1. Environmental Defense/Oppose 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. Yet, the mining industry is now seeking 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. Representatives Nick Rahall (D-WV), Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Jay Inlsee (D-WA) offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 2466) to protect taxpayers and the environment by limiting the amount of public land mining companies can use to dump waste. On July 14, 1999, the House passed the amendment, 273 to 151. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
2. Environmental Defense/Oppose Spending Bill With Anti-Environment Amendments: Special interest lobbyists and their allies in Congress increasingly hide attacks on environmental protections in must-pass appropriations bills, rather than proposing these attacks as stand-alone legislation. The fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriation bill contained many such sneak environmental attacks or "riders," mostly added in the Senate. In part, these anti-environmental riders allowed destructive grazing on millions of acres of ecologically sensitive public land to continue without environmental review, opened up unlimited public land to mine waste dumping, and allowed the oil industry to avoid paying $66 million a year for drilling on public lands. After two weeks of negotiations with the Senate, the House agreed to accept most of the Senate’s riders. Fortunately President Clinton’s threats to veto the bill enabled negotiators to remove some of the worst riders. On October 21, 1999, the House passed the fiscal year 2000 Interior Spending bill (H.R. 2466), 225-200. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
3. Environmental Defense/Expose Hidden Anti-Environment Amendments: Rep. Waxman (CA) offered his "Defense of the Environment Amendment" that would have prevented Congress from rolling back environmental laws without an open debate and public accountability. His amendment would have simply required that Congress have a debate and a recorded vote prior to passing legislation, including anti-environmental riders that repeal protections for public health and safety and the environment. Over 300 environmental, labor, public health, and public interest organizations, as well as the Clinton Administration supported the amendment. Unfortunately, special interests lobbied hard defeat the bill. On February 10, 1999, the House rejected the amendment 203-216. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
4. Environmental Defense/Oppose Restricting New Health And Safety Protections: H.R. 350, the "Mandates Information Act," would roll back major protections for the environment and public health by creating opportunities for Members of Congress to kill such protections without even voting on them. The bill allows Members to use a procedural rule, called a "point of order," that can stop Congress from considering any bill that imposes costs exceeding $100 million on the private sector. Since Congress must periodically reauthorize existing environmental laws and pass all new protections, members could use this "point of order" to gut our nation’s environmental laws. On February 10, 1999, the House passed the bil 274-149. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
5. Environmental Defense/Stop Anti-Environment Budget Amendments: Because they wish to shield their actions from public scrutiny, special interests and their Congressional allies attach anti-environmental provisions to unrelated legislation. Last year, special interests attached several anti-environmental provisions to "must-pass" legislation to fund national parks and other public lands. These provisions would: allow mining companies unlimited amounts of public land for toxic waste dumping, allow oil companies to underpay royalties owed to the public and weaken protections for public lands damaged by overgrazing. On October 4, 1999, Representative Dicks (D-WA) offered a motion to block these harmful provisions which was approved by the House 218-199. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
6. Environmental Defense/Stop Waivers Of Fines For Polluters: H.R. 391, the "Small Business Paperwork Reduction Act Amendments" would require agencies to waive fines against first time violators of regulatory protections. This bill undercuts the very tools, reporting and record keeping, which ensure polluters obey the law. It would also put law-abiding businesses at a disadvantage to bad actors that choose to save money by breaking the law. On Ferbruary 11, 1999, the House passed the bill 274-151. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
7. Environmental Defense/Protect Wetlands from Development: Wetlands are crucial to people and wildlife because they filter water pollution, soak up floodwaters and provide critical habitat for birds, fish and shellfish, and other animals. Yet, thousands of acres of wetlands are destroyed every year by an Army Corps of Engineers program called Nationwide Permit 26, which allows developers to fill wetlands without public notice or environmental review. The Army Corps is in the process of replacing this permit with a new program that will better protect wetlands, but a rider included in the fiscal year 2000 Energy and Water Appropriations bill would have blocked the new program and further shut the public out of the decision making process. Representative Peter Visclosky (D-IN) offered an amendment to eliminate this rider. On July 27, 1999, the House rejected the amendment 183-245, although negotiators were later able to remove the rider. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
8. Land And Water Conservation/Cut Fossil Fuels Subsidy, Fund Public Lands: The burning of coal and oil is a major source of smog-forming nitrogen oxide, soot-producing sulfur dioxide, the global warming gas carbon dioxide, and toxic mercury. Yet, every year, coal and oil companies receive hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to continue producing these dirty energy sources. Representatives McGovern (D-MA), Campbell (R-CA), Hoeffel (D-PA) and Holt (D-NJ) offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill to cut $29 million from this coal and oil subsidy, and transfer the money to state grants for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which are used to fund land purchases for open space and outdoor recreation. On July 13, 1999, the House adopted the amendment, 213-202. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
9. 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. Representatives David Wu (D-OR) and Darlene Hooley (D-OR) offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 2466) that would have cut $23 million from the timber subsidy, and shifted the funding to fish and wildlife habitat and watershed restoration programs. On July 14, 1999, the House rejected the amendment, 174 to 250. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
10. Nuclear Waste/Stop Dangerous Nuclear Waste Transport: S. 1287, The Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 200, 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 March 22, 2000, the House approved S. 1287 by a 253-167 vote. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
11. Clean Energy/Cut Coal and Oil Subsidies: The burning of coal and oil is a major source of smog-forming nitrogen oxide, soot-producing sulfur dioxide, the global warming gas carbon dioxide, and toxic mercury. Yet, every year, coal and oil companies receive hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to continue producing these dirty energy sources. Representatives Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Ron Lewis (R-KY), James Oberstar (D-MN) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) offered an amendment to cut $50 million from the fossil fuel subsidy. On July 14, 1999, the House adopted the amendment, 248 to 169. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
12. National Forests/Stop Incentives For Logging in National Forest: H.R. 2389, introduced by Reps. Nathan Deal (R-GA) and Allen Boyd (D-FL) creates incentives to log more of our National Forests. Under current law the Forest Service has to pay 25% of receipts from logging, mining, and oil and gas development on National Forests to states and counties. A number of counties use this money to pay for schools and new roads. Declining timber receipts, have resulted in a decline in the payments to counties. H.R. 2389 would make full payments to counties over the next 5 years based on an historical average from the years in which logging was at its peak. On November 3, 1999, the House passed this bill 274-153 in modified form that did not require the Forest Service to pay for any shortfalls out of their budget. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
13. Environmental Preservation/Stop Weakening of Land Use Protections: Rep. Canady (R-FL) introduced a bill, written with assistance from the National Association of Homebuilders, that would allow developers to sue cities and counties in federal courts over local land use disputes. This bill would circumvent local land use procedures and give developers a big stick to intimidate local governments who do not have the resources to fight expensive federal lawsuits. This bill would also greatly increase the burden on federal courts. H.R. 2372 was opposed by Attorneys General from 40 states, the National League of Cities, and the U.S. Judicial Conference (on behalf of federal courts). On March 16, 2000 the House passed the bill 226-182. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
14. 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 May 5, 1999, the House passed the bill 313-108. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
15. 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 insuance 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 July 1, 1999, the House passed the bill 343-86. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
16. Consumer Protection/Oppose Weakening Product Safety Legal Protections: Class actions are an important consumer tool used in a variety of situations, including cases dealing with bank fraud, insurance fraud and defective products. The House narrowly passed legislation that makes it harder for consumers to bring class action lawsuits in state courts. The legislation will allow businesses to use procedural roadblocks in the federal courts to stymie consumer efforts to deter corporate misconduct. The legislation was supported by a broad array of companies including tobacco, insurance, pharmaceutical, chemical and automotive interests. Amendments to carve-out the tobacco and gun industries from its safe harbor for corporate wrongdoers were defeated. On September 23, 1999, the House passed the bill 222-207. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
17. Consumer Protection/Oppose Weakening Consumer Legal Rights: The House passed the falsely-labeled "Small Business Liability Reform Act," which caps the amount of punitive damages recoverable by the victims of corporate misconduct and largely applies to all firms, not only small businesses. Punitive damages are only awarded by the courts in the most egregious circumstances. The mere threat of punitive damages serves as an important deterrent against corporate misbehavior, so this legislation will likely lead to more medical malpractice, more dangerous products, more contaminated food and more financial scams. The proposal shifts the costs of business misbehavior from the companies who profited from it to consumers injured by it. On February 16, 1999, the House passed the bill 221-193. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
18. Health Care/Pass Strong Patients’ Bill Of Rights: Overcoming strong opposition from the Republican leadership, the House passed H.R. 2723, a broadly bipartisan, pro-consumer managed care reform bill (Norwood (R-GA)-Dingell (D-MI)). The bill protects the doctor-patient relationship by ensuring that physician decisions prevail over health plan objections if upheld by external review and by eliminating improper physician incentives to deny care. The bill holds health plans liable for negligence, allows patients the right to drugs not on their health plan’s list, and allows patients direct access to specialists in some cases. Unlike the weak Senate-passed proposal, H.R. 2723’s protections apply to all 161 million Americans in private insurance plans. On October 7, 1999, the House passed the bill 275-151. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES
19. Campaign Finance Reform/Stop Increase In Contribution Limits: During the House debate on campaign finance reform, Rep. Edward Whitfield (R-KY) offered an amendment to the Shays-Meehan bill that would have increased the current limit on contributions to candidates from $1,000 to $3,000. This would only further increase the amounts that candidates raise from wealthy donors, and give special interests even more influence in determining who runs for office and who wins elections. On September 14, 1999, the House rejected the amendment 127-300. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO
20. Campaign Finance Reform/Ban Soft Money Contributions: Representatives Chris Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) introduced a bill to enact modest reforms in the federal campaign finance system in the 106th Congress. That bill did nothing to limit the outrageous amounts that special interests can give directly to candidates, but it did prevent corporations and very wealthy donors from giving unregulated and unlimited "soft money" contributions to political parties and other groups seeking to influence election outcomes. On September 14, 1999, the House passed the final version of the bill 252-177. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES |
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