Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (December 6th-10th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, Decem­ber 10th, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

RAISING THE DEBT CEILING AND PROTECTING MEDICARE: The House on Decem­ber 7th passed the Pro­tect­ing Medicare and Amer­i­can Farm­ers from Sequester Cuts Act (S. 610), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Tim Kaine, D‑Virginia.

Bill pro­vi­sions include a change in pro­ce­dur­al rules to make it eas­i­er to approve an increase in the fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s debt ceil­ing, changes in Medicare’s con­ver­sion fac­tor for­mu­la for pay­ments to health care providers, and reduc­ing the size of cuts to Medicare pay­ments. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Steven Hors­ford, D‑Nevada, said: “This bill is about impor­tant and respon­si­ble mea­sures to deliv­er for the Amer­i­can peo­ple.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kevin Brady, R‑Texas, said it was a mis­take to tie a debt ceil­ing increase to changes in Medicare policies.

The vote was 222 yeas to 212 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

PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY ACT: The House on Decem­ber 9th passed the Pro­tect­ing Our Democ­ra­cy Act (H.R. 5314), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Adam Schiff, D‑California, with four amend­ments backed by Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Oca­sio-Cortez, Omar, Press­ley, and Tlaib. Bill pro­vi­sions include restric­tions on pres­i­den­tial par­don pow­ers, lim­its on pres­i­den­tial dec­la­ra­tions of emer­gen­cies, var­i­ous mea­sures to increase over­sight of the pres­i­dent, and mea­sures to lim­it for­eign inter­fer­ence in polit­i­cal cam­paigns for fed­er­al office.

Schiff said the bill “will pre­vent pres­i­den­tial abus­es of pow­er, ensure the inde­pen­dence of our jus­tice sys­tem, and rein­force the sys­tem of checks and bal­ances.” An oppo­nent, Rep. James Com­er, R‑Kentucky, said: “This bill uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly dis­rupts the sep­a­ra­tion of pow­ers among the branch­es of gov­ern­ment by dimin­ish­ing the exec­u­tive branch and ignor­ing the judi­cial branch.” The vote was 220 yeas to 208 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

DEFENSE SPENDING (NDAA) FOR 2022: The House on Decem­ber 7th passed the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (S. 1605), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Rick Scott, R‑Florida, to autho­rize fis­cal 2022 spend­ing on the mil­i­tary, mil­i­tary con­struc­tion projects, and mil­i­tary-relat­ed pro­grams at the Ener­gy Department.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tom Cole, R‑Oklahoma, said the bill “will ade­quate­ly fund our defense needs and set clear pri­or­i­ties for our armed forces,” includ­ing a 2.7 per­cent pay increase for ser­vice­mem­bers and spend­ing on new ships and weapons sys­tems. The vote was 363 yeas to 70 nays.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz Vot­ing Nay (3): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Peter DeFazio
	Vot­ing Aye (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Vot­ing Nay (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Prami­la Jayapal

Cas­ca­dia total: 13 aye votes, 4 nay votes

TOUGHENING MARITIME INDUSTRY REGULATIONS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Ocean Ship­ping Reform Act (H.R. 4996), spon­sored by Rep. John Gara­men­di, D‑California, to change the reg­u­la­tion of U.S. and for­eign-flagged ocean ship­pers by the Fed­er­al Mar­itime Commission.

Gara­men­di said: “This leg­is­la­tion would ensure rec­i­p­ro­cal trade to help reduce the Unit­ed States’ long­stand­ing trade imbal­ance with export-dri­ven coun­tries like Chi­na.” The vote was 364 yeas to 60 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

CATALOG FOR CATTLE RANCHING: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Cat­tle Con­tract Library Act (H.R. 5609), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Dusty John­son, R‑S.D., to require the Agri­cul­ture Depart­ment to devel­op a cat­a­log of the var­i­ous types of pur­chase con­tracts offered by pack­ers to ranch­ers of beef cattle.

John­son said that with few­er cat­tle sales tak­ing place on the open mar­ket, the cat­a­log would help ranch­ers keep track of mar­ket changes and increase price trans­paren­cy. The vote was 411 yeas to 13 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

ROI FROM FOREST MANAGEMENT FUNDS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Nation­al For­est Restora­tion and Reme­di­a­tion Act (H.R. 4489), spon­sored by our own Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kim Schri­er, D‑Washington, to require the U.S. For­est Ser­vice to place the pro­ceeds from enforce­ment set­tle­ments into inter­est-bear­ing accounts. Schri­er said the bill “will ensure that when we hold bad actors account­able for neg­li­gent behav­ior, the For­est Ser­vice can ful­ly use the fines and the inter­est to reha­bil­i­tate the land.” The vote was 385 yeas to 42 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

TAKING A STAND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Pre­ven­tion Act (H.R. 1155), spon­sored by Rep. James P. McGov­ern, D‑Massachusetts, to bar impor­ta­tion into the U.S. of var­i­ous goods pro­duced in Chi­na’s Xin­jiang Uyghur Autonomous region.

McGov­ern said an import ban would “take a clear moral posi­tion to stand with those who are suf­fer­ing from forced labor and not with the Chi­nese gov­ern­ment.” The vote was 428 yeas to 1 nay.

	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

CHINA AND THE OLYMPICS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed a res­o­lu­tion (H. Res. 837), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jen­nifer Wex­ton, D‑Virginia, stat­ing that the Inter­na­tion­al Olympic Com­mit­tee (IOC) has failed to adhere to its own human rights com­mit­ments by fail­ing to rebuke Chi­na for its mis­treat­ment of ten­nis play­er and for­mer Olympian Peng Shuai. Wex­ton said the IOC has been com­plic­it in Chi­na’s coverup of Peng’s alle­ga­tions of sex­u­al mis­con­duct by a senior gov­ern­ment offi­cial. The vote was unan­i­mous with 428 yeas.

	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

IMPROVING TREATMENT FOR ALS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Accel­er­at­ing Access to Crit­i­cal Ther­a­pies for ALS Act (H.R. 3537), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Quigley, D‑Illinois. The bill would direct the Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion to issue grants in order to increase access to clin­i­cal drug tri­als for patients with ALS (amy­otroph­ic lat­er­al sclerosis).

Quigley said that cur­rent­ly, most ALS patients can­not enroll in tri­als, and “for peo­ple with such an aggres­sive dis­ease to have nei­ther an effec­tive FDA-approached treat­ment nor access to promis­ing drugs is a tragedy.”

The vote was 423 yeas to 3 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

HELPING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Improv­ing the Health of Chil­dren Act (H.R. 5551), spon­sored by Rep. Bud­dy Carter, R‑Georgia, to reau­tho­rize for five years the Nation­al Cen­ter on Birth Defects and Devel­op­men­tal Disabilities.

Carter said that with the Cen­ter’s pre­vi­ous autho­riza­tion hav­ing end­ed in 2007, a reau­tho­riza­tion was need­ed to enhance its abil­i­ty to improve the health of dis­abled chil­dren. The vote was 405 yeas to 20 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

PREVENTING FRAUDULENT OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Opi­oid Pre­scrip­tion Ver­i­fi­ca­tion Act (H.R. 2355), spon­sored by Rep. Rod­ney Davis, R‑Illinois, to require the Health and Human Ser­vices Depart­ment to, in its grant pro­gram and phar­ma­cist train­ing efforts, empha­size the pre­ven­tion of opi­oid addic­tion and over­dos­es. Davis said the mea­sures should reduce fraud­u­lent opi­oid pre­scrip­tions and the result­ing harm from ille­gal sales of opi­oids. The vote was 410 yeas to 15 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 (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rick Larsen

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

HONORING FEMALE WARTIME WORKERS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memo­r­i­al Act (H.R. 3531), spon­sored by Del­e­gate Eleanor Holmes Nor­ton, D‑District of Colum­bia. The bill would autho­rize the con­struc­tion on fed­er­al gov­ern­ment land in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., of a memo­r­i­al to women who worked in war-relat­ed indus­tries dur­ing World War II. Nor­ton said: “The work done by women on the home front opened the doors for women in the work­place wide­ly and has had a pro­found and last­ing effect on the job mar­ket ever since.” The vote was 425 yeas to 1 nay.

	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 (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rick Larsen

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

In the United States Senate

JESSICA ROSENWORCEL, FCC CHAIR: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jes­si­ca Rosen­wor­cel to serve as chair­woman of the Fed­er­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mis­sion for a five-year term end­ing in mid-2025. Rosen­wor­cel has chaired the FCC since this Jan­u­ary on an act­ing basis, and has been an FCC com­mis­sion­er for many years.

A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said Rosen­wor­cel “has set her­self apart as one of the nation’s lead­ing cham­pi­ons for more afford­able and acces­si­ble Inter­net.” The vote was 68 yeas to 31 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

DEIRDRE HAMILTON, MEDIATION BOARD: The Sen­ate has con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Deirdre Hamil­ton to serve as a com­mis­sion­er on the Nation­al Medi­a­tion Board for a term end­ing in mid-2022. The Board resolves employ­ment and oth­er dis­putes in the rail­road and air­line indus­tries. Hamil­ton, a staff attor­ney at the Inter­na­tion­al Broth­er­hood of Team­sters union since 2014, was pre­vi­ous­ly a staff attor­ney at the Asso­ci­a­tion of Flight Attendants.

	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

CHRIS MAGNUS, CUSTOMS AND BORDER SECURITY: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Chris Mag­nus to be com­mis­sion­er of the Cus­toms and Bor­der Pro­tec­tion agency at the Home­land Secu­ri­ty Depart­ment. Mag­nus, a long­time law enforce­ment offi­cer, is cur­rent­ly the police chief for Tuc­son, Ari­zona. A sup­port­er, Sen. Tom Carp­er, D‑Delaware, said Mag­nus “has over fortyy years of exem­plary pub­lic ser­vice in com­mu­ni­ties that span across this coun­try. He has a strong track record of col­lab­o­ra­tive leadership.”

The vote was 50 yeas to 47 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

FAILING TO BLOCK MILITARY EXPORTS TO SAUDI ARABIA: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th reject­ed a motion to dis­charge from the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee a res­o­lu­tion (S.J. Res. 31), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Rand Paul, R‑Kentucky, to dis­ap­prove of the poten­tial sale of mil­i­tary weapons to Sau­di Ara­bia. Paul said weapons exports have facil­i­tat­ed Sau­di Ara­bi­a’s air and naval block­ade of Yemen, with the result­ing death of thou­sands of Yeme­nis for lack of food and med­i­cine, “and con­tin­u­ing arms sales means con­tin­ued death and destruc­tion in Yemen.” An oppo­nent, Sen­ate Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell, R‑Kentucky, said block­ing the exports “would give the world yet anoth­er rea­son to doubt the resolve of the Unit­ed States, and it would give our biggest adver­saries” more oppor­tu­ni­ty to influ­ence the Mid­dle East.

The vote to dis­charge was 30 yeas to 67 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

RACHAEL ROLLINS, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR MASSACHUSETTS: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 8th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Rachael Rollins to serve as the U.S. attor­ney for the Mass­a­chu­setts dis­trict. Rollins has been an attor­ney at var­i­ous gov­ern­ment agen­cies in Mass­a­chu­setts since 2007. An oppo­nent, Sen­ate Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell, R‑Kentucky, said Rollins “has spent years in her cur­rent job as a DA [dis­trict attor­ney] push­ing the idea that the state should wipe entire cat­e­gories of crimes off the list of things worth pros­e­cut­ing.” The vote was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice Pres­i­dent Har­ris cast­ing a yea vote.

	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

MICHAEL SMITH, CEO OF AMERICORPS: The Sen­ate has con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Michael D. Smith to be the CEO of AmeriCorps.

Smith is cur­rent­ly exec­u­tive direc­tor of the My Broth­er’s Keep­er Alliance and the direc­tor of youth oppor­tu­ni­ty pro­grams at the Oba­ma Foundation.

The vote was 58 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

DISAPPROVING OF COVID-19 VACCINATION RULE: The Sen­ate has passed a res­o­lu­tion (S.J. Res. 29), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Mike Braun, R‑Indiana, that would dis­ap­prove of and void a Labor Depart­ment emer­gency rule for requir­ing COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tions for employ­ees at com­pa­nies with 100 or more workers.

Braun said: “Get­ting vac­ci­nat­ed should be a deci­sion between an indi­vid­ual and his or her doc­tor. It should­n’t be up to any politi­cian.” An oppo­nent, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said: “There should be one mes­sage, and one mes­sage only, com­ing from this cham­ber to the Amer­i­can peo­ple: Get vac­ci­nat­ed. Get boost­ed. Stay safe yourself.”

The vote was 52 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

RAISING THE DEBT CEILING AND PROTECTING MEDICARE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 9th con­curred in the House amend­ments to the Pro­tect­ing Medicare and Amer­i­can Farm­ers from Sequester Cuts Act (S. 610), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Tim Kaine, D‑Virginia (men­tioned above).

The amend­ed bill would change pro­ce­dur­al rules to make it eas­i­er to approve an increase in the fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s debt ceil­ing, make changes in Medicare’s con­ver­sion fac­tor for­mu­la for pay­ments to health care providers, and reduce the size of upcom­ing cuts to Medicare pay­ments to the providers.

A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said the debt ceil­ing change meant “no brinks­man­ship, no default on the debt, no risk of anoth­er reces­sion.” An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Mike Lee, R‑Utah, said: “This debt ceil­ing increase is a blank check for the Democ­rats’ reck­less tax-and-spend­ing bill.” The vote was 59 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

Key votes ahead

The Sen­ate will take up the nom­i­na­tion of Lucy Haer­an Koh, of Cal­i­for­nia, to be Unit­ed States Cir­cuit Judge for the Ninth Cir­cuit. The Sen­ate will also dis­cuss and debate the 2022 Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act. Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer also plans to hold anoth­er vote on the John R. Lewis Vot­ing Rights Advance­ment Act of 2021, which Repub­li­cans pre­vi­ous­ly filibustered.

The House plans to take up the Com­bat­ing Inter­na­tion­al Islam­o­pho­bia Act and con­sid­er a res­o­lu­tion rec­om­mend­ing that the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives find for­mer mem­ber and Trump chief of staff Mark R. Mead­ows in con­tempt of Con­gress for refusal to com­ply with a sub­poe­na duly issued by the Select Com­mit­tee to Inves­ti­gate the Jan­u­ary 6th Attack on the Unit­ed States Capitol.

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