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Vote Alert: Massive Spending, Debt Ceiling Raise, and Democrat Priorities Funded
February 09, 2018
Once again, failed leadership in the United States Congress has resulted in the creation of a massive catch-all spending bill passed in the dead of night. Republicans and Democrats struck an agreement that will create a $1.5 trillion budget deficit this year and kick our country’s fiscal issues down the road yet again.
This bill is the largest spending increase since the 2009 “stimulus.” It increases the budget caps by $300 billion for two years, which will almost certainly result in trillions of dollars more in spending over the next 10 years now that the guardrails of the Budget Control Act have been removed.
In addition, it extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program, an entitlement that was meant to be phased out by Obamacare, for 10 years without any reforms, at a subsidy level higher than the one that President Bush vetoed a decade ago.
The budget-busting deal also includes a bailout for hospitals, which are flush with cash from the Medicaid expansion. It has $89 billion in disaster relief, full of spending that is either debatable, not imminent, or completely divorced from the hurricanes. For example, this “hurricane relief” expands farm subsidies to dairy and cotton farmers.
Hypocritically, the bill contains several extensions of tax breaks for crony special interests, despite Republican assurances that tax reform would simplify the tax code by eliminating such carve-outs.
Perhaps worst of all, this bill raises the debt ceiling for a full year, thereby pre-empting any leverage Republicans may have had to mitigate the spending binge with subsequent reforms. This package does not include any provisions dealing with any major issue conservatives care about, such as foreign aid for dubious or enemy factions or funding for Planned Parenthood, sanctuary cities, or a border wall.
The Senate moved to end debate and vote on the bill on February 9, 2018 at 12:59 a.m. in a roll-call vote of 73 – 26. The bill was then passed and sent to the House.
The House of Representatives agreed to the Senate bill and passed it at 5:32 a.m. in a roll-call vote of 240 – 186.
To see how your elected officials stack up or other votes that compose the Liberty Score, view our full scorecard here.
Conservative position: NO
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U.S. Senate
YEAs — 73
Alexander (R-TN)
Baldwin (D-WI)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Brown (D-OH)
Capito (R-WV)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Coons (D-DE)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cruz (R-TX)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Duckworth (D-IL)
Durbin (D-IL)
Fischer (R-NE)
Gardner (R-CO)
Graham (R-SC)
Hassan (D-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Jones (D-AL)
Kaine (D-VA)
Kennedy (R-LA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Leahy (D-VT)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Moran (R-KS)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Perdue (R-GA)
Peters (D-MI)
Portman (R-OH)
Reed (D-RI)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rounds (R-SD)
Rubio (R-FL)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Scott (R-SC)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (D-MN)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Udall (D-NM)
Van Hollen (D-MD)
Warner (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)
Young (R-IN)
NAYs — 26
Bennet (D-CO)
Booker (D-NJ)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Corker (R-TN)
Crapo (R-ID)
Daines (R-MT)
Enzi (R-WY)
Ernst (R-IA)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Flake (R-AZ)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Grassley (R-IA)
Harris (D-CA)
Hirono (D-HI)
Johnson (R-WI)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Markey (D-MA)
Merkley (D-OR)
Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sasse (R-NE)
Toomey (R-PA)
Warren (D-MA)
Not Voting — 1
McCain (R-AZ)
House of Representatives*
*Minority party (Democrats) in italics
YEAs — 240
Abraham
Aderholt
Allen
Amodei
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Banks (IN)
Barletta
Barr
Beatty
Bera
Bergman
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (MI)
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blunt Rochester
Bost
Brady (TX)
Brooks (IN)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burgess
Bustos
Butterfield
Byrne
Calvert
Carbajal
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Cheney
Coffman
Cohen
Cole
Collins (GA)
Collins (NY)
Comstock
Conaway
Connolly
Cook
Costa
Costello (PA)
Courtney
Cramer
Crawford
Crist
Cuellar
Culberson
Curbelo (FL)
Davis, Rodney
DeLauro
DelBene
Denham
Dent
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Deutch
Diaz-Balart
Donovan
Doyle, Michael F.
Duffy
Dunn
Estes (KS)
Esty (CT)
Evans
Farenthold
Faso
Ferguson
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flores
Fortenberry
Frelinghuysen
Fudge
Gallagher
Garamendi
Gibbs
Gonzalez (TX)
Goodlatte
Gottheimer
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grothman
Guthrie
Hanabusa
Handel
Harper
Hartzler
Heck
Higgins (LA)
Higgins (NY)
Hill
Himes
Huffman
Huizenga
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurd
Issa
Jackson Lee
Jenkins (KS)
Jenkins (WV)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Joyce (OH)
Kaptur
Katko
Keating
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kilmer
King (NY)
Kinzinger
Knight
Kuster (NH)
Kustoff (TN)
LaHood
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lance
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latta
Lawrence
Lawson (FL)
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Loudermilk
Love
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lynch
MacArthur
Marchant
Marino
Marshall
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McCollum
McHenry
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
McNerney
McSally
Meehan
Messer
Mitchell
Moolenaar
Mullin
Murphy (FL)
Nolan
Nunes
O'Halleran
O'Rourke
Olson
Palazzo
Pascrell
Paulsen
Pittenger
Poe (TX)
Poliquin
Reichert
Rice (NY)
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rooney, Francis
Rooney, Thomas J.
Rosen
Roskam
Ross
Royce (CA)
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Russell
Rutherford
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Scalise
Schneider
Scott (VA)
Scott, Austin
Scott, David
Sessions
Sewell (AL)
Shea-Porter
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Sinema
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Soto
Stefanik
Stewart
Stivers
Taylor
Tenney
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tipton
Tonko
Trott
Tsongas
Turner
Upton
Valadao
Vela
Visclosky
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walorski
Walters, Mimi
Weber (TX)
Welch
Wenstrup
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Woodall
Yarmuth
Young (AK)
Young (IA)
NAYs — 186
Adams
Aguilar
Amash
Barragán
Barton
Bass
Beyer
Biggs
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brady (PA)
Brat
Brooks (AL)
Brown (MD)
Brownley (CA)
Buck
Budd
Capuano
Cárdenas
Carson (IN)
Castro (TX)
Chabot
Chu, Judy
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Comer
Cooper
Correa
Crowley
Curtis
Davidson
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeFazio
DeGette
Delaney
Demings
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellison
Emmer
Engel
Eshoo
Espaillat
Foster
Foxx
Frankel (FL)
Gabbard
Gaetz
Gallego
Garrett
Gianforte
Gohmert
Gomez
Gosar
Graves (LA)
Griffith
Grijalva
Gutiérrez
Harris
Hastings
Hensarling
Herrera Beutler
Hice, Jody B.
Holding
Hollingsworth
Hoyer
Hudson
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (LA)
Jordan
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Khanna
Kihuen
Kildee
Kind
King (IA)
Krishnamoorthi
Labrador
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (MN)
Lieu, Ted
Lipinski
Lofgren
Long
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham, M.
Luján, Ben Ray
Maloney, Carolyn B.
Maloney, Sean
Massie
Matsui
McClintock
McEachin
McGovern
Meadows
Meeks
Meng
Mooney (WV)
Moore
Moulton
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Newhouse
Noem
Norcross
Norman
Pallone
Palmer
Panetta
Payne
Pearce
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Perry
Peters
Peterson
Pingree
Pocan
Polis
Posey
Price (NC)
Quigley
Raskin
Ratcliffe
Reed
Renacci
Rice (SC)
Richmond
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothfus
Rouzer
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sánchez
Sanford
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Schweikert
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sherman
Sires
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (WA)
Smucker
Speier
Suozzi
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Titus
Torres
Vargas
Veasey
Velázquez
Walker
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters, Maxine
Watson Coleman
Webster (FL)
Westerman
Wilson (FL)
Yoder
Yoho
Zeldin
Not Voting — 5
Black
Blum
Bridenstine
Cummings
Jones
*Minority party (Democrats) in italics
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