How Your U.S. Lawmaker Voted

WASHINGTON — Here's how area members of Congress voted in the week that ended Friday.

House

Food-safety regulation

By a vote of 283-142, the House on Thursday passed a bill greatly expanding the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authority over firms that handle raw and processed foods, including certain farms. The bill (HR 2749) would require an estimated hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign facilities to pay $500 annual registration fees to the FDA, subject them to periodic inspections and require measures to prevent contamination. The bill gives the FDA power to recall contaminated foods and quarantine areas that produced them. The bill would be financed by registration and inspection fees along with congressional appropriations projected at $2 billion over five years.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5.

Republican food motion

By a vote of 186-240, the House on Thursday rejected a Republican move to amend HR 2749. The measure required half of the funds raised from the food-processing industry to be spent on food inspections and half on indemnifying companies against government errors such as erroneous product recalls.

A yes vote backed the GOP motion.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

2010 military appropriations

By a vote of 400-30, the House on Thursday approved $636.3 billion in military appropriations for fiscal 2010, including $128.2 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and $29.9 billion for service members' health care. The bill (HR 3326) funds a 3.4 percent military raise, bars the military's use of torture and prohibits permanent U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, while omitting the administration's request for funds to close the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The bill grants the administration's request to cap production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jets at 187 planes but funds other large weapons programs targeted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, such as a new VH-71 presidential helicopter fleet, an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and production of three more C-17 cargo jets.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Voting no: McDermott.

Highway Trust Fund

By a vote of 363-68, the House on Wednesday passed a bill (HR 3357) shifting $7 billion from general revenues to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent for the next few months. Supported by the federal gasoline tax, the fund pays for congressionally approved road projects. It is running low as Americans drive less to cope with recession and high fuel prices. The bill also expands Federal Housing Administration lending authority and authorizes federal unemployment funds to borrow from the Treasury to meet U.S. and state obligations to pay jobless benefits.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Executive compensation

By a vote of 237-185, the House on Friday passed a bill (HR 3269) giving federal regulators power to curb the payment of lucrative executive bonuses by financial institutions. The bill also requires public corporations to give shareholders a nonbinding vote on executive compensation, including "golden parachute" packages, and stipulates that corporate directors who set executive-compensation levels cannot be employed by the company.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

"Cash for clunkers"

By a vote of 316-109, the House on Friday sent the Senate a bill (HR 3435) to appropriate an additional $2 billion for the new "cash for clunkers" law because the program exhausted the $1 billion allotted to it. Under the program, consumers trade their cars or trucks for government vouchers worth $3,500 to $4,500 toward the purchase of a new domestic or foreign vehicle having better fuel efficiency. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week.

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

Voting no: Baird, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers.

President Obama's birthplace

By a vote of 378-0, the House on Monday adopted a measure (H Res 593) recognizing Aug. 21, 2009, as Hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood and noting that President Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961. The vote drew attention because at least 10 House Republicans have sponsored a bill (HR 1503) casting doubt on Obama's U.S. citizenship.

A yes vote backed the resolution.

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

Not voting: Larsen, Smith.

Senate

Energy, water appropriations

By a vote of 85-9, the Senate on Wednesday passed a bill (HR 3183) to appropriate $34.3 billion for energy, water and nuclear programs in fiscal 2010. In part, the bill would provide $6.5 billion for maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile, $5.4 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, $4.9 billion for the Department of Energy's scientific research, $2.2 billion for developing renewable energy and energy efficiencies, $1.1 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation and $160 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

GM, Chrysler ownership

By a vote of 38-59, the Senate on Wednesday defeated a plan to require the Treasury to distribute the government's stock in General Motors and Chrysler to U.S. taxpayers. The amendment to HR 3183 also sought to bar the Treasury from investing any more Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds in the automakers, both of which recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reduced in size, stripped of excessive debt and under new managements.

The government owns 60 percent of GM and a minority stake in Chrysler. Chrysler is controlled by a United Autoworkers' trust, with Fiat holding a 20 percent share and running the company. The administration says it hopes to begin selling all of its auto holdings early next year.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.

Highway trust fund

By a vote of 79-17, the Senate on Thursday sent President Obama a bill (HR 3357) that would allocate billions of dollars in Treasury funds to keeping the Highway Trust Fund and federal and state unemployment funds solvent. Because the bill requires repayment to the Treasury, among other offsets, the Congressional Budget Office has ruled it deficit-neutral. The bill also raises Federal Housing Administration authority to back low-interest home loans, from $315 billion to $400 billion.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Economic stimulus

By a vote of 41-56, the Senate on Thursday rejected an amendment to HR 3357 that sought to use economic-stimulus appropriations rather than Treasury funds to replenish federal and state funds that pay jobless benefits. To date, the administration has spent about 25 percent of the $787 billion stimulus program, which was enacted in February to spur economic recovery and has about two years to run.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate