Copyright 2000 The Seattle Times Company
The
Seattle Times
February 13, 2000, Sunday Night Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A13; HOW YOUR U.S. LAWMAKER VOTED
LENGTH: 762 words
HEADLINE:
How your U.S. Lawmaker voted
BYLINE: Roll Call Report
Syndicate
BODY:
WASHINGTON - Here's how Washington
state's members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.
House
Marriage-tax penalty: By a vote of 268-158, the House on Thursday
passed a bill (HR 6) designed to eliminate the penalty that occurs when married
couples pay more income taxes than they would if they were filing as singles. It
would cut taxes by $182 billion over 10 years.
The bill
would increase the standard deduction for couples to twice that of single
taxpayers; at present, it is about 60 percent higher. It would expand the 15
percent bracket for couples filing jointly to include taxable income of up to
$52,500, several thousand dollars higher than the current
bracket ceiling. And it would raise the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income
couples filing jointly.
Of 51 million joint returns filed in 1999,
nearly half were affected by a marriage penalty that averaged
$1,141 per couple, according to the Treasury.
About 40
percent of joint filers received a "marriage bonus" averaging
$1,274, and the remainder reflected no difference in tax
liability between joint and single rates. The changes would take effect in 2001
and would be available to all married couples filing jointly, not just those who
have been penalized.
Marriage penalties generally occur where the income
division between spouses is 70 percent-30 percent or closer. Marriage bonuses
usually occur where there is a wide gap between the two incomes.
A yes
vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Jay Inslee, D-1; Jack Metcalf,
R-2; Brian Baird, D-3; Doc Hastings, R-4; George Nethercutt, R-5; Jennifer Dunn,
R-8; Adam Smith, D-9.
Voting no: Norm Dicks, D-6; Jim McDermott, D-7.
Democratic substitute: By a vote of 192-233, the House on Thursday
defeated a Democratic alternative to HR 6 (above). It differed from the GOP
approach by delaying the marriage-tax cut until laws are in place to gradually
eliminate the publicly held national debt by 2013 and ensure the solvency of
Social Security until 2050 and Medicare until 2030. Democrats sought cuts of
$89 billion over 10 years and called for increasing the
standard deduction and liberalizing the earned-income tax credit. But their plan
did not expand the 15 percent tax bracket as does the GOP bill.
A yes
vote backed the Democratic plan for eliminating the marriage penalty.
Voting yes: Inslee, Baird, Dicks, McDermott, Smith.
Voting no:
Metcalf, Hastings, Nethercutt, Dunn.
Suits against manufacturers: By a
vote of 224-194, the House on Feb. 2 passed a bill (HR 2005) limiting the time
for filing personal-injury and property-damage suits against manufacturers of
workplace machinery and certain other durable goods. The measure would set a
filing window of up to 18 years. It applies to litigation involving "capital
stock" goods, such as machine tools and farm equipment, and overrides any
competing state laws.
A yes vote was to pass a bill backed by the
National Association of Manufacturers and Chamber of Commerce and opposed by the
AFL-CIO and the Association of American Trial Lawyers.
Voting yes:
Hastings, Nethercutt, Dunn.
Voting no: Inslee, Metcalf, Baird, Dicks,
McDermott, Smith.
Abraham Lincoln: By a vote of 385-9, the House on
Tuesday passed a bill (HR 1451) establishing a commission to plan a national
celebration in 2009 of the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. The 16th president
was born Feb. 12, 1809, and died April 15, 1865. The birthday planning is
expected to cost up to $1.5 million through 2004.
A yes
vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Inslee, Baird, Hastings,
Nethercutt, Dicks, McDermott, Dunn, Smith.
Not voting: Metcalf. Senate
Nuclear-waste disposal: By a vote of 64-34, the Senate on Thursday
passed a bill (S 1287) advancing the timetable for permanently storing the
nation's nuclear waste near Yucca Mountain, Nev., 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
The bill would change from 2010 to 2007 a
deadline for the Energy Department to open the underground repository. It seeks
speedier resolution of environmental, public-health, national-security and
states'-rights issues that stand in the way of licensing and building the
facility.
At first, the site would receive more than 4,250 metric tons
of spent nuclear fuel stored above ground at more than 80 nuclear-power plants
and federal research and military facilities in 41 states. The waste would be
shipped to Nevada by truck and rail.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Slade Gorton, R; Patty Murray, D (Copyright 1999, Thomas
Reports Inc.)
LOAD-DATE: February 14, 2000
