HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Middle-Class Amendment to Loan Program

The House rejected language requiring that companies owned by the middle class benefit most from new Department of Commerce loan programs for technological development. The defeatedamendment called for a set-aside for firms controlled by people with incomes of $15,000 to $85,000. The underlying bill (HR 820) recommended 10% set-asides for minority- and women-controlled companies.

The amendment was offered to a bill that provides $1.5 billion in grants and loans to advance U.S. industrial competitiveness.

“Let’s not just have designations for all of the groups . . . that have special interest concerns,” said bill sponsor Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.). “Let’s for once say that the middle class deserves some consideration.”

Opponent Tim Valentine (D-N.C.) said “there is absolutely no reason to create a set-aside goal for the middle class since they have not been victims and since (this) legislation was created for the middle class.”

The vote was 181 for and 231 against. A yes vote favored a middle-class set-aside in legislation to increase U.S. technological competitiveness.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Becerra (D) x Rep. Dixon (D) x Rep. Roybal-Allard (D) x Rep. Waters (D) x

Acquisition of Forest Lands

The House rejected a bill (HR 873) authorizing the U.S. Forest Service to buy 80,000 wilderness acres in Montana’s Gallatin Range from a timber company, paying between $12 million and $20 million. The land lies immediately north of Yellowstone National Park and would be added to the Gallatin National Forest. The vote of 262 for and 140 against fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill under a shortcut parliamentary procedure.

Sponsor Pat Williams (D-Mont.) said Congress must soon protect the land from logging and other encroachment to avert “a real public lands disaster . . . .”

Opponent Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said the government should acquire the acreage by land exchange. “They do not need to do it by spending taxpayers’ money,” he said.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

How They Voted Yea Nay No vote Rep. Becerra (D) x Rep. Dixon (D) x Rep. Roybal-Allard (D) x Rep. Waters (D) x

Source: Roll Call Report Syndicate