THE HOUSE

To Register Voters

By a vote of 289 to 132, the House sent to the Senate a bill (HR 2190) requiring states to make it easier for citizens to register to vote in federal elections. The bill enables eligible individuals to automatically register as part of getting a driver’s license, authorizes registration by mail and sets up sign-up desks at some government offices in communities. It takes effect in 1993. It combats fraud by requiring states to regularly purge voter rolls of the names of those no longer eligible to vote.

Supporter Martin Frost (D-Tex.) complained that “turnout in our elections is at an embarrassingly low level.”

Opponent William L. (Bill) Dickinson (R-Ala.) said the bill usurps the right of states to regulate voter registration.

Members voting yes favored the bill.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Moorhead (R) x Rep. Roybal (D) x Rep. Waxman (D) x

The Invasion of Panama

By a vote of 389 to 26, the House approved of the American invasion of Panama last December. The advisory measure (HCR 262) commended the U.S. military’s performance in Operation Just Cause while deploring the loss of American and Panamanian lives, among other wording.

“President Bush and America’s fighting men and women stayed the course” in ridding Panama of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, said supporter William S. Broomfield (R-Mich.).

Opponent Don Edwards (D-San Jose) termed it “patently ludicrous to think any nation has the sacred right to invade another” because it dislikes its leader or government.

Members voting yes supported the resolution.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Moorhead (R) x Rep. Roybal (D) x Rep. Waxman (D) x

Double-Hull Tankers

By a vote of 376 to 37, the House restated its position that oil tankers and barges using U.S. ports have double hulls. The standard would apply immediately to new vessels and within 15 years to old ones, under terms of a pending bill (HR 1465) inspired by the Exxon Valdez oil spill last March in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

The House approved the double-hull requirement last year. The Senate included a softer requirement in its version of HR 1465. This vote instructed House conferees to insist on the tougher language when they negotiate final wording of the bill with the Senate.

Supporter Dean A. Gallo (R-N.J.) said the Exxon Valdez spill “would not have occurred if the ship had been double hulled.”

Opponent W.J. (Billy) Tauzin (D-La.) said that even if doubled hulled the tanker “would still have lost 200,000 gallons of oil in Prince William Sound.”

Members voting yes want double hulls for oil tankers.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Moorhead (R) x Rep. Roybal (D) x Rep. Waxman (D) x