Sanders notches three legislative wins
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By Christopher Graff Associated Press - Published: July 6, 2005
MONTPELIER The month since the Republican Party labeled U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders ineffective has seen the independent enjoy three substantial legislative victories.
The wins came when the House adopted three amendments to three different bills on three very different subjects:
On June 15 the House voted 238-187 to restrict investigators from using the USA Patriot Act to look at library records and bookstore sales slips.
On June 29 the House voted 313-114 to prevent the Export-Import Bank from approving federal loan applications for corporations that want to construct nuclear power plants in China.
And on June 30 the House voted 238-177 to prohibit the Bush administration from privatizing 2,500 air traffic control specialists and closing 38 flight service centers in 32 states.
All three amendments were sponsored by Sanders and were opposed by the Bush administration and the House leaders.
"The proof is clearly in the pudding," said Sanders, who is running for the U.S. Senate. "I would argue that all three of these issues are big."
A month ago the National Republican Senatorial Committee sought to brand Sanders as "an ineffective extremist," noting that only one bill sponsored by Sanders has ever become law. Sanders countered that legislative successes come in all forms, especially by winning approval of amendments to bills.
He said Tuesday his three successes in the past month speak volumes about his ability to forge coalitions of representatives with widely different philosophies.
"The trick of this whole thing is to reach out to people who have interests on particular issues and, let me tell you, they are not the same people in every case," he said. "On the USA Patriot Act we ended up working with some of the most conservative members of the House. On the flight service centers, that one was reaching out to Republicans who had flight service stations in their districts. We worked the phones big time and made the case to them.
"In terms of stopping nuclear plants in China, that was folks we worked with on the trade issue and people who had legitimate security questions about the deal," he said.
"What you end up doing is working with different people on different issues," Sanders said.
On the amendment to the USA Patriot Act, Sanders won the support of 38 Republicans; 48 Republicans backed his amendment on the flight service center; 139 Republicans voted for Sanders' amendment on prohibiting the loans for nuclear power plants in China.
Brian Nick of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said none of Sanders' successes in the past month has dissuaded him that Sanders is ineffective.
"The fact remains he has passed one bill in the last 14 years," he said. "That shows the kinds of things he is introducing don't have any support and never see the light of day. Even the amendments he is referring to will never become law.
"He is part of the minority of a minority," Nick said, adding that electing a Republican senator from Vermont would give the state a seat in the majority of the Senate, a voice with the administration and good committee assignments.
Sanders said that he believes his three wins demonstrate his effectiveness in building coalitions in the House.
"The Republicans are going to attack us every day for every reason but they are barking up the wrong tree in terms of attacking my legislative record, which under any objective standard is a very strong one," he said.
On the Net:
U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders: www.bernie.house.gov
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