Kohl, Feingold join 8 others with perfect attendance
By AUDREY HOFFER
Washington - Democratic Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold were two of 10 senators with perfect voting attendance records last year. :applause:
Wisconsin and Maine were the only states whose senators cast every one of the 442 votes during the first session of the 110th Congress. Betty K. Koed, assistant Senate historian, said the Senate doesn't have a proxy vote system, so senators must appear in the chamber to vote.
When an issue is contentious and the outcome is expected to be close, "they'll all try to get there," she said. If the issue is one that will likely pass with 80 to 90 votes, some senators will skip the vote, she added. The leadership schedules most votes Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, when senators generally are in the capital, Koed said.
The eight other senators with 100% voting records are Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
Super Bowl bet: Kohl and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are raising the ante for today's NFC Championship Game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants. Both senators predict victory.
"In spite of the cold, the Giants will only feel the heat against Green Bay at Lambeau Field," Kohl said. Schumer said, "Brooklyn may have sent Green Bay a gift in Vince Lombardi, but the generosity ends there. I am confident that the Giants will be victorious."
The winning senator will get a gift from the loser. If the Packers win, Kohl will get New York cheesecake. If the Giants win, Schumer will get a block of Wisconsin cheese. Minority adjustment: After years as members of the majority, Wisconsin's three GOP lawmakers say they have adjusted to their minority status.
Three of the eight House members from Wisconsin are Republicans: Jim Sensenbrenner, 64, of Menomonee Falls is in his 15th term; Tom Petri, 67, of Fond du Lac is in his 14th term; Paul Ryan, 38, of Janesville is in his fifth term. They confer regularly. "I talk to Sensenbrenner often, daily," Petri said.
"I'm not in a funk," Ryan said. "The minority isn't so bad as long as it doesn't last so long."
"In the majority, you're kept so busy fine-tuning legislation that you have less time in the lab to work on big ideas to solve problems," he said.
Sensenbrenner said the majority sets the priorities on the House floor and in committees. "The minority is forced to react because we have to vote on the bills that the majority puts on the schedule," he said.
Reacting ultimately means voting yea or nay on legislation, but there are many ways the minority can block majority proposals. "How we act depends on the type of legislation the Democrats put on the floor," Sensenbrenner said. "If it's a partisan bill, then we fight against it."
Sensenbrenner said the three state lawmakers were effective last session in helping vote down several major Democratic proposals. He pointed to:
• Success in killing a tax increase proposal by the Democrats.
• Saving the Medicare Advantage program.
• Preventing the Children's Health Insurance Program from being expanded to include adults.
Despite these Republican successes, "being in the minority is much more difficult and frustrating," Sensenbrenner added.
In November, he introduced legislation to update and simplify the federal criminal code. Asked whether the bill would make progress this session, he said, "It's not my choice. When I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I decided which legislation would be taken up."
Now it's up to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Sensenbrenner said he thinks Conyers wants a complete revision of the criminal code and, if he does, "I have a marker in the sand."
Petri said he doesn't put everything through a partisan filter, but when legislators are in the minority, it's best to form partnerships with majority members so the bills you want have a chance of passage.
Petri sponsored a proposal with Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) to federally fund electronic assessment testing of schoolchildren. The proposal is expected to be considered this spring.
The No Child Left Behind law requires public school students to be tested each year in a written test. Petri prefers computerized testing, which he says is more accurate and reliable. A third of Wisconsin schools already use computer tests.
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) is helping Petri champion the troops-to-teachers program he has been promoting for years. He wants to encourage veterans leaving the military to move directly into teaching jobs by streamlining the path to getting a teaching certificate. Petri expects the bill to pass this year.
Sensenbrenner said he was encouraged by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to work with him on bipartisan legislation to restore protections for Americans with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sensenbrenner is confident the law will pass this spring.
Legislation Ryan proposed in October to amend the Internal Revenue Code and repeal the alternative minimum tax was stymied by the Democratic majority. He said it won't move because Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, "has his own ideas."
Ryan said he had used the past year "to pause, reflect, collect myself." His consolation prize, as he sees it, was being selected as senior minority member of the House Budget Committee. "I will be making major proposals this year," Ryan said. One will be a Social Security reform plan "to bring solvency to the system in the long term and preserve it for future generations," he said.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=708818Ryan and Petri, enjoy your last year in the House. :evilgrin:
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