WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.
Along with roll call votes this week, the Senate also passed the FOIA Improvement Act, to improve the Freedom of Information Act; the Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act, to establish the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking; the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program and the Airport and Airway Trust Fund; and the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, to improve enforcement efforts related to prescription drug abuse.
The House also passed the Fair RATES Act, to provide that any inaction by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allows a rate change to go into effect shall be eligible for judicial review; the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act, to promote energy efficiency via information and computing technologies; and the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program and the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
House votes
House vote 1
TAIWAN AND INTERPOL: The House has passed a bill, sponsored by Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, requiring the State Department to develop a strategy to obtain observer status for Taiwan in the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
A supporter, Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-New Jersey, said that China’s lobbying to keep Taiwan out of INTERPOL has made it difficult for Taiwan to quickly obtain information about international criminals and criminal activities and share its information on international crime with INTERPOL members, and working to make Taiwan an INTERPOL member would both help Taiwan and help Taiwan’s police protect American citizens traveling in Taiwan.
The vote was unanimous with 381 yeas. Both Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, were among the yeas.
House vote 2
ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS CLEANSING IN MIDDLE EAST: The House has passed a resolution, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Indiana. The resolution expressed the sense of Congress that atrocities committed in Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL, against Christians, Kurds, and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the two countries qualify as genocide and crimes against humanity, and it called on the United Nations to punish Islamic State for the crimes.
Fortenberry said the resolution would compel “the responsible communities of the world to act” against Islamic State and create the preconditions for a political setting in which Christians and other persecuted groups can peacefully return to their Middle East homelands.
The vote was unanimous with 393 yeas. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 3
SYRIA WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL: The House has passed a resolution, sponsored by Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-New Jersey. The resolution expressed the sense of Congress that Syria’s government has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country’s civil war, and it called for the establishment of a United Nations tribunal to prosecute members of the government for committing such crimes.
Smith said punishing perpetrators of the crimes in Syria “will not only hold those responsible for war crimes accountable but will send a clear message that such barbaric behavior has dire personal consequences.”
The vote was 392 yeas to 3 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 4
EMISSIONS FROM COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS: The House has passed the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act, sponsored by Rep. Keith J. Rothfus, R-Pennsylvania. The bill would increase Environmental Protection Agency allocations for hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants that burn coal refuse left over from historic coal mining activity.
Rothfus said that relaxing EPA regulations for using coal refuse would allow the fuel to be burned at the power plants rather than continue to cause environmental and public health harm by sitting in piles where it can catch fire and leach into waterways.
A bill opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-New Jersey, said that by increasing allowable pollution from power plants that burn coal refuse, it would undermine EPA rules aimed at cutting pollution and improving the environment.
The vote was 231 yeas to 183 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among nays.
House vote 5
BROADBAND INTERNET DISCLOSURE RULE: The House has passed the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act, sponsored by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon. The bill would exempt, for five years, broadband Internet access providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers from a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring broadband providers to disclose to the public certain information about their networks.
Walden said the exemption from a costly, technical reporting requirement would help providers, many of whom are in rural areas with few broadband options, continue to provide cost-effective Internet access.
The vote was unanimous with 411 yeas. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 6
ENFORCING IMMIGRATION LAW: The House has passed a resolution, sponsored by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wisconsin, authorizing Ryan to file a brief on behalf of the House in the Supreme Court’s hearing of a lawsuit brought by various states against President Barack Obama’s 2014 order deferring enforcement action against close to 5 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
Ryan said Obama’s order, by unilaterally refusing to faithfully enforce laws passed by Congress, made it necessary for the House to defend its constitutional prerogative to shape government policy by passing laws the executive branch is bound to carry out.
A resolution opponent, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Obama’s order followed a legal and constitutional precedent established by every president since Eisenhower. Pelosi also claimed that having the House oppose the order before the Supreme Court would be part of a broader Republican “agenda of discrimination” against immigrants.
The vote was 234 yeas to 186 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
Senate votes
Senate vote 1
CONFIRMING EDUCATION SECRETARY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of John B. King to serve as education secretary.
A supporter, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said Congress needed to confirm King to put in place, for the remainder of the Obama administration, an official who will be accountable to the Senate for having the Education Department implement the education reform law recently passed by Congress.
An opponent, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, criticized King’s record as New York’s education commissioner, when he promoted “the designs of bureaucrats and central planners over the lived experiences of parents and teachers,” forcing unpopular testing and curriculum standards on school districts despite opposition from parents, teachers, principals and local school boards.
The vote was 49 yeas to 40 nays. Both Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, were among the yeas.
Senate vote 2
GMO FOOD LABELING RULES: The Senate has rejected a cloture motion sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, to end debate on an amendment to a bill. The amendment would bar states from adopting their own rules mandating labeling for food that contains genetically modified organisms.
Roberts said allowing states to adopt rules “demonizing” GMOs without any evidence that GMO ingredients harm the public could force food manufacturers to spend billions of dollars complying with wasteful labeling mandates.
An opponent of ending debate, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, said “consumers want information about the food they eat, it is as simple as that,” and merely blocking state labeling rules was an inadequate solution to the GMO issue.
The vote to end debate was 48 yeas to 49 nays. Both Collins and King were among the nays.
Senate vote 3
SEX TRAFFICKING ONLINE: The Senate has passed a resolution, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, directing the Senate’s legal counsel to enforce a subpoena issued by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to Carl Ferrer, the CEO of backpage.com, requiring him to testify to the subcommittee about human trafficking on the Internet, including backpage.com.
A supporter, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said backpage.com has been linked to a majority of reports of suspected child sex trafficking and accounts for most online sex advertising in the U.S. Given that, requiring Ferrer to testify would give the subcommittee important information about backpage.com‘s role in child sex trafficking, helping the subcommittee investigate “the most horrific crimes committed against young people.”
The vote, on March 17, was unanimous with 96 yeas. Both Collins and King were among the yeas.