009.  The federal government’s fiscal year begins on October 1 of each calendar year.  You can view a summary of the content of this vote here.  Always remember, also, that you can view the votes of your Representatives and Senators by clicking “How Members Voted” in the upper right of the summary pages.

HR 6304 is a bill addressing foreign electronic surveillance and the FISA program.  The bill defines what types of individuals may be targeted through electronic surveillance and defines procedures required for implementing electronic surveillance.  This bill passed the House on June 20 (summary) and passed the Senate on July 9 (summary).  The House vote was 293-129, while the Senate vote was 69-28.  The President signed this legislation into law on July 10.

HR 6304 provides civil immunity to telecommunications companies, and there was an amendment voted on in the Senate that would have removed the immunity language from the bill.  This amendment was S Amdt 5064 (summary).  The Senate rejected this amendment by a vote of 32-66 on July 9, thereby leaving the immunity language in the bill. Read the rest of this entry »

After a week on the road I’ve realized that I now measure time in cities
rather than by days and dates. This morning was Saturday and I woke up to
the sound of heavy rain and some thunder. Being from Northern California
it reminded me of home. My second thought was what this would mean for our
event at a Farmer’s Market on the Illinois’ River in Peoria Illinois.
Would the media still come? Would there be people to show this incredible
resource to? It only took a few minutes to get ourselves set up and we
were shortly joined by one of our members Elliot who had offered to help.
Elliot, who at 78 is in much better shape than me, told me all about how
diet and exercise were the key to good health. Just when we thought we
were foiled by the weather the clouds cleared away and everything changed.
All at once several groups of citizens arrived curious about what we were
all about, followed immediately by two camera crews and a journalist from
a local paper. Then even more voters arrived and a third camera crew. Jon
and I handled the situation like pros. I was giving one interview while he
showed voters the website then while I was speaking to people just coming
by journalists were taking notes on some of the impressive facts about PVS
like that we don’t funding from any special interests. We had people
promising to become members, and professors wanting to help us recruit for
our internship program. We even met a super delegate! By the time I caught
my breath it was time to pack up and head to Alton. This has been an
amazing experience. I gotten to see four states that I had never been to
and meet countless people. Before leaving Elliot told me about about a law
the Governor amended making it free for senior citizens to ride public
transit. Ironically I had worked on that bill in our State Key Votes
program.
After spending the last year doing this research it is fascinating to meet
the people it affects and inspiring to share this resource with America.
Thank you to all the members that have been there to help us out. I hope
to see you all on the road!

We have been generating a lot of news coverage for the last couple of weeks. It has even provoked some competitive spirit among the organized media teams. There is a competition over which team can gain the most media coverage- the Voter’s Self Defense Manual troop, the Bus Tour squad, or the Political Courage Test posse. The contest formally known as “This is not a Contest” Contest is the entire rage in the front office of the Great Divide Ranch. The contest is being judged on the amount of national coverage and also the number of phone interviews conducted.

July 1^st marked the official starting date of the contest. The Bus Tour squad has taken the lead with 28 phone interviews conducted. The Political Courage Test posse is in second place with 22 interviews under its belt. The Voter’s Self Defense Manual troop, which only began three days ago, has secured 13 interviews to round out last place. Brandon, the PCT posse leader, believes that “we are not in second place, Tony does not update the scorecard fast enough.” The VSDM troop also feels cheated but has high hopes of catching up and winning in the end. Stephanie is convinced that “they’re just jealous, we are going to win.” The race is still in its beginning stages so there is no telling who will become America’s Best Media Crew.

Sarah has been placed in a league of her own as she calls Public Service Announcement Directors to sell them our animated PSA. “PSA’s are a great way to let television viewers know about our free resources,” said Tony, head honcho of the PSA unit. He feels that the PSA unit is just as important as our other organized teams. He has a strong feeling that when the PSA’s finally air in early September through late October, they will be the reigning champions. The contest has everyone working extra hard to become American’s Best Media Crew.

*This article was written without bias or slander.

The Key Votes Department, which provides summaries of bills passed, has the most recent legislation posted on our website. Last week, Congress acted on important issues affecting the national security. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was passed. The official title of the bill is called HR 6304: To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes.

This bill defines the people who may be targeted through electronic surveillance and outlines the processes that are required to conduct electronic surveillance. It also specifies the procedure on government eavesdropping, inspection of electronic mail and other forms of surveillance. Some noteworthy parts of the bill include:

• Allowing the authorization of foreign surveillance under “emergency” or time limited circumstances without preliminary Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approval, provided that relevant applications or certifications are presented to the Court no later than seven days after the authorization of such surveillance (Sec 101)

• Liberating electronic communication providers, i.e. Telecommunications, from liability with regards to civil action that may be brought up in any court due to assistance provided to the government in obtaining electronic surveillance.

The Senate passed the bill on July 9th by a vote of 69 to 28. It passed the House of Representatives June 20th with a vote of 239 to 129.

This bill is controversial because many believe it is a breach of the Fourth Amendment of the United States while others feel that it gives intelligence officials the tools they need to stop terrorists and protect Americans at home.

The Key Votes Department does not analyze any bills that are passed. They simply break them down into summaries and highlights to be easily digested, and simplify the codes for better navigation. The simplified version can be found at: http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=20044

Interns and volunteers alike have been building a Voter’s Self Defense System of trustworthy information on incumbents and candidates at every level of government for the past 16 years. The final leg of a nationwide tour was launched on July 11^th to deliver it to American voters.

The Vote Smart message is being delivered from a 45-foot mobile research training center. The training center is equipped with a movie theater, free wi-fi computer terminals and other unique exhibits that make becoming an informed voter interesting and entertaining. Citizens are given tutorials on how to get the most out of visiting Project Vote Smart’s website and using the free resources.

One of the main attractions of the tour is a spinning politician placed on a roulette wheel that literally loses the hype and rhetoric he has clothed himself with when confronted with Project Vote Smart facts. Another popular exhibit is a giant red and blue ball that can be signed by citizens with messages for their candidates about their campaign behavior. They will be delivered to the candidates on Election Day in Washington D.C.

The first stop was at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor followed by Lansing Community College in Lansing. The Voter’s Self-Defense System is expected to visit close to 100 communities nationwide within the next three months. Everyone will have the opportunity to gain knowledge needed to defend themselves from the hype and spin that comes from political campaigns today. The tour will conclude November 3^rd and 4th in Washington D.C.

Project Vote Smart has already traveled over 25,000 miles to deliver its Voter’s Self- Defense System to the public. The schedule is available on the website for all to view at http://votesmart.org/blog/?page_id=113. It is always being updated so check back to see if we are coming to a town near you!