WASHINGTON - Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues the week of Oct. 5.
HOUSE
2010 MILITARY BUDGET: Voting 281 for and 146 against, the House on Oct. 8 authorized a $680 billion defense budget (HR 2647) for fiscal 2010 that includes $130 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and $27.9 billion for military health care. The bill was opposed mainly over its expansion of the federal hate-crimes law to cover offenses based on sexual orientation, gender or disability. The bill recommends a 3.4 percent military pay raise, increases active-duty personnel by 40,200 troops to 1.41 million troops, caps procurement of F-22 Raptor fighter jets and ends the over-budget VH-71 White House helicopter program.
The bill makes changes requested by President Obama in rules for trying terrorist suspects before military commissions, adding due-process protections in areas such as the admissibility of coerced testimony, hearsay evidence and exculpatory evidence.
Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., said the he would vote against the defense budget because it was “being used as a vehicle to force hate crimes legislation through the House....”
Jared Polis, D-Colo., noted that the bill’s hate-crimes section would protect “men and women who proudly wear the uniform of the United States from hate crimes.”
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, 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: Niki Tsongas, D-5
GUANTANAMO BAY PRISONERS: Voting 208 for and 216 against, the House on Oct. 8 defeated a Republican bid for firmer measures in HR 2647 (above) against transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States. The motion proposed an absolute ban on prisoner transfers to U.S. soil, in contrast to language in the underlying bill that makes transfers possible 45 days after President Obama has given Congress a plan to close the military prison.
A yes vote backed the GOP motion.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: None
Voting no: Olver, Neal (MA), McGovern, Frank
(MA), Tierney, Markey (MA), Capuano, Lynch,
Delahunt
Not voting: Tsongas
REP. CHARLES RANGEL: Voting 246 for and 153 against, the House on Oct. 7 referred to the Ethics Committee a Republican bid to unseat Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. This measure (H Res 805) blunted a separate GOP motion to immediately remove Rangel because of official and personal misconduct he has publicly acknowledged. Under House rules, neither measure was debatable. Rangel is under fire, in part, over his failure to report and pay taxes on certain investment-property income and misuse of rent-controlled apartment units in his district.
A yes vote backed the Democratic-sponsored motion.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Olver, Neal (MA),
Frank (MA), Tierney, Markey (MA), Capuano, Lynch,
Delahunt
Voting no: None
Not voting: McGovern, Tsongas
SENATE
2010 MILITARY APPROPRIATIONS: Voting 93 for and seven against, the Senate on Oct. 6 approved $636.3 billion in military appropriations for fiscal 2010, including $128.2 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and $28.3 billion for service members’ health care. The bill (HR 3326) funds a 2.9 percent military pay raise; caps production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet; funds C-17 cargo jets over Pentagon objections; provides $7.7 billion for the National Missile Defense, and authorizes 1.425 million active-duty troops and 844,500 reservists.
While the House bill above authorizes the defense budget, this bill would actually spend the money.
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., lauded the bill’s $2.5 billion for ten more C-17 cargo aircraft, saying “over 100,000 workers depend on this production line.... Before we take any action to shut down the line, we must be absolutely certain that we have all of the aircraft we need.”
John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill’s C-17 expenditures “will invariably result in a reduction in critical war-fighting capabilities somewhere else in the defense program.”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Paul Kirk, D, John
Kerry, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
MILITARY CONTRACTORS: Voting 68 for and 30 against, the Senate on Oct. 6 banned military contracts under HR 3326 (above) to companies that deny employees the right to sue over alleged workplace mistreatment. This would end, at least for fiscal 2010, the standard practice of contractors requiring workers to submit grievances to mandatory arbitration and forgo lawsuits. Senators mentioned the case of a Halliburton/KBR employee who was allegedly gang-raped by co-workers in Iraq in 2007, then barred from suing her former employers until a federal appeals court recently intervened to authorize her suit.
Al Franken, D-Minn., said: “The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court. Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen.”
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., called the measure “a political attack directed at Halliburton,” adding “Congress should not be involved in writing or rewriting private contracts.”
A yes vote backed the amendment.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Kirk, Kerry
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
CIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Voting 38 for and 60 against, the Senate on Oct. 6 defeated an amendment to keep funds in HR 3326 (above) from being spent on the CIA’s Center on Climate Change and National Security.
Tom Coburn, R-Okla., asked: Can we really afford to have these analysts redirected from their current responsibilities to work on global climate change, especially when our nation is at war?”
Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said the work of the CIA climate center “will not divert resources” but continue “the traditional role of the intelligence community to support policymakers on national security issues related to climate change.”
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