Iowa Republicans oppose AIDS funding in Congress

[annm4peace]

http://iowaindependent.com/2874/iowa-republicans-oppose-aids-funding-in-congress

By Chase Martyn 7/25/08 1:56 PM
It may come as no surprise to those familiar with U.S. Rep. Steve King’s voting record that the Western Iowa congressman voted against a reuathorization of funding for a program to combat AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria abroad, but U.S. Rep. Tom Latham and Sen. Chuck Grassley made votes against AIDS funding this week, as well — albeit in a less public way.

Although Latham and Grassley both voted for final bills once they were put up for a vote, Latham opposed bringing the bill to the floor for consideration, and Grassley voted to strip funding from the bill before the Senate voted on it.

It is not uncommon to try to kill a bill that you know you will have to vote for if it actually comes up, because typically voters only pay attention to final votes and not the procedural mumbo-jumbo that comes first. The final bills passed by fairly large, bipartisan majorities. Only 8 Republicans in the House voted to consider the bill, but once the bill was put up for a vote, 75 Republicans jumped on board. In the Senate, 30 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted to strip funding from the bill, but after that group failed, only 16 Republicans (and 0 Democrats) voted against the final bill.