Washington, DC, February 3, 2004 - The American Public Health Association today released its annual voting record, which measures how members of Congress voted on legislation that is important to public health.
In the Senate, 27 out of 100 senators voted in support of APHA's position on all of the key issues for which their votes were recorded and received a 100 percent rating. Thirty-six senators received a 0 percent rating because they voted against APHA's position on all of the key issues for which their votes were recorded.
Key Senate votes from 2003 included in this year's record focused on issues such as funding for minority health programs, abortion restrictions, funding for the Indian Health Service, funding for toxic waste cleanups, overtime pay protection, global climate change, funding to combat global HIV/AIDS and Medicare prescription drug coverage.
In the House, 103 out of 435 representatives voted in support of APHA's position on all of the key issues for which their votes were recorded and received a 100 percent rating. Eighty-three representatives voted against APHA's position on all key issues for which their votes were recorded and received a 0 percent rating.
Key House votes from 2003 focused on issues such as health funding in the federal budget, smallpox vaccinations, abstinence funding, overtime pay protections, National Institutes of Health funding limitations, funding to combat global HIV/AIDS, prescription drug importation, abortion restrictions and Medicare prescription drug coverage.
The APHA congressional voting record only includes votes on selected pieces of legislation. The records do not reflect the number of legislative proposals a member introduces, leadership in committees, influence over other members or level of expertise. In addition, readers of the voting record are advised that votes on particular legislative provisions should be judged in the overall political context that surrounds such provisions as well as in the context of other related and unrelated legislative provisions contained in the same bill, resolution or amendment. Therefore, APHA asks readers not to judge a member of Congress' qualifications for office or overall level of support for public health and APHA's positions solely on the basis of this report.
The voting record appears in the February 2004 issue of The Nation's Health, the official newspaper of the American Public Health Association. The voting record may be ordered by purchasing a single issue of the February 2004 The Nation's Health for $5 by phone at (202) 777-2516 or by fax at (202) 777-2531.
APHA members may access a PDF version of the vote tally from the APHA Members Only Area at www.apha.org by using their member password. Members who need more information should call Don Hoppert at (202) 777-2514. Members who have forgotten their member password should e-mail membership.mail@apha.org or call (202) 777-2400.