Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, March 12th, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

GIVING FINAL OKAY TO VIRUS RELIEF: Vot­ing 220 for and 211 against, the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on March 10th gave final con­gres­sion­al approval to a $1.9 tril­lion coro­n­avirus relief pack­age (H.R. 1319) that would:

• add $300 per week to unem­ploy­ment checks through Sep­tem­ber 6th;
• deliv­er pay­ments of $1,400 per per­son to 150 mil­lion Americans;
• increase the Child Tax Cred­it in a way designed to cut child pover­ty near­ly in half;
• deliv­er $350 bil­lion to state, coun­ty, city, trib­al and ter­ri­to­r­i­al governments;
• pro­vide $25 bil­lion in grants to the restau­rant industry;
• increase Patient Pro­tec­tion Act pre­mi­um subsidies;
• fund the reopen­ing of K‑12 schools;
• pro­vide $25 bil­lion in rental aid to avert evic­tions and $10 bil­lion to help land­lords meet their expenses;
• and fund pro­grams to vac­ci­nate against COVID-19 and slow the spread of the nov­el coro­n­avirus (SARS CoV‑2).

A yes vote was to send the bill to Pres­i­dent Biden.

	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

PROTECTING LABOR’S RIGHT TO ORGANIZE: Vot­ing 225 for and 206 against, the House on March 9th passed a bill (H.R. 842) that would pro­tect and expand employ­ee rights to col­lec­tive­ly bar­gain for bet­ter pay, ben­e­fits and work­ing con­di­tions. The bill would estab­lish the right to orga­nize as a civ­il right enforce­able in fed­er­al court, pro­hib­it the per­ma­nent replace­ment of strik­ing work­ers and enable employ­ees to file class-action law­suits over work­ing con­di­tions. The bill also would negate state right-to-work laws allow­ing non-union employ­ees to ben­e­fit from nego­ti­at­ed con­tracts with­out pay­ing union dues.

In addi­tion, the bill would:

• Make it dif­fi­cult for employ­ers to clas­si­fy “gig econ­o­my” work­ers as inde­pen­dent con­trac­tors to pre­vent them from join­ing unions.
• Autho­rize stiff Nation­al Labor Rela­tions Board fines for employ­ers who unlaw­ful­ly dis­rupt orga­niz­ing campaigns.
• Impose per­son­al lia­bil­i­ty on cor­po­rate direc­tors who know­ing­ly sanc­tion their com­pa­ny’s union-bust­ing tactics.
• Allow imme­di­ate rein­state­ment in court, through injunc­tive relief, of work­ers fired for union activity.
• Allow medi­a­tion and arbi­tra­tion to resolve dis­putes between new­ly cer­ti­fied unions and com­pa­nies in draft­ing their first contract.
• Per­mit unions to con­duct sec­ondary boycotts.
• Allow union elec­tions to be con­duct­ed at neu­tral sites and pro­hib­it employ­ers’ “cap­tive audi­ence” meet­ings to per­suade workers.
• Per­mit work­ers with mul­ti­ple employ­ers to nego­ti­ate direct­ly with the one exer­cis­ing the most con­trol over their employment.
• Pre­vent employ­ers from using a work­er’s immi­gra­tion sta­tus to deter­mine his or her terms of employment.

Our own U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Prami­la Jaya­pal, D‑Washington, said the bill “will undo decades of Repub­li­can anti­work­er poli­cies. It puts pow­er back into the hands of work­ers and secures the right to orga­nize and bar­gain for good wages, fair ben­e­fits and an equal voice on the job.”

Scott Fitzger­ald, R‑Wisconsin, said the bill would “under­mine the abil­i­ty of states to choose their own labor laws by strik­ing down the right-to-work laws of twen­ty-sev­en states,” forc­ing “mil­lions of work­ers to pay dues to labor unions with­out any say about how their mon­ey was spent.”

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 (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 CHECKS ON GUN SALES: The House on March 11 vot­ed, 227 for and 203 against, to expand fed­er­al gun back­ground checks to cov­er sales con­duct­ed at gun shows, over the Inter­net or through clas­si­fied ads, with an excep­tion for sales between fam­i­ly mem­bers. The bill (HR 8) would plug loop­holes that allow mil­lions of U.S. firearms sales to skirt the FBI’s Nation­al Instant Crim­i­nal Back­ground Check Sys­tem, which is struc­tured to deny guns to the men­tal­ly ill, indi­vid­u­als with crim­i­nal records and domes­tic abusers.

Mike Thomp­son, D‑California, said: “Every day thir­ty peo­ple are killed by some­one using a gun. That num­ber jumps to one hun­dred if you fac­tor in acci­dents and sui­cides involv­ing guns. The steady stream of gun vio­lence dev­as­tates fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties, and schools… This sta­tus quo is not okay.

Greg Mur­phy, R‑North Car­oli­na, said the bill would “absurd­ly ham­per peo­ple’s abil­i­ty to exer­cise their con­sti­tu­tion­al right to defend them­selves. This sort of broad gov­ern­ment over­reach does not save lives but treats every­day law-abid­ing cit­i­zens like criminals.”

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 (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

REJECTING CHECKS ON UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS: Vot­ing 207 for and 217 against, the House on March 11 defeat­ed a Repub­li­can motion to H.R. 8 (above) requir­ing undoc­u­ment­ed immi­grants to be report­ed to U.S. Immi­gra­tion and Cus­toms Enforce­ment when fed­er­al back­ground checks detect they are attempt­ing to buy a firearm.

Ben Cline, R‑Virgina, said: “Since 1998, over 28,000 ille­gal aliens have been denied a firearm after fail­ing a [back­ground] check… This means over 28,000 crim­i­nals have been allowed to stay in the Unit­ed States when ICE should have been alert­ed about their crim­i­nal act but [was] not.”

No oppo­nent spoke against the motion.

A yes vote was to adopt the Repub­li­can requirement.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 aye votes, 11 nay votes

EXTENDING GUN BACKGROUND CHECKS: Vot­ing 219 for and 210 against, the House on March 11th passed a bill (H.R. 1446) that would allow more time for the FBI’s Nation­al Instant Crim­i­nal Back­ground Check Sys­tem to com­plete reviews of impend­ing gun sales. Now, sales auto­mat­i­cal­ly go through if the check is not fin­ished with­in three busi­ness or week­end days.

The bill would extend the win­dow to as many as twen­ty busi­ness days.

Jer­rold Nadler, D‑New York, said the bill would “close a dan­ger­ous loop­hole that puts weapons in the hands of indi­vid­u­als who should not legal­ly be per­mit­ted to pur­chase them mere­ly because the FBI is not able to com­plete the back­ground check in time.”

Kat Cam­mack, R‑Florida., said the bill “puts the onus on indi­vid­u­als to con­tact the gov­ern­ment if their back­ground check has­n’t been com­plet­ed in ten days. You know who can­not afford to wait? The sin­gle mom look­ing to pro­tect her­self and her chil­dren from a vio­lent ex who has just been released from jail.”

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 (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

In the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

CONFIRMING MARCIA FUDGE AS SECRETARY OF HOUSING: Vot­ing 66 for and 34 against, the Sen­ate on March 10th con­firmed Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mar­cia L. Fudge, D‑Ohio, as sec­re­tary of the Depart­ment of Hous­ing and Urban Devel­op­ment. Fudge, six­ty-eight, was a may­or in sub­ur­ban Cleve­land before enter­ing Con­gress in 2009, and she once chaired the Con­gres­sion­al Black Caucus.

A yes vote was to con­firm the nominee.

	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 MICHAEL REGAN AS EPA CHIEF: Vot­ing 66 for and 34 against, the Sen­ate on March 10th con­firmed Michael S. Regan, forty-four, as admin­is­tra­tor of the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency, the first Black per­son to lead the agency in its 50-year his­to­ry. A spe­cial­ist in reduc­ing air pol­lu­tion, Regan served at the EPA under pres­i­dents Bill Clin­ton and George W. Bush and was sec­re­tary of the North Car­oli­na Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Quality.

A yes vote was to con­firm the nominee.

	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

Key votes ahead

The House will take up a bill to pro­tect women against vio­lence dur­ing the week of March 15th, while the Sen­ate will vote on Biden admin­is­tra­tion nominees.

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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