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Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate provides the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Sunday, June 19th, 2022

Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (June 13th-17th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, June 17th, 2022.

In the United States House of Representatives

Chamber of the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

OCEAN SHIPPING REFORM ACT: The House on June 13th passed the Ocean Ship­ping Reform Act (S. 3580), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Amy Klobuchar, D‑Minnesota. The bill would change Fed­er­al Mar­itime Com­mis­sion prac­tices, includ­ing requir­ing the Com­mis­sion to review fines charged by com­mon ocean car­ri­ers, and bar com­mon ocean car­ri­ers from refus­ing to ship goods if they have ade­quate car­go space for the goods. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter A. DeFazio, D‑Oregon, called the bill “vital for ensur­ing fair and effi­cient ship­ping, which is inte­gral to the well-being of our economy.”

The vote was 369 yeas to 42 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

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: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

PILOT PROGRAM FOR ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY AIR INFRASTRUCTURE: The House on June 13th passed the Advanced Avi­a­tion Infra­struc­ture Mod­ern­iza­tion Act (H.R. 6270), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rick Larsen, D‑Washington, to autho­rize a $25 mil­lion Trans­porta­tion Depart­ment pilot pro­gram for issu­ing grants to fund advanced air mobil­i­ty infra­struc­ture. Such infra­struc­ture includes ver­ti­cal air­plane take­off and land­ing facil­i­ties, known as ver­ti­ports. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter A. DeFazio, D‑Oregon, said the grants would help fed­er­al reg­u­la­tors get ahead of the curve on how to han­dle an emerg­ing tech­nol­o­gy with tremen­dous poten­tial to improve transportation.

The vote, on June 13, was 338 yeas to 73 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

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: 16 aye votes, 1 nay vote

POLICE PROTECTION FOR SUPREME COURT JUSTICES’ FAMILY MEMBERS: The House on June 14th passed the Supreme Court Police Par­i­ty Act (S. 4160), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor John Cornyn, R‑Texas, to autho­rize the Supreme Court Police force to pro­vide pro­tec­tion for imme­di­ate rel­a­tives of jus­tices if the court’s mar­shal deems such pro­tec­tion nec­es­sary. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ted Lieu, D‑California, said the pro­tec­tion would help ensure that jus­tices “are free from fear of vio­lence or phys­i­cal intim­i­da­tion to make deci­sions based on the Con­sti­tu­tion and law as applied to the facts of the cas­es before them.”

The vote was 396 yeas to 27 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Aye (10): 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: 16 aye votes, 1 nay vote

SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION: The House on June 14th passed the Recov­er­ing Amer­i­ca’s Wildlife Act (H.R. 2773), spon­sored by Rep. Deb­bie Din­gell, D‑Michigan, to pro­vide about $1.4 bil­lion of annu­al sup­ple­men­tal fund­ing for Inte­ri­or Depart­ment efforts to con­serve plant and wildlife species, includ­ing endan­gered species.

Din­gell said: “We have a con­ser­va­tion, eco­nom­ic, and moral ratio­nale to act in order to pro­tect and recov­er Amer­i­ca’s wildlife for future gen­er­a­tions.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bruce West­er­man, R‑Arkansas, crit­i­cized the bil­l’s lack of leg­isla­tive over­sight pro­vi­sions and its increase in deficit spending.

The vote was 231 yeas to 190 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

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

RURAL RESCUE ACT: The House on June 14th passed the Small State and Rur­al Res­cue Act (H.R. 7211), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive John Katko, R‑New York, to expand the role of the Fed­er­al Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agen­cy’s Small State and Rur­al Advo­cate office in review­ing requests for FEMA to pro­vide dis­as­ter assis­tance. Katko said the bill “will go a long way in pro­vid­ing sup­port for the rur­al com­mu­ni­ties and small states” of the U.S. when they endure disasters.

The vote was 396 yeas to 14 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

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

EQUITY IN FINANCING: The House on June 15th passed the Fed­er­al Reserve Racial and Eco­nom­ic Equi­ty Act (H.R. 2543), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Max­ine Waters, D‑California. The bill would require the Fed­er­al Reserve to pri­or­i­tize elim­i­nat­ing racial and eth­nic eco­nom­ic dis­par­i­ties in its activities.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bar­bara Lee, D‑California, said it “will reori­ent our finan­cial sys­tems to sup­port wealth cre­ation in his­tor­i­cal­ly under­served com­mu­ni­ties.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive John W. Rose, R‑Tennessee, said it “would impose addi­tion­al and bur­den­some report­ing require­ments on pub­lic com­pa­nies, reduce access to cred­it, dis­tract the Fed­er­al Reserve from pur­su­ing its statu­to­ry man­date, and fur­ther politi­cize our reg­u­la­to­ry agencies.”

The vote was 215 yeas to 207 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

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

ADDRESSING COST OF LIVING INCREASES: The House on June 16th passed the Low­er Food and Fuel Costs Act (H.R. 7606), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Abi­gail Davis Span­berg­er, D‑Virginia. Among oth­er mea­sures, the bill would cre­ate the Office of the Spe­cial Inves­ti­ga­tor for Com­pe­ti­tion Mat­ters at the Agri­cul­ture Depart­ment, and charge the inves­tiga­tive office with pros­e­cut­ing vio­la­tions of meat­pack­ing and poul­try mar­ket­ing laws. Span­berg­er said the bill respond­ed to Amer­i­cans’ desire for “low­er meat prices both now and in the future. They want low­er gas prices and to make bio­fu­els acces­si­ble to more Americans.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Glenn Thomp­son, R‑Pennsylvania, said the bil­l’s new reg­u­la­tions would be decreas­ing “Amer­i­can farm­ers’ abil­i­ties to meet glob­al food demand and dou­bling down on the idea that more spend­ing and big gov­ern­ment will feed the world.” The vote was 221 yeas to 204 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (3): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Kurt Schrader

Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter DeFazio; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

The State of Washington

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

In the United States Senate

Chamber of the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

HONORING OUR PACT ACT: The Sen­ate on June 16th passed the Hon­or­ing our Promise to Address Com­pre­hen­sive Tox­i­cs Act (H.R. 3967), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mark Takano, D‑California. The bill would take var­i­ous mea­sures to treat and record health prob­lems in mil­i­tary vet­er­ans who were exposed to tox­ic sub­stances dur­ing their time in the mil­i­tary, includ­ing the war in Iraq.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Jer­ry Moran, R‑Kansas, said the mea­sures would con­nect “tox­ic-exposed vet­er­ans with the care they need and they deserve and to pro­vide vet­er­ans with cer­tain­ty and sup­port.” The vote was 84 yeas to 14 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Nay (2):
Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (2):
Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Aye (2):
Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

ALAN LEVENTHAL, AMBASSADOR TO DENMARK: The Sen­ate on June 15th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Alan M. Lev­en­thal to be the U.S. Ambas­sador to Den­mark. Lev­en­thal is chair­man and CEO of the office prop­er­ties com­pa­ny Bea­con Cap­i­tal, and serves on the board of sev­er­al Boston-area char­i­ties and uni­ver­si­ties. The vote was 63 yeas to 32 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Aye (2):
Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (2):
Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Aye (2):
Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 aye votes

Key votes ahead

The House will take up the Restor­ing Hope for Men­tal Health and Well-Being Act of 2022, the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Health Act, LGBTQI+ Data Inclu­sion Act, and debate the Sen­ate amend­ments to the Hon­or­ing our PACT Act.

The Sen­ate will con­sid­er the nom­i­na­tions of Ana Isabel de Alba to be a Unit­ed States Dis­trict Judge for the East­ern Dis­trict of Cal­i­for­nia and Mary T. Boyle to be a Com­mis­sion­er of the Con­sumer Prod­uct Safe­ty Commission.

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!

© 2022 Tar­get­ed News Ser­vice, LLC. 

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