HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES : Terminating the Super Collider

The House voted resoundingly to terminate the superconducting super collider research project in Waxahachie, Tex. The death sentence was included in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 1994 budget (HR 2445). The Senate later went along, and the massive construction job has been declared dead by supporters as well as foes in Congress. The super collider was envisioned to conduct high-speed proton collisions in an underground loop, yielding information on the origin of matter. About $2 billion toward a projected $11 billion cost to taxpayers has been spent. The project was about one-fifth complete; crews had built 11 miles of the planned 54-mile circular tunnel. The termination bill contains $640 million to begin the shutdown.

The House vote was 282 for and 143 against. A yes vote was to kill the super collider. How They Voted: Rep. Becerra (D): Yes Rep. Dixon (D): Nay Rep. Roybal-Allard (D): Yes Rep. Waters (D): Yes

Extension of Unemployment Benefits The House passed a bill (HR 3167) providing additional weeks--until Feb. 5, 1994--in which the long-term jobless can qualify for additional unemployment checks after exhausting theirbasic 26-week allotment. Some of the estimated $1.1-billion cost will be offset by limiting Supplemental Security Income welfare payments to recent legal immigrants. But most of the tab is to be paid over five years by a plan to return the jobless to work earlier through better state retraining.

The legislation will give 750,000 workers in all states seven or 13 weeks of additional checks. The emergency program of extended benefits was enacted two years ago as a temporary measure in response to the recession. Its cost has been about $25 billion. The vote was 302 for and 95 against. A yes vote was to pass the bill. How They Voted: Rep. Becerra (D): Yes Rep. Dixon (D): Yes Rep. Roybal-Allard (D): Yes Rep. Waters (D): Yes

Amendment to Jobless Benefits Bill House members rejected an amendment to limit the latest round of extended jobless benefits (HR 3167, above) to states with at least 5% unemployment. The amendment would have excludedfrom the program 10 states with relatively low unemployment--Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin.

The vote was 128 for and 277 against. A yes vote supported the amendment. How They Voted: Rep. Becerra (D): Nay Rep. Dixon (D): Nay Rep. Roybal-Allard (D): Nay Rep. Waters (D): Nay

Preserving the Selective Service The House voted to preserve the Selective Service, which registers 18-year-olds for possible restoration of the military draft. This reversed a House vote four months earlier to kill the agency, and put the House in agreement with the Senate that the Selective Service should be kept alive. The vote approved a $25-million Selective Service budget as part of a multi-agency fiscal 1994 appropriations bill (HR 2491).

The tally was 236 for and 194 against. A yes vote was to preserve the Selective Service. How They Voted: Rep. Becerra (D): Nay Rep. Dixon (D): Nay Rep. Roybal-Allard (D): Nay Rep. Waters (D): Nay Source: Roll Call Report Syndicate