The House : Energy and Water Cuts

By a vote of 167-241, the House rejected an amendment to inflict a cut of 4.62%, or some $730 million, in the fiscal 1987 energy and water appropriations bill. The bill (HR 5162) then was sent to the Senate with a price tag of nearly $15.6 billion. It funds Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation water projects, Department of Energy programs dealing with nuclear weapons and independent agencies such as the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Sponsor Bill Frenzel (R-Minn.) said, “I am only trying to administer frugality in small doses” in hopes of chipping away at the annual deficit.

Opponent Virginia Smith (R-Neb.) said, “Every dollar invested in water development yields benefits far in excess of that investment.”

Members voting yes wanted to cut the bill by 4.62%.

Yea Nay No vote Rep. Beilenson (D) x Rep. Berman (D) x Rep. Dixon (D) x Rep. Levine (D) x Rep. Waxman (D) x

Nuclear Waste Disposal

The House rejected 68-351 an amendment designed to impede the Department of Energy’s selection of an underground burial site for the nation’s nuclear wastes. The amendment was offered to the fiscal 1987 energy and water appropriations bill (above).

It sought to cut $291 million from a $677-million outlay for the selection process, in which the government is studying three potential sites in Nevada, Texas and Washington for receiving spent fuel from America’s nuclear power plants. Nuclear wastes are being stored temporarily above ground at some 100 power plants nationwide.

Sponsor James Weaver (D-Ore.) said, “The Department of Energy has stumbled badly” in narrowing the list to three areas. “In many instances, political decisions were made, not scientific and engineering decisions.”

Opponent Morris K. Udall (D-Ariz.) said adoption of the amendment would “bring to a grinding halt” the government’s lengthy and painstaking effort to put America’s nuclear wastes permanently underground.

Members voting yes wanted to impede the nuclear dump selection process.

Yea Nay No vote Rep. Beilenson (D) x Rep. Berman (D) x Rep. Dixon (D) x Rep. Levine (D) x Rep. Waxman (D) x

Drugs in D.C.

By a 183-229 vote, the House rejected an amendment to alter the District of Columbia budget by shifting $1 million from the D.C. Arts and Humanities Commission to the Metropolitan Police Department’s effort against drug trafficking.

This occurred as the House debated and sent to the Senate a bill (HR 5175) appropriating $2.9 billion for D.C. operating and capital expenses in fiscal 1987.

Sponsor Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.) said, “Our most important national priority at the present time is to fight a war on drugs.”

Opponent Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) accused Walker of grandstanding, denouncing the amendment as “eyewash designed not to support a war on drugs but to support a speech on the floor and a press release.”

Members voting yes supported the amendment.

Yea Nay No vote Rep. Beilenson (D) x Rep. Berman (D) x Rep. Dixon (D) x Rep. Levine (D) x Rep. Waxman (D) x