The measure of Kerry's career

Factcheck tries to clear up the issue of how much little John Kerry has accomplished in two decades in the U.S. Senate: “Just how many bills has Kerry passed?”

At the final presidential debate, Bush said Kerry had passed only five bills during his career, and Kerry said he had passed 56. Actually, we found eleven measures authored by Kerry have been signed into law, including a save-the-dolphins law, a law naming a federal building, a law giving a posthumous award to Jackie Robinson last year, and laws declaring "world population awareness weeks" in 1989 and 1991.

And here’s some more important “work” by the Senator:

Of Kerry's total [the 56 he said he “passed”], 24 were concurrent resolutions or simple Senate resolutions that had no chance of becoming law. Some examples.

• S.Res.123: To change the name of the Committee on Small Business to the "Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship." (2001)
• S.Res.133: To make May 21, 1991 “National Land Trust Appreciation Day.” (1991)
• S.Res.144: To encourage the European Community to vote to ban driftnets for all European Community fishing fleets. (1991 )
• S.Res.216: Honoring Milton D. Stewart for his leadership and service at the Small Business Administration. (2002)
• S.Con.Res.26: Calling for the United States to support a new agreement providing for a ban on commercial mining of minerals in Antarctica. (1991)
Kerry's total also includes 10 Senate-passed bills that would have done nothing more than grant waivers to specific foreign-built vessels to transport cargo or people along the US coastline despite a 1920 law requiring that only US-built vessels be allowed to operate between US ports. Because there were 10 different vessels, Kerry introduced 10 separate bills. All died in the House.

You cannot simultaneously believe that John Kerry cares deeply about the major issues of the day and spent twenty years in the Senate doing...nothing.

[Cross-posted on Blogs for Bush]