Area Votes in Congress
WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week. House D.C. congressional seat. The House passed, 241-177, and sent to the Senate a bill to expand the House from 435 to 437 seats by declaring the District of Columbia a congressional district and awarding Utah another House seat.
WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.
House
D.C. congressional seat.
The House passed, 241-177, and sent to the Senate a bill to expand the House from 435 to 437 seats by declaring the District of Columbia a congressional district and awarding Utah another House seat.
A yes vote was to pass the bill (HR 1905).
Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).
Voting no: Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.) and Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.).
Not voting: Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.)
Small business aid. The House passed, 267-158, and sent to the Senate a bill that would spend $562 million over six years to make the Small Business Administration more responsive to companies harmed by natural disasters.
A yes vote was to pass the bill (HR 1361).
Voting yes: Andrews, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.
Voting no: Castle and Pitts.
Not voting: Brady.
Iraq troop withdrawal. House members affirmed, 215-199, a previous vote that requires a March 1, 2008, start for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. This vote occurred in advance of House-Senate negotiations on a $100 billion war-funding bill (HR 1591) containing the deadline.
A yes vote was to affirm the troop-withdrawal deadline.
Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Murphy, Schwartz and Sestak
Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton and Smith.
Not voting: Fattah.
Executive pay. The House passed, 269-134, and sent to the Senate a bill empowering shareholders of publicly traded companies to conduct nonbinding votes approving or disapproving of top executives' compensation.
A yes vote was to pass the bill (HR 1257).
Voting yes: Andrews, Dent, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.
Voting no: Castle and Pitts.
Not voting: Brady, Fattah and Gerlach.
Water projects. The House passed, 394-25, a bill authorizing $14 billion over several years for nearly 700 Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as navigation, flood control and shoreline protection.
A yes vote was to pass the bill (HR 1495).
Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.
Not voting: Fattah.
Senate
Medicare drug prices.
Voting 55-42, the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes needed to advance a bill requiring the U.S. government to use its purchasing power to achieve lower prices in the Medicare prescription-drug plan.
All Philadelphia-area senators voted to advance the bill (S 3).
Intelligence budget. The Senate failed, 50-45, to reach the 60 votes needed to end a GOP filibuster blocking action on the fiscal 2007 intelligence budget. The bill (S 372) would require the CIA to tell Congress the locations of its secret prisons abroad and identify interrogation techniques.
A yes vote was to advance the bill.
Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).
Voting no: Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).
Not voting: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.).
This week. Both chambers hope to vote on the conference report of a bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and setting a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq.