Voterama in Congress, week ending Feb. 10, 2012

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How Illinois lawmakers voted in Congress Week ending February 10

Updated: February 13, 2012 9:20AM

Lawmakers’ Insider Trading: Members voted, 417-2, to bar members of Congress and their staff from using inside legislative information in personal stock trading. The bill also adds transparency to members’ financial disclosures. A yes vote was to send S 2038 to a House-Senate conference.

Line-Item Veto: Members empowered, 254-173, presidents to veto discretionary-spending items providing that both houses of Congress then vote to approve of the rescissions. A yes vote was to pass HR 3521 over arguments it would undermine Congress’s constitutional “power of the purse.”

New Accounting Rules: Members required, 245-180, new rules for figuring the budgetary impact of federal loan programs. These private-sector-style rules would raise the book cost of these programs and thus make them more vulnerable to budget cuts. A yes vote was to pass HR 3581.

Federal Aviation Budget: Senators approved, 75-20, a federal aviation budget of $63.3 billion through September 2015. A yes vote was to send President Obama a bill to modernize air-traffic control, subsidize commercial flights to smaller cities and fund airport improvements. (HR 658)

Federal Transportation Budget: Senators advanced, 85-11, a bill to authorize federal road, bridge, transit and highway-safety programs through Sept. 30, 2013, on a budget of $109 billion, all but $10 billion of which would come from the Highway Trust Fund. A yes vote was to advance S 1813.

Key votes ahead

In the week of Feb. 13, both chambers will debate bills to fund federal transportation programs through September 2013. Congress will be in Presidents Day recess the following week.