On April 4 the House of Representatives approved the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act.

According to the American Dental Association:

The legislation requires that all private group and individual health plans to cover medically necessary services resulting from a congenital anomaly or birth defect.

…[T]he ADA noted that one out of every 33 children in the U.S. is born with a congenital anomaly — including severe oral and facial defects — that can interfere with the ability to breathe, speak and/or eat in a normal manner.

“For many children, specialized surgery is needed, and the procedures are reconstructive, since they are performed to correct abnormal structures,” the [ADA] said. “However, despite the reconstructive nature and necessity of such procedures, many insurance companies consider these services to be merely cosmetic. While they may provide coverage for the preliminary surgeries, insurers will delay or deny follow-up or corrective procedures, including necessary dental treatment, which can have a negative impact on a child’s developmental milestones.”

The Association hopes that the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act will make sure that “all children have coverage for treatment of these anomalies,” the [ADA] concluded.

Did Congressman Cline side with the insurance companies or the children?

Do you need to ask?

Cline and 109 other House Republicans voted NO.

One of Ben Cline’s first votes in Congress was against a bill to block then-president Trump from withdrawing the United States from the NATO alliance, as Trump had suggested doing. Cline was one of only 22 members of the House– all Republicans– to vote NO.

Perhaps Cline’s vote was a pathetic effort to prove his loyalty to Trump; he offered no explanation. But what are we to make of his vote on Tuesday against a resolution expressing “unequivocal support” for the NATO as an alliance founded on democratic principles? (The resolution was approved by all of the Democrats and 143 of the 206 Republicans who voted.)

At a moment when NATO is largely united in opposing Russia’s brutal and murderous invasion of democratic Ukraine, why would Cline vote NO on a resolution affirming that stand?

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to cap monthly insulin costs at $35 for millions of diabetic Americans.

Lawmakers approved the measure in a 232-193 vote, with just a dozen Republicans joining Democrats in support. It now heads to the Senate.

The Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would take effect in 2023, would limit cost-sharing under private health insurance for a month’s supply of certain insulin products at $35, or 25 percent of a plan’s negotiated price, whichever is less.

…..

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37.3 million people in the U.S. have diabetes.

Needless to say, Congressman Cline was not one of the 12 Republicans supporting the legislation.

For all of Cline’s professed concern about the “ever-increasing cost of prescription drugs” and rising prices in general, he was unwilling to help millions of the people who bear the brunt of those high costs.

It’s nice that Congressman Cline welcomed veterans and their service dogs to the Capitol last week.

It’s not so nice that he voted NO on the PAWS Act— one of several bills in a package supported by all House Democrats and most House Republicans– which helps make service dogs available to veterans suffering from PTSD. I hope he didn’t have the nerve to take credit for it.

This is one of the votes that earned Cline a 0% score on animal-related issues from the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

I’ve posted before about how Congressman Cline’s membership in the far-right House Freedom Caucus puts him in some unsavory company.

I was rather surprised to find at least one of Cline’s fellow House Republicans agreeing with me.

Writing about the prospect of a Republican majority in Congress next year, CNN’s Melanie Zanona observes:

[M]embers of the Trump-loving House Freedom Caucus are preparing to flex their muscles in the next era. Under the new leadership of Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the group is hoping to use its hardline tactics, connections to Trump and friendlier relationship with GOP leadership to bend their party to their will and put their MAGA-like stamp on the conference.

…..

But the prospect of a bigger and more emboldened House Freedom Caucus means some of the group’s loudest MAGA firebrands, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Paul Gosar of Arizona, will also be elevated. And that could pose a potential governing challenge for Republican leaders, who have so far struggled to rein in the GOP’s fringe elements.

The party’s most prominent provocateurs have even earned a private new nickname from some of their colleagues: “the trending caucus.” That’s because on any given day, it seems this extremist crew is making headlines — and creating headaches for GOP leadership — with their behavior. Last week alone, they drew unwanted attention to their party for heckling President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address, attending a conference organized by a known White nationalist and being the lone “no” votes on measures to make lynching a federal hate crime and to express support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia.

If Cline is embarrassed by any of this, he hasn’t let on.

Zanona quoted an unfortunately anonymous House Republican:

“If you’re Mark Green or Jeff Duncan or Ben Cline, do you really want to be associated with either Marjorie Taylor Greene or Gosar? I wouldn’t think so,” said the House GOP lawmaker, name-checking some of the more mild-mannered members of the Freedom Caucus.

Mild-mannered though Cline may often be, that doesn’t make his devotion to Trump and the MAGA cult any more palatable. And as far as I can tell, he has no problem being associated with the most outspokenly extreme and dangerous members of his party.

We can help Cline avoid any possible dilemmas by working to keep a Democratic majority in the House– which means, among other things, defeating him in the 2022 election.

Many thanks to Catherine Giovannoni of Frederick County (soon to be part of the Sixth Congressional District) for her excellent piece in The Winchester Star calling out Republican Congressman Ben Cline for voting NO on a new law banning employers from forcing people to settle claims of sexual assault or harassment through private arbitration proceedings instead of in a court of law.

As Ms. Giovannoni notes:

The bill received bipartisan support, with 113 Republicans joining 222 Democratic members of Congress to pass the law.

But not Republican Congressman Ben Cline.

Why not, Congressman? Aren’t victims of sexual misconduct entitled to a day in court?

It appears Congressman Cline has decided to make opposition to vaccine mandates a key issue of his reelection campaign.

In November he made the ridiculous claim that mandates were responsible for the labor shortage.

Now he has posted this campaign ad on Facebook:

What stands out here is the shameful scaremongering.

There is no COVID-19 vaccine mandate for children in Virginia or anywhere else. But there are vaccine mandates to protect children from other diseases. Until recently these were almost entirely uncontroversial. I presume Cline’s own children had to get them. There’s no doubt these vaccines have saved many thousands of children from serious illness or death.

The image this ad presents– of a child cowering in terror while some heartless medical professional prepares to painfully inject God-knows-what into him– is insidious.

Like most children, I hated getting shots. Although it was a long time ago, I seem to remember screaming at the prospect and crying for some time afterwards. But you know what? I’m damn glad I got them.

In January Cline posted this on his Congressional Facebook page:

At the time I replied:

So Congressman, are you saying that public schools should not be allowed to require ANY of the vaccinations that have been mandated for decades with no serious opposition?

Yes or no?

I did not get a response then. But I’d still like to know the answer. I’m sure many others in the Sixth District would too.

I hope they and the local media will ask him.

Although Congressman Cline issued a strong statement denouncing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and supporting diplomatic and economic pressure against the Russian regime, there are some things he should never be allowed to forget.

As NATO rallies to provide weapons and other support to Ukraine to resist the Russian invasion, Cline shouldn’t be allowed to forget that in 2019 he was one of only 22 Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote NO on legislation that blocked President Trump from withdrawing the US from NATO, as Trump said he wanted to do.

And he should be reminded repeatedly of his steadfast support for Trump in 2019 after it was revealed that Trump tried to extort Ukrainian President Zelensky by pressuring him for a political “favor” (providing “dirt” on Joe Biden’s son) in exchange for sending Javelin anti-tank missiles for Ukraine’s defense against a possible Russian invasion. Of course Cline opposed impeaching Trump for this, but he never addressed the fact itself.

Does Cline agree with former secretary of state Mike Pompeo that Trump showed “resolve” in defense of Ukraine?

Finally, Cline needs to be asked constantly why he has never said a critical word about Trump’s long-time and outspoken admiration for the murderous aggressor Vladimir Putin. Most recently:

“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump told a conservative podcaster in an interview published Tuesday.

“I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. … We could use that on our southern border,” the former president said, describing Putin as “a guy who’s very savvy” and whom he knows “very, very well.”

This from the man Cline praised last July as “our great president.”

I don’t think Cline shares Trump’s disgusting affection for Putin. But I do believe he’s a cringing coward for not saying so.

For rural and isolated parts of the country– of which there are many in Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District– a strong, stable and reliable Postal Service is a critical connection to the outside world.

So why was Ben Cline among the minority of Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote NO on the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act?

“We need to take steps to make our post office stronger,” Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the bill’s sponsor and chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told The Washington Post. “This bill helps and it will help in every way. It’s a reform bill that will save taxpayers’ dollars while at the same time making the operations of the post office more financially stable and sustainable, and making postal jobs and employee health benefits more secure.”

The Postal Service is required to prepay its retirees’ health-care costs, a mandate instituted in 2006 when mail volume was steady and the agency was profitable. But decades of falling mail use have turned it into a perpetual financial loser, and the pre-funding requirement has accounted for $152.8 billion of its $206.4 billion in liabilities.

Tuesday’s legislation, advanced by leaders of both parties, wipes clean $57 billion of that amount, and will save the agency another $50 billion over the next decade. The bill installs new timely delivery transparency requirements for the Postal Service, which has struggled with on-time service since [Postmaster General Louis] DeJoy took office, and allows the agency to contract with local, state and Indigenous governments to offer basic nonpostal services, such as hunting and fishing licenses.

According to a Washington Post editorial:

The overhaul bill would… require retirees to enroll in Medicare when eligible. The Congressional Budget Office projects this would save taxpayers $1.5 billion over 10 years.

I thought Cline was in favor of saving taxpayers money.

The vote to pass the bill was 342 to 92. All 222 Democrats and 120 Republicans voted YES. Cline was among the 92 Republicans who voted NO.

When it comes to protecting animals from cruelty, Congressman Cline has been a reliable NO vote.

In 2019, Cline was the only member of Congress from Virginia– Democrat or Republican– to vote against a bill banning the abusive practice of soring horses for competition.

Later that year he voted against the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act to ban the sale, purchase, and possession of shark fins in the United States.

As the Animal Welfare Institute reported:

Shark finning is a cruel practice that entails cutting off a shark’s fins—often while the shark is still alive—and throwing the mutilated body in the ocean, where the helplessly immobile shark will suffocate, bleed to death, or succumb to an attack by a predator.

Now we learn that Cline earned a not-so-coveted 0% score from the Humane Society’s Legislative Fund for his record in 2021– one of just 26 out of 535 members of Congress to do so.

Cline achieved that rating by voting:

• Against the PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act (H.R. 1448) to improve the health and well-being of veterans through the healing effects of the human-animal bond.

• For an amendment to continue allowing imports of African lion and elephant trophies taken in Tanzania, Zambia or Zimbabwe.

• Against amendments to protect West Indian manatees in Florida and to direct the VA to use $5 million for equine-assisted therapy for veterans suffering from PTSD.

• Against amendments to help prevent future pandemics by establishing U.S. foreign policy on wildlife trade issues and providing resources to address live wildlife markets and the trade in terrestrial live wildlife for human consumption, and to provide funding and authorizations to expand operations to combat illegal wildlife trafficking in the U.S. and around the world.

In other words, Cline’s attitude toward protecting and helping animals (and people who could benefit from them) doesn’t vary greatly from his attitude toward protecting and helping humans.