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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 12th, 2023

Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (February 6th-10th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Feb­ru­ary 10th, 2023.

In the United States House of Representatives

Chamber of the United States House of Representatives

The House cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

ENERGY AND INFORMATION NETWORKS: The House on Feb­ru­ary 6th passed the Ener­gy Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty Uni­ver­si­ty Lead­er­ship Act (H.R. 302), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Deb­o­rah K. Ross, D‑North Car­oli­na, to have the Ener­gy Depart­ment estab­lish an Ener­gy Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty Uni­ver­si­ty Lead­er­ship Pro­gram for fund­ing research into ener­gy infra­struc­ture and cyber­se­cu­ri­ty by grad­u­ate stu­dents and post-doc­tor­ate researchers.

Ross said the pro­gram “will con­front grow­ing cyber threats against our coun­try’s crit­i­cal ener­gy infra­struc­ture by mak­ing real invest­ments in a strong and diverse work­force that is ready to meet the chal­lenges we face.”

The vote was 357 yeas to 56 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Yea (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Val Hoyle, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Andrea Sali­nas; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Derek Kilmer

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 yea votes, 1 nay vote, 1 not voting

ENDING COVID-19 VACCINE REQUIREMENT FOR FOREIGN VISITORS: The House on Feb­ru­ary 8th passed a bill (H.R. 185), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Thomas Massie, R‑Kentucky, to end the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion’s COVID-19 vac­cine require­ment for for­eign­ers vis­it­ing the U.S. by air. (The require­ment does not apply to return­ing U.S. cit­i­zens.) Massie ref­er­enced the “tens of thou­sands, hun­dreds of thou­sands, mil­lions of peo­ple who have been sep­a­rat­ed at our bor­der because of this ridicu­lous, illog­i­cal, unsci­en­tif­ic policy.”

A bill oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Frank Pal­lone Jr., D‑New Jer­sey, said if the man­date end­ed, “I would be very con­cerned about peo­ple com­ing from places like Rus­sia, Chi­na, and Cuba not being vac­ci­nat­ed because of the lack of atten­tion to pub­lic health in those coun­tries.” The vote was 227 yeas to 201 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Vot­ing Nay (4):  Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Val Hoyle, and Andrea Salinas

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Vot­ing Nay (8): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

IMPACT OF COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATE: The House on Feb­ru­ary 8th approved an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lau­ren Boe­bert, R‑Colorado, to a bill (H.R. 185, above) that would require the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion (CDC) to send both cham­bers of Con­gress a report on the num­ber of for­eign­ers denied entry to the U.S. because of the CDC’s COVID vac­cine require­ment for for­eign tourists.

Boe­bert said the report would require the CDC to account for those “who have felt the neg­a­tive ram­i­fi­ca­tions of this rule. It will also pro­vide trans­paren­cy and allow con­gres­sion­al over­sight of the con­se­quences of this vac­cine mandate.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Frank Pal­lone Jr., D‑New Jer­sey, said the require­ment was a pub­lic health mea­sure, there­fore the pro­posed report was irrel­e­vant. The vote was 253 yeas to 168 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (3): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRe­mer; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Andrea Salinas

Vot­ing Nay (3):  Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Val Hoyle

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (4): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Marie Glue­senkamp Perez and Kim Schrier

Vot­ing Nay (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland

Cas­ca­dia total: 9 yea votes, 9 nay votes

COVID TESTING AND CHINA: The House on Feb­ru­ary 8th approved an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive John W. Rose, R‑Tennesee, to a bill (H.R. 185, above) that would state that it does not impact a recent Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion rule requir­ing vis­i­tors to the U.S. from Chi­na to show proof of a neg­a­tive COVID-19 test or recent recov­ery from COVID-19.

Rose said: “We can­not fall asleep at the wheel when it comes to pro­tect­ing our nation, its peo­ple, and our safe­ty with respect to the adver­sar­i­al and all-too-often nefar­i­ous actions and inten­tions of the Peo­ple’s Repub­lic of China.”

The vote was 426 yeas to 8 nays.

The State of Idaho

Vot­ing Yea (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher

Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Val Hoyle, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Andrea Sali­nas; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (10): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 17 yea votes, 1 nay vote

DENOUNCING CHINA’S BALLOON SURVEILLANCE: The House on Feb­ru­ary 9th passed a res­o­lu­tion (H. Res. 104), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Michael T. McCaul, R‑Texas, to con­demn Chi­na for send­ing a high-alti­tude sur­veil­lance bal­loon across the U.S. last week as a vio­la­tion of U.S. sov­er­eign­ty. McCaul said the res­o­lu­tion “sends a clear, bipar­ti­san sig­nal to the CCP [Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty] and our adver­saries around the world that this action will not be tolerated.”

The vote was unan­i­mous with 419 yeas.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Val Hoyle, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Andrea Sali­nas; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (10):  Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 18 yea votes

VOIDING D.C. VOTING LAW: The House on Feb­ru­ary 9th passed a res­o­lu­tion (H.J. Res. 24), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive James Com­er, R‑Kentucky, to dis­ap­prove of and void a Dis­trict of Colum­bia city law adopt­ed by its coun­cil allow­ing non-cit­i­zens liv­ing in the Dis­trict to vote in local elections.

A sup­port­er, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Nicholas A. Lang­wor­thy, R‑New York, said “D.C.‘s new law poten­tial­ly allows for­eign agents from Chi­na, Rus­sia, and oth­er adver­saries to par­tic­i­pate in local elec­tions held with­in this nation’s cap­i­tal city.”

A res­o­lu­tion oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jamie Raskin, D‑Maryland, said it “vio­lates the prin­ci­ple of local, demo­c­ra­t­ic self-gov­ern­ment, which is at the heart of the home rule char­ter for Wash­ing­ton, D.C., and also vio­lates the equal pro­tec­tion and demo­c­ra­t­ic prin­ci­ples that ani­mate our Constitution.”

The vote was 260 yeas to 162 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (3): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRe­mer; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Andrea Salinas

Vot­ing Nay (3): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Val Hoyle

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (6): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, and Kim Schrier

Vot­ing Nay (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland

Cas­ca­dia total: 11 yea votes, 7 nay votes

VOIDING D.C. CRIMINAL CODE CHANGE: The House on Feb­ru­ary 9th passed a res­o­lu­tion (H.J. Res. 26), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Andrew S. Clyde, R‑Ga., to dis­ap­prove of and void a Wash­ing­ton, D.C., Coun­cil law that made var­i­ous changes to the Dis­tric­t’s crim­i­nal laws, includ­ing reduc­ing pun­ish­ments and expand­ing the right to a jury tri­al for mis­de­meanor cas­es. Clyde said the law, by “elim­i­nat­ing manda­to­ry min­i­mum sen­tences for all crimes except first-degree mur­der, elim­i­nat­ing life sen­tences, and reduc­ing max­i­mum penal­ties for vio­lent crimes includ­ing bur­glary, car­jack­ing, and rob­beries will undoubt­ed­ly embold­en crim­i­nals and threat­en the safe­ty of both res­i­dents and visitors.”

A res­o­lu­tion oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jamie Raskin, D‑Maryland, said Con­gress “should leave demo­c­ra­t­ic self-gov­ern­ment and local self-gov­ern­ment of Wash­ing­ton to the peo­ple of Wash­ing­ton, D.C.”

The vote was 250 yeas to 173 nays.

The State of Idaho

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

The State of Oregon

Vot­ing Yea (3): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRe­mer; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Andrea Salinas

Vot­ing Nay (3): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Val Hoyle

The State of Washington

Vot­ing Yea (5): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers; Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, and Kim Schrier

Vot­ing Nay (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland

Cas­ca­dia total: 10 yea votes, 8 nay votes

In the United States Senate

Chamber of the United States Senate

The Sen­ate cham­ber (U.S. Con­gress photo)

DEANDREA GIST BENJAMIN, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Feb­ru­ary 9th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of DeAn­drea Gist Ben­jamin to be a judge on the U.S. Fourth Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Ben­jamin was a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer with her own law firm in Colum­bia, South Car­oli­na, from 2001 to 2011, and since 2011 has been a cir­cuit court judge in the state.

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 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

Key votes ahead

The House is in recess and no votes are expect­ed next week.

The Sen­ate plans to con­sid­er the nom­i­na­tion of Cindy K. Chung, of Penn­syl­va­nia, to be Unit­ed States Cir­cuit Judge for the Third Cir­cuit, and the nom­i­na­tion of Gina R. Mendez-Miro to be Unit­ed States Dis­trict Judge for the Dis­trict of Puer­to Rico.

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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