WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending March 17.
Along with roll call votes this week, the Senate also confirmed, by voice vote, the nomination of Michael Alan Ratney to be the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
House
INVESTIGATING COVID: The House has passed the COVID-19 Origin Act (S. 619), sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to have the Director of National Intelligence declassify and send Congress a report about its information concerning possible links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). A bill supporter, Rep. Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio, said it “would give the American public a unique insight as to what was happening at a biosafety level laboratory in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and early 2020.” The vote, on March 10, was unanimous with 419 yeas.
YEAS:
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez D-3rd
Senate
TREASURY OFFICIAL: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Brent Neiman to be the Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development. A former staffer at a Federal Reserve bank and at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Neiman is currently an international economics professor at the University of Chicago. The vote, on March 15, was 54 yeas to 40 nays.
YEAS:
Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Patty Murray, D-Wash.
AMBASSADOR TO INDIA: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Eric Garcetti to be U.S. ambassador to India. Garcetti had been the mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 to late 2022, and previously was a city councilor for the city and a naval intelligence officer. An opponent, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cited “the serious and credible allegations that he enabled sexual harassment and racism to run rampant in the Los Angeles mayor’s office.” The vote, on March 15, was 52 yeas to 42 nays.
YEAS:
Cantwell, Murray
AIR FORCE ASSISTANT SECRETARY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Ravi Chaudhary to be the Air Force’s Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy, and the Environment. Chaudhary was an Air Force pilot and officer from 1993 to 2015; he then became a senior official at the Federal Aviation Administration. The vote, on March 15, was 65 yeas to 29 nays.
YEAS:
Cantwell, Murray
NEW YORK JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Jessica G.L. Clarke to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Clarke has been a civil rights lawyer in the New York Attorney General’s Office since 2019; she was a civil rights lawyer in the Obama administration. A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Clarke “is a great civil rights lawyer, and I am certain she will make an excellent member of the federal bench.” The vote, on March 16, was 48 yeas to 43 nays.
YEAS:
Cantwell, Murray
