Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (December 11th-15th, 2023)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Decem­ber 15th, 2023.

RESTRICTING EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCY RULEMAKING: The House on Decem­ber 12th passed the Ensur­ing Account­abil­i­ty in Agency Rule­mak­ing Act (H.R. 357), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ben Cline, R‑Virginia, to require that rules issued by fed­er­al gov­ern­ment agen­cies be issued by offi­cials who have been con­firmed to their posts by the Senate.

Cline said: “The bill will increase polit­i­cal account­abil­i­ty for fed­er­al pol­i­cy­mak­ing and restore the right of the Amer­i­can peo­ple to choose who gov­erns them.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jer­rold Nadler, D‑New York, said the bill “would add unnec­es­sary delay in the cre­ation, pro­mul­ga­tion, and imple­men­ta­tion of crit­i­cal new rules, rules that serve to pro­tect the pub­lic’s health, safe­ty, and security.”

The vote was 218 yeas to 203 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 7 yea votes, 11 nay votes

WHOLE MILK IN SCHOOL LUNCHES: The House on Decem­ber 13th passed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (H.R. 1147), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Glenn Thomp­son, R‑Pennsylvania, to autho­rize pub­lic schools enrolled in the fed­er­al school lunch pro­gram to offer whole milk to their students.

Thomp­son said the autho­riza­tion “is about choice. When stu­dents turn away from milk, they often opt for far less healthy alter­na­tives that are high­ly caf­feinat­ed, sug­ar-sweet­ened, or lack key nutrients.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bob­by Scott, D‑Virginia, said “the bill would under­mine the Biden admin­is­tra­tion’s ongo­ing rule­mak­ing to bet­ter align school nutri­tion stan­dards with the lat­est science.”

The vote was 330 yeas to 99 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 14 yea votes, 4 nay votes

IMPEACHMENT PROBE: The House on Decem­ber 13th passed a res­o­lu­tion (H. Res. 918), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kel­ly Arm­strong, R‑North Dako­ta., direct­ing three House com­mit­tees to con­tin­ue inves­ti­gat­ing whether suf­fi­cient grounds exist to mer­it the House impeach­ing Pres­i­dent Biden.

Arm­strong said: “This inquiry is war­rant­ed. It would put the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives in the best legal posi­tion pos­si­ble to uncov­er the facts, and the Amer­i­can peo­ple deserve noth­ing less.”

An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Hakeem Jef­fries, D‑New York, called Biden “a good, hon­or­able, and decent man who ded­i­cat­ed his life to pub­lic ser­vice and to mak­ing a dif­fer­ence for the Amer­i­can people.”

The vote was 220 yeas to 212 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 yea votes, 12 nay votes

CONDEMNING ANTI-SEMITISM ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: The House on Decem­ber 13th passed a res­o­lu­tion (H. Res. 927), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Elise Ste­fanik, R‑New York, con­demn­ing the rise of anti-Semi­tism on Amer­i­can col­lege cam­pus­es and con­demn the recent fail­ure of three pres­i­dents of pres­ti­gious uni­ver­si­ties to clear­ly state that calls for the geno­cide of Jews vio­late their insti­tu­tions’ codes of conduct.

Ste­fanik said the res­o­lu­tion would help “address this rot of anti-Semi­tism that is now root­ed in our once-pre­mier high­er edu­ca­tion institutions.”

An oppo­nent, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D‑Maryland, said: “Are we pre­pared to become the nation­al aca­d­e­m­ic appeals pan­el for col­lege pres­i­dents, coach­es, and pro­fes­sors, or is that per­haps best left to the uni­ver­si­ties themselves?”

The vote was 303 yeas to 126 nays, with 3 vot­ing present.

Cas­ca­dia total: 10 yea votes, 8 nay votes

NDAA CONFERENCE REPORT: The House on Decem­ber 14th agreed to the con­fer­ence report for 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 the report “includes crit­i­cal new author­i­ties to ensure our warfight­ers have what they need to deter our adver­saries and to pre­vail in future bat­tles. It goes a long way toward end­ing woke poli­cies being forced on our ser­vice­mem­bers by left­wing bureau­crats.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Matt Rosendale, R‑Montana, crit­i­cized its exten­sion of sec­tion 702 of the For­eign Intel­li­gence Sur­veil­lance Act (FISA), which he said “has allowed the FBI to spy on U.S. cit­i­zens more than 278,000 times with­out a warrant.”

The vote was 310 yeas to 118 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 13 yea votes, 5 nay votes

COUNTERING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: The House on Decem­ber 11th passed the Coun­ter­ing Weapons of Mass Destruc­tion Exten­sion Act (H.R. 3224), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Antho­ny D’E­s­pos­i­to, R‑New York, to extend by two years autho­riza­tion for the Coun­ter­ing Weapons of Mass Destruc­tion (WMDs) Office at the Home­land Secu­ri­ty Depart­ment. D’E­s­pos­i­to said the Office was need­ed “to pre­vent the use of WMDs against the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca and to pro­mote readi­ness for chem­i­cal, bio­log­i­cal, radi­o­log­i­cal, and nuclear threats.”

The vote was unan­i­mous with 394 yeas.

Cas­ca­dia total: 18 yea votes

MCMORRIS RODGERS BILL ON HEALTHCARE COST DISCLOSURE: The House on Decem­ber 11th passed the Low­er Costs, More Trans­paren­cy Act (H.R. 5378), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers, R‑Washington, to require health care enti­ties and health insur­ers to dis­close costs for var­i­ous types of care and drugs, and price audits at health plans.

Rodgers said the bill “advances foun­da­tion­al health­care reforms for patients, low­ers health­care costs, and reduces the deficit.” An oppo­nent, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lloyd Doggett, D‑Texas, fault­ed the bill for fail­ing to address price trans­paren­cy in the Medicare Advan­tage pro­gram and at facil­i­ties owned by pri­vate equi­ty firms. The vote was 320 yeas to 71 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 15 yea votes, 3 nay votes

FAA REAUTHORIZATION: The House on Decem­ber 11th passed the Air­port and Air­way Exten­sion Act (H.R. 6503), spon­sored by Rep. Sam Graves, R‑Mo., to extend into ear­ly March autho­riza­tion for sev­er­al Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion pro­grams, includ­ing tax­es that fund the Air­port and Air­way Trust Fund. Graves said the exten­sion was need­ed to “main­tain safe­ty in the nation­al air­space sys­tem in the absence of a long-term reau­tho­riza­tion.” The vote was 376 yeas to 15 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 18 yea votes

DUCK HUNTING PERMITS: The House on Decem­ber 12th passed the Duck Stamp Mod­ern­iza­tion Act (S. 788), spon­sored by Sen. John Booz­man, R‑Arkansas, to make elec­tron­ic migra­to­ry bird hunt­ing stamps, also known as duck stamps, ful­ly valid. A sup­port­er, Rep. Bruce West­er­man, R‑Arkansas, said that cur­rent­ly, hunters need to car­ry a signed paper duck stamp, and ful­ly val­i­dat­ing elec­tron­ic stamps would be a sen­si­ble mod­ern­iza­tion of the duck stamp program.

The vote was 403 yeas to 20 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 17 yea votes, 1 not voting

SHARING REPORTS OF SUSPICIOUS FINANCIAL ACTIVITY: The House on Decem­ber 12th passed the For­eign Affil­i­ates Shar­ing Pilot Pro­gram Exten­sion Act (H.R. 5524), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Sylvia R. Gar­cia, D‑Texas, to extend by three years the autho­riza­tion for a Trea­sury Depart­ment pilot pro­gram for hav­ing a finan­cial firm share reports of pos­si­ble ille­gal activ­i­ty with the fir­m’s for­eign branch­es. Gar­cia said that by allow­ing such infor­ma­tion shar­ing in a pilot pro­gram, “the U.S. anti-mon­ey laun­der­ing and finan­cial coun­tert­er­ror­ism efforts would be strength­ened, mod­ern­ized, and streamlined.”

The vote was 396 yeas to 28 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 18 yea votes

OPIOID THERAPIES: The House on Decem­ber 12th passed the Sup­port for Patients and Com­mu­ni­ties Reau­tho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 4531), spon­sored by Rep. Brett Guthrie, R‑Ky., to reau­tho­rize through fis­cal 2028 and mod­i­fy var­i­ous gov­ern­ment pro­grams relat­ed to opi­oid abuse, and recov­ery and treat­ment of such abuse. Guthrie said the pro­grams helped to “make sure those who have this sub­stance use dis­or­der have access to prop­er care, the oppor­tu­ni­ty to not just recov­er, but to have full and pro­duc­tive lives.” The vote was 386 yeas to 37 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 18 yea votes

ADDRESSING PARKINSON’S DISEASE: The House on Decem­ber 14th passed the Dr. Emmanuel Bili­rakis and Hon­or­able Jen­nifer Wex­ton Nation­al Plan to End Parkin­son’s Act (H.R. 2365), spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Gus M. Bili­rakis, R‑Florida., to have the Health and Human Ser­vices Depart­ment car­ry out a project for treat­ing and poten­tial­ly cur­ing Parkinson’s.

Bili­rakis said the project “will pro­vide an inte­grat­ed strat­e­gy to sup­port and coor­di­nate research efforts, col­lab­o­rate to pre­vent dupli­ca­tion, encour­age devel­op­ment of safe and effec­tive treat­ments, and review the impact on patients and their care­givers and fam­i­lies.” The vote was 407 yeas to 9 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 18 yea votes

In the United States Senate

NDAA CONFERENCE REPORT: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 13th agreed to the con­fer­ence report for the Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act (H.R. 2670, above), 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.

A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said with the leg­is­la­tion “we will give our ser­vice­mem­bers the pay raise they deserve; we will strength­en our resources in the Indo-Pacif­ic to deter aggres­sion by the Chi­nese gov­ern­ment and give crit­i­cal resources for train­ing, advis­ing, and capac­i­ty-build­ing for the mil­i­tary and Tai­wan.” The vote was 87 yeas to 13 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

RICHARD FEDERICO, APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 11th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Richard E.N. Fed­eri­co to be a judge on the U.S. Tenth Cir­cuit Court of Appeals. Fed­eri­co was a lawyer in the Navy from 2003 to 2017, and more recent­ly has been a fed­er­al pub­lic defend­er in Ore­gon and Kansas. A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said Fed­eri­co had “a bril­liant legal mind.”

The vote was 61 yeas to 29 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 3 yea votes, 1 nay vote, 2 not voting

HARRY COKER, NATIONAL CYBER DIRECTOR: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 12th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Har­ry Cok­er to be Nation­al Cyber Direc­tor. Cok­er was exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Agency (NSA) from 2017 to 2019, and was a secu­ri­ty offi­cial in the Navy, Cen­tral Intel­li­gence Agency, and NSA for more than four decades. The vote was 59 yeas to 40 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

JERRY EDWARDS, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 14th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jer­ry Edwards, Jr., to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the West­ern Dis­trict of Louisiana. Edwards, an offi­cial in the attor­ney’s office for the dis­trict start­ing in 2019, was pre­vi­ous­ly a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer at a Shreve­port law firm. A sup­port­er, Sen. Dick Durbin, D‑Illinois, cit­ed Edwards’ “char­ac­ter, strong ties to the West­ern Dis­trict of Louisiana, and exten­sive legal expe­ri­ence.” The vote was 66 yeas to 24 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 2 nay votes

BRANDON LONG, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: The Sen­ate on Decem­ber 14th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Bran­don S. Long to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the East­ern Dis­trict of Louisiana. Long has been a pros­e­cu­tor, spe­cial­iz­ing in drug crimes, in the attor­ney’s office for the dis­trict since 2014.

The vote was 64 yeas to 22 nays.

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 yea votes, 1 nay vote, 1 not voting

Key votes ahead

The House is done hold­ing floor votes for the year.

The Sen­ate is slat­ed to take up sev­er­al exec­u­tive nom­i­na­tions, includ­ing that of for­mer Mary­land Gov­er­nor Mar­tin O’Mal­ley to be Social Secu­ri­ty Com­mis­sion­er. The Sen­ate may also take up the nom­i­na­tion of Sara Hill to be a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the North­ern Dis­trict of Oklahoma.

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