THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605270023
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 197 lines
House:
Fuel tax cut: Voting 301 for and 108 against, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 3415) temporarily lowering the federal tax on gasoline and other transportation fuels from 18.3 cents to 14 cents per gallon. This suspends for the remainder of the year a 4.3 cent levy that Congress imposed in 1993 to reduce the deficit by $24 billion over five years. To offset the revenue it loses, the bill curbs Energy Department spending and requires the FCC to auction off more of the electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communications.
Noting a recent spike in gas prices, Ed Royce, R-Calif., said ``the painful increase . . . at the pump gives us an excellent opportunity to repeal the tax that never should have been imposed while at the same time helping taxpayers keep more of their hard-earned money.''
George Miller, D-Calif., said the bill ``is about putting fuel in Bob Dole's campaign. . . about presidential politics and a failed campaign to try to use the gas tax to jump-start that campaign.''
A yes vote was to temporarily lower the U.S. gasoline tax from 18.3 cents to 14 cents.
Bateman Yes Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky Yes
Clayton No Jones Yes
Gas tax savings: By a vote of 183 for and 225 against, the House rejected a Democratic motion to require oil companies to pass through to consumers the benefits of a 4.3 cents-per-gallon drop in federal fuel taxes (HR 3415, above). The General Accounting Office was to tell Congress on Nov. 1 whether oil companies had done so.
Edward Markey, D-Mass., said the motion would ``guarantee that the large oil companies pass that four-cent gasoline tax break . . . on to the consumer.
Bill Archer, R-Tex., said the Democratic bid ``lacks a fundamental confidence in our free market system'' and ``smacks of price controls and the long hand of gargantuan government.''
A yes vote was to require passing gas tax savings on to consumers.
Bateman No Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones No
Spy budget: The House rejected, 176 for and 248 against, an amendment to make public the total U.S. intelligence budget, a classified figure widely reported in the news media at about $30 billion annually. This vote occurred as the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 3259) authorizing fiscal 1997 spending for the intelligence operations of 12 agencies including the CIA, National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency.
Norman Dicks, D-Wash., said the amendment poses ``no threat to national security,'' adding ``the Constitution requires a public statement and accounting of the expenditure of public funds.''
Larry Combest, R-Tex., said the amendment ``is starting down a slippery slope'' to possibly more detailed disclosure of spy budgets. ``This is an inside-the-Beltway issue, and I do not believe the American people are clamoring to know the intelligence budget.''
A yes vote was to declassify the total annual cost of U.S. intelligence.
Bateman No Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky No
Clayton Yes Jones No
Journalists: The House voted, 417 for and six against, to make it more difficult for the CIA to seek to use journalists as intelligence agents. Under the amendment to HR 3259 (above), only the president could waive a ban on the CIA recruiting journalists, compared to present policy allowing the CIA director to grant waivers. News organizations want a total ban because reporters overseas face danger and loss of credibility if they are seen as linked to the CIA. But CIA officials say there are occasions when national security justifies their approaching American correspondents abroad.
No member spoke against the measure.
A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.
Bateman Yes Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones Yes
Minimum wage: The House approved, 266 for and 162 against, an amendment to raise the minimum wage from $4.25 to $4.75 an hour on July 1 and to $5.15 a year later. The 90-cent increase was added to a bill (HR 1227) that, as later sent to the Senate, continues the requirement that businesses of all sizes pay the federally required minimum wage (next issue).
Sam Gejdensen, D-Conn., said: ``If you want welfare reform, vote for real welfare reform, vote for a living wage for Americans. . . . Don't give me phony speeches about getting people off of welfare. Give people the hope and opportunity to work and at least have enough money to almost live in dignity.''
Jay Dickey, R-Ark., opposed the increase ``not because I don't want to help working Americans but because I do want to help them. We know that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs and take opportunities away from those we claim we want to help the most. . .''
A yes vote was to raise the minimum wage.
Bateman No Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones No
Exemption issue: The House refused, 196 for and 229 against, to exempt the nation's smallest businesses - those with gross annual sales of less than $500,000 - from having to pay the minimum wage or overtime to future hires. The amendment was offered to a bill (HR 1227) that raises the minimum wage by 90 cents to $5.15 an hour (see previous vote).
A yes vote was to exempt small businesses from having to pay the minimum wage.
Bateman Yes Pickett Yes
Scott No Sisisky No
Clayton No Jones Yes
Small business: By a vote of 414 for and 10 against, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 3448) providing small businesses, growers who hire foreign farm workers, charitable organizations and others with nearly $700 million in tax breaks over the next five years. The lost revenue would be offset by tightening several areas of the tax code.
In part, the bill raises small business deductions for capital investment, gives businesses of all sizes tax credits for hiring welfare recipients, exempts growers from U.S. unemployment taxes on alien workers, enables extremely small businesses to set up with 401(k)-style pension plans and permits certain charitable organizations to form insurance pools.
Bill Archer, R-Tex., said: ``Republicans recognize that the middle-class crunch is real and these reforms are designed to help people make and save more.''
Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., objected to the bill's ending tax deductions for certain corporations operating in Puerto Rico to help pay for middle-class and corporate tax breaks. He said that ``following Republican logic, we will pay for (the bill) by going to the poorest people with the weakest political posture.''
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Bateman Yes Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones Yes SENATE> Medicaid: Voting 55 for and 45 against, the Senate tabled (killed) a Democratic bid to spend $18 billion more on Medicaid through 2002 than the $730 billion that Republicans recommend spending over six years. The added spending was to have been offset by closing unspecified corporate tax loopholes. The vote came during debate on a budget blueprint for fiscal 1997 and beyond (S Con Res 57) that awaited final Senate approval. For fiscal 1997, the plan calls for spending of $1.63 trillion, revenue of $1.47 trillion and a deficit of about $155 billion.
Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said: ``It was President Clinton who said what we need to do for Medicaid is slow the growth from about 10 to 11 percent down to two times inflation. That is what we have done. To say we are amputating programs is not true.''
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said that the under the GOP Medicaid figure ``the people that will be affected will be the children, the elderly people, nursing homes and the disabled in our country. . . the most vulnerable in our society.''
A yes vote was kill the Democratic bid for higher Medicaid spending offset by corporate tax increases.
Robb No Warner Yes
Faircloth Yes Helms Yes
Education: Voting 52 for and 48 against, the Senate tabled (killed) a proposed Democratic increase of $56.1 billion over six years for education and job training. This was a 19-percent increase in the Republicans' proposed budget of $302 billion through 2002 for the same programs. Offered as an amendment to S Con Res 57 (above), the increase was to have been offset by ending unspecified corporate tax breaks.
A yes vote was to kill the Democratic bid for higher education spending paid for by corporate tax increases.
Robb Yes Warner Yes
Faircloth Yes Helms Yes
Budget: The Senate passed, 53 for and 46 against, a fiscal 1997 budget blueprint (S Con Res 57) along with a plan for ending deficit spending by 2002. Drafted mainly by Republicans, the measure anticipates spending of $1.63 trillion, revenue of $1.47 trillion and a deficit of $155 billion in 1997. Among major items are $265.6 billion for defense, $242 billion for national debt service, $193 billion for Medicare and $131 billion for health and Medicaid programs. It goes to conference with a House version that, among other differences, provides $5 billion less for domestic programs.
Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said: ``There are very good reasons for us to be proposing this honest balanced budget. One is that it protects priorities like Social Security and Medicare, and importantly, it accommodates tax relief for middle-income families.''
Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said: ``Nearly everything in the daily lives of the American people will be affected. We do the American people no favor by balancing the budget on the back of critical domestic investments.''
A yes vote was to approve the budget blueprint.
Robb No Warner Yes
Faircloth Yes Helms Yes
Environment: Voting 55 for and 45 against, the Senate tabled (killed) a Democratic bid to add $7.3 billion to S Con Res 57 (above) for environmental spending over six years. The amount was on top of nearly $120 billion already in the long-range fiscal plan for environmental protection and was to be offset by reducing unspecified corporate tax breaks.
Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the Republican budget provides ample environmental spending.
James Exon, D-Nebraska, said the amendment ``will help to protect the quality of our water and air, clean up toxic waste, and preserve our national parks and other natural resources by restoring proposed Republican cuts.''
A yes vote opposed the bid to increase environmental spending while raising corporate taxes.
Robb No Warner Yes
Faircloth Yes Helms Yes by CNB