Pryor Votes to the Left of Lincoln in the 111th Congress

Votes to Confirm Activist Judge

Mark Pryor

Curtis Coleman, Contributing Author: If Senator Mark Pryor’s voting record in the 111th Congress is any indication, Sen. Pryor is in the right (or more accurately, the left) party.  Sen. Pryor voted 91% of the time with his liberal Dems in the current Congress, according to The Washington Post’s U. S. Congress Votes Database. That puts him to the left of Senator Blanche Lincoln, who voted with her party only 84% of the time.  The 111th Congress was arguably one of the most liberal Congresses in the history of the Republic.

Sen. Pryor’s votes this week on President Obama’s START Treaty, ratified on Wednesday by a 71-26 vote, are indicative of the Senator’s overall voting propensity.  The START Treaty is an arms control treaty with Russia that limits the nuclear weapons each country can have in their arsenals.  Conservatives in Congress are concerned about flaws in the treaty which grant the Russians more numerous opportunities to pressure for restrictions to American missile defense capabilities, and further erosion of our sovereign right to self-defense.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted for the motion to invoke cloture (end debate and force a vote) on the START Treaty.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted against the Wicker Amendment which would have required future negotiations under the Treaty that affected the United States’ rights or obligations be submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent.  The amendment was rejected on a 34-59 vote.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted against Kyle Amendment No. 4860 which would have required the President to certify that he had negotiated a legally binding side agreement with the Russian Federation that the Federation would not deploy a significant number of nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles during the duration of the New START Treaty.  The amendment was rejected on a 31-62 vote.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted against Kyle Amendment No. 4893 which would have provided that ratification of the Treaty was subject to the United States and the Russian Federation reaching an agreement regarding access and monitoring.  The amendment was rejected on a 30-63 vote.

Dec. 22: Pryor voted for ratification of the Treaty.  Fifty-six (56) Democrats and 13 Republicans voted for ratification.  Twenty-six (26) Republicans voted against ratification.

Pryor Votes for Confirmation of Activist Judge Earlier on Dec 21, Senator Pryor voted for the confirmation of animal-rights activist Judge Benita Pearson to the United State District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.  Pearson is a member of several animal-rights groups, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), an organization that advocates giving animals the same rights as humans.

In the waning days of the 111th Congress, Sen. Pryor also voted for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in spite of the recommendations of leaders of the military to the contrary, and for the Food Safety Modernization Act, a massive and expensive expansion of the regulatory powers of the FDA.  The billion dollar cost of this steroid shot for this already bloated and inefficient bureaucracy will be paid by new fees and fines charged to food processors.  In other words, brace yourself for food to cost you more.

Will Arkansans forget or forgive Sen. Pryor’s left-of-Lincoln voting record as he tacts to the right over the next four years? Time will tell.
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Curtis Coleman is the President of The Curtis Coleman Institute for Constitutional Policy and contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

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Tags: animal rights, Benita Pearson, Mark Pryor, START Treaty | Category: Arkansas, Food Safety, Government and Business, National Security To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!