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October 14, 2004

Despinning The "56 bills and resolutions" Kerry line

Kerry’s blog claims:

Once again, the president is misleading America. I have passed 56 individual bills that I have personally written.” – John Kerry

It then goes on to list 56 “bills and resolutions” Kerry got passed. Except reading this list, it turns out that Bush is right. Kerry’s record is completely underwhelming.

First off, a resolution is not a bill, its not a law, its just a non-binding statement.

Here’s a resolution Kerry passed as an example:

S.CON.RES.62: A concurrent resolution expressing solidarity with the Sakharov family in their efforts to exercise their rights of freedom of expression, of travel, and of communication, as guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

So Kerry’s statement above is not true, he hasn’t passed 56 individual bills. Also, Senator Kerry needs to read his constitution again, as not all of the 56 “bills and resolutions” Kerry is listing passed both houses of Congress. So filtering Kerry’s list for bills that actually passed to become law, we get:

100th Congress:

S.2365: A bill authorizing the release of 86 USIA films with respect to the Marshall Plan.

101st Congress:

Nothing

102nd Congress:

S.1563 : A bill to authorize appropriations to carry out the National Sea Grant College Program Act, and for other purposes.

103rd Congress:

S.1206 : A bill to redesignate the Federal building located at 380 Trapelo Road in Waltham, Massachusetts, as the “Frederick C. Murphy Federal Center”.

S.1636 : A bill to authorize appropriations for the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and to improve the program to reduce the incidental taking of marine mammals during the course of commercial fishing operations, and for other purposes.

104th Congress:

Nothing

105th Congress:

S.469 Title: A bill to designate a portion of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

106th Congress:

S.791 : A bill to amend the Small Business Act with respect to the women’s business center program.

That’s 6 bills passed. But all of these are pretty underwhelming legislation. Releasing some films? Renaming a building? This, from Kerry’s own website, is his legislative legacy? Give me a break! In 20 years, he managed to rename a building. Jeesh, I bet that was really controversial and he really had to fight hard to get that through both houses…

Update: I said it first! Nyaah to the Official Bush Blog

Posted by the at October 14, 2004 9:58 AM

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