[edit] Education

• Educational Training
  • Nothing posted to date
• Educational Funding
  • Nothing posted to date
• Teaching Evolution/Intelligent Design
  • Nothing posted to date

[edit] Energy

• Clean Coal Technology
  • During consideration of the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 (H.R. 6) in the Senate, two competing amendments regarding coal-to-liquid fuels were proposed. S. Amdt. 1628 would have provided a minimum standard in the amount of coal-to-liquid fuels to be used in "covered fuels" (aviation fuel, motor vehicle fuel, home heating oil, and boiler fuel) beginning in 2016. While the amendment mandated the clean coal fuel to emit 20% less life-cycle greenhouse gases than gasoline, opponents objected to the comparison of coal to liquid fuel as similar to gasoline. They argued that liquid fuels derived from coal are more similar to diesel-based fuel, and emit up to 150% more greenhouse gases than petroleum-based diesel fuel. S. Amdt. 1628 failed passage with a vote of 39-55. Senator Kennedy voted against this amendment.
  • The competing amendment, Amdt. 1614, would have provided up to $10 billion worth of loans for projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal gasification (or other transformation processes) by at least 75% and ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are at least 20% below the conventional baseline. Challengers criticized the 75% sequestration requirement as too high and voiced concern that the loan money would end up disbursed to other projects (read the debate). S. Amdt. 1614 also was rejected, with a final tally of 33-61. Senator Kennedy voted against this amendment.
• Fuel Economy Standards
  • See discussion of H.R. 6 under the Renewable Energy section.
• Nuclear Power
  • Nothing posted to date
• Renewable Energy
  • See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
  • After a lengthy debate in June of 2007, the Senate passed the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 (H.R. 6), which seeks to increase America’s energy independence through the development of renewable fuels and the fostering of energy efficiency. The legislation would mandate the use of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, require an increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 mpg by 2020, and establish a carbon capture and storage research program. Senator Kennedy voted for the final version of H.R. 6, which passed with a vote of 65-27.
    
    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.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. Senator Kennedy voted for the revised version of this bill. 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.
    
  • During debate of the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 (H.R. 6), the Senate also passed S. Amdt. 1693. This amendment would revise the Clean Air Act to provide short-term and long-term studies on the effects of the increased use of renewable fuels on the environment. It also allows the administrator of the study to create regulations that would mitigate any negative effects on air quality that did occur as a result of the increased use of these fuels. The amendment passed with a vote of 58-34. Senator Kennedy voted for S. Amdt. 1693. The amendment, however, did not make into the final version of H.R. 6, which was passed by the Senate on December 13, 2007.

[edit] Environment

• After the House failed to pass S. 22 under suspension of the rules (which requires 2/3 to vote for a provision, but does not allow any amendments), the Senate called an unrelated bill, (HR 146), to carry the omnibus land bill. The bill is a combination of over 150 public land bills and will designate over 2 million acres of land as wilderness, improve the management of currently protected land, establish new water projects, and more. Swapping the original legislation in HR 146 for the land bill was designed to make finalizing the bill in the House easy.
  
  When HR 146 was brought to the Senate, Sen. Coburn (R-OK) introduced several amendments, though only one passed:
  • Amendment 682: to make it less likely that casual stone collectors would run afoul of the criminal restrictions on taking paleontological fossils from federal land (passed)
  • Amendment 679: to strike provisions that would block renewable-energy development on public land
  • Amendment 680: to bar new construction in national parks until the Interior secretary certifies that current sites are up to date
  • Amendment 675: to stop federal officials from using the power of eminent domain to take land from citizens. Critics say this amendment was unnecessary as eminent domain would not be used in any lands included in the bill.
  • Amendment 683: to eliminate what Coburn considers to be "frivolous" projects and
  • Amendment 677: to require an annual report on the total size and cost of federal property.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 77-20 on March 19, 2009. Senator Kennedy did not vote on this bill. It passed the House on March 25 and was signed into law by President Obama on March 30, 2009.

• On January 15, 2009, the Senate passed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (S. 22). The bill is a combination of over 150 public land bills and will designate over 2 million acres of land as wilderness, improve the management of currently protected land, establish new water projects, and more. The Senate voted 73 to 21 to pass S. 22. Senator Kennedy did not vote on this bill. The bill then moved to the House where it failed passage on March 11, 2009.

[edit] Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Senator Kennedy opposes drilling for oil in ANWR, in a statement against an attempt insert an amendment to open ANWR into the 2005 defense bill, Kennedt said that "Republicans attempted to load up the defense bill with another special interest provision to open up one our truly pristine places to oil drilling."

[edit] Climate Change

• With a vote of 51-42 the Senate rejected S. Amdt 1094 to the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (H.R. 1495). This amendment would have required the Army Corp of Engineers to account for the long-term and short-term effects of global climate change in all feasibility studies or reevaluation reports. Supporters of S. Amdt. 1094 focused especially on the dangers associated with increased hurricane intensity and rising sea levels. Opponents criticized the amendment as being too expensive to implement and refuted any relationship between hurricane intensity and global warming (read the floor debate). Senator Kennedy voted for this amendment.

[edit] Health

• A February 20, 2009, New York Times article reports that Kennedy organized a stakeholder work group of interest groups to work on healthcare reform. Aides say that there is a general consensus that Medicaid eligibility should be expanded and that there should be a mandate for people to carry insurance.
• See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
• Senator Kennedy and Senator Cornyn (TX) introduced the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2007 (S. 625). The bill would allow the FDA to regulate the marketing of cigarettes. Representatives Waxman and Davis introduced a companion bill in the House.
• Healthcare
  • On December 5, 2008, Kennedy announced that he was stepping down from the Senate Judiciary Committee to focus his energy on the reform of America's healthcare system. He said in a statement, "As chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, I expect to lead a very full agenda in the next Congress, including working with President Obama to guarantee affordable health care, at long last, for every American." ^[1]
  • One of Kennedy's most senior aides has suggested that a new healthcare plan may necessitate exceptions to the pay-as-you-go budgetary guidelines that have been in effect throughout the last two years. Instead of finding equal budget cuts in order to fund new plans, senior Kennedy aide Michael Myers warned that adequate reform may require more financial support than can be found elsewhere in the budget. Kennedy and the Democratic Congress feels it is of great importance to fund healthcare reform, even if "every penny [or] every dime" is not cut out of the budget elsewhere, and they are striving for lower-cost healthcare over the long term.
  • According to a July 10th, 2008 news article in Washing Post, Sen. Kennedy made a return to the Senate floor from Massachusetts General Hospital to cast his vote on a bill that would prevent a 10.6% cut in payments to Medicare physicians. His vote helped the Senate pass the bill with a Senate veto-proof majority of 69 votes.
  • 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 Senate voted 70 to 26 in favor of a veto override. Senator Kennedy did not vote on this legislation.
  • Template:Vote-FamilyPreventionTobaccoControlAct2009
  • In June, 2007, Senator Kennedy and Senator and fifteen other cosponsors introduced a bipartisan bill, the Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S. 1693). The bill outlined a framework for a more cost-efficient and higher quality U.S. healthcare system by utilizing state-of-the-art information technology and giving health professionals and insurers nationwide electronic access to patient information. The proposal was aimed at reducing healthcare costs, minimizing medical errors, and improving quality of patient care. The enactment of the bill would potentially save $162 billion a year for the healthcare industry, according to a Rand Corporation study. On the other hand, the report by Congress Budget Office estimated a $47 million cost if the bill were implemented in 2008, and $317 million over the period of 2008 through 2012. Since its introduction in 2007, there has been resistance to its passage due to privacy concerns. The efficient and easy access of patient information may compromise patient privacy, which may play into the hands of employers and insurers to discriminate against those with expensive health care problems. In overcoming the problems, Senator Leahy (VT) included measures to strengthen privacy provisions in the bill. In June 2008, Senator Kennedy will work with Senator Leahy on a Judiciary Committee hearing on health privacy in trying to move the bill forward.
• Genetic Information and Discrimination
  • The Senate passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (H.R. 493) with a vote of 95-0. After the House passed the bill in April 2007, Senator Coburn placed a hold on the bill because he wanted to clarify language to allow for "business necessity exemptions." The bill passed by the Senate was amended to reflect changes Senator Coburn wanted. After passage in the House, President Bush signed GINA into law on May 21, 2008.
• State Children's Health Insurance Program
  • After being vetoed twice by President Bush in 2007, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (H.R. 2) bill was reintroduced in the 111th Congress on January 13, 2009. SCHIP provides a subsidy for children’s insurance for families that cannot afford private insurance yet earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. The cost of the program is funded by an increase in cigarette taxes of 62 cents per pack. After the House of Representatives passed the bill on January 14, the Senate voted 66-32 to pass it on January 29, 2009. Senator Kennedy did not vote on this bill. It was signed into law by President Obama on February 4, 2009.
  • On August 2, 2007, the Senate passed the final version of the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007” (H.R. 976) with a vote of 68-31. 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). Senator Kennedy 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. 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 expand the program.
• 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. Senator Kennedy 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.
• 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." Senator Kennedy voted for this bill. The legislation passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 431-1 and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.

[edit] Innovation

• Stimulus
  • On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1). This stimulus bill contains over $30 billion for energy initiatives including the Smart Grid Investment Program and advanced battery systems; $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy for both businesses and homes; over $8 billion for augmenting energy efficiency in federal buildings and housing programs; and $7 billion to extend broadband service to underserved communities. The Act also gives the National Science Foundation $3 billion for research; the National Institutes of Health over $10 billion for research and renovations; NASA $1 billion, a portion of which to employ more scientists; and the Department Of Energy’s Office of Science $1.6 billion for energy research. Finally, it provides $19 billion for a modernized Health Information Technology (HIT) system; $87 billion to help fund Medicaid programs; $1 billion for health prevention programs; subsidies for temporary insurance; and $19 billion for clean water and environmental restoration programs. For a more complete listing of the bill’s provisions, click here.
    
    H.R. 1 passed the House of Representatives on February 13th and the Senate by a vote of 60-38 on February 13th. Senator Kennedy did not vote on this bill.
• COMPETES Act
  • 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. Senator Kennedy voted for this legislation. The America COMPETES Act was not fully funded in 2008.

[edit] Research and Research Management

• Funding
  • See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.

[edit] Technology

• See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
• In the summer of 2008, the Senate 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 Senate passed the bill with a vote of 69 to 28, and the legislation was signed by President Bush on July 7, 2008. Senator Kennedy did not vote on this legislation.
• On January 29, 2009, the Senate passed the DTV Delay Act (S. 352). The bill will postpone the digital television transition date from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009 and extend the coupon program to allow Americans to be better prepared for the switch. It was passed with unanimous consent by all Senators. The bill then passed in the House on February 4, 2009 and was signed into law (P.L. 111-4) by President Obama on February 11, 2009 .

[edit] Endnotes

1. ↑ Susan Milligan. "Kennedy to step down from Judiciary panel." Boston Globe. December 6, 2008. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/12/06/kennedy_to_step_down_from_judiciary_panel/