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 1977

Date	Subject	Result	Conserv. Position	Tower Voted
1977-01-25	Pardon Draft Dodgers [SRES18]	Agreed To (48-46)
Byrd (D-WV) motion to table, and thus kill, the resolution expressing the sense of the Senate in opposition to President Carter's pardon for Vietnam-era draft resisters and evaders.
1977-02-02	Congressional Pay Increase [SRES4]	Agreed To (56-42)
Byrd (D-WV) motion to table, and thus kill, the Allen (D-AL) amendment to disapprove the President's recommended pay increase for members of Congress, federal judges, and top level executive branch officials. The pay raise is not justified and serves to further insulate Congressmen and Senators from the harsh realities of inflation suffered by taxpayers.
1977-03-09	Warnke Nomination	Confirmed (58-40)
Confirmation of President Carter's nomination of Paul C. Warnke of the District of Columbia to head the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation talks with the Soviet Union. Warnke's support of unilateral disarmament places the U.S. in a weak bargaining position and could lead to dangerous concessions to the Soviet Union.
1977-03-15	Rhodesian Chrome Imports [HR1746]	Passed (66-26)
Passage of the bill to halt the importation of Rhodesian chrome in order to bring the United States into compliance with United Nations economic sanctions imposed on Rhodesia in 1966. The bill partially suspended the 1971 Byrd amendment, named after Sen. Henry F. Byrd, Jr., which barred the President from applying sanctions to non-Communist countries from whom the United States imported strategic materials. This would force the U.S. to import higher-priced and inferior-grade chrome from the Soviet Union.
1977-04-27	Stimulus Tax Cuts [HR3477]	Rejected (33-62)
Roth (R-DE) amendment to permanently cut income tax rates on all brackets by 10 percent. This would have provided relief for overburdened taxpayers, and helped reduce wasteful government spending.
1977-04-28	Tax Indexing [HR3477]	Rejected (24-63)
Griffin (R-MI) amendment to automatically index tax tables, personal exemptions and standard deductions to annual increases in the consumer price index. The purpose of the amendment was to prevent situations in which inflation caused a taxpayer to move to a higher tax bracket even though his real income had not increased.
1977-05-02	Public Works Jobs [HR4876]	Rejected (33-46)
Schweiker (R-PA) amendment to reduce appropriations for public service jobs by $3,905,000,000. These temporary make-work jobs increase government growth and influence over local communities.
1977-05-18	Create Energy Department [S826]	Passed (74-10)
Passage of the bill to create a cabinet-level Department of Energy by consolidating the functions of the Federal Power Commission, the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research Development Administration, and other energy functions scattered throughout the federal government. This new bureaucracy cost the taxpayers more than $10 billion in its first year and, through its regulations, curbs U.S. production of new sources of energy, making us more dependent on foreign oil.
1977-05-24	Food Stamps for Strikers [S275]	Agreed To (56-38)
Melcher (D-MT) motion to table, and thus kill, the Thurmond (R-SC) amendment to bar the availability of food stamps to strikers.
1977-05-24	Food Stamp Payments [S275]	Rejected (31-64)
Curtis (R-NE) amendment to retain the requirement in existing law that recipients pay for a portion of their food stamps. Elimination of this purchase requirement would free a portion of recipients' income to be spent on non-food items, resulting in reduced nutrition and endangering farm income.
1977-06-10	EPA Air Standards [S252]	Rejected (17-71)		No Vote
Scott (R-VA) amendment to require the federal primary and secondary ambient air quality standards in clean air areas in place of the stricter non-deterioration provisions of the committee bill. This would have restricted the power of the EPA to control, through strict national air standards, state and local land use policies. It would have given states the right to set their own air quality standards (as long as they met a national minimum), while considering other factors, such as industrial growth, which would create needed jobs.
1977-06-16	Reparations to Vietnam [HR6689]	Rejected (42-44)
McClure (R-ID) amendment to prohibit the use of any funds appropriated by Congress for negotiations regarding aid or reparations payments to Vietnam.
1977-06-28	"Affirmative Action" Quotas [HR7555]	Rejected (31-64)
Helms (R-NC)-Hayakawa (R-CA) amendment to prohibit HEW from using funds to enforce race or sex-related goals, quotas or other numerical requirements in hiring and admissions policies. This amendment would do away with federal "affirmative action" programs.
1977-06-28	Forced Busing [HR7555]	Rejected (42-51)
Brooke (R-MA) amendment to delete provisions from the bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for busing students farther than the schools nearest to their homes, including the busing of students necessitated by school "pairing", "clustering" or grade restructuring plans. Approval of this amendment would continue forced busing.
1977-06-28	OSHA Regulations [HR7555]	Rejected (41-47)
McClure (R-ID) amendment to require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to prepare an economic impact statement for all regulations issued. This would force OSHA to assess the cost to business of complying with their regulations (costing $14.5 billion in the past 6 years), which have had no statistical effect on improving worker health and safety.
1977-06-29	Federally Funded Abortions [HR7555]	Rejected (33-65)
Helms (R-NC) substitute amendment to the Packwood (R-OR) amendment, the prohibit the use of federal funds for abortions except where the mother's life would be endangered by continued pregnancy.
1977-07-11	Clinch River Reactor [S1811]	Rejected (38-49)
Bumpers (D-AR) substitute amendment to the Church (D-ID) amendment, to limit spending on the Clinch River breeder reactor project to $33 million in fiscal year 1978 for the purpose of terminating the project. The Church amendment to reduce the Clinch River authorization to $75 million from the $150 million authorized in the bill was subsequently adopted. This would have crippled the development of breeder technology, which is needed to supply future energy needs as we move away from fossil fuels.
1977-07-13	Neutron Bomb [HR7553]	Rejected (38-58)
Hatfield (R-OR) amendment to prohibit production of and enhanced radiation weapon (neutron bomb). The neutron bomb is vitally necessary to offset the current Warsaw Pact military advantage over NATO ground forces.
1977-07-14	Control of Oil Exploration [S9]	Agreed To (52-46)
Jackson (D-WA) amendment to allow the Interior Secretary to contract for drilling operations to determine the value of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) resources, prior to leasing OCS lands, to publish a notice in the Federal Register allowing potential permittees to participate in the program and to publish costs of the drilling program in his annual report. This would open the door to more government control of all phases of oil production, and is an unnecessary expenditure of tax dollars, since private companies can do the exploration on their own.
1977-07-18	B-1 Bomber [HR7933]	Agreed To (59-36)
Stennis (D-MS) amendment to delete from the bill $1.466 billion for fiscal 1978 for production of five B-1 bombers. The B-1 is necessary to replace our aging B-52 force and to strengthen our deterrent system against Soviet attack.
1977-08-02	Campiagn Financing [S926]	Agreed To (58-39)
Allen (D-AL) amendment to delete part 1 of the bill providing public financing of U.S. Senate general election campaigns. Aside from its tremendous cost, public financing would strengthen the influence of special interests, give more advantages to incumbents, and increase the political power of labor unions.
1977-08-04	Wetlands and Streams [S1952]	Rejected (45-51)
Bentsen (D-TX) amendment to limit the jurisdiction of the Army Coprs of Engineers over dredging and filling activities in the nation's waters and wetlands. This amendment would give greater authority to the states over use of their wetlands and streams and limit federal intrusion into this area.
1977-08-05	Aid to U.S. Enemies [HR7797]	Agreed To (47-29)
Adoption of the Senate committee amendment deleting House language prohibiting use of any funds in the bill for indirect U.S. assistance -- such as through contributions to international lending institutions -- to Uganda, Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam.
1977-10-04	Natural Gas Deregulation [S2104]	Agreed To (50-46)
Adoption of the modified Pearson (R-KS)-Bentsen (D-TX) substitute amendment to end federal price controls for natural gas found onshore, retroactive to Jan. 1, 1977, and cease regulation of new offshore gas after Dec. 31, 1982, but to impose a price limit equal to the price of imported No. 2 heating oil for two years and impose an incremental pricing provision to protect homeowners, schools and hospitals by allocating lower-cost gas for their use. The amendment would allow producers of natural gas to make enough profit to encourage production, thus ensuring adequate supplies for consumers, and ultimately resulting in lower prices as supply increased. It would also decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
1977-10-07	Minimum Wage [HR3744]	Passed (63-24)
Passage of the bill to raise the minimum wage from $2.30 an hour to $2.65 on Jan. 1, 1978, to $2.85 on Jan. 1, 1979, to $3.05 on Jan. 1, 1980, and make other changes in minimum wage and overtime coverage. Increases in the minimum wage force employers to increase prices or to lay off employees, particularly the young and minorities.
1977-10-12	Legal Services Corporation [S1303]	Rejected (23-67)
Helms (R-NC) substitute for the bill to turn responsibility for legal services over to the states through state-option delivery plans rather than the staff lawyer delivery system of the Legal Services Corporation. Legal services for the poor would be handled by the states instead of the federal "service centers" which tend to be staffed by left-wing activists.
1977-10-12	Car Airbags [SCONRES31]	Agreed To (65-31)
Magnuson (D-WA) motion to table, and thus kill, the concurrent resolution to disapprove a Transportation Department order, scheduled to take effect Oct. 14, 1977, requiring the installation of air bags or other passive restraint systems in large cars by the 1982 model year, in medium-sized cars by model year 1983 and in all other cars by model year 1984. Airbags, which are not as effective as seatbelts, should be an optional feature since the cost of installation and replacement would be a burden to all new car buyers.
1977-10-25	Loans to Panama [S1771]	Agreed To (69-13)
Javits (R-NY) motion to table, and thus kill, the Allen (D-AL) amendment to prohibit the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) from making any loans to or guaranteeing or insuring any borrowings of the National Finance Corporation of Panama unless such loans or guarantees were first approved by Congress. This was an effort to obtain House approval of a portion of the Panama Canal treaty negotiations, which included OPIC loan guarantees to Panama.
1977-11-04	Social Security Limits [HR9346]	Agreed To (59-28)
Church (D-ID) substitute amendment to the Goldwater (R-AZ) amendment, which would have lowered to 65 years (from 72) in 1982 the age at which a person could earn unlimited income without losing any of his Social Security benefits.
1977-12-15	Social Security Taxes [HR9346]	Agreed To (56-21)
Adoption of the conference report on the bill to raise Social Security payroll taxes above existing scheduled levels, by increasing tax rates and the taxable wage base for both employees and employers beginning in 1979, to correct inflation adjustment procedures and make other changes in benefit schedules, and to authorize additional funding and new options for state welfare programs. This is estimated cost to the taxpayers $227 billion over the next decade.

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).