WASHINGTON -- Here’s how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes the week of May 15.
HOUSE
WAR APPROPRIATIONS: Voting 368 for and 60 against, the House on May 14 approved $84.3 billion to fund U.S. combat operations through Sept. 30 and $12 billion for non-military programs. The bill provides $47.7 billion for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan; $23 billion for repairing or replacing military equipment; $4.8 billion for acquiring explosion-resistant vehicles; $3.6 billion for training Afghan security forces; $400 million for bolstering Pakistani counterinsurgency efforts and $1.3 billion for developing defenses against roadside bombs.
Now awaiting Senate action, the bill (HR 2346) provides special payments to 170,000 troops whose enlistments were extended against their will after 9/11, awarding $500 for every month served under these “stop-loss” orders.
The bill also appropriates $4.4 billion to help Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan develop their economies and build rule-of-law institutions; $3.2 billion for upgrading the U.S. military’s hospital and family facilities; $3.1 billion for acquiring C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft and $1.1 billion for assigning more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Additionally, the bill appropriates $4 billion for dealing with pandemic flu epidemics, $1.4 billion for international humanitarian and refugee programs; $400 million to boost Mexico’s war against drug traffickers and $100 million for fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa. The bill appropriates economic and security aid totaling $665 million for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, $555 million for Israel, $360 million for Egypt, $250 million for Jordan and $74 billion for Lebanon.
David Obey, D-Wis., said President Obama “has inherited what I consider to be the worst foreign policy mess from his predecessor in the history of the country, a three-country regional mess....I want the president to get everything that he asked for and then some to maximize his chances for success. And that is what this bill does. I frankly have very little faith that it will work.”
Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said: “I am sick and tired of wars that have no exits, deadlines or an end. …and I am deeply concerned about how long we will be able to sustain and pay for an expanded military presence in Afghanistan…. What is the exit strategy that brings (us) home? Until someone gives me a credible answer, I will be voting no. ‘’
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Olver, D-1, Stephen
Lynch, D-9
Voting no: 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
REPUBLICAN MOTION: Voting 191 for and 237 against, the House on May 14 defeated a Republican motion designed, in part, to transfer $200 million in HR 2346 (above) from foreign aid to the Department of Justice’s war against narco-trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said the bill “fails to include one red cent for the vital work of our law enforcement agencies fighting the cartels along our border with M-xico and their tentacles reaching into every city in America.”
David Obey, D-Wis., said: “I would point out that in the stimulus bill, which virtually every (Republican) voted against just a few short weeks ago, we provided an over $700 million increase to deal with our border problems.”
A yes vote backed the GOP motion.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: None
Voting no: Olver, Neal (MA), McGovern, Frank
(MA), Tsongas, Tierney, Markey (MA), Capuano,
Lynch
Not voting: Delahunt
GREEN SCHOOL RENOVATIONS: Voting 275 for and 155 against, the House on May 14 passed a bill (HR 2187) authorizing $6.4 billion in fiscal 2010 for public-school renovations that use mostly `green’ building materials and increase energy efficiency. The multi-year program would funnel grants and low-cost loans through state agencies mainly to schools in poor areas. The bill also authorizes $600 million over six years for repairing Gulf Coast schools damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Backers said the bill would upgrade unhealthy classrooms while creating jobs and saving energy. Opponents called the bill unaffordable and said it was not a federal responsibility to finance local school construction.
Ben Chandler, D-Ky., called the bill “a home run” that will direct “much needed money to our schools’ struggle with huge budget deficits and deteriorating facilities while encouraging energy efficiency and creating jobs for Americans that cannot be shipped overseas.”
Howard McKeon, R-Calif., said: “The national debt is now about $11 trillion.... We need to get the federal budget under control. If we don’t, the children we’re trying to help today will spend the rest of their lives paying off our debts....”
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Olver, Neal (MA),
McGovern, Frank (MA), Tsongas, Tierney, Markey
(MA), Capuano, Lynch, Delahunt
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
SENATE
CREDIT-CARD INTEREST CAP: Voting 33 for and 60 against, the Senate on May 13 refused to place a statutory cap on credit-card interest rates. The amendment to HR 627 sought to impose the same 15 percent usury limit on credit cards that has applied to credit unions for the past 29 years. The underlying bill remained in debate.
Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said: “After taking $700 billion from the taxpayers, after getting zero interest loans from the Fed, what these banks are now saying is: `Thank you very much, chump, we are going to take your money, and then we are going to charge you 25 or 30 percent interest rates.’”
No senator spoke against the amendment. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., sponsored the point of order that led to its defeat.
A yes vote was to limit interest rates.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Kerry, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: Edward Kennedy, D
GUN RIGHTS IN PARKS: The Senate on May 12 voted, 67 for and 29 against, to affirm Bush administration regulations ensuring the right to bear loaded guns in the National Park System and National Wildlife Refuge System. The amendment to HR 627 (above) seeks to counter a federal judge’s recent ruling to block the regulations.
Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the amendment would keep “bureaucrats, activist judges and special interest groups from infringing on the right for law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and their families in national parks and refuges.”
Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said the amendment could weaken support for the underlying bill to change credit-card practices.
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