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1999 AFL-CIO
Congressional Voting Record (COPE)
Your senators have had dozens of chances to cast their votes for
or against working families. The following AFL-CIO Voting Record
will
let you know where your lawmakers stand on working family issues
such as strengthening Social Security and Medicare, freedom to
join a union,
the Patients' Bill of Rights, Fast Track, fair wages, education and
workplace safety.
1999 U.S. SENATE VOTE DESCRIPTIONS
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1
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EDUCATION
(Tabled)
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S.
280 — Overcrowded schools make it difficult for teachers
to teach and students to learn. Studies show that smaller
class sizes help improve student achievement. President Clinton
proposed a class size reduction program centering on the hiring
of 100,000 new teachers over six years. Sen. Patty Murray
(D-Wash.) offered an amendment to S. 280 that would have helped
reduce class sizes across the country, by authorizing funds
to help local school districts recruit, hire and train those
100,000 new teachers. But the Senate failed to act when it
tabled the measure in a 55-44 vote March 3, 1999. Y=W N=R
(DEM: 0-44; REP: 55-0) |
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2
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SOCIAL SECURITY / MEDICARE
(Failed)
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S.
CON. RES. 20 — The nation's growing budget surplus provided
a great opportunity for Congress to pass legislation to strengthen
Social Security and Medicare and add prescription drug coverage
to Medicare. During consideration of the Senate's FY 2000
budget resolution, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sen.
Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) that would have saved the budget surplus
to extend the solvency of the Social Security and Medicare
trust funds. The measure failed 45-54 March 24, 1999. Y=R
N=W (DEM: 45-0; REP: 0-54) |
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3
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TRADE / STEEL
(Filibustered)
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H.R.
975 — As a result of a depressed world steel market,
foreign steel producers began illegally dumping steel in the
United States. In 1998, imports jumped 33 percent and some
10,000 steelworkers lost their jobs. The House overwhelmingly
passed a bipartisan bill that called for the reduction in
steel imports, established tougher import monitoring and imposed
limits that returned foreign steel imports to 1997 levels.
But Senate opponents filibustered against even considering
the bill and the bill's backers, by a 42-57 vote June 22,
1999, could not overcome the filibuster. Y=R N=W (DEM: 27-18;
REP: 15-39) |
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4
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PATIENTS'
BILL OF RIGHTS
(Passed)
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S.
1344 — In a major grassroots campaign, working families
called for a strong Patients' Bill of Rights. The real Patients'
Bill of Rights ensures the right to have treatment decisions
made by doctors and not insurance company bureaucrats, to
see specialists when needed, to get emergency room care when
and where needed, to appeal health care decisions and to hold
managed care companies accountable when they wrongly deny
patients care. But the Senate passed a managed care bill
that excluded more than 100 million Americans, gave health
plans the final say on medical treatment decisions and lacked
important comprehensive patient protections such as patient
advocacy language, access to specialist and clinical trials,
continuity of care and an adequate provider network. It passed
53-47, July 15, 1999. Y=W N=R (DEM: 0-45; REP: 53-2) |
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5
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TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY
(Passed)
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S.
1429 — Working families believed that the nation's huge
budget surplus should be used to strengthen Social Security
and Medicare, add prescription drug coverage to Medicare and
provide middle-class tax relief. Instead, the Senate passed
S. 1429, which would have spent money essential to Medicare
reform and a prescription drug benefit, given 76 percent of
tax cut benefits to the wealthiest 20 percent of taxpayers,
assumed devastating cuts in discretionary programs like education
and cost $2 trillion in its second decade (2010-2019) just
as baby boomers' retirement would begin to strain Medicare
and Social Security. The bill passed 57-43, July 30, 1999.
After a House/Senate conference, the final version was
vetoed by President Clinton. Y=W N=R (DEM: 4-41; REP:
52-2) |
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6
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NLRB / FUNDING
(Tabled)
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S.
1650 — Big business and its congressional cronies have
sought to gut important worker initiative programs such the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Fair Labor
Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Board. In 1999,
corporate allies went after the NLRB with an amendment that
would have slashed funding by $25.5 million. The Senate passed
a motion to table, or kill, the measure 50-49, Sept. 30, 1999.
Y=R N=W (DEM: 45-01; REP: 5-48) |
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7
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DAVIS-BACON— PREVAILING WAGE
(Tabled)
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S. 1650
— The Davis-Bacon Act ensures that workers on federal construction
projects receive the local prevailing wage. This prevents contractors
from slashing wages in order to win federal contracts with low-ball
bids. During consideration of the FY 2000 Labor/Health and Human
Services/Education appropriations bill, Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.)
offered an amendment to prohibit applying Davis-Bacon in declared
federal disaster areas. A motion to table the amendment passed
59-40, Oct. 7, 1999. Y=R N=W (DEM: 44-0; REP: 15-49) |
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8
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TRADE / AFRICA—CARIBBEAN BASIN INITIATIVE
(Passed)
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H.R.
434 — Trade polices should include worker and environmental
protections and provide economic benefits to workers. But
H.R. 434, which the Senate amended to include Caribbean Basin
Initiative nations, authorized a new trade and investment
policy for sub-Sahara Africa without enforceable worker protections
and extended NAFTA to CBI countries. It also allowed transshipments
of foreign textiles and apparels through African countries,
giving other nations the trade benefits intended for African
nations. It also did nothing to address one of the major problems
the sub-Saharan countries face, a crushing debt burden to
developed nations. The Senate passed its version of H.R.434
76-13, Nov. 3, 1999. The bill was sent to conference and
no further action was taken in 1999. Y=W N=R (DEM: 30-13;
REP: 46-6) |
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9
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MINIMUM WAGE
(Passed)
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S.
625 — The national economy is stronger than it's been
in a generation and unemployment is at a three-decade low,
but today's minimum wage is too meager to keep even a small
family out of poverty. Working families supported an amendment
by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would have increased the
minimum wage by $1 an hour over two years, to $5.65 an hour
beginning Jan. 1, 2000, and $6.15 an hour beginning Jan. 1,
2001. Senate Republican leaders were able to defeat that amendment
to bankruptcy legislation and instead approved an amendment
to raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour over three years.
But the amendment also included excessive tax breaks for the
wealthy—worth more than $75.3 billion over 10 years.
The amendment passed on a vote of 54-44, Nov. 9, 1999.
Y=W N=R (DEM: 1- 43; REP: 53-1) |
OREGON SENATORS
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AFL-CIO Vote #:
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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1999
Total Votes
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Lifetime Total
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1999 Right
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Lifetime Right
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Favorable Position:
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N
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Y
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Y
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N
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N
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Y
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Y
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N
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N
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R
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W
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R
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W
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%
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%
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Gordon Smith
(R)
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W
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W
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W
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W
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W
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W
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R
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W
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W
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1
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8
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1
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23
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11%
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4%
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Ron Wyden
(D)
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R
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R
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W
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R
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R
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R
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R
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W
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R
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7
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2
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24
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7
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78%
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77%
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KEY
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R = VOTED RIGHT |
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W = VOTED WRONG |
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A = ABSENT, DID NOT VOTE OR MAKE POSITION
KNOWN |
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S = SPEAKER |
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I = NOT IN OFFICE |
Contact Information
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