HOW YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATES VOTED
For the week ending June 22
Contact your legislators at the U.S. Capitol Zip codes: House 20515, Senate 20510 Capitol operator: (202) 224-3121
By Voterama In Congress
© 2018 Thomas Reports Inc.
GOP IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL: By a vote of 193 for and 231 against, the House on June 21 rejected an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws reflecting the views of some conservative Republicans. The measure (HR 4760) would authorize $24.8 billion over five years for tighter security on the border with Mexico, including construction of walls or other barriers, while enabling nearly 700,000 of the undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” to remain in the United States indefinitely if they renew their legal status every three years. The bill would also tighten standards for granting asylum, limit visas for family members of legal immigrants, terminate a lottery system that awards more than 50,000 visas annually, require employers to use the government’s online system to verify the legal status of prospective employees and restructure the visa program for agricultural workers. The border patrol would be beefed up and so-called sanctuary cities, which do not cooperate with U.S. immigration enforcement, could lose federal law enforcement grants.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
YES: PEARCE NO: LUJAN GRISHAM, LUJÁN
BID FOR PASSAGE OF “DREAMERS” BILL: Voting 191 for and 234 against, the House on June 21 defeated a Democratic bid to amend HR 4760 (above) so that it would grant permanent legal status and a path to citizenship to as many as two million so-called dreamers who were brought illegally to the United States as children and face potential deportation under a Trump administration directive. Democrats offered their measure (HR 3440) to replace language in the underlying bill giving 690,000 dreamers a legal status short of citizenship they would have to renew every three years or face deportation.
A yes vote was to advance the Democrats’ dreamers bill.
YES: LUJAN GRISHAM, LUJÁN NO: PEARCE
PASSAGE OF FIVE-YEAR FARM BILL: Voting 213 for and 211 against, the House on June 21 passed a bill (HR 2) that would reauthorize federal farm, nutrition and anti-hunger programs for five years at a cost of about $87 billion annually. The measure would cut spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) by more than $2 billion annually while imposing stricter work and job training requirements on recipients. In addition, the bill would renew the federal sugar program as is; fund programs to boost exports; subsidize crop insurance and provide price supports for growers of commodities including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice; fund rural development including broadband expansion and renew the Dairy Margin Protection Program, which is designed to stabilize dairy incomes without directly limiting milk production.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
YES: PEARCE NO: LUJAN GRISHAM, LUJÁN
PRIVACY RULES FOR OPIOID ADDICTS: Voting 357 for and 57 against, the House on June 20 passed a bill (HR 6082) that would ease privacy rules for opioid addicts’ medical records, so that the information could be more broadly shared among doctors and treatment facilities providing them with care. In part, this would enable doctors to avoid prescribing drugs that could trigger relapses. The new rules would have to meet standards set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect the confidentiality of medical histories.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
YES: LUJAN GRISHAM, PEARCE NO: LUJÁN
MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR OPIOID ADDICTS: Voting 261 for and 155 against, the House on June 20 passed a bill (HR 5797) that would relax Medicaid reimbursement rules to benefit opioids addicts aged 21 through 64 who receive substance-abuse treatments as inpatients at mental institutions. Under the bill, federal Medicaid matching payments could be used to care for these individuals for up to 30 days per year, a reimbursement not now allowed. The bill would apply to states regardless of whether they have accepted the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid to cover adults with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill is projected to add $991 million to the national debt over 10 years.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
YES: LUJAN GRISHAM, PEARCE NO: LUJÁN
STATES THAT REJECT MEDICAID EXPANSION: Voting 190 for and 226 against, the House on June 20 defeated a Democratic bid to deny benefits under HR 5797 (above) to the 14 states that decline to participate in the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid. They are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
A yes vote was to link the bill on Medicaid coverage of opioids treatments to the 2010 health law.
YES: LUJAN GRISHAM, LUJÁN NO: PEARCE
BUDGET FOR ENERGY AND VETERANS’ PROGRAMS: The Senate voted, 92 for and three against, to advance a $145.4 billion appropriations bill (HR 5895) for fiscal 2019 that includes $70 billion-plus for veterans’ health care, $14 billion for securing America’s nuclear arsenal and $7.2 billion for Army Corps of Engineers public-works projects.
A yes vote was to advance the bill toward final passage in the following week.
YES: UDALL, HEINRICH
$717 BILLION FOR MILITARY IN 2019: Voting 85 for and 10 against, the Senate on June 18 authorized a $717 billion military budget (HR 5515) for fiscal 2019, including $69 billion for war in Afghanistan, Iraq and other overseas theaters and $57 billion for active-duty and retiree health care.
The bill sets a 2.6 percent pay raise for uniformed personnel; bans the purchase or use of technology made by the Chinese telecom giant ZTE; funds programs for military victims of sexual assault; authorizes $7.6 billion for purchasing 75 F-35 fighter jets and lifts a ban on the development of sea-launched low-yield nuclear weapons. The bill sets an active-duty strength of nearly 1.33 million troops (485,741 Army, 331,900 Navy, 325,720 Air Force and 186,100 Marine Corps.)
A yes vote was to send the bill to a Senate-House conference committee.
YES: UDALL, HEINRICH
FAILURE OF TRUMP BID FOR DEFICIT REDUCTION: The Senate on June 20 effectively killed a bill (HR 3) requested by President Trump that would claw back $14.5 billion in unspent appropriations from previous years, with a small portion allocated to deficit reduction. On a tally of 48 for and 50 against, sponsors fell short of the simple majority they needed to discharge the Housepassed bill from oblivion in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill is now considered dead because starting June 22, its supporters would need 60 votes to bring it to the Senate floor.
The rescissions are aimed at numerous domestic programs, with the Children`s Health Insurance Program slated to receive the largest single cut, about $7 billion. No children would lose CHIP coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but the move would prevent reallocations to children`s programs including expanded early childhood education.
A yes vote was to advance the rescissions package.
NO: UDALL, HEINRICH