Indiana's Congressional Report Card

Other formats:
PDF   MS Word

Congressional records illustrate just who is working for working Hoosiers

Just what is your Congressman doing for you? Is he supporting legislation that supports issues important to you? Looking at the records of Indiana's eight members of Congress, it becomes increasingly clear just whose interest our legislators in Washington are looking after.

Below is a rundown of 10 issues vitally important to working families and how each of Indiana's ten congressmen—six Republican and four Democrat—have voted in 2001.

1. ERGONOMICS—In November 2000, after more than a decade of struggle by workers and their unions to win federal rules to prevent crippling repetitive stress injuries in the workplace, the Occupation Safety and Health Administration issued the nation's first workplace ergonomics standard. The business community, which had stridently opposed the workplace safety effort for 10 years, won the support of the Bush administration and renewed the fight against the standard in early 2001. Using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) for the first time ever, the House overturned the ergonomics standard. It was the first time in OSHA's 30-year history that Congress nullified one of its safety standards. The vote not only eliminated the ergonomics standard, it also prohibited OSHA from issuing another similar rule unless Congress gives the agency specific permission to act. The measure passed March 7, 2001, by a vote of 223–206.

Those who voted to support Hoosier working families denoted with an “R” for voting the right way.

Those who voted against the good of working families denoted with a  “W” for voting the wrong way.

2. BUDGET—The fiscal year 2002 budget resolution called for spending $1.35 trillion worth of projected budget surpluses in fiscal years 2001–2011 to pay for tax cuts that would primarily benefit the wealthy. The budget resolution also weakened Social Security and Medicare, earmarked $600 billion of the projected Social Security Trust Fund surpluses for such Social Security “reforms” as privatization and failed to make investments in such important working family areas as repairing and rebuilding the nation's public schools and improving workplace health and safety. In all, the budget resolution contained spending cuts for important domestic programs of $5.5 billion in FY 2002 and $61.5 billion over the next 10 years. The measure passed on May 9, 2001, by a vote of 221–207.

3. SCHOOL VOUCHERS—Private school vouchers drain taxpayers' money, which could be used to improve public schools, to pay for private and religious school tuition. And, private schools, unlike public schools, which are open to all students, can exclude students for several reasons. During the debate on the Elementary and Secondary School Act, H.R. 1, the House rejected an amendment that would have allowed students in low-performing schools to use federal funds to pay for private school expenses. The measure failed on May 23, 2001, by a vote of 155–273. 

4. TAX RECONCILIATION/MILLIONAIRE TAX CUT—President Bush's millionaire tax cut received its final House approval with the passage of the conference report on the fiscal year 2002 tax reconciliation bill. The legislation uses $1.74 trillion of the projected budget surpluses over the next 10 years to pay for tax cuts that primarily would benefit the wealthy ($1.35 trillion for the tax cuts themselves and $390 billion for additional interest payments on the federal debt that these tax cuts would require). According to Citizens for Tax Justice, more than 38 percent of the tax cut benefits will go to the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers, who make $373,000 or more annually. Spending most of the projected budget surpluses to pay for tax cuts makes it virtually impossible for future sessions of Congress to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and make needed investments in education and health care. This legislation passed May 26, 2001, 240–154.

5. NAFTA/TRUCK SAFETY—President Bush, citing provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, proposed to open U.S. roads and highways to Mexican trucks, beyond the current limited border zone in which they have been allowed to operate. However, those trucks are not held to the same federal safety standards as are U.S. trucks and border inspections revealed almost half of these Mexican trucks had serious safety violations. The House passed an amendment to the Department of Transportation spending bill that would prohibit trucks and buses from Mexico from operating in the United States beyond the narrow border zone until they meet all U.S. safety standards. The amendment passed June 26, 2001, 285–143.

6. HEALTH CARE/PATIENT PROTECTIONS—Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.) offered an amendment to the Patient Protection Act, also know as the Patients' Bill of Rights, to replace the bill's original liability provisions that enforce patient protections with the more limited liability provisions pushed by President George W. Bush. The amendment creates bigger hurdles for patients seeking to sue health maintenance organizations that improperly deny them care. It also creates special protections for the HMOs. In addition, the liability provisions in the Norwood amendment actually would undermine existing state patient protections. The amendment passed Aug. 2, 2001, 218–213.

7. ECONOMIC STIMULUS—The economic aftershocks of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, combined with the Bush recession, resulted in the lay-offs of hundreds of thousands of workers. The AFL-CIO and other working family advocates backed an economic stimulus plan to extend, expand and improve unemployment insurance benefits to help families make up for lost income; to help laid-off workers maintain or acquire health insurance; to provide funds to enable state unemployment systems to meet the surge in claims; and to provide help to the business community. But House Republican leaders and President George W. Bush supported a stimulus plan that focused on huge tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. H.R. 309 called for spending $162 billion over the next 10 years to pay for those additional tax cuts for large corporations and wealthy individuals. The 309 bill passed Oct. 24, 2001, 216–214.

8. RETIREMENT SECURITY/EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT ADVICE—Many workers count on their 401(k) account as a major source of their retirement security. Unlike defined-benefit pension plans, these plans carry substantial investment risk. While workers need high-quality investment advice to protect their assets, that advice must be independent and not compromised by conflicts of interest. Currently, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) prohibits financial institutions—such as mutual fund companies, banks and insurance companies—from providing investment advice to 401(k) plan participants on investment products from which these institutions earn a profit. Such conflicted advice is barred because the adviser has a financial incentive to steer workers toward particular higher fee-generating investments; the adviser's interest is not solely the worker's best interest. This bill undermines ERISA's fundamental protections by lifting the ban against conflicted advice. The bill passed Nov. 15, 2001, 280–144.

9. FAST TRACK—Under the rules of Fast Track trade authority, Congress is stripped of the ability to improve proposed trade agreements negotiated by the president. It is only allowed to vote “yes” or “no” on entire trade packages. For example, Fast Track rules out congressional action to include or strengthen workers' rights or environmental protections in trade agreements. After intense pressure from House Republican leaders and the Bush administration, some 30 Republican House members who voted against the trade scheme in 1998 switched their votes and supported H.R. 3005. The bill passed Dec.6, 2001, by one vote, 215–214.

10. ELECTION REFORM—Several election reform efforts followed the controversial 2000 presidential elections, in which far too many Americans were denied the right to have their votes count, voting machines failed to properly record and count ballots and poorly designed and confusing ballots negated votes. One such bill was H.R. 3295, which addressed some of the issues, but did not contain strong civil rights provisions to protect the right of every citizen in every state to vote. A motion was made to send the bill back to the committee level to add a civil rights amendment that would have ensured that states use voting machines that inform voters whether they have voted for too many or too few candidates and are accessible to individuals with disabilities and those who speak languages other than English. It also would have ensured that registered voters whose names do not appear on voter registration lists are allowed to cast provisional ballots. The motion failed Dec. 12, 2001, in a 197–226 vote.