How your U.S. lawmaker voted

WASHINGTON — Here's how the state's members of Congress voted on major roll calls in the week ending Friday.

House

U.S.-Colombia trade

By a vote of 224-195, the House on Thursday delayed indefinitely a U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement that President Bush had sent to Capitol Hill under "fast-track" legislative rules.

This vote on HR 1092 canceled a deadline in those rules for the House to approve or reject the trade pact. The deferral did not require Senate or presidential concurrence and took effect immediately.

Voting yes: Jay Inslee, D-1; Rick Larsen, D-2; Brian Baird, D-3; Norm Dicks, D-6; Jim McDermott, D-7; Adam Smith, D-9.

Voting no: Doc Hastings, R-4; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5; Dave Reichert, R-8.

Landscape conservation

By a vote of 278-140, the House on Wednesday voted to give force of law to an 8-year-old program designed to preserve landscapes of national significance on Bureau of Land Management acreage in the West. The bill (HR 2016) would codify what are now administrative protections for landscapes of exceptional ecological, cultural or scientific value on the agency's 27 million acres.

Voting yes: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, Dicks, McDermott, Reichert, Smith.

Voting no: Hastings, McMorris Rodgers.

Hunting, fishing rights

By a vote of 416-5, the House on Wednesday stipulated that HR 2016 (above) does not limit hunting, fishing or trapping rights on the Bureau of Land Management's 27 million acres or infringe on any state's right to manage those activities.

Voting yes: Inslee, Larsen, Baird, Hastings, McMorris Rodgers, Dicks, Reichert, Smith.

Voting no: McDermott.

Senate

Housing-relief package

By a vote of 84-12, the Senate on Thursday sent the House a bill (HR 3221) to help mortgage holders, communities and businesses cope with the U.S. housing collapse at a projected cost of $15 billion over 10 years.

The bill would authorize $6 billion in tax rebates to homebuilders and other businesses, $150 million for credit counseling to head off foreclosures and $4 billion for use by localities to buy empty houses.

The bill also would provide a $7,000 tax credit to those who buy and occupy foreclosed properties, finance efforts by local government to help homeowners renegotiate adjustable-rate mortgages, establish a temporary property-tax deduction of $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples, and require lenders to issue one-page truth-in-lending statements in plain English.

Voting yes: Maria Cantwell, D; Patty Murray, D.

Energy tax credits

By a vote of 88-8, the Senate on Thursday expanded HR 3221 (above) to extend renewable-energy tax credits due to expire at year's end. The amendment would add about $6 billion over 10 years to the national debt.

The tax incentives are designed, in part, to promote energy from sources such as the sun, wind, earth and crops, and promote the manufacture of more energy-efficient homes, buildings and appliances.

Voting yes: Cantwell, Murray.

Federal-land inventory

By a vote of 30-63, the Senate on Thursday refused to require the federal government to start publishing an online inventory of all land it owns and the cost of administering it, with the database to be updated annually. This amendment was offered to a noncontroversial bill (S 2739) on public lands that was later passed.

Voting no: Cantwell, Murray.

Roll Call Report Syndicate