House

2009 space budget. The House passed, 409-15, a bill (HR 6063) authorizing a $20.2 billion budget for NASA in fiscal 2009, up from $17.3 billion in 2008. In part, the bill funds U.S. support of the International Space Station, climate research, Mars exploration, space-shuttle missions through 2010, and the development of a new manned space vehicle scheduled for launch in 2015. The bill is now before the Senate.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

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

Voting no: Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.).

Government spy powers. Voting 293-129, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 6304) to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) through 2012 and grant conditional immunity to certain telecommunications firms that helped the government spy on Americans after 9/11 outside the limits of FISA.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Saxton, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Andrews, Brady, Fattah and Schwartz.

War funding. The House approved, 268-155, an amendment to HR 2642 that would appropriate $162.5 billion to pay Iraq-Afghanistan war costs well into 2009. Now before the Senate, the bill prohibits the construction of permanent U.S. bases in Iraq and requires the Iraqi government to match U.S.-taxpayer funding of Iraq reconstruction projects.

A yes vote backed the war funding.

Voting yes: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Andrews, Brady, Fattah and Murphy.

Farm bill veto. The House voted, 317-109, to override President Bush's veto of a $289 billion, five-year farm bill (HR 6124) that renews subsidies for growers of major crops while also funding conservation and nutrition programs and taxpayer support for fruit and vegetable growers, among hundreds of other programs. This vote followed a House vote last month that overrode a presidential veto of essentially the same bill.

A yes vote was to override the veto.

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

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

Senate

Farm bill veto. The Senate joined the House (above) in overriding, 80-14, Bush's veto of a five-year farm bill (HR 6124).

A yes vote was to enact the bill.

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

Mortgage program. Voting 21-69, the Senate refused to kill a proposed new program in which mortgage holders would refinance hundreds of thousands of at-risk home loans in return for Federal Housing Administration backing of the reworked loans. The vote retained the program as part of a pending bill (HR 3221) to help homeowners, lenders and communities recover from the U.S. housing collapse.

A yes vote was to kill the program.

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

This week. The House will take up bills to tighten rules for energy speculators, subsidize mass-transit commuter fares, and require oil firms to use or lose leases for drilling on federal land. The Senate will debate war funding, government surveillance, and the U.S. housing collapse.