How they voted
Targeted News Service July 7, 2012 11:12PM
Updated: July 29, 2012 12:48AM
WASHINGTON — Here’s how U.S. Reps. Joe Donnelly and Peter Visclosky, Democrats, and U.S. Sens. Richard Lugar and Daniel Coats, Republicans, voted last week.
House
1 PERCENT SPENDING CUT: The House rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 5972). The amendment would have cut funding provided by the bill by 1 percent. Blackburn said the amendment “will save taxpayers an additional $516 million. That is $516 million that our children and our grandchildren will not have to pay back with interest.” An opponent, Rep. John W. Olver, D-Mass., said: “This amendment indiscriminately cuts programs in transportation and housing without any thought to the relevant merits of the programs contained in this bill.” The vote, on June 29, was 166 yeas to 254 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, nay
MIGRATORY SWALLOWS: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 5972). The amendment would bar funding for enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as it related to the cliff swallow and barn swallow species. Lankford said current law preventing work on transportation projects in areas with cliff swallow or barn swallow nests “dramatically drives up the cost and decreases the amount of construction that we can do in America during prime construction season.” An opponent, Rep. John W. Olver, D-Mass., said the amendment would fail to solve the problem because the Fish and Wildlife Service and not the Transportation Department enforced environmental law that applied to the swallows. The vote, on June 29, was 234 yeas to 191 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, nay
CALIFORNIA HIGH-SPEED RAIL: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 5972). The amendment would bar funding for high-speed rail projects in California. Denham said “we need to make sure that our gas tax dollars get used for their intended purpose of actually improving our roads and highways” and not wasting money on expensive rail projects. An opponent, Rep. John W. Olver, D-Mass., said the amendment sought to block work on rail projects that have already been approved by California votes and on which work has already begun. The vote, on June 29, was 239 yeas to 185 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, nay; Visclosky, nay
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING: The House passed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 5972), sponsored by Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa. The bill would provide $51.6 billion of funding for the Transportation Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Amtrak, and other related agencies in fiscal 2013. Latham said the bill cut spending from fiscal 2012 levels by nearly $4 billion, focusing on the “programs most critical to public safety and economic growth,” including new air traffic control technology and unmanned aviation. An opponent, Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., said the bill failed to provide enough housing vouchers to end homelessness for the country’s 70,000 veterans. The vote, on June 29, was 261 yeas to 163 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
HIGHWAY PROJECTS: The House agreed to the conference report accompanying the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (H.R. 4348), sponsored by Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. The bill would extend funding for highway and other transportation programs through fiscal 2014, extend the current rate for federally subsidized student loans for one year, and extend the National Flood Insurance Program for five years. Mica said the bill introduced historic reforms to transportation programs that will dramatically reduce the cost and time require to obtain project permits while increasing flexibility for local governments to make their own transportation projects. An opponent, Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, said the bill would cut funding for highway projects in Guam and other U.S. territories by 20 percent, threatening the effort to construct “a quality highway system that facilitates commerce in the territories.” The vote, on June 29, was 373 yeas to 52 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
Senate
TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS: The Senate agreed to the conference report accompanying the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (H.R. 4348), sponsored by Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. The bill would extend funding for highway and other transportation programs through fiscal 2014, extend the current rate for federally subsidized student loans for one year, and extend the National Flood Insurance Program for five years. A supporter, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said the bill’s hard deadlines for environmental reviews of transportation projects will speed work on the projects, while the flood insurance extension introduced reforms that “cut subsidies, save the taxpayers money, and greatly improve the program’s financial position.” An opponent, Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., said a provision that would preauthorize the Army Corps of Engineers to close a system of locks in the Chicago area to prevent the Asian carp from migrating into the Great Lakes “would endanger about $14 billion per year of economic activity and over 100,000 jobs.” The vote, on June 29, was 74 yeas to 19 nays.
Votes: Lugar, yea; Coats, nay
