Factcheck on Bills Passed by Kerry
This is often the substance of attack ads both locally and nationally by many politicians. There is quite a dispute between Bush and Kerry as to what Kerry has actually accomplished as as senator. Bush says Kerry only authored and passed 5 bills during his whole time in office. Kerry on the other hand says he has passes a whopping 56! Factcheck says both are wrong, however, Bush is a little closer on his "guess" to the actual number of 11. What is even more interesting to me though is to see what these bills of law that have been not only passed, but authored by Kerry actually were. The five that Bush included were on subject such as grants to women-owned small businesses, naming a federal building, a save-the-dolphins measure, funding for university based research, and visa admission for Kil Joon Yu Callahan. A few of these have quite a bit of substance and would command some respect. However, the other 6 that factcheck adds as bills of law that have been authored by Kerry and passed through both houses include such subjects as awarding a congressional medal to Jackie Robinson, increasing research grants for small businesses, creating "World Population Awareness Week" in 1989, renewing this bill (WPA Week) for 1991, naming "Vietnam Veterans Memorial 10th Anniversary Day" in 1992, and making a "National POW/MIA Recognition Day." Now, of those, there is ONE with substance. I think Bush is giving Kerry quite a bit of credit by stating that he has had 5 bills passed- when you look at the complete list. Now Kerry trying to say 56 that he has passed- blatant lie- since the majority of those are not considered law.
It is interesting to see the details that factcheck.org points out for all sorts of their issues. This is the link in case you would like to visit: http://factcheck.org/article282.html