Maryland
Roscoe Bartlett, R-6, no
Pennsylvania
Bill Shuster, R-9, yes
West Virginia
Shelley Moore Capito, R-2, yes
Religion-based hiring
Voting 220 for and 196 against, the House on Sept. 22 amended HR 2123 to allow faith-based Head Start sponsors, such as churches, to use federal funds to hire only members of the same religion. This goes beyond current law, which permits sponsors to implement religious discrimination in their hiring only if they use nonpublic funds to pay for the practice.
A yes vote backed the amendment.
Maryland
Bartlett, yes
Pennsylvania
Shuster, yes
West Virginia
Capito, yes
SENATE
Veterans' counseling
Senators on Sept. 22 refused, 48 for and 50 against, to add $10 million to the fiscal 2006 budget for counseling services for Guard, Reserve and active duty personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and the families of fallen veterans. The funds were to have been taken from the Department of Veterans Affairs information-technology budget. The vote occurred as the Senate sent to conference with the House a 2006 appropriations bill (HR 2528) for veterans' programs and military construction. The underlying bill already raised the veterans' counseling budget by $4 million over 2005 spending.
A yes vote was to increase the veterans' counseling budget by $10 million.
Maryland
Paul Sarbanes, D, yes
Barbara Mikulski, D, yes
Pennsylvania
Arlen Specter, R, yes
Rick Santorum, R, no
West Virginia
Robert Byrd, D, yes
John Rockefeller, D, yes
Pork-barrel disclosure
Senators on Sept. 21 voted, 55 for and 39 against, to require public disclosure of the "earmarks," or pork-barrel items, contained in the fiscal 2006 Department of Agriculture appropriations bill (HR 2744). Under this amendment, when the bill's conference report is debated later this year, it must identify the hundreds of special projects requested by individual lawmakers. At present, members' projects typically are hidden in fine print and do not become publicly known until long after they are enshrined in law.
The 2005 agricultural budget funded 512 earmarked projects costing $526 million, according to the interest group Citizens Against Government Waste.
A yes vote backed pork-barrel disclosure.
Maryland
Sarbanes, no
Mikulski, not voting
Pennsylvania
Specter, yes
Santorum, yes
West Virginia
Byrd, no
Rockefeller, not voting
Horse slaughter
Senators on Sept. 20 voted, 68 for and 29 against, to bar federal meat inspections of U.S. horses slaughtered for human consumption overseas. In 2004, about 95,000 U.S. horses were killed for foreign tables, with about 65,000 processed by - and federally inspected at - three U.S. slaughterhouses. Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses handled the remaining 30,000. The amendment to HR 2744 was designed to stop the killing of American horses for food sales abroad.
A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.
Maryland
Sarbanes, yes
Mikulski, yes
Pennsylvania
Specter, yes
Santorum, yes
West Virginia
Byrd, yes
Rockefeller, not voting
Japanese beef imports
Senators on Sept. 22 voted, 72 for and 26 against, to prevent Japan from exporting whole cuts of boneless beef to the United States unless it fully opens its markets to U.S. beef and beef-product exports. The amendment to HR 2744 would block an impending U.S. Department of Agriculture rule to allow the importation of Japanese whole cuts on a large scale. The rule is part of a larger trade agreement between the United States and Japan. The next stop for the issue is a House-Senate conference committee on HR 2744.
A yes vote backed the amendment.
Maryland
Sarbanes, yes
Mikulski, yes
Pennsylvania
Specter, yes
Santorum, yes
West Virginia
Byrd, yes
Rockefeller, not voting
Key votes ahead
In the week of Sept. 26, the House will consider a weakening of the Endangered Species Act, while the Senate will vote on the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. as Chief Justice of the United States and also debate appropriations bills. The 2006 fiscal year begins at week's end.
