Lloyd Bentsen

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 11, 1921 in Mission, TX
Died: May 23, 2006 in Houston, TX

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Key Senate Vote Data for Lloyd Bentsen in 1985

Date	Subject	Result	Conserv. Position	Bentsen Voted
1985-02-23	Meese Confirmation	Confirmed (63-31)
Confirmation of President Reagan's nomination of Edwin Meese III of California to be Attorney General of the United States.
1985-03-19	MX Missile [SJRES71]	Passed (55-45)
Passage of the joint resolution to reaffirm the authorization of $1.5 billion in the fiscal 1985 defense budget to purchase 21 MX missiles.
1985-04-23	Military Aid to "Contras" [SJRES31]	Passed (53-46)
Passage of the joint resolution to approve the release of $14 million in fiscal 1985 for supporting military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua.
1985-05-09	Mass Transit Subsidy [SCONRES32]	Rejected (25-72)
Symms (R-ID) amendment to reduce budget authority for mass transit by $8.2 billion through fiscal 1988.
1985-05-09	Fiscal '86 Budget [SCONRES32]	Agreed To (50-49)
Dole (R-KS) amendment to recommit the concurrent resolution to the Budget Committee, to set budget targets for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1986, as follows: budget authority, $1,069.5 billion; outlays, $965 billion; revenues, $793.6 billion; deficit, $171.4 billion. The amendment also established dual annual caps on defense appropriations and on non-defense, discretionary (non-entitlement) appropriations as follows: fiscal 1986, defense, $303.2 billion, non-defense, $140.8 billion; 1987, defense, $324.1 billion, non-defense, $149.3 billion; 1988, defense, $347.6 billion, non-defense, 149.3 billion. It revised budget levels for fiscal 1985, and included reconciliation instructions requiring the Budget committees to recommend legislative savings to meet the budget targets by June 30, 1985. It would abolish more than a dozen domestic programs, and allow an inflation rate increase for defense spending.
1985-05-22	Chemical Weapons [S1160]	Rejected (46-50)
Pryor (D-AR) amendment to delete from the bill $163 million for the procurement of binary chemical weapons, to prohibit future use of funds for such procurement, and to express the sense of Congress that the President should intensify effort to achieve an agreement with the Soviet Union for the banning of chemical weapons.
1985-05-24	Anti-Satellite Weapons Testing [S1160]	Rejected (35-50)		No Vote
Kerry (D-MA) amendment to bar during fiscal years 1985 and 1986 tests against a target in space of the anti-satellite (ASAT) missile unless the Soviet Union tests an ASAT.
1985-06-04	SDI Funding Cuts [S1160]	Rejected (38-57)
Proxmire (D-WI) amendment to slash the authorization for research on anti-missile defenses from $2.96 billion to $1.9 billion.
1985-06-06	Non-Military Aid to "Contras" [S1003]	Agreed To (55-42)
Nunn (D-GA) amendment to authorize $24 million for fiscal year 1986 for humanitarian assistance to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters and to direct the National Security Council to monitor the use of the funds. The amendment also releases the $14 million approved for fiscal 1985 for the rebels but restricts the use of those funds to humanitarian assistance, and it urges the President to lift the economic sanctions on Nicaragua if that country agress to a cease-fire and talks with the rebels, to call upon the rebels to remove from their ranks any individuals who have engaged in human rights abuses, and to resume bilateral negotiations with the government of Nicaragua.
1985-06-11	Repeal Clark Amendment [S1003]	Agreed To (63-34)
Symms (R-ID) amendment to repeal the section of the 1980 foreign aid authorizations bill known as the "Clark amendment" that prohibited U.S. military aid to anti-government rebels in Marxist Angola unless specifically requested by the President and approved by Congress.
1985-07-09	Gun Control Reform [S49]	Passed (79-15)
Passage of the bill to revise the Gun Control Act of 1968 to exempt many gun collectors from licensing requirements, remove the ban on interstate sales of rifles, shotguns and handguns, require advance notice for routine compliance inspections, and impose a mandatory five-year sentence on anyone convicted of using a firearm in a violent federal crime.
1985-07-11	South Africa Sanctions [HR1460]	Passed (80-12)
Passage of the bill to impose sactions immediately against South Africa, including a ban on bank loans to the South African government, and prohibitions against the sale of computer goods and nuclear materials to that country. The bill also calls for imposition of additional sanctions, such as a ban on new U.S. investment and a prohibition on the importation into the United States of South African gold if South Africa does not reform its racial policies within 18 months.
1985-07-23	Line-Item Veto [S43]	Rejected (58-40)
Dole (R-KS) motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the Dole motion to end the filibuster and proceed to consideration of the bill to give the President power to veto individual spending items by requiring that appropriations bills be split by paragraph or section into separate bills before being sent to the White House.
1985-09-10	Prayer in Public Schools [S47]	Agreed To (62-36)
Weicker (R-CT) motion to table (kill) the bill to bar the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from considering cases involving prayer in public schools. The effect of the bill would have been to restore the right of states or local communities to permit prayer in public schools without being subject to challenges in the federal courts.
1985-09-26	Superfund Spending [HR2005]	Passed (86-13)
Passage of the bill to amend and reauthorize wasteful and bureaucratic hazardous-waste cleanup programs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 at an increased spending level of $7.5 billion for fiscal 1986-90.
1985-11-01	Economic Development Adminstration [HR2965]	Rejected (39-57)		No Vote
Chafee (R-RI) amendment to delete funding for the Economic Development Administration except for $15 million for salaries and expenses while terminating the program.
1985-11-07	D.C. Abortion Funding [HR3067]	Agreed To (54-41)
Simpson (R-WY) motion to table (kill) the Humphrey (R-NH) amendment to bar the use of federal or District funds to pay for abortions, except to save the life of the mother.
1985-11-12	Food Stamp Eligibility [S1730]	Agreed To (60-37)
Stafford (R-VT) amendment to strike a provision in the bill requiring that, in determining eligibility for food stamps, any federal assistance for paying energy bills should be counted as income. This would effectively raise the income ceiling for food stamp eligibility.
1985-12-10	Aid to Anti-Communist Forces in Angola [HJRES465]	amendment ruled not germane (39-58)
Judgment of the Senate whether the Wallop (R-WY) amendment, to provide $50 million for UNITA, the anti-Communist rebel forces in Angola, was germane.
1985-12-11	Gramm/Rudman Defense Exclusion [HJRES372]	Agreed To (76-17)
Packwood (R-OR) motion to table (kill) the Denton (R-AL) motion to recommit the conference report on the joint resolution to the conference committee, with instructions to grant authority to the President not to "sequester" funds for defense programs, projects, activities or accounts, provided that he certify to Congress that sequestering such funds would substantially impair the national defense, further providing that such discretionary authority may be suspended for a given fiscal year by a majority vote of both houses of Congress. This would exclude the Defense Department from automatic cuts under the Gramm/Rudman bill.
1985-12-11	Gramm/Rudman Deficit Reduction Package [HJRES372]	Agreed To (61-31)
Adoption of the conference report on the joint resolution to raise the ceiling on the federal debt to $2.079 trillion from $1.824 trillion; to set maximum allowable federal deficits for fiscal years 1986-91, declining annually to zero in fiscal 1991; to require the President, if projected deficits exceed those allowed, to issue an emergency order reducing all federal spending by the same percentage amount, to reduce deficits to the maximum allowed, with half of such cuts to come from defense and half from non-defense programs; to exempt Social Security, interest on the national debt and certain poverty programs from such automatic cuts; to limit the size of such cuts as they affect certain health programs; to revise congressional budget procedures; to remove Social Security from the unified federal budget in fiscal 1986 and thereafter; and to replenish the Social Security trust funds of any interest lost due to disinvestment or non-investment of those trust funds during periods in 1985 when the ceiling on the federal debt was about to be breached.

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).