Progressive Action Score: 73A score of 73 means that Sen. Clinton has acted to support 73% of a slate of progressive policies in the 109th Congress.
Progressive, forward-looking actions Senator Clinton has taken to merit a PAS of 73:On June 7, 2006, Senator Hillary Clinton helped to vote down a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have specifically made marriages between same-sex partners unconstitutional. Senator Clinton showed the necessary resolve, understanding of liberty, moral compass, and general good sense to vote this amendment down, engaging in the sort of leadership that we can admire, at least in this instance. You\'ll be pilloried by the ranks of haters, Senator Clinton, but you've earned some admiration for your action here in other quarters. Thank you for affirming the civil rights of all Americans, even the unpopular ones.On May 26, 2006, Senator Clinton voted against the confirmation of General Michael Hayden to his new post as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although General Hayden proceeded to take the top job at this civilian intelligence agency, handing it over to control by military personnel, such a decision occurred over the strenous objection of Sen. Clinton. Senator Clinton rightly stood against the decision to put a military officer in charge of a civilian spying organization, and rightly stood against the implicit endorsement of Gen. Hayden\'s anti-American surveillance programs. Hayden was in charge of the Bush administration operation of spying for the government into the personal lives of tens of millions of Americans who are innocent of any crime. Even though Senator Clinton\'s stand was ultimately unsuccessful, we saw a great example of political backbone that day. Thank you, Senator Clinton, for fulfilling the oath every member of the Senate takes to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.The Patriot Act is a betrayal of the great American tradition of liberty because it encourages the government to spy on the legal, personal activities of Americans who have not broken the law. The Bush Administration is using that power to grab information out of commercial and public databases and assemble them into a single giant computer database through which the private affairs of every American citizen can be tracked by government officials. Senator Clinton took a brave stand by fillibustering an the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and stopping the reauthorization of the act in its tracks. We need more Americans in government like Senator Clinton, a true patriot willing to take a stand in defense of liberty.
On May 18, 2006, Senator Clinton cast an important vote against Senate Amendment 4064 to S. 2611. Amendment 4064. Unfortunately, despite the NO vote of Sen. Clinton, the amendment passed. As a consequence, the Senate declared English to be the National Language of the United States of America, and that "no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the Government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English."
This amendment did not pass because people who already speak English could not access government services. This amendment passed as a way of assigning people value according to the language they speak. This amendment passed as a way of exalting and preserving the status of English speakers. This amendment passed as a way of degrading and keeping down the status of non-English speakers. The effect of this amendment will be to deny government service to Americans whose sole sin is that they speak the wrong language. This amendment is about disdain for difference, something that most of us outgrew by the end of middle school.
It is unfortunate that the English National Language Amendment passed. But by voting against this amendment, Senator Clinton showed a tenacious commitment to tolerance, inclusion and diversity in governance and citizenship. It is a shame that more Senators did not act as Senator Clinton did. The Patriot Act was created in a time of irrational fear, when an emotionally overwrought senator might be excused for approving a measure that enables the government to access the lives of everyday innocent citizens. But four and a half years later, there is no excuse. Unfortunately, 89 out of our 100 United States senators voted to renew the Patriot Act, sacrificing liberty on the altar of political expediency. Senator Clinton was one of just ten senators to vote against the renewal of the Patriot Act. Thank you, Senator Clinton. You have shown your mettle as a true defender of freedom, acting in defense of liberty even when it is difficult to do so.
Sen. Clinton has formally supported S. 14, which would raise the minimum wage from its current 55-year inflation-adjusted low. Than you, Senator Clinton, for acting to remedy this shameful situation.Sen. Clinton did the right thing by voting against the Graham Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's Amendment inserted the following text into the U.S. Code: | (1) IN GENERAL - Section 2241 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
"..(e) No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to consider -
..(1) an application for a writ of habeas corpus based on policies established by the Secretary of Defense under section 1071(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 filed on behalf of an alien who is detained by the Secretary of Defense as an enemy combatant, or
..(2) any other action, challenging any aspect of the detention of an alien who is detained by the Secretary of Defense as an enemy combatant".
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE - The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply to any application or other action pending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. |
The Graham Amendment has three effects:
1. It removes the power of the courts to hear a writ of habeas corpus from any non-citizen who is held prisoner by the Secretary of Defense. That means that no court will have the power to determine the identities of people being held prisoner by the Secretary of Defense, where they are being held prisoner, and why they are being held prisoner.
2. It removes the power of the courts to make any ruling on any aspect of any prisoner’s detention. This includes torture.
3. It makes the changes retroactive. That means that even if torture was done two years ago, the amendment takes away the power of the courts to do anything about it.
There is no excuse for this removal of liberty from the American nation.
Thank you, Senator Clinton, for doing what you could to oppose this downright unAmerican amendment.Sen. Clinton voted in favor of amendment offered by Senator Carl Levin that would have established "a national commission on policies and practices on the treatment of detainees since September 11, 2001." We've been waiting years for the establishment of such a commission, which would finally bring about an independent investigation into the secret torture prisons of the Bush Administration. We have been of the opinion that the American people deserve to know whether their government is torturing prisoners and committing other war crimes in the name of the United States of America. Thankfully, Senator Clinton agrees. Unfortunately, the Levin amendment passed, but Senator Clinton did what was possible to shine a light on the nefarious practice of torture, and so deserves our thanks -- and our vote.George W. Bush has put in place a new rule in which industrial plants will be able to purchase the right to spew as much mercury out of their smokestacks as they want. The trouble with this system is that, although mercury pollution could be reduced in some places, hot spots of excessive mercury pollution would appear throughout the country. Local residents would have absolutely no say when mercury pollution threatened their health and the health of their families. The only market-based solution that local residents would have would be to flee their homes, selling their property at drastically reduced rates. That's the kind of market-based solution that belongs in a Charles Dickens novel, not in America.
S.J. Res 20 would have overturned the Bush Mercury Hotspot Rule, but if failed by a slim majority of 51. Senator Clinton voted for S.J. Res 20 in a valiant effort to keep Mercury hotspots from proliferating across the United States of America. It's a shame that not enough others joined you, Senator Clinton, but we thank you for your effort and your courage.You'd think that for a lifetime appointment to the top legal job in the entire nation, there would be higher standards. Apparently not. All it takes to be Chief Justice is to have friends in high places, along with the patience to sit and smile and say next to nothing while being asked important questions about your qualifications for the job.
This is especially disturbing given the negative record generated about John Roberts before his confirmation hearing. John Roberts wanted Americans to have to carry around a national ID card, rejected equal rights for women, thought it was a good idea to arrest a 12-year-old girl for eating a single french fry on the DC metro, lied about his membership in the ultra-right Federalist Society, favored the use of government resources to promote Judaism and Christianity to the exclusion of other religious persuasions, railed against Roe v. Wade, argued for the gutting of the Americans with Disabilities Act and tried to restrict the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, among many other concerns. Does this not paint a picture of a man out of touch with the American mainstream?
In a display of insider pageantry devoid of substance, John Roberts has been confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and given his age, America will have to suffer under him for quite some time. But Senator Clinton was one of the few who stood firm and demanded actual information about the experience and professional history of John Roberts. If only more Senators had Clinton's backbone, America would have avoided the national shame that is the Roberts era.By voting to reject George W. Bush's choice of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, Senator Clinton has taken the common-sense position that it's unacceptable for the top law enforcement office of the United States to be a man who put his stamp on memos approving the use of torture, and who says the Geneva Conventions don't have to be followed. Thank you, Senator Clinton, for maintaining the integrity of your moral vision.Sen. Clinton has formally supported S. 20, which would expand access to family planning services for low-income families, giving poor families access to contraception, reducing long-term health care costs and cutting the rate of unwanted pregnancies.
Progressive political actions that Sen. Clinton could have taken but unfortunately chose not to take:- The Patriot Act was created in a time of irrational fear, when an emotionally overwrought senator might be excused for approving a measure that enables the government to access the lives of everyday innocent citizens. But four and a half years later, there is no excuse. Shame on you, Senator Clinton. You didn't vote against the renewal of the Patriot Act. You have sacrificed freedom on the altar of your own political preservation. You should have known better.
- Sen. Clinton has not formally supported S. 317, which would keep government agents from riffling through your bookstore receipts and library records without your permission or knowledge.
- Sen. Clinton has not formally supported S. 266, which would make it a punishable offense for members of a president's staff to use government resources to create fake news releases for purposes of political promotion. Doesn't Senator Clinton think fake news created by big government is a bad idea?
Contact Sen. Clinton by E-mail, Phone (at 202-224-4451), or Fax (at 202-228-0282), and ask why such progressive priorities don't seem to matter to them.
| | Regressive Conservative Score: 9A score of 9 means that Senator Clinton has acted to support 9% of a slate of conservative, wrongheaded policies in the 109th Congress.
Regressive, destructive, and downright unAmerican actions Senator Clinton has taken that contribute to a RCS of :
The Patriot Act was created in a time of irrational fear, when an emotionally overwrought senator might be excused for approving a measure that enables the government to access the lives of everyday innocent citizens. But four and a half years later, there is no excuse. Shame on you, Senator Clinton. By voting to renew the Patriot Act, you have sacrificed freedom on the altar of your own advancement. You should have known better.
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