| The House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health will be the first to take a stab at this bill. I'm including the information I know of each of the subcommittee members below. The subcommittee has 23 Democrats and 15 Republicans on it for a total of 38 members. A majority of that is 20 votes. Below you can see my guesses for who is for or against. I am basing it on their opening statements in the hearing as well as their questioning of FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg and of the other witnesses.
Votes FOR the bill (my best guesses)
1. John Dingell, D-MI (sponsor)
2. Frank Pallone, D-NJ (co-sponsor)
3. Diana DeGette, D-CO (co-sponsor)
4. Betty Sutton, D-OH (co-sponsor)
5. Henry A. Waxman, D-CA (co-sponsor)
6. Lois Capps, D-CA
7. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL
8. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI
9. Anna Eshoo, D-CA
10. Jane Harman, D-CA
11. Christopher S. Murphy, D-CT
12. Kathy Castor, D-FL
13. Bruce L. Braley, D-IA
Votes AGAINST the bill (my best guess)
1. Nathan Deal, R-GA
2. Ed Whitfield, R-KY
3. John Shimkus, R-IL
4. Steve Buyer, R-IN
5. Tim Murphy, R-PA
6. Michael C. Burgess, R-TX
7. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN
8. Mike Rogers, R-MI
9. Gene Green, D-TX (worried it will hurt his district's port)
Unknowns (we need 7 of these people to vote for the bill)
1. Bart Gordon, D-TN
2. Eliot L. Engel, D-NY
3. Mike Ross, D-AR
4. Anthony D. Weiner, D-NY
5. Jim Matheson, D-UT
6. Charles A. Gonzalez, D-TX
7. John Barrow, D-GA - called for mandatory pathogen testing/rpting of results
8. John P. Sarbanes, D-MD
9. Zachary T. Space, D-OH
10. Ralph M. Hall, R-TX
11. John B. Shadegg, R-AZ
12. Roy Blunt, R-MO - wife is Kraft lobbyist
13. Joseph R. Pitts, R-PA
14. Sue Wilkins Myrick, R-NC
15. Phil Gingrey, R-GA
16. Joe Barton, R-TX
Once the bill passes the sub-committee, it must pass the full committee. The full committee has 35 Dems including those previously listed plus:
Edward J. Markey, MA
Rick Boucher, VA
Bobby L. Rush, IL
Bart Stupak, MI
Mike Doyle, PA
Jay Inslee, WA
Mike Ross, AR
G.K. Butterfield, NC
Charlie Melancon, LA
Baron P. Hill, IN
Doris O. Matsui, CA
Jerry McNerney, CA
Peter Welch, VT
Of those listed, I am pretty certain we can count on Stupak and most likely Markey to vote for the food safety bill. The committee also has a total of 19 Republicans, including those listed above plus the following:
Fred Upton, MI
Cliff Stearns, FL
George Radanovich, CA
Mary Bono Mack, CA
Greg Walden, OR
Lee Terry, NE
John Sullivan, OK
Steve Scalise, LA
With some pressure, we might be able to get Walden to vote for the food safety bill. The full committee has 54 members, which means 28 votes are needed to pass this bill. |
