Votes in the Senate

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1. Bargaining Rights: Senators on Feb. 15 refused, 47-51, to block an administration plan to allow passenger screeners and other Transportation Security Administration workers to engage in collective bargaining. They could negotiate workplace issues other than wages and could not strike. A yes vote opposed the plan. (S 223)

2. Health-Law Funding: Senators on April 14 refused, 47-53, to deny funding in 2011 for the 2010 healthcare law. While the brunt of the law would take effect in 2014, many provisions, such those to close the donut hole in the Medicare drug plan and enroll youths up to 26 in their parents’ plans, already were operative. A yes vote was to defund the law. (H Con Res 35)

3. Oil-Industry Taxes: Senators on May 17 failed, 52-48, to reach 60 votes needed to advance a Democratic bill that would end certain tax breaks for the five largest oil and gas companies. A yes vote backed a bill to save the Treasury $21 billion over 10 years by limiting the companies’ use of certain tax deductions and credits. (S 940)

4. Expedited Oil Drilling: Senators on May 18 defeated, 42-57, a bill requiring the administration to act within 60 days on applications for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico that were put on hold after the BP oil spill in 2010. A yes vote backed a bill that also sought to spur deepwater drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf off the Atlantic Coast. (S 953)

5. The Paul Ryan Budget: Senators on May 25 defeated, 40-57, a federal budget for 2012 and beyond identical to a House-passed fiscal plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. A yes vote backed a fiscal plan to gradually privatize Medicare, convert Medicaid to a state-run block-grant program, slash annual deficits and permanently extend the Bush-era tax cuts. (HCR 34)

6. Budget Control Act: Senators on Aug. 2 joined the House, 74-26, in raising the national-debt limit so that the Treasury could pay bills already incurred by this Congress and previous ones. A yes vote was to pass the Budget Control Act, which mandated at least $2.7 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years that Republicans said would come from domestic, defense and entitlement budgets, not changes in tax policy. (S 365)

7. Obama Jobs Bill: Senators on Oct. 11 failed, 50-49, to reach 60 votes needed to end Republican blockage of a bill by President Obama that would spend $447 billion over 10 years on programs and tax cuts to create jobs. The cost would be offset by raising taxes on incomes over $1 million. A yes vote was to advance the bill. (S 1660)

8. Terrorism Trials: Voting 47-52, senators on Oct. 21 refused to require terrorism suspects linked to organizations such as al-Qaeda to be tried in U.S. military tribunals rather than in federal courts. A yes vote backed the amendment to the 2011 defense budget (HR 2112) over arguments that federal courts have a long record of successful prosecutions in terrorism cases.

9. Republican Jobs Plan: Senators on Nov. 3 defeated, 47-53, a GOP response to a jobs bill offered by President Obama (above). A yes vote backed a bill (S 1786) that would prohibit new environmental rules for one year and extend transportation programs for two years, with the $40 billion cost offset by cuts in other programs.

10. Caitlin Halligan Nomination: Senators on Dec. 6 failed, 54-45, to end a GOP filibuster against the nomination of Caitlin J. Halligan to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. This appeared to scrap the informal “Gang of 14” rule that judicial filibusters should not be mounted for ideological reasons. Critics faulted Halligan for “activist” stands on issues such as the legal liability of firearms manufacturers. A yes vote backed the nominee.

11. Consumer Protection Chief: Senators on Dec. 8 failed, 53-45, to reach 60 votes for ending GOP blockage of the nomination of Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law. A yes vote supported the nomination.

12. Social Security Tax Break: Senators on Dec. 17 voted, 89-10, to extend through February a tax break and economic stimulus under which workers are contributing 4.2 percent of their pay to Social Security, not the usual 6.2 percent. A yes vote was to pass a bill that also extended jobless benefits and gave the administration 60 days to decide whether to approve the proposed Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline. (HR 3630)