How your U.S. lawmaker voted

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

House

Iraq bases ban

By a vote of 399-24, the House on Wednesday passed a bill (HR 2929) that would prohibit the United States from establishing permanent military bases in Iraq or exerting economic control of the Iraq oil industry. The bill awaits Senate action.

Voting yes: Jay Inslee, D-1; Rick Larsen, D-2; Brian Baird, D-3; Doc Hastings, R-4; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5; Norm Dicks, D-6; Jim McDermott, D-7; Dave Reichert, R-8; Adam Smith, D-9.

Five-year farm bill

By a vote of 231-191, the House on Friday passed a five-year farm bill (HR 2419) that would extend the current system of payments and subsidies for growers of major crops such as cotton, corn, rice, wheat and soybeans; renew such nutrition programs as Food Stamps; promote land conservation and rural development; and provide special funding for fruit and vegetable growers. Projected to cost nearly $300 billion over five years, the bill would reduce from $2.5 million to $1 million the adjusted gross income below which farmers can receive federal payments and subsidies, require country-of-origin labeling of meat on U.S. shelves and settle black farmers' discrimination claims against the USDA.

Voting yes: Larsen, Dicks.

Voting no: Inslee, Baird, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.

Farm-subsidy cuts

By a vote of 117-309, the House on Thursday refused to reduce from $1 million to $250,000 the limit on a farmer's adjusted gross income for receiving federal farm subsidies. The amendment to HR 2419 (above) sought to allocate the resulting savings of billions of dollars over the life of the bill to programs such as nutrition, land conservation and international food aid.

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

Voting no: Larsen, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Dicks.

Farm-bill taxes

By a vote of 198-223, the House on Friday defeated a Republican bid to strip HR 2419 (above) of a provision to end certain tax breaks for U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations. The provision would keep the bill on a pay-as-you-go basis. The $7 billion raised by the change over five years would be used in part to finance increases in Food Stamps and other nutrition programs.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

Voting no: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, Dicks, McDermott, Smith.

9/11 commission recommendations

By a vote of 371-40, the House on Friday passed the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act. The bill elevates the importance of risk factors in determining which states and cities get federal security funds. It also would require screening of all cargo on passenger planes within three years and sets a five-year goal of scanning all container ships for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports.

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

Senate

9/11 commission recommendations

By a vote of 85-1, the Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would enact unimplemented recommendations of the 9/11 commission. In part, the bill would require that within five years all U.S.-bound shipping containers be scanned overseas for nuclear weapons; require within three years the inspection of all air passengers and cargo for explosives; establish an independent board with subpoena power to protect civil liberties against anti-terrorist policies, and require public disclosure of the figure showing total U.S. spending on intelligence.

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

Homeland security

By a vote of 89-4, the Senate on Thursday approved a $40.6 billion fiscal 2008 budget (HR 2638) for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill would require companies receiving federal contracts to pay prevailing wages to their workers; restore civil-service job protections that many DHS employees lost under Republican control of Congress; provide grants to state and local first responders; add Border Patrol agents and detention cells; and fund virtual and actual fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Student-loan ethics

By a vote of 95-0, the Senate on Tuesday passed a bill (S 1642) that would prohibit companies that provide student loans from offering inducements such as gifts and trips to college officials. The bill, which renews the Higher Education Act of 1965 for five years, would fund programs to help schools recruit and retain K-12 teachers; gradually increase Pell Grants to $6,300; ban schools from using federal funds to lobby for more federal funds; and forgive student loans to full-time librarians with master's degrees in library science.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate