WASHINGTON -- Here’s how area members of Congress voted in the week ending April 24. This week the House will take up a bill to curb arbitrary practices by credit-card firms, while the Senate will resume debate on a bill to combat securities and home-mortgage fraud.
HOUSE
U.S. WATER POLICY: Voting 413 for and ten against, the House on April 23 sent the Senate a bill (HR 1145) to improve the performance of the 20-plus federal agencies concerned with providing the nation with adequate water supplies and clean drinking water. The bill would establish a White House office charged with adding focus to federal water policy and eliminating duplicative research and development programs. The bill is projected to cost $8 million over five years, including $2 million in additional funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). About 36 states will experience serious water shortages over the next five years, according to debate.
Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., said the bill is needed at a time when “diminished supplies of water and intense competition for limited resources are forcing local water agencies to make tough decisions on water allocations and limiting access to needed water by businesses and families.”
Candice Miller, R-Mich., said “we in Michigan and the Great Lakes Basin get very nervous” when national water policy is discussed. “My constituents will not abide even the prospect of a diversion of the Great Lakes water to other areas of the country where growth is beginning to outstrip their resources.”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Olver, D-1, Richard
Neal, D-2, James McGovern, D-3, Barney Frank,
D-4, Niki Tsongas, D-5, John Tierney, D-6, Edward
Markey, D-7, Michael Capuano, D-8, Stephen Lynch,
D-9, William Delahunt, D-10
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
COMMUNITY POLICE GRANTS: The House on April 23 voted, 342 for and 78 against, to expand a Clinton administration program known as COPS, which provides federal grants for the hiring of local police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The bill (HR 1139) would authorize grants for purposes such as hiring prosecutors, fighting terrorism and helping schools combat drugs and gangs. President Obama’s budget includes $1.8 billion annually over five years for the COPS program. The bill awaits Senate action.
Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said: “There is a federal role...in helping localities defend themselves against terrorism, deal with the challenges of immigration and basically, help fight crime.”
Steve King, R-Iowa, said the bill was “like giving huge bonuses to AIG executives. There is no justification rather than an insatiable desire to spend taxpayers’ money and funnel resources...into the inner cities where these jobs would be created at the cost of $167,000 a job.”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Olver, Neal (MA),
McGovern, Frank (MA), Tsongas, Tierney, Markey
(MA), Capuano, Lynch, Delahunt
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
SENATE
CHRISTOPHER HILL CONFIRMATION: Voting 73 for and 23 against, the Senate on April 21 confirmed career diplomat Christopher Hill as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Supporters said Hill has proven to be a skilled diplomat during 32 years in the Foreign Service. Opponents said that as President Bush’s lead negotiator with North Korea, he conceded too much on nuclear-arms and human-rights issues.
Sam Brownback, R-Kans., said: “We should not put the individual who negotiated this bad (North Korean) deal into our most important diplomatic post.”
Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Hill “developed a well-earned reputation as a diplomatic troubleshooter by taking on a series of difficult assignments” in the Balkans, Poland, South Korea and North Korea.
A yes vote was to confirm Hill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Kerry, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: Edward Kennedy, D
WHISTLEBLOWER REWARDS: Voting 31 for and 61 against, the Senate on April 23 refused to cap at $50 million the reward for whistleblowers who use the False Claims Act to help the government recover funds lost through fraud. The act authorizes private citizens to file fraud suits on behalf of the government and receive up to 30 percent of any recovery. It has led to the Treasury recovering about $22 billion over the past 20 years. This amendment was offered to a bill (S 386) still in debate that would toughen federal laws against financial crimes such as mortgage and securities fraud.
Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said: “I think we all agree whistleblowers deserve to be compensated when they save the government money,” but they “don’t deserve to be grossly overcompensated, especially when that compensation comes at the expense of the federal Treasury.”
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he would not tinker with a law that “has brought back more than $22 billion into the Treasury” and gives courts authority to disallow excessive rewards.
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