Area Votes in Congress

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

House

U.S.-Colombia trade.

By a vote of 224-195, the House delayed indefinitely a U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement that President Bush had sent to Capitol Hill under "fast-track" legislative rules. This vote on H Res 1092 canceled a deadline in those rules for the House to approve or reject the trade pact. The deferral did not require Senate or presidential concurrence and took effect immediately.

A yes vote was to delay the trade agreement.

Voting yes: Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Not voting: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.).

U.S. landscape conservation.

The House voted 278-140 to give force of law to an eight-year-old program designed to preserve landscapes of national significance on Bureau of Land Management acreage in the West. The bill (HR 2016) would codify what are now administrative protections for landscapes of exceptional ecological, cultural or scientific value on the agency's 27 million acres.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Voting no: Pitts.

Senate

Housing relief package.

In an 84-12 vote, the Senate sent the House a bill (HR 3221) to help mortgage holders, communities and businesses cope with the U.S. housing collapse at a projected cost of $15 billion over 10 years. The bill authorizes $6 billion in tax rebates to homebuilders and other businesses, $150 million for credit counseling to head off foreclosures, and $4 billion for use by localities to buy empty houses.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Renewable-energy tax credits.

Voting 88-8, the Senate expanded HR 3221 (above) to extend renewable-energy tax credits due to expire at year's end. The amendment would add about $6 billion over 10 years to the national debt. The tax incentives are designed, in part, to promote energy from sources such as the sun, wind, earth and crops and promote the manufacture of more energy-efficient homes, buildings and appliances.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Biden, Casey, Lautenberg, Menendez, Specter.

Voting no: Carper.

Federal land inventory.

Voting 30-63, the Senate refused to require the federal government to start publishing an online inventory of all land it owns and the cost of administering it, with the database to be updated annually. This amendment was offered to a noncontroversial bill (S 2739) on public lands that was later passed.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Specter.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Biden, Lautenberg and Menendez.

This week.

The House will take up bills on reforming student loans, forgiving poor countries' debt, and controlling beach pollution. The Senate will debate a highway bill.