Good morning! Here’s how Cascadia’s Members of Congress voted on major issues during the legislative week ending Friday, March 6th.
In the United States House of Representatives
APPROVING $8.3 BILLION TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS: Voting four hundred and fifteen for and two against, the House on March 4th passed a bill (H.R. 6074) that would appropriate $8.3 billion for public-health initiatives to counter the spread of the coronavirus in the United States while helping the U.S. diplomatic community cope with the epidemic overseas.
As emergency spending, the outlay would be added to the national debt.
In part, the bill would:
- provide up to $4 billion for developing a vaccine and diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and training caregivers;
- $2.2 billion for preparedness including the manufacture and delivery of test kits, ventilators and respirators;
- $950 million for additional state and local preparedness;
- and unspecified sums for building surge capacity at local hospitals and clinics including community health centers.
The bill also would ensure seniors’ access to Medicare-funded telemedicine services and subsidize billions of dollars in low-interest loans to help small businesses cope with economic losses resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. Republicans Andy Biggs of Arizona and Ken Buck of Colorado were the only members of the House of Representatives voting against the bill.
Fred Upton, R‑Michigan, said the emergency funding “is not only going to help our health officials on the front lines — it is going to help our families in virtually every community. It is also going to help develop the vaccine and the therapeutics to save perhaps tens of thousands of lives.”
Another supporter, Nita Lowey, D‑New York, said:
“While the Trump administration has repeatedly demonstrated a failure to understand public health needs, Congress is acting with the seriousness and the sense of urgency the coronavirus threat demands.”
No member spoke against the bill.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
 | Voting Aye (2): Republican Representatives Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher |
 | Voting Aye (5): Democratic Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader; Republican Representative Greg Walden |
 | Voting Aye (10): Democratic Representatives Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Pramila Jayapal, Kim Schrier, Adam Smith, and Denny Heck; Republican Representatives Jaime Herrera-Beutler, Dan Newhouse, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers |
Cascadia total: 17 aye votes
ADDING AMERICA’S AIRPORT SECURITY WORKERS TO CIVIL SERVICE: Voting 230 for and 171 against, the House on March 5th passed a bill (H.R. 1140) that would include Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees in the civil service personnel system while granting them full collective bargaining rights, paid medical and family leave, the right to appeal disciplinary actions to an independent panel and other benefits and job protections available to nearly all other federal civilian employees.
The TSA was established in the wake of September 11th, and most of its 45,000 employees work as passenger screeners at airports.
TSA pay levels and benefits, which are set by the agency administrator rather than “Schedule 5” civil service rules, lag behind those for other federal employees, resulting in a workforce with high turnover and low morale.
But defenders say current personnel rules enable the agency to adapt quickly to changing national-security threats. Although TSA workers are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), their collective-bargaining rights have been restricted by Congress.
Mary Gay Scanlon, D‑Pennsylvania, the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee, said underpaying and overworking airport screeners “is a greater threat to national security than paying a fair wage to keep Americans safe… Whether in business, law or government, you get what you pay for, and I, for one, do not believe that the security of our airports and skies or the lives of the traveling public are something we should be looking to get a bargain on.”
Debbie Lesko, R‑Arizona, said “placing the screener workforce under [civil service rules] would tie the agency’s hands related to national security policy, workforce management and collective bargaining. [The bill] amounts to a forced unionization of the TSA workforce and a forced designation of the union (the AFGE) that will represent that workforce.”
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
| Voting Nay (2): Republican Representatives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson |
| Voting Aye (4): Democratic Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader Voting Nay (1): Republican Representative Greg Walden |
| Voting Aye (1): Democratic Representative Denny Heck Not Voting (9): Democratic Representatives Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Pramila Jayapal, Kim Schrier, and Adam Smith; Republican Representatives Jaime Herrera-Beutler, Dan Newhouse, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers |
Cascadia total: 5 aye votes, 3 nay votes, 9 not voting
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Washington State congressional delegation, with the exception of Denny Heck, returned home early to discuss the coronavirus response with Vice President Mike Pence and Governor Jay Inslee at Camp Murray, which is why they were not present for the vote.
BARRING SEXUAL PREDATORS FROM WORKING IN AIRPORT SCREENING: Voting 227 for and 175 against, the House on March 5th added Republican-sponsored language to HR 1140 (above) that would prohibit the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from hiring workers with criminal histories including crimes related to terrorism and sexual misconduct.
Critics said civil service hiring rules already would disqualify such individuals from TSA employment. A yes vote was in support of the Republican motion.
| Voting Aye (2): Republican Representatives Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher |
| Voting Aye (2): Republican Representative Greg Walden and Democratic Representative Kurt Schrader Voting Nay (3): Democratic Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio |
| Voting Nay (1): Democratic Representative Denny Heck Not Voting (9): Democratic Representatives Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Pramila Jayapal, Kim Schrier, Adam Smith; Republican Representatives Jaime Herrera-Beutler, Dan Newhouse, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers |
Cascadia total: 4 aye votes, 4 nay votes, 9 not voting
In the United States Senate
SENDING CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE PACKAGE TO WHITE HOUSE: Voting ninety-six for and one against, the Senate on March 5th joined the House (above) in passing a bill (H.R. 6074) that would appropriate $8.3 billion for emergency funding of federal, state, local and global efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Rand Paul, R‑Kentucky, cast the lone dissenting vote.
In addition to the outlays cited above, the bill provides $1.3 billion for overseas initiatives by the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, including $264 million to operate consular offices and cover evacuation costs; $435 million in contributions to global health funds; $300 million for international humanitarian aid; $250 million for economic and security measures in countries destabilized by the virus; and $1 million for inspector-general oversight of the government’s overseas coronavirus response.
Patrick Leahy, D‑Vermont., said the bill is “vastly different from the $1.25 billion grossly inadequate proposal from the Trump administrationthat was so poorly thought out that both Republicans and Democrats said it made no sense.”
Another supporter, Richard Shelby, R‑Alabama, said the bill “provides a surge in funding at every level — local, state, federal and international — to meet the growing challenge that we face.”
Rand Paul, R‑Kentucky, objected to the fact that all spending in the bill would be added to annual deficits rather than offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget.
A yes vote was to send the bill to Trump, who subsequently signed it into law.
| Voting Aye (2): |
| Voting Aye (2): |
| Voting Aye (2): |
Cascadia total: 6 aye votes
STARTING DEBATE ON BIPARTISAN ENERGY BILL: The Senate on March 4th voted, ninety for and four against, to start debate on a bipartisan bill (S. 2657) that would marshal public and private resources to upgrade all energy sectors of the American economy. The bill would:
- further the development of technologies for the capture and underground storage of emissions from industrial sites and coal-burning power plants;
- promote wind, solar, geothermal and other sources of renewable energy;
- boost technologies for stockpiling supplies of renewable energy, including hydropower;
- … and incentivize “smart” weatherization technologies to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and government buildings and schools.
The bill also includes measures to tighten the security of the nation’s power grid, reduce dependence on foreign-supplied rare minerals used to build military weapons and develop a more skilled and better educated energy workforce.
Lisa Murkowski, R‑Alaska, called nuclear energy “our nation’s largest and most reliable source of zero-emission electricity,” and said the bill would spur development of “advanced reactors to help restore our national leadership and keep our domestic [nuclear] industry competitive with the likes of Russia and China.”
Another supporter, Tom Udall, D‑New Mexico, voiced support for certain provisions but said the overall bill fails “to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the levels required to meet global targets or transition us to a clean energy economy, which is where we need to head, and we need to be heading there fast.”
No senator spoke against starting debate on the bill.
A yes vote was to advance the bill.
| Voting Aye (2): |
| Voting Aye (2): |
| Voting Aye (2): |
Cascadia total: 6 aye votes
Key votes ahead
Next week (March 9th-13th), the House will take up bills that would renew parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and prohibit Donald Trump from closing U.S. borders to travelers from Muslim-majority countries. The Senate will continue to debate S. 2657, the bipartisan energy bill discussed above.
Editor’s Note: The information in NPI’s weekly How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted feature is provided by Voterama in Congress, a service of Thomas Voting Reports. All rights are reserved. Reproduction of this post is not permitted, not even with attribution. Use the permanent link to this post to share it… thanks!
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