THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501080040
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 148 lines
Here's how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the opening days of the 104th Congress.
HOUSE
Committee staff cut. By a vote of 416 for and 12 against, the House decided to cut its committee staff by one-third, eliminating about 750 slots and saving upwards of $35million annually in payroll and benefits. The cut does not affect the approximately 7,000 aides on House members' personal staffs.
A yes vote was to cut committee staffing by a third.
Herbert H. Bateman, R-Va. - Yes
Owen B. Pickett, D-Va. - Yes
Robert C. Scott, D-Va. - Yes
Norman Sisisky, D-Va. - Yes
Eva Clayton, D-N.C. - Yes
Walter Jones, R-N.C. - Yes
Term limits. By a vote of 355 for and 74 against, the House adopted a rule to limit speakers to four consecutive terms of service (eight years) and committee and subcommittee chairmen to three straight terms (six years). The count begins immediately.
A yes vote supported term limits for the House speaker and committee leaders.
Bateman - Yes
Pickett - Yes
Scott - Yes
Sisisky - Yes
Clayton - Yes
Jones - Yes
Absentee voting. The House voted 418 for and 13 against to end proxy voting in committee and subcommittee, a longtime practice that has enabled members to have their votes on legislation counted when they are absent.
A yes vote was to prohibit absentee voting in the House committee system.
Bateman - Yes
Pickett - Yes
Scott - No
Sisisky - Yes
Clayton - Yes
Jones - Yes
Tax votes. By a vote of 279 for and 152 against, the House amended its rules to require three-fifths majority votes for approval of personal or corporate income tax increases. Simple majority votes will continue to be sufficient for other tax hikes. The measure also prohibits retroactive tax increases.
A yes vote was to require a three-fifths majority vote - a so-called ``super majority'' - for House approval of higher personal and corporate income taxes.
Bateman - Didn't vote
Pickett - No
Scott - No
Sisisky - - Yes
Clayton - No
Jones - Yes
Budget change. By a vote of 421 for and six against, the House changed its methods of calculating spending increases, so that year-to-year comparisons will be figured in much the way that households and businesses measure annual increases. This basic approach will replace ``baseline'' budgeting, which critics say understates actual increases because of the weight it gives to inflation.
A yes vote was to end baseline budgeting.
Bateman - Yes
Pickett - Yes
Scott - Yes
Sisisky - Yes
Clayton - Yes
Jones - Yes
Applying laws to Congress. By a vote of 429 for and none against, the House passed a bill (HR 1) fully subjecting Congress to 10 workplace laws that affect the rest of the country. The measure ends Congress' full or partial exemption from measures including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Titles I and V of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Federal Labor Management Relations Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Bateman - Yes
Pickett - Yes
Scott - Yes
Sisisky - Yes
Clayton - Yes
Jones - Yes
Rules issue. By a vote of 196 for and 235 against, the House rejected a bid by Democrats to amend a GOP rules package (H Res 6) for the 104th Congress. Democrats wanted to append to the a bill that increases regulation of lobbyists and ban gifts to lawmakers and staff. The bill died in the Senate last year.
A yes vote backed an open rule for debating the GOP rules package for the 104th Congress.
Bateman - No
Pickett - Yes
Scott - Yes
Sisisky - Yes
Clayton - Yes
Jones - No
To audit the House. Members voted 430 for and one against to approve a detailed audit of House operations, believed to be the first comprehensive examination of House finances and operations since World War II or before. The vote occurred during debate on H Res 6 setting rules for the 104th Congress.
A yes vote supported the audit.
Bateman - Yes
Pickett - Yes
Scott - Yes
Sisisky - Yes
Clayton - Yes
Jones - Yes
SENATE
Filibuster rules. By a vote of 76 for and 19 against, the Senate tabled (killed) a rules change to weaken the filibuster as a tool of the minority to block legislation. A supermajority of 60 votes is now required to end a filibuster, meaning that 41 senators can thwart the majority and tie up the Senate. This proposal sought to gradually lower the required majority for limiting debate from 60 to 51 votes over several days.
A yes vote opposed weakening filibusters.
John Warner, R-Va. - Yes
Charles Robb, D-Va. - No
Jesse Helms, R-N.C. - Yes
Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C. - Yes
Gift ban. By a vote of 52 for and 39 against, the Senate tabled (killed) an attempt to add legislation concerning gifts to a extending coverage of 10 major workplace laws to Congress (S 2). This defeated a Democratic bid to revive a bill outlawing gifts to members and staff, a measure blocked by Senate Republicans at the close of the last Congress.
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who voted to table, said he favors ``further refinements made in the gift measure.''
Bill sponsor Carl Levin, D-Mich., said ``it is hard to see how we can say that we have made the Congress accountable when we continue to allow special interests to pay for free Congressional travel, free golf tournaments, free dinners, free football, basketball and concert tickets, and on and on.''
A yes vote opposed attaching a gift-ban to a bill extending workplace laws to Congress.
Warner - Yes
Robb - Did not vote
Helms - Yes
Faircloth - Yes
- Roll Call Report Syndicate by CNB