Congressional roll call for weeks of Sept. 7 and 14

WASHINGTON -- Here’s how area members of Congress voted in the week ending Sept. 11.

HOUSE

JOE WILSON REPRIMAND: Voting 240 for and 179 against, the House on Sept. 15 expressed “disapproval” of Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s Sept. 9 speech to Congress. The South Carolina Republican shouted “you lie” when the president said his health-care proposals would not benefit illegal immigrants. Wilson apologized to the White House chief of staff and Obama accepted the apology. Wilson has refused to apologize to the full House for his act. The disapproval measure (H Res 744) was the mildest punishment the House could give to Wilson.

Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said the issue was “about the rules of this House and reprehensible conduct....This hall is the most prominent classroom in this great country and all of us are teachers. We are bound by duty and the offices we hold to conduct ourselves as such.”

Wilson said: “It is clear to the American people that there are far more important issues facing this nation than what we’re addressing right now.” He said Obama “graciously accepted my apology and the issue is over....”

A yes vote was to reprimand Wilson.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Olver, D-1, Richard

Neal, D-2, James McGovern, D-3, Niki Tsongas,

D-5, John Tierney, D-6, Edward Markey, D-7, Michael

Capuano, D-8

Voting no: William Delahunt, D-10

Not voting: Barney Frank, D-4, Stephen Lynch,

D-9

STUDENT LOANS: Voting 253 for and 171 against, the House on Sept. 17 passed a bill (HR 3221) to shift federally backed student loans to direct lending by the Department of Education, excluding the private-sector lenders who now dominate the government program. The bill would save $87 billion over ten years by ending the private lenders’ taxpayer subsidies, guarantees and bailouts. The savings would be used, in part, to expand Pell Grants for poor students and Perkins Loans for middle-income students. Pell Grants would be converted to an entitlement program and increased from today’s cap of about $5,350 annually to $5,550 in 2010 and $6,900 by 2019.

The $55 billion annual student-loan market is split between federally backed private lending and the government’s direct lending. The rules allow banks and other private firms to keep all interest revenue while shifting their losses to taxpayers. Some private portfolios have received Treasury bailouts during the current recession.

Over ten years, $10 billion of the bill’s $87 billion in savings would be allocated to community colleges; $8 billion to early-childhood education; $8 billion to reducing the national debt; $6.6 billion for K-12 and higher-education classroom construction, and $2.55 billion to institutions serving mainly blacks, Hispanics, native Americans and other minorities, along with allocations to Pell Grants, Perkins Loans and other programs.

The bill awaits Senate action.

Thomas Petri, R-Wis., said that under existing rules, “If a student defaults, the taxpayers are on the hook, not the private lender. The profits are private, but the losses are socialized.” He said the program is “fraught with scandal and an unreliable source of funds, and it costs billions of dollars more for the taxpayers.”

John Kline, R-Minn., said the bill “is awash with new entitlement programs....Add to these new programs the cost of expanding Pell Grants, funding for Minority Serving Institutions and the Perkins Loan Program, and we have on our hands a massive entitlement spending spree.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Olver, Neal (MA),

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

Lynch, Delahunt

Voting no: None

Not voting: Frank (MA)

ACORN FUNDING BAN: Voting 345 for and 75 against, the House on Sept. 17 barred the community-advocacy group Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) from receiving funding in HR 3221 (above). This followed release of an undercover videotape in which a few Acorn workers are seen urging illegal activity. Acorn then fired some of those employees. See Senate issue below for more information on Acorn.

Darryl Issa, R-Calif., said: “In recent days, media accounts have detailed Acorn employees’ alleged complicity in illegal schemes too unseemly to discuss in this chamber. To continue funding this organization would not just be indefensible -- it would be an outrage.”

No House member spoke against the motion.

A yes vote backed the Republican motion.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Tierney

Voting no: Olver, Neal (MA), McGovern, Tsongas,

Markey (MA), Capuano, Lynch, Delahunt

Not voting: Frank (MA)

VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES: Voting 312 for and 114 against, the House on Sept 16 passed a bill (HR 3246) authorizing $2.43 billion through fiscal 2014 for Department of Energy programs to develop clean technologies for improving fuel efficiency and reducing harmful emissions in vehicles ranging from cars to tractor-trailers. The bill, which awaits Senate action, would use public funds to support private-sector research.

Gary Peters, D-Mich., said America is moving toward “a more energy-independent economy which will require the production of new vehicle technologies....Development of advanced technologies for both heavy-duty trucks and passenger vehicles...requires a coordinated effort at the federal level.”

Paul Broun, R-Ga., said the spending in the bill is “in addition to the billions of dollars...made available to the auto industry in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and the millions more made available to them just this year....”

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

CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED: Voting 311 for and 107 against, the House on Sept. 10 passed a bill (HR 965) making permanent a federal-state program that promotes citizen involvement in restoring the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. Overseen by the National Park Service at a budget of about $1 million annually, the program provides funds and technical assistance for the conservation of water trails, wildlife refuges, historic sites and other units in the ecosystem, which is the nation’s largest estuary.

John Sarbanes, D-Md., said the health of the Chesapeake Bay “has deteriorated over the years because of increased nutrient runoff, chemical contaminants and other pollution. To reverse the damage to the bay, we need the active participation of the 16 million people who live in the bay watershed.”

Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said Congress should not be “granting eternal life and unlimited sums of money to government programs. Bills creating or renewing government programs are typically (limited) to ensure that...taxpayer dollars are not being misused, wasted, or unnecessarily spent.”

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

Voting no: None

Not voting: Stephen Lynch, D-9, William Delahunt,

D-10

ANNUAL BUDGET DEFICITS: Voting 194 for and 229 against, the House on Sept. 10 rejected a Republican bid to delay the effective date of HR 965 (above) until annual budget deficits fall below $1 trillion. The fiscal 2009 deficit is projected at $1.7 trillion or higher.

Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said: “With unemployment approaching 10 percent, with upside-down mortgages and with homeowners facing foreclosure, I think it is hardly time to add eternal life and unlimited money to a very nice but unnecessary federal program.”

Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said the amendment is “like saying we on the Republican side ran up a huge deficit. Now we want to penalize this one little program until you (Democrats) clean up the mess.”

A yes vote backed the GOP motion.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: None

Voting no: Olver, Neal (MA), McGovern, Frank

(MA), Tsongas, Tierney, Markey (MA), Capuano

Not voting: Lynch, Delahunt

SENATE

ACORN FUNDING BAN: The Senate on Sept. 14 voted, 83 for and seven against, to disqualify Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) from receiving grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fiscal 2010 budget (HR 3288). Acorn has received HUD funds for advising the poor on matters such as obtaining mortgages and combating housing discrimination.

Acorn is a 39-year-old advocacy organization for poor and moderate-income people that operates mainly on non-federal funding. The group says its 1,200 chapters in 75 cities use “direct action, negotiation, legislative advocacy and voter participation” to help “those who have historically been locked out become powerful players in our democratic system.”

But in a recent report, House Republicans called Acorn “a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators,” and says the group’s “stated purpose to promote grassroots civic participation has been perverted through fraudulent and illegal acts.”

Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said: “Until a full investigation is launched into ACORN, no taxpayer money should be used to fund its activities. A vote in favor of my amendment is a vote in favor of the taxpayer and a vote against the status quo.”

No senator spoke against the amendment.

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Kerry, D

Voting no: None

Not voting: None

GUNS ON AMTRAK: Voting 68 for and 30 against, the Senate on Sept. 16 required Amtrak to allow passengers to stow handguns in checked luggage or lose its $1.6 billion federal subsidy. The vote, which occurred during debate on HR 3288 (above), gives Amtrak six months to comply.

Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said: “Only the federally subsidized Amtrak prohibits law-abiding American citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right in checked baggage.”

Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the amendment gives Amtrak “six months to build a process for checking and tracking firearms....There is nothing in the (bill) to pay for any of that. So this amendment is going to put a severe burden on them, and if they do not comply, Amtrak will shut down.”

A yes vote backed the amendment.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: None

Voting no: Kerry

Not voting: None

TOURISM IN AMERICA: Voting 79 for and 19 against, the Senate on Sept. 9 passed a bill (S 1023) that would establish a federal corporation to increase foreign travel to the U.S. and expand existing Department of Commerce tourism programs. The Corporation for Travel Promotion would be funded by assessments of about $20 million annually on the U.S. hospitality industry and $160 million annually in fees received by the Department of Homeland Security for granting visa waivers to foreign travelers. The bill awaits House action.

Roland Burris, D-Ill., said foreign travel and tourism have declined in the U.S. since 2001. “We must act swiftly to protect the 8.3 million American jobs that are directly related to travel and tourism. This means welcoming more overseas visitors each year -- visitors who already pour $142 billion into the United States on an annual basis.”

Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said: “Instead of creating an additional government tourism office, I think we should work to fund the actual federal responsibilities we have that relate to visitors coming to our country, such as upgrading or adding infrastructure at our ports....We don’t have to create another redundant office of tourism and charge the tourists to fund it.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: John Kerry, D

Voting no: None

Not voting: None

CASS SUNSTEIN NOMINATION: The Senate on Sept. 10 confirmed, 57 for and 40 against, professor Cass R. Sunstein of the Harvard University Law School to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Established by the 1980 Paperwork Reduction Act, the agency has final say on the wording of new regulations, oversees the federal regulatory process and directs executive-branch policies in areas such as technology, privacy and statistics.

Joseph Lieberman, I-Ct., said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers back Sunstein, and have concluded “that he will be fair and not anti-business (or) anti-economic growth in this important position.” He said Sunstein is “a bright, thoughtful, creative man who, as a professor, has written some provocative, unconventional ideas.”

Jim Bunning, R-Ky., called Sunstein’s views “far outside of the mainstream. For example, (he) believes that animals should be given the same rights as humans.... Any regulation that comes out of the Department of Agriculture could negatively impact farmers across the nation if (he) is the person responsible for implementing that regulation.”

A yes vote was to confirm Sunstein.

MASSACHUSETTS Voting yes: Kerry

Voting no: None

Not voting: None

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