The Liberty Papers

Andrew Roth at the Club For Growth tries to pick the ten dumbest vote in the history of the House of Representatives.

Here are a few select goodies:

MOHAIR SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 383, 2000) – Offered by then-Rep. Mark Sanford, this vote sought to defund all mohair subsidies. Pray tell, what exactly is mohair? Webster’s dictionary says it’s, “a fabric or yarn made wholly or in part of the long silky hair of the Angora goat.” From 1995 to 2005, taxpayers have been on the hook for $40 million on mohair subsidies. For more information, don’t ask the Mohair Council of America, the leading special interest group defending and receiving the subsidies. Their website has all the friendliness of a tumor. But the House still sided with them. The vote failed, 166-255.

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VIAGRA SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 312, 2005) – Did you know that Viagra used to be subsidized through Medicaid and Medicare? Rep. Steve King (R-IA) offered an amendment to remove the subsidy in 2005. According to the New York Times, “Mr. King said it was wrong to tell taxpayers that “we’re going to take the money you earned on overtime to pay for Grandpa’s Viagra.” Thankfully, the House sided with King, but 121 members still wanted to keep it up (the subsidies, that is).

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PORK, PORK, PORK (Roll Call 636, 2007) – This year, the House voted on 50 separate amendments that would have defunded several different pork projects. These amendments included some doozies. My favorite was the vote on the $1 million pork project for the “Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure” in Johnstown, PA. What’s especially dumb about this project is that, prior to the vote, nobody could confirm the existence of the Center! Here’s a video of the debate. In the end, the House happily handed the mysterious “Center” one million smackeroos with a vote of 326-98! To view the other 49 amendments and how every House member voted on them, see the Club’s RePORK Card.

Frankly, it’s amazing that Andrew could limit himself to just ten of these doozies.