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BUDGET—S. Con. Res. 95—The fiscal year (FY) 2004 House budget resolution—designed by Republican leaders to reflect the Bush administration’s priorities—cut domestic programs by more than $500 billion to make room for President George W. Bush’s $726 billion tax cut aimed mostly at the wealthy (including $364 billion for the corporate dividend tax cut). The budget resolution cut funding for all nondefense programs (including all education, job training and health care programs) by $244 billion over the next 10 years and cut an additional $265 billion in mandatory spending for Medicaid, veteran’s benefits and pensions and benefits for federal employees and railroad employees.The resolution included no funds to help states address their financial crises and inadequate funds for infrastructure investments that can create jobs by rebuilding roads, bridges, schools and water, sewer and transportation systems. Although the allotted time for a vote on the budget resolution had expired, Republican leaders held the vote open and strong-armed several Republicans lawmakers who had voted against the budget resolution with appeals to party loyalty to switch their votes. The resolution passed March 21, 2003, 215–212: Y=W; N=R (R: 214–12; D: 1–199; I: 0–1) |
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AVIATION WORKER RELIEF—H.R. 1559—Aviation workers are among the hardest hit by the nation’s economic downturn fueled by Bush’s tax-cuts-for-millionaires economic policies and the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But while Congress and the White House provided a bailout for airlines in late 2001, they did nothing to help the tens of thousands of jobless aviation workers. Before a conference began to meld House and Senate versions of an emergency appropriations bill to fund the war in Iraq into a final bill, House Democrats offered a motion to instruct conferees to accept the Senate’s provision on aviation workers. The Senate bill included $275 million to provide an additional 26 weeks of unemployment benefits for unemployed airline workers who had exhausted their state and federal unemployment benefits. The House bill did not. Sixty-seven Republicans joined every Democrat in the House to pass the nonbinding motion to instruct the conferees who were meeting on the bill to accept the Senate provision. The motion passed April 8,2003, 265–150: Y=R; N=W (R: 67–150; D: 197–0; I: 1–0) |
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TAX CUTS—H.R. 2—A Republican-sponsored $550 billion tax-cut proposal bestowed most its benefits on the wealthy and corporations. House Democrats made several efforts to send the bill back to the committee level to scale back the tax cuts benefiting wealthy individuals and corporations. Democrats sought to use those funds to help states address their fiscal crises—nearly $200 billion in state deficits that had forced layoffs and cuts in vital services—and to extend the federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation that provides unemployment benefits to long-term jobless workers who exhaust their state unemployment insurance benefits. Republicans blocked those efforts and the bill passed on a mostly party-line vote May 9, 2003, 222–203: Y=W; N=R (R: 218–3; D: 4–199;I: 0–1) |
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RETIREMENT SECURITY—H.R. 1000—Tens of millions of workers have invested their retirement savings in 401(k) accounts. The collapse of Enron, WorldCom and other corporations not only robbed workers of their retirement savings but revealed fiscal misconduct, bad investment advice and other dangerous corporate practices that threaten workers’ retirement security. A so-called 401(k) reform bill in the House made only modest improvements in current law while removing key protections for workers’ retirement security. The bill eliminated rules that prohibited investment advisers with financial conflicts of interest from providing investment advice to 401(k) plan participants. It also allowed employers to exclude more lower-paid workers from participating in 401(k) plans. The bill passed May14, 2003, 271–157: Y=W; N=R (R: 222–1; D: 49–155; I: 0–1) |
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WORKER SAFETY/COAL DUST—H.R. 2660—Black lung, a fatal pulmonary disease caused by exposure to coal dust, is a major health hazard for coal miners. Over the years, federal rules have limited the allowable levels of respirable coal dust in mines. The Bush administration’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposed regulations that would allow coal mine operators to increase their respirable dust levels by 400 percent. During consideration of the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) offered an amendment that blocked MSHA from using any funds to carry out the proposed regulations. The amendment failed on July 10, 2003, 210–212: Y=R; N=W (R: 11–212; D: 198–0; I: 1–0) |
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OVERTIME PAY—H.R. 2660—In March, the Bush administration announced a plan to make changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act that could eliminate the overtime pay eligibility for 8 million or more workers. Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and David Obey (D-Wis.) offered an amendment to the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill to guarantee workers’ overtime pay eligibility by prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from using funds to promulgate or implement any regulation that would take away overtime protection from workers who currently qualify. The amendment failed July 10, 2003, 210–213: Y=R; N=W (R: 14–210; D: 195–3; I: 1–0) |
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LABOR/HHS/EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS—H.R. 2660—The Republican-crafted FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill critically underfunded education, health care, job training and other vital programs. The bill also eliminated funds for the Labor Department’s international initiatives that help foreign countries fight child labor, educate their workers about HIV/AIDS and develop core labor standards. The bill passed July 10, 2003, 215–208:Y=W; N=R (R: 215–9; D: 0–198; I: 0–1) |
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TRADE: U.S.–SINGAPORE—H.R. 2739—United States and international labor and human rights activists long have fought to include strong and enforceable workers’ rights standards, including the freedom of association, in trade agreements. The U.S.–Singapore Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the Bush administration did not include enforceable core labor standards. The agreement also contained a new temporary guest-worker program for professional workers entering the United States from Singapore. The bill passed July 24, 2003, 272–155: Y=W; N=R (R: 197–27; D: 75–127; I: 0–1) |
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