How your U.S. lawmaker voted

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

House

$819 billion stimulus

By a vote of 244-188, the House on Wednesday approved an $819 billion package consisting of $544 billion in new spending and $275 billion in tax relief, with most of the stimulus injected into the economy by the end of 2010, starting almost immediately with personal tax cuts in the form of credits or reduced payroll withholding for middle-class households. The bill (HR 1) was backed by all but 11 of the Democrats who voted and opposed by all 177 Republicans who voted.

The bill's spending section provides, in part, $90 billion to help states meet Medicaid obligations; $79 billion for state education aid; $43 billion for extended jobless benefits; $41 billion for school districts; $39 billion to subsidize medical insurance for the jobless; $32 billion for new electricity grids; $31 billion for repairing federal buildings; $30 billion for highway construction; $21 billion for repairing schools; $20 billion for converting medical records from paper to digital formats; $20 billion to expand food-stamp benefits; $20 billion for green construction and energy conservation; $19 billion for water projects; $16 billion to expand Pell Grants for higher education; $13 billion to repair public housing; $10 billion for creating jobs in scientific fields; $10 billion for building mass-transit projects; and $6 billion for extending broadband to rural areas.

In tax relief, the bill provides personal cuts of $500 per individual and $1,000 per couple for middle-class filers for each of the next two years; expands the $1,000 per-child tax credit and the earned-income tax credit for the working poor; provides breaks for college tuition and first-time home purchases; and provides businesses with an array of new tax credits and depreciation benefits, among other corporate benefits.

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.

Republican stimulus plan

By a vote of 170-266, the House on Wednesday defeated a Republican alternative to HR 1 that proposed a stimulus consisting almost totally of personal tax cuts for all brackets, wide-ranging business tax cuts and extended jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. The amendment sought to strip the bill of most of its spending programs other than unemployment benefits.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

GOP priorities

By a vote of 159-270, the House on Wednesday rejected a GOP amendment to revamp the spending side of HR 1 by adding $36 billion for highway construction and $24 billion Army Corps of Engineers projects while reducing other accounts by $160 billion. The cuts would have trimmed or eliminated spending for initiatives such as special education, community health centers, broadband expansion, job retraining, jobs in science and green industries, aid to states and primary-care medicine.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

Amtrak funding

By a vote of 116-320, the House on Wednesday refused to strip HR 1 of $800 million for capital improvements at Amtrak, the federally subsidized rail passenger service.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

Lilly Ledbetter act

By a vote of 250-177, the House on Tuesday gave final congressional approval to a bill (S 181) making it easier for plaintiffs to file pay-discrimination suits under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became the first bill that President Obama signed into law. The bill would permit claims to be filed within 180 days of the latest incident of pay discrimination, nullifying a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber, which required claims to be filed within 180 days of the first infraction.

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

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

Digital TV delay

By a vote of 258-168, the House on Wednesday failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass a bill (S 328) that would delay from Feb. 17 to June 12 the national deadline for converting over-the-air U.S. television signals from analog to digital. An estimated 6.5 million households have not installed converter boxes on their sets. Already passed by the Senate, the bill is likely to be considered again under rules requiring a simple majority for passage.

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

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

Senate

Children's health insurance

By a vote of 66-32, the Senate on Thursday sent to conference with the House a bill (HR 2) expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, coverage from 6.6 million children to about 11 million children. The bill would renew SCHIP for five years at a cost of $60 billion, up nearly $35 billion from current levels, and raise federal tobacco taxes from 39 cents per pack to $1 a pack to pay the added costs. The bill allows coverage of children in families earning up to 300 percent of the poverty level, or $66,000 a year for a family of four, compared to coverage up to 200 percent of the poverty level under present law.

Additionally, the bill would enable children of legal immigrants and legal immigrants who are pregnant to qualify immediately for SCHIP coverage, ending a five-year wait requirement for both groups.

SCHIP is a federally funded, state-run discretionary spending program designed mainly for children from families that are not poor enough to receive Medicaid but lack means to buy private health insurance.

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

Roe v. Wade

By a vote of 39-59, senators on Thursday rejected an amendment to HR 2 to write into law a Bush administration regulation for SCHIP that defines life as beginning at inception. Under the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, a fetus does not gain viability until approximately the third trimester of pregnancy. Backers called the amendment necessary to protect life, while foes noted that SCHIP already covers pregnant women.

Voting no: Cantwell, Murray

Secretary of Treasury

By a vote of 60-34, the Senate on Monday confirmed Timothy Geithner, 47, the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, as the nation's 75th Treasury secretary. Geithner drew opposition mainly over his admitted failure to pay $42,702 in back taxes and interest until after President Obama selected him for the post.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate