Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, May 21st, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

EMERGENCY FUNDING FOR U.S. CAPITOL SECURITY: Vot­ing 213 for and 212 against, the House on May 20th nar­row­ly passed a bill (H.R. 3237) that “pro­vides $1.9 bil­lion in FY 2021 emer­gency sup­ple­men­tal appro­pri­a­tions for the leg­isla­tive branch and fed­er­al agen­cies to respond to the attack on the U.S. Capi­tol Com­plex that occurred on Jan­u­ary 6th, 2021.”

Congress.gov has sum­ma­rized the bil­l’s fis­cal pro­vi­sions as follows:

The bill pro­vides appro­pri­a­tions for pur­pos­es such as

• secu­ri­ty-relat­ed upgrades,
• repairs to facil­i­ties dam­aged by the attack,
• reim­burse­ments for the costs of respond­ing to the attack,
• sup­port for prosecutions,
• the estab­lish­ment of a quick reac­tion force with­in the Dis­trict of Colum­bia Nation­al Guard to assist the Capi­tol Police, and
• leg­isla­tive branch expens­es relat­ed to COVID-19 (i.e., coro­n­avirus dis­ease 2019).

In addi­tion, the bill requires Capi­tol Police offi­cers who inter­act with the pub­lic to use body-worn cameras.

Democ­rats pro­vid­ed all of the votes to pass the bill. No Repub­li­can vot­ed in sup­port. Three Democ­rats joined Repub­li­cans in vot­ing no on final passage.

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

BIPARTISAN COMMISSION ON JANUARY 6TH ATTACK: Vot­ing 252 for and 175 against, the House on May 20th approved leg­is­la­tion cre­at­ing a bipar­ti­san nation­al com­mis­sion to inves­ti­gate the Jan­u­ary 6th, 2021 attack on the Unit­ed States Capi­tol (H.R. 3233). Thir­ty-five Repub­li­cans joined the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus in sup­port­ing the bill, which faces an uncer­tain future in the Senate.

Congress.gov has sum­ma­rized the bill as follows:

The com­mis­sion must:

1. con­duct an inves­ti­ga­tion of the rel­e­vant facts and cir­cum­stances relat­ing to the attack on the Capitol;
2. iden­ti­fy, review, and eval­u­ate the caus­es of and the lessons learned from this attack; and
3. sub­mit spec­i­fied reports con­tain­ing find­ings, con­clu­sions, and rec­om­men­da­tions to improve the detec­tion, pre­ven­tion, pre­pared­ness for, and response to tar­get­ed vio­lence and domes­tic ter­ror­ism and improve the secu­ri­ty pos­ture of the U.S. Capi­tol Complex.

The bill gives the com­mis­sion spec­i­fied pow­ers, includ­ing the author­i­ty to hold hear­ings, receive evi­dence, and issue sub­poe­nas. The bill also pro­vides for the com­po­si­tion of the com­mis­sion and the appoint­ment of staff, and it requires the com­mis­sion to hold pub­lic hear­ings and meet­ings to the extent that it is appro­pri­ate. The com­mis­sion must also release pub­lic ver­sions of its reports.

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

	Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher
	Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing Aye (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler and Dan Newhouse Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 15 aye votes, 2 nay votes

FINAL PASSAGE OF COVID-19 HATE CRIMES ACT: Vot­ing 364 to 62, the House on May 18th gave final approval to a Sen­ate bill (S. 397) that “requires a des­ig­nat­ed offi­cer or employ­ee of the Depart­ment of Jus­tice (DOJ) to facil­i­tate the expe­dit­ed review of hate crimes and reports of hate crimes” and also stip­u­lates the the Depart­ment of Health and Human Ser­vices join Jus­tice in issu­ing “guid­ance aimed at rais­ing aware­ness of hate crimes dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic.” The bill also sets up grants to encour­age states to cre­ate hate crimes report­ing hot­lines and enables courts to order that indi­vid­u­als con­vict­ed of hate crimes par­tic­i­pate in class­es or com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice as a con­di­tion of their release.

“Hate crimes against Asian Amer­i­cans have increased about 150% in most cities, but we know that far too many of these crimes remain unre­port­ed or unsolved.” said the Pacif­ic North­west­’s own Mar­i­lyn Strick­land, D‑Washington.

“Our com­mu­ni­ty is still reel­ing from the sick­en­ing rise in anti-AAPI hatred, vio­lence, and big­otry that has been exac­er­bat­ed by this pan­dem­ic, and pass­ing this bill is an impor­tant step towards stop­ping this dis­turb­ing pattern.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill, which was lat­er signed by Pres­i­dent Biden.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simp­son and Russ Fulcher
	Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing Aye (10): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 17 aye votes

AFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS: Vot­ing 245 for and 180 against, the House on May 19th adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion (H. Res 275) that con­demns the March 16th, 2021 shoot­ing spree in the Atlanta area, and reaf­firms “the House of Representative’s com­mit­ment to com­bat­ing hate, big­otry, and vio­lence against the Asian-Amer­i­can and Pacif­ic Islander com­mu­ni­ty.” Thir­ty Repub­li­cans vot­ed for the res­o­lu­tion along with the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic caucus.

	Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher
	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 Jaime Her­rera Beutler Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 13 aye votes, 4 nay votes

REJECTING REPUBLICAN ATTEMPT TO ROLL BACK MASK GUIDANCE: Vot­ing 218 for and 210 against, the House on May 29th tabled (killed) a Repub­li­can res­o­lu­tion (H. Res 414) that sought to direct the Attend­ing Physi­cian to pro­vide “updat­ed mask wear­ing guid­ance” to mem­bers of the House, erro­neous­ly based on the notion that “those who have not yet received the vac­cine pose no real threat to those who have been vac­ci­nat­ed” (see text).

A yes vote was to reject 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

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

NULLIFYING TRUMP REGIME’S EEOC “CONCILIATION” RULE: Vot­ing 50 for and 48 against, the Sen­ate on May 19th nul­li­fied a sev­er­al months old Trump regime rule that “dic­tates how a U.S. civ­il rights agency resolves work­place dis­crim­i­na­tion claims as an alter­na­tive to lit­i­ga­tion,” as char­ac­ter­ized by Bloomberg Law. The rule was put into place to force the agency to hand over more infor­ma­tion to employ­ers dur­ing dis­putes over work­place bias claims.

Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer (D‑New York) exhort­ed the cham­ber to nix the rule. “Rather than force employ­ees to sue in court, where well-heeled cor­po­ra­tions can afford high-priced lawyers and the plain­tiff has almost no chance at win­ning, con­cil­i­a­tion gives the EEOC the pow­er to fight on work­ers’ behalf against dis­crim­i­na­to­ry behav­ior and win some speedy and effec­tive results.”

Sen­ate Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell (R‑Kentucky) lament­ed that anoth­er Trump regime scheme is like­ly going to be scrapped.

“This [rule] helps ensure the Com­mis­sion is mak­ing a good-faith effort to see if the dis­pute can be set­tled out­side of court before begin­ning a cost­ly, adver­sar­i­al process,” McConnell argued. “Appar­ent­ly even these mod­est steps were too much for my friends on the Demo­c­ra­t­ic side.”

Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Lisa Murkows­ki and Mar­co Rubio were not present.

A yes vote was to send the nul­li­fi­ca­tion mea­sure to the House.

	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

KRISTIN CLARKE, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Vot­ing 50 to 48, the Sen­ate on May 18th dis­charged the nom­i­na­tion of Kris­ten M. Clarke to be an Assis­tant Attor­ney Gen­er­al from the Com­mit­tee on the Judiciary.

Clarke’s Wikipedia entry states that she “is an Amer­i­can attor­ney who is the pres­i­dent of the Lawyers’ Com­mit­tee for Civ­il Rights Under Law. She pre­vi­ous­ly man­aged the Civ­il Rights Bureau of the New York State Attor­ney Gen­er­al’s Office under Eric Schnei­der­man. In 2019, Clarke suc­cess­ful­ly rep­re­sent­ed Tay­lor Dump­son, the first Black Amer­i­can woman stu­dent body pres­i­dent of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ty, in her land­mark case against white supremacists.”

Clarke would be the first woman to head DOJ’s Civ­il Rights divi­sion if confirmed.

Deb­bie Stabenow of Michi­gan and Lisa Murkows­ki of Alas­ka were not present. Susan Collins of Maine vot­ed with the Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus to allow Clarke’s nom­i­na­tion to pro­ceed. A yes vote was to advance Clarke’s nomination.

	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 of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives will be in recess for sev­er­al weeks, although com­mit­tees will con­tin­ue to hold hear­ings and mark up bills. Tomor­row, the Sen­ate is slat­ed to resume con­sid­er­a­tion of S. 1260, the End­less Fron­tier Act, which the semi­con­duc­tor indus­try char­ac­ter­izes as “bipar­ti­san leg­is­la­tion that seeks to main­tain and build on U.S. sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy lead­er­ship by autho­riz­ing more than $100 bil­lion for sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy ini­tia­tives, includ­ing semi­con­duc­tor research.” The Sen­ate will also con­sid­er sev­er­al Biden nominees.