Senate approves $3 trillion budget

WASHINGTON -- After a marathon session that featured 44 votes cast in less than 24 hours, the Senate voted 51-44 last week to approve a $3 trillion federal budget for the next fiscal year.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted for the budget.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted against it.

The House voted 212-207 to pass a similar budget, but there are still differences with the Senate version, which must be resolved by negotiations between both chambers.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted for the budget.

Reps. Dean Heller and Jon Porter, both R-Nev., voted against it.

The budgets reflected the priorities of the Democratic majorities for taxes and spending in the coming year.

A key vote during the budget debate included a proposal to ban federal spending on local projects for one year.

Advocates of the moratorium on so-called pork barrel spending said both parties were guilty of earmarking pet projects for political gain.

Critics argued natural disasters and other unforeseen circumstances often require earmarks to help local communities recover.

The Senate rejected the spending moratorium by a vote of 71-29.

Reid voted to continue earmarks.

Ensign voted to ban earmarks for one year.

The moratorium was inserted in a Republican alternative budget plan, which failed by a vote of 263-157.

Berkley, Heller and Porter voted against the GOP budget alternative.

TERRORISM SURVEILLANCE

After almost a month of charges by the White House that national security was being compromised, the House voted 213-197 for a controversial surveillance bill to prevent terrorist attacks.

But President Bush still plans to veto the House bill because it does not provide full immunity for telecommunications companies that assist federal intelligence agencies in tracking conversations by suspected terrorists.

At one point in the debate, House leaders agreed to a closed session to discuss sensitive parts of the surveillance program they did not want to disclose to the public.

It was only the fourth closed House session since 1830.

Supporters of the House bill said it would allow terrorism surveillance to continue without abdicating constitutional safeguards.

Opponents said the House should have adopted the Senate bill, which includes total immunity for telecommunications companies.

Berkley voted for the House surveillance bill.

Heller and Porter voted against it.

WATERBOARDING PRESERVED

The House voted 225-188 to ban the interrogation method of waterboarding, but the margin was about 50 votes short of the total needed to overturn a presidential veto issued earlier this month.

Backers of the ban equated waterboarding with torture because it makes detainees think they are drowning.

Bush and other advocates of the interrogation technique said it has proven effective in the war against terrorism.

Berkley voted to ban waterboarding.

Heller and Porter voted against the ban.

ETHICS GROUP APPROVED

An independent office outside Congress would be established to investigate ethical violations by lawmakers, according to a 229-182 vote in the House.

The bill would allow a panel of nonmembers to probe allegations and refer them to ethics committees in the House and Senate if warranted.

Supporters of the bill said it would make Congress more accountable to voters, and remove the appearance that members protect each other.

Critics argued Congress is obligated to govern itself and the bill is an overreaction to ethical lapses by a handful of members.

Berkley, Heller and Porter voted for the independent ethics office.