Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (July 10th-14th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing July 14th, 2023.

In the United States House of Representatives

2023 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT WITH REPUBLICAN RIDERS: The House on July 14th passed a Repub­li­can-authored ver­sion of the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike D. Rogers, R‑Alabama, to autho­rize fis­cal 2024 Defense Depart­ment spend­ing, and spend­ing on mil­i­tary con­struc­tion pro­grams and mil­i­tary-relat­ed pro­grams at the Ener­gy Department.

Rogers said it “will help build the ready, capa­ble, and lethal fight­ing force we need to deter the Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty and oth­er adversaries.”

A bill oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Chris­sy Houla­han, D‑Pennsylvania, said Repub­li­cans had added “scores of extreme GOP cul­ture war pri­or­i­ties to it, includ­ing, least of all, a clear-as-day back­door pol­i­cy to a nation­al abor­tion ban.”

The vote was 219 yeas to 210 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 7 yea votes, 11 nay votes

BARRING ABORTION CARE FOR SERVICEMEMBERS: The House on July 13th passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ron­ny Jack­son, R‑Texas, to the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670, above), that would bar fund­ing for the mil­i­tary to cov­er a ser­vice­mem­ber’s costs for obtain­ing an abor­tion. The vote was 221 yeas to 213 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

BARRING GENDER AFFIRMING CARE TO SERVICEMEMBERS’ FAMILIES: The House has passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ralph Nor­man, R‑South Car­oli­na, to the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670, above). The amend­ment would bar the mil­i­tary from pro­vid­ing gen­der tran­si­tion pro­ce­dure cov­er­age through its Excep­tion­al Fam­i­ly Mem­ber Pro­gram, which cov­ers fam­i­ly mem­bers of mil­i­tary employ­ees who are deemed to have spe­cial needs. The vote was 222 yeas to 210 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

BARRING THE DISPLAY OF UNAPPROVED FLAGS: The House on July 13th passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ralph Nor­man, R‑South Car­oli­na, to the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670), to bar the dis­play of unap­proved flags at mil­i­tary facil­i­ties. The vote was 218 yeas to 213 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

CENSORING LIBRARY BOOKS AT MILITARY SCHOOLS: The House on July 13th passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lau­ren Boe­bert, R‑Colorado, to the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670), to bar mil­i­tary school libraries from buy­ing or pro­vid­ing books deemed to con­tain pornog­ra­phy or rad­i­cal gen­der ide­ol­o­gy. The vote was 222 yeas to 209 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

REQUIRING A PENTAGON DOCUMENT DUMP: The House on July 13th passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Har­ri­et Hage­man, R‑Wyoming, to the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670, above). The amend­ment would require the Defense Depart­ment to sub­mit doc­u­ments pro­duced by its Coun­ter­ing Extrem­ism Work­ing Group to a House com­mit­tee and a House sub­com­mit­tee. The vote was 218 yeas to 213 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

PROHIBITING DEI INITIATIVES IN THE MILITARY: The House on July 13th passed an amend­ment spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Eric Burli­son, R‑Missouri, to the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670, above), to bar the Defense Depart­ment from cre­at­ing new diver­si­ty, equi­ty, and inclu­sion (DEI) admin­is­tra­tor jobs or fill­ing DEI job vacancies.

The vote was 218 yeas to 213 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 5 yea votes, 13 nay votes

REMOVING PAPERWORK BARRIER FOR SEC SMALL BUSINESS OFFICE: The House on July 11th passed the Improv­ing Access to Small Busi­ness Infor­ma­tion Act (H.R. 1548), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Young Kim, R‑California. The bill would stip­u­late that infor­ma­tion gath­er­ing actions tak­en by a small busi­ness advo­ca­cy office at the Secu­ri­ties and Exchange Com­mis­sion (SEC) are not reg­u­lat­ed by the Paper­work Reduc­tion Act.

Kim said remov­ing the reg­u­la­tion “reduces red tape and stream­lines access to tools that the office can uti­lize to gath­er more effec­tive and time­ly data” for use in help­ing small busi­ness­es raise funds.

The vote was 398 yeas to 11 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 yea votes, 2 not voting

In the United States Senate

XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, DEPUTY SECRETARY: The Sen­ate on July 11th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Xochitl Tor­res Small to be the Agri­cul­ture Depart­men­t’s Deputy Sec­re­tary. Tor­res Small has been the Depart­men­t’s Under Sec­re­tary for Rur­al Devel­op­ment since 2021; she was a mem­ber of the House, rep­re­sent­ing a New Mex­i­co dis­trict, in 2019 and 2020.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Deb­bie Stabenow, D‑Michigan, said Small “has a proven track record as a strong leader with deep knowl­edge of farm, food, and rur­al pol­i­cy.” The vote was 84 yeas to 8 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes

ROSEMARIE HIDALGO, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN OFFICE: The Sen­ate on July 11th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Rose­marie Hidal­go to be direc­tor of the Jus­tice Depart­men­t’s Vio­lence Against Women Office. Hidal­go, cur­rent­ly a gen­der-based vio­lence assis­tant at the White House, was pre­vi­ous­ly a pol­i­cy offi­cial at the Office. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Dick Durbin, D‑Illinois, said the Office “will ben­e­fit from Hidal­go­’s exper­tise, lead­er­ship, and unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to aid­ing sur­vivors of gen­der-based vio­lence.” The vote was 51 yeas to 42 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

KYMBERLY EVANSON, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on July 11th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Kym­ber­ly Kathryn Evan­son to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the West­ern Dis­trict of Wash­ing­ton. Evan­son has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer at two dif­fer­ent Seat­tle law firms for more than a decade, with a focus on munic­i­pal law. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray, D‑Washington, said Evan­son “has earned the respect of her peers and her oppos­ing coun­sel through her work on cas­es of pub­lic importance.”

The vote was 50 yeas to 42 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

TIFFANY M. CARTWRIGHT, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on July 12th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Tiffany M. Cartwright to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the West­ern Dis­trict of Washington.

Cartwright, after a brief time at a Chica­go law firm, joined a Seat­tle law firm in 2014, and has spe­cial­ized in civ­il rights cas­es since then.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray, D‑Washington, called Cartwright “a test­ed and proven civ­il rights attor­ney, with exten­sive fed­er­al court expe­ri­ence and a track record of seek­ing jus­tice for peo­ple who have faced dis­crim­i­na­tion, police mis­con­duct, and more.” The vote was 50 yeas to 47 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

MYONG J. JOUN, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate has con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Myong J. Joun to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for Mass­a­chu­setts. Joun prac­ticed law at his own law firm in Boston from 2007 to 2014, then took his cur­rent role as a judge on Boston’s munic­i­pal court.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Ed Markey, D‑Massachusetts, said Joun “has exem­pli­fied the high­est stan­dards of the legal pro­fes­sion. He is a ded­i­cat­ed pub­lic ser­vant who will bring knowl­edge, expe­ri­ence, and com­pas­sion” to the dis­trict court.

The vote was 52 yeas to 46 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

KALPANA KOTAGAL, EEOC: The Sen­ate on July 13th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Kalpana Kota­gal to be a mem­ber of the Equal Employ­ment Oppor­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion (EEOC) for a term end­ing in mid-2027. Kota­gal, locat­ed in Ohio, is a part­ner at the Cohen Mil­stein law firm, spe­cial­iz­ing in civ­il rights and employ­ment lit­i­ga­tion. A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, called Kota­gal “excep­tion­al­ly qual­i­fied to serve on the EEOC, and, if con­firmed, she will shift the bal­ance of the Com­mis­sion.” The vote was 49 yeas to 47 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

Key votes ahead

The House will take up the Pro­vid­ing Account­abil­i­ty Through Trans­paren­cy Act (S. 111) and the Glob­al Invest­ment in Amer­i­can Jobs Act (H.R. 813), along with a bill to bar pub­lic schools and col­leges that receive fed­er­al fund­ing from using their facil­i­ties to house new Amer­i­cans who are not legal­ly in the Unit­ed States.

The Sen­ate will take up the nom­i­na­tion of Rachel Bloomekatz to be a judge on the U.S. Sixth Cir­cuit Court of Appeals and work on its ver­sion of the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act, the annu­al mil­i­tary appro­pri­a­tions bill.

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