WASHINGTON – Here’s how Maine’s members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending Sept. 19.

HOUSE Gifts to charity

Voting 408 for and 13 against, the House on Sept. 17 passed a bill (HR 7) allowing taxpayers who do not itemize their returns to deduct charitable contributions from taxable income. Now before the Senate, the bill makes available to these filers the same deduction that has long been available to the one-third of taxpayers who itemize expenses on their returns. The bill would spur donations to charities while adding $12.7 billion to the national debt over ten years (next issue).

The bill also permits persons over 701/2 years of age to make tax-free contributions to charities directly from traditional and Roth IRA accounts. To stimulate corporate giving, it increases from 10 to 20 percent the share of income that a company can allocate to charitable contributions.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Pay as you go

The House on Sept. 17 defeated, 203 for and 220 against, a bid to offset the $12.7 billion, 10-year cost of HR 7 (above) by closing several tax shelters. In part, the amendment required a stricter definition of what constitutes a business transaction. The amendment also sought to raise $1.39 billion to help states fund social services such as day care and meals on wheels.

A yes vote backed pay-as-you-go.

Allen and Michaud voted yes.

SENATE

Media ownership

The Senate on Sept. 16 voted, 55 for and 40 against, to disapprove of new media ownership rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission. This sent the measure (SJ Res 17) to the House, where it has been shelved by GOP leaders.

The new FCC rules would raise from 35 percent to 45 percent the share of U.S. households that a single company can reach with television stations it owns. They also would repeal regulations that, in most communities, prohibit one company from owning both the newspaper and a broadcast station.

On separate tracks, a federal appeals court has temporarily stayed the rules, the House has voted to block the increment from 35 percent to 45 percent and a Senate committee has cleared legislation that would also block the increment to 45 percent but allow lifting of the cross-ownership ban. The FCC is holding back the rules.

A yes vote was to scrap the FCC rules.

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

Nuclear weapons

Senators on Sept. 16 voted, 53 for and 41 against, to include funding in the fiscal 2004 Department of Energy budget (HR 2754) for studies into a new generation of U.S. nuclear weapons for use on the battlefield. In part, the vote approved $15 million to study weapons for penetrating the earth and destroying bunkers and $6 million for research into low-yield nuclear weapons, those under 5 kilotons. The vote also advanced preparations for renewed use of the Nevada Test Site. The bill is headed for conference with the House.

Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the funding is only for scientific studies and that the bill contains “not one single word” to authorize the building of new weapons.

Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked: “If the United States begins to develop tactical, battlefield nuclear weapons, how long will it take India and Pakistan, arch enemies, to say we should do the same thing? How long will it take for North Korea or Iran” to seek such weapons?

A yes vote backed the funding.

Collins and Snowe voted yes.

Late-term abortion

Voting 93 for and none against, the Senate on Sept. 17 endorsed Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that affirms the constitutional right to abortion, as part of a bill (S 3) that would outlaw a procedure called “partial-birth abortion” by its critics. This advanced the bill to a House-Senate conference committee.

The bill, which could reach President Bush’s desk this year, makes it a federal crime for doctors to perform a late-term abortion in which they partially extract a fetus, then terminate and remove it. Supporters say the procedure is sometimes necessary to protect the life or health of the mother.

A yes vote was to affirm Roe v. Wade and advance the bill.

Collins and Snowe voted yes.

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