1996 ACU HOUSE VOTE DESCRIPTIONS

  1. ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT MORATORIUM. HR 3019 (CQ Senate Vote 30), FY 1996 Omnibus Appropriations. Reid (D-NV) motion to table (kill) the Hutchison (R-TX) amendment to the Reid amendment, to continue the moratorium on the listing of endangered species until either the endangered species law is reauthorized or the end of the fiscal year. The Reid amendment would have lifted the moratorium on the listing of species and would have provided $4.5 million to review and make new listings. Motion rejected 49-51, March 13, 1996. ACU opposed the Reid motion.

  2. "EMERGENCY" DESIGNATION. HR 3019 (CQ Senate Vote 32), FY 1996 Omnibus Appropriations. Cochran (R-MS) motion to table (kill) the Gramm (R-TX) amendment to eliminate the "emergency" designation for $1.2 billion in spending in the bill and instead provide for funding those programs by providing a 0.53 percent across-the-board spending cut in all non-defense discretionary programs. Motion agreed to 55-45, March 13, 1996. ACU opposed the Cochran motion.

  3. PRODUCT LIABILITY OVERHAUL. HR 956 (CQ Senate Vote 46), Product Liability Reform. Adoption of the Conference Report to limit punitive damages in product liability cases to two times compensatory damages or $250,000, whichever is greater, with lower limits for small businesses. The bill also would abolish joint and several liability for non-economic damages. Adopted 59-40, March 21, 1996. ACU supported the legislation.

  4. RESTRUCTURING THE STATE DEPARTMENT. HR 1561 (CQ Senate Vote 59), State Department Authorization. Adoption of the Conference Report on the bill to require the President to abolish one of three international affairs agencies (the Agency for International Development, the U.S. Information Agency, or the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency) and to shift its activities to the State Department. Adopted 52-44, March 28, 1996. ACU supported the legislation.

  5. DEATH PENALTY DELAYS. S 735 (CQ Senate Vote 66), Anti-Terrorism Bill. Hatch (R-UT) motion to table the Moynihan (D-NY) motion to recommit the bill to the conference committee with instructions to report it back after striking certain sections of the bill that would limit the ability of death-row and other inmates to file habeas corpus petitions in federal court. Motion agreed to 64-35, April 17, 1996. ACU supported the Hatch motion.

  6. MEDICAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS. S 1028 (CQ Senate Vote 72), Health Insurance Revisions. Kassebaum (R-KS) amendment to strike the provisions in the Dole (R-KS) amendment that establish medical savings accounts, which allow individuals to make tax deductible contributions to special accounts set up to pay medical expenses. Adopted 52-46, April 18, 1996. ACU opposed the Kassebaum amendment.

  7. TERM LIMITS. SJRes 21 (CQ Senate Vote 79), Term Limits Constitutional Amendment. Motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate and bringing the bill to the floor for a vote) on the constitutional amendment to limit Senators to two terms and House members to six terms. Motion rejected 58-42 (three fifths of the total Senate, or 60 votes, is required to invoke cloture), April 23, 1996. ACU supported the cloture motion.

  8. TAX LIMITATION. SConRes 57 (CQ Senate Vote 128), FY 1997 Budget Resolution. Exon (D-NE) motion to table (kill) the Kyl (R-AZ) amendment to express the sense of the Senate that fundamental tax reform should be accompanied by a constitutional amendment to require a supermajority of Congress to approve a tax increase. Motion agreed to 59-41, May 22, 1996. ACU opposed the Exon motion.

  9. SOCIAL SECURITY TAX DEDUCTION. SConRes 57 (CQ Senate Vote 140), FY 1997 Budget Resolution. Ashcroft (R-MO) amendment to allow a tax deduction for the Social Security payroll tax and to offset the costs by decreasing discretionary and mandatory spending. Rejected 43-57, May 22, 1996. ACU supported the Ashcroft amendment.

  10. MAINTAINING BUDGETARY FIREWALLS. SConRes 57 (CQ Senate Vote 147), FY 1997 Budget Resolution. Domenici (R-NM) motion to table (kill) the Bumpers (D-AR) amendment to abolish the "firewall" between defense and domestic discretionary spending. The "firewall" provides an essential defense against liberals’ attempts to shift funds from defense accounts to non-defense domestic discretionary accounts. Motion agreed to 57-41, May 23, 1996. ACU supported the Domenici motion.

  11. TAX CUTS. SConRes 57 (CQ Senate Vote 151), FY 1997 Budget Resolution. Domenici (R-NM) motion to table (kill) the Feingold (D-WI) amendment to eliminate the $122 billion provided for tax cuts over six years. Motion agreed to 57-43, May 23, 1996. ACU supported the Domenici motion.

  12. MISSILE DEFENSES. S 1745 (CQ Senate Vote 160), FY 1997 Defense Authorization. Dorgan (D-ND) amendment to cut the authorization for missile defense by $300 million, reducing the level to the $508 million requested by the President. Rejected 44-53, June 19, 1996. ACU opposed the Dorgan amendment.

  13. WELFARE FOR POLITICIANS. S 1219 (CQ Senate Vote 168), Campaign Finance Reform. Motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate and bringing the bill to the floor) on the bill to reform the federal campaign finance system by setting voluntary spending limits and providing taxpayer subsidies for postage and discounted rates for broadcast time. Motion rejected 54-46 (three fifths of the total Senate, or 60 votes, is required to invoke cloture), June 25, 1996. ACU opposed the cloture motion.

  14. DEFENSE CUT. S 1745 (CQ Senate Vote 172), FY 1997 Defense Authorization. Wellstone (D-MN) amendment to cut the $267.3 billion authorization in the bill by nearly $13 billion to the level requested by the President. Rejected 34-65, June 26, 1996. ACU opposed the amendment.

  15. SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTIONS. HR 3448 (CQ Senate Vote 183), Small Business Tax Package/Minimum Wage Increase. Bond (R-MO) amendment to delay by six months a 90-cent increase in the minimum wage; to exempt employees of small businesses with annual gross sales under $500,000 from the minimum wage increase; and to deny any new employees the minimum wage increase for the six months of employment. Rejected 46-52, July 9, 1996. ACU supported the Bond amendment.

  16. MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE. HR 3448 (CQ Senate Vote 186), Small Business Tax Package/Minimum Wage Increase. Passage of the bill to provide $11.5 billion over ten years in tax relief to large and small businesses by extending and creating a variety of tax incentives, and to increase the minimum wage by 90 cents per hour. Passed 74-24, July 9, 1996. Though the legislation had good tax relief provisions, ACU opposed the overall legislation because of the job-destroying minimum wage increase it included.

  17. BETTER LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS. HR 743 (CQ Senate Vote 191), Teamwork for Employees and Managers (TEAM) Act. Passage of the bill to modify the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 to make clear that U.S. businesses can establish, without the presence of a labor union, workplace groups consisting of both labor and management to address such issues as productivity, quality control and safety. Passed 53-46, July 10, 1996. ACU supported the legislation.

  18. WELFARE REFORM. HR 3734 (CQ Senate Vote 232), Budget Reconciliation. Passage of the bill to save about $56 billion through fiscal 2002 by ending the federal entitlement to welfare programs and sending the administration of these various programs back to the states, which would have broad discretion over their own programs through block grants. The legislation requires welfare recipients to work within two years of receiving benefits and generally limits recipients to five years of lifetime welfare benefits. Passed 74-24, July 23, 1996. ACU supported the legislation.

  19. SEXUAL ORIENTATION NON-DISCRIMINATION. S 2056 (CQ Senate Vote 281), Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Passage of the bill to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation by extending the remedies of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to sexual orientation. Rejected 49-50, Sept. 10, 1996. ACU opposed the legislation.

  20. PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION. HR 1833 (CQ Senate Vote 301), Partial Birth Abortion Ban Veto Over-Ride. Passage, over President Clinton’s April 10 veto, of the bill banning a late-term abortion procedure, where the physician partially delivers the fetus before completing the abortion. An exception would be granted when the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother, provided no other medical procedure can be used. Rejected 57-41 (a two-thirds majority of those present and voting – 66 in this case – is required to override a veto), Sept. 26, 1996. ACU supported the legislation.


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