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Beto O. Rourke's brave run to the US Senate in Texas last month prompted influential voices within the Democratic Party's formation to introduce the outgoing Texas MP as a presidential candidate of 2020 who , as the party's flag bearer, would offer a vision
However, a new analysis of the congressional votes of the non-profit television organization Capital & Main shows that even though O & # 39; Rourke represented the One of the most democratic congressional districts in the United States, he has frequently voted against the majority of Democrats in the House to support Republican bills and Trump administration priorities.
Capital & Main reviewed the 167 votes cast by O'Rourke in the House against the majority of his party during his six-year term in Congress. Many of these votes were not progressive opponents alongside other left-wing legislators, but votes to help enact Republican-sponsored legislation.
O 'Rourke voted for GOP bills that, according to his Democratic Party colleagues, would strengthen the Republicans' anti-tax ideology, shatter the Affordable Care Act , ACA), would weaken the Wall Street regulations, would strengthen immigration policy.
Consumer advocacy organizations, environmental, public health and civil rights organizations have made legislation supported by Mr. O. Rourke to assist large banks, undermining the fight against climate change and supporting Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. Under the previous government, Barack Obama's White House had issued statements criticizing two GOP bills backed by the 46-year-old Democratic legislator.
Mr. O. Rourke's votes in favor of Republican legislation – which sometimes put him at odds with a majority of Texas Democratic Legislators in Congress – point to his membership in the NDP Coalition, the faction of House Democrats aligned with corporate interests.
O & # 39; Rourke did not answer Capital & Main's questions regarding his votes.
O 'Rourke was one of many young Democrat candidates who led unexpected campaigns in traditionally Republican states in the mid-term elections of 2018. His speeches, his fundraising at the grassroots and his rejection of the CAP companies' money helped his campaign to retain activists who hoped that the election would result in a majority in the Democratic Senate.
In recent weeks, the possibility of a presidential candidacy for O. Rourke has been encouraged by former Obama collaborators and fundraisers, as well as by Third Way – a think tank funded by the financial industry that had previously made the headlines ridiculing the Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. He was also congratulated by Neera Tanden, former assistant of Hillary Clinton, of the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank whose leaders recently criticized Republican legislation on taxation and immigration for which O'Rourke voted. Much of the party's elite support for a candidacy O 'Rourke did not mention his political record nor his agenda.
In the last two years, O. Rourke was one-fifth of the votes cast by members voting against his president. the positions of his own party. FiveThirtyEight calculated that during the same period, O'Rourke voted for the Trump Trustee position about 30% of the time. The website said it was above what analysts predict from a legislator representing a district as democratic as O'Rourke. In comparison, the parliamentary district of O. Rourke votes more democratically than most districts in Massachusetts, according to Cook's political report.
Each vote considered below was one in which O & # Rourke separated from the majority of lawmakers in his own party.
Consumer Protection
Since its inception in 2010, the Office of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) has been assaulted by incessant attacks by Republicans, who sought to help the financial sector limit its authority. . They sometimes found an ally to O 'Rourke.
Texas Democrat helped the government challenge the agency's newsletter, which affirmed its "power to sue auto lenders whose policies harm consumers through unlawful discrimination." 19659003] In 2015, Republicans introduced a bill to repeal this directive. Civil rights groups such as the NAACP opposed the GOP measure and Democrats in the House said it aimed to end "recent moves to eliminate discriminatory practices among car lenders" . The Obama White House said that she strongly opposed the Republican bill.
Nevertheless, O & # 39; Rourke officially co-sponsored the bill and voted on it. Echoing the GOP's line of attack against the CFPB, the Democrat blamed the agency for a "lack of transparency" which he said had created "uncertainty, criticism of the CFPB's findings and more expensive loans. for borrowers ". While O & # 39; Rourke subsequently voted against the use of the Congressional Review Act to remove the CFPB bylaw, the original bill for which he had voted paved the way for the Trump's repeal of the government.
Also in 2015, O 'Rourke voted for a Republican bill that, according to Democrats, would weaken loan disclosure protections for residential mortgage borrowers. The Obama administration agreed, issuing a veto threat stating that the GOP bill was aimed at "unnecessarily delaying the implementation of important consumer protections designed to eradicate opaque loan practices that contribute to the loans. subprime mortgages, harming homeowners by removing the private right of action in case of breach and undermining the financial stability of the nation. "
The bill was passed with the support of O & M Rourke, who said, "I think it's a short-term practical compromise that will bring long-term benefits to US consumers." He argued that the GOP legislation would allow regulators to "continue to work with banks to make sure they are ready to fully comply with the law" and "to ensure that" consumers applying for a mortgage loan receive all the information they need. "
Fossil Fuels and Energy
During his race in the Senate, O 'Rourke was commended for his speech on the threat of climate change. In Congress, he questioned the safety of natural gas fracking and obtained high ratings from the League of Electors for Conservation.
O & # 39; Rourke also voted with Republicans to boost the fossil fuel sector, whose carbon emissions are at the root of the climate crisis.
For example, O 'Rourke is one of the few Democrats in the House to have voted in favor of Republican bills aimed at lifting the 40-year-old ban on oil exports. years.
Debate on the lifting of the ban, the report of the Committee of Democrats asserted that "the extreme approach adopted by this bill not only repeals the current restrictions on the export of crude, but also guarantees that no restrictions on exports – for whatever reason – can be implemented or applied in the future ". The Democratic report added that "the bill could have far-reaching consequences for consumers, the environment and climate change".
O & # 39; Rourke voted twice in favor of lifting the ban.
Meanwhile, O & # rourke helped Republicans to vote. Democratic legislation to prevent drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and it supports a separate GOP bill to speed up natural gas exports
Republicans said the measure was aimed at " to provide reliable electrical service and reduce the risk of fire and fire hazards due to improper vegetation management "in areas where power lines cross federal lands. Echoing the accusations made by the Democrats in the committee's report, Arizona Democratic representative Raúl Grijalva said during the debate: "The bill exempts companies that light fires or cause other damage. . This is absurd and poses an incredible burden and risk on US taxpayers. "
O'Rourke was one of 69 Democrats who supported the bill, which was passed.
Immigration and Criminal Justice
Representing the Border City of El Paso , O 'Rourke has been a strong advocate for immigration reform.His website on the campaign in the Senate says that he wants to' pass the law on dreams and ensure that immigrants undocumented who were brought here in their childhood, called Dreamers, find a permanent home and a citizenship in the United States. "militarization of our immigration control system." O Rourke made the one of the newspapers this month criticizing the administration's immigration policy Trump.
However, he was part of a group of Democrats who broke the ranks of the parties to support the Republican legislation to remove the requirements applicable to agents and applicants 9, use of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). take polygraph tests – a proposal that was part of the Trump administration's plan to constitute a force of expulsion.
A 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office indicated that CBP used polygraph tests as part of the background check "in order to reduce the risk of employee corruption and misconduct" and recommended that it be used in the past. agency to consider extending the tests.
In April 2017, the Trump administration issued a memo requesting permission to suspend polygraph tests to speed up the recruitment of thousands of new CBP officers. Critics immediately brandished red flags. The American Immigration Lawyers Association said it was a plan to "soften the hiring standards." Tom Jawetz vice-president of the Center for American Progress in charge of immigration, told Univision that "many previously hired agents who had not gone through the polygraph were cooperating with cartels and were subject to to corruption ". James Tomsheck, the former CBP internal affairs officer, called the idea of "absurd" derogations in light of the results of the polygraph tests.
Two days after Trump's administration memo, Republicans led by immigration representative, Martha McSally, of the Arizona Immigration Representative introduced a bill authorizing the abandonment of polygraph tests.
New Mexico Democratic Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said, "The elimination of the essential polygraph requirements for some CBP candidates is only detrimental to the ability of the US Congress. to the security of our country, given the agency's historical connection with organized crime, cartels and corruption. She said that "no other federal law enforcement agency in the country – neither the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, nor the secret services – is an exception to their polygraph test".
Democrat MP Luis Gutierrez said: "All those who vote for this bill vote in favor of adopting and implementing Donald Trump's point of view on immigration, his desire to militarize our southern border and its fantasy of massive deportation force. "
O. Rourke chose to vote with the Republicans for the bill, which passed. He added that this measure was necessary to "help speed up the recruitment process and give the CBP Commissioner additional powers to recruit and hire CBP quality officers and border patrol officers."
During the same two-month period, O & Rourke also broke up The ranks of his party support GOP legislation which, according to GovTrack, would add "murder or attempted murder" [of] to a law enforcement officer on the list of aggravating factors in the US. Federal death penalty cases ".
The bill was "an unnecessary and misguided attempt to politicize unfortunate deaths of law enforcement officers and could ultimately exacerbate the existing tension between law enforcement and the communities that exist. They serve, especially African Americans ".
Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler of New York argued that this would alter the fundamental threshold of the death penalty by imposing "[ing] a death sentence for attempted urder".
O 'Rourke was one of 48 Democrats to associate with Republicans to support the law, which was passed.
Wall Street Regulation
O & # 39; Rourke has a rather mixed track record in financial matters, according to the US Group Watchdog for Financial Reform (AFR). He has sometimes voted with Democrats to protect existing regulations. Nevertheless, he has also frequently helped the GOP in some of its efforts to deregulate Wall Street.
For example, in 2014 and 2018, O 'Rourke voted for bills containing provisions weakening the so-called "Volcker Rule", which aims to prevent financial companies from using depositors' savings for their own speculative transactions
In 2017 and 2018, O & # 39; Rourke also voted for:
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GOP legislation that, according to Democrats, would allow financial institutions to protect themselves from bank controllers. 19659049] A set of Republican bills that, according to Democrats, would reduce the number of independent audits of corporations, the deregulation of stock exchanges and high frequency trading.
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A Republican bill allowing more bank holding companies to incur more debt.
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And a Republican bill that, according to Democrats, "would eliminate any meaningful and clear disclosure to consumers of their privacy rights, including their ability not to have their information sold to third parties" third-party companies "
Health Care
O'Rourke is in favor of improving Obamacare, expanding Medicaid and adding a public option to compete with private insurance, but sometimes he broke up with the majority of Democrats in the House to help Republicans try to undermine the health care law.In one case, he backed a GOP bill that Democrats said were intended to support the Trump Government Attempts to Replace Obamacare
ACA has established an Independent Payments Advisory Committee to recommend ways to reduce Medicare spending. According to the Non-Priority Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the wording creating the Board of Directors precluded it from proposing rationing, reduced benefits, increased premiums, or restricted eligibility.
Despite these guarantees, Republicans led by former Vice President Sarah Palin soon told the council that the Democrats wanted to create "death panels". While this mythology was spreading in the conservative media, the Republicans of 2015 and 2017 introduced a bill aimed at stirring up these fears and eliminating the board of directors. O'Rourke challenged his party and voted twice with the Republicans to kill the council. He also officially co-sponsored both measures.
Also, when Republicans were trying to replace the ACA by Trump's US health care law, O 'Rourke voted in favor of a Republican legislation providing for credits of $ 50,000. Special tax for Cobra benefits – an initiative that Massachusetts Democratic representative, Richard Neal, said that it was "simply a hijacked way for states to discriminate against existing conditions" .
Taxes
In 2017, O 'Rourke joined his party to vote against Trump's tax cuts. His website on the Senate campaign mentioned deficit issues related to the cost of these tax cuts.
But that's not the end of the story. In just a few months, Republicans have begun to demand a new train of tax cuts that democratic groups such as the Center for American Progress have described as "tax swindle 2". One of the elements of this offer was a proposal that a Los Angeles Times editorial critic would have said "would create a new tax shelter for start-ups". The Center for American Progress has described these provisions as one of the reprehensible aspects of the tax package.
As Democrats sought to present a united front against the GOP's new tax cuts, O 'Rourke broke the ranks of House Democrats – and most of the Texas Democrat delegation – to vote for GOP legislation. He supported the initiative, even though the Congressional Budget Office had warned that the bill would increase the deficit.
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