Roll Call: New Hampshire’s senators, representatives tackle ozon, protection of Afghan women
Here’s how New Hampshire members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending Friday.
House
Ozone layer depletion: Voting 229 for and 182 against, the House on Wednesday failed to reach a two-thirds majority needed to pass a bill (HR 6190) allowing the sell-off of inventories of a certain asthma inhaler that has been banned from sale since Dec. 31, 2011, because its chlorofluorocarbon emissions damage the ozone layer.
The product is Primatene Mist, a “CFC epinephrine” inhaler manufactured by Armstrong Pharmaceuticals. This bill would legalize the sale of existing stocks of more than one million units through July 2013.
The Environmental Protection Agency has banned the sale of Primatene Mist and more than a dozen other inhalers containing CFCs under a U.S. law that implements the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Rep. Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican, said: “There are currently over one million units of these inhalers sitting in a warehouse in California not helping patients currently suffering from an asthma attack. . . . It’s unconscionable to allow them to sit and gather dust when they could be used to provide relief to America’s asthmatic patients.”
Calling it “a special deal” for one company, Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said “there is no reason for this bill. This is a drug that is already off the market. There are substitutes that are being developed and there are substitutes that are already on the market.”
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Reps. Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass, both Republicans.
Protection of Afghan women: Voting 399 for and four against, the House on Thursday called upon the U.S. military to step up efforts to ensure the rights and physical safety of women and girls in Afghanistan during and after the ongoing transition of power from coalition to Afghan security forces.
With this nonbinding vote, members endorsed language to protect Afghan women and girls that is in the Senate version but not the House version of the fiscal 2013 military authorization bill (HR 4310). Now in a House-Senate conference committee, the $631.6 billion military budget was expected to receive final congressional passage within days.
The four members voting against the measure to protect Afghan women and girls are Reps. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ron Paul, a Texas Republican.
Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said: “When we inevitably leave, we must ensure that Afghan women have a place at the table and an opportunity to shape the future of their country. I stand in strong support of . . . a plan to promote the security of Afghan women and girls during the process of transferring security responsibility to the Afghan forces.”
Rep. Howard McKeon, a California Republican, said: “When you withdraw the troops, it’s a serious time and dangerous time. As we pass the effort over to the Afghan security forces . . . it’s very important that they don’t fall back into the same way that they’ve treated women in the past and we lose all those gains that we’ve made.”
No member spoke against the amendment.
A yes vote backed the amendment.
Voting yes: Guinta and Bass.
Senate
Unlimited deposit insurance: Voting 50 for and 42 against, the Senate on Thursday failed to advance a bill (S 3637) to extend the Transaction Account Guarantee (TAG) Program through 2014.
This effectively ends the program, which was begun during the 2008 financial collapse as a temporary measure to boost liquidity in a failing banking system. TAG provides unlimited federal deposit insurance – above the standard cap of $250,000 per depositor per institution – for noninterest-bearing accounts held by large corporations, small businesses, local governments, nonprofits and wealthy individuals in banks and credit unions. Businesses typically use these checking accounts to meet recurring expenses such as payroll. Participating financial institutions, not taxpayers, cover the cost of the program.
Sen. Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, said the program “has a cost-recovery provision that ensures no taxpayer is on the hook for this insurance. Financial institutions pay for the coverage. This is not and never will be a bailout. This is simply additional insurance paid for by the banks to ensure these accounts remain stable.”
Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said “the overwhelming majority of TAG deposits are actually with the largest banks. . . . 71 percent of TAG deposits are in the largest banks (and) 60 percent . . . are held by just the top five banks. I do not see the wisdom in leveraging the FDIC and the taxpayer to insure the deposits sitting in our country’s largest financial institutions.”
A yes vote was to advance the bill.
Voting yes: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat.
Voting no: Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican.
Key votes ahead
Next week, both chambers will take up the conference report on the fiscal 2013 defense budget. They also may vote on a “fiscal cliff” bill, aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy and the Violence Against Women Act, among other measures. House and Senate leaders say Congress will not adjourn this year until it has resolved fiscal issues.
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