WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how Maine’s members of Congress voted over the previous week.
This week the Senate passed the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization; passed the Veterans Entrepreneurship Act, to help veterans with small businesses access capital; and passed the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act to reduce duplication of information technology at the Homeland Security Department.
Meanwhile, the House passed the FTO Passport Revocation Act to authorize the revocation or denial of passports and passport cards to individuals affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations.
House votes
House vote 1
DISCRIMINATION AND FEDERAL WORKERS: The House has passed the Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act, sponsored by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Maryland. The bill would expand antidiscrimination enforcement rules at federal government agencies, including rules to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers, and require the agencies to annually report on cases of discrimination and the punishment of discriminatory employees.
Cummings said the bill’s reforms would give workers “confidence that they can report an act of discrimination without suffering retaliation” from superiors or co-workers, and improve accountability mechanisms for ensuring that agencies carry out their obligation to offer equal employment opportunities.
The vote was unanimous with 403 yeas. Both Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, were among the yeas.
House vote 2
ANNUAL REPORTS ON VA MEDICAL CARE: The House has passed the Veterans Information Modernization Act, sponsored by Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Michigan. The bill would require an annual report from the Veterans Affairs Department to Congress on the VA’s provision of medical and nursing home care.
Benishek said the reports, by giving Congress more information on the VA’s management and operations, would work to improve the efficiency of the VA, improve health care for veterans and cut waste.
The vote was unanimous with 408 yeas. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 3
GROUNDWATER AND COAL ASH: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-New Jersey, to the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act. The amendment would have required utilities with coal ash impoundments to disclose on their own websites information about groundwater quality near the impoundments.
Pallone said the information would make it easy for concerned citizens to learn if a nearby impoundment is contaminating their groundwater supplies.
An amendment opponent, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois, said the bill already required state governments to disclose the information on their websites, making utility disclosure redundant.
The vote was 177 yeas to 244 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 4
WATER WELLS AND COAL ASH: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-New Jersey, to the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act. The amendment would have required the surveying of drinking water wells located within a half-mile of any coal ash waste impoundment, with the owner or operator of the impoundment required to supply alternative drinking water supplies within a day of finding wells that do not meet water quality standards.
Adams said well contamination had prompted North Carolina to successfully adopt such rules to ensure safe drinking water in rural areas near impoundments, and the amendment would expand such protection throughout the country.
An amendment opponent, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois, said multiple existing laws gave the Environmental Protection Agency authority to prevent water well contamination from coal ash impoundments and require that alternative water supplies be provided if groundwater is contaminated.
The vote was 192 yeas to 231 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 5
REGULATING COAL ASH DISPOSAL: The House has passed the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act, sponsored by Rep. David B. McKinley, R-West Virginia. The bill would require states to adopt permitting programs for the disposal of coal ash waste produced by burning coal in power plants, set out minimum standards for the programs and require monitoring of groundwater conditions in areas near coal ash disposal sites.
McKinley said the requirements improved on the uncertainty and complexity created by the Environmental Protection Agency’s current coal ash rule, which provides for enforcement only through civilian lawsuits.
A bill opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-New Jersey, criticized it for eliminating or undermining vital environmental and public health protections for coal ash.
The vote was 258 yeas to 166 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the nays.
House vote 6
RESERVATIONS AND GMO FOOD CROPS: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, to the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. The amendment would have preserved for states and Indian tribes the authority to prohibit or restrict the cultivation of genetically engineered plants on or near tribal lands.
Huffman said maintaining tribal authority to regulate the crops grown on a reservation would properly acknowledge tribal sovereign rights.
An amendment opponent, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas, said the bill did nothing to block tribal sovereignty over GMO crop cultivation, and the amendment would mistakenly give tribal governments authority over land outside their reservations.
The vote was 196 yeas to 227 nays. Pingree gave a yea vote, and Poliquin gave a nay vote.
House vote 7
NATURAL FOODS AND GMOS: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Connecticut, to the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. The amendment would have barred foods that contain GMO ingredients from being labeled as “natural.”
DeLauro said given that most Americans believe natural foods do not contain GMOs, allowing such labeling would confuse consumers and set back their right to information about the food they buy.
An amendment opponent, Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Illinois, said allowing the Food and Drug Administration to go forward with its study of how to define the term “natural” for food labeling purposes was better than halting the process of using scientific evidence to define and set standards for the term “natural.”
The vote was 163 yeas to 262 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 8
LABELING GMO FOODS: The House has passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas. Under the bill the FDA must allow but not require food made from genetically modified organisms to be labeled as a GMO product, pre-empt state and local rules on labeling food as GMO or as natural, and require companies making GMO foods to notify the FDA that their foods are as safe as similar non-GMO foods.
Pompeo said there was no credible evidence GMO foods pose any risk to public health and safety, so a GMO labeling requirement would be bad policy and increase the cost of food.
A bill opponent, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, said it sought to override states’ rights to adopt their own GMO labeling laws and keep consumers ignorant of whether or not the food they buy was made with GMOs.
Pingree, a supporter of GMO labeling, also lobbed criticism at the bill Thursday. “I know the opponents of labeling think that consumers might be “frightened” by GMO ingredients,” Pingree said on the House floor. “Do we really think consumers are too dumb to handle this information? Do we really think 90 percent of Americans are wrong to want GMO products labeled?”
Poliquin on Thursday also issued a statement critical of the bill. “I have always believed that Americans should have all the information necessary to make informed decisions about the foods they eat. Mainers deserve to know what is in the foods we eat and give to our kids before putting it on the kitchen table.”
The vote was 275 yeas to 150 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the nays.
House vote 9
SANCTUARY CITIES AND FEDERAL FUNDS: The House has passed the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act, sponsored by Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-California. The bill would bar the issuance of funds under three Justice Department immigration and policing programs to state and local governments that have barred their police from gathering information about the legal or illegal citizenship or immigration status of individuals and notifying the federal government of illegal residents.
Hunter said punishing sanctuary cities for refusing to comply with federal immigration law was a first step toward restoring accountability to U.S. immigration law.
A bill opponent, Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Michigan, said that its withholding of funds from local law enforcement “will only make our communities less safe because immigrants will not report crimes or otherwise cooperate with the police if they fear they or their family members may be asked for their immigration status.”
The vote was 241 yeas to 179 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
Senate votes
Senate vote 1
DEBATING HIGHWAY FUNDING BILL: The Senate has approved a cloture motion to end debate on the DRIVE Act, sponsored by Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Illinois. The bill would authorize the government’s Highway Trust Fund for highway construction and maintenance programs through fiscal 2021.
A supporter of ending debate, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the funding and planning certainty provided by the bill “will help relieve urban congestion, upgrade rural routes, and improve the overall safety and efficiency of our highways.”
“Our roads, our bridges, our transit systems – nearly all of them are in desperate need of repair, and it’s long past time that we invest the money necessary to fix them,” Sen. Angus King said in a statement Wednesday. “This bill is by no means perfect, but it’s a long-term solution that would provide the type of certainty needed to plan and complete vital construction projects.”
The vote was 62 yeas to 36 nays. Both Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, were among the yeas.
Collins issued no formal statement on the Senate vote this week.