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Roll Call

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March 1, 2010

Congressional roll call for week of Feb. 22

WASHINGTON - Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues the week of Feb. 22.



HOUSE

ANTITRUST EXEMPTION: Voting 406 for and 19 against, the House on Feb. 24 sent the Senate a bill (HR 4626) to end the health-insurance industry’s 64-year-old federal antitrust exemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Health insurers are regulated on the state level and are subject to state anti-trust laws. Under this bill, the Justice Department would provide another layer of enforcement against monopolistic activities such as collusion in the setting of premium rates, allocating market shares and rigging bids on contracts. The bill exempts medical-malpractice insurers.

Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division “should not have their hands tied only in respect to the industry of insurance. Every other industry in America has learned to live with truly free markets with antitrust law. This industry can do the same, and it will benefit consumers. This is a false argument that somehow they need this special privilege....”

James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said: “State laws prohibit insurers from bid-rigging, price-fixing and market allocation to restrain competition. State insurance regulators actively enforce the prohibition in these areas, and this legislation would only add another layer of federal regulation and litigation to an industry that operates under a robust and well-established state regulatory regime.”

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, Michael Capuano, D-8, Stephen Lynch,

D-9, William Delahunt, D-10 

Voting no:   None

Not voting:   None



2010 SPY BUDGET: Voting 235 for and 168 against, the House on Feb. 26 approved a classified 2010 U.S. intelligence budget unofficially estimated at $50 billion or higher. The bill (HR 2701) funds operations of the CIA, National Security Agency and several other spy agencies. In part, the bill would step up the use of human assets to fight terrorists; require the videotaping of prisoner interrogations; prescribe stiff sentences for interrogators who inflict torture; upgrade government cybersecurity systems; fund the recruitment of a more diverse workforce; expand training in several African languages and authorize Government Accounting Office audits of certain intelligence operations. The bill awaits Senate action.

Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said Republicans contend “we are sacrificing our national security by not allowing the torture of our enemies. In fact, I think we are enhancing our national security” by outlawing torture. “If we stick to our values, we enhance our national security.”

Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., objected to the bill’s allowing the transfer of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison to the United States and its level of response to Iran’s nuclear program. He said the U.S. intelligence community “is now to the left of the United Nations as to our assessment of what Iran’s capabilities are....”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.



MASSACHUSETTS  Voting yes: Olver, Neal  (MA),

McGovern, Frank  (MA), Tsongas, Tierney, Markey

 (MA), Capuano, Delahunt 

Voting no:   None

Not voting:   Lynch 



NATIVE HAWAIIAN SOVEREIGNTY: Voting 245 for and 164 against, the House on Feb. 23 sent the Senate a bill (HR 2314) empowering Native Hawaiians to form a sovereign government comparable to the Native American and Native Alaskan nations in the United States. If certified by the secretary of the Interior, the government would have standing to negotiate for the control of land and other assets that once belonged to indigenous Hawaiians. The bill would set up a U.S. Office for Native Hawaiian Relations in the Interior Department and create a commission to determine which persons are sufficiently indigenous to be included in the sovereign nation.

Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said the bill “seeks to rectify a wrong that occurred” on Jan. 17, 1893, when “the legitimate Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown by American speculators with the active participation of the U.S. military. Five years after this overthrow, Hawaii was annexed to the United States and the lands of the indigenous population were lost to sugar plantations. Their health, education and economic standing diminished greatly....”

Urging a statewide referendum on the issue, Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said “before Congress changes the civil rights of all Hawaiians and establishes a two-tiered government in Hawaii, one of which is based on an individual’s ancestry and race, a vote of all Hawaiians should be held to approve these changes.”

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

JOBS CREATION: Voting 70 for and 28 against, the Senate on Feb. 24 sent the House a bill (HR 2847) that would temporarily exempt businesses from having to pay the 6.2 percent employer’s share of Social Security withholding taxes on workers they hire this year from the jobless ranks. Employers also would receive a $1,000 tax credit for each new hire that stays on the job for one year. The two incentives would cost the Treasury about $13 billion. The bill also subsidizes state and local bond issues for public-works projects, authorizes businesses to depreciate up to $250,000 in capital investments in a single year rather than over many years and provides $19.5 billion from the Highway Trust Fund for road and transit construction this year.

Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., noted the bill’s considerable Republican support, saying: “Bipartisan victories such as this have been few and far between....Unemployment, of course, is not simply a blue-state problem or a red-state problem....So if there is only one issue that we can find common ground on this year, let it be jobs.”

Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said: “We are spending a lot of money around here that we don’t have, and it is not right. I think the American people would like us to stop that. If we are going to spend this money on roads, then let’s pay for it. Don’t hide the fact that you are not paying for this with some gamesmanship....”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.



MASSACHUSETTS  Voting yes: Scott Brown, R, John

Kerry, D 

Voting no:   None

Not voting:   None



TRAVEL TO AMERICA: Voting 78 for and 18 against, the Senate on Feb. 256 sent President Obama a bill (HR 1299) that would establish a federal corporation to increase foreign travel to the U.S. The Corporation for Travel Promotion would be funded initially by about $100 million in assessments on the U.S. hospitality industry and another $100 million in special visa fees collected by the Department of Homeland Security. Backers said the programs could attract 1.6 million new visitors each year who would spend $4 billion in the U.S.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the measure “is a jobs bill. It is about creating jobs, it is about growing our economy and it is about keeping the United States competitive in the world travel business.”

No senator spoke against the bill.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.



MASSACHUSETTS  Voting yes: Kerry 

Voting no:   Brown 

Not voting:   None



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