There was some angst in some sectors of the Party Of Trump that Brad Finstad was not “Trumpian” enough resulting in a Special Election Primary that was extremely close… well, those concerns can be laid to rest based on Congressman Finstad’s votes during his first full week in Congress.
All ya gotta do is check his Roll Call votes.
Congressman Finstad’s votes were in sync with the most extreme of the MAGA (aka Party of Trump) — Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Greg Pence, Jim Jordan et al. — rather than siding with reasonable Republicans.
Let’s acknowledge that there are essentially three types of bills that receive legislative votes :
1) Ones that the Democrats want and every Republican will oppose (hence expect passage of 220-208)
2) Ones that are universally acceptable (except for the true radicals so expect passage by a vote of 419-9)
3) Ones that are supported by a broad group of Republicans and Democrats … expected approval of 328-88.
“Representative” Finstad voting with the majority of Republicans is what you would expect but it is the third category that tells his constituents who he is really representing — MAGA.
Case in point, Republican Garret Graves, representing Louisiana’s Sixth District, and Democrat Greg Stanton, representing Arizona’s Ninth District, teamed up to advance a bill to authorize the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to provide competitive grant s to state, tribal, and local governments to use secure small unmanned aircraft systems (aka drones) to perform critical infrastructure inspection s. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimate that utilizing drone s reduces the cost of infrastructure inspection s by 74 percent and the time needed to conduct the inspection by 88 percent. Congressman Graves pointed out that “This bill is for 2 years. It is not designed to be in perpetuity. It is 2 years. It is helping to seed this industry; helping to incorporate this technology into our State DOTs, into our programs related to utilities and transmission lines”. Further, the bill is about domestic jobs as there are grants for community colleges and universities for workforce development programs to advance drone manufacturing and operations.
Since the bill passed out of the House Transportation Committee by a vote of 54-4, one would expect that to pass easily … after all, who could vote against a domestic JOBS bill with the midterm elections just a few months away ? Well, on September 13, 92 Republicans joined with every Democrat to approve H R 5315 Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act … with Congressman Finstad casting a NO vote.
WHY ?
Drones have been used in farms for almost a decade … and those are primarily manufactured in China … this would be a chance to … repeating … to increase domestic manufacturing and jobs.
That wasn’t the only bill that “Representative” Finstad flexed his MAGA muscles. On September 14, 75 Republicans and every Democrat approved H R 884 National Aviation Preparedness Plan Act. The bill is in response to a GAO report that the government was lacking a national strategy to ensure the health and safety of airline passengers and the aviation workforce during future pandemics. Essentially … develop a plan. Once again, Brad Finstad voted NO.
Another example is H R 1066 Wildfire Recovery Act which received YEA votes from 114 Republicans and every Democrat. The legislation allows people impacted by devastating fires to qualify for additional federal assistance through Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAG) yet Brad Finstad voted NO.
Lastly, Republican Garret Graves (remember him from the drones legislation) as Co-Chair of the House Peace Corps Caucus, was able to get 78 of his Republican colleagues and every Democrat to approve H R 14456 the Peace Corps Re-authorization Act. The legislation authorizes agency funding; increases readjustment allowance for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV); extends transitory health care coverage for RPCVs; provides a modest increase for Peace Corps Volunteers’ level of workers compensation; strengthens and extends the work of the Peace Corps’ Sexual Assault Advisory Council … the cost according to CBO is modest … $500,000 to a million. Once again, Brad Finstad voted NO.
Voters did not know a lot about Brad Finstad … but clearly he is not a “moderate” or even a “reasonable” Republican … Brad Finstad is a MAGA Republican.
Vote accordingly on the midterms … if you want somebody that follows the Marjorie Taylor Greene, then Brad Finstad is you man … if not, there are three other candidates on the ballot.
