Washington, D.C., Roll Call report

WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending Dec. 23.

The usual comments from representatives and senators are missing for many of the votes, because issues of the Congressional Record for the past two days have not yet been published.

House

PAY FOR U.S. ATHLETES: The House has passed the Equal Pay for Team USA Act (S. 2333), sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to require equal compensation for male and female athletes officially representing the U.S. in the Olympics and other international amateur athletic contests. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 350 yeas to 59 nays.

NOT VOTING

Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-3rd

IMMIGRATION CLASSIFICATIONS: The House has passed the Energy Security and Lightering Independence Act (S. 5168), sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., to classify as nonimmigrant aliens foreigners who are passing through the U.S. in transit in order to reach shipping vessels on which the foreigners will transfer liquid cargoes. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 394 yeas to 19 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

INVESTIGATING CHILD ABUSE: The House has passed the Respect for Child Survivors Act (S. 4926), sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to establish standards for Federal Bureau of Investigation team investigations of alleged cases of child sexual abuse and child trafficking. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 385 yeas to 28 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

BRAIN DAMAGE RESEARCH: The House has passed the Dr. Joanne Smith Memorial Rehabilitation Innovation Centers Act (S. 2834), sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to publish lists of brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation research innovation centers. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 393 yeas to 19 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

TRIBAL WATER RIGHTS: The House has passed a bill (S. 3168), sponsored by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., to extend to 2025 a deadline for the Interior Department to make findings regarding water rights held by the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 378 yeas to 33 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

COLORADO RIVER WATER RIGHTS: The House has passed the Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act (S. 3308), sponsored by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., to authorize tribes located along the Colorado River to exchange water storage rights to be used off their reservations. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 397 yeas to 12 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

PRESIDENTIAL TAX RETURNS: The House has passed the Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act (H.R. 9640), sponsored by Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., to require the Internal Revenue Service to rapidly audit income tax returns filed by the president and the president’s spouse, and make a report on the audit publicly available. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 222 yeas to 201 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

HERITAGE AREAS: The House has passed the National Heritage Area Act (S. 1942), sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., to require the Interior Department to adopt a standard for designating and managing national heritage areas. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 326 yeas to 95 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

LEARNING TRIBAL LANGUAGES: The House has passed the Native American Language Resource Center Act (S. 989), sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, to authorize Education Department grants for developing resource centers for learning Native American languages. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 342 yeas to 71 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

TRIBAL LANGUAGE RULES: The House has passed the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act (S. 1402), sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, to require reviews of compliance with Native American language promotion requirements by federal government agencies. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 337 yeas to 79 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

MILITARY EDUCATION PROGRAMS: The House has passed the Student Veteran Emergency Relief Act (H.R. 7939), sponsored by Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., to permanently authorize changes, first adopted in response to Covid, to Veterans Affairs Department programs that offer military veterans educational assistance benefits. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 380 yeas to 35 nays.

NOT VOTING

Herrera Beutler

Senate

BANKING OVERSIGHT: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Martin J. Gruenberg to be a member of the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for a six-year term. Gruenberg has been on the FDIC’s board since 2005, and currently is its acting chairman. A supporter, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, praised Gruenberg’s tenure on the board, and cited his work, after the 2008 financial crisis, to “implement reforms passed by Congress to strengthen capital requirements and protect depositors from future financial crisis.” The vote, on Dec. 19, was 45 yeas to 39 nays. In a separate action, Gruenberg was also confirmed to be the FDIC’s chair for a five-year term.

YEAS

Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

NOT VOTING

Patty Murray, D-Wash.

GOVERNMENT WORKERS: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Robert Harley Shriver III to be the Office of Personnel Management’s deputy director. Shriver has been the agency’s Associate Director for Employee Services for two years, and was also an agency official during the Obama administration. The vote, on Dec. 20, was 57 yeas to 35 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

RUSSIA AMBASSADOR: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lynne M. Tracy to be ambassador to Russia. Tracy, a career Foreign Service official in the State Department with numerous postings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and neighboring countries, has been ambassador to Armenia since 2019. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 93 yeas to 2 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

ARMY ASSISTANT SECRETARY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Agnes Schaefer to be the Army’s assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs. Schaefer has been a political science researcher at the RAND Corporation since 2005. The vote, on Dec. 21, was 68 yeas to 26 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

NAVY ASSISTANT SECRETARY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Franklin Parker to be the Navy’s assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs. Parker was in the same role for the last year of the Obama administration; since then, he has been a senior legal official at BAE Systems, a military contractor. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 70 yeas to 22 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

BUDGETING RULES: The Senate has passed a motion to waive applicable budgetary discipline rules for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617). The vote, on Dec. 22, was 65 yeas to 31 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

EARMARKS: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that would have eliminated all earmark spending provisions from the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617). The vote, on Dec. 22, was 34 yeas to 63 nays.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

IMMIGRATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617). The amendment would have blocked funding for efforts to end restrictions on immigration into the U.S. that rely on a Covid-based Title 42 public health protection rule adopted in March 2020. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 47 yeas to 50 nays.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

MOTHERS IN THE WORKPLACE: The Senate has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617) that would require reasonable workplace accommodations for women whose ability to do their jobs is limited by pregnancy or childbirth. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 73 yeas to 24 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

WORKPLACE BREASTFEEDING: The Senate has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617) that would require employers to expand breastfeeding accommodations for employees. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 92 yeas to 5 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

9/11 HEALTH PROGRAM: The Senate has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617), that would establish a supplemental fund within the World Trade Center Health Program for providing medical benefits for people whose health was harmed by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 90 yeas to 6 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray

2023 SPENDING: The Senate has passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2617), sponsored by Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., to spend about $1.7 trillion in fiscal 2023 on so-called omnibus military and other discretionary government programs. The bill included $45 billion to fund Ukraine’s opposition to its invasion by Russia, and would increase military spending to $858 billion, and increase non-military discretionary spending from $730 billion in fiscal 2022 to $772.5 billion in fiscal 2023. The vote, on Dec. 22, was 68 yeas to 29 nays.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray