2. Environmental Defense/Stop Unlimited Mining Waste Dumping on Public Lands: The hardrock mining industry is one of the most polluting and most heavily subsidized industries in the country. Under the antiquated 1872 Mining Law, mining companies have been allowed to extract billions of dollars of minerals from public land without paying a dime in royalties and have abandoned more than half a million polluting mine sites, leaving the cleanup tab to taxpayers. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) attached a rider to the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill that would have allowed the mining industry an even greater giveaway — a change to the 1872 Mining Law to allow unlimited access to public lands for use as private mining waste dumps. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and John Kerry (D-MA) offered an amendment to eliminate the Craig rider. On July 27, 1999, Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Harry Reid (D-NV) offered a motion to prevent any further consideration of the amendment. This motion was adopted, 55 to 41. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

3. Environmental Defense/Stop Dumping Mountaintop Removal Waste: Mountaintop removal coal mining literally blasts the tops off of mountains in Appalachia in order to reach seams of coal within. The millions of tons of waste that result are dumped into valleys, obliterating streams and leveling landscapes. In October 1999, a West Virginia federal district court found that this practice violates provisions of the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). In response, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) attempted to attach a twelfth-hour rider to the fiscal year 2000 Omnibus Appropriations bill that would have exempted coal mining companies around the country from these portions of the Clean Water Act and SMCRA. This rider would have wreaked havoc on clean water around the nation and set a terrible precedent for a polluting industry to bypass environmental laws. Ultimately, Senator Byrd attached his rider to a continuing resolution (a measure that extends funding for the federal government at last year’s levels) that was never signed into law. On November 18, 1999, the Senate approved the Byrd rider, 56-33. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

4. Global Warming/Clean Energy/Increase Funding For Renewable Energy: Fossil fuel use and production are responsible for more than 95 percent of air pollution and most greenhouse gas emissions, while commercial nuclear power plants produce the majority of radioactive waste. Development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy would lower air polution and other environmental impacts associated with energy generation, and reduce our dependence on imported oil. Despite these advantages, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to significantly cut federal funding for renewable energy research and development. During Senate consideration of the Energy and Water appropriations bill, Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT) was prepared to offer an amendment that would have added $62 million to the Energy Department’s solar and renewable energy programs - an increase that a majority of members had endorsed in a letter to the Appropriations committee chair. Opponents of the Jeffords amendment claimed that it violated Senate budget rules because it did not provide a valid "offset" (compensating spending reduction) for its funding increase. On June 16, 1999, in a procedural vote called by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate voted 60-39 to block the Jeffords amendment from being considered by the full Senate. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

5. Global Warming/Energy Efficiency/Stop Freeze Of Auto Fuel Efficiency Standards: A legal loophole allowing lower miles per gallon standards for Sport Utility Vehicles, minivans and light trucks causes an extra 187 million tons of global warming pollution and costs consumers up to $27 billion extra at the gas pump annually. This loophole also causes the U.S. to consume almost a million extra barrels of oil per day. For the past four years, a rider placed on the Transportation Appropriations bill by Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has prohibited the Department of Transportation from even considering updated standards for these vehicles. Senators Gorton (R-WA), Byran (D-NV) and Feinstein (D-CA) offered an amendment to the Senate Transportation Appropriations bill rejecting the Wolf rider. On September 15, 1999, the Senate rejected the amendment 40-55. Although 40 votes in favor of the amendment is sufficient to sustain a veto of the bill, the president ultimately signed the bill and the rider into law. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

6. National Forests/Cut Subsidy for Logging in National Forests: The U.S. Forest Service subsidizes the destruction of our rapidly dwindling National Forests by selling off our trees to the timber industry at prices that do not even cover the basic costs of the timber sales program. As a result, taxpayers have lost $2 billion over the last six years, and logging has destroyed wildlife habitat, polluted rivers necessary for fish and for drinking water, and caused expensive and deadly mudslides. Senators Bryan (D-NV), Fitzgerald (R-IL), Reid (D-NV) and Durbin (D-IL) offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill to cut $34 million from the timber subsidy and shift $21 million to fish and wildlife habitat protection and road maintenance. On September 14, 1999, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) offered a motion to prevent any further consideration of the amendment. This motion was adopted, 54 to 43. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

7. Nuclear Waste/Stop Dangerous Nuclear Waste Transport: S. 1287, The Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 2000, would needlessly mandate the transportation of highly radioactive waste through 43 states. This bill would put millions of Americans at risk, and undermine EPA radiation standards. On February 10, 2000, the Senate approved S. 1287 by a 64-34 vote. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

8. Polluter Pork/Protect Taxpayers and Stop Underpayment Of Oil Royalties: Companies that drill for oil on public lands are required to pay royalties, which benefit taxpayers, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and state governments, many of which use the royalties for public education. However, according to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the largest oil companies have been underpaying these royalties by at least $66 million a year. To address this underpayment, the MMS formulated new rules to create fair, market-based oil payments, but three "riders" on three different spending bills blocked the final passage of these rules. During consideration of the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) offered yet anothe rider to delay the MMS rules. (The MMS rules were finalized on March 15, 2000, but the oil industry is now suing the MMS to prevent the rules from being enforced.) On September 23, 1999, the Senate adopted the Hutchison oil royalty rider, 51-47. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

9. Polluter Pork/Protect Taxpayers and Stop Underpayment Of Oil Royalties (Cloture): Before the Senate voted on Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s (R-TX) oil royalty rider (see vote listed immediately above), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) attempted to block the rider through a filibuster. In order to cut off such a filibuster, 60 Senators must invoke "cloture," which brings the issue to an immediate vote. Senator Boxer was able to hold debate on the oil royalty issue open for two weeks before Senator Hutchison had the votes for cloture. Had the filibuster continued, the rider would likely have been withdrawn. On September 23, 1999, the Senate voted to end debate on the oil royalty rider, 60-39. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

10. Consumer Protection/Oppose Anti-Consumer, Anti-Privacy Bank Reforms: Congress passed and the President signed sweeping legislation largely repealing Depression-era banking laws preventing affiliations between banks, insurance companies and brokerages. Unfortunately, the bill fails to guarantee that consumers will benefit from the massive financial supermarkets it will create. Among its most egregious flaws is its failure to protect consumer privacy: it allows confidential consumer financial records to be shared or sold for marketing without consumer consent. The bill also fails to require that these financial powerhouses offer affordable bank accounts. The bill makes it easy for mutual insurance companies that are owned by their ratepayers to convert to stock ownership and transfer billions of dollars of consumer equity to management pockets without consumer compensation. It also broadly eviscerates state consumer protection laws. On November 4, 1999, the Senate voted to pass the bill 90-8. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

11. Consumer Protection/Protect Consumers From High-Cost Lenders: During consideration of legislation supported by the credit card industry to amend the bankruptcy laws, S. 625 (Grassley (R-IA) and Torricelli (D-NJ)), Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) offered a balancing amendment to curb certain abusive practices. The Wellstone amendment would have prevented predatory lenders who make loans at interest rates greater than 100% APR, such as payday and auto title pawn loan companies, from making claims against consumers to recover unpaid debts in bankruptcy. The amendment would have also curbed certain unfair debt collection practices. On February 1, 2000, the Senate voted to table (kill) the Wellstone amendment 53-44. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

12. Consumer Protection/Oppose Weakening Consumer Bankruptcy Protections: Over the last three years, the credit card industry has persisted in a multi-million dollar lobbying and public relations campaign to enact draconian changes to the bankruptcy laws that would prevent consumers from making a fresh start in bankruptcy as current consumer protections allow in certain circumstances. Worse, the industry has also blocked all balancing amendments designed to stop abusive and deceptive credit card marketing and interest rate practices that have resulted in massive and growing credit card debt loads as well as thousands of consumer complaints to regulators. Recent studies have shown that consumers do not abuse bankruptcy laws, but generally are forced to file bankruptcy due to medical or job dislocation crises. Further, studies show that if there ever was a bankruptcy crisis, it is self-correcting. On February 2, 2000, the Senate voted to pass the bill 83-14. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

13. Health Care/Oppose Weak Patients’ Bill Of Rights "Reforms": The Senate turned aside real managed care reform proposals, and instead enacted a weak bill, S. 1344. Most of the bill’s protections apply only to the 48 million patients in health care plans exempt from state regulation. The bill fails to guarantee critical parts of PIRG’s Patient’s Rights Platform. It does not guaranee access to specialists, it does not ban gag clauses or financial incentives to deny care, it does not ensure that doctors, not HMOs, have the final say over medical treatment, and it does not hold plans legally liable when they make medical decisions that result in harm to the patient. On July 15, 1999, the Senate passed the bill 53-47. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

14. Campaign Finance Reform/Ban Soft Money Contributions: Sens. McCain (R-AZ) and Feingold (D-WI) brought S. 1593 to the floor of the Senate to ban soft money contributions in federal elections. Soft money is unlimited and unregulated funds from corporations, labor unions, and wealthy individuals given to political parties and other organizations as a way to get around the legal limits on contributions to candidates. While the bill fell short of comprehensive reform, it would be an important first step. A motion to invoke cloture on the debate, which would have allowed it to come to a final vote, failed on October 19, 1999 by a vote of 53-47. Despite the fact that a majority of Senators supported the bill, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) did not bring it to a final vote because 60 votes were needed to break a filibuster by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY). PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

15. Campaign Contributions/Amend Constitution to Limit Contributions and Spending: Sens. Hollings (D-SC) and Specter (R-PA) offered a proposed constitutional amendment to authorize the Congress and the states to set mandatory limits on campaign spending and contributions. Congress set spending limits in 1974, but they were invalidated by the controversial Supreme Court decision, Buckley vs. Valeo, which extended First Amendment protection to unlimited spending in elections. A no vote in this instance was the pro campaign finance thing to do because the vote was on a motion to "set on the table" the Hollings-Specter proposal that would have allowed for mandatory spending limits. Once tabled there can be no up or down vote on the proposal itself. Tabling a motion is a fairly standard way of killing legislation in the Senate. On March 28, 2000, the Senate tabled (killed) the amendment by a vote of 67-33. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO