1. Clean Air/Clean Up Polluting Power Plants: Representatives Waxman (D-CA) and Boehlert (R-NY) introduced the Clean Smokestacks Act (H.R. 2900) to clean up the nation's coal-burning power plants. These plants constitute the largest industrial source of the pollution that causes acid rain, smog, soot, global warming, and mercury contamination. The bill was cosponsored by 122 Members of the House of Representatives, and has been reintroduced in the 107th Congress for further consideration. PUBLIC INTEREST POSITION: Cosponsorship of Bill

2. Clean Air/Oppose Weakening Clean Air Protections: Representatives Linder (R-GA) and Collins (R-GA) authored a rider that halted the designation of high smog areas under the new, more protective, health standard for smog. The impact of this rider was to delay for a year the first step in the process to ultimately bring all areas into attainment with the health standard that protects all Americans from adverse impacts of air pollution. On June 21, 2000, the House voted to pass the rider 225-199. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

3. Clean Water/Oppose Weakening Drinking Water Protections: There are hundreds of toxic waste sites across the nation, including some of the largest Superfund sites, that have river and lake sediments contaminated with dangerous chemicals. Polluters, including General Electric, the nation's largest polluter of Superfund sites, successfully lobbied the House of Representatives to get an anti-environmental rider passed that would delay the clean up of such sites, including the nation's largest Superfund site, the Hudson River. GE contaminated the Hudson River with over 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphynols (PCBs), which are probable human carcinogens. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Sherrod Brown (R-OH), and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) cosponsored an amendment to strip this anti-environmental rider from the bill. On June 21, 2000, the House voted 208-216 not to strip the rider. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

4. Clean Energy/Cut Oil and Coal 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 248-169. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

5. Arctic Refuge/Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from Oil and Gas Drilling: Members of the House of Representatives were asked to cosponsor H.R. 1239, the Mo Udall Arctic Wilderness Bill. H.R. 1239 would have designated the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness. Wilderness designation prohibits any kind of development, which obviously would not allow oil and gas exploration on the coastal plain. PUBLIC INTEREST POSITION: Consponsorship of Bill

6. Toxic Waste/Make Polluters Pay to Clean Up Toxic Waste: H.R. 5175, the Small Business Liability Relief Act, would have let big corporate polluters get out of paying to clean up their contamination at Superfund sites. Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), the sponsor of H.R. 5175, brought the bill before the full House on a suspension vote, which is normally reserved for non-controversial bills that do not go through the committee process. On a suspension vote, a bill needs 2/3 of the voting Representatives to vote for passage. On September 26, 2000, the House voted in favor of the bill 253-161, but with less than the 2/3s needed to pass. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

7. Toxic Waste/Oppose Unlimited Mining Waste Dumping on Public Lands: The hardrock mining industry is the nation's top toxic polluter, releasing more toxic chemicals than any other industry. It is also one of the 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 Inslee (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 273-151. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

8. Environmental Preservation/Protect National Monuments: A provision attached to H.R. 4578, the 2001 Interior appropriations bill, would have prohibited the use of funds for the design, planning or management of national monuments created since 1999. The provision would have prevented the Department of Interior from managing current monuments, as well as thwarting the President's authority under the Antiquities Act to proclaim new monuments. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) offered an amendment to strike the prohibition on national monument funding from the bill. In response, Representative Jim Hansen (R-UT) offered a substitute amendment to keep the national monuments language in the bill. On June 15, 2000, the House rejected the Hansen amendment by a 187-234 vote. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO (The Dicks amendment went on to pass by a vote of 243-177.)

9. Environmental Defense/Weaken Land Use Protections: Anti-environment "property rights" advocates have long sought to undermine land use, public health, clean water and other environmental protections. They are trying to change the way that courts determine if compensation is required because a local, state or federal government regulation results in a "taking" of private property. Rep. Charles Canady (R-FL), with the support of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), introduced H.R. 2372, which would allow developers to challenge local land use, zoning and environmental laws directly in federal court, bypassing local elected officials and land use procedures, as well as state courts. On March 16, 2000, the House voted to pass H.R. 2372 by a vote of 226-182. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

10. 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 bill 274-149. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

11. Nuclear Waste/Stop Dangerous Transport of Nuclear Waste: 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 March 22, 2000, the House approved S. 1287 by a vote of 253-167. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

12. National Forests/Cut Subsidy for Logging in National Forests: The U.S. Forest Service subsidizes the destruction of our National Forests by selling off our trees to the timber industry at prices that do not even cover the agency's costs to administer these sales. As a result, taxpayers have lost $2 billion over the last six years. At the same time, logging in the National Forests has destroyed wildlife habitat, polluted rivers necessary for fish and for drinking water and caused expensive and deadly mudslides. Logging also removes mature trees and leaves behind brush that increases the severity of forest fires. Representatives David Wu (D-OR), Mark Udall (D-CO) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2001 Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 4578) that would have cut $14.7 million from the timber subsidy, and shifted the funding to fish and wildlife management. On June 14, 2000, the House rejected the amendment 173-249. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

13. 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

14. Campaign Finance Reform/Ban Soft Money Contributions: Representatives Chris Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (DMA) introduced a bill to enact modest reforms in the federal campaign finance system in the 106th Congress. The bill would do nothing to limit the outrageous amounts that special interests can give directly to candidates, but it would 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

15. 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 could 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

16. Public Health/Expand Citizens' Right to Know about Toxics: Toxic substances like dioxin and mercury are known to have significant impacts on human health and particularly on the health of growing children. Unfortunately, the public is kept in the dark about the health risks of industrial chemicals -- of the tens of thousands of chemicals in use, a significant majority have not been fully tested for health impacts. Even for chemicals that are known to be toxic, manufacturers aren't required to tell consumers about the chemicals they place in products, and companies don't report their chemical use to the surrounding community. Successful right-to-know programs in Massachusetts and New Jersey require chemical use reporting. In Massachusetts, facilities have reduced their use of toxic chemicals by more than 30% and reduced the toxic waste they produce by 50% since the program started. The Children's Environmental Protection and Right to Know Act, championed by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ) would take these valuable lessons and apply them at the national level, providing citizens and communities across the country with the right to know about toxic hazards that could threaten children's health and encouraging industries to reduce these hazards. At the end of the 106th Congress, the bill had 157 cosponsors. PUBLIC INTEREST POSITION: Cosponsorship of Bill

17. Consumer Protection/Fund Tobacco Lawsuit: This vote relates to the tobacco lawsuit amendment #883 (A017) to the Fiscal 2001 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill (H.R. 4690). The Amendment allows the Justice Department to receive funds from the Veterans Administration to aid in the cost of tobacco litigation. A provision called a "rider" was included in the Justice Department appropriations bill to prevent DOJ from receiving funds from other departments to support "high-cost" federal lawsuits. Among the pending lawsuits that would have been de-funded is the federal government's lawsuit to recover the billions that it spends each year treating tobacco-related illnesses. That suit is jointly funded by DOJ and the Veterans' Administration. On June 23, 2000, an amendment by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) to exempt the tobacco lawsuit from the prohibition and thus allow it to go forward passed 215-183. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: YES

18. 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

19. Consumer Protection/Support Strong Privacy Protections: Members of the bi-partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus opposed suspension of the rules to pass a bill establishing a commission to study privacy. House leadership chose to allow H.R. 4049 to be considered under suspension of the rules, rather than under an "open" rule, to prevent those pro-privacy members from offering stronger privacy protection provisions as floor amendments. Further, had the House enacted the modest, and unnecessary study proposal, Congressional privacy opponents, and industry foes of strong privacy laws, would have falsely claimed a privacy victory as well as used the bill's passage as a delaying tactic when further substantive reforms were proposed. On October 2, 2000, the House voted 250-146 for the bill - but fell short of the 2/3s required to pass. PUBLIC INTEREST VOTE: NO

20. 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