Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (December 5th-9th)

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

In the United States House of Representatives

RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT FINAL PASSAGE: The House on Decem­ber 8th con­curred in the Sen­ate amend­ments to the Respect for Mar­riage Act (H.R. 8404), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jer­rold Nadler, D‑New York, to repeal the Defense of Mar­riage Act and instead fed­er­al­ly rec­og­nize any mar­riage autho­rized under a state’s mar­riage laws, and require states to sim­i­lar­ly rec­og­nize mar­riages in oth­er states. Nadler said the amend­ed bill “will pro­vide sta­bil­i­ty and reas­sur­ance to the mil­lions of LGBTQ and inter­ra­cial fam­i­lies that have come to rely on the con­sti­tu­tion­al right to marry.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jim Jor­dan, R‑Ohio, called it “the lat­est install­ment of the Democ­rats’ cam­paign to intim­i­date the high­est court in our land” fol­low­ing the Dobbs rul­ing that over­turned Roe v. Wade.

The vote was 258 yeas to 169 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 14 aye votes, 3 nay votes

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT (2023): The House on Decem­ber 8th con­curred in the Sen­ate amend­ment to the James M. Inhofe Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 7776), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter A. DeFazio, D‑Oregon, to autho­rize Army Corps of Engi­neers water resources projects and about $858 bil­lion of fis­cal 2023 spend­ing on the mil­i­tary. The mil­i­tary part of the bill would autho­rize fund­ing for new air­craft and ships, increase pay for ser­vice­mem­bers by 4.6 per­cent and increase their ben­e­fits, and repeal the mil­i­tary’s COVID vac­ci­na­tion requirement.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Rogers, R‑Alabama, called it “laser-focused on prepar­ing our mil­i­tary to counter threats from Chi­na and our oth­er adver­saries. It makes crit­i­cal invest­ments in new sys­tems capa­ble of sur­viv­ing in con­test­ed envi­ron­ments.” The vote was 350 yeas to 80 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 13 aye votes, 4 nay votes

MILITARY VETERANS AND CITIZENSHIP: The House on Decem­ber 6th passed the Vet­er­an Ser­vice Recog­ni­tion Act (H.R. 7946), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mark Takano, D‑California, to pro­vide cit­i­zen­ship and legal res­i­den­cy oppor­tu­ni­ties to vet­er­ans who were not U.S. cit­i­zens when they joined the mil­i­tary. Takano said: “We want vet­er­ans to be able to apply for green cards to return home, exclud­ing the most egre­gious cas­es, and cod­i­fy an admin­is­tra­tive pro­gram for imme­di­ate fam­i­ly mem­bers of vet­er­ans to also obtain green cards con­sis­tent with exist­ing admin­is­tra­tive policy.”

A bill oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Bost, R‑Illinois, said it was unnec­es­sary because “we already have a path­way for indi­vid­u­als who are serv­ing our coun­try in uni­form to stay here in the U.S. and become citizens.”

The vote was 220 yeas to 208 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 11 aye votes, 6 nay votes

MULTI-BILL PACKAGE: The House on Decem­ber 6th passed a motion spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ste­ny Hoy­er, D‑Maryland, to pass three bills en bloc, with­out a sep­a­rate roll call vote for each bill. The bills cov­ered gov­ern­ment aid to small busi­ness­es for for­eign trade, cyber­se­cu­ri­ty train­ing for small busi­ness­es, and map­ping mater­nal health out­comes. The vote was 380 yeas to 46 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 nay vote

NATURAL HAZARDS MAPS: The House on Decem­ber 6th passed the Com­mu­ni­ty Dis­as­ter Resilience Zones Act (S. 3875), spon­sored by Sen. Gary C. Peters, D‑Michigan, to require the exec­u­tive branch to des­ig­nate com­mu­ni­ty dis­as­ter resilience zones iden­ti­fy­ing those parts of the coun­try at great­est risk from nat­ur­al haz­ards. A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Rod­ney Davis, R‑Illinois, said: “Estab­lish­ing these zones will help com­mu­ni­ties, states, and the pri­vate sec­tor bet­ter plan invest­ments in mit­i­ga­tion.” The vote was 333 yeas to 92 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 nay vote

PATENTS COMPETITION: The House on Decem­ber 6th agreed to the Sen­ate amend­ment to the Patents for Human­i­ty Act (H.R. 5796), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Hakeem S. Jef­fries, D‑New York, to legal­ly autho­rize a Patents and Trade­mark Office pro­gram for giv­ing awards to enti­ties that are seek­ing patents for inven­tions that address human­i­tar­i­an problems.

The vote was 396 yeas to 24 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 17 aye votes

DISASTER AID IN RURAL AREAS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Dis­as­ter Assis­tance for Rur­al Com­mu­ni­ties Act (S. 1617), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor James E. Risch, R‑Idaho, to autho­rize the Small Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion to pro­vide eco­nom­ic injury aid to busi­ness­es and peo­ple in rur­al areas fol­low­ing nat­ur­al dis­as­ters. The vote  was 406 yeas to 8 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

COMBATING OPIOID ABUSE IN RURAL AREAS: The House on Decem­ber 8th passed the Rur­al Opi­oid Abuse Pre­ven­tion Act (S. 2796), spon­sored by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D‑Georgia, to autho­rize Jus­tice Depart­ment grants for com­mu­ni­ty pro­grams in rur­al areas that com­bat opi­oid abuse.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jim Jor­dan, R‑Ohio, said cod­i­fy­ing the exist­ing grants ini­tia­tive into law would help hard-hit rur­al com­mu­ni­ties, as drug over­dose deaths nation­wide increase to new highs. The vote was 408 yeas to 11 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

In the United States Senate

DORIS L. PRYOR, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 5th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Doris L. Pry­or to be a judge on the U.S. Sev­enth Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Pry­or, a fed­er­al mag­is­trate judge in Indi­ana since 2017, was pre­vi­ous­ly a fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor and a pub­lic defend­er. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Dick Durbin, D‑Illinois, said: “Judge Pry­or has sig­nif­i­cant fed­er­al expe­ri­ence and a proven track record of neu­tral deci­sion mak­ing on the bench.”

The vote was 60 yeas to 31 nays.

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

FRANCES KAY BEHM, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 6th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Frances Kay Behm to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the east­ern dis­trict of Michi­gan. Behm has been a coun­ty cir­cuit court judge in Michi­gan since 2009; pre­vi­ous­ly, she was a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Deb­bie Stabenow, D‑Michigan, said of Behm: “Dur­ing her time as a judge, she has nev­er for­got­ten her hum­ble roots, and she has worked hard to ensure that every­one who appears before her is tru­ly seen and heard.”

The vote was 49 yeas to 47 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

KELLEY BRISBON HODGE, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 6th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Kel­ley Bris­bon Hodge to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the east­ern dis­trict of Penn­syl­va­nia. Hodge has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer, city dis­trict attor­ney in Philadel­phia and Rich­mond, Va., and pol­i­cy offi­cial for Penn­syl­va­ni­a’s government.

The vote was 52 yeas to 44 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

MIA ROBERTS PEREZ, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Mia Roberts Perez to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the east­ern dis­trict of Penn­syl­va­nia. Cur­rent­ly a tri­al court judge in Philadel­phia Coun­ty, Perez was pre­vi­ous­ly a pub­lic defend­er and a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer. The vote was 52 yeas to 43 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

KAI SCOTT, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Kai N. Scott to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the east­ern dis­trict of Penn­syl­va­nia. Since 2016, Scott has been a tri­al court judge in Philadel­phia Coun­ty; pri­or to that, she was a fed­er­al pub­lic defender.

The vote was 50 yeas to 42 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

JOHN FRANK MURPHY, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of John Frank Mur­phy to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the east­ern dis­trict of Pennsylvania.

Mur­phy has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer in Philadel­phia, spe­cial­iz­ing in intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty (IP) law, since 2008.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Dick Durbin, D‑Illinois, said Mur­phy’s “tech­ni­cal exper­tise and strong back­ground in IP and patent law will be an asset to the dis­trict court.”

The vote was 63 yeas to 28 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

JERRY W. BLACKWELL, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 7th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jer­ry W. Black­well to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for Min­neso­ta. Black­well has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer in the Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul area for more than three decades.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Amy Klobuchar, D‑Minnesota, cit­ed Black­well’s broad sup­port from the state’s legal pro­fes­sion­als, and his hav­ing been named the state’s attor­ney of the year five dif­fer­ent times. The vote was 51 yeas to 43 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

JEFFREY PAUL HOPKINS, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 8th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jef­fery Paul Hop­kins to be a judge on the U.S. dis­trict court for the south­ern dis­trict of Ohio. Hop­kins has been a bank­rupt­cy judge in the dis­trict for 25 years, includ­ing sev­en years as the chief judge of its bank­rupt­cy court. The vote was 64 yeas to 32 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

Key votes ahead

This week, the House will con­sid­er the Law Enforce­ment De-Esca­la­tion Train­ing Act of 2022, the Pre­vent­ing Orga­ni­za­tion­al Con­flicts of Inter­est in Fed­er­al Acqui­si­tion Act, and the EAGLE Act of 2022. The VA Employ­ee Fair­ness Act of 2021 may also be con­sid­ered by the cham­ber along with oth­er bills.

The Sen­ate plans to con­sid­er the nom­i­na­tion of Tami­ka R. Mont­gomery-Reeves, of Delaware, to be a Unit­ed States Cir­cuit Judge for the Third Circuit.

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