Pete Sessions votes against COPS Improvements Act of 2009

Pete Sessions was one of only 78 House members to vote against H.R. 1139, "To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to enhance the COPS ON THE BEAT grant program, and for other purposes."

The final vote was 342 - 78 (Roll no. 206). This bill will provide grants for local law enforcement to do such things as pursue terrorism suspects and keep drugs and gangs out of the public schools. For a visual on just how popular this bill is, check out the map at Congress.org.

House passes tax on TARP recipients

Yesterday, in a bipartisan attempt to recoup taxpayer dollars from TARP recipients, the House voted 328-93 to tax some executives who received money from TARP at the rate of 90%. The tax only applies to those who received $5 billion. Pete Sessions was among the slim minority who voted against the bill. See H.R. 1586, roll number 143.

Sessions votes against volunteerism

In a bipartisan show of support for volunteerism and national service, the House passed H.R. 1388, the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, to reauthorize and reform the national service laws, by a yea-and-nay vote of 321 yeas to 105 nays, Roll No. 140. Pete Sessions was among those voting no.

Sessions votes for Pi Day

Here's a fun bit of bipartisanship from the House: on Thursday, the House passed a non-binding resolution naming March 14 "Pi Day," since the infinite number begins with 3.14, of course!

Only ten Republicans voted "no" to this bill, and are being made fun of for it by mathematicians all over the country.

Usually, when there are only 10 people who vote against something, our Pete Sessions will be among them, but not this time! Pete Sessions was among the 2/3 majority who voted for Pi!

The roster of anti-pi voters are available at Thomas (see roll number 124).

Read all about National Pi Day at Pi's official website, PiDay.org, and send a belated Happy Pi Day e-card to your friends.

House passes "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009"

On a near party-line vote, the House passed the "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009" 234-191, with 7 Republicans crossing party lines to vote in favor of the bill, and 24 Democrats voting against. No big surprise that Pete Sessions was not one of the 7 Republicans who voted in favor--he voted no. See H.R. 1106, Roll No. 104.

One of the Republican cross-over voters was Mario Diaz-Balart, representing Florida's 25th Congressional District. Diaz-Balart's 53% win over Democrat Joe Garcia is considered "unimpressive" by Florida pundits, so he's one to watch for future votes like this one, which keep the interests of the constituents in mind, over party loyalty.

Florida is one of four states hardest hit by foreclosures and, according to E-Foreclosure Magazine, foreclosure rates in Florida are expected to increase 100% in 2009.

Mario Diaz-Balart's brother Lincoln Diaz-Balart, also a Republican member of Congress, representing Florida's 21st Congresional District, was another member of the GOP who voted in favor of this bill.