One hundred forty eight Republicans voted against the bill funding Homeland Security operations. Speaker Pelosi explained:
The bill funds the hiring of 3,000 new border patrol agents, rejects the cuts President Bush sought in the training and equipping of first responders, and improves aviation and port security. It also includes strong accountability measures to make certain that taxpayer dollars are being well-spent, including requiring that contracts be competitively bid.
The President plans to veto the bill, which also requires DHS and its contractors to pay the locally prevailing wages. Apparently paying the people who keep us safe is not a priority.
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There were lots of reasons why I wanted to see Affordable Care (née healthcare reform) pass. Ending the tyranny of "pre-existing conditions," of cruel recissions, and insuring more than 30 million uninsured Americans were big reasons.
It turns out that Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia also had a secret hold on the bill, not just Ted Stevens. That is no surprise to anyone who knows Washington. Byrd is the Democratic doppelganger to the Republican Stevens.
Follow up reposted from ScienceDebate:
By a vote of 94-3, Louisiana's House of Representatives today passed an academic freedom bill that would protect teachers and school districts who wish to promote critical thinking and objective discussion about evolution and other scientific topics.
Homeland security has never been anything other than a pretense for stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.