Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (May 8th-12th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing May 12th, 2023.

In the United States House of Representatives

PUNITIVE MEASURES TO BLOCK PEOPLE FROM COMING TO AMERICA: The House on May 9th passed the Repub­li­can-named “Secure the Bor­der Act” (H.R. 2), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mario Diaz-Balart, R‑Florida. The bill would require the resump­tion of con­struc­tion of a wall at the bor­der with Mex­i­co, lim­it asy­lum claims by per­sons seek­ing U.S. res­i­den­cy, increase penal­ties for over­stay­ing a res­i­den­cy visa, and bar the Home­land Secu­ri­ty Depart­ment from pro­cess­ing the entry of for­eign­ers who arrive in the U.S. oth­er than at a port of entry.

Diaz-Balart said the bill “pro­vides real solu­tions to restore order to the south­ern bor­der, strength­en our nation­al secu­ri­ty, enhance our bro­ken immi­gra­tion sys­tem, and pro­tect inno­cent minors while enforc­ing the rule of law.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Sylvia Gar­cia, D‑Texas, said: “This bill will sep­a­rate fam­i­lies, put human lives at risk, lead to more unlaw­ful migra­tion by block­ing off law­ful path­ways to pro­tec­tion, and waste tax­pay­er dol­lars on an inef­fec­tive wall that can’t even with­stand wind much less crim­i­nal smug­gling cartels.”

The vote was 219 yeas to 213 nays. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

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

DEFUNDING PUBLIC SERVICES AND SABOTAGING EFFORTS TO COMBAT FRAUD: The House on May 11th passed the Repub­li­can-named “Pro­tect­ing Tax­pay­ers and Vic­tims of Unem­ploy­ment Fraud Act” (H.R. 1163), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jason Smith, R‑Missouri, to pro­vide var­i­ous finan­cial incen­tives for states to recov­er exces­sive unem­ploy­ment insur­ance ben­e­fits issued dur­ing COVID lock­downs, and expand to ten years the peri­od for recov­er­ing erro­neous­ly paid ben­e­fits. Smith said: “Crim­i­nal orga­ni­za­tions and for­eign fraud­sters exploit­ed the pan­dem­ic to steal hun­dreds of bil­lions in pay­ments intend­ed to keep work­ers afloat amidst gov­ern­ment lock­downs, and the vic­tims need our help.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Dan­ny Davis, D‑Illinois, said the bill “guts fed­er­al fund­ing to fight fraud, weak­ens state unem­ploy­ment sys­tems, pri­va­tizes Amer­i­can pub­lic ser­vice jobs, and sends cru­el sur­prise bills to inno­cent work­ers who were unem­ployed dur­ing the pandemic.”

The vote was 230 yeas to 200 nays.

	Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	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
	Vot­ing Yea (3): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Marie Glue­senkamp Perez; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Vot­ing Nay (7): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland

Cas­ca­dia total: 7 yea votes, 11 nay votes

COUNTERING OCEAN ACIDIFICATION: The House on May 9th passed the Coastal Com­mu­ni­ties Ocean Acid­i­fi­ca­tion Act (H.R. 676), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Chel­lie Pin­gree, D‑Maine. The bill would require the Nation­al Ocean­ic and Atmos­pher­ic Admin­is­tra­tion to work with state and local gov­ern­ments to assess the acid­i­fi­ca­tion of oceans and oth­er water­ways, and devel­op respons­es to acid­i­fi­ca­tion. Pin­gree said the effort was need­ed to “sup­port the cur­rent efforts of coastal com­mu­ni­ties already fac­ing the impacts of ocean acid­i­fi­ca­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly under­served and rur­al coastal com­mu­ni­ties, and bet­ter equip them with the resources to respond.” The vote was 351 yeas to 58 nays.

	Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson Vot­ing Nay (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher
	Vot­ing Yea (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Val Hoyle, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Andrea Sali­nas; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer
	Vot­ing Yea (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Adam Smith

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

IMPROVING WEATHER AND CLIMATE FORECASTING: The House has passed the Advanced Weath­er Mod­el Com­put­ing Devel­op­ment Act (H.R. 1715), spon­sored by Rep. Max Miller, R‑Ohio. The bill would direct the Ener­gy Depart­ment and Nation­al Ocean­ic and Atmos­pher­ic Admin­is­tra­tion to do research on using machine learn­ing and com­put­ing to improve pre­dic­tion of the weath­er and cli­mate. Miller said the bill “lever­ages exist­ing fed­er­al research dol­lars to advance weath­er and cli­mate sci­ence that will pro­tect Amer­i­can lives and prop­er­ty.” The vote, on May 9, was 356 yeas to 50 nays.

	Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Yea (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Val Hoyle, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Andrea Sali­nas; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer
	Vot­ing Yea (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Not Vot­ing (1): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Adam Smith

Cas­ca­dia total: 17 yea votes, 1 not voting

IDENTIFYING ILLICIT DRUGS: The House on May 11th passed the Test­ing, Rapid Analy­sis, and Nar­cot­ic Qual­i­ty Research Act (H.R. 1734), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Collins, R‑Georgia, to require the Nation­al Insti­tute of Stan­dards and Tech­nol­o­gy to fund research into the poten­tial use of meth­ods to iden­ti­fy xylazine, a vet­eri­nary tran­quil­iz­er drug also known as tranq, nov­el syn­thet­ic opi­oids, and oth­er illic­it drugs that pose health concerns.

Collins said: “By under­stand­ing what these addi­tives are, how to test for them, and how to safe­ly han­dle them, we can bet­ter pro­tect our first responders.”

The vote was unan­i­mous with 425 yeas.

	Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Yea (6): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Val Hoyle, Earl Blu­me­nauer, and Andrea Sali­nas; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer
	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

In the United States Senate

L. FELICE GORODO, INTERNATIONAL BANKING POSITION: The Sen­ate on May 10th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of L. Felice Goror­do to be the U.S. Alter­nate Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Inter­na­tion­al Bank for Recon­struc­tion and Devel­op­ment for a two-year term. Goror­do has been a CEO of mul­ti­ple tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­nies involved in immi­gra­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship, as well as a gov­ern­ment offi­cial dur­ing the George W. Bush and Oba­ma administrations.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, said of Goror­do: “His under­stand­ing of finance, eco­nom­ic state­craft, and tech­nol­o­gy will help the Unit­ed States and its like-mind­ed part­ners make the con­cert­ed push to pre­vent eco­nom­ic col­lapse in the devel­op­ing world.” The vote was 52 yeas to 45 nays.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

GLENNA LAUREEN WRIGHT-GALLO, ASSISTANT EDUCATION SECRETARY: The Sen­ate on May 10th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Glen­na Lau­reen Wright-Gal­lo to be the Edu­ca­tion Depart­men­t’s Assis­tant Sec­re­tary for Spe­cial Edu­ca­tion and Reha­bil­i­ta­tive Ser­vices. Gal­lo has been a senior spe­cial edu­ca­tion offi­cial for pub­lic schools in Wash­ing­ton and Utah.

The vote was 52 yeas to 44 nays.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

COLLEEN SHOGAN, NATIONAL ARCHIVIST: The Sen­ate on May 11th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Colleen Shogan to the Archivist of the Unit­ed States. The Archivist man­ages the Nation­al Archives and Records Admin­is­tra­tion (NARA), which stores fed­er­al gov­ern­ment doc­u­ments con­sid­ered to be of per­ma­nent impor­tance. Shogan is a senior offi­cial at the White House His­tor­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion; pre­vi­ous­ly, she worked at the Library of Con­gress, Con­gres­sion­al Research Ser­vice, and the Sen­ate. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Tom Carp­er, D‑Delaware, called Shogan “a ded­i­cat­ed pub­lic ser­vant” with exten­sive qual­i­fi­ca­tions to lead the NARA. The vote was 52 yeas to 45 nays.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

GEETA RAO GUPTA, U.S. AMBASSADOR: The Sen­ate on May 10th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Gee­ta Rao Gup­ta to be the U.S. Ambas­sador at Large for Glob­al Wom­en’s Issues. Gup­ta, cur­rent­ly a senior fel­low at the U.N. Foun­da­tion, is also co-chair of a World Health Orga­ni­za­tion advi­so­ry com­mit­tee on health emer­gen­cies. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, said Gup­ta “would bring decades of expe­ri­ence work­ing to empow­er women. She has fought to increase the eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty and polit­i­cal par­tic­i­pa­tion of women.”

The vote was 51 yeas to 47 nays.

	Vot­ing Nay (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Yea (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

VOIDING FISHERIES SERVICE RULE TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Sen­ate on May 11th passed a res­o­lu­tion (S.J. Res. 23), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Cyn­thia Lum­mis, R‑Wyoming, to dis­ap­prove of and void a 2022 Nation­al Marine Fish­eries Ser­vice rule reg­u­lat­ing the list­ing of endan­gered and threat­ened species, and crit­i­cal habi­tat for those species.

Lum­mis said the rule has cre­at­ed “an ad hoc sys­tem that cre­ates decreased prop­er­ty val­ues and preda­to­ry legal chal­lenges for Amer­i­can fam­i­lies and busi­ness­es. In fact, it incen­tivizes landown­ers to make sure that their land could nev­er be habi­tat for threat­ened or endan­gered species.”

A res­o­lu­tion oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Tom Carp­er, D‑Delaware, said: “When a species’ habi­tat range shifts as a result of cli­mate change, our fed­er­al wildlife pro­tec­tion agen­cies may need to account for this shift when they decide what poten­tial habi­tat we should pro­tect to sup­port their long-term recovery.”

The vote, on May 11th, was 51 yeas to 49 nays.

	Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 2 yea votes, 4 nay votes

VOIDING RULE TO PROTECT THE LONG-EARED BAT: The Sen­ate on May 11th passed a res­o­lu­tion (S.J. Res. 24), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor Mark­wayne Mullin, R‑Oklahoma, to dis­ap­prove of and void a Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice rule list­ing the north­ern long-eared bat as an endan­gered species. An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Tom Carp­er, D‑Delaware, cit­ed the bat’s ben­e­fi­cial role in con­trol­ling farm pest pop­u­la­tions, and said: “By pro­tect­ing this species, we are pro­tect­ing our farm­ers, our agri­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ties, and the rev­enues that they depend on.”

The vote, on May 11, was 51 yeas to 49 nays.

	Vot­ing Yea (2): Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
	Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
	Vot­ing Nay (2): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors Maria Cantwell and Pat­ty Murray

Cas­ca­dia total: 2 yea votes, 4 nay votes

ADDITIONAL SENATE VOTE: In addi­tion to the week’s roll call votes, the Sen­ate also passed, by unan­i­mous con­sent, a res­o­lu­tion (S. Res. 23), demand­ing that Chi­na’s gov­ern­ment imme­di­ate­ly release U.S. cit­i­zen Mark Swidan from custody.

Key votes ahead

The House will take up the “POLICE Act of 2023″ and the Fed­er­al Law Enforce­ment Offi­cer Ser­vice Weapon Pur­chase Act, as well as the “NDO Fair­ness Act.” At least two res­o­lu­tions are also slat­ed to be considered.

The Sen­ate will main­ly be work­ing on judi­cial nom­i­na­tions. Three votes are planned: Nan­cy G. Abudu, of Geor­gia, to be Unit­ed States Cir­cuit Judge for the Eleventh Cir­cuit, Jere­my C. Daniel, of Illi­nois, to be Unit­ed States Dis­trict Judge for the North­ern Dis­trict of Illi­nois, and Dar­rel James Papil­lion, of Louisiana, to be Unit­ed States Dis­trict Judge for the East­ern Dis­trict of Louisiana.

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