Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.insight From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: YEAS & NAYS;HOUSE Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 11:27:05 EST Message-ID: \SE YEAS & NAYS;HOUSE \BY INSIGHT 1. HR 5517 - Benefits for Unmarried Couples On Sept. 24, the House voted 235-173 to stop the District of Columbia from extending employment, health or governmental benefits to homosexual or unmarried heterosexual couples on the same basis as they are extended to married couples. Allowing such benefits would be "a symbol to the rest of the nation that intact families no longer are the standard in America," said Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Democratic delegate from the District of Columbia, said residents were just asking Congress "to let us run our own affairs." D91-156; R 144-16; I 0-1. 2. HR 5517 - Death Penalty The same day, House members voted 264-129 to place a death penalty measure on the ballot in the District of Columbia in November. The death penalty would be for first-degree murder. Urging a "yea" vote, Virginia Republican George Allen said lawmakers find themselves "awash in a sea of lawless violence that is literally just beyond these doors." Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the House should "respect home rule for the District and allow them to determine when and how to deal with the death penalty." D118-121; R 146-7; I 0-1. 3. HR 5323 - Democracy in Cuba Also on Sept. 24, the House voted 276-135 to toughen the 30-year-old trade embargo against Cuba to include foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies and ban any ship that docks in Cuba from American ports. The embargo aims for democratic elections and a free market economy in Cuba. Expecting Fidel Castro to voluntarily accept change "is the ultimate triumph of hope over reality," said Robert Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat who sponsored the bill. Any "pain and misery" that accompanies Castro's fall should not have "American fingerprints all over it," said Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat. D139-110; R 137-24; I 0-1. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM