| 1 |
Civil Justice:
Caps on Damages |
| S. 565,
5/3/95, Roll Call Vote #146 |
| Amendment (Dole, R-KS) to
product liability bill that would impose capson
punitive damages in all civil cases. Would grant
broad immunity to corporations and individuals
who engage in intentionally reckless or criminal
behavior including fraud, sexual harrassment and
wrongful death. |
Adopted 51-49
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
The
Senate
|
| 18 |
Generic Drug
Availability Under GATT |
| S. 1745,
6/27/96, Roll Call Vote #179 |
| Amendment (Hatch, R-UT) to
the Pryor (D-AR) amendment restricting the
marketing of generic alternatives to certain
drugs granted a three-year patent extension under
a loophole mistakenly opened by U.S. negotiators
in the 1994 changes to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The Hatch Amendment
fatally weakened the Pryor amendment, which could
have saved consumers and the federal government
billions of dollars by making less expensive
generic alternatives to drugs like
Glaxo/Wellcome's Zantac available sooner. |
Adopted 53-45
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 2 |
Product Liability
I: Caps on Damages |
| S. 565,
5/10/95, Roll Call Vote #161 |
| Passage of bill preempting
pro-consumer state product liability laws with
harsh federal limits and rules. Caps punitive
damages in all product liability cases at
$250,000 or twice the amount awarded for economic
and non-economic lossesÑwhichever is greater;
and makes it harder for injured people to recover
all of the damages awarded them by juries by
eliminating the rule of joint and several
liability for noneconomic damages. |
Passed 61-37
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 10 |
Campaign Finance
Reform: Cloture |
| S. 1219,
6/25/96, Roll Call Vote #168 |
| Motion to end debate and
vote on a bipartisan bill, (McCain, R-AZ,
Feingold, D-WI) that would reduce the influence
of special interest campaign contributions and
make elections more competitive by eliminating
soft money, limiting PAC contributions, and
allowing candidates who agreed to abide by
campaign spending limits to qualify for reduced
rate television advertising and mailings. |
Rejected 54-46 (60 votes
needed to end debate)
Public Citizen Vote =YES |
|
| 19 |
Medical Savings
Accounts |
| S.1028,
4/18/96 Roll Call Vote #72 |
| Kassebaum (R-KS) amendment
to strike the provisions in the Dole (R-KS)
amendment that establish medical savings accounts
(MSAs), which would allow individuals or their
employers to make contributions to tax-advantaged
accounts set up to pay medical expenses in
conjunction with high-deductible insurance plans.
MSAs represent a tax subsidy that will entice the
healthy and affluent to withdraw money from the
overall insurance pool. |
Adopted 52-46
Public
Citizen Vote = YES |
|
| 3 |
Product Liability
II: Conference Report |
| H.R. 956,
3/21/96, Roll Call Vote #46 |
| Passage of conference
report on bill preempting existing product
liability laws with federal limits and rules.
Caps punitive damages in all product liability
cases at $250,000 or twice the amount awarded for
economic and non-economic lossesÑwhichever is
greater; and makes it harder for injured people
to recover all of the damages awarded them by
juries by eliminating the rule of joint and
several liability for noneconomic damages. Would
bar all claims for injuries caused by products
more than 15 years old. |
Adopted 59-40
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 11 |
Mining Patent
Moratorium |
| H.R. 1977,
8/8/95, Roll Call Vote #373 |
| Motion (Bumpers, D-AR) to
require mining companies to pay fair market rates
for the surface value of federal lands they claim
under land "patenting," instead of the
current system under which patents can be
obtained for as little as $2.50 an acre. |
Rejected 46-53
Public
Citizen Vote = YES |
|
| 20 |
Medicare:
Antitrust Provisions |
| H.R. 2491,
11/17/95, Roll Call Vote #583 |
| Motion (Abraham, R-MI) to
waive the Budget Act on a point of order (Exon,
D-NE) against Medicare anti-trust provisions,
which would exempt physicians from laws
prohibiting unfair competition, and exempt
clinical laboratories in physician offices from
federal quality standards. |
Rejected 54-45 (60 votes
are needed to waive the Budget Act)
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 4 |
Securities
Litigation: Immunity for Fraud |
| H.R. 1058,
12/5/95, Roll Call Vote #589 |
| Conference report on bill
to shield corporations from liability for
fraudulent forecasts of future financial
performance; fails to expand the time that
defrauded investors have to bring suit; makes it
harder for defrauded investors to recover their
losses. Provides immunity from all suits for
those who recklessly assist in securities fraud
such as bankers, accountants and lawyers. |
Adopted 65-30
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 12 |
Market Promotion
Program |
| H.R. 1976,
9/19/95, Roll Call Vote #440 |
| Motion (Cochran, R-MS) to
table an amendment (Bryan, D-NV) to eliminate
funding for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Market Promotion Program,
which provides "corporate welfare"
subsidies for large corporations such as
McDonald’s, Sun-Maid, and Pillsbury to help
finance overseas advertising and trade shows. |
Passed 59-41
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 21 |
Budget
Reconciliation |
| H.R. 2491,
11/17/95, Roll Call Vote #584 |
| Final conference agreement
providing for balanced federal budget by 2002.
Cuts $270 billion from Medicare, $163 billion
from Medicaid, and threatens quality of care by
shifting beneficiaries to private managed care
plans. Increases taxes on the working poor by
cutting the Earned Income Tax Credit by $32
billion, while reducing tax on capital gains
income. The spending priorities threaten health
care consumers, the poor and the elderly, while
preserving Cold War military spending levels and
more than $100 billion worth of annual subsidies
and tax breaks for corporations. |
Adopted 52-47
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 5 |
Regulatory
Rollback: Meat & Poultry Inspection; |
| S. 343,
7/12/95, Roll Call Vote #302 |
| Amendment (Daschle, D-SD)
to exempt proposed rules to modernize meat and
poultry inspection from the risk-assessment and
cost-benefit analysis requirements of the
regulatory rollback bill. Bill would
significantly hamper U.S. Department of
AgricultureÕs efforts to update its 90-year-old
meat inspection system and protect the public
from contaminated meat. |
Rejected 49-51
Public
Citizen Vote = YES |
|
| 13 |
Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge Drilling |
| S. 1357,
10/27/95, Roll Call Vote #525 |
| Motion (Domenici, R-NM) to
table an amendment (Baucus, D-MT) to the budget
reconciliation bill to strike provisions opening
up portions of the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil-drilling, endangering crucial
wildlife habitat and the economic life of local
residents. |
Passed 51-48
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| PAC$ |
Contributions
from Political Action Committees |
| |
| The
amount, in thousands of dollars, of campaign
contributions raised by the Senator from
Political Action Committees from January 1, 1991
through June 30, 1996. |
| |
|
| 6 |
Regulatory
Rollback |
| S. 343,
7/20/95, Roll Call Vote #315 |
| Motion to limit debate
("invoke cloture") on regulatory
rollback bill that would require federal agencies
to conduct costly and time consuming
risk-assessment and cost-benefit analyses on most
new regulations. Bill would roll back 30 years of
progress in setting environmental, health and
safety standards, and allow industry to petition
for repeal of existing safeguards. |
Rejected 58-40 (60 votes
are needed to limit debate)
Public Citizen Vote
= NO |
|
| 14 |
Nuclear Reactor
Subsidy I: Helium Reactor |
| H.R. 1905,
8/1/95, Roll Call Vote #347 |
| Amendment (Bumpers, D-AR)
to terminate the Gas Turbine-Modular Helium
Reactor program, an outdated and fiscally
irresponsible program that primarily benefitted
one large corporation at the expense of
taxpayers, the environment and sound energy
policy. |
Adopted 62-38
Public
Citizen Vote = YES |
|
| Ind. $ |
Campaign
Contributions from Individual Contributors |
| |
The
amount, in thousands of dollars, raised by the
Senator from individuals between January 1, 1991
and June 30, 1996. Because of anomalies in the
FEC’s recording of summary campaign finance
information
Public Citizen was unable to obtain
data for contributions from large donors, which are
a key source of interested money from business
executives, professionals and other wealthy
interests. Unlike the House, data recorded here
reflect all individual donors. |
| |
|
| 7 |
Gift Reform:
Preserve "Charitable" Trips |
| S. 1061,
7/28/95, Roll Call Vote #339 |
| Amendment (Murkowski, R-AK)
to proposed gift rule to permit Senators and
their families to continue to receive private
reimbursement—mostly from corporations with
legislative interests—for recreational
travel and lodging for Senators and family
members, including "charitable" events,
such as ski, golf and tennis tournaments. |
Rejected 39-60
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 15 |
Nuclear Reactor
Subsidy II: Light Water Reactor; |
| S. 1959,
7/30/96, Roll Call Vote #249 |
| Motion (Domenici, R-NM) to
table the McCain (R-AZ) amendment to save $39
million by terminating the Department of
Energy’s Advanced Light Water Reactor
program, which subsidizes the preparation of new
nuclear power plants by huge multinational
corporations like Westinghouse and General
Electric. |
Passed 53-45
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| Total $ |
Total
Campaign Contributions |
| |
| The
total amount, in thousands of dollars, of private
contributions to the Senator’s campaigns
from January 1, 1991 through June 30, 1996. |
| |
|
| 8 |
Gift Reform:
Permit Gifts Up to $50 |
| S. 1061,
7/28/95, Roll Call Vote #340 |
| Amendment (Lott R-MS) to
gut the gift ban rule by providing that gifts of
under $50 are ignored for purposes of calculating
the annual limit on gifts. Would allow Senators
to take unlimited gifts and meals valued at under
$50. |
Adopted 54-46
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
| 16 |
Nuclear Waste |
| S. 1936,
7/31/96, Roll Call Vote #259 |
| Passage of a bill to slash
environmental, health and safety standards for
nuclear waste burial and mandate transportation
of highly radioactive waste generated by nuclear
utilities to a new above-ground storage site in
Nevada. The waste would travel by rail and truck
through communities across the country en route
to Nevada, where it would probably remain in a
dump without the safeguards required for
isolation of radioactive waste from the
environment during its hazardous lifetime of
240,000 years. |
Passed 63-37
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
|
| 9 |
Public Funding of
Presidential Elections |
| S. Con.
Res. 13, 5/24/95, Roll Call Vote #194 |
| Amendment (Kerry, D-MA) to
strike provisions in the budget resolution that
would have eliminated the Presidential Election
Campaign Fund supported by a voluntary check-off
on tax returns. Preserves partial public
financing of presidential campaigns. |
Adopted 56-44
Public
Citizen Vote = YES |
|
| 17 |
Abolish National
Speed Limits |
| S. 440,
6/20/95, Roll Call Vote #270 |
| Motion (Nickles-OK) to
table an amendment to the National Highway
Designation Act to maintain a national speed
limit of 55 mph, and 65 mph on rural interstates.
The Act repeals all federal speed limits and is
estimated by the U.S. Department of
Transportation to result in an additional 6400
motor vehicle crash fatalities and $19 billion in
economic costs each year. |
Passed 65-35
Public
Citizen Vote = NO |
|
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