Area Votes in Congress
WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week: House Extended jobless benefits. Voting 289-112, the House sent President Obama a bill (HR 4851) providing about $12 billion to pay for an extension until June 2 of jobless checks for hundreds of thousands of people whose benefits expired after April 4. Costing
WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week:
House
Extended jobless benefits. Voting 289-112, the House sent President Obama a bill (HR 4851) providing about $12 billion to pay for an extension until June 2 of jobless checks for hundreds of thousands of people whose benefits expired after April 4. Costing $18 billion overall, the bill also would provide short-term funding of COBRA health insurance for the jobless, transportation projects, national flood insurance, small-business loan programs, and Medicare payments to doctors, among other measures.
A yes vote was to pass it.
Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), 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.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).
Voting no: Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.).
Estuaries protection. Voting 278-128, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 4715) renewing the National Estuary Program through fiscal 2016 at a budget of $50 million annually, up from the current $35 million. Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act, the program is designed to protect drinking-water supplies, natural habitats, and aquatic life in coastal areas where freshwater meets saltwater. The program is focused on nearly 30 estuaries and bays along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts.
A yes vote was to pass it.
Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Schwartz, Sestak, and Smith.
Voting no: Pitts.
Not voting: Murphy.
Senate
Extended jobless benefits. Voting 59-38, the Senate sent the House a bill (HR 4851, above) extending jobless benefits until June 2 for hundreds of thousands of people whose eligibility expired after April 4. Republicans objected to the bill on the grounds it is deficit spending that needs to be offset.
A yes vote was to pass it.
Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Ted Kaufman (D., Del.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), and Arlen Specter (D., Pa.).
"Pay as you go." Voting 60-40, the Senate reached a supermajority needed to define HR 4851 (above) as emergency spending that could be added to the national debt. This defeated a GOP attempt to apply pay-as-you-go budget rules to the $18 billion bill. Under pay-go, tax cuts or entitlement spending hikes must be offset elsewhere in the federal budget. If not offset, they need supermajorities for approval.
A yes vote was to exempt the bill from pay-go rules.
Voting yes: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Specter.
This week. The House will debate a bill awarding Utah another congressional seat and making the District of Columbia a U.S. House member with full voting rights.