THE HOUSE

AIDS Reporting

The House shelved, 312 to 113, a proposal that states keep confidential lists of people testing positive for the AIDS virus and use the names for “partner notification.” Backers said this would stem the epidemic by enabling health officials to trace sexual contact and tell unknowing partners of their exposure to AIDS. But critics raised privacy concerns and said the specter of being listed would discourage those at risk from getting tested.

The vote occurred as the House sent to conference with the Senate a bill (HR 4785) authorizing nearly $900 million in fiscal 1991 for AIDS-fighting grants to states, to cities hardest hit by the disease and for treatment facilities.

Speaking against federally mandated listings, J. Roy Rowland (D-Ga.) said most states use “a combination of anonymous and confidential reporting which seems to be working very well.”

Howard C. Nielson (R-Utah) said, “AIDS treatment is a health issue, not a civil rights issue.”

A yes vote opposed requiring states to keep confidential AIDS lists for use in partner notification.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Cox (R) x Rep. Dannemeyer (R) x Rep. Dornan (R) x Rep. Rohrabacher (R) x Rep. Packard (R) x

Water Subsidies

By a vote of 316 to 97, the House further limited federal water subsidies available to Western growers under the 1982 Reclamation Reform Act. The amendment sought to close a loophole through which some large farms are said to have assembled into smaller units in order to receive the taxpayer-subsidized irrigation water available to farms of less than 960 acres. The vote occurred as the House passed a bill (HR 2567) funding Bureau of Reclamation public works.

Supporter Marty Russo (D-Ill.) said the amendment ensures that “the wealthy land barons in . . . Western states pay their fair share for water that they get from this country.”

Opponent John J. Rhodes III (R-Ariz.) called the amendment “a nuclear attack” on a small problem.

A yes vote was to further limit Western water subsidies.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Cox (R) x Rep. Dannemeyer (R) x Rep. Dornan (R) x Rep. Rohrabacher (R) x Rep. Packard (R) x

Farm Subsidies

The House voted 338 to 55 to prevent subsidized federal water from irrigating surplus crops whose production the government wants to curtail. The amendment to HR 2567 (above) would phase out the dual subsidies that provide some Western farmers with both low-cost U.S. water and crop-witholding payments.

Sponsor Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.) said, “Crops that are in surplus ought not to get subsidized water to grow ever more surplus.”

Opponent Sid Morrison (R-Wash.) said the amendment would have “a devastating impact on that small family farm” common to his district.

A yes vote was to end the dual subsidy.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Cox (R) x Rep. Dannemeyer (R) x Rep. Dornan (R) x Rep. Rohrabacher (R) x Rep. Packard (R) x