The Massachusetts Democratic Party blasted Brown for voting with Republicans on a 2011 budget bill.
Clik here to view.
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., at Bunker Hill Community College in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Wednesday May 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)As Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown tours a Boston school with members of the service group AmeriCorps, Massachusetts Democrats are hitting Brown for a vote that would have cut money from AmeriCorps.
The attack is the first of what is likely to be many similar attacks. While Brown has never said he wants to end AmeriCorps, Democrats are pointing to his vote on a budget bill – a vote that was entirely along party lines, and touched on virtually every area of government, including AmeriCorps.
Brown on Friday visited the Dever-McCormack Lower School in Boston and met with representatives of City Year and Generations Incorporated, two service programs funded by AmeriCorps.
In response to the visit, Democrats sent out a press release pointing to Brown’s vote on H.R. 1, a Republican House-sponsored budget continuing resolution, in March 2011. The Republican plan, made in the midst of a fierce budget battle, was an attempt to cut the deficit by $35 billion, and included cuts to more than 60 programs. The bill would have ended funding for AmeriCorps and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and would have cut the level of funding for everything from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Boston chapter of City Year would have lost $1.7 million in AmeriCorps funding if the Republican resolution passed.
Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh said in a statement, “Scott Brown is voting against our kids and the education and opportunities they need to get ahead.”
In a statement when the vote was taken, Brown said he did not agree with all the House cuts, but voted with his party in favor of the plan because it was a step toward cutting spending. “While I don’t agree with how the House prioritized its spending or cuts, I do believe that significant spending reductions and reforms are needed to bring fiscal discipline and strong management to Washington,” Brown said. “I voted today in favor of the House proposal with the recognition of these problems and the understanding that it will soon move us toward a realistic and pragmatic compromise package that will contain smarter and more judicious spending reductions so that we can get our fiscal and financial house in order.”
The attack shows the political danger for any legislator, who must vote on large numbers of procedural motions, versions of bills, and large appropriations bills. “Senators have tremendous records to pick at,” said Professor Fred Bayles, director of the State House program at Boston University’s College of Communication.
Bayles pointed to Democratic Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s famous comment in 2004, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," referring to appropriations for military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In this case, Democrats could use the same vote to criticize Brown if he visits a facility funded by the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, takes an Amtrak train, or visits a nuclear reactor – all areas that would have seen cuts under the Republican House plan.