WASHINGTON -- Here's how area members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending Jan. 22.
HOUSE
n STOLEN NUCLEAR MATERIALS: Voting 397 for and ten against, the House on Jan. 21 sent President Obama a bill (HR 730) designed to improve international cooperation in locating stolen nuclear and radiological materials. The measure calls upon the administration to negotiate "nuclear forensics" agreements under which countries would do a better job of policing loose nukes and sharing sensitive information. The bill also seeks to bolster Department of Homeland Security programs against terrorists' dirty bombs or conventional nuclear weapons.
Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said: "The deterrent effect of a robust nuclear-forensics capability should not be underestimated. Certainly, if terrorists know that we can pinpoint their role in creating a bomb, they are bound to have second thoughts. Unfortunately, today, the U.S. must rely on forensic expertise and technology developed during the Cold War to address both nuclear weapons and the emerging threat of a radiological dirty bomb."
Another supporter, Peter King, R-N.Y., said the bill is about protecting "the American people in a way which certainly transcends Republican or Democrat lines or liberal-conservative lines. It is an issue that should galvanize all Americans."
No opponent spoke against the bill.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Bob Etheridge, D-2, Walter Jones, R-3, David Price, D-4, Virginia Foxx, R-5, Mike McIntyre, D-7, Larry Kissell, D-8, Sue Myrick, R-9, Patrick McHenry, R-10, Heath Shuler , D-11, Melvin Watt, D-12, Brad Miller, D-13
Voting no: Howard Coble, R-6
Not voting: G.K. Butterfield, D-1
n EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI: Voting 411 for and one against, the House on Jan. 21 expressed its condolences to and solidarity with Haiti following the island nation's cataclysmic earthquake nine days earlier. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, cast the single vote against H Res 1021.
A yes vote was to adopt the resolution.
Voting yes: Etheridge, Jones, Price, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Kissell, Myrick, McHenry, Shuler, Watt, Miller
Not voting: Butterfield
SENATE
n TROUBLED ASSETS RELIEF PROGRAM: Voting 53 for and 45 against, the Senate on Jan. 21 failed to get 60 votes needed to adopt an amendment that would end the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The amendment sought to bar additional TARP disbursements and require its $320 billion in unobligated funds to be applied to deficit reduction. The measure was proposed to a bill (HJ Res 45), still in debate, that would raise the national debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion to $14.29 trillion.
The Bush administration and Congress established TARP in October 2008 with a budget of $700 billion for loans and other cash infusions to keep large financial firms afloat and prevent an economic meltdown. The Obama administration broadened the original purpose by releasing TARP funds to bolster General Motors, Chrysler, community banks and other faltering businesses. TARP is set to expire in October and is expected to recoup $175 billion of its loans by year's end.
John Thune, R-Neb., said TARP has "morphed into something entirely different. It has been used now to take equity positions.We have gotten very far afield from what the purpose of the TARP was in the first place."
Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said TARP funds are now going "primarily to community banks to get credit flowing and to small business, but also to mitigate foreclosures and to address the deepening crisis in commercial mortgage loans which is there."
A yes vote backed the amendment.
Voting yes: Richard Burr, R
Not voting: Kay Hagan, D
