On Thursday, according to The Hill, the Senate voted for a $290 billion debt-limit increase in the federal budget. Other than the fact that this shows how out of control spending is, there are some other things to consider here. The measure needed sixty votes to pass. It received those sixty votes because all of the Democrats voted for it (with the exception of Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana) and one Republican voted for it (Senator George Voinovich of Ohio).
Senator Paul Kirk, Jr., of Massachusetts voted for the measure. Why is that important? The vote of Senator Kirk was needed to pass the measure. The purpose of the measure is to raise the debt ceiling far enough so that the Democrats in Congress don't have to raise it again in an election year. Senator Kirk's vote is important because of the circumstances that allowed him to vote. During the last year of his life, Ted Kennedy cast very few votes in the Senate. For that year, Massachusetts had, in essence, one Senator. As Senator Kennedy was dying, it suddenly became very important for Massachusetts to be correctly represented in the Senate, and the laws of the state were changed to allow the Governor of Massachusetts to appoint a Senator rather than wait for the special election required by law. The law was changed in Massachusetts and went into effect immediately (against the State constitution, but the Court in the State upheld the politics--not the law). Scott Brown was elected to the Senate on January 19th. He has not been certified, sworn in, or allowed to vote yet. Niki Tsongas who won a special election in Massachusetts on October 16, 2007, with 51 per cent of the votes was sworn in and voting on October 17, 2007. Scott Brown won 52 per cent of the votes.
At the very least, Paul Kirk, Jr., should refrain from voting on any issues in the future. He has never been elected to the Senate and should make way for someone who was.
Does anyone know when Scott Brown will be sworn in?
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