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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, August 7th, 2022

Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (August 1st-5th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues on July 29th and dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing August 5th, 2022.

In the United States House of Representatives (July 29th)

Chamber of the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

The House was in recess last week, but before it recessed the week before, it took sev­er­al votes that were not in last Sun­day’s report. 

These Fri­day, July 29th votes are shown below. 

WILDFIRES AND WATER MANAGEMENT: The House on July 29th passed the Wild­fire Response and Drought Resilien­cy Act (H.R. 5118), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Joe Neguse, D‑Colorado, to autho­rize var­i­ous water man­age­ment projects and change fed­er­al wildlife pro­grams, includ­ing increas­ing fire­fight­er wages. Neguse called the bill “anoth­er major effort to act on cli­mate by respond­ing to record-set­ting wild­fires and drought that are impact­ing com­mu­ni­ties across our coun­try.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bruce West­er­man, R‑Arkansas, said it “does absolute­ly noth­ing to pre­vent wild­fires or sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve our resilien­cy to drought.” The vote was 218 yeas to 199 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 Peter DeFazio

Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz and Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kurt Schrader

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

REGULATING BIG CATS: The House on July 29th passed the Big Cat Pub­lic Safe­ty Act (H.R. 263), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Quigley, D‑Illinois, to tight­en fed­er­al restric­tions on the trade and use of large feline species, such as lions, tigers, chee­tahs, and moun­tain lions. Quigley said the stricter reg­u­la­tions were need­ed “to pro­tect our neigh­bor­hoods from the threat of wild ani­mals being held cap­tive in dan­ger­ous con­di­tions.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Doug LaMal­fa, R‑Calif., said there were already ade­quate fed­er­al reg­u­la­tions for big cats, and the bill would also over­ride state author­i­ty to leg­is­late on the matter.

The vote was 278 yeas to 134 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 (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: 12 aye votes, 5 nay votes

RESTORING COAL MINE SITES: The House on July 29th passed the Safe­guard­ing Treat­ment for the Restora­tion of Ecosys­tems from Aban­doned Mines Act (H.R. 7283), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Matt Cartwright, D‑Pennsylvania, to allow states to reserve up to 30 per­cent of their fed­er­al grants for recla­ma­tion of aban­doned coal mines to fund the treat­ment and abate­ment of drainage of acidic water from the mines. Cartwright said: “Clean­ing up acid mine drainage always cre­ates jobs, brings back recre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties, boosts local economies, and makes com­mu­ni­ties health­i­er and stronger and much more attrac­tive to vis­i­tors and new invest­ments.” The vote was 391 yeas to 9 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter DeFazio

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

COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE REVIEWS: The House on July 29th passed a Repub­li­can bill (S. 3451), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Bill Hager­ty, R‑Tennessee, to speed reg­u­la­to­ry reviews of com­put­er and net­work­ing man­u­fac­tur­ing infra­struc­ture projects. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bruce West­er­man, R‑Arkansas, said stream­lined reviews would sup­port a “robust domes­tic man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor for semi­con­duc­tors and oth­er high-tech applications.”

The vote was 303 yeas to 89 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kurt Schrad­er and Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz

Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci and Earl Blumenauer

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter DeFazio

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Aye (8): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Kim Schri­er, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Prami­la Jaya­pal and Adam Smith

Cas­ca­dia total: 12 aye votes, 4 nay votes, 1 not voting

In the United States Senate

Chamber of the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

FINAL PASSAGE OF THE HONORING OUR PACT ACT: The Sen­ate on August 2nd agreed to the House amend­ments to the Sergeant First Class Heath Robin­son Hon­or­ing our Promise to Address Com­pre­hen­sive Tox­i­cs Act (S. 3373), to increase med­ical ben­e­fits and treat­ments for mil­i­tary vet­er­ans who were exposed to tox­ins in Iraq and Afghanistan. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Jon Tester, D‑Montana, said of the need for the bill: “The longer we delay, the longer we are going to deny health­care for our vet­er­ans and vet­er­ans are going to con­tin­ue to be in cri­sis and they are going to con­tin­ue to die.”

An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Rand Paul, R‑Kentucky, ques­tioned whether all the treat­ments pro­vid­ed under the bill were actu­al­ly caused by a giv­en vet­er­an’s time in the mil­i­tary, and said it “would cost hun­dreds of bil­lions of dol­lars at a time when the nation­al debt is climb­ing over $30 tril­lion and infla­tion is at a 40-year high.”

The vote was 86 yeas to 11 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Jeff Merkley

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 3 aye votes, 2 nay votes, 1 not voting

ADMITTING SWEDEN AND FINLAND TO NATO: The Sen­ate on August 3rd agreed to a res­o­lu­tion to have the U.S. rat­i­fy the pro­pos­al for Fin­land and Swe­den to join the North Atlantic Treaty Orga­ni­za­tion (NATO).

A sup­port­er of rat­i­fi­ca­tion, Sen­a­tor Chris Van Hollen, D‑Maryland, said of the two Nordic coun­tries: “Their mem­ber­ship at this moment is crit­i­cal to coun­ter­ing Putin’s threats to glob­al secu­ri­ty — and espe­cial­ly to near­by, vul­ner­a­ble nations.” The vote was 95 yeas to 1 nay.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Jeff Merkley

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 5 aye votes, 1 not voting

ELIZABETH HANES, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on August 2nd con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Eliz­a­beth Hanes to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the east­ern dis­trict of Vir­ginia. Hanes has been a mag­is­trate judge in the dis­trict for two years, and pre­vi­ous­ly was a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer, and an assis­tant pub­lic defend­er in the dis­trict for sev­en years.

The vote was 59 yeas to 37 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

ATTEMPTING TO CANCEL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS: The Sen­ate on August 4th passed a Repub­li­can joint res­o­lu­tion (S.J. Res. 55) spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Dan Sul­li­van, R‑Alaska, to dis­ap­prove of and can­cel a Coun­cil on Envi­ron­men­tal Qual­i­ty rule, issued this April, chang­ing pro­ce­dures for the devel­op­ment of reg­u­la­tions issued under the Nation­al Envi­ron­men­tal Pol­i­cy Act.

The April rule expand­ed the allow­able scope of such reg­u­la­tions by, for exam­ple, requir­ing reg­u­la­tors to con­sid­er the rea­son­ably fore­see­able indi­rect and cumu­la­tive effects of a giv­en reg­u­la­tion. Sul­li­van said the rule “will clear­ly have the effect of slow­ing down the per­mit­ting of infra­struc­ture, invit­ing end­less lit­i­ga­tion and putting peo­ple out of work.”

An oppo­nent of can­cel­ing the rule, Sen­a­tor Tom Carp­er, D‑Delaware, said it “would ensure that agen­cies con­duct envi­ron­men­tal review process­es in a com­mon­sense, holis­tic man­ner, one that nei­ther sac­ri­fices effi­cien­cy for envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion nor the oth­er way around.”

The vote to can­cel the rule was 50 yeas to 47 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Nay (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Jeff Merkley

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 2 aye votes, 3 nay votes, 1 not voting

ROOPALI DESAI, U.S. NINTH CIRCUIT APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on August 4th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Roopali Desai to be a judge on the U.S. Ninth Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Desai has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer in Phoenix, spe­cial­iz­ing in elec­tions and vot­ing law, since 2007.

The vote was 67 yeas to 29 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Aye (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Jeff Merkley

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 5 aye votes, 1 not voting

Key votes ahead

The Sen­ate is cur­rent­ly work­ing on the Infla­tion Reduc­tion Act of 2022, which was nego­ti­at­ed by Sen­a­tor Chuck Schumer and Sen­a­tor Joe Manchin.

The Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic major­i­ty is using Con­gress’ rec­on­cil­i­a­tion pro­ce­dures to move the bill through the leg­isla­tive process with­out Repub­li­can votes. It would low­er health­care costs for Amer­i­cans and invest bil­lions towards cli­mate action. Dur­ing an overnight “vote-a-rama” ses­sion, Repub­li­cans tried to attach poi­son pill amend­ments to bring the bill down, but those efforts have so far failed.

The House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives is slat­ed to return on Fri­day, August 12th to vote on the Infla­tion Reduc­tion Act of 2022, pre­sum­ing the Sen­ate pass­es it today.

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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