How your U.S. lawmaker voted

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

House

War appropriations

By a vote of 368-60, the House on Thursday approved $84.3 billion to pay for U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30 and $12 billion for nonmilitary programs. The bill provides $47.7 billion for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan; $23 billion for repairing or replacing military equipment; $4.8 billion for acquiring explosion-resistant vehicles; $3.6 billion for training Afghan security forces; $400 million for bolstering Pakistani counterinsurgency efforts and $1.3 billion for developing defenses against roadside bombs.

Now awaiting Senate action, the bill (HR 2346) provides special payments to 170,000 troops whose enlistments were extended against their will after 9/11, awarding $500 for every month served under these "stop-loss" orders.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Voting yes: Rick Larsen, D-2; Brian Baird, D-3; Doc Hastings, R-4; Norm Dicks, D-6; Dave Reichert, R-8; Adam Smith, D-9.

Voting no: Jay Inslee, D-1; Jim McDermott, D-7.

Not voting: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5.

Republican motion

By a vote of 191-237, the House on Thursday defeated a Republican motion designed, in part, to transfer $200 million in HR 2346 from foreign aid to the Department of Justice's war against narco-trafficking at the U.S.- Mexico border.

A yes vote backed the GOP motion.

Voting yes: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert.

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

Green-school renovations

By a vote of 275-155, the House on Thursday passed a bill (HR 2187) authorizing $6.4 billion in fiscal 2010 for public-school renovations that use mostly "green" building materials and increase energy efficiency. The multiyear program would funnel grants and low-cost loans through state agencies mainly to schools in poor areas. The bill also authorizes $600 million over six years for repairing Gulf Coast schools damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

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

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers.

Senate

Credit-card interest cap

By a vote of 33-60, the Senate on Wednesday refused to place a statutory cap on credit-card interest rates. The amendment to HR 627 sought to impose the same 15 percent usury limit on credit cards that has applied to credit unions for the past 29 years. The underlying bill remained in debate.

A yes vote was to limit interest rates.

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

Gun rights in parks

By a vote of 67-29, the Senate on Tuesday voted to affirm Bush administration regulations ensuring the right to bear loaded guns in the National Park System and National Wildlife Refuge System. The amendment to HR 627 seeks to counter a federal judge's recent ruling to block the regulations.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate