WASHINGTON – Here’s how Maine’s members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending May 2.

HOUSE The AIDS pandemic

Voting 375 for and 41 against, the House on May 1 sent the Senate a bill (HR 1298) authorizing a $15 billion U.S. contribution over five years to global programs dealing with the prevention and treatment of AIDS and care for AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti and Guyana. The bill allows funding to promote use of condoms but earmarks one-third of the outlay for abstinence programs. It allows religious organizations to receive funds even if they refuse to distribute condoms. Some funding would reach organizations that promote abortion. What portion of the $15 billion is actually provided will depend on congressional priorities set during the appropriations process.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Rep. Tom Allen, D, voted yes. Rep. Michael Michaud, D, voted yes.

Abstinence

The House on May 1 voted, 220 for and 197 against, to require that at least one-third of the funding in HR 1298 (above) be spent on promoting abstinence until marriage as the best way to prevent AIDS.

A yes vote backed the abstinence funding requirement.

Allen and Michaud voted no.

Special education

Voting 251 for and 171 against, the House on April 30 passed a bill (HR 1350) renewing the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a 1975 law requiring schools to provide a free, appropriate education for the physically and emotionally disabled. The bill requires early intervention in areas such as reading instruction to guard against low-achieving children being misidentified as disabled. It allows schools to expel or suspend disabled youths with discipline problems without a determination of whether the conduct is linked to the disability. It reduces paperwork requirements on teachers and caps fees for attorneys representing disabled students against school districts. The bill awaits Senate action.

The federal government covers 18 percent of the special education spending it has mandated on school districts. The bill recommends that the share be raised to 40 percent over seven years. But GOP leaders disallowed a Democratic amendment to make the 40 percent share mandatory rather than subject to the annual appropriations process. Current U.S. funding of special education stands at $8.9 billion.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Allen and Michaud voted no.

School vouchers

The House on April 30 rejected, 182-240, an amendment to HR 1350 (above) to allow IDEA funds for special education to be used, for the first time, for enrolling disabled children in private and parochial schools.

Lynne Woolsey, D-Calif., said: “Federal funds should not be used for private school vouchers for any children, but it is particularly dangerous to do this for children with disabilities. Vouchers undermine the very foundation of IDEA. IDEA guarantees children with disabilities a free and appropriate public education….”

Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said: “Currently, educational choice does exist under IDEA. But too often, (it) exists only for those parents who are wealthy enough to litigate to get their child placed somewhere else.” He said Congress “must restore to parents opportunities to ensure that their child receives the best education possible.”

A yes vote was to include non-public education in IDEA.

Allen and Michaud voted no.

SENATE

Judge Jeffrey Sutton

Voting 52 for and 41 against, the Senate on April 29 confirmed the nomination of Jeffrey S. Sutton, 42, a former solicitor general of Ohio and law clerk to Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Lewis F. Powell, Jr., as a judge on the Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

A yes vote was to confirm Sutton.

Sen. Susan Collins, R, voted yes. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R, voted yes.

Judge Priscilla Owen

Voting 52 for and 44 against, the Senate on May 1 failed to reach the 60 votes needed to end a Democratic filibuster against the nomination of Judge Priscilla R. Owen, 48, of the Texas Supreme Court, for a seat on the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Democrats say Owen has been overly activist from the bench on issues such as abortion and civil rights, while Republicans point to her endorsement as “well qualified” by the American Bar Association.

A yes vote backed the nomination.

Collins and Snowe voted yes.