WASHINGTON – Here’s how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending Oct. 31.

HOUSE Database on immigrants

Voting 231 for and 170 against, the House on Oct. 28 failed to reach a supermajority for passing a bill (HR 2359) that would expand to 50 states a six-state pilot program by which employers can electronically verify the documents of immigrant workers. The expansion also would open the combined Department of Homeland Security-Social Security Administration database to local, state and federal agencies in addition to employers such as growers.

Critics said the venture lacks privacy protections for citizens and legal residents, while backers said the information in the database already can be legally obtained through other governmental channels. The bill was debated in a short-cut procedure that required a two-thirds majority for passage.

The pilot program is run on a voluntary basis for employers in California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Florida and Nebraska. It is set to expire this year.

A yes vote was to pass the bill

Rep. Tom Allen, D-1, voted no. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-2, voted no.

SENATE

Global warming

Voting 43 for and 55 against, the Senate on Oct. 30 defeated a bill (S 139) requiring U.S. manufacturing, energy and transportation companies to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other polluting gases to 2000 levels by 2010. Along with setting a nationwide limit on smokestack discharges thought by many scientists to contribute to global warming, the bill assigns emissions allowances to individual companies that can be traded on the open market.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Paul Bremer oversight

The Senate on Oct. 28 refused, 44 for and 53 against, to require Senate confirmation of the position of U.S. civil administrator of Iraq, a post now held by L. Paul Bremer III. The amendment was offered to a foreign aid bill (HR 2800) that remained in debate. To make Iraqi operations more accountable to Congress and the public, it called for a confirmation vote by March 1, 2004, of Bremer or any successor. Bremer now reports to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush but not directly to the legislative branch.

A yes vote backed confirmation of Bremer.

Collins and Snowe voted no.

Saudi Arabia-Sept. 11

Voting 43 for and 54 against, the Senate on Oct. 29 rejected a non-binding call for the White House to declassify 28 pages thought to shed light on any Saudi Arabian connection to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The disputed pages were blacked out by the administration in last summer’s publicly released Congressional Joint Intelligence Inquiry into U.S. intelligence failures preceding the attacks. This vote occurred during debate on HR 2800 (above).

Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said: “Even the leaders of the Saudi government, who some have said are the object of the redacted pages, want it declassified. They are angry and embarrassed at being singled out and want to defend themselves….”

Opponents said the amendment was non-germane.

A yes vote urged disclosure.

Collins and Snowe voted no.

EPS chief Leavitt

Senators on Oct. 28 confirmed, 88 for and eight against, Utah Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, 52, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. As a Cabinet-level official, his salary is $171,900 annually. Debate centered on the Bush administration’s environmental record rather than the nominee’s.

James Inhofe, R-Okla., said: “Environmental extremists and their liberal friends in the press have you believe this president does not have a good environmental record when he has the best record of any president in history. No president has ever been as good as George W. Bush.”

A yes vote was to confirm Leavitt.

Collins and Snowe voted yes.

Judge Pickering

Voting 54 for and 43 against, the Senate on Oct. 30 failed to reach the 60 votes needed to break a Democratic filibuster against the nomination of U.S. District Court Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr., of Mississippi, to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. His Republican supporters praised Pickering, 66, as well qualified while Democrats criticized his record in areas such as race relations and abortion.

A yes vote backed Pickering.

Collins and Snowe voted yes.

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