AFL-CIO
Congressional Voting Record (COPE)
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Ron
Wyden |
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| View the 2002 voting record of Ron Wyden on bills that represent a wide range of the issues most important to working people and their families. |
2002 U.S. Senate
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Right Votes—85%
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Right—11
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Wrong—2 |
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Lifetime Right—82%
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ECONOMIC STIMULUS |
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| H.R. 622—With unemployment climbing and the economy suffering from the aftershock of Sept. 11, 2001, and the Bush recession, Senate Democrats offered an economic stimulus plan to extend unemployment benefits to laidoff workers for 13 weeks, provide $300 tax rebates to mostly low-income taxpayers who did not receive earlier rebates, cut taxes for businesses that purchased equipment in 2002 and provide $5 billion in Medicaid assistance to states. Republicans filibustered the measure and a vote to end the filibuster, which required 60 votes, failed Feb. 6, 2002, 56– 39: Y=R; N=W (R: 7–38; D: 49–1; I: 0–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
FAST TRACK TRADE/WORKERS’ RIGHTS |
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| H.R. 3009—Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) offered an amendment to Fast Track trade authority legislation to require U.S. trade negotiators, in future trade agreements, to seek workers’ rights standards and enforcement provisions that would equal those negotiated in the U.S.– Jordan Free Trade Agreement. That agreement, negotiated under the Clinton administration, contained meaningful enforceable workers’ rights provisions. Fast Track allows the president to submit trade agreements to Congress for an up or down vote without being subject to amendments or changes. The motion to kill the amendment passed May 16, 2002, 52–46. Y=W; N=R (R: 47–0; D: 5–45; I: 0–1) Wyden's Vote: No | Right Vote |
FAST TRACK/STEEL RETIREE HEALTH CARE |
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| H.R. 3009—By May 2002, nearly 125,000 steel industry retirees had lost their health insurance because their companies went bankrupt due to unfair imports. Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) offered an amendment to the Fast Track trade legislation to provide temporary health insurance assistance to retirees of bankrupt steel companies. The motion to end the filibuster against the amendment, which required 60 votes, failed May 21, 2002, 56–40: Y=R; N=W (R: 7–39; D: 48–1; I: 1–0). Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
ESTATE TAX PERMANENT REPEAL |
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| H.R. 8—Senate Republicans attempted to make permanent the temporary repeal of the federal estate, gift and generation skipping taxes that were part of the Bush administration’s massive millionaire tax cut. These taxes are three of the most progressive taxes in the internal revenue code. Eliminating the estate tax would cost taxpayers $840 billion over the next 20 years and would benefit the estates of fewer than 2 percent of all taxpayers. The amendment was defeated when the motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act—which requires 60 votes—failed on June 12, 2002, 54–44: Y=W; N=R (R: 45–2; D: 9–41; I: 0–1) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Wrong Vote |
FEDERAL CONTRACTING |
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| S. 2514—The Bush administration supports privatizing much of the federal workforce. During debate on the Department of Defense authorization bill Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered an amendment to limit contracting out of Defense Department civilian jobs. The Kennedy amendment also required the Defense Department to track the cost and size of its contractor workforce with the same methodology currently used by the Department of the Army. The motion to kill the amendment passed June 25, 2002, 50–49. Y=W; N=R (R: 48–0; D: 2–48; I: 0–1) Wyden's Vote: No | Right Vote |
UNION REPORTING RULES |
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| S. 2673—As part of their attack on unions, antiworker senators offered an amendment to corporate accountability legislation to impose new and onerous red tape and reporting and accounting regulations on unions. Labor organizations already are subject to reporting requirements under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) that are far more burdensome than employer requirements under SEC rules. The annual cost of compliance with this amendment—offered by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—would exceed the total annual receipts of many affected unions. The motion to kill the amendment passed July 10, 2002, 55–43 Y=R; N=W (R: 4–43; D: 50–0; I 1–0). Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
CORPORATE ACOUNTABILITY |
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| S. 2673—The collapse of Enron, WorldCom and other corporate giants robbed millions of workers of their retirement security, revealed corporate scandals and exposed failures of laws that govern corporations. The Senate took up a bill that creates an oversight board for auditors with power to set auditing rules, inspect accounting firms and discipline wrongdoers. The bill also restricts auditors from doubling as consultants to the same companies, requires companies to electronically disclose insider stock sales within two days, increases prison terms for securities and accounting fraud and the destruction of audit documents, extends the statute of limitations for victims’ lawsuits and boosts the resources of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bill passed July 15, 2002, 97–0. Y=R; N=W (R: 46–0; D: 50–0; I: 1–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS |
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| S. 812—Skyrocketing costs for prescription drugs have forced millions of seniors to choose whether to buy needed medicine, pay their rent or mortgage or buy groceries. Others have been forced to travel to Canada where the same drugs are much less expensive or to cut their prescribed doses in an effort to stretch their medicines. During debate on drug patent legislation (S. 812), Sen. Robert Graham (D-Fla.) offered an amendment to establish a new voluntary prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries (S. 2625). For a monthly premium of $25, beneficiaries could purchase generic drugs for $10 and brand name drugs for $40. Out-of-pocket expenses would be capped at $4,000, at which point Medicare would pay 100 percent of drug costs. The benefit would be provided through Medicare. The amendment also called for financial relief to employers that continue their retiree coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. The amendment was defeated when a motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act, which requires 60 votes, failed July 23, 2002, 52–47. Y=R; N=W (R: 1–47; D: 50–0; I: 1–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES |
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| S. 812—The faltering economy, the Bush recession and cutbacks in federal assistance have left states struggling to meet important obligations. An amendment to drug patent legislation provided states with $6 billion in temporary assistance through an increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage program. It also provided $3 billion in fiscal-relief grants that could be used for social service programs in which many union members work. The amendment passed July 25, 2002, 75–24. Y=R; N=W (R: 27–21; D: 47–3; I: 1–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
FAST TRACK TRADE |
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| H.R. 3009—The conference report on Fast Track trade authority contained weak and flawed provisions on workers’ rights and environmental protections, essentially ruling out enforceable standards in future Fast Track trade agreements. Fast Track allows the president to submit trade agreements to Congress for an up or down vote without being subject to amendments or changes. The conference report passed Aug. 1, 2002, 64–34. Y=W; N=R (R: 43–5; D: 20–29; I: 1–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Wrong Vote |
HOMELAND SECURITY/WORKERS’ RIGHTS |
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| HR. 5005—As part of his homeland security proposal, President George W. Bush insisted on the right to deny collective bargaining and civil service rights to the workers slated to become part of the new government department. He threatened to veto any legislation that did not grant him the power to strip worker of their collective bargaining and civil service rights. The Senate failed to end a Republican-led filibuster against an amendment to the homeland security bill that would have protected those rights for workers transferred into the new department. Sixty votes are required to end a filibuster and the motion failed Sept. 26, 2002, 50–49. Y=R; N=W (R:1–48; D: 48–1; I: 1–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
ELECTION REFORM |
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| H.R 3295—The Help America Vote Act overhauls our nation’s election system by creating minimum national standards for voting machines, provisional ballots and statewide voter registration lists. The conference report passed Oct. 16, 2002, 92–2: Y=R; N=W (R: 44–0; D: 47–2; I: 1–0) Wyden's Vote: Yes | Right Vote |
JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION/DENNIS SHEDD |
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| President Bush nominated Dennis W. Shedd of South Carolina to be a judge on the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Shedd’s record showed an aggressive use of judicial authority, skepticism about congressional power and protective views of state sovereignty. His unusually consistent use of procedures such as the summary judgment provision to end lawsuits before they reach trial juries suggested a disturbing anti-plaintiff pattern and a distinctly skeptical approach to federal civil rights claims. He was confirmed Nov. 19, 2002, 55–44 Y=W; N=R (R: 48–0; D: 7–42; I: 0–2) Wyden's Vote: No | Right Vote |
| Voting record compiled and provided by the AFL-CIO. |