Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (February 1st-5th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 5th, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

REMOVING MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FROM COMMITTEES: Vot­ing 230 for and 198 against, the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on Feb­ru­ary 4th removed Mar­jorie Tay­lor Greene, R‑Georgia., from the Bud­get and Edu­ca­tion and Labor com­mit­tees as pun­ish­ment for her string of false, shock­ing and vio­lent pub­lic com­ments and Face­book post­ings in recent years, includ­ing her endorse­ment of calls for House Speak­er Nan­cy Pelosi to be shot and for­mer Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma and Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial can­di­date Hillary Clin­ton to be lynched.

Greene has claimed that an air­plane nev­er struck the Pen­ta­gon on Sep­tem­ber 11th, the Clin­tons were behind the plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy, Jr., the Sandy Hook and Park­land school shoot­ings nev­er occurred and a Jew­ish-guid­ed laser beam caused Cal­i­for­nia wildfires.

She aligned her­self as recent­ly as July with the con­spir­a­cy cult Q‑Anon.

This vote to adopt H Res­o­lu­tion 72 left the first-term law­mak­er from Geor­gia’s 14th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict with no com­mit­tee assign­ments. The mea­sure was backed by all Democ­rats who vot­ed and eleven Republicans.

Jim McGov­ern, D‑Massachusetts, said:

“Con­gress­woman Greene says this res­o­lu­tion could set a prece­dent for the future. I hope it does because if this isn’t the bot­tom, then I don’t know what the hell is… Any­one who sug­gests putting a bul­let in the head of a mem­ber should­n’t sit on any com­mit­tee, peri­od. That’s the stan­dard we’re set­ting here today, and I’m bet­ting it’s a stan­dard the Amer­i­can peo­ple want us to uphold.”

Greene said:

“These were words of the past, and these things do not rep­re­sent me… If this Con­gress is to tol­er­ate mem­bers that con­done riots that have hurt Amer­i­can peo­ple, attacked police offi­cers, occu­pied fed­er­al prop­er­ty, burned busi­ness­es and cities, but yet wants to con­demn me and cru­ci­fy me in the pub­lic square for words that I said and I regret a few years ago, then I think we [have] a real big problem.”

A yes vote was to strip Greene of her com­mit­tee assignments.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Aye (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing Aye (7): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland Vot­ing Nay (3): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 11 aye votes, 6 nay votes

ADVANCING PLAN FOR BUDGET RECONCILIATION: Vot­ing 218 for and 212 against, the House on Feb­ru­ary 3rd adopt­ed a fis­cal 2021 bud­get res­o­lu­tion (H Con Res 11) that would allow Pres­i­dent Biden’s $1.9 tril­lion pack­age of COVID-19 relief mea­sures to pass the Sen­ate on a sim­ple major­i­ty vote in com­ing weeks.

The res­o­lu­tion trig­gers the “bud­get rec­on­cil­i­a­tion” process that pro­tects spec­i­fied mea­sures from fil­i­busters. Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion is used to expe­dite com­plex leg­is­la­tion that affects spend­ing and rev­enue lev­els and the nation­al debt.

Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion can be used once per fis­cal year. The cur­rent fis­cal year began last Octo­ber 1st, and anoth­er bud­get res­o­lu­tion for fis­cal 2022 is due this spring.

John Yarmuth, D‑Kentucky, said:

“We will have sev­er­al weeks to reach a bipar­ti­san [COVID-19 relief] agree­ment. I hope we can. But this is Plan B. And we will pro­ceed with it because the Amer­i­can peo­ple can’t wait as long as the Repub­li­cans seem to be able to.”

Ben Cline, R‑Virginia, said farm­ers and small busi­ness­es are “suf­fer­ing,” but “what they don’t need is a $1.9 tril­lion package…of Demo­c­rat [sic] wish-list items that will crip­ple our econ­o­my, includ­ing a min­i­mum wage increase that would destroy 1.3 mil­lion jobs…”

A yes vote was to adopt the bud­get resolution.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Aye (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing Aye (7): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland Vot­ing Nay (3): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 11 aye votes, 6 nay votes

EXPANDING FEDERALLY FUNDED APPRENTICESHIPS: Vot­ing 247 for and 173 against, the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on Feb­ru­ary 5th passed a bill (H.R. 447) that would autho­rize $3.5 bil­lion over five years to expand fed­er­al­ly fund­ed appren­tice­ship programs.

While the bill would pre­pare work­ers for employ­ment in tra­di­tion­al indus­tries such as man­u­fac­tur­ing and con­struc­tion, it also funds appren­tice­ships in spe­cial­ized fields includ­ing ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, advanced health care and green ener­gy. In addi­tion, the bill would pro­mote work oppor­tu­ni­ties for per­sons with diverse back­grounds and crim­i­nal records tra­di­tion­al­ly left out of appren­tice­ship programs.

The bill drew Repub­li­can oppo­si­tion, in part, because it quashed Don­ald Trump’s Indus­try Rec­og­nized Appren­tice­ship Pro­grams (IRAPs), which receive fed­er­al fund­ing but oper­ate with few reg­u­la­tions and are unwel­com­ing to unions.

Andy Levin, D‑Michigan, said “at least sev­en mil­lion of the jobs lost dur­ing the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic will not come back… We must use every tool we have to help work­ers find jobs and pre­pare for the high-qual­i­ty jobs and employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties of the future. The most suc­cess­ful of these tools, with­out ques­tion, is our reg­is­tered appren­tice­ship program.”

Vir­ginia Foxx, R‑North Car­oli­na, said the bill “favors grant fund­ing for enti­ties part­ner­ing with unions. Turn­ing the bil­l’s grant pro­gram into a union slush fund would also block count­less poten­tial par­tic­i­pants from access­ing grant mon­ey. Even worse, [the bill] will force job cre­ators to deal with over­ly pre­scrip­tive require­ments, addi­tion­al bureau­cra­cy and time-con­sum­ing paperwork.…”

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, and Kurt Schrader Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing Aye (8): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Dan Newhouse Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 12 aye votes, 5 nay votes

In the United States Senate

ADVANCING PLAN FOR BUDGET RECONCILIATION: Vot­ing 51 for and 50 against, the Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 5th adopt­ed a fis­cal 2021 bud­get res­o­lu­tion (S Con Res 5) under which Pres­i­dent Biden’s $1.9 tril­lion coro­n­avirus-relief bill could be passed by sim­ple major­i­ty vote in com­ing weeks.

Vice Pres­i­dent Kamala Har­ris cast the tie-break­ing vote.

The res­o­lu­tion trig­gers the “bud­get rec­on­cil­i­a­tion” process that pro­tects spec­i­fied mea­sures from fil­i­busters. Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion is used to expe­dite com­plex leg­is­la­tion that affects spend­ing and rev­enue lev­els and the nation­al debt. Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion can be used once per fis­cal year. The cur­rent fis­cal year began last Oct. 1, and anoth­er bud­get res­o­lu­tion for fis­cal 2022 is due this spring.

The Pacif­ic North­wet’s Ron Wyden, D‑Oregon, said “some sen­a­tors sug­gest that the bud­get res­o­lu­tion is bad for uni­ty. My answer to that is, the only place where big, bold eco­nom­ic relief is a divi­sive propo­si­tion is with­in the four walls of the U.S. Sen­ate… What you see in this bud­get res­o­lu­tion is exact­ly the kind of plan that Amer­i­cans vot­ed for and the over­whelm­ing major­i­ty of Amer­i­cans support.”

Rob Port­man, R‑Ohio, said “try­ing to jam through this $1.9 tril­lion legislation…sets exact­ly the wrong tone for the coun­try and also for the admin­is­tra­tion. I think Pres­i­dent Biden has a real oppor­tu­ni­ty to help heal our coun­try — I real­ly do. By the way, I think he sin­cere­ly wants to. That is why I don’t under­stand this [rec­on­cil­i­a­tion] process.”

A yes vote was to advance the admin­is­tra­tion’s pan­dem­ic-relief legislation.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

CONFIRMING ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: Vot­ing 56 for and 43 against, the Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 2nd con­firmed Ale­jan­dro N. May­orkas, six­ty-one, as Sec­re­tary of Home­land Secu­ri­ty. The son of a holo­caust sur­vivor and native of Cuba, he is the first Lati­no and immi­grant to hold the posi­tion. May­orkas was deputy DHS sec­re­tary and direc­tor of U.S. Cit­i­zen­ship and Immi­gra­tion Ser­vices under for­mer Pres­i­dent Barack Obama.

Richard Durbin, D‑Illinois, the Major­i­ty Whip, said all DHS sec­re­taries who served before the Trump admin­is­tra­tion, two Democ­rats and two Repub­li­cans, have endorsed May­orkas for the post. “They said he is a man of integri­ty, expe­ri­ence and com­pas­sion and a proven leader… You would hard­ly believe that if you lis­tened to some of the things said” by Repub­li­can critics.

Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell, R‑Kentucky, said May­orkas “did his best to turn U.S. Cit­i­zen­ship and Immi­gra­tion Ser­vices into an uneth­i­cal favor fac­to­ry” by politi­ciz­ing the EB‑5 Invest­ment Visa Pro­gram dur­ing the Barack Oba­ma pres­i­den­cy. The pro­gram enables qual­i­fied for­eign investors to obtain per­ma­nent U.S. res­i­den­cy by invest­ing heav­i­ly in the cre­ation of Amer­i­can jobs.

A yes vote was to con­firm Mayorkas.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

CONFIRMING PETE BUTTIGIEG AS TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Vot­ing 86 for and 13 against, the Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 2nd approved the nom­i­na­tion of Pete Buttigieg, thir­ty-nine, as the next fed­er­al Sec­re­tary of Trans­porta­tion, mak­ing him the first open­ly gay per­son to be con­firmed to a Cab­i­net post in U.S. his­to­ry. The for­mer may­or of South Bend, Indi­ana, was a Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial can­di­date in 2020.

The Pacif­ic North­west­’s Maria Cantwell, D‑Washington, said Buttigieg “is the right choice for this job because he was may­or of South Bend. He dealt with infra­struc­ture where the rub­ber meets the road, man­ag­ing state, fed­er­al, and local resources to help build infra­struc­ture in his community.”

No sen­a­tor spoke against the nomination.

A yes vote was to con­firm Buttigieg.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 aye votes

Key votes ahead

The Sen­ate will con­duct an impeach­ment tri­al for for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump in the week of Feb­ru­ary 8th, while the House sched­ule was to be announced.

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