Yesterday was an interesting day in the House. The Republicans called for hours of procedural votes, most of which were supported by Randy Kuhl. According to Congressional Quarterly, the reason for the delays was concern on the part of Republicans that Democrats would restrict amendments in the coming debate on the Budget.
Kuhl's support of these procedural votes is consistent with his general voting pattern, which mirrors that of most Republicans. When a major bill is up for consideration, the Republicans usually offer a few amendments and then move to send the bill back to committee. That last motion fails on a party-line vote, and then the bill passes, often with bi-partisan support. The vote for H R 1257 is a good example of this pattern.
My statistics show that Kuhl votes with the majority in about 60% of tight votes on important legislation. There's a hard core of 30-40 Republicans who oppose most important bills, but Kuhl is generally not among that group.
So far this session, Kuhl's voting record, like almost every other Republican, is that of a party loyalist on procedural votes. On other votes, he generally supports most legislation that doesn't hit a hot button like Iraq, stem cells, or the rights of corporations. He's a moderate-to-conservative Republican, pretty much as advertised.
Comments
The problem is that these procedural votes you complain about the Republicans doing were the same ones that the Democrats before this last election. It's one of the few tactics the minority has. I didn't complain when the Democrats use that tactic. Someone can oppose a bill getting on the floor, but once it get on the floor support it.
I tried to make this entry pretty neutral, because I agree that procedural delay is a common minority tactic that's been used by both parties when they're in the minority. It's also common for party members to vote solidly with their party on procedural votes. Since this was the first procedural delay in the 110th congress that I know about, it seemed like a pretty good time to discuss procedural votes in general.