Cape Cod Today reporting beats the Boston Globe's

Kerry & Brown agreement continues, Delahunt misses a couple
05/31/10 · 10:20 am :: posted by CCToday ShareThis
A look at how our members of Congress voted over the previous week
Brown and Kerry agree on everything, Delahunt misses 2 of 9 votes

SENATE VOTES:

Senate Vote 1:
EXEMPTION FROM FINANCE RULES FOR AUTO DEALERS: The Senate passed a motion sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to instruct conferees with the House on the Restoring American Financial Stability Act (H.R. 4137). The motion would instruct the conferees to insist the final conference report include a House-passed provision excluding auto dealers from the regulatory authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The sponsor said the instruction would avoid the redundant regulation of auto dealers when other regulations already covered the providers of car loans. An opponents said it was "unfair...to have two sets of rules" for financial products by giving auto dealers an exemption from the regulations. The vote, on May 24, was 60 yeas to 30 nays.
YEAS: Sen. Scott Brown R-MA, Sen. John F. Kerry D-MA

Senate Vote 2:
EXEMPTING INSURANCE AFFILIATES FROM FINANCE RULES: The Senate passed a motion sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, to instruct conferees with the House on the Restoring American Financial Stability Act (H.R. 4137). The motion would instruct the conferees to insist the final conference report exempt the normal operations of insurance affiliates of insured depository institutions from restrictions on proprietary trading. The motion sponsor said the exemption would "allow regulated insurance entities to continue to operate as they currently do in a manner that ensures payment of claims and annuities for years to come." The vote, on May 24, was 87 yeas to 4 nays.
YEAS: Sen. Scott Brown R-MA, Sen. John F. Kerry D-MA

Senate Vote 3:
U.S. FORCES REDEPLOYMENT FROM AFGHANISTAN: The Senate rejected an amendment, sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 4899) that would have required a plan for the safe, orderly and expeditious redeployment of U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan. Proponents of the amendment said it "would require the President to provide a flexible, nonbinding timetable for the responsible drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan" although it would not set a specific date for the withdrawal of troops nor require the President to redeploy troops and it wouldn't place any restrictions on funding. Opponents pointed out that the language of the amendment would require the President, by Dec. 31, 2010, to submit a timetable for the completion of the redeployment of troops out of Afghanistan and that it would cause additional panic in a region that relies heavily on the support of the U.S. military. The vote, on May 27, was 18 yeas to 80 nays.
NAYS: Sen. Scott Brown R-MA, Sen. John F. Kerry D-MA

Senate Vote 4:
EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS: The Senate passed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 4899), sponsored by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., to make emergency supplemental appropriations for disaster relief and also to provide for summer jobs for fiscal 2010. The legislation would provide $5.1 billion for FEMA disaster relief and $600 million for 300,000 jobs for youth ages 16 to 21, the age group with some of the highest unemployment levels in the country. The legislation also extends the small business lending provisions in the Recovery Act for an additional month and provides up to $60 million to cover it. Proponents noted that the spending to cover the legislation would be offset through rescinding emergency funding that is not needed in other areas. Opponents said that, while it was good to provide aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters, it would be irresponsible to put millions of dollars into the legislation to cover summer jobs, when they were
available through other means. The vote, on May 27, was 67 yeas to 28 nays.
YEAS: Sen. Scott Brown R-MA, Sen. John F. Kerry D-MA

00176 27-May H.R. 4899 On Passage of the Bill Passed H.R. 4899, As Amended; Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010
00175 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 4273 Rejected Burr Amdt. No. 4273; To strike section 901, relating to the transfer of amounts to the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund.
00174 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 4299 Agreed to Inouye Amdt. No. 4299; To allow unobligated balances in the Construction, Major Projects account to be utilized for major medical facility projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs otherwise authorized by law.
00173 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 4253 Agreed to Collins Amdt. No. 4253; To prohibit the imposition of fines and liability under certain final rules of the Environmental Protection Agency.
00172 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Motion Rejected DeMint Motion to Suspend Rule XXII; Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010
00171 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Cloture Motion Agreed to Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Committee Reported Substitute Amendment to H.R. 4899; Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010
00170 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Motion to Table S.Amdt. 4232 Agreed to Motion To Table Coburn Amdt. No. 4232; To pay for the costs of supplemental spending by reducing Congress' own budget and disposing of unneeded Federal property and uncommitted Federal funds.
00169 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Motion to Table S.Amdt. 4231 Agreed to Motion To Table Coburn Amdt. No. 4231 As Modified; To pay for the costs of supplemental spending by reducing waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending within the Federal Government.
00168 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 4204 Rejected Feingold Amdt. No. 4204; To require a plan for the safe, orderly, and expeditious redeployment of the United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan.
00167 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Motion S.Amdt. 4202 Rejected Motion to Waive Sec. 403 of S. Con. Res. 13, 111th Congress, Cornyn Amdt. No. 4202 As Modified Further; To make appropriations to improve border security, with an offset from unobligated appropriations under division A of Public Law 111-5.
00166 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Motion S.Amdt. 4228 Rejected Motion to Waive Sect. 403, S. Con. Res. 13, 111th Congress, Kyl Amdt. No. 4228 As Modified; To appropriate $200,000,000 to increase resources for the Department of Justice and the Judiciary to address illegal crossings of the Southwest border, with an offset.
00165 27-May H.R. 4899 On the Motion S.Amdt. 4214 Rejected Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline re: McCain Amdt. No. 4214; To provide for National Guard support to secure the southern land border of the United States.
00164 24-May H.R. 4173 On the Motion Agreed to Hutchison Motion to Instruct Conferees Re: H.R. 4173; Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009
00163 24-May H.R. 4173 On the Motion Agreed to Brownback Motion to Instruct Conferees Re: H.R. 4173; Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009

group of 80 venture capitalists traveled to Boston to urge Senator John Kerry and Representative Barney Frank, Democrats of Massachusetts, to exclude their business from the tax change, according to Jeffrey Bussgang, a partner at the Boston venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners.

Setting the Record Straight on the Carried Interest Debate
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swore I would go offline for much of Memorial Day Weekend. But I cheated and peeked at my email late Saturday afternoon and discovered an email from a friend saying, “I’m surprised to see you take such a public stance on the capital gains tax rates,” with a link to a New York Times article on the topic.

I read the article in the New York Times on the carried interest debate and was shocked to see my name and a reference to me that read:

“As the Senate Democrats sent signs that they were open to a tax increase, investors and their lobbyists mobilized quickly, warning that the proposal could stifle investments that create jobs. A group of 80 venture capitalists traveled to Boston to urge Senator John Kerry and Representative Barney Frank, Democrats of Massachusetts, to exclude their business from the tax change, according to Jeffrey Bussgang, a partner at the Boston venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners.”

Um…here’s the problem. I never spoke to the reporter, David Kocieniewski, who wrote the article (although I later found a voice mail from him). Other than the fact that my name and firm name are accurate, nothing else in that sentence is correct.
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Since the reporter never spoke to me, I can only assume that the reporter was referring to a blog post I did regarding a trip to Washington, D.C. (not Boston) with 80 business leaders from Massachusetts regarding an organization I co-chair called the Progressive Business Leader Network (PBLN). In fact, the trip had nothing to do with carried interest taxes and there were only three or four VCs as part of the business delegation from PBLN. If he had actually read the blog post, he would have realized that it was a trip with a wide range of topics, including cap and trade, innovation investment, deficit reduction and financial reform. We did not meet with John Kerry, although I did report that we talked to Barney Frank about financial reform and that he did articulate his own position that venture capital would be exempted from the carried interest tax.
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