Education

• Educational Training
  • With a vote of 416-0 the House of Representative approved the Green Energy Education Act of 2007 (H.R. 1716) in June of 2007. The bill will allow the Secretary of Energy to contribute research and development funds to the National Science Foundation for the purpose of supporting graduate education that is related to energy technology. It also authorizes the Secretary to provide funds for the improvement of undergraduate and graduate engineering and architecture curriculum on the design and construction of "high performance buildings." Representative Reichert voted for this bill. H.R. 1716 was ultimately integrated into the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 2272) which is now law, but was not fully funded in the budget.
• Educational Funding
  • Representative Reichert voted for the 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act (H.R. 362). The legislation will require the National Science Foundation to increase its funding of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program with the goal of increasing the number of math and science teachers by up to 10,000 per year. The Noyce program provides scholarships to math, science, technology, and engineering students who commit to becoming teachers upon graduation. The legislation passed with a vote of 389-22.
• Teaching Evolution/Intelligent Design
  • Nothing posted to date

Energy

• Fuel Economy Standards
  • See discussion of CLEAN Energy Act under Renewable Energy section.
• Nuclear Power
  • Nothing posted to date
• Renewable Energy
  • In January of 2007, the House of Representatives passed the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 (H.R. 6). This legislation is intended to address a royalties oversight that occurred when the Department of the Interior issued leases for off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from 1998 to 1999. The bill would also deny income tax deductions for oil and gas companies. Revenues generated from these provisions would be used for the development of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources. Opponents of the bill claimed that the legislation would raise costs for the domestic production of oil and could increase foreign oil imports. Representative Reichert voted for this legislation, which passed with a vote of 264-163.
    
    During consideration of H.R. 6 in June of 2007, the Senate changed the focus of the legislation into developing a more comprehensive energy bill that focused on the development of renewable fuels, energy conservation, and increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. In the face of a veto threat from President Bush, the House passed the Senate version of H.R. 6 with amendments by a vote of 235-181 on December 6, 2007. Representative Reichert voted against this bill. The final Senate rendering of the bill, which passed with a vote of 86-8, still included language raising CAFE standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The final version of the bill passed in the House with a vote of 314-100 and was signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2007.
  • In August 2007, Representative Reichert voted for the final passage of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 (H.R. 3221). The legislation would provide tax incentives to promote the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, including guaranteeing up to $1 billion in loans for the development of biorefineries and biofuel production facilities. The measure also would repeal tax deductions to income attributed to the domestic production of oil and natural gas. It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 241-172 and was sent to the Senate.
    
    A controversial amendment to the bill was H. Amdt. 748 sponsored by Representative Udall. This amendment would require retail electric suppliers to provide 15% of their electricity through a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) by 2020. Representative Reichert voted for the amendment, which was adopted with a vote of 220 to 190.

Press Release on Energy

• On May 3, 2006, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing his support for H.R. 5253, Federal Energy Price Protection Act of 2006, which would create a definition of price gouging and would allow for the civil and criminal prosecution of those engaging in price gouging.
• On May 10, 2006, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing his support for the H-Prize Act of 2006, H.R. 5143, which would offer prizes for the development of new technologies that would make hydrogen a viable alternative to oil in fueling vehicles.
• On June 7, 2006, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release in support of the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act, which cosponsored and would increase the number of U.S.-owned oil refineries.
• On June 29, 2006, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release praising three automobile makers that have doubled their production of vehicles that are capable of running on renewable fuels and expressed support for higher CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards.
• On October 25, 2006, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing the opening of a biodiesel plant in Seattle, Washington.
• On August 4, 2007, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing his vote for the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act, HR 3221, which encourages innovations in renewable energy, seeking to decrease dependence on foreign energy sources.

Environment

• On April 29, 2008, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing his support for the Wild Sky Wilderness legislation that protects more wilderness areas.
• On June 21, 2007, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing $500,000 for Mercer Island construction of a main sewer, replacement of a pump station, and relocation of vulnerable sections of pipeline in order to prevent contamination of Lake Washington.

Climate Change

• On April 24, 2008, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release clarifying his position on two pieces of climate change and CO2 reduction legislation: the Climate Stewardship Act (HR 620) - of which he is the cosponsor- and the Safe Climate Act (HR 1590).
• On April 16, 2008, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release reacting to the President's speech on climate change:

"This issue requires a thoughtful, strategic approach, that doesn’t harm our businesses or our economy but brings people together so we can develop good environmental policy that is also sound economic policy. This is a needed step to begin a collaborative, bi-partisan approach to reducing our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions while protecting our nation’s economic interests." It is noted in the press release that Congressman Reichert is a cosponsor of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act; voted against drilling in ANWR, and is a supporter of the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act to protect the ANWR Reserve; introduced CAFE standards legislation; cosponsored legislation to develop plug-in hybrid technology; and, consistently supports funding boosts for national parks.

• In a October 6, 2006 press release, Reichert said,

"I do not question the reality of global warming. The question I have and am researching is whether global warming is caused by man’s activity or if global warming is one of the natural temperature fluctuations we’ve seen over the course of the earth’s history. And the follow-up question for me is, what can we do about it?^[1]

Health

• Healthcare
  • In April of 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (H.R. 493) with a vote of 420-3. Representative Reichert voted for this bill. If enacted, GINA will prevent health insurance companies from adjusting premiums on the basis of genetic information and forbid requiring individuals to undergo genetic tests. The bill will also prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of genetic information. This legislation was passed by the Senate in a vote of 95-0. The House passed the Senate amended version of the bill on May 1, 2008, by a vote of 415-1. Rep Ron Paul was the only representative to vote against the bill. President Bush signed GINA into law on May 21, 2008.
  • On July 15, 2008, both Houses of Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (H.R. 6331), a bill to put off an almost 11% cut of payments to doctors who care for Medicare patients. The legislation offset putting off the payment cuts for doctors by reducing reimbursements to insurance companies that include Medicare patients in their managed-care programs.[1] The House voted 383 to 41 in favor of a veto override. Representative Reichert voted for this legislation.
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • In April of 2007, Congress passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (S. 5), which would have overturned President Bush's ban on the use of federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001. Representative Reichert voted for the legislation. The bill passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 247-176 and the Senate with a vote of 63-34. President Bush vetoed both this legislation and an identical bill that was passed by Congress in 2006.
  • On May 24, 2005, Congressman Dave Reichert issued a press release announcing his support to Stem Cell Therapeutic Research Act of 2005 and his opposition to H.R. 810, Stem Research Enhancement Act.
• Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • In December 2005, Congress passed the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 (H.R. 2520), which President Bush signed on December 20, 2005. The law "creates a new Federal program to collect and store cord blood, and expands the current bone marrow registry program to also include cord blood." Representative Reichert voted for this bill. The legislation passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 431-1 and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
• On September 25, 2007, the House passed the final version of the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act” (H.R. 976) with a vote of 265-169. This bill would have increased funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $50 billion dollars over five years. Opponents saw the bill as too costly and were critical of the funding methods for the program, including a cigarette tax increase (read the floor debate). Representative Reichert voted for this legislation.
• On October 3, 2007, President Bush vetoed H.R. 976, citing that the bill moved too many children towards federally funded healthcare. The House attempted to override the President’s veto, but the measure failed to pass with a vote count of 273-156. Representative Reichert voted for the veto override. On December 29, 2007, President Bush signed the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (S. 2499) which extends funding for SCHIP through March of 2009, but does not significantly increase the program.
• On January 23, 2008, the House once again failed with a vote of 260-152 to pass H.R. 3963 to override President Bush’s veto of SCHIP. Representative Reichert voted for this legislation.

Innovation

• On August 9, 2007, President Bush signed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act (H.R. 2272) into law. The law authorizes the increased funding of the National Science Foundation putting it on track to double funding over the next seven years, increased funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and competitive grants for teachers and schools with the goal of strengthening the quality of education in science, math, and critical foreign languages. The bill was passed with unanimous consent in the Senate and was agreed to by a vote of 367-57 by the House after being reconciled in a conference committee. Representative Reichert voted for this legislation. The America COMPETES Act was not fully funded in 2008.

Research and Research Management

• Funding
  • In May of 2007, Representative Reichert voted for the final passage of the National Science Foundation Funding Authorization Act of 2007 (H.R. 1867), which authorizes appropriations for the National Science Foundation for the fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The final vote count was 399 to 17.
    
    During debate on this legislation, H. Amdt. 128 was offered by Rep. Honda that will allow the NSF to support the creation of K-12 curriculum focused on global warming, climate change, and actions people can take to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Rep. Sullivan of Oklahoma offered a secondary amendment, H. Amdt. 129, that would have required the education materials referenced in Rep. Honda’s amendment to "reflect the diversity of scientific opinion, including the diversity of opinion regarding the impact of human activities on climate change." Congressional Democrats criticized the Sullivan amendment as seeming "to suggest that there is an equal weight of evidence against that perspective [that humans are causing climate change] as there is in favor of it" (read the full debate). The Sullivan amendment failed by a vote of 166 to 250. The Honda Amendment passed by a vote of 252 to 165.
    
    Representative Reichert voted for the Sullivan amendment and voted for the Honda Amendment.

Technology

• • In the summer of 2008, the House met to consider the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6304), which would give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that wiretapped customers’ phones for the Bush administration shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The legislation also allows the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens for up to 7 days before obtaining court approval. The House passed the bill with a vote of 293 to 129, and the legislation was signed by President Bush on July 7, 2008. Representative Reichert voted for this legislation.

Endnotes

1. ↑ Reichert, David. "Congressman David Reichert." 6 October 2006. http://www.house.gov/reichert/press06/10.2.06.shtml