AFL-CIO
Congressional Voting Record (COPE)
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Ron
Wyden |
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2000 Right Votes—63%
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Right—5
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Wrong—3
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| The following AFL-CIO Voting Record will let you know where Ron Wyden stands on working family issues such as education, social security, health care, including the Patient's Bill of Rights and prescription drugs, estate taxes, trade, and immigration. |
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2000 U.S. SENATE VOTE DESCRIPTIONS
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Education/Private School Vouchers
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| S. 1134—The Senate passed legislation that would have undermined public education by providing a generous tax benefit to our nation's wealthiest families to help them pay for private elementary and secondary school expenses through education IRAs. The so-called Affordable Education Act passed 61-37 on March 2, 2000. Y=W; N=R. (DEM: 9-35; REP: 52-2) Wyden's Vote: No |
Right
Vote |
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Health Care/Patients' Bill of Rights
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| S. 2549—Since 1998, working families have called on Congress to pass a strong Patients' Bill of Rights. We support legislation to ensure their rights 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. The House passed such a bill in 1999, but the Senate killed an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 2549) that was the same as the House-passed Patients' Bill of Rights. Like the House bill, the Senate amendment also required health plans to provide customers with such options as obstetrical and gynecological care for women and pediatricians as primary care providers for children. The amendment was killed 51-48 on June 8, 2000. Y=W; N=R. (DEM: 0-44; REP: 51-4) Wyden's Vote: No |
Right
Vote |
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Worker Safety/Ergonomics
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| H.R. 4577—In an effort to eliminate the nation's No. 1 workplace health hazard—musculoskeletal injuries caused by poorly designed workplaces, repetitive motions and other ergonomic hazards on the job—workers and their unions long have supported the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's effort to establish an ergonomics standard. Such a workplace ergonomics standard would reduce or prevent the musculoskeletal disorders—such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and back injuries—that hit some 1.8 million workers a year. Because their injuries from workplace ergonomic hazards are so severe, more than 600,000 workers a year are forced to take time off from the job. But conservative Republicans and Big Business have opposed such standards for more than a decade. The Senate passed an amendment to the Labor/Health and Human Services/ Education appropriations bill that would prohibit the use of funds in the bill to be used by OSHA to promulgate, issue, implement, administer or enforce any proposed, temporary or final ergonomics standard. The amendment passed 57-41 on June 22, 2000. Y=W; N=R. (DEM: 3-40; REP: 54-1) Wyden's Vote: No |
Right
Vote |
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Prescription Drugs
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| H.R. 4577—Prescription drug prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation. Most at risk in the drug price free-for-all are seniors, because Medicare does not pay for outpatient prescription drugs. Siding with insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate—in a near party-line vote—rejected an amendment to the Labor/Health and Human Services/Education appropriations bill that would authorize a universal, voluntary and affordable prescription drug benefit in the Medicare program for seniors and the disabled. The amendment failed 44-53 on June 22, 2000. Y=R; N=W. (DEM: 42-1; REP: 2-52) Wyden's Vote: Yes |
Right
Vote |
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Estate Tax Repeal
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| H.R. 8—Instead of using the projected federal budget surpluses to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, the Senate passed a bill that would have used $105 billion of the non-Social Security surpluses over the next 10 years to repeal the estate tax. The bill would have benefited just the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers, who are subject to the tax on very large estates. The AFL-CIO supports tax relief that is targeted to those who deserve it the most—the nation's working families. The bill passed 59-39 on July 14, 2000. Y=W; N=R. (DEM: 9-35; REP: 50-4) Wyden's Vote: Yes |
Wrong
Vote |
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Trade/China Trade
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| H.R. 4444—The Senate passed a bill to give the People's Republic of China permanent normal trade relations status. The bill solidifies China's entry into the World Trade Organization and effectively eliminates the U.S. government's ability to impose trade sanctions on China for human rights or workers' rights violations. The bill passed by a vote of 83-15 on Sept. 19, 2000. Y=W; N=R. (DEM: 37-7; REP: 46-8) Wyden's Vote: Yes |
Wrong
Vote |
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Immigration
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| S. 2912—The Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act of 2000 would have given long-term Central American, Haitian and Eastern European refugees the same opportunity to apply for permanent residence as that already given to some other immigrant groups under similar circumstances. It also would have allowed certain immigrants who have lived, worked and paid taxes in the United States since 1986 to apply for legal permanent residence and would have allowed immigrants who qualify for a "green card" to obtain a visa without leaving the country. During debate on another immigration bill (S. 2045), a motion was made to suspend Senate rules to allow consideration of S. 2912 as an amendment to S. 2045. It was rejected 43-55 on Sept. 27, 2000. Y=R; N=W. (DEM: 43-1; REP: 0-54) Wyden's Vote: Yes |
Right
Vote |
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Immigration/H-1B
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| S. 2045—Claiming a shortage of skilled U.S. workers, many high-tech companies use the H-1B visa program to import foreign workers, usually at lower wages than their U.S. counterparts would earn. The AFL-CIO supports expanded training to improve the skills of U.S. workers and recruiting more women and people of color into the high-tech job market. The AFL-CIO opposed S. 2045 because it increased the number of H-1B visas from 115,000 to 195,000 annually for three years, created some program loopholes and did not improve the design of the underlying program to better protect American workers. It passed the Senate 96-1 on Oct. 3, 2000. Y=W; N=R. (DEM: 42-1; REP: 54-0) Wyden's Vote: Yes |
Wrong
Vote |