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Get Set for 2006 Elections with the AFL-CIO Congressional Voting RecordFrom raising the minimum wage to protecting pensions to standing up against bad trade deals, your U.S. senators and representative have dozens of chances every year to put their votes where their rhetoric is.
Do they support working families or don’t they?You can find out where your lawmakers stood on more than a dozen key working family issues last year with the AFL-CIO’s 2005
online Congressional Voting Record, an annual legislative scorecard. The record includes votes on job issues, workplace safety, health care, trade, tax cuts for the rich and more."" (
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Richard Pombo's Congressional Voting Record"AFL-CIO Voting Record will let you know where your lawmakers stand on working family issues such as strengthening Social Security and Medicare, freedom to join a union, workplace safety and more.
All votes were selected for inclusion because of their importance to working families.
"W" indicates a "wrong" vote that would hurt working families; "R" indicates a "right," or pro-working families, vote. The Voting Record also shows each member's lifetime record of support for working families." (
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District 11Representative Pombo (R)Click a vote number to display the vote's description.
-1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 *-W W W W W A A W W R A W W W W
Total 2005 Votes R - W 1 - 11 Lifetime Votes
R - W17 - 126
2005 Right
8%
Lifetime Right
12 %"1.
JOB-TRAINING REAUTHORIZATION—H.R. 27—U.S. workers have seen millions of manufacturing jobs shipped overseas—and now more and more white-collar and high-tech jobs are being exported. Overall, there has been a net loss of jobs since President George W. Bush took office in 2001. But legislation in the House cut overall funding for critical job-training programs, including the U.S. Employment Service and the adult and dislocated worker programs at the Department of Labor. The legislation did not strengthen job-training programs or enhance income support and job-search assistance for jobless Americans. The bill passed March 2, 2005, 224-200. (R: 220-8; D: 4-191; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
2.
PENSION PROTECTION/UNITED AIRLINES PENSIONS—H.R. 3010—United Airlines filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and, despite more than $13 billion in worker concessions, terminated its employees' pensions plans in 2005. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) took over the plans with drastically reduced benefits for the airlines' 120,000 workers. Earlier, US Airways terminated its pension plans as part of its bankruptcy plans, and other airlines are threatening similar action. An amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill would have prohibited the PBGC from spending money to implement its agreement with United Airlines to terminate the four pension plans. The amendment passed June 24, 2005, 219-185. (R: 31-185; D: 187-0; I:1-0) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Right; N=Wrong
3.
WAL-MART—H.R. 3010—After Wal-Mart was cited for child labor law violations by the Labor Department, the government and the giant retailer reached a 2005 settlement of the charges that included a provision requiring the Labor Department to give Wal-Mart an unprecedented 15 days notice before conducting any future child labor or wage and hour investigations. An amendment to the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill would have prohibited the Labor Department from implementing the sweetheart deal with Wal-Mart. The amendment failed June 24, 2005, 165-234. (R: 3-212; D: 161-22; I:1-0) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Right; N=Wrong
4.
AMTRAK—H.R. 3058—The Bush administration's budget proposed to eliminate nearly all funding for Amtrak's long-distance passenger rail service. Amtrak employs 20,000 workers, and such huge service cuts would threaten to shut down the carrier. An amendment to delete language in the fiscal year 2005 Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, which would have eliminated the funding, passed June 29, 2005, 269-152. (R: 73-151; D: 195-1; I: 1-0) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Right; N=Wrong
5.
PRIVATIZING FEDERAL JOBS—H.R. 3058—A rule by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) covering outsourcing and privatization of work by federal agencies (Circular A-76) is tilted heavily in favor of private corporate contractors. The Bush administration has made privatizing government services a top policy priority. An amendment was introduced to the fiscal year 2005 Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill to prohibit funds from being spent to implement OMB's privatization plan. The bipartisan amendment would allow lawmakers the opportunity to rewrite the privatization process to be fairer to federal workers and more accountable to taxpayers. It passed June 30, 2005, 222-203 (R: 24-202; D: 197-1; I:1-0) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Right; N=Wrong
6.
WORKPLACE SAFETY/ENFORCEMENT RULINGS—H.R. 741—This legislation was part of a package of bills that would weaken the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to the benefit of employers and stifle enforcement of the safety law while doing nothing to improve workers' safety on the job. H.R. 741 would overturn a 1991 Supreme Court decision and give deference in interpreting OSHA standards to the OSHA Review Commission, and not the secretary of labor, who has more experience and expertise in developing and interpreting safety and health standards. Such a change would create an incentive for employers to challenge rules and interpretations of safety laws made by the secretary of labor. The bill passed July 12, 2005, 226-197 (R: 217-9; D: 9-187; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
7.
WORKPLACE SAFETY/FEES—H.R. 742—This legislation was part of a package of bills that would weaken the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to the benefit of employers and stifle enforcement of the safety law while doing nothing to improve workers' safety on the job. H.R. 742 would require taxpayers to pay the legal costs of small employers that prevail in any enforcement or regulatory challenge against OSHA, even when the government enforcement action is “substantially justified.” The bill passed July 12, 2005, 235-187 (R: 218-8; D: 17-178; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
8.
HEALTH CARE—H.R.525—Some small businesses provide health insurance for their workers through association health plans (AHPs) purchased through their trade associations, which use the group force of their membership to negotiate lower costs. AHPs must follow state insurance regulations. But H.R. 525 would exempt AHPs from state consumer protection rules and coverage guidelines that other insurers must follow. The exemption would mean AHPs would offer bare-bones plans that appeal only to younger and healthier workers, prompting premium increases for the vast majority (75 percent) of small firms that offer comprehensive coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill passed July 26, 2005, 263-165 (R: 227-0; D: 36-164; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
9.
TRADE/CAFTA—H.R. 3045—President George W. Bush tabbed the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) his top trade priority. CAFTA cuts tariffs, limits governments' ability to regulate and creates new protections for investors among the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. But the agreement, which is modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), does not contain adequate environmental protections or enforceable protections for such core workers' rights as the freedom to form unions. CAFTA likely will exacerbate poverty and inequality in Central America, while further eroding good jobs and wages at home. At the same time, its excessive protections for multinational corporations will undermine the ability of governments to protect public health, strong communities and the environment. The bill passed July 28, 2005, 217-215 (R: 202-27; D: 15-187; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
10.
ENERGY BILL—H.R. 6—The overhaul of the nation's energy policy (H.R. 6) is expected to create thousands of jobs through the construction of pipelines, power plants and new nuclear power facilities. It also will allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the construction, expansion or operation of any facility that imports or processes natural gas, including liquefied natural gas. The bill passed July 28, 2005, 275-156 (R: 200-31; D: 75-124; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Right; N=Wrong
11.
HIGHWAY/TRANSIT BILL—H.R. 3—The highway bill is a six-year, $286 billion reauthorization of the federal highway and transit construction program. The massive infrastructure-modernization bill will create 1 million family-supporting jobs, protected by Davis Bacon prevailing wage standards. The conference report passed July 29, 2005, 412-8 (R: 217-8; D: 194-0; I: 1-0) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Right; N=Wrong
12.
LABOR/HHS APPROPRIATIONS—H.R. 3010—The conference report on the fiscal year 2005 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education would cut critical funds for job training and employment services, college aid for students, elementary and secondary education programs, rural health services and funding for the National Institutes of Health. It failed Nov. 17, 2005, 209-224 (R: 209-22; D: 0-201; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
13.
BUDGET RECONCILIATION/TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH—H. R. 4297—As part of the budget reconciliation process, which included tax cut and spending cut legislation, the Bush administration and congressional Republican leaders sought some $70 billion in tax cuts mostly for the wealthy, offset by huge spending cuts in vital working family programs. After some changes, the House passed a $56 billion tax cut bill that would shower three-quarters of the benefits on investors who earn more than $100,000 a year. Households earning more than $1 million a year would get 40 percent of the tax cuts, or an average annual reduction of nearly $51,000. Middle-income families would receive only 2 percent of the benefit of the capital gains and dividend rate cuts, the centerpiece of the Republican plan, resulting in an average annual benefit of only $7. The bill passed Dec. 8, 2005, 234-197 (R: 225-3; D: 9-193; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
14.
IMMIGRATION—H.R. 4437—The House immigration bill does little to remove the economic incentives that unscrupulous employers have to hire and exploit immigrant workers. At the same time, it punishes immigrants—and those who provide humanitarian and other assistance to immigrants—in ways that will drive the current undocumented population further underground. The bill would make the undocumented status of immigrant workers an aggravated felony and prohibit the 11 million undocumented workers who are currently employed and paying taxes in the United States from ever achieving legal status. The bill also would deny basic due process rights to many legal immigrants. The bill passed Dec. 16, 2005, 239-182 (R: 203-17; D: 36-164; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
15.
BUDGET RECONCILIATION/SPENDING CUTS—S. 1932—As part of the budget reconciliation process, which included tax cut and spending cut legislation, the Bush administration and congressional Republican leaders sought more than $50 billion in spending cuts for vital working family programs to help pay for huge tax cuts aimed mostly at the wealthy. The Senate and House passed separate spending-cut bills, and a conference to reconcile the two bills resulted in a $39.7 billion package of spending cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, student aid, child support enforcement and other working family programs. The bill passed Dec.19, 2005, 212-206 (R: 212-9; D:0-196; I: 0-1) AFL-CIO Position: Y=Wrong; N=Right
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EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE —H.R. 1696—The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would ensure when a majority of employees in a workplace decides to form a union, employees can do so without the debilitating obstacles employers now use to block their workers' free choice. The Employee Free Choice Act allows workers to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation. It also provides mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes and establishes stronger penalties for violations of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations. The bill never came to a vote but has won 213 co-sponsors and is included in the Voting Record but not included in the year-end or lifetime percentages." (
AFL-CIO)
