Here is recap of the hardly-shining accomplishments of U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (8th District, Bucks County, PA) so far:
• Concerning House Congressional Resolution 95, which approves the budget submitted by President Bush and sets federal spending and revenues for the next five years, he approved a continuance of the Republican tax cuts through 2010 and a projected budget deficit of $376 billion for 2006.
• Concerning House Bill S686, otherwise known as the Terri Schiavo Act, he approved intervention by Congress on a legal matter in the state of Florida by granting jurisdiction to the U.S. District Court in that state to hear Schiavo’s case and render judgment.
• Neither he or anyone else in Congress has proposed the elimination of the cap on earnings subject to Social Security withholding, which is currently fixed at $90,000. If this cap were eliminated, then the contribution amount required for each participant could actually be reduced, still ensuring the solvency of the program.
• Though he fought to toughen EPA regulations regarding waste in our water, he has not spoken out while the Bush Administration tries to relax regulations regarding mercury and arsenic in our water, as well as under funding cleanup.
• In addition to supporting legislation making it harder for litigants to file class action suits by now mandating that the majority of those suits be heard in federal as opposed to state courts (which I personally do not support), he also voted for HR 975, otherwise known as the so-called Bankruptcy Abuse Act, which now makes it harder for individuals devastated by job loss or a health crisis to file for bankruptcy protection, including individuals with full health coverage.
• Finally, his vote for the permanent repeal of the estate tax did not represent my interests in any way, shape, or form. A recent Treasury Department study showed that almost no estate tax is paid by middle-income people. Most of the estate taxes are paid on the estates of people who, in addition to having very substantial wealth, still had high incomes around the time they died. The study found that 91 percent of all estate taxes are paid by the estates of people whose annual incomes exceeded $190,000 around the time of their death. Less than one percent of estate taxes are paid by the lowest-income 80 percent of the population, those with incomes below $100,000.
(I must admit that I wrote a letter to Fitzpatrick communicating this to him, and he responded only by acknowledging that we have a disagreement on the Terri Schiavo issue.)
Now, you can add to this list his decision not to support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which is an attempt by Congress to fund new research in an effort to keep up with ground-breaking work by South Korean scientists. Fitzpatrick originally told Jim Greenwood, his predecessor in the House, that he would reconsider his position on this issue.
Given this record, the day that Fitzpatrick proves to me that he is anything but a conservative wannabe marching in lockstep with the other right wing Republicans is the day I can look forward to a lecture from Jose Canseco about the dangers of steroids.
