Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (October 4th-8th)

Good morn­ing! Here’s how Cascadia’s Mem­bers of Con­gress vot­ed on major issues dur­ing the leg­isla­tive week end­ing Fri­day, Octo­ber 8th, 2021.

In the United States House of Representatives

TEMPORARILY FUNDING TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: The House on Octo­ber 1st passed the Sur­face Trans­porta­tion Exten­sion Act (H.R. 5434), spon­sored by our own Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Peter A. DeFazio, D‑Oregon.

The bill would autho­rize, through Octo­ber 31st, pro­grams oper­at­ed by the Trans­porta­tion Depart­ment that are fund­ed by the high­way trust fund.

DeFazio said the exten­sion was vital because autho­riza­tion had expired at the close of Sep­tem­ber. The vote was 365 yeas to 51 nays.

	Vot­ing Aye (2): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson
	Vot­ing Aye (5): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzanne Bonam­i­ci, Earl Blu­me­nauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrad­er; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cliff Bentz
	Vot­ing Aye (9): Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Suzan Del­Bene, Rick Larsen, Derek Kilmer, Prami­la Jaya­pal, Kim Schri­er, Adam Smith, and Mar­i­lyn Strick­land; Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Jaime Her­rera Beut­ler, and Cathy McMor­ris Rodgers Not Vot­ing (1): Repub­li­can Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Dan Newhouse

Cas­ca­dia total: 16 aye votes, 1 not voting

In the United States Senate

RAISING THE DEBT CEILING THROUGH DECEMBER: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 7th passed an amend­ment to a bill (S. 1301) that would sus­pend the fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s debt ceil­ing through Decem­ber 3rd, 2021.

A sup­port­er, Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑New York, said the sus­pen­sion would allow time for Con­gress to work on “a long-term solu­tion to the debt lim­it to make sure finan­cial mar­kets remain sta­ble and our eco­nom­ic recov­ery stays on track.” An oppo­nent, Sen­a­tor Mike Lee, R‑Utah, said there need­ed to be a con­straint on debt increas­es because the debt bur­den had already reached exces­sive lev­els, with cor­re­spond­ing haz­ards to the econ­o­my and infla­tion. The vote was 50 yeas to 48 nays.

A yes vote was to send the leg­is­la­tion back to the House. Pre­vi­ous­ly, eleven Repub­li­can sen­a­tors vot­ed to allow the bill to be con­sid­ered, break­ing a filibuster.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

JONATHAN MEYER, GENERAL COUNSEL FOR DHS: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 4th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Jonathan Mey­er to serve as gen­er­al coun­sel for the Home­land Secu­ri­ty Depart­ment. From 1999 to 2016, Mey­er was a lawyer at Home­land Secu­ri­ty, the Jus­tice Depart­ment, and in the Sen­ate; since 2016, he has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Gary Peters, D‑Michigan, said Mey­er “has demon­strat­ed that he under­stands the com­plex legal issues fac­ing DHS and the impor­tance of ensur­ing that the Depart­ment coop­er­ates with Con­gres­sion­al over­sight.” The vote was 51 yeas to 47 nays.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

PALOMA ADAMS-ALLEN, USAID: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 5th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Palo­ma Adams-Allen to serve as deputy admin­is­tra­tor of man­age­ment and resources at the U.S. Agency for Inter­na­tion­al Development.

Adams-Allen has been a offi­cial at the agency, spe­cial­iz­ing in Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean, as well as an advi­sor at the Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can States.

A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Robert Menen­dez, D‑New Jer­sey, called Adams-Allen “a ded­i­cat­ed pub­lic ser­vant who has spent her entire career focus­ing on inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment and elim­i­nat­ing glob­al poverty.”

The vote was 79 yeas to 20 nays.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 6 aye votes

LAUREN KING, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE FOR WASHINGTON: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 5th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Lau­ren J. King to serve as a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the West­ern Dis­trict of Washington.

King has been a pri­vate prac­tice lawyer in the state since 2008, with a spe­cial­ty in Indi­an trib­al law. A sup­port­er, Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray, D‑Washington, said: “I firm­ly believe Ms. King has the expe­ri­ence, knowl­edge, and per­spec­tive required to serve on our fed­er­al judi­cia­ry with dis­tinc­tion.” The vote was 55 yeas to 44 nays.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

SARAH MERRIAM, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE FOR CONNECTICUT: The Sen­ate on Octo­ber 6th con­firmed the nom­i­na­tion of Sarah Mer­ri­am to serve as a judge on the U.S. Dis­trict Court for Con­necti­cut. Mer­ri­am has been a fed­er­al mag­is­trate judge since 2015, and pre­vi­ous­ly was a pub­lic defend­er in Con­necti­cut’s fed­er­al courts. A sup­port­er, Sen. Dick Durbin, D‑Illinois, cit­ed “the wide­spread respect she has earned for her skill, qual­i­fi­ca­tions, tem­pera­ment, and fideli­ty to the rule of law.” The vote was 54 yeas to 46 nays.

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

Cas­ca­dia total: 4 aye votes, 2 nay votes

Key votes ahead

The Sen­ate will be in recess this week, with a pro for­ma ses­sion sched­uled for this Fri­day. The House will return to con­sid­er the short term lift­ing of the debt ceil­ing and con­sid­er oth­er leg­isla­tive business.

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!

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