WASHINGTON - Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues in the week of Oct. 19.
HOUSE
COAST GUARD BUDGET: Voting 385 for and 11 against, the House on Oct. 23 passed a bill (HR 3619) authorizing $10 billion for the Coast Guard in fiscal 2010, about two-thirds of which would fund core missions such as conducting searches and rescues, combating drug smugglers and defending the U.S. coast against terrorist threats. The bill, which increases Coast Guard personnel by 1,500 positions to a force of 47,000, awaits Senate action.
The bill requires the 125-to-150 cruise ships that enter U.S. ports to do a better job of preventing or responding to sexual assaults on passengers. Cruise operators would be required to report alleged crimes to the FBI and Coast Guard, publish crime data online, establish procedures to assist victims and have at least one crew member trained to investigate crime scenes.
The bill sets tougher safety rules for commercial fishing vessels that operate beyond three nautical miles of the U.S. coast, including a requirement for crew training every five years in preventing and surviving collisions. Additionally, the bill authorizes $70 million over five years for Arctic-shipping programs in areas such as icebreaking, navigation, and preventing oil spills.
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, William Delahunt,
D-10
Voting no: None
Not voting: Michael Capuano, D-8
SOLAR ENERGY: Voting 310 for and 106 against, the House on Oct. 22 authorized $2.18 billion between fiscal 2011-2015 for Department of Energy programs to develop solar-energy technologies. The bill (HR 3585) establishes a long-term partnership among the federal government, the private sector and universities to develop and market solar technologies, in the same way that federal funds and policies have been used to nurture the U.S. semi-conductor industry in recent decades.
Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., said the bill “will strengthen the ability of U.S. companies to regain America’s world leadership in solar technology and exports.”
Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said solar energy “is roughly 17 times more expensive than nuclear power, and it consumes 32 times the land area of a comparable nuclear facility....This is an industry that exists solely of the dole, by the dole and for the dole, and it is now clamoring for billions of dollars more.”
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
MEDICARE DOCTOR PAYMENTS: Voting 47 for and 53 against, the Senate on Oct. 21 failed to reach 60 votes for advancing a bill (S 1776) that would avert a 21 percent cut next year in Medicare payments to doctors and 5 percent cuts in following years. The bill was opposed mainly because its cost of $247 billion over ten years would be added to the national debt. The bill also sought to permanently change the formula for calculating Medicare payments to doctors.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Republicans “never worried in the past about all the tax cuts being paid for” but “now are suddenly being very frugal....”
Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said: “Waiving `pay-go’ requirements for this legislation simply puts a different name on the same $247 billion problem. It passes the buck, and that is not good enough for me.”
A yes vote was to advance the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Paul Kirk, D, John
Kerry, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
2010 MILITARY BUDGET: Voting 68 for and 29 against, the Senate on Oct. 22 sent President Obama the final version of 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.
Carl Levin, D-Mich., said: “With almost 200,000 men and women...currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and many more supporting them...we cannot afford not to enact this legislation.”
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said: “The inclusion of the controversial language of the hate crimes legislation, which is unrelated to our national defense, is deeply troubling.”
A yes vote was to adopt the conference report.
MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Kirk, Kerry
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
HOMELAND-SECURITY BUDGET: Voting 79 for 19 against, the Senate on Oct. 20 sent President Obama the conference report on a $44.1 billion Department of Homeland Security budget for fiscal 2010. The bill (HR 2892) funds agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard. The bill prevents Guantanamo Bay prisoners from being transferred to U.S. soil except for court proceedings, and bars the release of photos and videos showing U.S. mistreatment of prisoners overseas since 9/11.
The bill appropriates $16 billion for combating illegal immigration, including $800 million for physical and electronic fencing on the Mexican border and funding for 41,000 Border Patrol and Customs agents and 33,400 detention beds.
Additionally, the bill provides $1 billion for installing explosive-detection units at airports; $950 million for protecting cities against attacks; $810 million for firefighters; $400 million to protect government computer systems against cyber attacks and $122 million for air-cargo screening.
George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said: “Fewer people are illegally crossing our borders. This can be seen in the decrease in apprehensions of aliens along our borders from nearly 1.2 million in fiscal year 2005 to nearly 724,000 in fiscal year 2008.”
John McCain, R-Ariz., complained that the bill contains 81 earmarks totaling over $269 million, with “no hearing was held to judge whether these were national priorities worthy of scarce taxpayers’ dollars.”
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