Sen. Lamar Alexander's Fishy Voting Record

Seventeen trillion in debt. Obamacare. Dodd-Frank. Benghazi. The IRS Scandal. Immigration. You'd think that with all of these big issues going on in the nation, a Republican Senator running in a red state like Tennessee would be hyping his opposition to them. However, Tennessee's senior Senator Lamar Alexander, has bigger fish to fry. You see, he is too busy touting his "Freedom to Fish" bill to worry about phony scandals like Benghazi.

Don't get me wrong, I like fishing as much as the next guy, but....come on. Is this the best that Senator Alexander can do? Is this the best bill that he has sponsored? Is this his greatest accomplishment? Answer? Probably so.

If you actually look at his voting record you will see why he is touting his fish bill. That's pretty much all he's got.

He doesn't want to talk about the fact that in 2012, he voted in accordance with Obama's positions 62% of the time. This was more than any other Senator from the south. He doesn't want to talk about his vote for Cash for Clunkers or the bank bailouts or, well, any of this: 

1. Continuing Resolutions: Over the last four years (12 Continuing Resolutions) Lamar Alexander either for voted for them, or they passed the Senate with unanimous consent. Obama signed all of them:

• 2009- First Continuing Resolution Passed Senate with unanimous consent (H.R. 2638)

• 2009- Second Continuing Resolution Passed Senate with unanimous consent (H.J. Res 38)

• 2010- Voted NO on the 1st Continuing Resolution (H.R. 2918)

• 2010- Voted YES on the 2nd Continuing Resolution (H.R. 2996)
• 2011- Voted YES on the 1st Continuing Resolution (H.R. 3081)

• 2011- Second CR passed Senate with unanimous consent (H.J. Res 101)
• 2011- Third CR passed Senate with unanimous consent (H.J. Res 105)
• 2011- Voted YES on the 4th CR (H.R. 3082)
• 2011- Voted YES on the 5th CR (H.J. Res 44)
• 2011- Voted YES on the 6th CR (H.J. Res 48)
• 2011- Seventh CR passed Senate with unanimous consent (H.R. 1363)
• 2013- Voted YES on the 1st CR (H.J. Res 107)
• 2013- Voted YES on the 2nd CR (funded Obamacare, H.R. 933)

2. Budget/Other Spending/Taxes

• Voted YES on the Internet Sales Tax bill (S 743)

• Voted NO on Rand Paul’s budget which would balance in five years, eliminate four Cabinet departments, replace the current tax code with a flat tax, and fundamentally reform all major entitlement programs. (S.Amdt. 263 to S.Con.Res. 8)

• Voted YES on the Fiscal Cliff Tax Hike Bill that raised income taxes, death taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, and payroll taxes -- an increase of more than $600 billion. The deal also failed to cut spending. In fact, CBO estimated that it would cause spending to go up by more than $330 billion over the next decade. (H.R. 8)

• Voted YES on the Omnibus Spending Bill which was a 1,000-page, trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill that lumped 9 different appropriations bills in a single package. (H.R. 2055)

• Voted YES on raising the Debt Limit by $2.4 trillion and setup the Super Committee that was supposed to come up with budget cuts that never happened thus leading to the Sequester (S. 365)

• Voted YES on the Farm Bill that expanded Food Stamps (S 3240)
• Voted NO on banning earmarks (S.Amdt. 1472 to S.Amdt. 1470 to S. 2038)
• Voted YES on Cash for Clunkers (H.R. 3435)
• Voted NO on a Senate Rule that would have prohibited legislation that would raise gas prices
• Voted NO on defunding the “Bridge to Nowhere” (S.Amdt. 2165 to H.R. 3058)
• Voted YES on allowing Ryan-Murray to be brought to a vote which lead to passage (Vote 279 to H.J. Res 59)
  

3. Bailouts

• Voted YES on the bank bailouts (S. Amdt. 5685 to H.R. 1424)
• Voted NO on an amendment that would prohibit tax payer funded auto bailouts (S.Amdt. 965 to S.Con.Res. 13)
• Voted YES to bailout Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (H.R. 3221)

4. Immigration

• Voted YES for the Immigration/Amnesty bill of 2013 (S 744)

5. Guns

• Voted YES to proceed on 2013 gun control bill by bring Harry Reid’s bill to the floor (S 649)

6. Green Energy/Coal

• Voted NO on ending green energy subsidies (S Amdt 1589 on S1813)

• Voted NO on a resolution disapproving of Obama’s job killing Utility MACT regulations targeting the coal industry. (S.J. Res 37)

7. Miscellaneous

• Voted NO on term limits (S.Amdt. 1488 to S.Amdt. 1470 to S. 2038)
• Voted YES on compulsory unionism by voting to kill the National Right to Work Amendment (S.Amdt. 31 to S. 181)
• Voted NO to prohibit tax payer funded stem cell research (S. 5)

8. Nominations

• Voted to CONFIRM Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court
• Voted to CONFIRM Chuck Hagel to Secretary of Defense
• Voted to CONFIRM John Kerry as Secretary of State
• Voted FOR cloture on Tom Perez’s nomination to be Secretary of Labor. Perez is a left wing radical Obama appointee who fought against voter ID laws and worked for a pro-illegal alien group. Alexander did vote against confirmation, but his vote for cloture paved the way for Perez to be confirmed. This is a common tactic used by Alexander. He will vote for cloture (thus ending debate and bringing the nominee or legislation to the floor for a vote) then he’ll vote no. That way he can say he technically voted no, even though his previous vote allowed the bill to be voted on for passage. This is the same thing he did with the gun bill earlier in 2013. 

  9. Scorecards

• 68% lifetime with Club for Growth
  

• Freedomworks- 64% lifetime. 50% for 2013

• 2013- 41% with Heritage (Jim Cooper- Democrat Congressman from Nashville scored 47%)

          - Average is 67% for Senate Republicans

Yeah. If I were him, I'd be talking about fishing too.

(H/T Daniel Horowitz)

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