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TRADE: U.S.–CHILE—H.R. 2738—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.–Chile 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 Chile. The bill passed July 24, 2003, 270–156: Y=W; N=R (R: 195–27; D: 75–128; I: 0–1) |
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AMTRAK—H.R. 2989—Amtrak, the nation's passenger rail line, carries millions of passengers each year and employs more than 20,000 workers. For FY 2004, Amtrak estimated it needed $1.8 billion to avoid service cuts, layoffs and the elimination of many key passenger routes. But the Bush administration's FY 2004 budget request for Amtrak was just half the funding needed. During consideration of the FY 2004 Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies appropriations bill, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) offered an amendment that would further underfund the rail line by taking $320 million from the $900 million Amtrak funding level in the bill. Opponents said the amendment to reduce funding for Amtrak was an effort to weaken, eventually privatize and finally kill Amtrak, as the Bush administration has advocated. The amendment failed Sept. 4, 2003, 90–322: Y=W; N=R (R: 90–130; D: 0–191; I: 0–1) |
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PRIVATIZATION—PRIVATIZATION—H.R. 2989—In 2002, the Bush administration announced plans to privatize and contract out more than 850,000 federal jobs. In May, the Office of Management and Budget announced new rules that gutted previous regulations designed to create a level playing field between private contractors seeking government work and the agencies and workers performing the work. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) offered an amendment to the FY 2004 Treasury, Transportation and Independent Agencies appropriations bill that would have blocked implementation of the new pro-contractor privatization process. The amendment passed Sept. 9, 2003, 220–198: Y=R; N=W (R: 26–195; D: 193–3; I: 1–0) |
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PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS—H.R. 2765—As state and local fiscal crises grow, public school systems face increasing funding difficulties. Schools need resources to lower class sizes, repair crumbling schools and recruit, hire and retain qualified teachers. But Republicans offered an amendment to the FY 2004 District of Columbia Appropriations bill to divert public school funds and authorize a private school voucher program in the District of Columbia. The amendment passed Sept. 9, 2003, 209–208: Y=W; N=R (R: 206–15; D: 3–192; I: 0–1) |
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OVERTIME—H.R. 2660—When the Senate passed its version of the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill, it included an amendment that guaranteed workers' overtime pay eligibility by prohibiting the Labor Department from using funds to promulgate or implement any regulation that would take away overtime pay protections from workers who currently qualify. In March 2003, 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. Before the bill went to conference with the House version, which did not include the overtime pay eligibility guarantee, the House passed a motion to instruct conferees to go along with the Senate overtime provisions. The motion was approved Oct. 2, 2003, 221–203: Y=R; N=W (R: 21–201; D: 199–2; I: 1–0) |
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AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL PRIVATIZATION—H.R. 2115—During summer 2003, the Senate and House approved versions of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization bill that contained provisions to guard against a Bush administration plan to privatize the nation's air traffic control system. But when merging the legislation, the Republican-dominated conference committee dropped those provisions. Along with allowing air traffic control privatization, the conference report included provisions that allowed foreign air cargo companies to raid U.S. domestic markets in violation of longstanding cabotage laws that govern foreign participation in the domestic airline market and gutted flight attendant anti-terrorism training requirements in defiance of a bipartisan mandate embodied initially in the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The House passed the conference report Oct. 30, 2003, 211–207: Y=W; N=R (R: 210–11; D: 1–195; I: 0–1) |
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MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS—H.R. 1—The final version of the Medicare prescription drug bill moved Medicare toward privatization, steered seniors to private HMOs, forced 32.5 million current beneficiaries to pay higher premiums and other Medicare costs, opened the doors to $139 billion in profits for the pharmaceutical industry, prevented the government from negotiating for lower drug prices, did nothing to rein soaring prescription drug costs for seniors and threatened the employer-provided drug coverage of millions of retirees. House Republican leaders conducted an unprecedented three-hour vote that did not conclude until 6 a.m. During the three hours the vote was held open—votes typically are open 15 to 20 minutes—the bill's opponents held a narrow lead. But following intense arm-twisting by President Bush and Republican House leaders, several Republican members gave in to pressure and political promises and switched their votes. The bill passed Nov. 22, 2003, 220-215: Y=W; N=R (R: 204-25; D: 16-189; I: 0-1) |
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COMPENSATORY TIME—H.R. 1119—In early June 2003, House Republican leadership scheduled a vote on compensatory time legislation, H.R. 1119. The bill would allow employers to give workers compensatory time off in place of time-and-a-half pay for every overtime hour worked. The so-called Family Time Flexibility Act actually would fail to give workers more control over their time, undermine the 40-hour workweek and could result in pay cuts for working families who depend on overtime pay to meet expenses. The bill was opposed strongly by the AFL-CIO. When it became apparent to GOP leaders there were not sufficient votes to pass the bill, they pulled the legislation from the floor. However, most representatives had made commitments on the issue and these are included in the Voting Record but not included in the year-end or lifetime percentages. |
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