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

Sunday, February 19th, 2023

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

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Unit­ed States Sen­a­tors vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Feb­ru­ary 17th, 2023.

The House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives was in recess.

In the United States Senate

Chamber of the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

CINDY CHUNG, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 13th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Cindy K. Chung to be a judge on the U.S. Third Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Over the past two decades Chung has var­i­ous­ly been an attor­ney at the Jus­tice Depart­ment, and a fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor and, for the past year, U.S. Attor­ney for the West­ern Dis­trict of Pennsylvania.

The vote was 50 yeas to 44 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

GINA MENDEZ-MIRO, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 14th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Gina Mendez-Miro to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for Puer­to Rico. Mendez-Miro was a staff attor­ney in Puer­to Rico’s Jus­tice Depart­ment, Sen­ate, and court sys­tem from 2006 to 2016, then became a judge on the ter­ri­to­ry’s appeals court. The vote was 54 yeas to 45 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

LINDSAY JENKINS, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 14th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Lind­say C. Jenk­ins to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the North­ern Dis­trict of Illi­nois. Jenk­ins was a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer for two years before becom­ing, in 2006, an assis­tant U.S. attor­ney for the North­ern Dis­trict, spe­cial­iz­ing in crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tions. She then returned to pri­vate prac­tice in 2021. The vote, on Feb. 14, was 59 yeas to 40 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

ADRIENNE NELSON, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 15th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Adri­enne C. Nel­son to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for Ore­gon. Nel­son has been a judge on Ore­gon’s Supreme Court since 2018. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden, D‑Oregon, said that in Ore­gon, Nel­son “is laud­ed for her prodi­gious work eth­ic, her integri­ty, and her humility.”

The vote was 52 yeas to 46 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

MATTHEW GARCIA, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 14th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Matthew L. Gar­cia to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for New Mex­i­co. Gar­cia has been gen­er­al coun­sel and then chief of staff to New Mex­i­co’s gov­er­nor since 2018. The vote was 53 yeas to 46 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

ANA REYES, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 15th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Ana C. Reyes to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Reyes has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer at a D.C. law firm for two decades. The vote was 51 yeas to 47 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

DANIEL CALABRETTA, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 16th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Daniel J. Cal­abret­ta to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the East­ern Dis­trict of Cal­i­for­nia. Cal­abret­ta has been a coun­ty court judge in Cal­i­for­nia since 2018, and before that was a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer and attor­ney for the state’s gov­er­nor. The vote was 51 yeas to 45 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

LESTER MARTINEZ-LOPEZ, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 16th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Lester Mar­tinez-Lopez to be the Defense Depart­men­t’s Assis­tant Sec­re­tary for Health Affairs. Mar­tinez-Lopez has been a hos­pi­tal admin­is­tra­tor in Texas and Flori­da since retir­ing from the Army in 2005. In the Army, he was a research and oper­a­tions man­ag­er, includ­ing hold­ing com­mands of three dif­fer­ent hos­pi­tals. The vote was 61 yeas to 34 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

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

The State of Washington

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

RESOLUTION CONDEMNING CHINA: Along with roll call votes this week, the Sen­ate also passed via voice vote a res­o­lu­tion (S. Res. 49) con­demn­ing Chi­na’s recent effort to send a sur­veil­lance bal­loon across the Unit­ed States.

LWIC will be on hiatus next week

Both cham­bers of Con­gress will be in recess this week for the Pres­i­dents Day hol­i­day. Last Week In Con­gress will return in March.

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!

© 2023 Tar­get­ed News Ser­vice, LLC. 

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