Senate Vote on Welfare Reform
H.R. 3734
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Welfare reform - With bipartisan support and the endorsement of President Clinton, the
House and Senate approved legislation that preyed on the limited rights of vulnerable
groups including children, immigrants, the poor and the elderly in the name of welfare
reform. The bill also eroded free speech for not-for-profit organizations, violated
the separation of church and state, and damaged privacy rights by establishing a de
facto national identification system. The legislation passed the House on a vote of
256 to 170; the Senate approved the measure with a vote of 74 to 25.
The ACLU Urged a Vote Against the Legislation
Sen John Kerry voted for this and so did LIEberman, Santorum & Ashcroft...
Senate Vote on Government Funding of Religious Institutions
S. 1956
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Government Funding of Religious Institutions - Included in the welfare overhaul was
a provision that could force state governments, under threat of lawsuits, to
contract with religious institutions, including houses of worship, to provide
taxpayer-funded social services, even if they are delivered in a proselytizing
environment. This, too, was a recurring theme in the 104th Congress where opponents
of religious liberty repeatedly sought to pass provisions to lower the wall of
separation between church and state. In the Senate, the provisions were
inserted into the welfare bill by a vote of 67 to 32. There was no separate vote
on the provisions in the House.
The ACLU Urged a Vote For the Separation of Church and State
Kerry voted against ACLU and so did LIEberman, Santorum & Ashcroft...
How the Senate voted on Internet Censorship
S.652
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Internet Censorship - As part of a major overhaul of the nation's telecommunications
industries, both the House and Senate approved major new censorship schemes for the
Internet. The Senate adopted its version, the so-called Communications Decency Act,
by a vote of 84 to 16. A similar censorship scheme was adopted in the House on a vote
of 256 to 149 as part of its version of telecommunications reform. The final bill
incorporated much of both provisions and passed overwhelmingly with only five
senators and 16 representatives registering opposition. Minutes after President
Clinton signed the legislation, the ACLU challenged its constitutionality in
Reno v. ACLU.
The ACLU Urged a Vote Against Censorship
Kerry voted for this Even LIEberman voting only 28% w/ ACLU voted against this...
Senate Vote on Campaign Finance Reform
S. 1219
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Campaign Finance Reform - In a sign of widespread disillusion with the political
process, both the House and Senate considered versions of campaign finance reform
that the ACLU believed to be unconstitutional infringements of free speech
provisions of the First Amendment. In the Senate, a motion to end a filibuster
against the bill failed by a vote of 54 to 36, six votes short of the 60 needed to
end debate. In the House, campaign finance was rejected by a vote of 259 to 162.
The ACLU Urged a Vote For the First Amendment
Kerry and LIEberman voted against the First amendment... Even Ashcroft and Santorum voted for the 1st...
Senate Vote on Medical Privacy
H.R 3103
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Medical privacy - Hidden within the massive health care reform bill approved by
Congress in the stampede for an August recess was a deceptively labeled provision
that further eroded the privacy rights of all Americans. The provision, known as
"administrative simplification," gives government and businesses access to
confidential medical information about individuals without their consent and
establishes a unique health identification number for every patient, health
provider, health plan and employer. The medical privacy provisions of the bill
never came up for a separate vote, but the Senate approved the health care
measure on a vote of 98 to 0. Earlier, the House had rejected by a vote of
198 to 226 an alternative version of the bill that would have deleted the
anti-privacy provisions.
The ACLU Urged a Vote For Medical Privacy
Kerry, LIEberman, Ashcroft, Santorum and many others voted against Medical Privacy...
Senate Vote on Immigration Legislation
H.R. 2202
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Immigration - Seeking to capitalize on a wave of anti-immigration initiatives,
both the House and Senate passed bills that represented the most draconian and
divisive immigration proposals in decades. Included were provisions that would
strip the courts of jurisdiction over illegal and abusive INS actions and erect
enormous and virtually insurmountable barriers for most people seeking political
asylum. The House even approved a bill that would have effectively denied public
education to American citizen children of undocumented immigrants. The Senate
voted 97 to 3 to accept one version of the legislation; the House approved a
harsher version by a vote of 333 to 87. The President signed the immigration
legislation in September.
The ACLU Urged a Vote Against the Legislation
Kerry, LIEberman, Ashcroft, Santorum and many others voted for this...
Senate Vote on National ID Cards
S. 1664
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National ID Card - One of the most pervasive themes of the 104th Congress has
been proposals to establish a national identification system as a means of tracking
undocumented workers, so-called deadbeat dads and to monitor health insurance
information. Various database schemes have been included in bills as diverse as
immigration, welfare reform and health insurance. Since these proposals have been
buried in much larger legislation, it was often difficult to determine the position
of members of Congress. In the House, however, an attempt to eliminate a national
ID system from the immigration bill failed by a vote of 159 to 260. A similar
attempt in the Senate failed by a vote of 46 to 54.
The ACLU Urged a Vote Against National ID Cards
Kerry voted FOR this... Even LIEberman, Ashcroft, Lott and Santorum were against this...
Senate Vote on Wiretapping
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Wiretapping - Although the interception of innocent conversations in federal law
enforcement wiretaps is already at record levels, Congress has been repeatedly asked
to give the FBI even greater authority to wiretap. Proposals have ranged from
providing $500 million to the nation's phone companies to finance a retrofit of their
systems to make it easier for the FBI to wiretap to permitting law enforcement
agencies to use more "roving" wiretaps (without specifying which phone is to be
tapped), and more "emergency" wiretaps (without obtaining a prior court order).
The ACLU Urged a Vote Against Wiretapping
Kerry voted FOR Wiretapping with LIEberman and his other buddy Santorum...
How the Senate Voted on Counter-Terrorism
S. 735
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Counter-terrorism - The bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building lifted from
obscurity a Clinton Administration proposal to increase the powers of law
enforcement in the name of fighting terrorism. The measure gave the government the
power to use secret evidence to deport immigrants it accuses of being "terrorists"
and to exclude aliens merely because they are members of a disfavored foreign group.
The bill won approval in the Senate by a vote of 91 to 8 and a vote of 293 to 133 in
the House.
The ACLU Urged a Vote Against the Legislation
Kerry voted FOR this with LIEberman, Ashcroft and Santorum...
Most of all Sen John Kerry voted for the INVASION of IRAQ... Kerry's voting record
on these issues is almost as bad as Santorum... Least Santorum voted against national ID cards w/ the likes of Lott and even Ashcroft...
Kerry PRO War/Anti Peace/Pro Censorship/Pro Corporation/Bought & Sold/Skull & Bones Bush Blood Brother...
http://archive.aclu.org/vote-guide/Kerry_J.html