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| AGW Welcome | The Witness Magazine |
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APPENDIX:
Not all of the recorded votes of these two officials are listed here, but enough of them are provided to make the point that they were not inspired by Jesus’ directives before casting their votes. Although these are a fraction of the votes, they are a clear indication of the spirit in which these men love their neighbors. I was hungry and you fed me. Welfare reform results were measured three years after the bill was enacted and the findings are:
A New York Times article in December of 2000 reported that hundreds of thousands of children lost Medicaid when their families lost welfare benefits. [10] Beginning with the passage of the Welfare Reform Bill, some believe that several moral crimes have been committed against the poor. As a member of the House at the time, Brownback voted for the bill. In precursory action to the Welfare Reform Bill, he voted "Yes" on HR-3734, which required welfare recipients to work; limited lifetime welfare benefits; and banned future legal immigrants from receiving most welfare benefits during their first five years in this country. [11] Senate bill S-1882 (Welfare Education) would have allowed states to give welfare recipients the option of meeting work requirements through enrollment in vocational or post-secondary education. Brownback voted "No". [11] The Child Care Funding bill would have allowed creation of a reserve fund to improve the affordability, availability and quality of child care. Brownback voted "No". [11] A vote was taken to allow states to use block grant funds to provide non-cash vouchers to children whose parents have used up their welfare benefit eligibility. Brownback voted "No." [11] However, he voted "Yes" on an amendment to limit the lifetime eligibility of able-bodied people between 18 and 50 to an almost meaningless 3 months, unless they work at least 20 hours a week. This does not allow for circumstances that may prevent working other than "able-bodied", such as caring for children or ill family members. The limit of 3 months for an entire lifetime may be impossible for most people. [11] This is Jim Ryun’s record. An amendment to add $38 million to The Supplemental Food Funding Program for Women, Infants and Children passed the House by an unusually wide margin of 338-89, but Ryun was among the 89 "No" votes. [28] On another amendment to increase from $42 million to $150 million funding for a program designed to transport welfare recipients to and from jobs and activities related to their employment — he also voted "No". [11] On an amendment that would increase the income level at which 85 percent of Social Security benefits are taxable from $34,000 to $80,000 for single taxpayers and from $44,000 to $100,000 for married couples — Ryun voted "No." [11] (For I was hungry and you never gave me food.) I was a stranger and you welcomed me. This nation is a "nation of immigrants." Unless a citizen is a Native American, one has immigrant history in their background. 55 million immigrants have arrived in the United States since its founding. [12] It is largely these immigrants who have made up the labor force that elevated the United States to the status of the wealthiest nation in the world. However, a portion of the controversial Welfare Reform Bill prohibited legal immigrants from receiving social security benefits to which they may have contributed for decades, along with denying food stamps and Medicare payments. When he was a member of the House, Brownback voted for the bill. [13] In addition, he voted in favor of a bill that would deny public schooling to illegal immigrants. [11] Further, an amendment to HR-2202 would delete provisions that prevent U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, or children of legal residents of less than 7 years from getting benefits such as food stamps or Medicaid. Brownback voted "No" — an action that would continue to prohibit the benefits. [11] In the 105th Congress, a motion to prevent immigrants from remaining in the United States while seeking legal status was introduced. Although the motion was rejected, Ryun voted for it. [14] The Senate bill S-947 (Balanced Budget Act) would allow consideration of an amendment to reinstate food stamps for children of legal immigrants. Brownback voted "No". [11](...I was a stranger and you never made me welcome...) I was sick and you visited me... Perhaps more than anything else in his ministry, Jesus healed. There are 93 mentions of the word or derivations of "heal" in the New Testament. Following are voting records of the two elected officials who have fashioned an image of themselves as Christian prototypes. A motion was introduced to block legislation which would have provided additional Social Security benefits to children with special needs, including speech and language therapy and mental health services. Brownback voted "Yes" to block the legislation. [14] Senate bill S-947 would allow restoration of Medicaid coverage to severely disabled children who lost Medicaid eligibility under 1996's welfare law. Brownback voted "No." [11] Part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 would have provided $1.5 billion for low-income Medicare recipient premium assistance through the Medicaid program, and not the bill’s state block grant program. Brownback voted "No." [11] Even though 74 of his colleagues voted otherwise, Brownback joined with a Senate minority and voted against the adoption of a resolution ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons. [14] An amendment was introduced to establish a prescription drug benefit program through the Medicare health insurance program. Brownback voted "No." [11] A vote was taken on a resolution to give no enforcement authority or power to ergonomics rules which would force businesses to take steps to prevent work-related repetitive stress disorders, in other words, to neutralize ergonomics protection for workers. Brownback voted "Yes". [11] And, what of Brownback’s votes on military spending — when as a House member he voted against cutting military spending by 3 per cent [26] and in the Senate voted to increase the military budget by adding $3.8 billion to the $247.7 billion the Administration requested. [28] Why is military spending more affordable than public health care? What is national defense if it isn’t a healthy public, let alone the directive of Jesus to "visit" — i.e., heal — the sick? As to Ryun’s observance of Jesus’ directive to heal, his record is just as revealing. House bill HR-4250, the Patient Protection Act of 1998, would include language that would cover clinical trials for people with serious or life-threatening illnesses, give doctors final determination as to whether a certain treatment is essential, and guarantee continuity of care when employers or doctors leave a particular health plan. Ryun voted "No". [11] On the Managed Care Patient Protection bill, allowing a number of benefits for the sick, Ryun voted "No". [11] As with Brownback, Ryun voted for a measure that would neutralize the Clinton Administration ergonomics rules for those suffering from work-related stress disorders. [11] The latest major health-related legislation considered in 2001, the Patient’s Bill of Rights, also known as Managed Care legislation, passed the Senate but with no help from Brownback. [33] This time, Ryun voted for the bill, but it was a significantly watered down version from the previous attempt between the time the Senate voted on it and the time it arrived at the House. [22] Now the bill must be worked out in conference. Public health is inexorably tied to environmental health — not to mention the very radical notion that for the religious, the earth is God’s creation, and we are stewards. We have been given dominion, not domination. Unfortunately, we have perverted "dominion" and have seriously diminished all facets of the environmental fabric such that now we are experiencing the beginning of global climate change manifested in periodic and so far, localized weather-related disasters. The current Administration has refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty, to the consternation of our friends around the world, even though the United States is the single greatest contributor to global warming. Our government, in deference to corporate profits, has failed to maintain the integrity of ecosystems which we rely upon for the maintenance of our own health. [34] If our air is clean and our water is pure, it naturally follows that the population will be healthier than if our air is laced with toxins (as it now is, particularly in major cities), and our water is infused with herbicides, pesticides and feed lot runoff (as it is in most of America’s rivers). Our air is cleaner if we have an abundance of forests that serve as purifiers. Our water is safer to drink if we keep agricultural runoff and livestock runoff and sewage from broken water treatment systems out of it. Such is not the case. For the 106th Congress, the League of Conservation Voters gave Brownback a score of 7 out of 100 and Ryun a score of 10 out of 100. [29] (…sick and and you never visited me…) I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the last of these, you neglected to do it to me. Justice for all people. Translated, it comes out, "love your neighbor as yourself." This is one of Jesus’ major injunctions. The Senate voted to prohibit tape recording phone conversations without the consent of all people involved, unless the conversation is being recorded as part of a criminal investigation. Brownback voted "No." [11] In a vote taken on an amendment that would expand the definition of hate crimes to include gender, sexual orientation and disability, Brownback voted "No".[11] In the House, a vote was taken to reaffirm recognition of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan, which would extend eligibility to apply for all benefits and services provided by the federal government to Indians. Ryun voted "No". [11] The NAACP’s Legislative Report Card for the 106th Congress gave Ryun a score of 9 out of 100 and Brownback a score of 20 out of 100. [27] Thou shalt not kill... …is one of His commandments. On the other hand, the National Rifle Association commandment is: "Guns don’t kill, people do." Would as many people kill if they had a cooling-off period in the midst of their fit of pique due to the inability to find a gun? Not likely — the numbers of gun deaths just might be remarkably reduced if the weapons weren’t so very handy. And guns do kill. They’re used to kill in war, to kill on the streets, to kill in public buildings, to kill in churches, to kill in the home, and to kill in schools. They are too handy, too easy to get, and too easy to use. We know the statistics, we hear the stories of innocent victims being gunned down because they were in the way of someone who lost control of themselves. The stories are replete. And yet — Brownback voted "Yes" on a bill to repeal the ban on semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feed devices. [11] He voted "No" on a bill to require all firearms sales at gun shows to have background checks performed and to allow the Attorney General to maintain records of gun sales for up to 90 days. Legislation was introduced to bar gun manufacturers from being released from their debts brought about by lawsuits charging fraud, negligence, recklessness or product liability; Brownback voted "No". [11] On House legislation requiring background checks on people who purchase guns, Ryun, like Brownback, voted "No". He voted "No" again on a bill that would have included a 72-hour time period on background checks, but voted "Yes" on a bill allowing for 24-hour background checks. [11]
During his 1996 campaign against Democrat Jill Docking, Brownback’s sources of finances were called into question. Some of his funding was associated with the Triad group connected to a PAC known as Faith, Family & Freedom. [20] It was suggested at the time that much of that funding came from the Koch family of Wichita, KS. [31] On August 15th, 2001, CBS 60 Minutes II produced a segment called "Blood and Oil" about the Koch brothers’ legal battles among themselves. Bill Koch revealed, and his statements were confirmed by several former Koch employees, that "the brother who controls the company grew rich through fraud and theft, stealing from the taxpayers of the United States." [21] He stated that Koch Industries made a fortune stealing oil, much of it from beneath Indian reservations and national forests — the latter belongs to the public. In 1999, a jury "found that Koch did steal oil from the public and lied about its purchases — 24,000 times." In addition, in 2000, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Carol Browner announced "that she was hitting Koch Industries with the largest civil penalty in the history of the federal Clean Water act: a $30 million fine." In April 2001, "Koch’s Petroleum Group was fined 20 million dollars after it released huge amounts of cancer-causing benzene from Texas refinery and then tried to cover it up." [21] All this is to say that Sam Brownback’s largest "official" contributor is none other than Koch Industries, from 1995 to 2000 to the tune of $78,150. [22] Jim Ryun’s official (Federal Election Commission) report shows a $17,350 contribution — his largest single — from Koch in the 1997-98 election cycle. In the number two spot on his list of contributors is the National Rifle Association at $10,961, followed by the American Medical Association at $10,000. [22] Payment from these sources were less for his 2000 campaign, but they were still there and high on the list. And now the light begins to dawn as to why they voted as they did. Both Brownback and Ryun were recipients of contributions from Enron [22] whose damages to employees and shareholders have yet to be calculated. Brownback also accepted payment from the National Rifle Association and the Safari Club International for his support of the gun industry. Other monies for both officials came in healthy amounts from conservative Republican PACs. [22] The list of contributions for all years they ran for public office can be found on the Center for Responsive Politics website. 1. The Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition. Doubleday and Company, New York, 1968. 2. Myers, Roger. "Flat income tax doable, Brownback says", Topeka Capital-Journal, April 18, 1995 3. Pritchard, Justin. "PAC Helps Conservative Donors Spread Campaign Cash", The Washington Post, July 3, 1997 4. McLean, Jim. "Brownback among group honoring Pope", Topeka Capital-Journal. January 6, 2001, Jim McLean 5. Brownback, Sam. The New York Times, August 9, 2000, Op Ed, p. A-21 6. Myers, Roger. "Ryun to be sworn in Friday at Statehouse", Topeka Capital-Journal. December 12, 1996 7. Associated Press. "Ryun becomes 2nd District Congressman", The Wichita Eagle. December 14, 1996 9. Bergstrom, Madeline S. "Welfare Reform: Triumph or Tragedy?" - http://horizonmag.com/poverty/welfare-reform 10. The New York Times. "Losing Welfare, Losing Medicaid", December 26, 2000 11. Project Vote Smart. www.vote-smart.org 12. Bergstrom, Madeline S. "Immigrant Nation" — www.horizonmag.com/poverty 13. Friends Committee on National Legislation. "The 104th Congress, 2nd Session: Missed Opportunities and Misplaced Priorities", Washington Newsletter No. 603. Washington DC, August/September 1996 14. Friends Committee on National Legislation. "The 105th Congress: Unfinished Business" Washington Newsletter No. 615, Washington, DC, December 1997 15. Ranney, Dave. "Brownback Criticized on Health Care", Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence, Kansas, October 5, 1999 16. Wallace, Nora K. Santa Barbara News-Press, May 29, 2001 17. School of the Americas Watch, www.soaw.org 18. Babington, Charles. "Clinton’s Support for Guatemala Was Wrong", The Washington Post, March 11, 1999, p. A-1 19. Friends Committee on National Legislation. "The 106th Congress, Putting off Until Tomorrow...", The Washington Newsletter No. 646, Special Supplement, Fall 2000 20. Marcue, Ruth. "Funds Consultant Helped Senator Behind Scenes", The Washington Post, Campaign Finance Report Special, December 12, 1997, p. A-01 21. CBS 60 Minutes II, www.cbsnews.com — "Blood and Oil", August 15, 2001 22. The Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org 23. Callahan, Allen. "If Jesus Were Invited to a Lunch with Bush", The Boston Globe, August 15, 2001, obtained from www.commondreams.org 24. Bawer, Bruce. Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity, Three Rivers Press, New York, 1997, p.37 25. Gleason, Edward S., Ed.-Dir. Forward Day by Day, Forward Movement Publications, an agency of the Episcopal Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, August-September 2001, p.17 26. Mennonite Central Committee. "1995 Congressional Voting Record", The Washington Office, Washington, DC 27. NAACP. "Take a look at the NAACP’s legislative report card!" Crisis, Atlanta, Georgia, September-October 2000 28. Mennonite Central Committee. "Congressional Voting Record - 105th Congress", The Washington Office, Washington, DC, 1997 29. League of Conservation Voters. "Congress Watch", www.lcv.org/actioncenter, June 25, 2001 30. The Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals. "The Humane Scorecard: The106th Congress in Review", The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, DC, 2001 31. Moyers, Bill. PBS "Frontline: Washington’s Other Scandal" — Interview with Elizabeth Stein, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/scandal, aired 1998, copyright PBS Online, 1998 32. Smith, The Reverend J. Wesley, Rector. St.David’s Episcopal Church, Topeka, Kansas, sermon, September 9, 2001
33. Friends Committee on National Legislation, S-1052 as Amended, 06/29/2001, Senate Roll Call No. 220, 107th Congress, 1st Session, http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/votes
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