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Area Votes in Congress

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week. House War funding. The House approved, 280-142, and sent to the Senate $96 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan war appropriations through Sept. 30. The bill specifies political, security and economic benchmarks on which the Iraqi government must show progress.

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.

House

War funding.

The House approved, 280-142, and sent to the Senate $96 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan war appropriations through Sept. 30. The bill specifies political, security and economic benchmarks on which the Iraqi government must show progress.

A yes vote was to pass HR 2206.

Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Voting no: Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) and Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.).

Minimum wage. The House passed, 348-73, a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour over 26 months and provide about $17 billion in domestic spending. The legislation was later combined with HR 2206 (above).

A yes vote was to raise the minimum wage.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Pitts.

Lobbyist oversight. The House passed, 396-22, and sent to the Senate a bill to increase regulation and public scrutiny of the thousands of registered lobbyists on Capitol Hill. The bill (HR 2316) requires lobbyists to publish detailed reports of their activities on the Internet and imposing jail time for violations. The House also passed, 382-37, a bill (HR 2317) requiring lobbyists to file quarterly Internet disclosures of their "bundling" activities. Bundling is combining scores or hundreds of small individual donations into large campaign contributions to members of Congress.

All Philadelphia-area representatives voted for both bills.

Gasoline prices. The House passed, 284-141, and sent to the Senate a bill to give the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general tools for prosecuting energy firms suspected of charging "unconscionably excessive" wholesale or retail prices.

A yes vote was to pass HR 1252.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Pitts.

U.S. attorneys. The House passed, 306-114, and sent to President Bush a bill to repeal a USA Patriot Act provision used by the administration to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation. The provision is central to the ongoing controversy over the administration's firing of U.S. attorneys.

A yes vote was to pass S 214.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Pitts.

Murtha dispute. The House killed, 219-189, a GOP bid for a reprimand of Rep. John Murtha (D., Pa.) for his official conduct. The GOP alleges Murtha vowed improper legislative action against a Republican member who had upset him.

A yes vote opposed any reprimand of Murtha.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz and Sestak.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton and Smith.

Senate

War funding.

Senators approved, 80-14, and sent to President Bush a bill providing $96 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and raising the minimum wage (HR 2206, above).

All Philadelphia-area senators voted for the bill.

Immigration. Senators refused, 66-29, to strip a pending immigration bill (S 1348) of its section providing America's 12 million illegal immigrants with legal status if they pay heavy fines, clear criminal checks and meet other requirements.

All Philadelphia-area senators voted to keep the legalization program.

Guest workers. The Senate 74-24 to scale back the guest-worker program in a pending immigration bill (S 1348, above). The vote capped guest-worker visas at 200,000 annually, down from 400,000 or more in the underlying bill.

A yes vote was to scale back the guest-worker program.

Voting yes: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.), Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey Jr. (D., Pa.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Voting no: Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Ahead. Congress is in recess until June 4.