Voting Records of the Senate: Key Senate Votes
JOURNAL: ISSUE 3 - 2012
1) Middle Class Tax Cut Act
This plan (S. 3412) to provide tax relief to middle class families, backed by President Obama, BAC and the AFL-CIO, would have protected 98% of taxpayers with incomes less than $250,000 from a tax increase as well as 97% of small business owners. Although it was passed by the Senate 51 to 48, the House voted instead to extend all of the expiring Bush tax cuts for one year, including the richest 2% of all Americans. (July 25, 2012)
BAC Position: 
SUPPORTED = Yea/Y Vote
2) Bring Jobs Home Act
If enacted, S. 3362 would have provided strong incentives for businesses to "insource" jobs – in other words, to bring back outsourced jobs to the United States. As so often happens in the Senate of late, the bill's supporters fell four votes short of the 60 votes required to end debate and move forward with a vote. A 'yes' vote on this procedural motion vote indicates a Senator's support for the measure. (July 19, 2012; 56-41)
BAC Position: SUPPORTED = Yea/Y Vote
3) Protecting NLRB's Ability to Issue Fair Election Rules
Despite Congressional Republicans' best efforts to roll back workers' rights with S.J. Res. 36, the U.S. Senate defeated (45-54) the measure, which would have invalidated a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule that makes modest changes in the procedures for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union. It also would have banned the NLRB from ever issuing any similar fair election rule. Before the vote, the White House announced that President Obama opposed the Republican assault on workers and would veto the legislation if it got to his desk. (April 24, 2012)
BAC Position: 
OPPOSED = Nay/N Vote
4) Raising the Debt Ceiling
By a vote of 44 to 52, conservatives failed to block a necessary $1.2 trillion debt ceiling increase that was needed to cover Social Security, Medicare and other vital payments for middle class Americans and to avert what most economists predicted would be financial catastrophe if debt ceiling limit was not raised. Even in the context of Congress' growing partisanship, the willingness of the bill's supporters to choose national default as a viable political/policy option is astonishing. (January 26, 2012)
BAC Position: OPPOSED = Nay/N Vote
5) Bring Jobs Home Act
When President Obama's original $447 billion jobs plan was rejected by intractable ideologues in Congress in early October 2011, the next scaled down version, S. 1723 – the Back to Work Act – met a similar fate several weeks later. In a vote across party lines, supporters failed to get the requisite 60 votes in the Senate to end debate and proceed to a vote. (October 20, 2011)
BAC Position: SUPPORTED = Yea/Y Vote
| Senator | Party | State | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reflects BAC Position | Y | Y | N | N | Y | ||
| Note: * Open seat 2012 | |||||||
| Sessions, Jeff | R | AL | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Shelby, Richard C. | R | AL | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Begich, Mark | D | AK | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Murkowski, Lisa | R | AK | N | N | Y | Y | |
| Boozman, John | R | AR | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Pryor, Mark L. | D | AR | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Kyl, Jon* | R | AZ | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| McCain, John | R | AZ | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Boxer, Barbara | D | CA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Feinstein, Dianne | D | CA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Bennet, Michael F. | D | CO | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Udall, Mark | D | CO | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Blumenthal, Richard | D | CT | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Lieberman, Joseph I.* | ID | CT | N | Y | N | N | Y |
| Carper, Thomas R. | D | DE | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Coons, Christopher A. | D | DE | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Nelson, Bill | D | FL | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Rubio, Marco | R | FL | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Chambliss, Saxby | R | GA | N | N | Y | NV | N |
| Isakson, Johnny | R | GA | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Akaka, Daniel K.* | D | HI | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Inouye, Daniel K. | D | HI | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Grassley, Chuck | R | IA | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Harkin, Tom | D | IA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Crapo, Mike | R | ID | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Risch, James E. | R | ID | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Durbin, Richard J. | D | IL | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Kirk, Mark | R | IL | NV | NV | NV | Y | NV |
| Coats, Dan | R | IN | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Lugar, Richard G.* | R | IN | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Moran, Jerry | R | KS | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Roberts, Pat | R | KS | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| McConnell, Mitch | R | KY | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Paul, Rand | R | KY | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Landrieu, Mary L. | D | LA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Vitter, David | R | LA | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Brown, Scott P. | R | MA | N | Y | Y | N | N |
| Kerry, John F. | D | MA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Cardin, Benjamin L. | D | MD | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Mikulski, Barbara A. | D | MD | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Collins, Susan M. | R | ME | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Snowe, Olympia J.* | R | ME | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Levin, Carl | D | MI | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Stabenow, Debbie | D | MI | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Franken, Al | D | MN | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Klobuchar, Amy | D | MN | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Blunt, Roy | R | MO | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| McCaskill, Claire | D | MO | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Cochran, Thad | R | MS | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Wicker, Roger F. | R | MS | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Baucus, Max | D | MT | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Tester, Jon | D | MT | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Johanns, Mike | R | NE | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Nelson, Ben* | D | NE | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Ayotte, Kelly | R | NH | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Shaheen, Jeanne | D | NH | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Lautenberg, Frank R. | D | NJ | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Menendez, Robert | D | NJ | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Bingaman, Jeff* | D | NM | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Udall, Tom | D | NM | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Heller, Dean | R | NV | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Reid, Harry | D | NV | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Gillibrand, Kirsten E. | D | NY | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Schumer, Charles E. | D | NY | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Burr, Richard | R | NC | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Hagan, Kay R. | D | NC | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Conrad, Kent* | D | ND | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Hoeven, John | R | ND | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Brown, Sherrod | D | OH | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Portman, Rob | R | OH | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Coburn, Tom | R | OK | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Inhofe, James M. | R | OK | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Merkley, Jeff | D | OR | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Wyden, Ron | D | OR | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Casey, Robert P., Jr. | D | PA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Toomey, Patrick J. | R | PA | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Reed, Jack | D | RI | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Whitehouse, Sheldon | D | RI | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| DeMint, Jim | R | SC | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Graham, Lindsey | R | SC | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Johnson, Tim | D | SD | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Thune, John | R | SD | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Alexander, Lamar | R | TN | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Corker, Bob | R | TN | N | N | Y | NV | N |
| Cornyn, John | R | TX | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Hutchison, Kay Bailey* | R | TX | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Hatch, Orrin G. | R | UT | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Lee, Mike | R | UT | N | N | Y | Y | |
| Warner, Mark R. | D | VA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Webb, Jim* | D | VA | N | Y | N | N | Y |
| Leahy, Patrick J. | D | VT | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Sanders, Bernard | I | VT | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Cantwell, Maria | D | WA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Murray, Patty | D | WA | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Johnson, Ron | R | WI | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Kohl, Herb* | D | WI | Y | NV | N | N | Y |
| Manchin, Joe, III | D | WV | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Rockefeller, John D., IV | D | WV | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Barrasso, John | R | WY | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Enzi, Michael B. | R | WY | N | N | Y | Y | N |