NPI's Cascadia Advocate

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, September 25th, 2022

Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (September 19th-23rd)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues on July 29th and dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Sep­tem­ber 23rd, 2022.

In the United States House of Representatives

Chamber of the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION REFORM ACT: The House on Sep­tem­ber 21st passed the Pres­i­den­tial Elec­tion Reform Act (H.R. 8873), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Zoe Lof­gren, D‑California. The bill would make numer­ous changes to Con­gress’s pro­ce­dures for reg­is­ter­ing the Elec­toral Col­lege votes for pres­i­dent, includ­ing requir­ing sup­port from one-third of the mem­bers of both the Sen­ate and House for an objec­tion to the Elec­toral Col­lege vote to be heard.

Lof­gren said: “This bill will make it hard­er to con­vince peo­ple that they have the right to over­throw the elec­tion.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rod­ney Davis, R‑Illinois, said the exist­ing Elec­toral Count Act was an ade­quate law for allow­ing politi­cians “to raise con­sti­tu­tion­al objec­tions to state elec­toral slates if they deter­mine some­thing may be improp­er.” The vote was 229 yeas to 203 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

STUDENT LOAN RELIEF: The House on Sep­tem­ber 21st passed the Joint Con­sol­i­da­tion Loan Sep­a­ra­tion Act (S. 1098), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Mark Warn­er, D‑Virginia The bill would allow two joint fed­er­al stu­dent loan bor­row­ers to peti­tion the Edu­ca­tion Depart­ment to split the joint loan into two sep­a­rate loans.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bob­by Scott, D‑Virginia, said: “The bill pro­vides a path­way for an indi­vid­ual to apply to sep­a­rate a loan from a spouse, a cur­rent spouse or for­mer spouse, includ­ing in the event of an absen­tee or unre­spon­sive spouse, for an act of vio­lence or eco­nom­ic abuse.”

An oppo­nent, Rep. Vir­ginia Foxx, R‑North Car­oli­na, said it would give a joint bor­row­er the abil­i­ty to “use this new leg­is­la­tion as a weapon” by leav­ing the spouse with the bal­ance remain­ing in the sep­a­rat­ed loan.

The vote was 232 yeas to 193 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

LAW ENFORCEMENT GRANTS FOR SMALL DEPARTMENTS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 22nd passed the Invest to Pro­tect Act (H.R. 6448), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Josh Got­theimer, D‑New Jer­sey, to have the Jus­tice Depart­ment award com­mu­ni­ty-ori­ent­ed polic­ing grants to local gov­ern­ment law enforce­ment agen­cies with few­er than 200 offi­cers. Got­theimer said of the need for more fund­ing: “We must ensure that local police depart­ments across our coun­try have what they need to recruit and retain the finest offi­cers, pro­vide nec­es­sary train­ing, and invest in pro­vid­ing men­tal health resources for our officers.”

A bill oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jim Jor­dan, R‑Ohio, said ample Jus­tice Depart­ment grant pro­grams for local polic­ing were already available.

The vote was 360 yeas to 64 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 (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Adam Smith

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 nay vote

MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT GRANTS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 22nd passed the Men­tal Health Jus­tice Act (H.R. 8542), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Katie Porter, D‑California, to estab­lish a grant pro­gram for state and local gov­ern­ments to pro­vide men­tal health treat­ments instead of law enforce­ment respons­es to peo­ple with behav­ioral health problems.

Porter said: “When we send police to peo­ple in cri­sis, we fail to get those peo­ple des­per­ate­ly need­ed health­care, and we take law enforce­ment away from tack­ling the vio­lent crime that they are trained to take on. This hurts every­one in our com­mu­ni­ty.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kel­ly Arm­strong, R‑North Dako­ta, said deploy­ing men­tal health offi­cials instead of police “will endan­ger the men­tal health pro­fes­sion­al, the sus­pect, the per­son expe­ri­enc­ing the men­tal health cri­sis, and the per­son who called 911” due to being in danger.

The vote was 223 yeas to 206 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

VIOLENCE PREVENTION GRANTS: The House on Sep­tem­ber 22nd passed the Break the Cycle of Vio­lence Act (H.R. 4118), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Steven Hors­ford, D‑Nevada. The bill would direct the Health and Human Ser­vices Depart­ment to issue grants to com­mu­ni­ties dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly impact­ed by vio­lence, includ­ing homi­cides, and cre­ate sev­er­al enti­ties relat­ed to the grants effort. Hors­ford said the mul­ti­ple bil­lions of dol­lars of grants autho­rized by the bill “will invest in proven, com­mu­ni­ty-based vio­lence inter­ven­tion pro­grams to build safer com­mu­ni­ties.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Matt Gaetz, R‑Florida, said he object­ed to the grants because “the police pow­er is not a pow­er of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, it is a pow­er of our state and local governments.”

The vote was 220 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

GRANTS TO FIGHT VIOLENT CRIME: The House on Sep­tem­ber 22nd passed the Vio­lent Inci­dent Clear­ance and Tech­no­log­i­cal Inves­tiga­tive Meth­ods Act (H.R. 5768), spon­sored by Rep. Val But­ler Dem­ings, D‑Florida, to estab­lish a Jus­tice Depart­ment grant pro­gram for state and local law enforce­ment agencies.

Dem­ings said that by help­ing police inves­ti­gate vio­lent crime, the grants would help “make sure that our men and women in blue — remem­ber, back the blue — have the sup­port they need to do their jobs.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tom McClin­tock, R‑California, ques­tioned whether grants issued by “the increas­ing­ly cor­rupt and politi­cized Depart­ment of Jus­tice” would improve law enforce­ment. The vote was 250 yeas to 178 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 (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler and Dan Newhouse

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 13 aye votes, 4 nay votes

REAUTHORIZING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COMMISSION: The House on Sep­tem­ber 19th passed the Unit­ed States Com­mis­sion on Inter­na­tion­al Reli­gious Free­dom Reau­tho­riza­tion Act (S. 3895), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Mar­co Rubio, R‑Florida, to autho­rize fund­ing for the Com­mis­sion through fis­cal 2024. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tom Mali­nows­ki, D‑New Jer­sey, said sus­tain­ing the Com­mis­sion “is crit­i­cal­ly need­ed to ensure that our coun­try main­tains the tools we need to stand up for human rights and, in par­tic­u­lar, reli­gious free­dom around the world.”

The vote was 402 yeas to 4 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive 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: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

BRIDGING THE GAP FOR NEW AMERICANS ACT: The House on Sep­tem­ber 19th passed the Bridg­ing the Gap for New Amer­i­cans Act (S. 3157), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Amy Klobuchar, D‑Minnesota, to require the Labor Depart­ment to make a study of ways to improve the abil­i­ty of legal aliens and nat­u­ral­ized cit­i­zens to obtain employ­ment that fits their lev­el of skills.

A bill sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bob­by Scott, D‑Virginia, said it “will help us bet­ter under­stand not only the employ­ment bar­ri­ers fac­ing immi­grants and refugees but also steps we can take to ensure that new Amer­i­cans can join our eco­nom­ic growth and pur­sue careers in which they can suc­ceed to their fullest potential.”

The vote was 363 yeas to 52 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive 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 Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, Dan New­house, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Prami­la Jayapal

Cas­ca­dia total: 15 aye votes, 2 not voting

PEACE CORPS REAUTHORIZATION: The House on Sep­tem­ber 19th passed the Peace Corps Reau­tho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 1456), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive John Gara­men­di, D‑California, to reau­tho­rize the Peace Corps through fis­cal 2024 and make changes to the pro­gram, includ­ing a zero tol­er­ance drug use pol­i­cy for vol­un­teers and new safe­ty and secu­ri­ty mea­sures for volunteers.

Gara­men­di said the bill “will rein­vig­o­rate the Peace Corps and ensure that its essen­tial work can con­tin­ue to shape and inspire peo­ple around the world for years to come.” An oppo­nent, Rep. Vir­ginia Foxx, R‑North Car­oli­na, crit­i­cized the bil­l’s increase in the pay and gov­ern­ment ben­e­fits grade lev­el assigned to Peace Corps vol­un­teers, which she said “sets a ter­ri­ble prece­dent for oth­er pro­grams that will inevitably ask for an increase in” benefits.

The vote was 290 yeas to 125 nays.

The State of IdahoVot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive 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 (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: 14 aye votes, 2 nay votes, 1 not voting

MULTI-BILL PACKAGE: The House on Sep­tem­ber 20th adopt­ed a motion spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ste­ny Hoy­er, D‑Maryland, to pass a set of ten bills en bloc, with­out sep­a­rate roll call votes. The bills addressed such issues as: Syr­i­a’s exports of nar­cot­ic drugs, sanc­tions against Rus­si­a’s gov­ern­ment and Russ­ian indi­vid­u­als, and glob­al telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions systems.

The vote was 361 yeas to 69 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

NEW NPS UNIT AT SITE OF BLACKWELL SCHOOL: The House on Sep­tem­ber 20th passed the Black­well School Nation­al His­toric Site Act (S. 2490), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor John Cornyn, R‑Texas, to estab­lish a Nation­al Park Sys­tem unit in Mar­fa, Texas, memo­ri­al­iz­ing the Black­well School, which taught Mex­i­can-Amer­i­cans from 1885 to 1965.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tony Gon­za­lez, R‑Texas, said: “Des­ig­nat­ing the Black­well School as a nation­al park site would improve the abil­i­ty of the Park Ser­vice to over­see con­ser­va­tion efforts, pro­mote region­al tourism, and share impor­tant sto­ries about the Mex­i­can-Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty in the U.S.”

The vote was 414 yeas to 12 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: 17 aye votes

ADDITIONAL HOUSE VOTES TAKEN BY VOICE: Along with this week’s roll call votes, the House also passed these mea­sures by voice vote:

  • the Stop Human Traf­fick­ing in School Zones Act (H.R. 7566), to increase the pun­ish­ment for human traf­fick­ing in a school zone;
  • the Human Traf­fick­ing Pre­ven­tion Act (H.R. 7181), to direct the Sec­re­tary of Trans­porta­tion to seek to pro­vide for the post­ing of con­tact infor­ma­tion of the nation­al human traf­fick­ing hot­line in the restrooms of each air­craft, air­port, over-the-road bus, bus sta­tion, pas­sen­ger train, and pas­sen­ger rail­road sta­tion oper­at­ing with­in the Unit­ed States;
  • the Pro­tect Reporters from Exploita­tive State Spy­ing Act (H.R. 4330), to main­tain the free flow of infor­ma­tion to the pub­lic by estab­lish­ing appro­pri­ate lim­its on the fed­er­al­ly com­pelled dis­clo­sure of infor­ma­tion obtained as part of engag­ing in journalism;
  • … and the Keep Amer­i­ca’s Refuges Oper­a­tional Act (H.R. 6734), to reau­tho­rize the vol­un­teer ser­vices, com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ship, and refuge edu­ca­tion pro­grams of the Nation­al Wildlife Refuge System.

When a vote is tak­en by voice, there is no record of how indi­vid­ual mem­bers vot­ed. Voice votes are some­times used to pass bipar­ti­san bills.

In the United States Senate

Chamber of the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

KIGALI AMENDMENT TO THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 21st rat­i­fied the Kigali Amend­ment to the Mon­tre­al Pro­to­col on Sub­stances that Deplete the Ozone Lay­er, a treaty reached in 2016 that would have indus­tri­al coun­tries seek to cut hydro­flu­o­ro­car­bon (HFC) use by eighty per­cent or more by 2050 in order to reduce glob­al warming.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Tom Carp­er, D‑Delaware, said: “Kigali rat­i­fi­ca­tion will ensure U.S. com­pa­nies con­tin­ue to have access to inter­na­tion­al mar­kets so that mod­ern, effi­cient, eco­nom­i­cal air-con­di­tion­ers and refrig­er­a­tors across the world will be stamped ‘Made in Amer­i­ca,’ not ‘Made in China.’ ”

A treaty oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Mike Lee, R‑Utah, said “HFCs con­tribute only five one-hun­dredths of 1 degree Cel­sius to pro­ject­ed increas­es in glob­al temperature.”

The vote to rat­i­fy the treaty was 69 yeas to 27 nays.

The State of Idaho

Not Vot­ing (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 not voting

CHINA’S STATUS/CLASSIFICATION WITH RESPECT TO KIGALI AMENDMENT: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 21st passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Dan Sul­li­van, R‑Alaska, to the Kigali Amend­ment on hydro­flu­o­ro­car­bons (above) that would declare that Chi­na is not a devel­op­ing coun­try for the pur­pos­es of imple­ment­ing the Kigali Amend­ment. Sul­li­van said the amend­ment right­ly rec­og­nized Chi­na’s cur­rent eco­nom­ic sta­tus and the coun­try’s respon­si­bil­i­ty to meet the same treaty oblig­a­tions that the U.S., Japan, and oth­er peer nations have. The vote  was unan­i­mous with 96 yeas.

The State of Idaho

Not Vot­ing (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 not voting

FLORENCE PAN, U.S. APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 20th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Flo­rence Pan to be a judge on the Wash­ing­ton, D.C., Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Pan has been a U.S. Dis­trict Court judge for D.C. for a year, and pre­vi­ous­ly was a D.C. Supe­ri­or Court judge and fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor in the Dis­trict. A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, called Pan “expe­ri­enced, bal­anced, and above all, com­mit­ted to the rule of law.”

The vote was 52 yeas to 42 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

AMANDA BENNETT, GLOBAL MEDIA CEO: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 22nd con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Aman­da Ben­nett to be Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of the U.S. Agency for Glob­al Media (USAGM), which over­sees six gov­ern­ment media enti­ties, includ­ing Voice of Amer­i­ca and Radio Free Europe.

Ben­nett was direc­tor of Voice of Amer­i­ca from ear­ly 2016 to June 2020, and pre­vi­ous­ly was an edi­tor at var­i­ous news­pa­pers and a Wall Street Jour­nal reporter.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, said Ben­nett “will be a tire­less advo­cate for the jour­nal­ists work­ing at USAGM and an effec­tive stew­ard of its oper­a­tions.” The vote was 60 yeas to 36 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Aye (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Jim Risch

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor 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: 5 aye votes, 1 not voting

ARATI PRABHAKAR, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR: The Sen­ate on Sep­tem­ber 22nd con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Arati Prab­hakar to be Direc­tor of the Office of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy Pol­i­cy, a White House enti­ty that advis­es the pres­i­dent. Prab­hakar has head­ed the Nation­al Insti­tute of Stan­dards and Tech­nol­o­gy and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and been an exec­u­tive at tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­nies and a ven­ture cap­i­tal firm.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell, D‑Washington, said Prab­hakar “has the exact expe­ri­ence we need to advise the pres­i­dent on semi­con­duc­tor man­u­fac­tur­ing, on bring­ing the sup­ply chain and secu­ri­ty that we need here in the Unit­ed States, and on con­tin­ued growth in sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy jobs that come along with it.”

The vote was 56 yeas to 40 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Mike Jim Risch

Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Mike Crapo

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Aye (1):  Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Murray

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

Key votes ahead

Upon its return, the Sen­ate is slat­ed to resume con­sid­er­a­tion of the motion to pro­ceed to H.R. 6833, the leg­isla­tive vehi­cle for a con­tin­u­ing res­o­lu­tion to keep the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment open and funded.

The House will take up the Men­tal Health Mat­ters Act, Merg­er Fil­ing Fee Mod­ern­iza­tion Act of 2022, and the PAVA Pro­gram Inclu­sion Act in addi­tion to the con­tin­u­ing res­o­lu­tion to keep the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment open and fund­ed. Leg­is­la­tion relat­ed to the STOCK Act may also be considered.

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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