n DISABILITIES ACT EXPANSION: Voting 402 for and 17 against, the House on June 25 passed a bill (HR 3195) to negate Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed the types of disabilities and number of disabled workers protected by the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act. The court has denied protection, for example, to people who have taught themselves to perform their jobs and conduct other major activities even though afflicted by diseases such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cancer and diabetes. The bill awaits Senate action. No member spoke against the bill. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: G.K. Butterfield, D-1; Bob Etheridge, D-2; Walter Jones, R-3; David Price, D-4; Virginia Foxx, R-5; Howard Coble, R-6; Mike McIntyre, D-7; Robin Hayes, R-8; Sue Myrick, R-9; Patrick McHenry, R-10; Heath Shuler , D-11; Melvin Watt, D-12; Brad Miller, D-13

n CHILD-ABUSE PROGRAMS: Voting 318 for and 103 against, the House on June 25 passed a bill (HR 6358) that would authorize nearly $1 billion through fiscal 2013 for federal programs to prevent and deal with the consequences of child abuse. The bill would set federal health and safety standards for residential treatment facilities that oversee teenagers with behavioral or emotional problems or mental-health disorders. The bill is now before the Senate. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, McIntyre, Hayes, Shuler, Watt, Miller

VOTING NO: Foxx, Coble, Myrick, McHenry

n MEDICARE DOCTOR PAYMENTS: Voting 355 for and 59 against, the House on June 24 passed a bill (HR 6331) that would avert the administration's 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments set for July 1. The bill would increase those payments by 1.1 percent in January. The bill also would lower the copayment rate for mental-health coverage from 50 percent to 20 percent, the same rate as for physical care. The bill's projected $19.8 billion, six-year cost would be offset mainly by cuts in the privately run, federally subsidized Medicare Advantage program. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Hayes, Myrick, Shuler, Watt, Miller

VOTING NO: McHenry

n ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: Voting 233 for and 189 against, the House on June 25 sent the Senate a bill (HR 6275) to exempt 22 million middle-income households from the Alternative Minimum Tax this year. To offset the Treasury's loss of $61.5 billion in revenue, the bill would, in part, repeal certain tax breaks for oil and gas companies; change "carried interest" rules so that managers of investment partnerships and hedge funds would pay taxes at a 35 percent rather than 15 percent rate, and set the stage for more timely tax collection on payments from credit card firms to merchants. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, McIntyre, Hayes, Shuler, Watt, Miller

VOTING NO: Foxx, Coble, Myrick, McHenry

n GOP TAX PLAN: Voting 199 for and 222 against, the House on June 25 defeated a GOP bid to strip HR 6275 (above) of $61.5 billion in tax increases on certain equity managers and corporations, including oil companies. Democrats proposed the increases to pay for the bill's fix of the Alternative Minimum Tax in 2008. The GOP motion also sought to raise the mileage deduction for the use of personal vehicles for charitable purposes. A yes vote backed the GOP motion.

VOTING YES: Jones, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Hayes, Myrick, McHenry

VOTING NO: Butterfield, Etheridge, Price, Shuler, Watt, Miller

n USE IT OR LOSE IT: Voting 223 for and 195 against, the House on June 26 defeated a bill (HR 6251) placing a "use it or lose it" mandate for oil companies to either drill on federal land they have leased or relinquish the right to do so. The bill was directed at dormant leases covering 68 million acres in the West and Alaska. The bill would deny new federal leases to companies not drilling on acreage already leased. A yes vote was to pass the bill, which required a two-thirds majority for passage under shortcut parliamentary rules.

VOTING YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Price, McIntyre, Hayes, Shuler, Melvin, Watt, Miller,

VOTING NO: Jones, Foxx, Coble, Myrick, McHenry

n COMMUTER-FARE SUBSIDIES: Voting 322 for and 98 against, the House on June 26 sent the Senate a bill (HR 6052) authorizing $1.7 billion in fiscal 2008-2009 for grants that public transit authorities would use to either reduce fares or expand services, with nearly 90 percent of the outlay allocated to urban areas of at least 50,000 population. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, Coble, McIntyre, Hayes, Shuler, Watt, Miller

VOTING NO: Foxx, Myrick, McHenry

n SCHOOL-BUS FUEL COSTS: voting 199 for and 221 against, the House on June 26 defeated a Republican bid to expand HR 6052 (above) to include subsidies for the fuel costs of school buses. The motion stipulated that funding priority in the bill would go to districts curtailing bus services because of high fuel costs. A yes vote backed the GOP motion.

VOTING YES: Jones, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Hayes, Myrick, McHenry, Shuler

VOTING NO: Butterfield, Etheridge, Price, Watt, Miller

n OIL-MARKET SPECULATION: Voting 402 for and 19 against, the House on June 26 sent the Senate a bill (HR 6377) directing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to root out "excessive speculation" in the oil-futures market. The bill did not define that term. The agency has authority under existing law to determine whether market prices for commodities accurately reflect supply and demand. No member spoke against the bill. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Hayes, Myrick, McHenry, Shuler, Watt, Miller

U.S. SENATE

n HOUSING-RECOVERY PACKAGE: Voting 83 for and nine against, the Senate on June 24 agreed to debate a housing-recovery package (HR 3221) that would enable lenders to refinance hundreds of thousands of at-risk mortgages in return for government backing of the new loans. The bill also would grant refundable tax credits of $8,000 to first-time buyers of unoccupied homes; allow taxpayers who do not itemize deductions to treat up to $700 of their 2008 property taxes as a federal tax deduction and provide at least $4 billion in grants to help communities and nonprofit groups buy foreclosed homes for sale or rental to families below the region's median-income level. A yes vote was to debate the bill.

VOTING YES: Elizabeth Dole,R; Richard Burr, R

n MEDICARE DOCTOR PAYMENTS: Voting 58 for and 40 against, the Senate on June 26 failed to reach 60 votes needed to end Republican blockage of a House-passed bill (HR 6331) that would avert the administration's 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments set for July 1. A yes vote was to advance the bill.

VOTING YES: Dole

VOTING NO: Burr

n WAR FUNDING, GI BILL: Voting 92 for and six against, the Senate on June 26 passed a bill (HR 2642) that would appropriate $162.5 billion to pay Iraq-Afghanistan war costs well into 2009. The bill also would establish a new GI Bill, which would pay four years' college tuition for veterans with at least three years of duty who enlisted after Sept. 11, 2001. The bill also would fund 13 more weeks of jobless checks for the long-term unemployed, along with programs such as flood relief in the Midwest, levee rebuilding in New Orleans, global food aid and Census Bureau upgrades. The overall $257.5 billion cost would be added to the national debt. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

VOTING YES: Dole, Burr

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