Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
September 17, 2000, Sunday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A34
LENGTH: 1376 words
HEADLINE:
NEW ENGLAND VOTES IN CONGRESS
BODY:
WASHINGTON -
This is how New England members of Congress were recorded on major roll call
votes in the week that ended Friday, Sept. 15.
HOUSE
MARRIAGE TAXES: Voting 270 for and 158 against, the House on Sept. 13
failed to override President Clinton's veto of a bill (HR 4810) to eliminate the
"marriage penalty" that occurs when couples pay more income taxes than if filing
as singles. A two-thirds majority was needed to overcome the veto. The bill also
would have provided benefits to couples who pay lower taxes, a "marriage bonus,"
as a result of their union. The cuts were to begin in 2001 at a projected cost
of $292 billion over ten years.
Of the 51 million joint
returns filed in 1999, nearly half paid a marriage penalty that averaged
$1,141 per couple, and about 40 percent received a marriage
bonus averaging $1,274 per couple, according to the US
Treasury.
Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Republican from Texas, said: "It's
time to repeal this destructive, immoral tax on married couples" and rebuff a
president who, with his veto, "placed a higher value on retaining Washington
spending than he did on extending relief for struggling young families."
Richard A. Gephardt, the minority leader, said: "This bill . . . extends
about 60 percent of its benefits to people that earn above the middle class . .
. and frankly don't have a marriage penalty . . . The reason the bill was vetoed
is that it . . . does things that have nothing to do with the marriage penalty."
CONNECTICUT. Voting yes: Christopher Shays and Nancy Johnson, both
Republicans, and James H.Maloney, a Democrat. Voting no: John B. Larson, Sam
Gejdenson, Rosa L. DeLauro, Democrats.
MAINE. Voting no: Thomas H. Allen
and John E. Baldacci, Democrats.
MASSACHUSETTS. Voting no: John W.
Olver, Richard E. Neal, James P. McGovern, Barney Frank, Martin T. Meehan, John
F. Tierney, Edward J. Markey, Michael E. Capuano, J. Joseph Moakley, William D.
Delahunt, all Democrats.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Voting yes: John E. Sununu and
Charles F. Bass, both Republicans.
RHODE ISLAND. Voting no: Patrick J.
Kennedy, Democrat. Not voting: Robert A. Weygand, Democrat.
VERMONT.
Voting no: Bernard Sanders, Independent.
HATE CRIMES: On a vote of 232
for and 192 against, the House on Sept. 13 urged enactment of a Senate-passed
measure making it a federal offense to commit crimes on the basis of the
victim's sexual orientation, gender, or disability. The bill would expand the
list of crimes that trigger federal intervention under civil rights statutes.
This vote recommended that the House follow the Senate's lead and include in it
the 2001 defense budget (H 4205).
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California,
said: "Opponents . . . have argued that this is an issue that should be left to
the states. However, Congress has passed over 3,000 criminal statutes addressing
harmful behaviors that affect the nation's interests, including organized crime,
terrorism, and civil rights violations."
Bob Barr, Repubican of Georgia,
said the bill "treats crimes against certain classes of persons more severely
than those same crimes if they were committed against another class of persons."
A "yes" vote endorsed the hate crimes bill.
CONNECTICUT. Voting
yes: Larson, Gejdenson, DeLauro, Shays, Maloney, Johnson.
MAINE. Voting
yes: Allen, Baldacci.
MASSACHUSETTS. Voting yes: Olver, Neal, McGovern,
Frank, Meehan, Tierney, Markey, Capuano, Moakley, Delahunt.
NEW
HAMPSHIRE. Voting yes: Bass.
Voting no: Sununu.
RHODE ISLAND.
Voting yes: Kennedy, Weygand.
VERMONT. Voting yes: Sanders.
BOY
SCOUTS: By a vote of 12 for and 362 against, the House on Sept. 13 defeated a
bill (HR 4892) to revoke the federal charter of the Boy Scouts of America in
response to its policy, recently affirmed by the US Supreme Court, of banning
gays as scoutmasters.
The issue sparked extraordinary voting behavior on
both sides of the aisle. James Greenwood of Pennsylvania, the only Republican to
vote for the bill, later issued a statement that he meant to vote against it.
And 51 Democrats, mostly liberals, declared "present" - a non-vote - to protest
a Republican decision to bring the previously obscure legislation up for a vote
on short notice.
The sponsor, Lynn Woolsey, Democrat of California, said
her bill sends the message that "Congress does not support discrimination in any
form . . . We are not saying that the Boy Scouts are bad. We are saying that
intolerance is bad."
Dana Rohrabacher, Republican from California, said:
"Instead of attacking the Boy Scouts, we should be celebrating the fact that the
Supreme Court has upheld the sanctity of our First Amendment. And we should
applaud the scouts."
A "yes" vote was to take away the Boy Scouts'
federal charter.
CONNECTICUT. Voting no: Larson, Gejdenson, DeLauro,
Shays, Maloney, Johnson.
MAINE. Voting no: Allen, Baldacci.
MASSACHUSETTS. Not voting: Olver, Neal, McGovern, Frank, Meehan,
Tierney, Markey, Capuano, Moakley, Delahunt.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Voting no:
Sununu, Bass.
RHODE ISLAND. Voting yes: Kennedy.
nnot voting:
Weygand.
VERMONT. Voting no: Sanders.
SENATE
CHINA
TRADE: Voting 65 for and 32 against, the Senate on Sept. 13 tabled (killed) a
bid to allow nontrade-related US economic sanctions on Chinese companies that
sell weapons of mass destruction abroad. Under the amendment, a president could
set in motion federal actions that result in a foreign company losing access to
American markets. The amendment applied also to firms in Russia and North Korea.
It was offered to legislation (HR 4444) to establish permanent,
normal US trade with the People's Republic of China, a
bill that remained in debate.
Fred D. Thompson, Republican from
Tennessee, said it was wrong to trade with China while ignoring its weapons
exports, "because if we ever signal to the world that we are more concerned with
the trade dollar than we are with our own national security, we will not remain
a superpower for very long."
William V. Roth Jr., Republican of
Delaware, said that under the amendment, securities markets would be used "as a
sanctioning tool." He called this "particularly troubling" because "the strength
of our capital markets is based on a degree of predictability and political
certainty that this amendment would undermine."
A "yes" vote was to kill
the amendment.
CONNECTICUT. Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat voted yes.
Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat, did not vote.
MAINE. Susan M. Collins,
andOlympia J. Snowe, both Republicans, voted no.
MASSACHUSETTS. Edward
M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, both Democrats, voted yes.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Robert C. Smith and Judd Gregg, both Republicans, voted no.
RHODE
ISLAND. John Reed, Democrat, and Lincoln Chafee, Republican, voted yes.
VERMONT. Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat, and James R. Jeffords, Republican,
voted yes.
CODE OF CONDUCT: Voting 23 for and 73 against, the Senate on
Sept. 13 refused to require the Department of Commerce to impose a code of
conduct on US firms doing business in the People's Republic of China when trade
is liberalized between the two countries. The amendment to HR 4444 (above)
sought rules to ensure humane treatment of Chinese workers by their American
employers.
Jesse Helms, Republican from North Carolina, said a code is
needed because "the powerful lure of potential huge Chinese markets has
obviously clouded the judgment of some of our top companies and some of their
executives. With regret, I have concluded that they have been willing to
supplicate to the Communist government of China."
William V. Roth Jr.,
Republican of Delaware, said: "There is no need to force American companies to
adopt so-called voluntary codes of conduct with respect to their operations in
China. They are already providing opportunities in China that confirm that there
is a race to the top, not a race to the bottom, when American firms operate
overseas."
A yes vote backed a code of conduct for American firms
operating in China.
CONNECTICUT. Dodd voted no. Lieberman did not vote.
MAINE. Collins and Snowe voted yes.
MASSACHUSETTS. Kennedy did
not vote. Kerry voted no.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Robert Smith voted yes. Gregg
voted no.
RHODE ISLAND. Reed and Chafee voted no.
VERMONT. Leahy
voted no. Jeffords voted yes.
LOAD-DATE: September 26,
2000 
