                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994                TAG: 9408210058
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A17  EDITION: FINAL 
                                             LENGTH: Long  :  135 lines

CONGRESSIONAL ROLL CALL

Here's how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending Aug. 19.

HOUSE

HIGH-SPEED RAIL: By a 281-103 vote, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 4867) authorizing $184 million over three years for planning high-speed rail in a several parts of the country. The six top priority corridors, identified by the Department of Transportation, are San Diego to Sacramento in California; Miami to Tampa via Orlando in Florida; Washington, D.C., to Charlotte; Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, B.C.; New York City to Buffalo, and Detroit to St. Louis through Chicago with a spur to Milwaukee.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Herbert H. Bateman, R-Va. No

Owen B. Pickett, D-Va. Yes

Robert C. Scott, D-Va. Yes

Norman Sisisky, D-Va. Yes

Eva Clayton, D-N.C. Yes

H. Martin Lancaster, D-N.C. No

PRESIDIO PARK: The House passed 245-168 a bill (HR 3433) to establish the Presidio in San Francisco as a national park when the 218-year-old facility is closed as a military base. Much of the 1,480-acre property would be administered by the National Park Service, and the Army would continue to occupy some of its former space. The remainder, including many buildings and enterprises, would be managed by a public-private Presidio Trust set up within the Interior Department.

Sponsor Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: ``The Presidio Trust will be a reinventing government model of private-public sector management. . . . As a national park, the Presidio will build on the significance of its past to become one of America's most prominent and innovative urban parks. . . . (It) is located amid some of the most magnificent scenery in the world.''

Opponent Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., said the Presidio ``clearly does not qualify as a national park. It has various resources which are clearly unsuitable for inclusion in a park, such as a shopping mall, warehouses, and a Burger King.. our nation's crown jewels in the National Park System are not receiving the money they need to adequately operate.''

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Bateman No

Pickett No

Scott Yes

Sisisky Did not vote

Clayton Yes

Lancaster Yes

TO CUT PRESIDIO: By a 171-244 vote, the House rejected an amendment to HR 3433 (above) to cut spending on the Presidio park and require nonfederal governments to evenly share certain costs with U.S. taxpayers. The amendment sought to cap annual National Park Service authorizations at $25 million, saving at least $15 million, and to require San Francisco and California to share the cost of certain visitor attractions expected to pump millions into their economies.

A yes vote supported the amendment.

Bateman Yes

Pickett Yes

Scott No

Sisisky Did not vote

Clayton No

Lancaster No

EMERGENCY SPENDING: The House voted 322-99 to prevent the addition of routine spending items to emergency appropriations bills. The overall bill (HR 4906) was later passed with this budget reform a part of it.

Emergency bills, which typically send billions to areas hit by natural disaster, are not bound by statutory spending caps. Critics say adding nonemergency funds to these bills is a backdoor method of delivering pork back home. Last February, for example, Congress added money for a New York City railroad station, an FBI fingerprint lab in West Virginia and a sugar cane mill in Hawaii to a California earthquake recovery bill.

Sponsor John Kasich, R-Ohio, called the measure ``a very big step in restoring public confidence in the credibility of the spending patterns of this body and the U.S. Senate.''

David Obey, D-Wis., said that since he recently became Appropriations Committee chairman, ``there has not been a single extraneous item added by either the House or the Senate to an emergency vehicle that was not requested by the administration.''

A yes vote supported the measure.

Bateman Yes

Pickett Yes

Scott Yes

Sisisky Yes

Clayton Yes

Lancaster Yes

SENATE

HEALTH CARE: By a 55-42 vote, the Senate amended a health care bill (S 2351) sponsored by Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine. The amendment set a faster timetable for triggering the bill's standard benefits package for pregnant women and well children and infants. For example, it required private insurers to offer pre-natal and preventative child care coverage by next July. The bill remained in debate.

Sponsor Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said his amendment ``creates no new government bureaucracy. It builds on our current system of private insurance to make certain that we start giving our children a good start right away. . . earlier, then we all win and all gain.''

Opponent Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., said: ``It is hard to argue against this amendment . . . (but) I am concerned that the Dodd amendment will be just a preview of the future Congressional tinkering with and expansion of the benefits package.'' She said independent experts, not Congress, should define standard benefits.

A yes vote was to accelerate standard benefits for pregnant women and well children and infants.

John W. Warner, R-Va. No

Charles S. Robb, D-Va. Yes

Jesse Helms, R-N.C. No

Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C. No

RURAL CARE: By a 94-4 vote, the Senate adopted a package of amendments to improve the delivery of medical services to rural America. The vote occurred during debate on S 2351 (above). In part, the measure bolstered government programs such as the National Health Service Corps that encourage medical professionals to work in isolated areas. It also set up demonstration projects for developing rural-based managed care programs.

A yes vote supported the rural health care package.

Warner Yes

Robb Yes

Helms Yes

Faircloth Yes