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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (16430)	10/11/2007 10:44:28 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224729

Poor babies >Repubs Require Freshman Dems to Make Difficult Votes By Alan K. Ota yahoo.com, Oct 11, 2007 Freshman Democrats representing conservative districts found themselves in a bind Wednesday when House Republicans forced another floor vote on taxes. Conscious of the political ramifications of appearing to entertain anything resembling a tax hike, 10 Democrats including eight freshmen backed a GOP motion calling for permanent repeal of the estate tax. The motion was defeated, 196-212, after a brief but intense lobbying blitz. Wednesday’s vote was the Republicans’ latest attempt to use motions to recommit that offer the GOP an opportunity to make a point and require Democrats to cast uncomfortable votes. A handful of freshman Democrats have been siding with the minority party. Intent on making sure that the first term of the 42 freshman “majority makers” is not also their last, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her leadership team have given the freshmen latitude to stray from the party line when in need of political cover. “It just becomes a matter of practicality,” said Democratic Caucus Vice-Chairman John B. Larson of Connecticut. The National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the National Taxpayers Union sent letters to congress in support of estate tax repeal. When Chief Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia called for a vote on a similar proposal Oct. 4, it resulted in the left-wing freshmen, who stuck with their leadership, being accused of supporting the Democrats’ tax hike agenda. “There have been plenty of votes where their members have come down on the wrong side of these issues, and I think that’s an important thing when it comes around to an election,” Cantor said. Freshman Jason Altmire, D-Pa., said he is determined to avoid compiling a voting record that can be attacked as pro-tax. He faces a likely 2008 rematch with his 2006 opponent, three-term Republican Rep. Melissa A. Hart, a fiscal conservative who supported tax cuts and served on the Ways and Means Committee. “I have a fairly conservative district,” said Altmire, who voted with Republicans on the estate tax motion. “I get asked a lot about taxes.” The other Democratic freshmen who voted for estate tax repeal were Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, Nick Lampson of Texas, Jerry McNerney of California, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, Tim Mahoney of Florida and Zack Space of Ohio. Altmire, Lampson and McNerney also voted for Cantor’s proposal last week. “I think it’s about folks who have districts that are more conservative than the leadership, so that they may often agree with the sentiments of the motions to recommit,” said Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who occasionally has sided with Republicans. Democrats say their whip team manages close votes to allow more conservative members of their caucus to stray while ensuring that the GOP motions which would kill the underlying bill are defeated. “We haven’t lost any, so I’m not that concerned about it,” Pelosi said. But Republicans have occasionally forced Democrats to scramble. Most notably, last-minute Democratic vote switches during an Aug. 2 vote on an immigration-related Republican motion to recommit the fiscal 2008 Agriculture spending bill (HR 3161) resulted in a disputed vote tally and an ongoing investigation of how the vote was handled. House leaders again had few votes to spare Sept. 18, when Republican Tom Price of Georgia offered a motion that would have required federal housing assistance recipients to prove legal residency. In July, Gillibrand sided with Republicans on a similar motion to require public housing occupants to demonstrate legal residency and on another proposal to increase Justice Department funding for immigration law enforcement. But she was not among the nine freshmen who voted for Price’s motion. “Sometimes you have to make a choice on whether you want to support a sentiment that you may agree with or make sure the underlying bill passes,” Gillibrand said. Two freshmen — Ellsworth and Heath Shuler of North Carolina — have sided with Republicans on all six immigration votes the GOP has forced since June. Both are conservative Democrats representing districts President Bush carried in 2004. Republicans say such freshmen are in a tough spot of their own making. “They ran as conservatives, and now they have to walk the line for their liberal leadership here in D.C., while at the same time convincing the people at home that they are conservative,” said Republican Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina. Unlike some of his colleagues, Tim Walz, who heads the Democratic freshman class, has not voted for any of the GOP’s immigration-related motions, which he calls “divisive” political ploys. Now Walz, who narrowly unseated six-term Republican Gil Gutknecht in a largely rural southern Minnesota swing district, is girding for election-year attacks from Republicans based on those votes. Among the Republicans lining up to take on Walz is state Sen. Dick Day, who has pledged that cracking down on illegal immigration would be his top priority.