How your U.S. lawmaker voted
WASHINGTON - Here’s how the state’s members of Congress voted on major roll calls in the week ending Friday.
House
Revised SCHIP plan
By a vote of 265-142, the House on Thursday passed a revised version of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill that President Bush vetoed Oct. 3. The new measure (HR 3963) would limit SCHIP enrollment to children from families earning up to three times the poverty level, or nearly $62,000 for a family of four; clarifies that children of illegal immigrants are excluded from SCHIP; and phases out coverage for adults other than pregnant women.
Like the vetoed measure, the new bill would renew SCHIP for five years at a cost of $60 billion, up $35 billion from current levels; increase federal tobacco taxes from 39 cents per pack to $1 per pack to pay the added costs; and expand coverage from 6.6 million children to nearly 10 million children.
SCHIP is a federally funded, state-run discretionary spending program designed mainly for children from families that are not poor enough to receive Medicaid but lacking means to buy private health insurance.
Voting yes: Jay Inslee, D-1; Rick Larsen, D-2; Brian Baird, D-3; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5; Norm Dicks, D-6; Jim McDermott, D-7; Dave Reichert, R-8; Adam Smith, D-9.
Not voting: Doc Hastings, R-4.
Republican SCHIP plan
By a vote of 164-242, the House on Thursday defeated a GOP plan to scale back HR 3963 (above). In part, the plan required immigrant families applying for SCHIP to document their legal status more fully; removed adults other than pregnant women more quickly from the program; limited states’ flexibility to administer SCHIP; and required states to enroll 90 percent of children from families below 200 percent of the poverty line before taking in children from families above that level.
Voting yes: McMorris Rodgers.
Voting no: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, Dicks, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.
Not voting: Hastings.
Hawaiian sovereignty
By a vote of 261-153, the House on Wednesday sent the Senate a bill (HR 505) empowering Native Hawaiians to form a sovereign government comparable to the American Indian and Native Alaskan nations. If certified by the secretary of the Interior, the Hawaiian entity would have standing to negotiate for control of land and other assets that once belonged to indigenous Hawaiians. The bill would set up a U.S. Office for Native Hawaiian Relations in the Interior Department and would create a commission to determine which persons have sufficient native ancestry to be included in the sovereign nation.
Voting yes: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.
Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers.
Not voting: Dicks.
Senate
Illegal immigrants’ kids
By a vote of 52-44, the Senate on Wednesday failed to reach 60 votes needed to advance a bill (S 2205) putting children of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship if they first serve in the U.S. military or complete two years of higher education. The program would be available to high-school graduates without criminal records who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and entered before age 16. They would have to wait six years to apply for citizenship after meeting the educational or military requirement. The bill is named the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors or DREAM, Act.
Voting yes: Maria Cantwell, D; Patty Murray, D.
Amtrak subsidy caps
By a vote of 28-66, the Senate on Thursday refused to limit taxpayer subsidies of Amtrak to $200 per passenger in fiscal 2008, with the cap to be reduced by $25 per passenger in each succeeding year. The amendment was offered to a bill (S 294) authorizing over six years $3.3 billion in Amtrak operating subsidies, $4.9 billion for capital improvements and $1.4 billion to help states provide inter-city rail service.
Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.
Spending showdown
By a vote of 40-54, the Senate on Tuesday defeated a Republican bid to reduce proposed 2008 discretionary spending for the departments of Education, Labor and Health and Human Services by $9.6 billion to the $140.3 billion level sought by President Bush. Inviting a presidential veto, the Senate then sent a $149.9 billion version of the bill (HR 3043) to conference with a $151 billion House version.
Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.
Roll Call Report Syndicate