Washington D.C. Roll Call report

WASHINGTON— Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending April 8.

Along with this week’s roll call votes, the Senate also passed the following measures by voice vote: the Strengthening Oversight for Veterans Act (S. 2687), to give the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs testimonial subpoena authority; and a resolution (S. Res. 503), expressing the sense of the Senate that China’s government should immediately guarantee the safety and freedom of tennis star Peng Shuai.

House

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: The House has passed the Medical Marijuana Research Act (H.R. 5657), sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., to create a new, less stringent federal registration process for research into medical marijuana. The vote, on April 4, was 343 yeas to 75 nays.

YEAS

Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-3rd

TREATING BIRTH DEFECTS: The House has passed the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act (H.R. 1916), sponsored by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., to require health insurers to cover birth defect treatments in their plans. Eshoo said the bill was needed because “for babies who have oral defects such as cleft palates, skeletal defects, congenital cataracts, or hearing defects, insurance companies have systematically denied or delayed medically necessary treatments.” An opponent, Rep. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said vague language in the bill meant “that not one person can articulate which medical procedures or treatments would be required to be covered by insurance.” The vote, on April 4, was 310 yeas to 110 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

ECONOMIC SECURITY: The House has passed the DHS Trade and Economic Security Council Act (H.R. 4476), sponsored by Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., to create a trade and economic security advisory council at the Homeland Security Department. Meijer said the council’s work to “identify concentrated economic risks, set priorities, and coordinate enterprisewide action on economic security matters” would be of critical importance for the country. The vote, on April 5, was 348 yeas to 75 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

HAZARD MITIGATION: The House has passed the Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans Act (H.R. 5689), sponsored by Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., to change various rules for federal funding to local governments and nonprofit groups for disaster hazard mitigation and planning programs. DeFazio said: “Federal policy that focuses on investment in mitigation and bolstering resilience is basic good governance and will lessen the impacts of future disasters.” The vote, on April 5, was 383 yeas to 41 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

UKRAINE AND NATO: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 831), sponsored by Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., to stress the importance of democratic principles at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and NATO’s commitment to bolstering democratic institutions in NATO member countries. Connolly said of the need for the resolution: “The values upon which the alliance have been founded are being challenged by external enemies of democracy, all too tragically being witnessed in the Ukraine.” The vote, on April 5, was 362 yeas to 63 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

CAPITOL RIOT SUBPOENAS: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 1037), sponsored by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., to recommend that Trump administration staffers Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro be held in contempt of Congress for not complying with subpoenas issued by the House subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Thompson said that because Scavino and Navarro were government employees, they should respond to legitimate legislative inquiries “about their roles in trying to overturn the 2020 election.” An opponent, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said: “The reason Scavino and Navarro shouldn’t be held in contempt is that the January 6th Committee itself is so performative, illegitimate, and unconstitutional, kicking off the Republicans that Leader McCarthy sent to serve on the committee.” The vote, on April 6, was 220 yeas to 203 nays.

NAYS

Herrera Beutler

RUSSIA WAR CRIMES: The House has passed the Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act (H.R. 7276), sponsored by Rep. Michael T. McCaul, R-Texas. The bill would require the president to send to Congress a report on war crimes and other atrocities committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. McCaul said: “We cannot wait for the next atrocity before we act. We must do what we can now to deter Russian leaders, commanders, and troops in the field from committing further war crimes.” The vote, on April 6, was 418 yeas to 7 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

RESTAURANT SUBSIDIES: The House has passed the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act (H.R. 3807), sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., to add $55 billion to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a Covid relief grant program that began in spring 2021. Blumenauer said: “Our small, independent restaurants and other businesses have not fully recovered. This is why the legislation is critical.” An opponent, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said rather than appropriating billions of dollars of new funds and furthering inflation, Congress should use already appropriated funds to assist the restaurant industry. The vote, on April 7, was 223 yeas to 203 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

TRADE WITH RUSSIA: The House has passed the Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act (H.R. 7108), sponsored by Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., to authorize the president to increase duties on goods imported from Russia or Belarus through 2023, and authorize a broader standard for applying visa and property-related sanctions against foreigners accused of serious human rights abuses. The vote, on April 7, was 420 yeas to 3 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

ENERGY IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA: The House has passed the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act (H.R. 6968), sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, to bar the importation from Russia of a set of energy products, including petroleum and natural gas, with a potential waiver of the ban if U.S. interests warrant a waiver. A supporter, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said the ban was needed to end “the flow of American dollars toward Russian oil that acts as a treasury for Russia’s war machine.” The vote, on April 7, was 413 yeas to 9 nays.

YEAS

Herrera Beutler

Senate

SANCTIONS OFFICIAL: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of James O’Brien to be the head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination. O’Brien, a State Department staffer and official starting in 1989, has, since 2017, been an executive at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business consultancy. A supporter, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said that at State, O’Brien “led a large and successful sanctions program and advised on a range of issues, including peace negotiations in Europe, scientific and environmental agreements, and initiatives to investigate and prosecute persons responsible for war crimes.” The vote, on April 6, was 71 yeas to 26 nays.

YEAS

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

TRADE WITH RUSSIA: The Senate has passed the Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act (H.R. 7108), sponsored by Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., to authorize the president to increase duties on goods imported from Russia or Belarus through 2023, and authorize a broader standard for applying visa and property-related sanctions against foreigners accused of serious human rights abuses. A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said: “The legislation will go a long way to landing a painful, severe blow on Putin’s economy. It will hinder his ability to keep funding his war machine.” The vote, on April 7, was unanimous with 100 yeas.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

ENERGY IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA: The Senate has passed the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act (H.R. 6968), sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, to bar the importation from Russia of a set of energy products, including petroleum and natural gas, with a potential waiver of the ban if U.S. interests warrant a waiver. The vote, on April 7, was unanimous with 100 yeas.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

SUPREME COURT: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court. Jackson, a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals since June 2021, was earlier a U.S. district court judge for Washington, D.C., starting in 2013, and a commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2013. A supporter, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said: “Judge Jackson has the intellect, the integrity, and the temperament befitting an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and she doesn’t have an ideological axe to grind.” An opponent, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., cited “her record as a federal judge, which includes numerous instances of the type of judicial activism that we cannot and should not tolerate from the federal judiciary.” The vote, on April 7, was 53 yeas to 47 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray