How they voted
Targeted News Service July 21, 2012 11:34PM
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
FUNDING STATE DEPARTMENT: The House passed the Foreign Relations Authorization Act (H.R. 6018), sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla. The bill would fund the State Department, Peace Corps, and Broadcasting Board of Governors in fiscal 2013, including $8.98 billion for diplomatic and consular programs and $129 million for inspector general oversight of the Afghanistan and Iraq reconstruction programs. Ros-Lehtinen said the bill “contains important management reforms to increase the efficiency, the accountability, and the safety of our personnel overseas,” and “will enhance U.S. security by increasing safeguards against the transfer of sensitive U.S. technologies to state sponsors of terrorism, to China, and to other countries subject to U.S. arms embargoes.” The vote, on July 17, was 333 yeas to 61 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
PROGRAMS IN U.S. TERRITORIES: The House passed the Insular Areas Act (S. 2009), sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. The bill would require increases in the minimum wage in American Samoa every three years rather than every year and require the Energy Secretary to inspect the concrete exterior of the Cactus Crater nuclear waste containment structure on Runit Island and groundwater surrounding the structure at least every four years. A supporter, Del. Eni F. H. Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, said delaying the minimum wage increases would help American Samoa’s economy, and conducting the inspections on Runit Island would help ensure the safety of residents of the Marshall Islands. The vote, on July 17, was 378 yeas to 11 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
REPORT ON BUDGET CUTS: The House passed the Sequestration Transparency Act (H.R. 5872), sponsored by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. The bill would require the president to submit to Congress a report detailing the budget sequester cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act agreement reached in 2011. Hensarling said the report would inform the country about the impact the cuts would have “on our national defense, on our economy, on a number of vital services.” The vote, on July 18, was 414 yeas to 2 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
MILITARY CANCER RESEARCH: The House rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would have increased funding for cancer research programs at the Defense Health Program by $235 million and offset the increase with a $506 million cut in spending on the Navy’s cruiser ships program. Cohen said: “Americans would be better served if that $235 million didn’t go to a program of buying cruiser ships that the Department of Defense doesn’t want, and rather have this money go to health care research.” An opponent, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said the spending on cruiser ships was needed to support increased operations in the Pacific and missile defense systems. The vote, on July 18, was 145 yeas to 273 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, nay; Visclosky, nay
AFGHANISTAN INFRASTRUCTURE FUND: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would cut funding for the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund by $175 million. Cohen said “a tremendous amount of money” spent on infrastructure projects in Afghanistan has been stolen or wasted, and only benefited the country’s ruling elite. An opponent, Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., said the amendment would cut funding in half for a program military commanders in Afghanistan have said is necessary. The vote, on July 18, was 228 yeas to 191 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
DEALING WITH RUSSIAN ARMS PROVIDER: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would bar funding for supply contracts, loans, grants, and other measures that assist Rosoboronexport, a Russian state-owned company providing the Assad regime in Syria with a variety of weapons being used to suppress the revolt there. Moran said: “It’s troubling to all of us that we are purchasing helicopters from a Russian firm that is directly complicit in the deaths of thousands of innocent Syrian men, women, and children. This has got to stop.” The vote, on July 19, was 407 yeas to 5 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
NUCLEAR ARMS: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would bar funding for reducing the country’s nuclear arms in contravention of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act or for implementing the Nuclear Posture Review Implementation Study, which was evaluating potential nuclear arms reductions. Turner said President Obama “has made it clear that even though it will have no effect on reducing the nuclear arsenals of other nations, he would move to unilaterally reduce ours,” and therefore the amendment was needed to prevent unilateral disarmament. An opponent, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said “we simply don’t need, and we can’t afford to have and continue to produce all of these nuclear weapons” currently in the U.S. arsenal, especially at a time when other measures were needed to combat the threat of terrorism. The vote, on July 19, was 235 yeas to 178 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, nay; Visclosky, nay
MAINTAINING TROOPS IN GERMANY: The House rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would have blocked funding for the deployment beyond fiscal 2013 of two infantry brigades in Germany except as required by NATO treaty. Coffman said: “We face difficult budget challenges here at home. The resources that we are currently spending on maintaining a military presence in Europe are needed to meet much more significant security challenges elsewhere.” An opponent, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said the amendment was unnecessary because the military was already cutting its presence in Europe, and “I believe adding an arbitrary cap to the number of service members assigned to Europe could put our national security at risk.” The vote, on July 19, was 123 yeas to 292 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, nay; Visclosky, nay
NUCLEAR WEAPONS DELIVERY VEHICLES: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Rick Berg, R-N.D., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would bar funding in fiscal 2013 to reduce the number of five different types of vehicles used to deliver nuclear weapons. Berg said that by blocking implementation of the New START Treaty with Russia to reduce the number of delivery system, the amendment would block cuts that would place national security at risk. An opponent, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said: “We should carry out our obligation under the New START Treaty and not restrict the Department’s obligation to implement it.” The vote, on July 19, was 232 yeas to 183 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, nay; Visclosky, nay
WAR SPENDING: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would transfer $5.6 billion from the military’s budget for overseas wars to the military’s base budget. Mulvaney said the amendment was “about accounting accurately for the spending that we do so that we can tell folks back home exactly what we spend on the base defense of this Nation and what we spend in the wars overseas.” The vote, on July 19, was 238 yeas to 178 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, nay; Visclosky, nay
VETERANS AND HEALTH CARE FEES: The House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856). The amendment would bar funding to implement the future imposition of an enrollment fee for the TRICARE for Life health care program for veterans. Stearns said Congress should “consider alternative avenues to cut spending before we require 3.3 million veterans that are eligible for TRICARE for Life to sacrifice even further” by paying an enrollment fee. The vote, on July 19, was 399 yeas to 17 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, nay
MILITARY SPENDING: The House passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856), sponsored by Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla. The bill would fund military programs and overseas combat operations in fiscal 2013. Young said the bill supported an expanded military presence in the increasingly vital Pacific region and preserved the operation of three cruiser ships needed to support a naval buildup that will help counter threats by Iran to shut down oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East. An opponent, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said: “I cannot continue to support legislation that sends billions and billions and billions of dollars to Afghanistan.” The vote, on July 19, was 326 yeas to 90 nays.
Votes: Donnelly, yea; Visclosky, yea
Senate
DISCLOSING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: The Senate rejected a motion to end debate on the DISCLOSE Act (S. 3369), sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. The bill would have required the disclosure of campaign contributions by corporations, labor unions, political committees and other groups. Whitehouse said the requirement would bring “transparency and accountability to our elections” and protect the democratic process by forcing special interests to identify themselves and disclose their spending. An opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said: “By conveniently setting high thresholds for reporting requirements, the DISCLOSE Act forces some entities to inform the public about the origins of their financial support, while allowing others-most notably those affiliated with organized labor-to fly below the Federal Election Commission’s regulatory radar.” The vote, on July 17, was 53 yeas to 45 nays, with a three-fifths majority required to end debate.
Votes: Coats, nay; Lugar, nay
TAXES AND OVERSEAS JOBS: The Senate rejected a motion to end debate on the Bring Jobs Home Act (S. 3364), sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. The bill would have eliminated a tax deduction for company expenses to move jobs and equipment overseas and established a 20 percent tax credit for company expenses associated with moving overseas jobs to the U.S. Stabenow said Congress should make sure “that we are not doing anything in our Tax Code that encourages jobs to go overseas; that we do everything possible to support efforts to bring them back.” An opponent, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the bill was “the antithesis of true tax reform” because it would complicate the tax code and narrow the tax base, and added that it sought “to punish American businesses that compete globally” rather than encourage businesses to locate in the U.S. The vote, on July 19, was 56 yeas to 42 nays, with a three-fifths majority required to end debate.
Votes: Coats, nay; Lugar, nay
