Congressional roll call for weeks of July 27, Aug. 3
WASHINGTON -- Here’s how your represenatives in Congress were recoreded on major roll-call votes the weeks of July 27 and Aug. 3:
HOUSE
`CASH FOR CLUNKERS’: Voting 316 for and 109 against, the House on July 31 sent the Senate a bill (HR 3435) to appropriate an additional $2 billion for the new “cash for clunkers” law. Under the program, consumers trade their car or truck for government vouchers worth $3,500 to $4,500 to be applied to the purchase of a new domestic or foreign vehicle having better fuel efficiency. The program exhausted its original $1 billion appropriation in one week.
Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said: “This program has stimulated the economy. We have doubled car sales over the past five days. This is truly stimulative. It is creating jobs. It is creating a surge for car dealers. The American consumer is satisfied with it, and we need to continue it.”
Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said: “Maybe we should have a `cash for cluckers’ program and pay people to eat chicken. Then...a program to pay people to buy TVs....But this is not a humorous affair.... Why is the auto industry the winner? Why is the poultry industry the loser? This is one more step in enshrining us as a bailout nation.”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Olver, Neal (MA),
McGovern, Frank (MA), Tsongas, Markey (MA),
Capuano, Lynch, Delahunt
Voting no: Tierney
Not voting: None
SENATE
JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: Voting 68 for and 31 against, the Senate on Aug. 6 confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as the 111th justice of the Supreme Court. Sotomayor, 54, fills the seat left vacant when Justice David H. Souter retired in June.
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Sotomayor “has had more experience on the federal court than any nominee to the Supreme Court in decades” and “has applied the law to the facts of the cases she has considered....Those who struggle to pin the label of judicial activist...are met by her very solid record of judging based on the law. She is a restrained, experienced and thoughtful judge who has shown no bias in her rulings. “
James Inhofe, R-Okla., said: “I do not believe Judge Sotomayor can be trusted to uphold the individual freedom to keep and bear arms if future Second Amendment cases come before her. I have received no assurances from her past decisions or public testimony that she will be willing to fairly consider the question of whether the Second Amendment is a fundamental right” and thus protected against state laws.
A yes vote was to confirm Sotomayor.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Kerry, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: Edward Kennedy, D
`CASH FOR CLUNKERS’: Voting 60 for and 37 against, the Senate on Aug. 6 sent President Obama a bill (HR 3435) appropriating $2 billion to extend “cash for clunkers” funding at least through Labor Day. Under the program, consumers can trade vehicles getting 18 miles per gallon or less for vouchers worth $3,500 to $4,500 to be applied to the purchase of a new domestic or foreign vehicle having better fuel efficiency. The amount of the voucher depends on the new vehicle’s miles per gallon. The program exhausted its original $1 billion appropriation in less than two weeks.
Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the program “has been very popular with the American people” and “a shot in the arm for the auto industry and our dealers at a very critical time.”
Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said “we need to call a time out...and evaluate how much more, if any, we want to spend.... In short, this crash program must be properly restructured now if it is to be continued.”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Kerry
Voting no: None
Not voting: Kennedy
DEFICIT DISPUTE: Voting 46 for and 51 against, the Senate on Aug. 6 defeated an amendment requiring the $2 billion cost of HR 3435 (above) to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. The sum already was offset by cuts in renewable-energy loan guarantees in the 2009 economic stimulus, but critics called that a gimmick.
Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said: “The program has so many inconsistencies about it, but the ultimate inconsistency is we are borrowing from our kids to pay this.”
Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said: “The $2 billion involved is completely offset with funds already appropriated” as part of the economic stimulus.
A yes vote backed the amendment.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: None
Voting no: Kerry
Not voting: Kennedy
2010 FARM, FOOD BUDGET: Voting 80 for and 17 against, the Senate on Aug. 4 approved $23.1 billion in discretionary spending and $100.9 billion in mandatory spending for agriculture, food and nutrition programs in fiscal 2010. The bill (HR 2997) appropriates $2.3 billion for the Food and Drug Administration, funds a growing demand for government food aid during the recession, increases international food aid and raises price supports for dairy farmers (next issue, below).
The bill’s largest mandatory-spending categories are $86.1 billion for domestic food and nutrition programs, including $61.4 billion for Food Stamps, and $16.8 billion for school lunch and breakfast programs. The largest discretionary outlays are $7.9 billion for nutrition; $3.4 billion for food and drug safety; $3.1 billion for rural development; $2.1 billion for global food aid and $1.1 billion for conservation programs. Crop subsidies are mostly funded by the five-year farm law, a separate measure.
Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said the bill addresses “the most basic of human needs” by ensuring that “over 11 million kids receive breakfast and 31 million kids receive lunch at school every day” and that “two million kids from low-income families receive a nutritious meal during the summer when their parents are not home.”
Tom Coburn, R-Okla., objected to the bill’s steep increase in discretionary spending, saying: “I find it obscene. I find it irresponsible. I find it almost elite that we will not relate to what the rest of the American people are going through....”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Kerry
Voting no: None
Not voting: Kennedy
MILK PRICE SUPPORTS: Senators on Aug. 4 voted, 60 for and 37 against, to raise dairy price supports by $1.50 per hundred pounds of milk, adding $350 million to the cost of HR 2997 (above). The measure would help dairy farmers nationwide cut losses attributed to global recession but set the stage for likely increases in the retail cost of milk.
Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said: “This short-term help could mean the difference between economic viability or financial disaster for dairy farmers from one end of this country to the other.”
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