Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (January 18th-22nd)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 22nd, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

WAIVER FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Vot­ing 326 for and 78 against, the House on Jan­u­ary 21st approved a waiv­er (H.R. 335) allow­ing retired Army Gen­er­al Lloyd J. Austin III to serve as sec­re­tary of defense even though he has been out of uni­form for less than the sev­en-year hia­tus required by law in keep­ing with the Amer­i­can prin­ci­ple dat­ing to 1783 of civil­ian con­trol of the military.

Austin retired in April 2016.

House Speak­er Nan­cy Pelosi, D‑California, said: “In my con­ver­sa­tions [Austin] assured me he under­stands, respects and will uphold the crit­i­cal pri­or­i­ty of civil­ian con­trol of the mil­i­tary… In the face of the many threats both for­eign and domes­tic con­fronting our nation it is essen­tial that [he] be imme­di­ate­ly confirmed.”

Mike Gal­lagher, R‑Wisconsin, said: “I vot­ed in favor of the exemp­tion for [for­mer Defense] Sec­re­tary [James] Mat­tis… So it’s fair to ask, what has changed? Well, a lot has changed. First, per­haps most impor­tant­ly, the threat from Chi­na is far greater and we need a sec­re­tary with Indo-Pacif­ic Com­mand expe­ri­ence. The nom­i­nee has admit­ted he’s not expe­ri­enced in that regard.”

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Cas­ca­dia total: 14 aye votes, 2 nay votes, 1 not voting

In the United States Senate

WAIVER FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Vot­ing 69 for and 27 against, the Sen­ate on Jan­u­ary 21st joined the House (above) in grant­i­ng a waiv­er (H.R. 335) allow­ing retired Army Gen­er­al Lloyd J. Austin III to serve as sec­re­tary of defense even though sev­en years have not lapsed since his retire­ment as the law requires in keep­ing with the Amer­i­can prin­ci­ple dat­ing to 1783 of civil­ian con­trol of the mil­i­tary. Austin retired in April 2016. There was no debate on the bill.

Cas­ca­dia total: 3 aye votes, 3 nay votes

AVRIL HAINES, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Vot­ing 84 for and 10 against, the Sen­ate on Jan­u­ary 20th con­firmed Avril D. Haines, fifty-one, as direc­tor of nation­al intel­li­gence, ele­vat­ing her as the first woman to lead the U.S. intel­li­gence com­mu­ni­ty. Cre­at­ed in response to Sep­tem­ber 11th attacks, her office is charged with over­see­ing six­teen U.S. civil­ian and mil­i­tary spy agencies.

An attor­ney and trained physi­cist, Haines was deputy direc­tor of the Cen­tral Intel­li­gence Agency from 2013–2015, the first woman to hold that office, and before that a top aide to for­mer Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma on secu­ri­ty issues.

Chris Van Hollen, D‑Maryland, said:

“After a tumul­tuous four years and a pres­i­dent who rou­tine­ly scorned the work of our intel­li­gence com­mu­ni­ty, it is crit­i­cal to restore pro­fes­sion­al lead­er­ship who will work with the admin­is­tra­tion and Con­gress, deliv­er hon­est assess­ments and speak truth to pow­er. Ms. Haines is the right woman for the job.”

No sen­a­tor spoke against the nominee.

A yes vote was to con­firm Haines.

Cas­ca­dia total: 5 aye votes, 1 not voting

LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Vot­ing 92 for and 2 against, the Sen­ate on Jan­u­ary 22nd con­firmed retired Army Gen­er­al Lloyd J. Austin III as sec­re­tary of defense. He is the first African-Amer­i­can to hold the posi­tion in its sev­en­ty-four-year his­to­ry. When Austin, six­ty-sev­en, retired from active duty in April 2016, he was leader of the Unit­ed States Cen­tral Command.

He was the last com­mand­ing gen­er­al in Iraq between 2010–2011 and direct­ed the draw­down of U.S. troops there.

Dan Sul­li­van, R‑Alaska, said: “We are liv­ing through… a pan­dem­ic, racial ten­sions, riots, tur­moil at the top of the Pen­ta­gon and ris­ing dan­gers from Chi­na, Rus­sia and Iran. Mr. Austin’s con­fir­ma­tion won’t solve all of these prob­lems, but it will help. He rep­re­sents the best of Amer­i­ca, a man of integri­ty, humil­i­ty and char­ac­ter and a wealth of rel­e­vant experience.”

No sen­a­tor spoke against the nominee.

A yes vote was to con­firm Austin.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 aye votes

Key votes ahead

The Sen­ate will vote on Biden admin­is­tra­tion nom­i­nees in the week of Jan­u­ary 25th, while the House will be in recess.

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 Civic Impulse, LLC. 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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