Area Votes in Congress

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week:

House

$1.15 trillion government funding. Voting 316-113, the House on Friday passed an appropriations bill (HR 2029) that would fund the government through Sept. 30, 2016, at an annual level of $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending. The bill includes scores or hundreds of key changes in existing law, including ones that would repeal a 40-year ban on exporting American crude oil, provide major increases in the National Institutes of Health and veterans' budgets and protect the Visa Waiver Program against terrorists using it enter the U.S. undercover.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, which then cleared it for President Obama's signature.

Voting yes: Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Matt Cartwright (D., Pa.), Ryan Costello (R., Pa.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Michael Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Tom MacArthur (R., N.J.), Donald Norcross (D., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Voting no: John Carney (D., Del.) and Pat Meehan (R., Pa.).

$622 billion in tax breaks, deficits. Voting 318-109, the House on Thursday passed a bill extending several dozen tax credits and deductions that benefit businesses, families, nonprofits, churches, college students, teachers and other parties. Because the cost of the bill is not offset or paid for elsewhere in the budget, it would add $622 billion to the national debt over 10 years, or more than $700 billion when Treasury borrowing costs are factored in. Later, this bill arrived in the Senate and then on President Obama's desk after being joined to HR 2029 (above).

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, which then sent it to President Obama for his signature.

Voting yes: Boyle, Costello, Dent, Fitzpatrick, LoBiondo, MacArthur, Meehan, Norcross, Pitts, and Smith.

Voting no: Brady, Carney, Cartwright, and Fattah.

Senate

Government funding, tax breaks, national debt. Voting 65-33 against, the Senate on Friday combined and passed a pair of House-passed measures (above) that would fund the government through September 2016 at an annual level of $1.15 trillion while extending dozens of tax breaks for businesses, families, special interests and other groups and individuals. The bill would add $622 billion to the national debt over 10 years, or more than $700 billion if Treasury borrowing costs are taken into account.

A yes vote was to send HR 2029 to President Obama for his signature.

Voting yes: Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Chris Coons (D., Del.), and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Voting no: Pat Toomey (R., Pa.).

Next. The House and Senate have adjourned for the year. The Second Session of the 114th Congress will open Jan. 5.