The House : Labor Issue

By a 227-197 vote, the House passed and sent to the Senate a bill (HR 281) promoted by organized labor to outlaw “double-breasting” by employers in the construction industry. The term refers to the growing practice of employers who circumvent collective bargaining agreements by setting up new operations to do similar work without union contracts.

Supporter William L. Clay (D-Mo.) said that by undermining existing labor-management pacts “double-breasting . . . distorts the bargaining process and denies workers a voice in the determination of their working conditions.”

Opponent Marge Roukema (R-N.J.) said, “Double-breasting simply represents a desire to compete in non-union marketplaces where union shops cannot compete.”

Members voting yes agreed with organized labor that the bill should be passed.

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

Drug Testing

The House adopted, 307 to 103, an amendment requiring State Department diplomats who hold top security classifications to submit to drug testing. This was attached to legislation (HR 1777) budgeting $8.5 billion for the department in fiscal 1988-89, a bill that remained in debate.

Sponsor E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.) said, “If we do not identify those within our diplomatic community who abuse narcotics, sooner or later our enemies will.”

Opponent Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said, “We are not in the Soviet Union, we are in America, and it may be inconvenient sometimes to have Constitutional rights which prevent the state from doing certain things.”

Members voting yes favored drug testing of diplomats with top security clearances.

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

The Contras

By a 103-257 vote, the House rejected an amendment to the State Department authorization bill (HR 1777; above) characterizing the American-backed contra rebels as legitimate insurgents waging civil war in their homeland against the Sandinista rulers of Nicaragua.

Approval would have expressed the sense of Congress that President Reagan recognize a “state of belligerency” in Nicaragua under international law. Any territory controlled by the contras would have international standing as a state.

Sponsor Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) said the contras “are Nicaraguans dying on Nicaraguan soil,” whereas the multinational, Marxist Sandinista forces “resemble the bar scene in ‘Star Wars.’ ”

Opponent Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the message of the amendment is that “Ronald Reagan doesn’t know how to conduct foreign policy . . . in Nicaragua and therefore Congress has got to intervene.”

Members voting yes wanted the president to declare a state of belligerency in Nicaragua.

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