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

Suits against OPEC

By a vote of 324-84, the House on Tuesday passed a bill (HR 6074) authorizing the attorney general to sue the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries under U.S. antitrust laws for its monopolistic practices. The 13 OPEC members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. The bill is before the Senate.

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

Voting no: Doc Hastings, R-4.

Not voting: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5.

Tax breaks

By a vote of 263-160, the House on Wednesday passed a bill (HR 6049) providing $55.5 billion in tax breaks for purposes such as spurring production of nonfossil fuels, promoting energy conservation, stimulating business activity and helping homeowners and the working poor make ends meet. The cost would be offset by tightening accounting rules on multinational corporations and closing offshore tax shelters used by some U.S. hedge-fund managers. Most of the tax-break extensions in the bill are for one year.

The bill's largest categories are $20 billion to spur renewable-energy production and $16 billion for renewing the research and development tax credit for businesses. The bill would authorize breaks for investment in coal-gasification technologies; provide deductions for lawyers trying contingency-fee cases and teachers personally buying classroom items; and grant breaks to spur the post-9/11 recovery of lower Manhattan and Gulf Coast recovery from 2005 hurricanes. Additionally, the bill would extend college-tuition tax credits, provide incentives for production of noncorn-based ethanol, ease the means test for the working poor to qualify for the refundable child tax credit, and allow those who do not itemize tax returns to deduct property taxes.

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

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

GOP tax plan

By a vote of 201-220, the House on Wednesday defeated a Republican bid to remove tax increases on multinational corporations and hedge-fund managers from HR 6049 (above) and thus shift the bill's cost to the national debt. The motion also sought to extend tax credits and deductions for five years rather than the bill's one-year renewals and temporarily fix the alternative minimum tax to keep it from ensnaring still more middle-class filers in 2008.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

Farm bill veto

By a vote of 316-108, the House on Wednesday overrode President Bush's veto of a five-year, $289 billion farm bill (HR 2419) that extends the existing system of payments and subsidies for growers of major crops; expands nutrition programs such as food stamps and school lunches; promotes land conservation and rural development; provides funding for fruit and vegetable growers; and spurs development of renewable fuels such as cellulose-based ethanol. This vote overrode his veto of 14 of the bill's 15 sections.

Voting yes: Larsen, Baird, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Dicks.

Voting no: Inslee, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.

2009 military budget

By a vote of 384-23, the House on Thursday authorized a $601 billion military budget for fiscal 2009, including $70 billion to fund war in Iraq and Afghanistan for part of the year.

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

Iraq defense pacts

By a vote of 234-183, the House on Thursday amended HR 5658 (above) to require Senate ratification of any future bilateral agreement committing the United States to defend Iraq against attacks from interior or exterior forces.

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

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

Interrogation videotapes

By a vote of 218-192, the House on Thursday amended HR 5658 (above) to require the Defense Department to make and retain videotapes of its prisoner interrogations.

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

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

Senate

War funding

By a vote of 70-26, the Senate on Thursday approved an amendment to HR 2642 to appropriate $165 billion for Iraq-Afghanistan war costs through mid-2009. The measure now must be reconciled with a similar House- passed measure.

Voting no: Maria Cantwell, D; Patty Murray, D.

New GI bill, jobless checks

By a vote of 75-22, the Senate on Thursday expanded HR 2642 (above) to include a bipartisan GI Bill for returning veterans, 13 additional weeks of jobless checks to the long-term unemployed, funding levee repairs in New Orleans, global food aid and funding for home-heating assistance.

The measure would provide educational benefits for veterans who served at least three years after 9/11, provide housing and textbook stipends and pay four years' college tuition up to the level of any public-school tuition in the given state. The new benefits are projected to cost $5.2 billion annually and would be partially transferable to family members.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Iraq withdrawals

By a vote of 34-63, the Senate on Thursday defeated an amendment to HR 2642 (above) requiring the administration to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq within 30 days of enactment but setting no deadline for completing the pullout.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Farm bill veto

By a vote of 82-13, the Senate on Thursday joined the House (HR 2419, above) in voting to override President Bush's veto of a $289 billion farm bill.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate