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Area Votes in Congress

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week: House Disabilities act expansion. Voting 402-17, the House passed a bill (HR 3195) to negate Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed the types of disabilities and number of disabled workers protected by the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act. The bill awaits Senate action.

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week:

House

Disabilities act expansion.

Voting 402-17, the House passed a bill (HR 3195) to negate Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed the types of disabilities and number of disabled workers protected by the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act. The bill awaits Senate action.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Alternative minimum tax.

Voting 233-189, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 6275) to exempt 22 million middle-income households from the alternative minimum tax (AMT) this year. To offset the Treasury's loss of $61.5 billion in revenue, the bill would, in part, repeal certain tax breaks for oil and gas companies; change "carried interest" rules so that managers of investment partnerships and hedge funds would pay taxes at a 35 percent rather than 15 percent rate; and set the stage for more timely tax collection on payments from credit-card firms to merchants.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts and Saxton.

Commuter-fare subsidies.

Voting 322-98, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 6052) authorizing $1.7 billion in fiscal 2008-2009 for grants that public transit authorities would use to either reduce fares or expand services, with nearly 90 percent of the outlay allocated to urban areas of at least 50,000 population. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Senate

Housing-recovery package.

Voting 83-9, the Senate agreed to debate a housing-recovery package (HR 3221) that would enable lenders to refinance hundreds of thousands of at-risk mortgages in return for government backing of the new loans.

A yes vote was to debate the bill.

Voting yes: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.), Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

War funding, GI bill.

Voting 92-6, the Senate passed a bill (HR 2642) that would appropriate $162.5 billion to pay Iraq-Afghanistan war costs well into 2009. The bill also would establish a new GI bill, which would pay four years' college tuition for veterans with at least three years' duty who enlisted after 9/11. The bill also would fund 13 more weeks of jobless checks for the long-term unemployed, along with programs such as flood relief in the Midwest, levee rebuilding in New Orleans, global food aid, and Census Bureau upgrades.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Biden, Carper, Casey, Lautenberg, Menendez and Specter.

This week.

Congress is in Independence Day recess until the week of July 7, when the Senate will resume debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The House schedule has not been announced.