Howard Coble

The Coble Record

admin — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:04:35 -0600

The Coble Record

Coble Voting Record Jan-Feb 2008

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No to the Economic Stimulus Package. No to housing assistance. No to renewable energy.

Coble Voting Recor May-June 2008

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No to helping states buy foreclosed properties.

Coble Voting Record March-April 2008

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No to cancelling debt of certain poor countries. No to providing international assistance for AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Coble Votes Against Economic Stimulus Package

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President Bush urged Congress to move quickly to help ease the pain of recession. Democratic and Republican leaders joined the President in hammering out a stimulus package. Congress passed it 385-35.

Congressman Howard Coble voted NO.

Coble Voting Record Nov-Dec 2007

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No to Employment Non-Discrimination. No to Homeowners. No on protecting taxpayers from the Alternative Minimum Tax. No to mortgage reform.

Coble Voting Record September-October 2007

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No to college students. No, again, to college students. No to small businesses. No to children who need health insurance. No to expanding flood insurance. No to affordable housing. No to dam repair. Yes to his patent-conscious PAC contributors.

Coble Voting Record July-August 2007

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No, once again, to redeploying American troops in Iraq. No, once again, to implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. No to housing assistance and Appalachian regional development. No to improving children's health insurance. No to minimum rest periods between troop deployments.

And on the all important last day before summer research, Coble goes AWOL: not voting on renewable energy, energy independence, Defense Department appropriations, and amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Coble Voting Record May-June 2007

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No to Head Start. No to Hate Crimes. No to Homeland Security. No to US Intelligence. No to North Carolina's Carl Sandburg.

Howard Coble opposes Mother's Day

admin — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:44:56 -0600

Dave Ribar, Applied Rationality

What does Rep. Howard Coble have against mothers and Mother's Day. On Wednesday, the House considered H.Res. 1113, "celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day?"

The resolution expresses a straightforward and uncontroversial sentiment. It also seems like the type of matter that the House could address quickly. The House does after all have many other important issues to consider, including two wars, an oil shortage, a ballooning deficit, a foreclosure crisis, and a faltering economy. In fact, just a week earlier, President Bush had criticized Congress for not acting on economic and energy legislation, complaining that Americans are "looking to their elected leaders in Congress for action. Unfortunately, on many of these issues all they're getting is delay."

NC Republicans Refuse to Give Children a Head Start

kbolton — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:02:01 -0700

Today, North Carolina Representatives Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx and Howard Coble opposed strengthening the highly successful Head Start program, which gives almost 20,000 disadvantaged children in North Carolina a better chance to succeed in school.

The bill passed with strong bipartisan support, with only 32 members opposing the measure and 381 Republicans and Democrats supporting it.

“Our children are our state’s most important resource, and we should invest in their future by offering them the best early education possible,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek.

“But today, Republicans tried to make it harder for every child in North Carolina to get a better education, voting against the Head Start program which improves teacher quality and helps raise kids’ achievement in school,” Meek said.

Reps. McHenry, Foxx and Coble opposed the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act Conference Report (HR 1429).

North Carolina Democrats Make Communities Safer by Passing 9/11 Commission Recommendations

admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:23:25 -0600

NCDP Chair Jerry Meek today applauded North Carolina’s Democratic Congressional Delegation for keeping their promise to make our communities safer and more secure. This week, Congressional Democrats voted to implement the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations-- something Republicans like Richard Burr, Howard Coble, Virginia Foxx, Sue Myrick and Patrick McHenry, who voted against the bill, refused to do for the last three years.

In July 2004, the 9/11 Commission announced its recommendations for how to avoid a future terrorist attack in the United States. For three years, Republicans put their partisan loyalty ahead of our nation’s security, first by resisting Democratic efforts to appoint the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission in the first place, then by joining President Bush in ignoring the Commission’s recommendations.

But this week, Democrats in Congress voted to send a long-overdue bill that finally implements the 9/11 Commission recommendations to the President’s desk. The bill would tighten screening of air and sea cargo, strengthen transit security, improve oversight of our intelligence and homeland security systems, and allocate $3.3 billion to help communities improve communications among first responders—a major problem during both the September 11 attacks and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Republicans have fought us every step of the way,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek. “But Democrats scored a victory for the American people today by sending the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations to the President’s desk. The time has come for Republicans to stop standing with the President and start standing up for the people of North Carolina.”

NC Republicans in Congress Named "Enemies of the Taxpayers"

admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:28:23 -0600

A report issued this month by the nonpartisan Citizens for Tax Justice awarded North Carolina Democrats in Congress high marks for defending tax fairness and fiscal responsibility. The yearly report card grades members of Congress on their votes on several bills based on whether they voted to make our tax system fairer for hard-working North Carolinians. Unlike North Carolina Democrats, all North Carolinians in the Congress received a pathetic 0% score for an overall "F" and were designated an "Enemy of the Taxpayers."

The report noted that many of the members who claimed to be taxpayers' heroes were often the ones leaving North Carolinians to foot the bill for their fiscally irresponsible policies. Reps. Taylor, Hayes, Foxx, McHenry, Coble, Jones, and Myrick and Sens. Dole and Burr voted time and again to increase budget deficits, for tax breaks for the few, and to set our nation on a course towards fiscal ruin.

North Carolina Republicans Again Try to Disenfranchise Voters

admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:33:39 -0600

When Do-Nothing Republicans Try to Do Something, Voters Suffer

Yesterday, the Do-Nothing Republican Congress tried to solve a problem that doesn't exist. The U.S. House, by almost entirely a party-line vote, passed a bill that would disenfranchise thousands of voters by requiring them to obtain and produce government issued photo ID proving their citizenship before they could vote.

Laws like this one have been ruled unconstitutional by courts in Missouri and Georgia in the last week.

All North Carolina Republicans--Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry, Walter Jones, and Howard Coble--supported this attempt to disenfranchise voters.

Bush Republicans Leave Schools and Children Behind

admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:45:13 -0600

NC Democrats Lead the Way on Education Reform

As school children across North Carolina return to the classroom, Bush and the Do-Nothing Republican Congress continue to do nothing to improve education.

Each school year, more frightening results of the Bush Republicans' No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law come to light.

Instead of properly funding their own legislation, Bush Republicans like Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Sue Myrick, Patrick McHenry, Howard Coble, and Walter Jones have cut education by over $40 billion since 2001, leaving schools to struggle with NCLB compliance, and creating a massive teacher shortage in rural schools.

Because Republicans have failed to provide promised funding for education reforms, 65,751 children in North Carolina have gone without help in reading and math and 39,922 have gone without after-school programs that boost academic achievement and keep kids safe. [CRS, 1/2006] If we want American jobs to stay in America, we have to have more American children succeeding in sciences, math and literacy.

Democrats know that the key to expanding opportunity is to provide every child with a world-class education. We will meet our responsibilities to America's children by ensuring that our schools have the resources they need to help our kids meet high standards.

North Carolina Republicans Flunk Environment Test

admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:32:38 -0600

As State Gets More Polluted and Gas Prices Rise, Do-Nothing Republicans Do...Nothing

This summer, as temperatures and gas prices in our state break records, the only people who haven't seemed to notice the importance of environmentalism are North Carolina Republicans in Congress.

In the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters' most recent Environmental Scorecard for the North Carolina delegation in Congress, North Carolina Democrats scored an average of 87.3; Republicans scored 9.8%. That's out of 100.

"The League of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard reflects a session of the United States Congress steeped in controversial anti-environment legislation. Many of our core environmental and public health laws were under attack, and much of what we worked to protect for decades was at stake."

Among North Carolina Republicans, Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Rep. Robin Hayes scored the worst with 0%. Sen. Richard Burr scored 5%. Reps. Charles Taylor, Sue Myrick, and Howard Coble scored 6%. Reps. Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry scored 11%.

How the N.C. Republican Grinches Stole Christmas

Thu, 24 May 2007 12:22:42 -0600

Sens. Dole and Burr and Representatives Taylor, Hayes, Foxx, McHenry, and Coble Favor Tax Cuts for the Rich over Benefits to Working Families

As families across North Carolina were wrapping up their Christmas shopping, Republicans in Washington were putting the finishing touches on a radical plan to pay for $100 billion in new tax cuts for wealthy investors and special interests, by slashing billions from programs that help ordinary Americans. U.S. Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry, and Howard Coble joined nearly every Republican in the House of Representatives in voting to slash $40 billion from crucial programs, including $12.7 billion from student loan programs, $6.9 billion from Medicaid, $6.4 billion from Medicare, and $2.7 from vital agricultural programs.

Making matters worse, Congressional Republicans failed to act on the one tax cut that could really benefit working families--legislation to keep 17 million Americans from having to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax.

All Democrats from North Carolina voted against the measure and are standing up for working North Carolinians: Reps. David Price, Mel Watt, Bob Etheridge, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller, and G.K. Butterfield.

NC Congressional Republicans Vote in Favor of Torture

Thu, 24 May 2007 11:14:23 -0600

Reps. Taylor, Hayes, Foxx, McHenry, Myrick, and Coble Fail to Join 308 Members of Congress in Favor of Ban

Yesterday, the U.S. House passed a measure 308-122 to ban torture and limit interrogation tactics in U.S. detention facilities and setting uniform guidelines for the treatment of prisoners in the war on terrorism.

The language, proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would prohibit "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in the custody of the U.S. government. It passed the U.S. Senate 90-9.

Unfortunately, 6 House Republicans from North Carolina didn't agree with prohibiting cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry, Sue Myrick, and Howard Cole voted against banning torture. All Democrats from North Carolina voted in favor of the ban.

North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek said, "Our strength as a nation is always influenced by our strength of moral character. Cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment of any of God's children is always wrong. Democrats understand this. But North Carolina's Republican members of Congress don't get it. These Republicans are on the wrong side of morality and the wrong side of history."