Ralph Hall

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 3, 1923 in Fate, TX
Died: March 7, 2019 in Rockwall, TX

Military Service:

Elected Office:

Other notes:

Key House Vote Data for Ralph Hall in 1989

Date	Subject	Result	Conserv. Position	Hall Voted
1989-04-13	Contra Aid [HR1750]	Failed (94-329)
Dornan (R-CA) motion to recommit to the House Appropriations Committee the bill to provide non-military aid to the Nicaraguan resistance, with instructions to report it back to the House with an amendment to provide that humanitarian aid continue through Feb. 1990, unless Congress enacts a law specifically terminating it, and to provide procedures for expedited consideration in Congress of military aid to the freedom fighters if free and fair elections are not held in Nicaragua.
1989-04-17	Hatch Act Revisions [HR20]	Passed (297-90)
Sikorski (D-MN) motion to suspend the rules and pass the Clay (D-MO) bill to overhaul the 1939 Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activities. Under the new law, employees on the federal payroll, such as IRS agents, can campaign, raise funds and run for elective office.
1989-05-04	Fiscal 1990 Budget Resolution [HCONRES106]	Rejected (30-393)
Kasich (R-OH) substitute amendment to the Congressional Budget Resolution for FY 1990-92 to lower the deficit by $8.6 billion. The amendment would have frozen all discretionary spending at the FY 1989 program levels, reducing Medicare an additional $2.7 billion and providing $300 million in added savings.
1989-05-09	Vocational Education Reauthorization [HR7]	Agreed To (269-135)
Dannermeyer (R-CA) amendment to prohibit any money authorized by the Vocational Education Reauthorization to be made available to any state or local educational agency which prevents individuals from voluntarily participating in prayer in public schools.
1989-05-24	Fiscal 1989 Supplemental Appropriations [HR2072]	Passed (227-197)
Passage of the bill to provide $3,733,111,500 in new budget authority in fiscal 1989 for various agencies of government, including $822 million for "anti-drug" activities. The bill violated the bipartisan agreement set just weeks before, and ignored the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction program.
1989-06-14	Minimum-Wage Increase [HR2]	Veto Sustained (247-178)
Passage, over President Bush's June 13 veto, of the bill to raise the minimum wage from $3.35 an hour to $4.55 over three years, and to provide for a 60-day training wage -- equal to 85 percent of the minimum -- for workers who have not worked a total of 60 days.
1989-06-22	Foreign Aid Authorization [HR2655]	Agreed To (206-197)
Lewis (R-CA) amendment to the bill to require the Agency for International Development to consider the extent of economic freedom in foreign countries when deciding how much U.S. development aid to provide. The amendment would require the agency to establish an "index of economic freedom" consisting of such items as property rights and taxation. The agency would then have to evaluate each foreign country's standing on the index when considering whether to provide aid for development programs.
1989-07-20	Fiscal 1990 VA and HUD Appropriations [HR2916]	Rejected (152-268)
Bartlett (R-TX) amendment to reduce the Department of Housing and Urban Development's public housing construction program by $176 million. The unamended bill would increase the Section 8 rent-subsidy certificate program by $158.5 million, fund a public housing, resident-management technical assistance grant program with $2.5 million and fund a public housing drug-elimination grant program with $15 million.
1989-07-25	Fiscal 1990-91 Defense Department Authorization [HR2461]	Rejected (117-299)
Kyl (R-AZ) amendment to increase the authorization in the bill for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to $4.1 billion and to decrease research and development funding for the Army, Navy and Air Force. The amount of the SDI funding increase was to be $298 million.
1989-07-25	Fiscal 1990-91 Defense Department Authorization [HR2461]	Agreed To (248-175)
Bennett (D-FL) amendment to decrease the authorization in the bill for the Strategic Defense Initiative to $3.1 billion for the Defense and Energy Departments. This was an overall cut of $700 million, of which $694 million was taken from the Defense Department and $6 million from Department of Energy funding.
1989-07-26	Fiscal 1990-91 Defense Department Authorization [HR2461]	Agreed To (257-160)
Synar (D-OK) amendment to reduce the Armed Services Committee's B-2 recommendation by $470 million and block use of any of the fiscal 1990 B-2 procurement money until the Air Force proposes, and Congress approves, a new, less expensive production plan.
1989-07-26	Fiscal 1990-91 Defense Department Authorization [HR2461]	Agreed To (224-197)
Spratt (D-SC) amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act reducing by $502 million the funding for the MX missile rail-garrison program. The amendment cut funding for this project nearly in half, and prohibits any of the remaining funds from being used to build components.
1989-07-27	Fiscal 1990-91 Defense Department Authorization [HR2461]	Agreed To (240-179)
Owens (D-UT) amendment to eliminate $47 million from Army funds intended for the production of binary chemical munition projectiles and to prohibit the production of such munitions.
1989-07-27	Fiscal 1990-91 Defense Department Authorization [HR2461]	Agreed To (223-201)
Murphy (D-PA) substitute for the Stenholm (D-TX) amendment, to reduce the number of projects covered by the Davis-Bacon Act -- which sets wage standards for federal contracts -- by boosting from $2,000 to $50,000 the threshold below which projects would be exempt. The underlying Stenholm amendment would boost the threshold to $250,000. In addition, the Murphy amendment would force a larger number of contractors to be covered under Davis-Bacon.
1989-08-02	Fiscal 1990 District of Columbia Appropriations [HR3026]	Rejected (206-219)
Dornan (R-CA) amendment to the Fiscal Year 1990 District of Columbia Appropriations Act to prohibit the use of any funds -- federal or city -- to pay for abortions, except in instances when the mother's life is in danger.
1989-09-07	Hungary Most-Favored-Nation Status [HR1594]	Passed (221-169)
Gibbons (D-FL) bill to extend Most Favored Nation status to the Communist People's Republic of Hungary. The new status would provide favorable tariff rates to products imported from Hungary.
1989-09-13	Fiscal 1990 Interior Appropriations [HR2788]	Agreed To (264-153)
Regula (R-OH) motion to order the previous question (thus ending debate) and therefore prevent an amendment being offered wihch would instruct House conferees to agree to a Senate provision prohibiting use of funds provided under the bill for the National Endowment for the Arts to support obscene or indecent art. The Regula motion instead instructs House conferees to merely "address the concerns" of the Senate obscenity amendment.
1989-09-25	Fiscal 1990 Legislative Branch Appropriations [HR3014]	Agreed To (245-137)
Conte (R-MA) motion to instruct the House conferees on the fiscal 1990 legislative branch appropriations bill to accept a Senate amendment that would prevent use of the franking privilege (free mailing privileges) to pay for mass mailings by members of Congress, and to use the $45 million which would be saved to fund anti-drug programs.
1989-09-28	Fiscal 1990 Budget Reconciliation [HR3299]	Rejected (190-239)
Rostenkowski (D-IL) amendment to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act to eliminate the capital gains tax cut called for in the reconciliation bill. The Rostenkowski amendment also would have raised the top marginal tax rate from 28% to 33% and created something called a "deficit-reduction trust fund".
1989-10-03	Fiscal 1990 District of Columbia Appropriations [HR3026]	Agreed To (262-154)
Dannemeyer (R-CA) amendment to the Green (R-NY) motion to instruct the House conferees on the bill to recede from their disagreement and concur in the Senate amendment to amend the D.C. Code to exempt religious educational institutions from laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1989-10-05	Fiscal 1990 Budget Reconciliation [HR3299]	Rejected (140-285)
Edwards (R-OK) substitute amendment to the Budget Reconciliation bill to eliminate all child-care provisions from the reconciliation. The Edwards proposal would replace them with an expansion of the earned-income tax credit plus a new supplemental tax credit for working-poor families with children under the age of five.
1989-10-26	Fiscal 1990 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations [HR2991]	Failed (199-206)
Stenholm (D-TX) motion that the House conferees concur with the Senate amendment to impose certain restrictions on the activities of lawyers receiving money from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The LSC has strayed from its original mandate -- providing for the day-to-day legal needs of the poor -- by getting involved in lobbying, union-organizing, political redistricting, and harassment of farmers.
1989-11-02	Abrogation of Nicaraguan Cease-Fire [HCONRES221]	Agreed To (262-152)
Edwards (R-OK) motion to recommend to the House Foreign Affairs Committee the resolution to condemn Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's action to suspend the cease-fire in that government's civil war with contra guerrillas and to call on both the government and the contras to abide by the cease-fire, with instructions to amend it with a substitute containing the text of the Senate resolution which denounces Ortega's announced suspension and affirms U.S. intentions to continue supplying non-military aid to the Freedom Fighters until Feb. 28, 1990.
1989-11-16	Government Pay and Ethics Package [HR3660]	Passed (252-174)
Passage of the bill to phase out honoraria, revise ethics rules and raise salaries for members of the House of Representatives and high officials of the executive and judicial branches. Speaker Foley's (D-WA) bill would give House members a pay raise from $89,000 to over $120,000 in just two years.
1989-11-20	Fiscal 1990 Foreign Operations Appropriations [HR3743]	Rejected (194-215)
Adoption of the rule to provide for House floor consideration of the bill to make appropriations for foreign aid programs in fiscal 1990. The rule would have allowed consideration of an amendment to withhold 30 percent of U.S. military aid to El Salvador until after April 1.

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).