WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.
The Senate was not in session this week.
Along with roll call votes this week, the House also passed the Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act, to require states to adopt electronic systems to expedite the placement of children in foster care or guardianship, or for adoption, across state lines; passed the Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act, to temporarily extend the period of protection for members of the military relating to mortgages, mortgage foreclosure, and eviction; concurred in the Senate amendment to the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program and Airport and Airway Trust Fund; and passed the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act, to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to modernize the U.S. integrated public alert and warning system.
House votes
House vote 1
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL BY TERRORISTS: The House has passed the Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act, sponsored by Rep. Lee M. Zeldin, R-New York. The bill would require the Homeland Security Department and State Department to coordinate with other countries on programs to block international travel by terrorists and fighters seeking travel to Iraq and Syria, and authorize Homeland Security to provide surplus nonlethal equipment and supplies to foreign governments in order to advance U.S. security interests.
Zeldin said travel by fighters and terrorists planning attacks against the U.S. and its allies have created a “need for improved border security around the world and better information sharing between governments.”
The vote was 371 yeas to 2 nays. Both Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, were among the yeas.
House vote 2
NASA AND FEMALE STUDENTS: The House has passed the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers Women Act, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Virginia. The bill would require NASA to submit to the House a plan for ways that NASA employees and retirees can encourage pre-college female students to pursue careers in aerospace and science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
Comstock said NASA should promote such careers to female students to help ensure that the U.S. remains a world leader in technology and engineering, and the exploration of space.
The vote was 380 yeas to 3 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 3
BURYING FEMALE PILOTS AT ARLINGTON CEMETERY: The House has passed the Women Airforce Service Pilot Arlington Inurnment Restoration Act, sponsored by Rep. Martha McSally, R-Arizona. The bill would require the Army to adopt regulations authorizing the burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia of the cremated remains of women who served as pilots in the Women’s Air Forces Service during World War II.
McSally said more than a thousand women who served as military pilots during the war were initially denied status as veterans meriting burial with full military honors, and a recent Army decision not to allow them burial at Arlington needed to be overturned to give them such honors now.
The vote was unanimous with 385 yeas. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 4
REGULATORY REVIEW OF CORPORATE MERGERS: The House has passed the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act, sponsored by Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. The bill would change the process of having the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission review proposed mergers by making standards for merger reviews and legal challenges to mergers the same at the two agencies.
Farenthold said that currently, the Federal Trade Commission, but not the Justice Department, can use the threat of pursuing litigation in administrative and federal courts against a proposed merger to delay the merger, and eliminating that possibility would “make a better, more efficient government” for businesses seeking merger approval.
A bill opponent, Rep. Hank Johnson Jr., D-Georgia, said the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to seek permanent injunctions in the legal system used the agency’s unique longstanding expertise in handling antitrust issues.
The vote was 235 yeas to 171 nays. Pingree gave a nay vote, and Poliquin gave a yea vote.
House vote 5
RESPONSE TO BRUSSELS ATTACKS: The House has passed a resolution, sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, condemning the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday, March 22.
Poe said that by responding to the attacks with a strong message of solidarity with Belgium, the resolution signaled that the U.S. will give Belgium its support in every way possible as part of the multinational effort against a “terrorist onslaught that threatens the very freedoms that we hold dear.”
The vote was unanimous with 409 yeas. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.