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Christopher's
Votes - April, 2002
Agriculture
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(86) HR2646: Farm Bill - Motion to Instruct
April 10, 2002 - Phelps, D-Ill., motion to instruct conferees
to agree to a Senate provision that would reauthorize the
bankruptcy code's family farmer provisions and make them effective
as of Oct. 1, 2001.
Motion agreed to 424-3.
VOTE: Yea
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(95) HR4167: Family Farmers - Passage
April 16, 2002 - Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., motion to suspend
the rules and pass the bill that would extend for eight months
Chapter 12 bankruptcy protection for family farmers.
Motion agreed to 407-3.
VOTE: Yea
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(100) HR2646: Farm Bill - Motion to Instruct
April 18, 2002 - Smith, R-Mich., motion to instruct conferees
to agree to Senate provisions that would limit commodity price
support payments and mandate additional conservation and agricultural
research funding. Motion agreed to 265-158.
VOTE: Yea
Arts, Immigration, Social Services and
other Domestic Issues
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(81) HRES377: Ellis Island Tribute - Adoption
April 09, 2002 - Davis, R-Va., motion to suspend the rules
and adopt the resolution that would pay tribute to the National
Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and recognize the importance
of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is awarded to individuals
who have preserved their ethnic values and distinguished themselves
as Americans. Motion agreed to 403-0.
VOTE: Yea
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(84) HRES363: Olympics Tribute - Adoption
April 10, 2002 - Smith, R-N.J., motion to suspend the rules
and adopt the resolution that would pay tribute to those individuals
and organizations that helped with and participated in the
2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Motion agreed
to 425-0.
VOTE: Yea
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(112) HR3231: Immigration Agency Overhaul - Rule
April 25, 2002 - Adoption of the resolution (H Res 396) to
provide for House floor consideration of the bill that would
eliminate the Immigration and Naturalization Service and transfer
its responsibilities to a new Agency for Immigration Affairs
divided into two separate bureaus. Adopted 388-34.
VOTE: Yea
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(114) HR3231: Immigration Agency Overhaul - Excepted Service
Employees
April 25, 2002 - Issa, R-Calif., amendment that would make
employees of the new Agency for Immigration Affairs at-will
employees. Rejected 145-272.
VOTE: Nay
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(115) HR3231: Immigration Agency Overhaul - Technology
Goods
April 25, 2002 - Lofgren, D-Calif., amendment that would expedite
through fiscal 2004 the procurement process for information
technology goods and services. Rejected 105-312.
VOTE: Nay
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(116) HR3231: Immigration Agency Overhaul - Passage
April 25, 2002 - Passage of the bill that would eliminate
the Immigration and Naturalization Service and transfer its
responsibilities to a new Agency for Immigration Affairs divided
into two separate bureaus, one responsible for providing immigration
services, the other for enforcing immigration laws, and headed
by an associate attorney general in the Justice Department.
Both the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and
the Bureau of Immigration Enforcement would have their own
directors, budgets, staffs and policies. The Office of the
Associate Attorney General for Immigration Affairs would be
responsible for coordinating overall immigration policy and
overseeing and supervising the two bureaus. The associate
attorney general would rank just under the U.S. attorney general
and deputy attorney general. Passed 405-9.
VOTE: Yea
Budget, Taxes, and Economy
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(85) HR3991: Tax Code Revisions - Passage
April 10, 2002 - Thomas, R-Calif., motion to suspend the rules
and pass the bill that would revise various Internal Revenue
Service tax provisions, including penalty, interest and collection
provisions. It also would eliminate reporting requirements
for some groups that file under Section 527. It would change
penalties for failure to pay estimated taxes; waive minor,
first-time error penalties; exclude interest on unintentional
overpayments from taxable income; and allow the IRS greater
discretion in disciplining employees who violate policies.
The bill also would cut reporting provisions for Section 527
organizations who operate only statewide or locally and file
state forms "substantially similar" to federal reports.
Motion rejected 205-219.
VOTE: Nay
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(94) HR4156: Clergy Housing - Passage
April 16, 2002 - Ramstad, R-Minn., motion to suspend the rules
and pass the bill that would codify an Internal Revenue Service
regulation that limits the housing allowance that a clergy
member can exclude from taxable income to fair market value.
Motion agreed to 408-0.
VOTE: Yea
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(102) HR586: Permanent Tax Cuts - Rule
April 18, 2002 - Adoption of the resolution (H Res 390) to
provide for House floor consideration of the Senate amendments
to the bill that would permanently extend the cuts in last
year's $1.35 trillion tax reduction package, many of which
are set to expire in 2010. Adopted 218-205.
VOTE: Yea
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(103) HR586: Permanent Tax Cuts - Concur with Senate Amendments
April 18, 2002 - Thomas, R-Calif., motion to concur in a House
amendment to Senate amendments to the bill that would permanently
extend the cuts in last year's $1.35 trillion tax reduction
package, many of which are set to expire in 2010. It would
extend reductions in income tax rates, relief of the marriage
penalty, elimination of the estate tax, doubling of the child
tax credit, and expansion of pension and education provisions.
The bill also would revise various Internal Revenue Service
tax provisions, including penalty, interest and collection
provisions. It would change penalties for failure to pay estimated
taxes; waive minor, first-time error penalties; exclude interest
on unintentional overpayments from taxable income; and allow
the IRS greater discretion in disciplining employees who violate
policies. Motion agreed to 229-198.
VOTE: Yea
Business, Trade, and Consumer Affairs
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(105) HR2646: Farm Bill - Motion to Instruct
April 23, 2002 - Dooley, D-Calif., motion to instruct conferees
to agree to Senate provisions that would lift a ban on private
financing of agricultural sales to Cuba. Motion agreed to
273-143.
VOTE: Yea
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(107) HR3763: Auditing Safeguards - Federal Bureau of Audits
April 24, 2002 - Kucinich, D-Ohio, substitute amendment that
would establish the Federal Bureau of Audits within the Securities
and Exchange Commission to audit annually all publicly-traded
companies' financial statements. The SEC would set auditing
standards and the bureau would have independence, full powers
of investigation, and its employees would be subject to conflict-of-interest
restrictions. Rejected 39-381.
VOTE: Nay
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(108) HR3763: Auditing Safeguards - Public Regulator
April 24, 2002 - LaFalce, D-N.Y., substitute amendment that
would create a public regulator to oversee auditors, with
authority to set auditing standards and rules and conduct
more thorough investigations. It also would require company
executives to certify the truthfulness of their financial
statements and set up additional restrictions on companies
and auditing firms, including stronger penalties for false
information. Rejected 202-219.
VOTE: Nay
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(109) HR3763: Auditing Safeguards - Recommit
April 24, 2002 - LaFalce, D-N.Y., motion to recommit the bill
to the House Financial Services Committee with instructions
that it be reported back with language similar to that contained
in the LaFalce substitute amendment related to the establishment
of a public regulator and executive accountability provisions.
Motion rejected 205-222.
VOTE: Nay
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(110) HR3763: Auditing Safeguards - Passage
April 24, 2002 - Passage of the bill that would increase federal
regulation over firms that audit publicly traded companies
and impose new corporate accounting and reporting requirements.
It would direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to
establish an oversight board to set and impose standards over
accounting firms and order the agency to promulgate rules
banning outside firms from both compiling financial reports
and auditing the same company. It would order a corporation
to promptly report to the SEC circumstances not currently
required in financial statements that could affect its financial
condition and report promptly and electronically "insider"
sales and purchases. The bill also would ban corporate executives
from engaging in company stock transactions when employees
are prevented from doing so with their pension investments.
Passed 334-90.
VOTE: Yea
Crime, Drugs, and Judicial Affairs
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(104) HR3839: Child Protection - Passage
April 23, 2002 - Hoekstra, R-Mich., motion to suspend the
rules and pass the bill that would authorize $312 million
in fiscal 2003 and other amounts as needed through fiscal
2007 to renew various child abuse prevention, family support
and child adoption programs. It would extend funding and reauthorize
state grants to improve child protection efforts, family-support
programs aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect, adoption
promotion programs and programs to help children and domestic
violence victims secure housing. The bill would require social
workers to notify individuals being investigated in child
neglect and abuse cases of the nature of the complaints against
them.
Motion agreed to 411-5.
VOTE: Yea
Environment, Energy, Science, and Technology
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(82) HR3958: Bear River Agreement - Passage
April 09, 2002 - Hansen, R-Utah, motion to suspend the rules
and pass the bill that would authorize a land claim settlement
between the Interior Department and the state of Utah involving
the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. It would authorize $15
million in federal funding for the state to help protect and
improve parts of the wildlife area, require the state to increase
the area's water storage capacity, and mandate that the state
reimburse the federal government for various expenses if it
files and wins a legal action involving the refuge's deed.
Motion agreed to 396-6.
VOTE: Yea
Executive Branch, Federal Buildings,
and District of Columbia
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(83) HR3925: Technology Workers Swap - Secrets Protection
and Federal Training
April 10, 2002 - Waxman, D-Calif., amendment that would block
private employees participating in a government-exchange program
from accessing federal agencies' trade secrets and other propriety
information and authorize $7 million in fiscal 2003 for an
information technology training program for federal employees.
Rejected 204-219.
VOTE: Nay
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(93) HR1374: Philip Ruppe Building - Passage
April 16, 2002 - Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., motion to suspend the
rules and pass the bill that would name a U.S. Post Office
building in Lake Linden, Mich., after former Rep. Philip Edward
Ruppe, R-Mich.
Motion agreed to 408-0.
VOTE: Yea
Health Care
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(96) HR476: Abortion for Minors - Recommit
April 17, 2002 - Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, motion to recommit
the bill back to the House Judiciary Committee with instructions
that the bill be reported back with an amendment that would
exclude a minor's adult siblings, grandparents and religious
leaders from prohibitions on transporting a minor across state
lines to circumvent parental-consent laws. Motion rejected
173-246.
VOTE: Yea
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(97) HR476: Abortions for Minors - Passage
April 17, 2002 - Passage of the bill to make it a federal
crime to transport a minor across state lines with the intent
to obtain an abortion and circumvent state parental-consent
laws unless it's to protect the life of the girl. The girl
would be protected from prosecution under the bill, which
carries a punishment of up to one year in jail and a $100,000
fine. Passed 260-161. Note: A "yea" was a vote in
support of the president's position.
VOTE: Nay
Labor and Retirement
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(88) HRES386: Employee Pensions - Rule
April 11, 2002 - Adoption of the resolution (H Res 386) to
provide for House floor consideration of the bill that would
increase employees' control over their pension funds and give
them more access to investment information. Adopted 215-209.
VOTE: Yea
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(90) HR3762: Employee Pensions - Democratic Substitute
April 11, 2002 - Miller, D-Calif., substitute amendment that
would allow employees to sell employer-contributed company
stock after three years of participation in a pension plan
and let them sell stock now held in their pension funds one
year after the bill's enactment. Employers that allow employees
to invest in company stock must provide employees independent
investment advice. It would require 30-day notice to employees
of any limitation on company stock sales and mandate equal
employer-employee representation on pension boards. Rejected
187-232.
VOTE: Nay
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(91) HR3762: Employee Pensions - Recommit
April 11, 2002 - Miller, D-Calif., motion to recommit the
bill to the House Education and the Workforce Committee with
instructions to add language that would require that deferred
compensation be included in an employee's income in the year
it was earned, provided the benefit is secured with assets
not owned by the employer and not subject to the claims of
the creditors.
Motion rejected 204-212.
VOTE: Nay
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(92) HR3762: Employee Pensions - Passage
April 11, 2002 - Passage of the bill that would increase employees'
control over their pension funds and give them more access
to investment information. It would allow employees to sell
company stock three years after employers contribute it and
give them the flexibility to sell company stock now held in
their pension funds over the next five years. The bill would
require 30-day notice to employees of restrictions on stock
sales lasting more than three days and make insiders subject
to those same limits. It also would allow employers to offer
professional investment advice to employees after disclosing
potential conflicts of interest and fees. Passed 255-163.
VOTE: Yea
Social Services
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(106) HR2646: Farm Bill - Motion to Instruct
April 23, 2002 - Baca, D-Calif., motion to instruct conferees
to agree to Senate provisions that would give food stamps
to recently arrived immigrant children, the disabled, refugees
and legal permanent residents who have lived in the United
States for at least five years or worked here for a total
of 16 quarters or more. Motion agreed to 244-171.
VOTE: Yea
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