How your U.S. lawmaker voted

WASHINGTON — Here's how the state's members of Congress voted on major roll calls in the week ending Friday.

House

Iraq withdrawal mandate

By a vote of 223-201, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a bill (HR 2956) requiring the administration to begin reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq within 120 days and complete the redeployment of all but a residual force by April 2008. The residual force would protect U.S. interests, train Iraqi forces and conduct strikes on terrorists.

Voting yes: Jay Inslee, D-1; Rick Larsen, D-2; Brian Baird, D-3; Norm Dicks, D-6; Jim McDermott, D-7; Adam Smith, D-9.

Voting no: Doc Hastings, R-4; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5; Dave Reichert, R-8.

Higher education aid

By a vote of 273-149, the House on Wednesday passed a bill (HR 2669) to cut taxpayer subsidies of firms that provide student loans by $19 billion over five years and allocate most of the savings to programs that directly benefit students and institutions of higher education. The bill would halve interest on student loans to 3.4 percent; increase Pell Grants for poor students to a maximum of $5,200; provide tuition aid to students preparing to teach in disadvantaged neighborhoods; authorize grants to Hispanic and historically black institutions; provide student-loan forgiveness to first responders and nurses and cap student-loan repayments at 15 percent of discretionary income.

Voting yes: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, Dicks, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers.

Food and drug safety

By a vote of 403-16, the House on Wednesday voted to give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to protect the public against unsafe food, drugs and medical devices. The bill (HR 2900) would empower the FDA for the first time to continually review drugs after they go on the market and order quick corrective action when harmful side effects come to light.

The bill would impose higher user fees on drug companies in exchange for faster FDA action on pending applications, require follow-up safety reviews after a drug has been in use for seven years, seek to reduce conflicts of interest on the FDA advisory panels that judge drug safety and require drug firms to publish results of clinical trials on the Internet.

Voting yes: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert, Smith.

Voting no: McDermott.

Not voting: Dicks.

Federal housing vouchers

By a vote of 333-83, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a bill (HR 1851) revamping the Section 8 Voucher Program that helps 2 million poor families pay for rental housing. In part, the bill would make formula and rules changes that would expand the program by 100,000 vouchers over five years and would establish incentives for recipients to obtain work, higher education and a shot at home ownership. The voucher program now has a $16 billion annual budget.

Voting yes: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, McMorris Rodgers, Dicks, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.

Voting no: Hastings.

Senate

Time off from combat

By a vote of 56-41, the Senate on Wednesday failed to reach 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster and advance an amendment setting minimum periods between tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. This occurred during debate on a proposed $649 billion military budget (HR 1585) for fiscal 2008 that remained in debate. The amendment required that active-duty troops receive at least as much time back home as they served in the war theater and that National Guard and Reserve combatants receive at least triple the time at home that they served in combat.

Voting yes: Maria Cantwell, D; Patty Murray, D.

Combat-deployment limits

By a vote of 52-45, the Senate on Wednesday failed to get 60 votes needed to overcome GOP blockage and advance an amendment to HR 1585 (above) limiting Army, Army Reserve and National Guard deployments in Iraq to 12 consecutive months and Marine and Marine Reserve deployments to seven months in a row.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate