WASHINGTON -- Here’s how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes the week of Sept. 21
HOUSE
EXTENDED JOBLESS BENEFITS: Voting 331 for and 83 against, the House on Sept. 22, 2009, passed a bill (HR 3548) providing 13 more weeks of jobless checks for those in high-unemployment states whose current allotments have expired or soon will expire. The bill applies to at least 27 states with jobless rates of 8.5 percent or higher and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The bill would immediately benefit about 300,000 million long-term unemployed and help another one million by year’s end, with the $1.4 billion cost offset mainly by payroll taxes on employers. Jobless checks average $300 per week. The bill would extend total benefits to as long as 21 months in the highest-unemployment states.
Jim McDermott, D-Wash., said economic recovery “will take time. There are still six unemployed workers for every available job, so extended unemployment compensation isn’t a convenience; it’s a necessity.”
John Linder, R-Ga., said: “Since this extended benefits program was created in June 2008...unemployment rose from 5.8 percent ... to now 9.7 percent....We are perpetuating unemployment, not solving it.”
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, Stephen Lynch, D-9
Voting no: None
Not voting: Michael Capuano, D-8, William Delahunt,
D-10
MEDICARE PREMIUMS: Voting 406 for and 18 against, the House on Sept. 24 sent the Senate a bill (HR 3631) to freeze Medicare premiums in 2010 at the current level of about $96.00 per month. Medicare premiums are deducted from Social Security checks, and the rationale of this bill is that since there will be no Social Security inflation adjustment in 2010, there should be no rise in Medicare premiums. About three-fourths of the 42 million Medicare recipients automatically will have their 2010 premiums frozen because there is no inflation this year. The bill covers the 11 Medicare participants who lack such automatic protection.
Medicare Part B covers doctor visits and other outpatient services. Medicare Part A (hospital costs) carries no premium for most participants. Seniors who opt for Part C (Medicare Advantage) and Part D (prescription drugs) pay premiums to insurance firms.
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said this is “not the most important bill that we’re going to face in the health-care area. That’s coming up very soon.” But it is important “for those of us who have always supported the Medicare program....”
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., objected to the bill’s freezing Medicare premiums for individuals earning $85,000 or more. “At a time of...fiscal challenge, do we say to Ross Perot, we feel your pain and so we are going to exempt you from an increase?”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Olver, Neal (MA),
McGovern, Frank (MA), Tsongas, Tierney, Markey
(MA), Capuano, Lynch
Voting no: None
Not voting: Delahunt
SENATE
NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM: Voting 79 for and 19 against, the Senate on Sept. 24 tabled (killed) an amendment to shift $420 million in the 2010 Interior Department budget (HR 2996) from land acquisition to maintenance in the National Park System. The $32.2 billion appropriations bill was later sent to conference with the House.
Tabling supporter Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said national parks maintenance was amply funded in the 2009 economic stimulus bill.
Amendment sponsor Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the park system has an $11 billion maintenance backlog “that ought to be a priority before we add one more acre to 650 million acres we already own.”
A yes vote was to kill the amendment.
MASSACHUSETTS
Voting yes: John Kerry, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
OFFSHORE DRILLING: Voting 56 for and 42 against, the Senate on Sept. 23 tabled (killed) a Republican bid to speed implementation of a new law to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Although approved last year, the new drilling cannot begin until 2012 for contractual reasons. In part, the expansion authorizes Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) drilling 100 miles off the Atlantic and Pacific shorelines and beyond. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rejected a Bush- administration drilling plan and ordered a slower pace for planning the new drilling. This vote occurred during debate on HR 2996 (above).
Salazar said on Feb. 10: “We must establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information. Therefore, we need to set aside the Bush administration’s midnight timetable for its Outer Continental Shelf drilling plan and create our own timeline.”
David Vitter, R-La., said the American people “got dramatic action” when Congress partially lifted a moratorium on offshore drilling. “The problem is, the new administration and the new secretary of the Interior are simply saying: `We are not in any hurry to get there.’”
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