Area Votes in Congress

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

House

Science, technology programs. Voting 292-126, the House scaled back a bill (HR 5116) authorizing $86 billion over five years for science and math education, as well as basic science and technology research at federal agencies. This GOP motion shortened the bill to three years, barred new programs, slashed spending, added pro-military items, and barred federal employees from viewing pornography on computers at work. Democrats saw this as a "gotcha" motion crafted for campaign ads and pulled the bill from the floor.

A yes vote backed the motion.

Voting yes: John Adler (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.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Voting no: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.).

Clean-energy dispute. Voting 254-173, the House added a clean-energy section to a bill (HR 5116) authorizing $86 billion over five years for science and technology programs run by federal agencies, universities, and the private sector. The proposed Clean Energy Consortium would use federal and university resources and venture capitalists to develop and market technologies not being adequately addressed by the private sector. The focus would be on renewable energy from sources such as the sun, wind, oceans, earth, and agriculture.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

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

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

Senate

Federal Reserve audit. Voting 96-0, the Senate ordered a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve's lending of $2 trillion to Wall Street firms beginning in December 2007. Details of those emergency loans to some of the nation's largest financial institutions have never been made public. Under this amendment to a pending financial-regulation bill (S 3217), the audit would be conducted by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

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.).

Continuing Fed audits. Voting 37-62, the Senate defeated an amendment to S 3217 (above) empowering the Government Accountability Office to conduct one or more exhaustive audits of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and internal operations. Backers said the central bank must be held more publicly accountable, while opponents said regular congressional auditing could lead to politicians trying to set monetary policy.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Specter.

Impartial credit ratings. Voting 64-35, the Senate approved new rules for Moody's Investor Service, Standard & Poor's, and other firms that helped to cause the financial meltdown by systematically giving high ratings to mortgage-backed bonds that later provided to have junk status. The amendment to S 3217 (above) would end the cozy relationships in which banks historically have been able to choose firms to judge their products and the selected firms, in return, have tended to inflate their ratings.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

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

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. Voting 43-56, the Senate defeated a Republican amendment to S 3217 (above) requiring the government to phase out its control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac within two years. These government-backed firms provide essential liquidity to the housing market.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Specter.

Debit-card fees. Voting 64-33, the Senate amended S 3217 (above) to begin Federal Reserve regulation of the fees that firms such as Visa and MasterCard charge merchants for debit-card transactions. These "interchange fees" usually range from 1 to 3 percent. The amendment does not set a number but directs the Fed to keep them "reasonable" and "proportional" to the bank's cost of processing debit-card transactions.

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

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

Voting no: Carper and Kaufman.

Banks and derivatives. Voting 39-59, the Senate refused to strip new derivatives rules in S 3217 (above) of their requirement that the largest Wall Street banks stop trading in derivatives if they wish to receive federal benefits such as deposit insurance and low Federal Reserve borrowing rates.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Specter.

New mortgage standards. Voting 63-36, the Senate adopted tougher home-mortgage standards under the Truth-in-Lending Act. The amendment to S 3217 (above) outlaws the no-documentation "liar loans" that helped cause the subprime mortgage meltdown.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

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

Consumer-bureau sunset. Voting 40-55, the Senate defeated a GOP amendment to S 3217 (above) that sought to sunset the bill's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after four years so that Congress could reevaluate it.

A yes vote was to sunset the bill's new consumer bureau.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Menendez, and Specter.

Not voting: Lautenberg.

This week. The House schedule was to be announced. The Senate will continue to debate financial regulations.