DATE: Monday, September 8, 1997             TAG: 9709080055
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:  131 lines

ROLL CALL: HOW AREA MEMBERS OF CONGRESS VOTED.

Here's how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending Sept. 5. HOUSE Smoking: Voting 299-125, the House endorsed Senate action to increase spending seven-fold on a program by the Food and Drug Administration and states to curb smoking by young people. The program consists largely of stepped-up ID checks on youths seeking to buy cigarettes. The Senate (below) voted to raise fiscal 1998 spending for the FDA's Youth Tobacco Prevention Initiative from $4.9 million to $34 million. With this non-binding vote, the House urged its representatives in a House-Senate conference on an appropriations bill (HR 2160) to accept the Senate figure.

Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said more spending was in order because ``nearly 90 percent of adult smokers in our country began before the age of 18. In fact...more than five million children under age 18 who are alive today will be killed by smoking-related diseases.''

Joe Skeen, R-N.M., agreed ``that this is a very important issue,'' but said it was wrong for the House ``to be instructing its conferees to accept a Senate position on any issue before the conference has even begun.''

A yes vote endorsed higher spending for federal-state programs to curb teen smoking.

Bateman no Pickett yes

Scott yes Sisisky yes

Clayton yes Jones no

Foreign aid: By a vote of 375-49, the House passed a bill (HR 2159) appropriating $12.3 billion for foreign aid and other international programs in fiscal 1998, about the same level as in 1997. The bill provides the largest payments to Israel ($3 billion) and Egypt ($2.1 billion), with recipients such as Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Eastern European and Baltic states, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Bosnia also getting sizeable amounts. It puts aid to Palestine on hold while the U.S. reassesses whether the PLO is committed to peace with Israel.

Also, the bill appropriates $630 million for the U.S. Export-Import Bank. It sets a Peace Corps budget of $222 million and authorizes loans of $105 million to Greece and $150 million to Turkey. Additionally, it provides hundreds of millions for global population programs but prohibits any money from being spent directly or indirectly on abortions.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Bateman yes Pickett yes

Scott yes Sisisky yes

Clayton yes Jones no

School of the Americas: Voting 210-217, the House rejected an attempt to shut down the Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., by removing its $4.3 million budget from HR 2159 (above). The school was created in 1946 to increase the professionalism of Latin American and Caribbean military officers. Critics say many of its 60,000 graduates have become notorious for atrocities against civilians.

George Brown, D-Calif., said: ``We cannot continue as a nation to condone the fact that graduates have engaged in . . . the slaughter of priests and nuns and the disappearance of thousands of people throughout Latin America.''

Jack Kingston, R-Ga., called the amendment unnecessary because ``the abuses that (critics) are referring to are horrible . . . I certainly agree, but they (were inflicted) many years ago by graduates that would not be admitted to the school today.''

A yes vote was to close the U.S. Army's School of the Americas.

Bateman yes Pickett yes

Scott yes Sisisky yes

Clayton yes Jones no

Abortion: By a vote of 234-191, the House added tougher anti-abortion language to a pending foreign aid bill (HR 2159, above). The amendment reinstates the so-called ``Mexico City'' policy that was in force during the Reagan and Bush administrations. In part, it bans U.S. funding of any international organization that directly or indirectly advocates abortion, except in cases of rape or incest or when the mother's life is at stake.

A yes vote opposed U.S. funding of international organizations such as Planned Parenthood that directly or indirectly promote abortion as a means of population control.

Bateman yes Pickett no

Scott no Sisisky no

Clayton no Jones didn't vote SENATE

Tobacco: Voting 28-70, the Senate approved a seven-fold increase in spending next fiscal year by the Food and Drug Administration to curb smoking by young people. The vote raised the budget for the FDA's Youth Tobacco Prevention Initiative from a committee-approved $4.9 million to $34 million while reducing the Agriculture Department's data processing budget by the same amount. Sponsors said the higher spending would enable the FDA to help all 50 states crack down on teenage smoking through programs such as ID checks on cigarette purchases. The vote occurred as the Senate sent the 1998 agriculture appropriations bill (S 1033) to House-Senate conference.

Thad Cochran, R-Miss., voted to table the spending increase. He asked, ``Has it occurred to anybody that the states are bringing lawsuits and collecting from the tobacco companies money to do this very thing? My state of Mississippi is the first to obtain a cash settlement from the tobacco industry, and it can use the money for a wide variety of purposes.''

Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the extra spending is ``about protecting kids from killer tobacco.'' He said ``not one penny comes out of their pockets for this amendment, and yet not one tobacco company has come forward to say this amendment . . . is good because it will keep kids from smoking and buying tobacco. . . . Shame on them.''

A yes vote opposed higher fiscal 1998 spending for FDA anti-smoking programs aimed at youths.

Robb no Warner didn't vote

Helms yes Faircloth yes

Parkinson's Disease: The Senate voted 95-3 to provide $100 million for research into Parkinson's Disease, more than tripling current spending for that purpose. The money was added to a fiscal 1998 appropriations bill (S 1061) for the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies. The amendment establishes ten National Institutes of Health (NIH) research facilities to be named after Morris K. Udall of Arizona, a prominent former congressman and Democratic presidential candidate who is a Parkinson's victim.

John McCain, R-Ariz., called the $32 per patient now spent on Parkinson's research ``grossly inadequate'' compared to ``the $2,143 per AIDS victim; $338 per cancer victim; $200 per breast cancer victim; $81 per Alzheimer's victim; $74 per heart disease victim. . . . ''

James Jeffords, R-Vt., said that while ``I do have problems'' with the amendment he recognizes ``that the large majority of members desire to tell NIH what they should be doing with respect to Parkinson's disease.''

A yes vote was to require the NIH to greatly expand its research into Parkinson's Disease.

Robb yes Warner yes

Helms yes Faircloth yes ILLUSTRATION: [Photos, telephone numbers and addresses of senators

and representatives from Virginia and North Carolina.]

To reach any representative or senator on any issues that concern

you, call (202) 224-3121.

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