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 1986

Date	Subject	Result	Conserv. Position	Bentsen Voted
1986-03-13	Farm Program [HJRES534]	Agreed To (61-33)
Domenici (R-NM) motion to table (kill) the Cochran (R-MS) appeal of the chair's ruling that the House amendment to the Senate amendment violated the spending-limitation requirement contained in the 1985 Balanced Budget And Emergency Deficit Control Act (the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings balanced-budget law) and thus was not in order. The bill would have added an extra $1 billion to farm programs, and pushed federal spending over Gramm-Rudman limits.
1986-03-25	Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment [SJRES225]	Defeated (66-34)
Passage of the joint resolution to propose a constitutional amendment to require a three-fifths majority of the total membership of both houses of Congress for a specific amount of deficit spending; to require that the public debt of the United States may be increased only by a law enacted by a three-fifths majority of the total membership of both houses of Congress; to require that a bill to increase revenue shall become law only if passed by a majority of both houses of Congress; to require the president to submit annually a proposed balanced budget to Congress; and to allow Congress to waive the requirement for a balanced budget during a declared war.
1986-05-01	Fiscal 1987 Budget [SCONRES120]	Agreed To (70-25)
Adoption of the concurrent resolution to set budget targets for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1987 as follows: budget authority, $1,103.3 billion; outlays, $1,001.2 billion; revenues, $857 billion; deficit, $144 billion.
1986-05-07	Stinger Missile Sales to Afghanistan & Angola [S2295]	Agreed To (63-34)
Goldwater (R-AZ) motion to table (kill) the DeConcini (D-AZ) amendment to bar the transfer of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to anti-government freedom fighters in Afghanistan and Angola unless the President certified that certain conditions had been met.
1986-06-03	Allow Court-Ordered Forced Busing [S1965]	Failed (45-50)
Helms (R-NC) motion to table (kill) the Helms amendment to bar federal courts from forcing the busing of school children except in narrowly defined circumstances. Helms moved to table his own amendment in order to force a vote on the issue, then withdrew his amendment.
1986-06-18	Tax Reform [HR3838]	Agreed To (71-29)
Packwood (R-OR) motion to table (kill) the Mitchell (D-ME) amendment to add a third tax rate of 35 percent, reduce the bottom rate from 15 percent to 14 percent and retain the bill's top capital gains rate at 27 percent.
1986-07-23	Reconsider Manion Nomination	Rejected (49-49)
Byrd (D-WV) motion to reconsider the June 26 vote to confirm Daniel A. Manion of Indiana to be U.S. circuit judge for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The motion failed, with Vice-President Bush casting the tie-breaking vote.
1986-08-01	Prohibit AIDS Testing [HJRES668]	Failed (41-53)
Mathias (R-MD) motion to table (kill) the Helms (R-NC) amendment to the Finance Committee amendment, to disapprove the District of Columbia law banning "discrimination" by insurance companies against persons testing positive for the virus causing Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The Helms amendment was subsequently adopted by voice vote.
1986-08-05	Limit SDI Research & Funding [S2638]	Rejected (49-50)
Exon (D-NE) amendment to provide a limit of $3.56 billion for research and development on the Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars" program. President Reagan had requested $5.3 billion.
1986-08-07	Chemical Weapons Funding [S2638]	Rejected (50-50)
Pryor (D-AR) amendment to delete funds for the production of binary chemical weapons. Vice-President George Bush cast the tie-breaking vote to defeat the amendment.
1986-08-08	Anti-Satellite Missile Testing [S2638]	Agreed To (55-43)
Warner (R-VA) motion to table (kill) the Kerry (D-MA) amendment to bar tests against a target in space of the anti-satellite (ASAT) missile providing the Soviet Union conducts no ASAT tests.
1986-08-08	Midgetman / MX Survivability [S2638]	Agreed To (64-30)
Cohen (R-ME) motion to table (kill) the Wilson (R-CA) amendment to bar use of funds for full-scale development of a small mobile intercontinental ballistic missile or for deployment of more than 50 MX missiles unless the Secretary of Defense certifies that the small missile and the MX would be able to survive an enemy attack and that it would cost more for an enemy to nullify them than it would to build them.
1986-08-13	Contra Aid [HR5052]	Passed (59-41)
Passage of the bill to appropriate $8.2 billion in fiscal 1987 for military construction programs of the Defense Department, to provide $100 million in military and non-military aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters, and to provide $300 million in economic aid to the countries of Central America.
1986-09-16	D.C. Abortions [HR5175]	Agreed To (48-42)		No Vote
Appropriations Committee amendment to prohibit federal funds in the bill from being used for abortions, except when the mother's life would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or in cases of rape and incest. The committee amendment weakened the original language in the bill, which would have prohibited any funds in the bill -- federal or district -- from being used for abortions except in cases endangering the mother's life.
1986-09-17	Rehnquist Nomination	Confirmed (65-33)
Vote on the confirmation of President Reagan's nomination of Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist of Virginia to be Chief Justice of the United States.
1986-09-23	65 MPH Speed Limit [S2405]	Agreed To (56-36)
Symms (R-ID) amendment to allow states to raise the speed limit to 65 mph on rural interstate highways outside urbanized areas with populations of 50,000 or more.
1986-09-23	Davis-Bacon Exemptions [S2405]	Agreed To (49-46)
Symms (R-ID) amendment to increase from $2,000 to $250,000 the minimum value of contracts covered by the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which requires contractors to pay the local prevailing wage on federal construciton projects.
1986-10-02	South Africa Sanctions [HR4868]	Veto Overridden (78-21)
Passage, over President Reagan's Sept. 26 veto, of the bill to impose punitive economic sanctions against the Republic of South Africa. Among the sanctions imposed by the bill were bans on imports of South African iron, steel, sugar and other agricultural products. The bill also prohibited exports to South Africa of petroleum products, banned new U.S. investments there, and banned imports of South African uranium, coal and textiles.
1986-10-03	Superfund [HR2005]	Agreed To (88-8)
Adoption of the conference report on the bill to reauthorize the "Superfund" hazardous-waste cleanup program for fiscal 1987-91 at a funding level of $8.5 billion, and to establish a new program for cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks at $500,000.
1986-10-15	Death Penalty [HR5484]	Rejected (58-38)
Dole (R-KS) motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the Dole motion to concur in the House amendment to authorize $1.7 billion for drug interdiction, eradication, education and treatment efforts, and to increase penalties for certain drug offenses, with an amendment to make several modest changes from the House amendment. Opponents of the death penalty had refused to allow a vote on the bill until that provision was removed.

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).