Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Thurs­day, Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

CONTINUING RESOLUTION TO KEEP FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OPEN: The House on Sep­tem­ber 30th con­curred in the Sen­ate’s amend­ment to the Extend­ing Gov­ern­ment Fund­ing and Deliv­er­ing Emer­gency Assis­tance Act (H.R. 5305), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rosa L. DeLau­ro, D‑Connecticut.

This stop­gap leg­is­la­tion would fund the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment through Decem­ber 3rd and add emer­gency sup­ple­men­tal fund­ing to deal with the with­draw­al from Afghanistan and recent weath­er events. DeLau­ro said it “ensures that vital edu­ca­tion, health, hous­ing, and pub­lic safe­ty pro­grams con­tin­ue to serve those who rely on them.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kay Granger, R‑Texas, said the Sen­ate amend­ment failed to include fund­ing for Israel’s Iron Dome mis­sile defense sys­tem (although the House autho­rized fund­ing for that separately).

The vote was 254 yeas to 175 nays.

A yes vote was to send the mea­sure to Pres­i­dent Biden, who signed it into law.

	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 (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: 15 aye votes, 2 nay votes

TEMPORARILY SUSPENDING THE DEBT CEILING (AGAIN): The House on Sep­tem­ber 29th passed a bill (S. 1301), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Sher­rod Brown, D‑Ohio, to sus­pend the fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s debt ceil­ing through Decem­ber 16th, 2022. A sup­port­er, Rep. Richard E. Neal, D‑Massachusetts, said: “Ensur­ing that the gov­ern­ment can finance its exist­ing oblig­a­tions is a respon­si­bil­i­ty that we share joint­ly in this cham­ber.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kevin Brady, R‑Calif., said: “It is irre­spon­si­ble to keep rais­ing the debt lim­it, keep on spend­ing with­out any frame­work, or any dis­cus­sion about this explo­sion of Amer­i­ca’s debt.”

The vote was 219 yeas to 212 nays.

A yes vote was to send the leg­is­la­tion back to the Senate.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Aye (3): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Peter DeFazio Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kurt Schrader
	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: 10 aye votes, 7 nay votes

PROTECTING REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN FEDERAL LAW: The House on Sep­tem­ber 24th passed the Wom­en’s Health Pro­tec­tion Act (H.R. 3755), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Judy Chu, D‑California.

The bill would remove var­i­ous restric­tions on abor­tion, includ­ing those based on time after ges­ta­tion, estab­lished by state and local governments.

Chu said: “This bill respects our right and the free­dom to make our own choic­es about our bod­ies, and it leaves those deci­sions up to us and our doctors.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tim Wal­berg, R‑Michigan, said the bill “would ban vir­tu­al­ly all con­science pro­tec­tions for med­ical per­son­nel and enable the use of tax­pay­er mon­ey to fund abor­tion pro­ce­dures, vio­lat­ing sin­cere­ly held beliefs of mil­lions of Amer­i­cans on the sanc­ti­ty of human life.”

The vote was 218 yeas to 211 nays.

	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

SANCTIONS IN SUPPORT OF PEACE IN LIBYA: The House on Sep­tem­ber 28th passed the Libya Sta­bi­liza­tion Act (H.R. 1228), spon­sored by Rep. Theodore E. Deutch, D‑Florida, to impose sanc­tions on for­eign­ers believed to have desta­bi­lized Libya and require fed­er­al agen­cies to com­mit resources on behalf of peace and democ­ra­cy in Libya. Deutch said Libyans “deserve a future free from for­eign med­dling, from con­flict and cor­rup­tion, and from eco­nom­ic tur­moil. They deserve to choose their lead­ers in free and fair elections.”

The vote was 386 yeas to 35 nays.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	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

BOLSTERING REWARDS FOR INFORMATION ON WAR CRIMINALS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 28th passed the War Crimes Rewards Expan­sion Act (H.R. 4250), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Vir­ginia Foxx, R‑North Car­oli­na, to expand author­i­ty for rewards offered by the State Depart­ment for infor­ma­tion that leads to the con­vic­tion of for­eign­ers accused of war crimes. Foxx said the bill “will help make Amer­i­ca safer and bring per­pe­tra­tors of war crimes, crimes against human­i­ty, and geno­cide to jus­tice.” The vote was 412 yeas to 9 nays.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	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

REDUCING UNFAIRNESS IN DRUG PROSECUTIONS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 28th passed the Elim­i­nat­ing a Quan­tifi­ably Unjust Appli­ca­tion of the Law Act (H.R. 1693), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Hakeem S. Jef­fries, D‑New York, to change fed­er­al crim­i­nal sen­tenc­ing stan­dards by equal­iz­ing the stan­dards for crack cocaine and pow­der cocaine. Jef­fries said: “There is no pol­i­cy jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for pun­ish­ing crack cocaine offens­es more harsh­ly than the same offense involv­ing pow­der cocaine.” The vote was 361 yeas to 66 nays.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	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

TWO-THIRDS THRESHOLD NOT MET FOR D.C. AUTONOMY LEGISLATION: The House on Sep­tem­ber 29th reject­ed the Dis­trict of Colum­bia Chief Finan­cial Offi­cer Salary Home Rule Act (H.R. 1204), spon­sored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Nor­ton, D‑D.C., to allow the gov­ern­ment of Wash­ing­ton, D.C., to set the lev­el of pay for its chief finan­cial officer.

Nor­ton said the Dis­tric­t’s chief finan­cial offi­cer has unusu­al­ly broad pow­ers but also unusu­al­ly low com­pen­sa­tion, and estab­lish­ing com­pet­i­tive com­pen­sa­tion for the posi­tion would help attract bet­ter candidates.

The vote was 259 yeas to 170 nays.

A two-thirds thresh­old was required for approval.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; 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: 12 aye votes, 5 nay votes

ADDITIONAL HOUSE VOTES ON LEGISLATION: Along with the week’s roll call votes, the House also passed these mea­sures by voice vote:

• the K–12 Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty Act (S. 1917), to estab­lish a K–12 edu­ca­tion cyber­se­cu­ri­ty initiative;
• the Home­land Secu­ri­ty for Chil­dren Act (H.R. 4426), to amend the Home­land Secu­ri­ty Act of 2002 to ensure that the needs of chil­dren are con­sid­ered in home­land secu­ri­ty planning;
• and the Unmanned Aer­i­al Secu­ri­ty Act (H.R. 4682), to pro­hib­it the Sec­re­tary of Home­land Secu­ri­ty from oper­at­ing or procur­ing cer­tain for­eign-made unmanned air­craft systems.

When a voice vote is tak­en, there is no record of how indi­vid­ual mem­bers voted.

In the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

CONTINUING RESOLUTION TO KEEP FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OPEN: The Sen­ate on Thurs­day, Sep­tem­ber 30th passed the Extend­ing Gov­ern­ment Fund­ing and Deliv­er­ing Emer­gency Assis­tance Act (H.R. 5305, above), spon­sored by Rep. Rosa L. DeLau­ro, D‑Connecticut. The bill would fund the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment through Decem­ber 3rd and add emer­gency sup­ple­men­tal fund­ing to deal with the with­draw­al from Afghanistan and recent weath­er events.

Top Sen­ate Repub­li­can Mitch McConnell, R‑Kentucky, praised the with­draw­al of “the poi­son pill of a debt lim­it increase” from the ver­sion of the bill that had pre­vi­ous­ly passed the House. Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer said: “We have more work to do: just as our Repub­li­can col­leagues real­ize that a gov­ern­ment shut­down would be cat­a­stroph­ic, they should real­ize that a default on the nation­al debt would be even worse. I will have more to say on this later.”

The vote was 65 yeas to 35 nays.

	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

REJECTING REPUBLICAN AMENDMENT TO BLOCK COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATES: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 30th reject­ed an amend­ment spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Roger Mar­shall, R‑Kansas, to the Extend­ing Gov­ern­ment Fund­ing and Deliv­er­ing Emer­gency Assis­tance Act (H.R. 5305, above).

The amend­ment would have barred fund­ing for the adop­tion of gov­ern­men­tal COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion require­ments for pri­vate employers.

Mar­shall said: “No prece­dent exists in Amer­i­can his­to­ry for pun­ish­ing pri­vate employ­ers that don’t enforce gov­ern­ment vac­ci­na­tion edicts.”

An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Patrick J. Leahy, D‑Vermont, said: “We need to end this pan­dem­ic, and get­ting peo­ple vac­ci­nat­ed is one of the most impor­tant things we can do to accom­plish that.” The vote was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with a three-fifths thresh­old (six­ty votes) required for approval.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 2 aye votes, 4 nay votes

KAREN DONFRIED, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 28th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Karen Eri­ka Don­fried to serve as the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of State for Euro­pean Affairs and Eurasian Affairs. Don­fried has been pres­i­dent of the Ger­man Mar­shall Fund of the Unit­ed States for sev­en years. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, called Don­fried’s nom­i­na­tion “a tes­ta­ment to the Biden admin­is­tra­tion’s effort to rebuild the transat­lantic rela­tion­ship” with Europe.

The vote was 73 yeas to 26 nays.

	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

JESSICA LEWIS, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 29th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jes­si­ca Lewis to serve as Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of State for Polit­i­cal-Mil­i­tary Affairs. Lewis has been a staffer on Sen­ate and House for­eign pol­i­cy com­mit­tees and to indi­vid­ual sen­a­tors since 2002.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey., said Lewis “is rec­og­nized across par­ty lines as one of the most effec­tive and trust­ed lead­ers on Capi­tol Hill.”

The vote was 70 yeas to 27 nays.

	Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Jim Risch Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 5 aye votes, 1 not voting

ROBERT ANDERSON, INTERIOR DEPARTMENT SOLICITOR: The Sen­ate has con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Robert Ander­son to serve as the Inte­ri­or Depart­men­t’s solic­i­tor. Ander­son has been Inte­ri­or’s prin­ci­pal deputy solic­i­tor since the start of the Biden admin­is­tra­tion. An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor John Bar­ras­so, R‑Wyo., crit­i­cized Ander­son for indi­cat­ing that he might move to end exist­ing pro­grams for leas­ing fed­er­al lands for oil and nat­ur­al gas pro­duc­tion, which Bar­ras­so said “sim­ply and unfor­tu­nate­ly but tru­ly ignores the law of the land.”

The vote was 53 yeas to 44 nays.

	Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Jim Risch Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor 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, 1 nay vote, 1 not voting

TODD ROBINSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 28th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Todd D. Robin­son to serve as the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of State for Inter­na­tion­al Nar­cotics and Law Enforce­ment Affairs. Robin­son has served as a diplo­mat in numer­ous Latin Amer­i­can and Euro­pean coun­tries, includ­ing, from 2014 to 2017, ambas­sador to Guatemala.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, said con­firm­ing Robin­son “is crit­i­cal to our inter­na­tion­al efforts to com­bat nar­cotics, to deal with fen­tanyl, and to deal with the traf­fick­ing routes that extend through Mex­i­co and all the way back to Chi­na.” The vote was 53 yeas to 41 nays.

	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

MARY PHEE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 28th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Mary Phee to serve as Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of State for African Affairs. Phee was ambas­sador to South Sudan from 2015 to 2017; her oth­er diplo­mat­ic post­ings include posi­tions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ethiopia. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, said Phee would “be pro­mot­ing the views of Amer­i­ca’s democ­ra­cy, human rights, rule of law, invest­ment, trade, and oppor­tu­ni­ty” at a vital time for Africa.

The vote was 67 yeas to 31 nays.

	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

MONICA MEDINA, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: The Sen­ate has con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Mon­i­ca Med­i­na to serve as Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of State for Oceans and Inter­na­tion­al Envi­ron­men­tal and Sci­en­tif­ic Affairs.

Med­i­na has been a senior offi­cial at the Com­merce Depart­ment, Defense Depart­ment, and oth­er gov­ern­men­tal and pri­vate groups.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, cit­ed Med­i­na’s expe­ri­ence “in a broad vari­ety of lead­er­ship roles focused on ocean con­ser­va­tion, envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy, and sci­ence.” The vote was 61 yeas to 36 nays.

	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

ROHIT CHOPRA, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 30th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Rohit Chopra to serve as direc­tor of the Bureau of Con­sumer Finan­cial Pro­tec­tion for a five-year term.

The CFPB, the brain­child of Sen­a­tor Eliz­a­beth War­ren (D‑Massachusetts), has saved Amer­i­cans bil­lions of dol­lars since its for­ma­tion in 2010.

Chopra has served on the Fed­er­al Trade Com­mis­sion since May 2018; pre­vi­ous­ly, he was an assis­tant direc­tor at the Bureau. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Sher­rod Brown, D‑Ohio, said Chopra “has a deep under­stand­ing of finan­cial mar­kets, a strong record of pro­tect­ing con­sumers and work­ers and small busi­ness­es, pro­mot­ing com­pet­i­tive mar­kets, and hold­ing bad actors accountable.”

An oppo­nent, Sen. Pat Toomey, R‑Pennsylvania, said that as direc­tor, “Chopra would very like­ly return the CFPB to the rogue, unac­count­able, anti-busi­ness agency it was dur­ing the Oba­ma admin­is­tra­tion. We have every rea­son to believe he would con­tin­ue to dis­re­gard legit­i­mate con­gres­sion­al over­sight requests.”

The vote was 50 yeas to 48 nays.

	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

TRACY STONE-MANNING, BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 30th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Tra­cy Stone-Man­ning to serve as direc­tor of the Bureau of Land Man­age­ment (BLM), a DOI agency.

Stone-Man­ning was a senior aide to Sen­a­tor Jon Tester, D‑Montana, from 2007 to 2012; since then, she has been a senior offi­cial in Mon­tana’s state gov­ern­ment and at the Nation­al Wildlife Federation.

Tester said Stone-Man­ning “can get the job done. She can bring peo­ple togeth­er of all polit­i­cal ilks, and she can do what is nec­es­sary for the Amer­i­can people.”

An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor John Bar­ras­so, R‑Wyoming, said Stone-Man­ning had “col­lab­o­rat­ed with ecoter­ror­ists, lied to the U.S. Sen­ate, wrote in favor of pop­u­la­tion con­trol as a prob­lem relat­ed to the cli­mate, and pro­mot­ed the idea that homes built in the for­est should be left to burn.”

The vote was 50 yeas to 45 nays.

	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 Sen­ate will hold con­fir­ma­tion votes on sev­er­al Biden nom­i­nees, includ­ing Lau­ren J. King, who has been nom­i­nat­ed to join the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the West­ern Dis­trict of Wash­ing­ton. If con­firmed, King would be only the third cur­rent­ly serv­ing Native Amer­i­can fed­er­al dis­trict court judge and the fifth Native Amer­i­can judge in the his­to­ry of the fed­er­al judiciary.

Edi­tor’s Note: The infor­ma­tion in NPI’s week­ly How Cas­ca­di­a’s U.S. law­mak­ers vot­ed fea­ture is pro­vid­ed by Tar­get­ed News Ser­vice. 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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