Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (October 16th-20th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Octo­ber 6th, 2023.

FIRST ATTEMPT BY JIM JORDAN TO BECOME SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The House on Octo­ber 17th failed to elect a Speak­er, with House Repub­li­can con­fer­ence nom­i­nee Jim Jor­dan falling short of a major­i­ty of mem­bers present and vot­ing. Democ­rats unan­i­mous­ly backed their leader, Hakeem Jef­fries, for the top post. This was Jor­dan’s first attempt to become Speaker.

The fol­low­ing mem­bers received votes for Speak­er in this round:

• Jef­fries: 212
• Jor­dan: 200
• Scalise: 7
• McCarthy: 6
• Zeldin: 3
• Gar­cia, Mike: 1
• Emmer: 1
• Cole: 1
• Massie: 1
• Not Vot­ing: 1

The roll call from the Pacif­ic North­west was as follows:

	Vot­ing for Steve Scalise (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher
	Vot­ing for Hakeem Jef­fries (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Val Hoyle, and Andrea Salinas Vot­ing for Kevin McCarthy (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lori Chavez-DeRemer Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing for Hakeem Jef­fries (8): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 12 votes for Hakeem Jef­fries, 4 votes for Jim Jor­dan, 1 vote for Kevin McCarthy, 1 vote for Steve Scalise

SECOND ATTEMPT BY JIM JORDAN TO BECOME SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The House on Octo­ber 18th failed to elect a Speak­er, with House Repub­li­can con­fer­ence nom­i­nee Jim Jor­dan again falling short of a major­i­ty of mem­bers present and vot­ing. Democ­rats unan­i­mous­ly backed their leader, Hakeem Jef­fries, for the top post. This was Jor­dan’s sec­ond attempt to become Speak­er. He received one few­er vote than in his first attempt on Octo­ber 17th.

The fol­low­ing mem­bers received votes for Speak­er in this round:

• Jef­fries: 212
• Jor­dan: 199
• Scalise: 7
• McCarthy: 5
• Zeldin: 3
• Don­alds: 1
• Emmer: 1
• Gar­cia, Mike: 1
• Boehn­er: 1
• Granger: 1
• West­er­man: 1
• Miller, Can­dice: 1

The roll call from the Pacif­ic North­west was as follows:

	Vot­ing for Steve Scalise (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher
	Vot­ing for Hakeem Jef­fries (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Val Hoyle, and Andrea Salinas Vot­ing for Kevin McCarthy (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lori Chavez-DeRemer Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing for Hakeem Jef­fries (8): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 12 votes for Hakeem Jef­fries, 4 votes for Jim Jor­dan, 1 vote for Kevin McCarthy, 1 vote for Steve Scalise

THIRD AND FINAL ATTEMPT BY JIM JORDAN TO BECOME SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The House on Octo­ber 20th failed to elect a Speak­er for the third time in the past week. Democ­rats unan­i­mous­ly backed their leader, Hakeem Jef­fries, for the top post. This was Jim Jor­dan’s third attempt to become Speak­er. He received five few­er votes than in his sec­ond attempt. After los­ing for the third time, the House Repub­li­can cau­cus held an inter­nal vote via secret bal­lot to resolve the ques­tion of whether Jor­dan should con­tin­ue to seek the speak­er­ship; a major­i­ty of the con­fer­ence vot­ed against him, and he end­ed his bid for Speaker.

The fol­low­ing mem­bers received votes for Speak­er in this round:

• Jef­fries: 210
• Jor­dan: 194
• Scalise: 8
• McHen­ry: 6
• Zeldin: 4
• Don­alds: 2
• McCarthy: 2
• Gar­cia, Mike: 1
• Emmer: 1
• West­er­man: 1
• Not Vot­ing: 4

The roll call from the Pacif­ic North­west was as follows:

	Vot­ing for Steve Scalise (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Simpson Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Russ Fulcher
	Vot­ing for Hakeem Jef­fries (4): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Val Hoyle, and Andrea Salinas Vot­ing for Patrick McHen­ry (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lori Chavez-DeRemer Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing for Hakeem Jef­fries (8): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Marie Glue­senkamp Perez, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strickland Vot­ing for Jim Jor­dan (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Dan New­house and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers

Cas­ca­dia total: 12 votes for Hakeem Jef­fries, 4 votes for Jim Jor­dan, 1 vote for Patrick McHen­ry, 1 vote for Steve Scalise

In the United States Senate

JENNIFER L. HALL, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 17th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jen­nifer L. Hall to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for Delaware. Hall has been a mag­is­trate judge on the Delaware court since 2019; pre­vi­ous­ly, she was a fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor in the state. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Christo­pher Coons, D‑Delaware, said Hal­l’s “excep­tion­al qual­i­fi­ca­tions, strong char­ac­ter, and even tem­pera­ment will make her an asset to the Dis­trict of Delaware.” The vote was 67 yeas to 29 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

JULIA KATHLEEN MUNLEY, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 17th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Julia Kath­leen Mun­ley to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the Mid­dle Dis­trict of Penn­syl­va­nia. Mun­ley was a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer in the state for more than two decades then, in 2016, took her cur­rent role as a coun­ty tri­al court judge. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Dick Durbin, D‑Ill., said Mun­ley’s “sig­nif­i­cant lit­i­ga­tion back­ground and expe­ri­ence as a state court judge will serve her well on the fed­er­al bench.”

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

KARLA ANN GILBRIDGE, GENERAL COUNSEL FOR EEOC: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 17th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Kar­la Ann Gilbride to be gen­er­al coun­sel for the Equal Employ­ment Oppor­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion for a four-year term. Gilbride has been a pri­vate prac­tice employ­ment lawyer since 2009, most recent­ly at the Pub­lic Jus­tice law firm. The vote was 50 yeas to 46 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 CFPB RULE REQUIRING BANKS TO SUBMIT SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT INFO: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 18th passed a Repub­li­can res­o­lu­tion (S.J. Res. 32), spon­sored by Sen­a­tor John Kennedy, R‑Louisiana, to dis­ap­prove of and void a Con­sumer Finan­cial Pro­tec­tion Bureau agency rule issued this May that requires banks and oth­er finan­cial com­pa­nies to sub­mit small busi­ness cred­it appli­ca­tion infor­ma­tion to the Bureau. Kennedy said the Bureau has per­vert­ed Con­gress’s intent for it to only col­lect a nar­row set of infor­ma­tion by also requir­ing pri­vate, sen­si­tive infor­ma­tion about gen­der, race, and ethnicity.

A res­o­lu­tion oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Sher­rod Brown, D‑Ohio, said: “More data means more account­abil­i­ty, ensur­ing that lenders reach minor­i­ty com­mu­ni­ties and help­ing to root out dis­crim­i­na­tion.” The vote was 53 yeas to 44 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

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING ISRAEL: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 19th passed a res­o­lu­tion (S. Res. 417), spon­sored by Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, to express sup­port for Israel in the cur­rent, esca­lat­ed phase of its war with Hamas, includ­ing will­ing­ness to resup­ply Israel with mil­i­tary assets, but with­out autho­riz­ing the use of U.S. mil­i­tary force against Hamas.

Schumer said: “We demand Hamas stop their attacks and release all hostages, includ­ing Amer­i­can hostages. We urge the world to unite against Hamas and against nations like Iran that sup­port glob­al terrorism.”

The vote was unan­i­mous with 97 yeas.

	Vot­ing Yea (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: 6 yea votes

Key votes ahead

The House is most­ly par­a­lyzed until it elects a new Speak­er. House Repub­li­cans are search­ing for a way for­ward, with mul­ti­ple can­di­dates explor­ing bids for Speak­er. Floor votes won’t be held on leg­is­la­tion or oth­er busi­ness until a new Speak­er can be found, which could be weeks from now.

The Sen­ate will take up the nom­i­na­tion of Michael G. Whitak­er, of Ver­mont, to be Admin­is­tra­tor of the Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion for the term of five years. Lat­er, it will con­sid­er the nom­i­na­tion of Jes­si­ca Looman, of Min­neso­ta, to be Admin­is­tra­tor of the Wage and Hour Divi­sion, Depart­ment of Labor.

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