THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510300043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
Budget bill: Voting 227-203, the House passed a bill (HR 2491) enacting hundreds of major program changes designed to balance the budget by 2002. The bill is the final step in the Republican majority's yearlong overhaul of the federal government. It cuts personal and business taxes by $245 billion over seven years and slows spending by nearly $900 billion, including curbs of more than $500 billion in Medicare, Medicaid and welfare outlays.
The bill provides a $500-per-child tax cut for families earning up to $110,000; eases numerous levies on businesses; cuts the capital gains rate on the sale of assets; limits the ``earned income tax credit'' for the working poor; cuts estate taxes; establishes medical savings accounts; broadens Individual Retirement Accounts; and eases the marriage tax penalty.
It limits crop subsidies and other farm entitlements; terminates Medicaid as an entitlement and transfers this health program for the poor to states along with capped federal funding; permits oil and gas production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; abolishes the Commerce Department; tightens the student loan program; revamps Medicare by curbing taxpayer support and adding private-sector health care options for seniors; ends the entitlement status of most welfare programs and transfers them to the states; and requires federal workers to contribute more toward their pensions.
Supporter John Kasich, R-Ohio, said: ``We're going to have a balanced budget in seven years. We're going to have tax relief for Americans. We're going to save the future and . . . restore the country for 100 additional years. . . . Our Medicare recipients will have far more'' with spending rising from $4,700 to $6,800 annually per recipient.
Opponent Martin Sabo, D-Minn., said the bill ``rewards the most wealthy and powerful interests in our society at the expense of the most vulnerable Americans. (It) will raise taxes on low-income working families while lavishing massive tax breaks on the affluent (and) make it difficult if not impossible for millions of citizens to obtain adequate health care.''
A yes vote was to approve the Republican budget.
Bateman Yes Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky Didn't vote
Clayton No Jones Yes
Democratic plan: The House rejected, 72-356, the Democratic alternative to the GOP budget bill (HR 2491, above). Authored by conservative Democrats, the measure sought to end deficit spending by 2002 but omitted the GOP's massive tax cut and thus required softer spending curbs to reach balance. It reduced by one-half of 1 percent the annual Consumer Price Index increases that trigger cost-of-living hikes for federal entitlements.
The Democratic measure sought to slow Medicare growth by $170 billion rather than the GOP's $270 billion figure, and opted to keep Medicaid and Aid For Families With Dependent Children as entitlements but with capped spending. It also differed, in part, by protecting federal employee benefits against cuts, retaining U.S. standards for nursing homes and spending more for student loan programs, education, economic development, job training and science.
A yes vote supported the Democratic budget alternative.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott Yes Sisisky Didn't vote
Clayton Yes Jones No
To move embassy: The House passed, 374-37, a bill (HR 1595) to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The bill says the move should occur by June 1999, but it enables the president to defer it indefinitely. Israelis and Palestinians view Jerusalem as their capital, so the White House says the bill could upset the Mideast peace process.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Bateman Didn't vote Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Didn't vote
Clayton No Jones Yes Senate
GOP fiscal plan: Voting 52-49, the Senate passed a bill (S 1357) overhauling the U.S. Code to produce a balanced budget by 2002. The bill largely mirrors the House budget measure (above), including $245 billion in tax cuts over seven years to go with spending slowdowns of up to $1 trillion. The ``reconciliation'' bill is so named because it requires, in one stroke, the scope and cost of federal programs to be reconciled with the legal requirement of a balanced budget.
Supporter Hank Brown, R-Colo., said: ``This is a plan to increase spending by 3 percent a year instead of 6 percent a year. . . . By controlling the increases to a moderate rate we are able to offer a future to our children and our grandchildren. We are able to focus on the deficit. Without doing that, we consume their future with debt, deficits and economic stagnation.''
Opponent James Exon, D-Neb., said: ``More than 9 million rural Americans will pay higher out-of-pocket costs for second-class Medicare programs . . . the typical rural hospital could find its annual budget cut by a third. . . . Net farm income will decline by $9 billion over the next seven years. And for what? . . . For the almighty tax breaks for the wealthy.''
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Robb No Warner Yes
Helms Yes Faircloth Yes
Medicare and taxes: Voting 53-46, the House rejected a Democratic bid for higher Medicare spending and lower tax cuts in S 1357 (above). The Democrats sought Medicare curbs of $89 billion rather than the GOP figure of $270 billion over seven years, getting the money by scaling back proposed GOP tax cuts by $181 billion.
Sponsor John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the measure would protect Medicare ``from a mind-boggling raid that will cut health care benefits, increase seniors' costs and threaten the very existence of hospitals . . . purely and simply to pay for tax breaks tilted in favor of the most affluent, comfortable households.''
Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said Republicans are not cutting Medicare but, to keep it solvent, would ``slow the rate of growth from three times the rate of inflation to twice the rate of inflation. That still is a very generous increase. . . . Instead of a 10 percent rate of growth . . . let us have a 6.4 percent rate of growth.''
A yes vote was for the Democratic bill.
Robb Yes Warner No
Helms No Faircloth No
Embassy issue: Voting 93-5, the Senate passed a bill (S 1322) to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, which is Israel's functional capital, to Jerusalem, which Israel considers its true capital. Although the move is supposed to occur by June 1999, a loophole in the bill allows the U.S. president to delay it indefinitely.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Robb Yes Warner Yes
Helms Yes Faircloth Yes ILLUSTRATION: ROLL CALL: How area members of Congress voted for the week
ending Oct 27.
[Photos, telephone numbers and addresses of senators and
representatives from Virginia and North Carolina.]
To reach any representative or senator on any issues that concern
you, call (202) 224-3121.
by CNB