Area Votes in Congress
WASHINGTON - Here's how area members of Congress voted on major roll calls last week. House Police, firefighter unions: Members granted, 314-97, limited union rights to police, firefighters, corrections officers and other public-safety personnel in all states. It authorizes bargaining over wages and benefits but which bars strikes and lockouts.
WASHINGTON - Here's how area members of Congress voted on major roll calls last week.
House
Police, firefighter unions: Members granted, 314-97, limited union rights to police, firefighters, corrections officers and other public-safety personnel in all states. It authorizes bargaining over wages and benefits but which bars strikes and lockouts.
A yes vote was to pass the bill (HR 980).
Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.) Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).
Voting no: Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.)
Not voting: Joe Sestak (D., Pa.)
Abortion dispute: Members refused, 189-231, to block funds for Planned Parenthood in the Health and Human Services budget (HR 3043). The group is one of many that get U.S. family-planning funds but are banned from using them for abortion.
A yes vote backed the funds denial.
Voting yes: LoBiondo, Pitts, Murphy, Saxton and Smith.
Voting no: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, Schwartz and Sestak.
Senate
Withdrawal from Iraq: The Senate failed, 52-47, to get 60 votes for advancing a mandate that President Bush start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq within 120 days and finish the pullout of all but a residual force by April 30, 2008.
A yes vote on the bill (HR 1585) backed the mandate over GOP opposition.
Voting yes: Joseph Biden (D., Del.), 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.)
Student loans: Senators voted, 78-18, to cut subsidies of firms that lend to students by $18 billion over five years and allocate the savings mostly to the direct benefit of students. The measure caps student-loan payments at 15 percent of discretionary income.
All Philadelphia-area senators voted to pass the bill (HR 2669).
Bankers' loan plan: Senators defeated, 35-62, an alternative to HR 2669 (above) that was favored by bankers but opposed by student groups. A yes vote backed a plan to reduce lenders' subsidies by $2.4 billion less than in the underlying bill and provide smaller increases in Pell Grants.
All Philadelphia-area senators voted against the bill.
