WASHINGTON, June 12 — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.
Editor’s note: Besides roll call votes, the Senate and House also took action on legislation by voice vote. The Senate passed a bill to extend the authorization for replacing a Veterans Affairs medical center in Denver. It also passed the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act, to require Homeland Security to develop interoperable communications capabilities among its component agencies.
The House also passed the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, to permanently extend the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
House votes
House vote 1
REGULATING COMMODITY FUTURES: The House has passed the Commodity End-User Relief Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael K. Conaway, R-Texas. The bill would exempt end users of commodities such as corn, soybeans and other crops, and forms of energy including oil and natural gas, from certain Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulations.
Conaway said the exemptions would make it easier for farmers, utilities, industrial companies, and other producers and consumers of commodities to manage their price risks by lessening the regulatory burden associated with hedging against volatile commodity prices.
A bill opponent, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, criticized provisions that he said would require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to conduct cost-benefit analyses of proposed new regulations and introduce complex new procedures that reduce the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s efficiency.
The vote was 246 yeas to 171 nays. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, gave a nay vote, and Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, gave a yea vote.
House vote 2
FUNDING FLORIDA PASSENGER TRAIN: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Florida, to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The amendment would have barred the Transportation Department from using funds to consider financing passenger rail projects on Florida’s east coast.
Posey said the agency has proposed loaning billions of dollars for an Orlando to Miami passenger train despite considerable environmental, congestion and safety concerns surrounding the project.
An amendment opponent, Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Florida, said the Florida train was needed to provide the same level of rail service being offered in Europe, Japan and China.
The vote was 163 yeas to 260 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
House vote 3
AMTRAK SUBSIDIES: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The amendment would have barred funding for the Amtrak route that produces the highest losses, which is the Sunset Limited, running from New Orleans to Los Angeles.
Sessions said the Sunset Limited has cost Amtrak an average of $41 million annually while offering passengers poor on time performance, and he said ending subsidies for the line was “the first step to instilling a small measure of fiscal discipline in Amtrak.”
An amendment opponent, Rep. David E. Price, D-North Carolina, said that “every mode of transportation is subsidized to some degree and that the national interest requires diverse modes of transportation.”
The vote was 205 yeas to 218 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
House vote 4
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND HOUSING AID: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Ted S. Yoho, R-Florida, to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The amendment would block the Housing and Urban Development agency from providing housing assistance to illegal immigrants.
Yoho said legal U.S. residents “work hard every day, and their needs should not play second fiddle to those of immigrants who broke our laws and came into this country illegally.”
An amendment opponent, Rep. David E. Price, D-North Carolina, said the ban merely restated existing law and the amendment only served “to stir controversy, reinforce prejudices, and distract us from the business at hand.”
The vote was 244 yeas to 181 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
House vote 5
IMMIGRATION AND SUBSIDIZED HOUSING: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The amendment would block Housing and Urban Development from providing subsidized housing to illegal immigrants.
Brooks said 130,000 or more households headed by illegal immigrants live in public or subsidized housing, taking hundreds of millions of dollars of aid from taxpayers while legal residents “are being forced to wait in line for public housing.”
An amendment opponent, Rep. David E. Price, D-North Carolina, said the ban would not change existing law and would “reinforce prejudice and stereotypes” by denigrating illegal immigrants.
The vote was 246 yeas to 180 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
House vote 6
FUNDING TRANSPORTATION, HUD: The House has passed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, sponsored by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Florida. The bill would provide $55.3 billion of fiscal 2016 funding for the Transportation Department, Housing and Urban Development, Amtrak and other agencies related to transportation and housing.
Diaz-Balart said the transportation funding worked to ensure “the safe and effective transportation of goods and people in America,” while the housing funding would help the most vulnerable Americans find housing opportunities, without excessive government spending.
A bill opponent, Rep. David E. Price, D-North Carolina, said it did not invest adequately in programs needed to maintain decent housing for Americans and a world-class infrastructure that enables innovation and economic vitality.
The vote was 216 yeas to 210 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
House vote 7
POLICE AND BODY-WORN CAMERAS: The House has passed a resolution, sponsored by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, to support the use of body-worn cameras by local law enforcement agencies to increase the transparency of actions taken by police officers.
Green said the use of such cameras was an “opportunity for us to have the transparency we need, for us to provide legitimacy for both police officers and citizenry but, more importantly, to reduce the complaints” that result from police-civilian interactions.
The vote was 421 yeas to 6 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 8
LABELING MEAT PRODUCTS: The House has passed the Country of Origin Labeling Amendments Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael K. Conaway, R-Texas. The bill would repeal the Agriculture Department’s requirement for retailers of beef, pork and chicken to provide consumers with label information about the country from which the meat came.
Conaway said the labeling requirement has led to a trade dispute with Canada and Mexico that could spark a trade war with those countries. He called the requirement “a heavy-handed, government-mandated marketing program that has proven to be unsuccessful.”
A bill opponent, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, called the labeling requirement “good for consumers” and “good for our farmers and ranchers” because it gives the two parties more information about the food they consume and the chance to market their products to consumers who prefer to buy locally produced food.
The vote was 300 yeas to 131 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the nays.
House vote 9
GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, D-Indiana, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The amendment would have struck from the bill a section barring the transfer of Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees to the U.S.
Visclosky said continuing to jail the detainees at Guantanamo Bay was much more expensive than holding them in federal prisons and gave terrorist groups a propaganda advantage while weakening the credibility of the U.S.
An amendment opponent, Rep. Robert J. Wittmann, R-Virginia, said transferring the detainees to prisons “would be disruptive and potentially disastrous” to U.S. security.
The vote was 174 yeas to 257 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 10
FUNDING SYRIAN REBELS: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Florida, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The amendment would have eliminated $600 million of funding to train and arm Syrian rebels fighting against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Clawson said in the absence of a comprehensive, long-term U.S. strategy for Syria, that country’s rebels should not receive U.S. support, especially given the risk that weapons sent to the rebels will “wind up being aimed at our U.S. troops.”
An amendment opponent, Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-New Jersey, said ending funding would “remove the possibility of the U.S. engaging under any circumstances, even if such engagement would be in the best interests of the United States or allies.”
The vote was 107 yeas to 323 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 11
TRADE AND DEVELOPING NATIONS: The House has agreed to a motion sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, to concur in the Senate amendment to the Trade Preferences Extension Act. The bill would extend preferential duties for goods imported from Haiti and extend the generalized system of preferences exempting certain goods from tariffs, as well as the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides preferential treatment for textiles and other goods imported from Africa.
Ryan said the bill’s reduction of tariffs and duties for imports would decrease costs for American consumers while promoting free enterprise and upward mobility in the developing world.
The vote was 397 yeas to 32 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 12
COMBAT AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-California, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The amendment would have barred funding after March 2016 for military action against the Islamic State group in the absence of specific authorization from Congress.
Schiff said Congress has failed to fulfill its constitutional duty to oversee combat against Islamic State, and requiring authorization would affirm Congress’s sole power to declare war.
An amendment opponent, Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Pennsylvania, said “acceptance of this amendment would rob our nation of one of the key authorities our commander-in-chief relies on to keep us safe.”
The vote was 196 yeas to 231 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 13
GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The amendment would bar funding for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act surveillance programs that search databases, without warrants, to discover information about telecommunications by U.S. citizens.
Massie said the ban was needed to uphold Fourth Amendment rights against illegal government searches.
An amendment opponent, Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Pennsylvania, criticized its restrictions on the ability of intelligence agencies to protect national security, which “would potentially put American lives at greater risk for another terrorist attack.”
The vote was 255 yeas to 174 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 14
2016 MILITARY SPENDING: The House has passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, sponsored by Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Pennsylvania. The bill would provide $578 billion for the military in fiscal 2016, including $88.4 billion for war efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and a 2.3 percent pay increase for military members.
Frelinghuysen said the war funding provided needed resources for soldiers “whenever a crisis may exist or develop in the future,” as well as the resources needed “to meet ongoing challenges of nation-state aggressors like Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and others.”
A bill opponent, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said it was an irresponsible budget plan “that could force future changes harmful to the defense of our nation.”
The vote was 278 yeas to 149 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
Senate votes
Senate vote 1
FUNDING FOR OVERSEAS COMBAT: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment would have capped fiscal 2016 funding for contingency military operations overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere at $50.9 billion until budget caps on general government spending have been lifted.
Reed said that the contingency fund was being used to circumvent the budget caps, and Congress should instead develop a budget plan that permanently replaces the caps “with a balanced approach that keeps America safe and strong at home and abroad.”
An amendment opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said its cuts in military funding “would deprive the men and women who are serving the means and wherewithal to defend this nation.”
The vote was 46 yeas to 51 nays. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, gave a nay vote, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, gave a yea vote.
Senate vote 2
REAUTHORIZING EXPORT-IMPORT BANK: The Senate has rejected a motion to table an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment would reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank for financing exports by domestic companies.
Kirk said blocking reauthorization of the bank would result in job losses as exports decline and deprive the government of $1 billion of annual net revenue generated by the bank’s loans.
The vote to table the amendment was 31 yeas to 65 nays. Both Collins and King were among the nays.
Senate vote 3
SHARING CYBERSECURITY DATA: The Senate has rejected a motion to end debate on an amendment sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment would have required the federal government to increase the sharing of information about cybersecurity threats with state and local governments, as well as the private sector, and instituted measures for the private sector to send cybersecurity information to the federal government.
A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the amendment would help the private and public sectors more quickly distribute information about cyberattacks and “provide governments and businesses with knowledge they can use to erect stronger defenses” while balancing security and privacy concerns.
An amendment opponent, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, said its absence of legal restrictions on sending private data to the government would give it excessive surveillance powers.
The vote was 56 yeas to 40 nays, with a three-fifths majority required to end debate. Both Collins and King were among the yeas.