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 Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act, to increase federal Pell Grants for the children of fallen public safety officers; passed the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act, to establish a process for considering petitions for temporary duty suspensions and reductions; passed the RESPONSE Act, to establish the Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Operational Needs, and Safety Evaluation program at the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and passed H.R. 4238, to amend the Department of Energy Organization Act and the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to modernize terms relating to minorities.
The House also passed the Women Airforce Service Pilot Arlington Inurnment Restoration Act, to provide for burial in Arlington National Cemetery of the cremated remains of those who served as women’s Air Force service pilots; passed the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act, to provide the Justice Department with additional tools to target extraterritorial drug trafficking activity; passed the Co-Prescribing To Reduce Overdoses Act, to provide for a Health and Human Services Department grant program for co-prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs; and passed the Recovering Missing Children Act, to amend the tax code to permit the disclosure of certain tax return information for the purpose of missing or exploited children investigations.
House votes
House vote 1
PREVENTING PAINKILLER ADDICTION: The House has passed the Opioid Program Evaluation Act, sponsored by Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California. The bill would require the Justice Department and Health and Human Services Department to study the effectiveness of grant programs to fund efforts to prevent and treat the abuse of opioid painkillers such as hydrocodone and oxycodone.
McCarthy said gathering data on the programs would help policymakers determine the most effective ways to respond to the growing problem of painkiller addiction.
The vote was 410 yeas to 1 nay. Both Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, were among the yeas.
House vote 2
TASK FORCE ON PAIN MEDICATIONS: The House has passed a bill, sponsored by Rep. Susan W. Brooks, R-Indiana, to require the Health and Human Services Department to establish an inter-agency task force for reviewing and changing the program of best practices for pain management, including chronic and acute pain, and prescribing pain medication.
Brooks said that by improving plans for prescribing pain medications to prevent abuse and addiction to the drugs, the task force would counter what she called an epidemic of opioid addiction “devastating local communities and families across the country.”
The vote was 412 yeas to 4 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 3
INFANTS AND DRUG EXPOSURE: The House has passed the Infant Plan of Safe Care Improvement Act, sponsored by Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pennsylvania. The bill would require that states seeking Health and Human Services Department grants to fund their child protective services programs have programs in place to help provide for the safety and well-being of infants.
Barletta cited the increasing number of children born with prenatal exposure to illegal drugs such as opiates in saying that the grants requirement would strengthen protections for those infants and ensure states “have the best practices for developing plans to keep infants and their caregivers healthy and safe.”
The vote was unanimous with 421 yeas. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 4
GRANTS FOR RESPONSE TO OPIOID ABUSE: The House has passed the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act, sponsored by Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wisconsin. The bill would authorize a program of Justice Department grants to local and state governments for providing services to prevent and treat opioid abuse.
Sensenbrenner said given that fatalities from opioid overdoses are growing rapidly this decade, Congress needed to help states respond to the epidemic of opioid abuse with measures to better control opioid distribution and reduce abuse.
The vote was 413 yeas to 5 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
House vote 5
TREATING OPIOID OVERDOSES: The House has passed Lali’s Law, sponsored by Robert J. Dold, R-Illinois. The bill would authorize a grants program at the Centers for Disease Control for funding state programs to educate health care professionals about dispensing naloxone and other emergency medications that reverse opioid overdoses on standing orders rather than prescriptions specific to one individual.
Dold said removing the obstacle of requiring a person-specific prescription for the medications should help emergency first responders quickly administer them to overdosing opioid users, saving their lives.
The vote was 415 yeas to 4 nays. Both Pingree and Poliquin were among the yeas.
Senate votes
Senate vote 1
WATER PROJECTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Maryland, to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The amendment would have required the Army Corps of Engineers to take into account input from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state governments on the impact to habitats from water projects planned by the Corps.
Cardin called the measure a way to preserve fish and wildlife habitats by having the Corps account for objections to its projects. No amendment opponents spoke on the Senate floor.
The vote was 39 yeas to 60 nays. Both Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, were among the nays.
Senate vote 2
FUNDING ENERGY, WATER AGENCIES: The Senate has passed the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael K. Simpson, R-Idaho. The bill would provide $37.5 billion of fiscal 2017 funding for the Energy Department and Army Corps of Engineers, among other federal energy and water agencies.
A supporter, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said its investments in energy research, advanced nuclear energy, storage of nuclear waste, and the nation’s harbors and other systems of waterborne transportation, all worked to improve the safety and effectiveness of U.S. water and energy infrastructure.
The vote was 90 yeas to 8 nays. Both Collins and King were among the yeas.