Help in hard times?

None of the economic news is good lately. We're fortunate, here in Texas, that things aren't quite as bad as they are in other parts of the country -- but things are still bad. Unemployment numbers right here in Williamson County have increased steadily since April of last year -- from about 7,000 to about 11,500 (the unemployment rate has risen from about 3.5% to almost 6%). The trends are the same in the greater Austin area, and in Texas statewide. And that's just as of December 2008. The Texas Workforce Commission doesn't have the current figures available on its website.

With this in mind, let's take a look at some of John Carter's votes over the past couple years, shall we? I mean, we're interested in what our representative has been doing to look out for those of us who might be struggling financially right now. Right?

Well, in July 2007, the House passed HR 1980 -- "To Authorize Appropriations for the Housing Assistance Council" -- by a vote of 350-49 (or 88%-12%). A full 134 Republicans voted in favor of the bill. But not John Carter, who voted against it.

On that very same day, and by the very same vote margin, the House passed HR 1982 -- the Rural Housing and Economic Development Improvement Act, authorizing appropriations for HUD (low-income housing assistance). Again, 134 Republicans voted in favor of the bill -- but John Carter voted against it.

A couple weeks later, the House voted on HR 2272, the 21st Century Competitiveness Act -- a bill designed "to invest in innovation through research and development, and to improve the competitiveness of the United States." This time 143 Republicans voted in favor, and the margin was 367-57 (or 87%-13%). But once again, John Carter voted against it.

Apparently John Carter doesn't care about helping those who are struggling financially -- or about making the United States more competitive in the world economy.

But maybe you don't care about housing assistance either, or about "21st century competitiveness." Okay. Are you a small business owner? Or do you care about promoting small businesses? Do you care about the fact that, in September 2007, John Carter was again in the minority when he voted against the Small Business Investment Expansion Act (HR 3567)? The Act passed with 82% of the vote -- including 112 Republicans -- but Carter opposed it. Despite the fact that his constituency here in Williamson County includes a large number of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Is John Carter doing anything to look out for the interests of Texans?

For many Texans who have lost their jobs, services like Medicaid have become increasingly important lately -- providing much needed medical care for families who have lost their employer-based health insurance. In April 2008, just as the unemployment numbers were beginning their steady rise, the House passed HR 5613 -- the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act. Once again, the bill passed by a wide margin: 349-62 (or 85%-15%). And once again, John Carter voted against it.

A month later, Carter again voted against housing assistance (HR 5937) -- even where (again) 83% of the House voted in favor. But this time, Carter also voted against the Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act (HR 6074), which, among other things, sought "to make oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal." This Act passed with 79% of the vote, including 103 Republicans. But apparently John Carter is ok with oil-producing cartels, and doesn't care about protecting consumers.

By October of last year, things were really starting to look bad everywhere. Carter's record on helping those falling on hard economic times was already abysmal, as you can see above -- but would he turn things around, now that the economic crisis was reaching new heights?

Ummm...no.

In October, the House passed HR 6867, "to provide for additional emergency unemployment compensation." The vote was 368-28 (or 93%-7%). Our representative, John Carter, was part of the 7% minority voting against the assistance. That's right: as unemployment was on the rise right here in his own Williamson County, John Carter voted against providing much needed assistance to his own newly unemployed constituency.

And in addition to all of the above, let's not forget that John Carter voted against the stimulus package, which seeks to create 3.5 million new jobs -- including 269,000 jobs right here in Texas. (And by the way, for those of you worried about "bigger government," more than 90% of these new jobs will be in the private sector -- in other words, big government spending does NOT automatically equal "bigger government.") In other words, not only is John Carter voting against assistance for those who have lost their jobs -- he's also voting against the creation of new jobs.

The economy is bad right now. And there's a good chance it could get worse (see here, here, and here). Unfortunately, we cannot count on John Carter to look out for our interests. He's a right-winger who regularly votes against helpful legislation, even when it has broad bi-partisan support. Luckily, in a democracy, we have the opportunity to chose our leaders. Let's choose somebody else in 2010.