THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 17, 1995 TAG: 9507170049
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
Complaining that the bill cut too deeply, Anthony Beilenson, D-Calif., said ``combating rapid population growth . . . ensuring child survival, reducing the spread of disease, providing basic education and improving agriculture . .
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Bateman Yes Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton No Jones No
APPALACHIA: Voting 108 for and 319 against, the House refused to kill the Appalachian Regional Commission, a Great Society agency that funds economic development in 13 contiguous states from New York to Alabama. The vote came during debate on an $18.7 billion energy and water appropriations bill (HR 1905) for fiscal 1996 that was later sent to the Senate. The bill provides $142 million for the ARC, down 50 percent from 1995.
Sponsor Scott Klug, R-Wis., said ``there was an election last fall that I think challenged this Congress to a new mandate . . . to begin eliminating programs that could no longer be justified.''
Opponent Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said the bill asks ``some of the poorest and neediest people in America to take a 50 percent hit. They are already doing their fair share and more . . . to get the nation's fiscal house in order.''
A yes vote was to kill the Appalachian development agency.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky No
Clayton No Jones No
TENNESSEE VALLEY: By a vote of 144 for and 284 against, the House refused to eliminate Tennessee Valley Authority funding of $103.3 million from HR 1905 (above). The amendment sought to end TVA programs such as tourism marketing and logger education and let other public works agencies manage the TVA's dam and reservoir system. It did not address the self-supporting hydroelectric power operations that are the core business of the New Deal agency.
Supporter Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., asked: ``How can we justify . . . federal taxpayer dollars going to such functions as boat landings, campgrounds, and logger education?. . . This is pork barrel politics in its pure form, and American taxpayers are sick and tired of such politics.''
Opponent Zach Wamp., R-Tenn., noted that the bill already cut last year's $143 billion TVA budget by $40 million, calling that ``TVA's fair share of this patriotic challenge'' to balance the federal budget.
A yes vote was to strip TVA funding from the 1996 energy and water appropriations bill.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky No
Clayton No Jones No
MOJAVE DESERT: Voting 174 for and 227 against, the House refused to provide the National Park Service with $600,000 for administering the East Mojave National Preserve in California. The vote came during debate on an Interior Department appropriations bill (HR 1977) that awaited final passage. At issue was whether the park service or the more commercial-minded Bureau of Land Management should run the preserve, which was designated by the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. This vote left $600,000 for setting up the preserve in the BLM budget.
Sponsor Vic Fazio, D-Calif., said allowing Bureau of Land Management control would ``make a mockery'' of the eight-year effort in Congress to federally protect the California desert.
Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said the park service is catering to ``a very small group of elitists who would like to tell the people in the desert in California how best this land should be managed.''
A yes vote supported National Park Service management of the East Mojave National Preserve.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott Yes Sisisky No
Clayton Yes Jones No
Senate
REGULATIONS: The Senate voted 53 for and 45 against to scale back a Republican bill (S 343) curbing federal regulations. This amendment limited the bill to new rules costing the economy at least $100 million annually. It replaced a $50 million trigger that provided more regulatory relief to small businesses. The bill, which remained in debate, requires in part that regulations above the $100 million threshold be subjected to scientific ``cost-benefit'' and ``risk-assessment'' analyses. The legislation is similar to a House-passed Contract With America regulations bill.
Supporter William Roth, R-Del., said that even with a higher trigger the bill would ease ``the vast bulk of the regulatory burden'' imposed by Washington. He added that the $50 million threshold would overburden agencies and thus defeat the purpose of the bill.
Opponent Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said ``all of small business throughout this country is watching this particular vote. . . . The issue here is whether small businesses are going to be treated the same as larger businesses.''
A yes vote was to narrow the bill.
Robb Yes Warner No
Helms No Faircloth No
MEAT INSPECTION: By a vote of 49 for and 51 against, the Senate refused to fully exempt forthcoming meat inspection rules from S 343 (above). The likely result of this vote is to require the Department of Agriculture meat safety regulations to clear certain hurdles such as judicial review. However, the bill exempts them from cost-benefit and risk-assessment hurdles that would apply to most future government regulations.
Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said the meat rules will ``help prevent a repeat of the E coli bacterial contamination. But it is not just E coli. . . . It is a number of other foodborne illnesses that . . . have clearly demonstrated the need for a new system.''
Opponent Bennett Johnston, D-La., said: ``The Secretary of Agriculture has a very legitimate concern'' about the meat rules. ``But we do not want to come along on a case-by-case basis and exempt anything that relates to health or safety or the environment . . . because then you have no bill left.''
A yes vote was to fully exempt new meat inspection regulations from the bill.
Robb Yes Warner No
Helms No Faircloth No ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
FOREIGN AID: Voting 333 for and 89 against, the House sent the
Senate a bill (HR 1868) appropriating nearly $12 billion in foreign
aid for fiscal 1996, down 11 percent from 1995. The largest direct
grants to countries are $3 billion for Israel, $2.1 billion for
Egypt and $595 million for Russia and certain other former Soviet
states. U.S. corporations are helped by $822 million to agencies
that boost American exports. The bill prohibits funding of groups
such as the United Nations Population Fund that promote abortion.
Supporter Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., said: ``With the end of the
Cold War, there exists a sentiment in our country to place foreign
affairs on the back burner . . . but I believe recent events in the
former Soviet Union, North Korea and Bosnia illustrate that America
cannot isolate itself from the international community.'' by CNB