John Tower

[Congressional biography]

Born: September 29, 1925 in Houston, TX
Died: April 5, 1991 near Brusnwick, GA (plane crash)

Education:

Military Service:

Career:

Key Senate Vote Data for John Tower in 1976

Date	Subject	Result	Conserv. Position	Tower Voted
1976-03-24	Federal Election Commission [S3065]	Passed (55-28)
Passage of the bill to reconstitute the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and to make other changes in the campaign finance law. This bill re-created the FEC after the Supreme Court decreed that it and several portions of the campaign finance law were unconstitutional. The bill contained restrictive limitations on political contributions and contained provisions giving favored treatment to labor union political action committees.
1976-03-31	No-Fault Insurance [S354]	Agreed To (49-45)
Hruska (R-NE) motion to recommit, and thus kill, the bill to establish federal standards for no-fault motor vehicle insurance, require states to adopt no-fault plans or accept a federal plan, and make no-fault insurance coverage mandatory for all drivers. The bill would bypass state prerogatives and constitute further government influence in the marketplace.
1976-03-31	Hatch Act Repeal [HR8617]	Agreed To (54-36)
Adoption of the conference report on the bill to give federal employees the right to participate in partisan political campaigns and to run for local, state or federal office. The bill would allow federal employees to run for political office while on the public payroll and engage in other political activites, thus bringing about a greater politicization of the federal bureaucracy.
1976-04-01	Busing Jurisdiction [S287]	Agreed To (61-29)
Burdick (D-ND) motion to table, and thus kill, the Scott (R-VA) amendment to provide that no federal court shall have jurisdiction to hear or decide cases or controversies involving public schools, thus giving jurisdiction to state courts. This amendment would have been a major step in removing from federal courts the power to bus school children for purposes of racial integration.
1976-04-05	Food Stamps for Strikers [S3136]	Agreed To (48-26)
Williams (D-NJ) motion to table, and thus kill, the Curtis (R-NE) amendment to consider persons refusing to work at a plant or site because of a strike or other labor dispute as refusing to accept employment, and therefore ineligible for food stamps, unless the household was eligible for stamps before the strike.
1976-04-08	Food Stamp Eligibility [S3136]	Agreed To (49-30)
Dole (R-KS)-McGovern (D-SD) amendment in the nature of a substitute bill to revise the food stamp program by reducing the purchase requirement to 25 percent of net income from 27.5 percent, providing for semi-annual adjustment of the standard deduction and the official government poverty index, providing an additional $25-a-month deduction for working households and mandating a pilot project on elimination of the purchase requirement. Reduction of the purchase requirement and its possible elimination will make the overly expensive food stamp programs more costly and increase fraud and abuse.
1976-04-12	Spending Cuts [SCONRES109]	Rejected (23-62)
Buckley (C-NY) amendment, in the nature of a substitute, to the Budget Committee resolution to provide fiscal 1977 budget authority of $450.4 billion, outlays of $405.8 billion, a deficit of $43.4 billion and revenues of $362.4 billion. This amendment represented a proposed cut of $4.5 billion in budget authority and $6.8 billion in outlays, and would help curb runaway federal spending.
1976-04-27	Public Housing Projects [S3259]	Passed (55-24)		No Vote
Passage of the bill to authorize fiscal 1977 funding for public housing construction, federal rental and homeownership subsidy programs and a number of other federal housing programs. Federally funded housing programs have been a drastic failure and have wasted billions of tax dollars.
1976-04-28	Arms for Anti-Communists [S2662]	Agreed To (51-35)		No Vote
Adoption of the conference report on the bill to authorize $3,166,900,000 in foreign military assistance for fiscal 1976 and to provide new congressional controls on arms sales. The bill would ban sales to countries allegedly violating human rights. The primary purpose of the bill's sponsors was to cut off vital military aid to friendly anti-Communist governments such as South Korea, Chile and the Philippines.
1976-05-11	International Women's Year [HR13172]	Rejected (14-75)
Bartlett (R-OK) amendment, as a substitute to the Bayh (D-IN) amendment, to delete all funding in the bill for the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975. This is a legally questionable use of taxpayers' money to fund a conference that is avowedly pro-ERA.
1976-05-20	B-1 Bomber [HR12438]	Agreed To (44-37)
Culver (D-IA) amendment to bar obligation before Feb. 1, 1977, of funds authorized in the bill for production of the B-1 bomber. The delay was sought in the hope that a newly-inaugurated Democrat President might curb or halt its development. The B-1 is needed to replace our aging B-52 bomber force and to strengthen our deterrent system against Soviet attack.
1976-06-02	Funds for Mozambique [S3439]	Rejected (29-45)		No Vote
Allen (D-AL) amendment to the Humphrey (D-MN) amendment, to make Mozambique ineligible for $25 million in security assistance authorized in the bill for countries in southern Africa. The aid in the bill would indirectly help the Marxist Mozambique government guerillas who are trying to overthrow the anti-Communist Rhodesian government.
1976-06-04	Antitrust Attorneys Fees [HR8532]	Agreed To (46-29)
Kennedy (D-MA) motion to table, and thus kill, the Buckley (C-NY) amendment to the Hart-Scott substitute, to authorize the award of reasonable attorneys' fees and other costs to prevailing defendants in antitrust "parens patriae" cases.
1976-06-09	Antitrust Damage Reform [HR8532]	Agreed To (51-35)
Abourezk (D-SD) motion to table, and thus kill, the Scott (R-VA) amendment to the Hart-Scott substitute, to provide treble damages in state "parens patriae" cases only when willful violations of the antitrust laws are proved.
1976-06-16	Energy Administration [HR12169]	Passed (81-12)
Passage of the bill to extend the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) through Sept. 30, 1977, and provide various federal incentives for energy conservation in buildings. The FEA has inhibited domestic oil production, thereby increasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
1976-06-24	"Affirmative Action" Quotas [HR10612]	Agreed To (55-30)
Glenn (D-OH) amendment to increase appropriations for the Treasury Department's Office of Revenue Sharing to $3,810,000 from $3,500,000. This amendment would appropriate $310,000 to double the staff of the Civil Rights Office of Revenue Sharing, and would increase federal imposition of "affirmative action" quotas on state use of revenue sharing funds.
1976-06-29	Funding for Non-Integrated Schools [HR14232]	Rejected (27-59)
Helms (R-NC) amendment to prohibit the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from denying funds to schools that failed to classify or assign teachers or students by race or national origin and that failed to maintain records of the race or national origin of teachers or students.
1976-06-29	OSHA Restrictions [HR14232]	Agreed To (58-36)
Brooke (R-MA) motion to table, and thus kill, the Allen (D-AL) amendment to prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from issuing first instance citations for other than repeated or willful violations of the OSHA regulations. First instance citations often result in costly penalties for businessmen even though OSHA's rules are often petty, vague and confusing.
1976-07-21	Public Works Veto Override [S3201]	Veto Overridden (73-24)
Passage, over the President's July 6 veto, of the bill to authorize funding through fiscal 1977 of $2 billion for job-creating state and local public works projects, $1.25 billion for anti-recessionary aid to help state and local governments maintain services and $700 million for waste water treatment programs. This bill will create make-work public jobs, increase federal government growth, and augment federal control over local communities.
1976-08-02	Minuteman Missile [HR14262]	Rejected (40-52)
Kennedy (D-MA) amendment to defer until Feb. 1, 1977, expenditures of funds for procurement of 60 additional Minuteman III missiles. These advanced missiles are vitally needed to offset the growing strategic threat of the Soviet Union.
1976-08-02	Cut Defense Spending [HR14262]	Rejected (27-63)
Eagleton (D-MO) amendment to reduce total appropriations in the bill by $1 billion. This arbitrary cut would have weakened the U.S. defense capabilites at a time when more, not less, money needs to be spent on defense.
1976-08-03	Clean Air Rules [S3219]	Rejected (31-63)
Moss (D-UT) amendment to delete from the bill provisions requiring protection of pristine air ("nondegredation") and direct a National Commission on Air Quality to report within one year on the overall impact of the proposed provisions. The nondegredation provisions make the bill a de facto no-growth policy for America, a form of backdoor land use control.
1976-08-03	Tax Indexing [HR10612]	Agreed To (68-22)
Long (D-LA) motion to table, and thus kill, the Taft (R-OH) amendment to provide for adjustments in the tax tables so that inflation would not cause a tax rate increase for a taxpayer whose real wages had not increased.
1976-08-05	Private School Tuition [HR10612]	Rejected (37-52)
Buckley (C-NY) amendment to provide a tax deduction for persons who pay tuition at either private or public schools at all levels. This would help many financially-plagued private schools and in general make more choices available for better quality education which is currently beyond the reach of many individuals.
1976-08-06	Personal Tax Exemptions [HR10612]	Agreed To (57-29)
Long (D-LA) motion to table, and thus kill, the Dole (R-KS) amendment to increase the personal income tax exemption to $1,000 from $750. This would greatly help to reduce taxes for over-burdened taxpayers.
1976-08-24	Day Care [HR12455]	Agreed To (65-22)
Long (D-LA) motion to table, and thus kill, the Allen (D-AL) motion that the Senate concur in a House amendment to the Senate version of the bill with a further amendment to eliminate $240 million in funding provided by the House amendment for additional federal aid to day care centers for children from low-income families. The money would increase federal intervention into private day care centers and increase demand for federally supported day care programs.
1976-08-26	School Aid Cutoff [S2657]	Agreed To (44-42)
Brooke (R-MA) motion to table, and thus kill, the Buckley (C-NY) amendment to prevent the federal government from cutting off funds to schools allegedly in violation of federal law without first holding a formal administrative hearing.
1976-08-27	School Discrimination [S2657]	Rejected (28-52)
McClure (R-ID) amendment to limit the anti-sex discrimination enforcement powers of the government to cover only programs or activites that were curriculum or graduation requirements at an educational institution. This would eliminate federal interference in extracurricular activities at schools, i.e. father-son dinners, all-male choirs, etc.
1976-09-01	Water Pollution Control [S2710]	Rejected (39-40)
Second vote on the Tower (R-TX) amendment to restrict the federal government's authority to regulate pollution caused by dredge and fill operations in the nation's wetlands. The amendment would give greater authority to the states over use of their wetlands and streams and limit federal intrusion into this area.
1976-09-17	Taxpayer Funded Abortions [HR14232]	Agreed To (47-21)		No Vote
Magnuson (D-WA) motion to agree to the House amendment to the Senate amendment on the abortion issue. The House amendment would ban the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except if the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.

Represents a "Yes" vote.   Represents a "No" vote.   Indicates that this member voted against the conservative position on a particular vote. "No vote" means that this member did not cast a vote (or voted 'Present' instead of Yes or No).