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

Energy-tax changes

By a vote of 236-182, the House on Wednesday sent the Senate a bill (HR 5351) to raise taxes on the five largest oil companies by $13.6 billion over 10 years and use the revenue to fund tax breaks that would spur the development of renewable fuels and promote energy efficiencies. The bill would rescind tax breaks that ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips received in 2004 as an incentive to not export U.S. jobs. The bill would raise an additional $4.1 billion for renewable-energy programs by limiting foreign tax credits claimed by U.S. energy firms.

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 energy plan

By a vote of 197-222, the House on Wednesday defeated a Republican alternative to HR 5351 (above). The GOP plan differed, in part, by stripping the underlying Democratic bill of its tax increase on the five largest oil companies and its new authority for state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds for initiatives to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

Senate

Subprime-mortgage relief

By a vote of 48-46, the Senate on Thursday failed to reach 60 votes needed to advance a Democratic bill (HR 3221) enabling holders of shaky subprime mortgages to rework payment terms in bankruptcy court. The existing bankruptcy code does not protect primary residences. This bill also would increase money for mortgage counseling and enable local governments to use Community Development Block Grants to buy up shaky mortgages.

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

Iraq-pullout mandate

By a vote of 70-24, The Senate on Tuesday voted to advance a bill (S 2633) that would require the administration to start withdrawing most U.S. forces from Iraq within 120 days and cut off most war funding by the same deadline. The troops left behind would be used to conduct strikes against al-Qaida, protect U.S. infrastructure and personnel and train Iraqi security forces. This procedural vote drew support from Democrats opposed to the war and Republicans who favored a debate to showcase their view of U.S. progress in Iraq. The bill was later shelved.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray

War strategy shift

By a vote of 89-3, the Senate on Wednesday advanced a bill (S 2634) requiring the administration to report to Congress within 60 days on its broad strategy for confronting al-Qaida in countries in addition to Iraq. The report would assess the relative strength of the nation's enemies by region and country and set forth proportional U.S. military responses. The report would require plans to limit reserve deployments to once every four years and active-duty deployments to once every two years. The bill was later shelved.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray

Indian health care

By a vote of 83-10, the Senate on Tuesday passed a bill (S 1200) to renew through 2017 an array of federally funded health-care programs for American Indians and native Alaskans. The bill would expand care at Indian Health Service (IHS) hospitals, tribal clinics and Veterans Administration hospitals and improve medical services through programs such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bill is projected to cost $35 billion in discretionary spending and $110 million in entitlement spending over ten years.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray

Roll Call Report Syndicate