THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 31, 1995 TAG: 9507310041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
Labor issue: Voting 233 for and 186 against, the House preserved collective bargaining rights for workers in federally subsidized mass transit systems. A victory for organized labor, the vote struck language in a pending appropriations bill (HR 2002) to end the bargaining protections. GOP budget-cutters had authored the language as a means of lowering labor costs and thus reducing the need for taxpayer support of bus and rail systems.
Supporter Ronald Coleman, D-Tex., said: ``We let workers decide whether or not they want to have collective bargaining to maintain their jobs, a fair wage and a standard of living so that they can educate their kids and provide for their families. There is nothing wrong in America with us continuing to do that.''
Opponent Tom DeLay, R-Tex., said: ``This is a perfect example of a labor protection that has run amok. We have for over 30 years built a system that has cost the taxpayers, that has cost low-income riders, that has driven the cost of mass transit to outrageous sums. . . . We have got to bring it back to some sort of reasonableness.''
A yes vote was to preserve bargaining rights for mass transit workers.
Bateman Did not vote Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones No
Space station: By a vote of 126 for and 299 against, the House rejected an amendment to kill the space station Alpha by shifting its $2 billion 1996 budget to programs such as veterans' health care and deficit reduction. The vote came as the House sent the Senate an appropriations bill (HR 2099) for a variety of agencies, including NASA. About $14 billion has been spent on the space station in the past 11 years. Official projections are to spend another $26 billion for development, construction and ten years of operation, although critics foresee a much higher cost.
A yes vote was to kill the space station.
Bateman Did not vote Pickett No
Scott Yes Sisisky No
Clayton No Jones No
To preserve agency: The House rejected, 115 for and 310 against, an amendment to kill the Economic Development Administration by removing its $349 million budget from a fiscal 1996 appropriations bill (HR 2076) that later was sent to the Senate. Supporters regard the Great Society agency as an economic lifeline to poor communities, while critics denounce it as unaffordable pork-barrel project. The GOP plan passed by Congress to balance the budget by 2002 calls for eliminating the EDA.
A yes vote was to kill the Economic Development Administration.
Bateman Did not vote Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky No
Clayton No Jones No
Oil: By a vote of 324 for and 77 against, the House passed a bill (HR 70) allowing Alaskan North Slope oil to be sold abroad for the first time. This lifted an export ban set by Congress in 1973 in approving construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to bring oil from Prudhoe Bay to market. The bill also suspends royalties to the U.S. Treasury that oil companies now pay on production from certain deep wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
Supporter Don Young, R-Alaska, said, ``This ban no longer makes economic sense. . . . It has hurt the citizens of Alaska, it has severely damaged the California oil and gas industry, and it has precluded the market from functioning normally.''
Opponent Sam Gejedensen, D-Conn., said: ``At a time when we are more dependent than ever on the importation of oil from a part of the world that is still politically unstable, we are going to take our oil . . . to contract it to the Japanese. . . . We are wasting our future.''
A yes vote was to export Alaskan oil.
Bateman Did not vote Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones Yes SENATE
Bosnia: The Senate voted, 69 for and 29 against, to end American participation in a 4-year-old international embargo on the outside world sending weapons to the former Yugoslavia. This would permit the United States to arm Bosnian Muslim forces against Bosnian Serbs, after the withdrawal of U.N. troops. The bill (S 21) must now clear the House and a threatened veto by President Clinton.
Supporter Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said that in the face of ``barbarism'' by Serbs ``we no longer can stand idly by (and) must take action as befits our status as an international leader in terms of morality and humanity. . . . And when we stand by idly, which we are forced to do by the cowardice of our (European) allies, then I think we become co-conspirators'' against the Muslims.
Opponent Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: ``At the core, this is a European issue. Our European allies are on the front line, and they do not want us to act unilaterally.'' She added, ``The moment we lift the embargo, there is a strong chance the allies will leave and an all-out war will follow,'' drawing America into the conflict.
A yes vote was to begin arming Bosnian Muslims.
Warner Yes Robb Yes
Helms Yes Faircloth Yes
Lobbyists: Voting 98 for and none against, the Senate sent the House a bill (S 1060) to increase public scrutiny of the estimated 12,000 professional lobbyists who work to sway legislative and executive branch decisions. Lobbyists earning more than $5,000 in six months would have to disclose to a new Capitol Hill oversight office their clients, issues and payments received. The bill, which would replace an ineffective 50-year-old statute, exempts casual lobbyists and those who contact Congress as part of grass-roots campaigns. Violators can be fined as much as $50,000. The two senators not voting were Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Bob Graham, D-Fla.
Supporter William Cohen, R-Maine, said: ``We want to make sure that the public is fully aware of who is being hired, by whom, how much they are being paid, and to do what.''
A yes vote was to pass lobbying-reform legislation.
Warner Yes Robb Yes
Helms Yes Faircloth Yes
Gift ban: By a vote of 98 for and zero against, the Senate approved a measure (S Res 158) sharply limiting the virtually unlimited meals, gifts and vacations that senators and their staffs now can receive from lobbyists and other benefactors. Gifts such as meals and tickets will be limited to $100 annually per giver, with items of $10 or less not counted toward the total. While senators and aides can no longer receive vacations involving free travel and lodging, they can accept free meals while attending legislative conferences at vacation spots. The measure takes effect Jan. 1, 1996. It changes only Senate rules, leaving it up to the House to deal with its own gift policies. The two senators not voting were James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Sponsor Carl Levin, D-Mich., said: ``Last year, when we debated this gift bill, we had Washington restaurants tell us that if lobbyists could not take our members out for meals, the restaurants in Washington, a lot of them, would close. People were saying the Kennedy Center would close if lobbyists could not buy tickets for members of Congress. What a terrible indictment. . . . Can it really be that we accept so many free meals and tickets that entire industries are dependent upon our continuing to accept such gifts?''
A yes vote was to sharply limit gifts and other favors to senators and their staffs.
Warner Yes Robb Yes
Helms Yes Faircloth Yes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic of photos and addresses
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