Washington, D.C., Roll Call

WASHINGTON— Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending Sept. 24.

House

VETERANS PROGRAMS: The House has passed the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act (H.R. 5293), sponsored by Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Ind., to permanently authorize the VA’s dental insurance program and extend statutory authority for two other VA programs. The vote, on Sept. 20, was unanimous with 423 yeas.

YEAS

Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-3rd

INFLATION AND DISABILITY BENEFITS: The House has passed the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act (S. 189), sponsored by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. The bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to match the level of cost-of-living Social Security benefits increases for veterans’ disability and survivors’ benefits programs. A supporter, Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., called the benefit increases “a quality-of-life guarantee in the retirement years, especially for veterans suffering with service-connected disabilities and ailments.” The vote, on Sept. 20, was unanimous with 423 yeas.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

BRAIN INJURIES AND DIPLOMACY: The House has passed the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act (S. 1828), sponsored by Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, to provide payments to federal government employees as compensation for brain injuries suffered in service overseas or domestically. A supporter, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the bill responded to injuries that began in diplomatic facilities in Havana in 2016 by taking “important steps to assist the victims of these attacks and ensure that our people will be compensated for their brain injuries.” The vote, on Sept. 21, was unanimous with 427 yeas.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

SUPPLEMENTAL SPENDING: The House has passed the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act (H.R. 5305), sponsored by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Conn., to fund the federal government through Dec. 3, suspend the federal debt limit through 2022, and add emergency supplemental funding to deal with the withdrawal from Afghanistan and recent weather events. DeLauro said: “This bill provides tens of billions of dollars to support the working middle-class families who live paycheck to paycheck.” A bill opponent, Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, criticized the absence of funding for Israel’s Iron Dome system for defending against missile attacks and the failure to adequately respond to the surge of attempted migration across the border with Mexico. The vote, on Sept. 21, was 220 yeas to 211 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

DISABILITY AND STUDENT LOANS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), that would require the cancellation of private student loans made to borrowers who subsequently become permanently disabled. Dean said the amendment “would right a wrong and bring parity between protections for private student loan borrowers and federal student loan borrowers.” An opponent, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said: “Congress should not attempt to legislate the terms of agreement to which the parties have already agreed.” The vote, on Sept. 22, was 219 yeas to 204 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

MEDICAL DEBT AND VETERANS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350). The amendment would keep a military member’s debts stemming from medically necessary procedures from appearing on a credit report, and take other measures to limit debt collection from veterans. Tlaib said: “These protections would provide service members much-needed clarity to figure out what they actually owe and what the impact will have on their credit.” An amendment opponent, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said removing debt from credit reports “will undermine the safety and soundness of financial institutions and the financial system more broadly.” The vote, on Sept. 22, was 222 yeas to 203 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

MANAGING PUBLIC LANDS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350). The amendment would designate close to 1.3 million acres of federal land in Washington, Colorado and California as wilderness or national monuments. DeGette said: “Preserving these untouched public lands from the threat of future development is more than just protecting our environment. It is about protecting our economy and jobs and our western way of life.” An opponent, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said the resulting land-use restrictions “will restrict forest management practices that will render these lands more prone to catastrophic wildfires.” The vote, on Sept. 22, was 222 yeas to 200 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

ISRAELI MISSILE DEFENSE: The House has passed the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 5323), sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to provide $1 billion in fiscal 2022 for Israel’s government to maintain its Iron Dome system for countering short-range missile attacks on the country. DeLauro said the funding “fulfills our moral imperative to protect the lives of innocent civilians and helps build the foundations for peace” between Israelis and Palestinians. An opponent, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., called the bill “an effort to enable and support war crimes, human rights abuses, and violence” by Israel’s government. The vote, on Sept. 23, was 420 yeas to 9 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

CIVIL WAR IN YEMEN: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), that would stop funding for the shipment of U.S. equipment to support Saudi Arabian airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Khanna said: “We are not going to use taxpayer dollars to give them equipment for their planes to bomb Yemeni’s kids.” An amendment opponent, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said: “One-sided initiatives that restrict U.S. support for Saudi Arabia, in word or deed, only telegraph more vulnerability that will lead to further attacks by the Houthis.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 219 yeas to 207 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

FEDERAL CONTRACTING: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), that would bar the president, vice president, and Cabinet officials from contracting to provide goods or services to the federal government. Bowman said that with the ban “we can ensure that every elected official is free from the conflict of interest associated with both deciding who gets federal contracts and then benefiting from those contracts.” An opponent, Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., said: “The amendment adds broad new language to the criminal code and could discourage people from entering federal service.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 234 yeas to 183 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

EXECUTIVE BRANCH DIRECTORY: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), that would replace a congressional print directory of senior officials in the executive branch with an online, constantly updated public directory. Maloney said that because the print directory is published only once every four years, “current information about senior administration officials is often outdated and difficult to find,” making a change desirable. An opponent, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, said the directory was already posted online, and the proposed expanded directory would contain personal information about the executive branch officials “that can be readily exploited by political activists to track down and target politically appointed leaders.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 223 yeas to 202 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), that would issue a federal government apology to people in 12 Western states and two U.S. Pacific Ocean territories for radiation exposures that resulted from testing nuclear weapons. Leger Fernandez said: “As a result of the exposure, tens of thousands of downwinders contracted cancers and other diseases.” An opponent, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said: “The science does not support the assertion that atomic weapons testing caused widespread instances of cancer.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 240 yeas to 185 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

EXPORTING FIREARMS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Norma J. Torres, D-Calif., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), that would require the Commerce Department to notify Congress when the agency issues licenses for the export of firearms. Torres said the notification requirement would “ensure that foreign munitions sales receive the careful scrutiny they deserve.” An amendment opponent, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said the House already had oversight of export licenses, and a redundant requirement would only make it harder “for us to sell our allies things that they want to have from us and we want to sell to them.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 215 yeas to 213 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

MILITARY BUDGET: The House has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350), sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., to authorize $753 billion of military spending and military construction programs for fiscal 2022, and establish military personnel levels for the year. Smith said the bill would help enhance U.S. national security, while avoiding an excessive increase in spending over 2021 levels. An opponent, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the continued increase in funds for the military “is coming at the cost of our domestic development here at home.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 316 yeas to 113 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

Senate

APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Veronica S. Rossman to serve as a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Rossman has been a public defender for the federal district courts of Colorado and Wyoming since 2010. A supporter, Sen. Michael F. Bennet, D-Colo., said: “We need more judges like Veronica, who are not only highly qualified, but who know what it means to be on the wrong end of the legal system that too often fails the most vulnerable in our society.” The vote, on Sept. 20, was 50 yeas to 42 nays.

YEAS

Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Patty Murray, D-Wash.

NEW MEXICO JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Margaret Strickland to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for New Mexico. Strickland has been a private practice lawyer at her own law firm in Las Cruces since 2011; previously, she was a public defender in the state. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said of Strickland: “She has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to equal justice under the law, and as a judge, she will ensure that every voice is heard in the courtroom.” The vote, on Sept. 21, was 52 yeas to 45 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

TAX POLICY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lily Batchelder to serve as the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy. Batchelder was chief tax counsel for the Democratic majority on the Senate Finance Committee from 2010 to 2014; since then, she has been a law professor at New York University. In praising Batchelder, a supporter, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said she understood “that if you really want to tackle big challenges, if you want to come up with big solutions and make them sustainable, you have to find common ground.” The vote, on Sept. 22, was 64 yeas to 34 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Jayme White to serve as a deputy U.S. trade representative for the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East, Labor, and Environment. White has been a trade policy adviser on the Senate Finance Committee since 2014, and from 2009 to 2014 was a staffer for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden cited White’s record of bringing legislators together to help create durable trade policies that improve transparency and accountability in trade matters, and create more opportunities for U.S. exports. The vote, on Sept. 22, was 80 yeas to 18 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

D.C. DISTRICT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Florence Y. Pan to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for Washington, D.C. Pan has been a judge on the Washington, D.C., Superior Court since 2009, and was previously a federal prosecutor in the District. The vote, on Sept. 23, was 68 yeas to 30 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

TRADE WITH ASIA: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Sarah Bianchi to serve as a deputy U.S. trade representative for Asia, Africa, Investment, Services, Textiles, and Industrial Competitiveness. Bianchi was a senior economic and domestic policy aide to Vice President Joe Biden from 2011 to 2014, then became a senior adviser at the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. A supporter, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Bianchi “has helped build a strong Biden economic agenda that is focused on making sure that all Americans have the opportunity to get ahead.” The vote, on Sept. 23, was 85 yeas to 11 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

DIPLOMACY WITH EAST ASIA: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Daniel J. Kritenbrink to serve as an assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Kritenbrink, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam since 2017, had previously served as a diplomat in China and Japan, beginning in 1994. The vote, on Sept. 23, was 72 yeas to 14 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray