WASHINGTON – Here’s how area members of Congress voted in the week ending Friday.
HOUSE
Tighter bailout rules: Members voted, 260-166, to tighten rules for the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program. A yes vote was to pass a bill (HR 384) that, in part, requires TARP spending to avert home foreclosures and pressures banks to allocate some of their TARP funds to new lending.
Voting yes: Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island; Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens; Brian Baird, D-Vancouver; Norm Dicks, D-Belfair; Jim McDermott, D-Seattle; Dave Reichert, R-Auburn; Adam Smith, D-Tacoma.
Voting no: Doc Hastings, R-Pasco; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Deer Lake.
$700 billion bailout: Members voted, 270-155, to block the Obama administration from disbursing the remaining half of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program. The vote was only symbolic because the Senate refused to go along. A yes vote backed the resolution of disapproval (HJ Res 3).
Voting yes: Inslee, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, McDermott, Reichert.
Voting no: Larsen, Baird, Dicks, Smith.
SENATE
Secretary of State Clinton: Senators voted, 94-2, to confirm Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., as U.S. secretary of state. Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and David Vitter, R-La., cast the negative votes. A yes vote was to confirm Clinton as the nation’s 67th secretary of state.
Voting yes: Maria Cantwell, D; Patty Murray, D.
Pay bias suits: Senators passed, 61-36, a bill giving plaintiffs more standing to file pay bias claims. A yes vote was to pass S 181, which would allow filings within 180 days of the last offense, thus voiding a Supreme Court rule that suits must be filed within 180 days of the first offense.
Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.
GOP pay bias plan: Senators defeated, 40-55, a bid by Republicans to narrow the statute of limitations in S 181 (above) for filing pay discrimination claims. A yes vote was to require filings within 180 days of the time the plaintiff first knew or should have known of the alleged paycheck bias.
Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.
Right-to-work laws: Senators tabled, 66-31, a bid to add a federal right-to-work law to S 181 (above). Such laws, in force in 22 states, make it illegal to require union membership or dues payments as a condition of employment. A yes vote was to repeal, in effect, “union shop” rules in 28 states.
Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.
KEY VOTES AHEAD
The House this week will take up an $850 billion economic stimulus package, while the Senate will debate an expansion of children’s health insurance and vote on Obama administration appointees.
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