Welcome to the 706th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be talking about Jeb Hensarling, the soon-to-be former U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 5th Congressional District, who served in that capacity since 2002, after his eighth term in office. Now, obviously at several points during his sixteen years in Congress, Hensarling was a Texas GOP Congressman, so you know his voting record was as extreme as you might find. Before we get to that, however…
There are Republicans who have become so radical in their obsession with “smaller government” that they started voting against disaster relief in the past few years. Normally, they do so without comment, and are smart enough to show they’re hypocrites and at least vote for disaster relief when the disaster affects THEIR district. Well, after flooding from Hurricane Harvey in September of 2017, Jeb Hensarling went and voted against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey, (which hit Texas, you’ll recall) but he made himself an even more known quantity by telling his fellow Texans that they should realize that the flooding was a sign from the Heavens above, telling them:
“God is telling you to move.”
Yes, he just told his constituents that the Almighty wants them to f*** off, in a roundabout way.
Go figure, he’s also a climate change denier. Wonder how that could have made flooding worse, hmm?
Now, there’s no better way to win over voters than telling them to get out of your district rather than accept government assistance, so not coincidentally he announced he would be retiring at the end of this term in office. (good riddance!) Which saved voters from having to determine that Hensarling’s comments were probably God’s way of telling them they should choose another legislator.
Hensarling’s rise to the head of the House Financial Service Committee was perhaps the highlight of his career, where he could be the lapdog for the worst ideas that Wall Street bankers could float across his desk with a paper bag of campaign donations. No, we’re not going to be shy about how tight this guy was with Wall Street… he literally went on ski vacations with Wall Street executives.
There’s corrupt, and then there’s just brazenly terrible.
And then there’s that voting record:
- March 21st, 2005: Rep. Hensarling votes for the Terry Schiavo Incapacitated Persons Protection Bill.
- July 18th, 2006: Hensarling votes for a resolution towards creating a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
- December 6th, 2006: Rep. Hensarling votes for the “Abortion Pain Bill”, which would create an unconstitutional ban on abortion at 20 weeks.
- November 7th, 2007: Jeb Hensarling votes against ENDA, allowing the continued discrimination of LGBTQ citizens based on their sexual identity in the workplace.
- July 24th, 2008: Rep. Hensarling votes against funding for the prevention of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
- January 9th, 2009: Hensarling votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
- April 29th, 2009: Jeb Hensarling votes against the Hate Crimes Expansion that would provide protections to LGBTQ citizens.
- July 31st, 2009: Hensarling votes against the widely successful “Cash for Clunkers” program that helped save the American auto industry.
- June 30th, 2010: After Wall Street bankers taking unnecessary risks nearly imploded the global economy in 2007, legislation finally comes forward to prevent the same behaviors from being permitted in the future. The signature piece of legislation to prevent another financial meltdown was Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, which Jeb Hensarling voted against.
- July 30th, 2010: Months after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a bill comes to the floor to better regulate off-shore drilling. Hensarling votes against it.
- December 8th, 2010: Rep. Hensarling votes against the DREAM Act.
- December 15th, 2010: Hensarling votes against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
- On January 5th, 2011, Rep. Hensarling votes the first attempt by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
- On February 18th, 2011, Jeb Hensarling votes to defund Planned Parenthood.
- September 15th, 2012: Rep. Hensarling votes for the “No More Solyndras Act”.
- September 21st, 2012: Hensarling votes for the “Stop the War on Coal Act”.
- January 15th, 2013: Jeb Hensarling votes against Disaster Relief Funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
- February 28th, 2013: Hensarling votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
- June 19th, 2013: Jeb Hensarling votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
- September 30th, 2013: Rep. Hensarling votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown.
- Feb 26th, 2014: Jeb Hensarling goes “all in” on the faux-scandal surrounding the IRS researching SuperPACs by voting for the “Stop the Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act”.
- July 10th, 2014: Hensarling votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty, because many conspiracy theorists within the extreme right convinced it’s a plot for global domination.
- January 22nd, 2015: Jeb Hensarling votes for HR 7, an anti-abortion bill that makes even some Republicans pause before voting for it because of its language that tries to define the conditions for what “rape” is, in it.
- February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Hensarling votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
- March 3rd, 2015: Hensarling votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
- September 11th, 2015: Hensarling votes against the United States’ nuclear treaty with Iran.
- September 18th, 2015: Rep. Hensarling co-sponsors and votes for a bill with most House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
- November 19th, 2015: Hensarling votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks.
- February 2nd, 2016: Jeb Hensarling votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
- February 16th, 2017: Hensarling votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping.
- March 16th, 2017: Jeb Hensarling votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order.
- March 28th, 2017: Rep. Hensarling votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers’ internet usage to businesses.
- May 4th, 2017: Hensarling votes for the GOP’s healthcare plan, that would allow 24,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions, and would treat pregnancy, post-partum depression, and sexual assault as “pre-existing conditions”. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Hensarling would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: Jeb Hensarling votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
- October 3rd, 2017: Hensarling votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
- December 19th, 2017: Jeb Hensarling votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
- February 18th, 2018: Rep. Hensarling and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
And so, Jeb Hensarling retires, having been such a good representative that only 30 people showed up to his final town hall in August. We hope he stays retired and doesn’t do too much damage while working as… what else? A K Street lobbyist.
One Year Ago, November 28th, 2017: Bud Pierce (OR)
Two Years Ago, November 28th, 2016: Mike Christian (OK)… 2016 Update
Three Years Ago, November 28th, 2015: Mike Christian (OK)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago, November 28th, 2014: Scott Esk (OK)