Voterama in Congress, week ending May 11, 2012

How Illinois lawmakers voted in Congress Week ending May 11

Updated: May 18, 2012 4:44PM

House of Representatives

Military Spending Increase: Voting 218 for and 199 against, the House on May 10 sent the Senate a bill (HR 5652) to increase military spending by $55 billion, or 10 percent, in fiscal 2013 while cutting sharply over 10 years into domestic programs such as food stamps, school lunches, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and subsidies to help low-income families buy medical insurance.

The bill would cancel automatic spending cuts -- known as a sequester -- that are scheduled for 2013 and later years under the 2011 Budget Control Act. That act is the deal in which Republicans allowed the national-debt ceiling to be raised in return for Democrats accepting at least $2.2 trillion in multi-year deficit reduction.

The automatic cuts would reduce military and domestic spending by about $100 billion next year. This bill would avert the defense cuts while requiring still deeper cuts in a wide range of domestic programs, 25 percent of which benefit the poor.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said: “If we don’t get our spending under control and we don’t get our deficit under control, the people who need government the most-- the poor, the elderly -- they’re the ones who get hurt the first and the worst.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said: “The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that, instead of taking a balanced approach” Republicans favor “tax breaks to millionaires and special interests while ending the Medicare guarantee, slashing investments that strengthen our economy, and shredding the social safety net.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Lobbyists’ Federal Pensions: Voting 170 for and 232 against, the House on May 10 defeated a bid by Democrats to amend HR 5652 (above) by denying federal pensions to any former House members or senators who become lobbyists after leaving Congress.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, said: “Some people come to Washington to cash in, and I think we can all agree that this is unacceptable. I believe that former members of Congress who become millionaire lobbyists should never be able to collect their pensions.”

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called this “an intriguing policy” that should be considered in normal legislative procedures, not offered at the close of debate.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Justice, Commerce, Science: Voting 247 for and 163 against, the House on May 10 sent the Senate a bill (HR 5326) to appropriate $51.1 billion in fiscal 2013 for the departments of Justice and Commerce and agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The spending level is down about $1.6 billion, or 3 percent, from 2012.

The bill bars funding of a new EEOC rule making it more difficult for employers to defend themselves against age-discrimination suits and of a new Justice Department requirement concerning swimming-pool lifts for disabled persons.

The bill also prohibits funding of new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rules on gun sales in which the same individual in a single week buys at least two semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines in the border states of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico. The rule requires dealers to report such transactions to the government on the rationale that they involve drug trafficking.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said: “The top ... priority of the Justice Department is defending national security from both internal and external threats. The bill includes $8.3 billion, an increase of $148 million, for the FBI....”

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, called it “unfortunate that the Republicans are going back on their word and slashing funding for programs that create jobs and support law enforcement.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voter Identification Laws: Voting 232 for and 190 against, the House on May 9 passed an amendment to HR 5326 (above) to prevent the Justice Department from interfering with voter ID laws enacted by states. This follows the department’s blocking of such laws in South Carolina and Texas as racially discriminatory.

Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, 16 states or parts of states with histories of racial discrimination in the voting process must receive the department’s approval to change their voting laws. Eight states have passed voter ID laws, which typically require voters to show a photo or certain other documents before they can cast a ballot.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said: “You can’t get a beer in Chicago without a picture ID and you can’t vote in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela without a picture ID. It’s about time ... we allow the states to clean up our election laws....”

U.S. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., said: “The Republican governors and legislatures throughout our country this year have all come to the same conclusion.... that all of a sudden what America really needs is picture IDs for people to go vote.”

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Violence Against Women: Voting 181 for and 233 against, the House on May 10 defeated a Democratic bid to add $20 million to HR 5326 (above) for programs designed to prevent or deal with violence against women. Republicans said the bill already contained $7.5 million more than President Obama’s budget had requested for such programs in fiscal 2013.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., called the measure “a small increase to fill the gap between available resources and the desperate need to serve folks” with “effective, life-saving programs.”

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolfe, R-Va., called the amendment “political shenanigans,” given that the bill already provides $420 million for grants under the Violence Against Women Act.

A yes vote backed the spending increase.

Export-Import Bank: Voting 330 for and 93 against, the House on May 9 sent the Senate a bill (HR 2072) to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank through fiscal 2014. An independent agency backed by taxpayers, the bank provides loans and guarantees to help U.S. companies make sales in politically or economically risky markets abroad. The rationale is that without support from Washington, U.S. companies would lose sales to foreign competitors subsidized by their governments. Fewer than 2 percent of the bank’s transactions have defaulted in recent years, and the agency usually returns a profit to the Treasury. The bank is barred by law from competing with private-sector lenders.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said: “I am no fan of government subsidies. Export subsidies distort the free market and global trade,” but it would be “unilateral disarmament” to close the bank and subject U.S. businesses to “unfair competition with subsidized foreign competitors.”

U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said: “Legitimate companies have plenty of access to private capital. They don’t need these subsidies. The illegitimate ones shouldn’t be propped up with the hard-earned dollars of working tax-paying Americans.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

U.S. Senate

Student-Loan Interest: Voting 52 for and 45 against, the Senate on May 8 failed to reach 60 votes needed to end GOP blockage of a bill (S 2343) to prevent interest rates on newly issued Stafford student loans from doubling on July 1. The increase from today’s 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent would add $1,000 on average to the lifetime cost of such loans.

The bill would cost the Treasury $5.9 billion in lost revenue. To offset that sum, the bill would close a loophole used by some owners of S corporations to shield personal income from Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. The closure would affect persons earning at least $200,000 annually whose S corporations have three or fewer shareholders.

By contrast, Republicans want to pay for the freeze on student-loan interest by cutting funds in the 2010 health law for preventive-care programs.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Republicans “do not even want to (debate) the bill. Their priorities are not the students. Their priorities are protecting a small class of individuals in this country who use the Tax Code to avoid paying their fair share of Social Security and Medicare taxes.”

U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said the bill “would raise taxes on job creators at a terrible time.... Taxing job creators has a chilling effect on hiring. It isn’t straightforward to promise students the American dream while making it harder for them to get a job....”

A yes vote was to start debate on the bill.

Key votes ahead

In the week of May 14, the House will take up the fiscal 2013 defense budget and the Violence Against Women Act, while the Senate will debate a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.

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