Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (April 19th-23rd)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, April 23rd, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

CONFERRING STATEHOOD ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: By a vote of 216 for and 208 against, the House on April 22nd passed a bill (H.R. 51) that would admit to the union a fifty-first state includ­ing most of the cur­rent Dis­trict of Colum­bia. The new state named “Wash­ing­ton, Dou­glass Com­mon­wealth” (hon­or­ing the for­mer slave and abo­li­tion­ist leader Fred­er­ick Dou­glass) would give the more than 700,000 D.C. res­i­dents — a pop­u­la­tion larg­er than that of two cur­rent states — vot­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion in Con­gress, adding two seats to the Sen­ate and one in the House.

A por­tion of the cur­rent Dis­trict con­tain­ing the Capi­tol, White House, Supreme Court and oth­er prin­ci­pal fed­er­al gov­ern­ment build­ings would not be part of the new state. Dis­trict of Colum­bia res­i­dents pay fed­er­al tax­es and are rep­re­sent­ed by a non­vot­ing del­e­gate in the House. The Dis­trict casts three elec­toral votes in pres­i­den­tial elec­tions, as would the new state.

Jim McGov­ern, D‑Massachusetts, said D.C. res­i­dents “pay more per capi­ta in fed­er­al income tax­es than any state.. They have defend­ed our nation in every war… It’s time to give [them] the full vot­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion and the con­trol over local mat­ters that they right­ful­ly deserve.”

Guy Reschen­thaler, R‑Pennsylvania, said: “This is noth­ing more than a mere pow­er grab by the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty to try to stack the Sen­ate, try to get two more votes to end the fil­i­buster, to pack the Supreme Court… This is just an attempt to dis­man­tle our sys­tem of government.”

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

GIVING D.C. BACK TO MARYLAND: By a vote of 205 for and 215 against, the House on April 22nd reject­ed a motion to make the Dis­trict of Colum­bia part of the state of Mary­land, as an alter­na­tive to D.C. state­hood under H.R. 51 (above). The cur­rent fed­er­al dis­trict con­tain­ing the nation’s cap­i­tal was cre­at­ed on land donat­ed by Mary­land. Oppo­nents of state­hood offer return­ing the dis­trict to Mary­land as a way to pro­vide cap­i­tal res­i­dents with vot­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion in Con­gress and con­trol of local affairs with­out adding seats to the Congress.

A yes vote was to adopt the motion.

	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

BANS ON ENTERING THE UNITED STATES: Vot­ing 218 for and 208 against, the House on April 21st passed a bill that would restrict the pres­i­den­t’s abil­i­ty to ban entry to the Unit­ed States by class­es of foreigners.

The mea­sure (H.R. 1333) is a response to for­mer Pres­i­dent Trump’s orders pro­hibit­ing entry by trav­el­ers from some major­i­ty-Mus­lim nations, which were upheld by the Supreme Court after lengthy litigation.

The bill would pro­hib­it bias based on reli­gion in restrict­ing entry and make the pres­i­dent obtain a find­ing from the sec­re­tary of state that the for­eign­ers would under­mine nation­al secu­ri­ty or pub­lic safe­ty. To be legal under this bill, a ban would have to be based on spe­cif­ic evi­dence, be nar­row­ly tai­lored to address a poten­tial threat and pro­vide for waivers for fam­i­ly and human­i­tar­i­an reasons.

Judy Chu, D‑California, said: “We must make sure no pres­i­dent is ever able to ban peo­ple from com­ing to the U.S. sim­ply because of their reli­gion. While pre­serv­ing the pres­i­dents’ abil­i­ty to respond to emer­gen­cies like pan­demics, this bill… requires that any future trav­el ban is based on cred­i­ble facts and actu­al threats.”

Tom Cole, R‑Oklahoma, said the bill “would com­plete­ly gut the pres­i­den­t’s long­stand­ing powers…to make deter­mi­na­tions of who can enter the coun­try and under what cir­cum­stances. It would also bury the pres­i­dent under exten­sive and super­flu­ous noti­fi­ca­tion and con­sul­ta­tion require­ments that would elim­i­nate the pres­i­den­t’s abil­i­ty to move quick­ly to con­front threats.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

	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

PROVIDING LEGAL HELP AT PORTS OF ENTRY: By a vote of 217 for and 207 against, the House on April 21 passed a bill (H.R. 1573) to per­mit per­sons detained at U.S. ports of entry for more than an hour of “sec­ondary inspec­tion” to com­mu­ni­cate with an attor­ney, fam­i­ly mem­ber, immi­gra­tion spon­sor or oth­ers who may help sup­port their appli­ca­tion for admission.

Cur­rent­ly, the right to con­sult an attor­ney is lim­it­ed to those tak­en into cus­tody or who are the focus of a crim­i­nal investigation.

The leg­is­la­tion was inspired by chaot­ic con­di­tions and pro­longed deten­tions at ports of entry in 2017, when the Trump admin­is­tra­tion abrupt­ly banned admis­sion of trav­el­ers from some countries.

Our own Prami­la Jaya­pal, D‑Washington, said the bill “would ensure that peo­ple who have already been vet­ted and grant­ed law­ful sta­tus have a mean­ing­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to call an attor­ney, a rel­a­tive, or oth­er inter­est­ed par­ty, like a mem­ber of Con­gress, when they get held for more than hour in sec­ondary inspection.”

Tom McClin­tock, R‑California, said the bill “would grind legit­i­mate trade and trav­el to a halt by pro­vid­ing that vir­tu­al­ly any­one referred to sec­ondary inspec­tion can with­in an hour con­sult with an attor­ney and call oth­er third par­ties […] This bill gives CBP [Cus­toms and Bor­der Pro­tec­tion] the Hob­son’s choice of cur­tail­ing inspec­tions or rou­tine­ly back­ing up traf­fic for hours.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

	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

ATTEMPTING CENSURE OF REPRESENTATIVE WATERS: Vot­ing 216 for and 210 against, the House on April 20th blocked a Repub­li­can-spon­sored mea­sure (H Res 331) to cen­sure Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Max­ine Waters, D‑California, for her remarks in Min­neso­ta on April 17th urg­ing pro­tes­tors to “stay on the streets” and be “more con­fronta­tion­al” if jurors acquit­ted for­mer Min­neapo­lis police offi­cer Derek Chau­vin of charges in the death of George Floyd.

Chau­vin was con­vict­ed on April 20th of mur­der and manslaugh­ter. Top House Repub­li­can Kevin McCarthy, R‑California, said the remarks “raised the poten­tial for vio­lence.” Major­i­ty Leader Ste­ny Hoy­er, D‑Maryland, said Waters did not advo­cate vio­lence and called the cen­sure res­o­lu­tion a “pho­ny effort to dis­tract” from Repub­li­cans’ vio­lent rhetoric.

A yes vote was to block the 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

In the United States Senate

COMBATING HATE CRIMES AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS: By a vote of 94 for and 1 against, the Sen­ate on April 22nd passed a bipar­ti­san bill (S 937) that would require the Jus­tice Depart­ment, states and local­i­ties to step up efforts to track and pre­vent hate crimes. While it would apply to all hate crimes, whether based on race, reli­gion, her­itage or gen­der, the leg­is­la­tion was prompt­ed by a recent out­break of attacks and harass­ment against Amer­i­cans of Asian and Pacif­ic Islander her­itage dur­ing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jus­tice Depart­ment would begin a year­long study of hate crime and, with the Depart­ment of Health and Human Ser­vices, advise states and local­i­ties on how to bet­ter track hate crime and con­duct pub­lic edu­ca­tion cam­paigns to raise aware­ness. Grants would be pro­vid­ed to help improve hate crime report­ing, inves­ti­ga­tion and pre­ven­tion efforts at the state and local level.

States and local­i­ties receiv­ing help would be required to report every six months on their hate crime sta­tis­tics and reduc­tion programs.

Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said: “Asian-Amer­i­cans across the coun­try have been vic­tims of a surge of dis­crim­i­na­tion and racial­ly moti­vat­ed vio­lence and big­otry… By pass­ing this bill we say to the Asian-Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty that their gov­ern­ment is pay­ing atten­tion to them, has heard their con­cerns and will respond to pro­tect them.”

No sen­a­tor spoke in oppo­si­tion to the bill.

The neg­a­tive vote was cast by Josh Haw­ley, R‑Missouri.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

	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

VANITA GUPTA, ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: By a vote of 51 for and 49 against, the Sen­ate on April 21st con­firmed Vani­ta Gup­ta to be asso­ciate attor­ney gen­er­al, mak­ing her the first woman of col­or to hold what is the third-rank­ing posi­tion at the Depart­ment of Justice.

Gup­ta, forty-six, an expe­ri­enced civ­il rights attor­ney, head­ed the depart­men­t’s civ­il rights divi­sion dur­ing the Oba­ma administration.

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

LISA MONACO, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Vot­ing 98 for and 2 against, the Sen­ate on April 20th con­firmed Lisa Mona­co to be deputy attor­ney gen­er­al, the sec­ond-rank­ing posi­tion at the Depart­ment of Justice.

Mona­co, fifty-three, was a top home­land secu­ri­ty and coun­tert­er­ror­ism aide to for­mer Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma. A yes vote was to con­firm the nominee.

	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 con­sid­er a water infra­struc­ture bill and a mea­sure to reduce methane emis­sions dur­ing the week of April 26th. There will be no votes in the House. Pres­i­dent Biden will address a joint ses­sion on Wednesday.

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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