Peninsula Daily News news services
WASHINGTON — The House will be in recess this week.
The Senate will vote on judicial nominations and take up a bill to rescind billions of dollars in oil-industry tax breaks.
Contact our legislators
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“Eye on Congress” is published in the Peninsula Daily News every Monday when Congress is in session about activities, roll call votes and legislation in the House and Senate.
The North Olympic Peninsula’s legislators in Washington, D.C., are Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Mountlake Terrace), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Bothell) and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair).
Contact information — The address for Cantwell and Murray is U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510; Dicks, U.S. House, Washington, D.C. 20515.
Phone Cantwell at 202-224-3441 (fax, 202-228-0514); Murray, 202-224-2621 (fax, 202-224-0238); Dicks, 800-947-6676 (fax, 202-226-1176).
Email via their websites: cantwell.senate.gov; murray.senate.gov; house.gov/dicks.
Dicks’ North Olympic Peninsula office is at 332 E. Fifth St., Port Angeles, WA 98362.
It is open from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays and by appointment.
It is staffed by Judith Morris, 360-452-3370 (fax: 360-452-3502).
State legislators
Jefferson and Clallam counties are represented in the part-time state Legislature by Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, the House majority whip; Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim; and Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam.
Write Van De Wege and Tharinger at P.O. Box 40600 (Hargrove at P.O. Box 40424), Olympia, WA 98504; email them at vandewege.kevin@leg.wa.gov; tharinger.steve@leg.wa.gov; hargrove.jim@leg.wa.gov.
Or you can call the Legislative Hot Line, 800-562-6000, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday (closed on holidays and from noon to 1 p.m.) and leave a detailed message, which will be emailed to Van De Wege, Tharinger or Hargrove, or to all three.
Links to other state officials: secstate.wa.gov/ elections/elected_officials.aspx.
Learn more
Websites following our state and national legislators:
■ Followthemoney.org — Campaign donors by industry, ZIP code and more
■ Vote-Smart.org — How special interest groups rate legislators on the issues.
How they voted
■ Gulf of Mexico Drilling: Voting 263 for and 163 against, the House on Wednesday sent the Senate a bill (HR 1229) that would restore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to levels comparable to those in effect before last year’s BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The bill requires the Interior Department to act within 60 days on about 40 permit applications now undergoing safety and environmental reviews.
The administration lifted its post-spill drilling moratorium in October and has since issued about 10 deepwater permits and nearly 40 permits for drilling in shallow water.
A yes vote is to restore drilling to previous levels.
Dicks voted no.
■ BLOWOUT PREVENTION: Voting 176 for and 237 against, the House on Tuesday defeated a bid to expand HR 1229 (above) to include safety recommendations issued in January by the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
The amendment required the enactment of minimum standards in areas such as preventing blowouts, cementing wells and installing redundant safety barriers inside wells SEmD steps that would be subject to independent, third-party certifications.
While the commission’s recommendations have been addressed to varying degrees by governmental regulators and the oil industry, they have not been added to federal law.
A yes vote backed the amendment.
Dicks voted yes.
■ OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF OIL: Voting 243 for and 179 against, the House on Thursday authorized oil and gas exploration in several expanses of the Outer Continental Shelf where drilling is now banned for primarily environmental reasons.
In part, the bill (HR 1231) would require the Department of the Interior to sell leases for drilling off the Atlantic Coast from Maine to North Carolina, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, off Southern California, in the Arctic Ocean and off Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
Depending on the state, the Outer Continental Shelf usually begins between three and nine nautical miles from shore and reaches outward for at least 200 nautical miles.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
Dicks voted no.
■ BAN ON OIL EXPORTS: Voting 180 for and 243 against, the House on May 11 defeated a Democratic motion to HR 1231 (above) to prohibit energy companies from selling abroad the Outer Continental Shelf oil and natural gas they extract under federal leases.
The measure also required the Department of the Interior, over the next five years, to reduce by half the large number of nonperforming oil and gas leases in the Outer Continental Shelf.
A yes vote backed the motion.
Dicks voted yes.
■ 2011 INTELLIGENCE BUDGET: Voting 392 for and 15 against, the House on May 13 passed a classified U.S. intelligence budget (HR 754) estimated at $55 billion or more for fiscal 2011.
The bill will fund operations of civilian and military spy agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office.
When other outlays in the federal budget are counted, total spending for intelligence activities is projected to top $80 billion this year.
This bill reportedly funds a tightening of U.S. cybersecurity, pays special attention to the U.S. space race with China and Russia, adds thousands of civilian positions at agencies such as the National Counterterrorism Center and beefs up internal security to guard against leaks to the WikiLeaks website.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Dicks voted yes.
■ JUDGE EDWARD CHEN: Voting 56 for and 42 against, the Senate on May 10 confirmed the nomination of Edward M. Chen as a federal judge for the Northern District of California.
Chen, 58, has been a federal magistrate judge in San Francisco for the past 10 years, and before that he was an American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney.
Senate Republicans stalled the nomination for 21 months over concerns that Chen would be an “activist judge,” while Democrats noted that Chen received the American Bar Association’s highest rating for a judicial nominee.
A yes vote was to confirm Chen.
Cantwell and Murray voted yes.
