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Sunday, September 18th, 2022

Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (September 12th-16th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues on July 29th and dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Sep­tem­ber 16th, 2022.

In the United States House of Representatives

Chamber of the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

PROTECTING THE FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM: The House on Sep­tem­ber 15th passed the Pre­vent­ing a Patron­age Sys­tem Act (H.R. 302), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ger­ald E. Con­nol­ly, D‑Virginia.

The bill would can­cel an exec­u­tive order issued by Don­ald Trump in Octo­ber 2020 that cre­at­ed a new Sched­ule F except­ed ser­vice clas­si­fi­ca­tion for gov­ern­ment work­ers, and applied to employ­ees in exec­u­tive agency jobs that have to do with mak­ing pol­i­cy and are not nor­mal­ly replaced when a new pres­i­dent enters office.

Con­nol­ly said: “Chang­ing the nature and oper­a­tions of the civ­il ser­vice is rare, impor­tant, and should require express con­gres­sion­al par­tic­i­pa­tion through leg­is­la­tion.” A bill oppo­nent, Rep. James Com­er, R‑Ky., said the Sched­ule F clas­si­fi­ca­tion “sim­ply made it eas­i­er to dis­ci­pline or remove civ­il ser­vice offi­cials in our gov­ern­men­t’s pol­i­cy­mak­ing roles.” The vote was 225 yeas to 204 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

PROTECTING THE CENSUS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 15th passed the Ensur­ing a Fair and Accu­rate Cen­sus Act (H.R. 8326), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Car­olyn B. Mal­oney, D‑New York. The bill would set out var­i­ous restric­tions on the Cen­sus Bureau’s abil­i­ty to add new ques­tions to the Cen­sus, and pre­vent the Bureau’s direc­tor from being removed for non-cause reasons.

Mal­oney said: “Par­ti­san manip­u­la­tion of the Cen­sus is sim­ply wrong. My bill would pro­tect the Cen­sus and ensure this can­not hap­pen again.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive James Com­er, R‑Kentucky, said: “The bill severe­ly con­strains the abil­i­ty of future Cen­sus­es to include impor­tant new ques­tions, such as the cit­i­zen­ship ques­tion, which a major­i­ty of Amer­i­cans want asked on the Census.”

The vote was 220 yeas to 208 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

HUMAN TRAFFICKING PENALTIES: The House on Sep­tem­ber 13th passed a bill (S. 4785), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Amy Klobuchar, D‑Minnesota, to extend until the end of Sep­tem­ber a $5,000 fed­er­al penal­ty against crim­i­nals found guilty of sex­u­al abuse or human traf­fick­ing vio­la­tions. The penal­ty had expired on Sep­tem­ber 11th. The vote was unan­i­mous with 415 yeas.

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 (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beutler

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

DRONE ROAD INSPECTIONS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 13th passed the Drone Infra­struc­ture Inspec­tion Grant Act (H.R. 5315), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Greg Stan­ton, D‑Ariz., to cre­ate Trans­porta­tion Depart­ment grant pro­grams for using drone air­craft to inspect roads and oth­er infra­struc­ture. Stan­ton said: “Uti­liz­ing drones reduces the cost of infra­struc­ture inspec­tions by 74 per­cent and the time need­ed to con­duct the inspec­tion by 88 percent.”

The vote was 308 yeas to 110 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

Vot­ing Nay (1): 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 Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Not Vot­ing (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 14 aye votes, 1 nay vote, 2 not voting

WILDFIRE RECOVERY ACT: The House has passed the Wild­fire Recov­ery Act (H.R. 1066), spon­sored by Rep. Joe Neguse, D‑Colorado, to increase fed­er­al gov­ern­ment fire assis­tance grants by stip­u­lat­ing that the grants will account for at least 75% of the eli­gi­ble cost of wild­fire recov­ery efforts. A sup­port­er, Del­e­gate Eleanor Holmes Nor­ton, D‑District of Colum­bia, said: “Pro­vid­ing more fed­er­al assis­tance in the wake of the worst fires will assist stretched local budgets.”

The vote was 328 yeas to 88 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 (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Jaime Her­rera Beutler

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

MULTI-BILL PACKAGE: The House on Sep­tem­ber 14th passed a motion spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ste­ny Hoy­er, D‑Maryland, to pass a set of eight bills en bloc, with­out an indi­vid­ual roll call vote for each bill.

The bills cov­ered such top­ics as: mil­i­tary vet­er­ans and edu­ca­tion and mort­gages, pay­ments to sur­vivors of deceased vet­er­ans, and ani­mal health in disasters.

The vote was 397 yeas to 29 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

AVIATION AND DISEASE: The House on Sep­tem­ber 14th passed the Nation­al Avi­a­tion Pre­pared­ness Plan Act (H.R. 884), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rick Larsen, D‑Washington, to require the Trans­porta­tion Depart­ment to devel­op an avi­a­tion pre­pared­ness plan for han­dling U.S. out­breaks of com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases. The vote was 293 yeas to 133 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 (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 (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

POST-DISASTER HOUSING: The House on Sep­tem­ber 14th passed the Expe­dit­ing Dis­as­ter Recov­ery Act (H.R. 5774), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Gar­ret Graves, R‑Louisiana, to have the Fed­er­al Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency pro­vide finan­cial aid for meet­ing hous­ing needs fol­low­ing dis­as­ters that have destroyed hous­ing in a giv­en area. Graves said the bill was intend­ed to make it so that “the dol­lars can get imme­di­ate­ly to the dis­as­ter vic­tims, so we stop see­ing years and years of fed­er­al gov­ern­ment dol­lars being shelled out for tem­po­rary hous­ing and tem­po­rary recov­ery efforts.” The vote was 406 yeas to 20 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

EMERGENCY RESERVISTS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 14th passed the Civil­ian Reservist Emer­gency Work­force Act (S. 2293), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Gary C. Peters, D‑Michigan., to expand employ­ment rights for reservists for the Fed­er­al Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency who are deployed for agency work and there­fore must tem­porar­i­ly leave their nor­mal jobs. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rick Craw­ford, R‑Arkansas, said the bill “will help sup­port FEMA’s inter­mit­tent work­force and enable the agency to bet­ter meet its mis­sion to respond to dis­as­ters.” The vote was 387 yeas to 38 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

LIGHTING FOR FEDERAL BUILDINGS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 14th passed the Bulb Replace­ment Improv­ing Gov­ern­ment with High-effi­cien­cy Tech­nol­o­gy Act (S. 442), spon­sored by Sen. Gary C. Peters, D‑Michigan, to require fed­er­al gov­ern­ment build­ings to use the most life-cycle cost effec­tive and ener­gy effi­cient light­ing sys­tems. The vote was 347 yeas to 78 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

PROTECTING WHISTLEBLOWERS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 15th passed the Whistle­blow­er Pro­tec­tion Improve­ment Act (H.R. 2988), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Car­olyn B. Mal­oney, D‑N.Y., to estab­lish var­i­ous mea­sures intend­ed to increase a fed­er­al gov­ern­ment whistle­blow­er employ­ee’s pro­tec­tions against puni­tive retal­i­a­tion by politi­cians and supervisors.

Mal­oney said the bill “would enact long-over­due reforms to pro­tect whistle­blow­ers from retal­i­a­tion to the great­est extent pos­si­ble, and to pro­vide mean­ing­ful reme­dies if whistle­blow­ers still encounter retaliation.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive James Com­er, R‑Kentucky, said the bill would wrong­ly “pro­hib­it open­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion into some­one who claims to be a whistle­blow­er, even if there is good rea­son to inves­ti­gate the employ­ee’s conduct.”

The vote was 221 yeas to 203 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

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 (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler and Dan Newhouse

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 11 aye votes, 4 nay votes, 2 not voting

In the United States Senate

Chamber of the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

SALVADOR MENDOZA, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 12th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Sal­vador Men­doza to be a judge on the U.S. Ninth Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Men­doza has been a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the East­ern Dis­trict of Wash­ing­ton since 2014; he was briefly a coun­ty court judge before that, and had his own pri­vate law practice.

The vote was 46 yeas to 40 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Mike Crapo

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Jim Risch

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, 1 nay vote, 1 not voting

ARIANNA FREEMAN, UNSUCCESSFUL APPEALS COURT JUDGE NOMINEE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 13th reject­ed the nom­i­na­tion of Ari­an­na Free­man to be a judge on the U.S. Third Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Free­man has been a fed­er­al com­mu­ni­ty defend­er attor­ney in Philadel­phia since 2009. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Bob Casey, D‑Pennsylvania, cit­ed Free­man’s “exten­sive legal expe­ri­ence, keen intel­lect, and ded­i­ca­tion to the prin­ci­ples of fair­ness and equal justice.”

The vote was 47 yeas to 50 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

LARA MONTECALVO, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 14th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Lara Mon­te­cal­vo to be a judge on the U.S. First Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Mon­te­cal­vo has been in the Rhode Island gov­ern­men­t’s pub­lic defend­er’s office since 2004, and is cur­rent­ly the state’s Pub­lic Defend­er. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Jack Reed, D‑Rhode Island, called Mon­te­cal­vo “some­one with great integri­ty, intel­lect, and capac­i­ty for judi­cial independence.”

The vote was 52 yeas to 47 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

SARAH MERRIAM, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 15th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Sarah Mer­ri­am to be a judge on the U.S. Sec­ond Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Mer­ri­am, a U.S. dis­trict court judge for Con­necti­cut since last Octo­ber, was pre­vi­ous­ly a fed­er­al mag­is­trate judge and assis­tant fed­er­al defend­er in Con­necti­cut. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Dick Durbin, D‑Illinois, said Mer­ri­am “has shown that she has the qual­i­fi­ca­tions, expe­ri­ence, and fideli­ty to the rule of law need­ed to admin­is­ter jus­tice on the Sec­ond Circuit.”

The vote was 53 yeas to 44 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

DAVID PEKOSKE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 15th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of David Pekoske to be the Trans­porta­tion Secu­ri­ty Admin­is­tra­tion’s admin­is­tra­tor for a five-year term. Pekoske had been in the post since August 2017, fol­low­ing a career at the Coast Guard.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell, D‑Washington, said Pekoske’s “con­fir­ma­tion and con­tin­ued lead­er­ship of this team will enable the TSA to fur­ther its ongo­ing and impor­tant mission.”

The vote was 77 yeas to 18 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 of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives is sched­uled to take up the Pres­i­den­tial Elec­tion Reform Act and the Joint Con­sol­i­da­tion Loan Sep­a­ra­tion Act.

The House will also hold sus­pen­sion votes on a long list of bills. Con­sid­er­a­tion of a short-term fund­ing bill to keep the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment open is also possible.

The Sen­ate will take up the nom­i­na­tion of Flo­rence Pan to be a Unit­ed States Cir­cuit Judge for the Dis­trict of Colum­bia Circuit.

The Sen­ate will also con­sid­er an amend­ment to an inter­na­tion­al treaty: the Kigali Amend­ment to the Mon­tre­al Protocol.

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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