HOW YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATES VOTED

For the week that ended July 21

Contact your legislators at the U.S. Capitol ZIP codes: House 20515, Senate 20510 Capitol operator: (202) 224-3121

HOUSE Melanie Stansbury (D) Teresa Leger Fernández (D) Gabe Vasquez (D)

BMILITARY SERVICE ACADEMIES: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2670), to bar the use of funds to utilize race and ethnically-based criteria for evaluating admission applications for the Military Academy (West Point), Naval Academy, and three other military service academies. The vote, on July 14, was 218 yeas to 210 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, D-1, Vasquez, D-2, Leger Fernández, D-3

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE MILITARY: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2670), that would bar funding for the Defense Department to implement policies pursuant to a variety of Biden administration executive orders on climate change and energy. The vote, on July 14, was 217 yeas to 216 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

MILITARY SPENDING: The House has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2670), sponsored by Rep. Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., to authorize fiscal 2024 Defense Department spending and spending on military construction programs and military-related programs at the Energy Department. The vote, on July 14, was 219 yeas to 210 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Leger Fernández

YEAS: Vasquez

COMMUNICATING ABOUT REGULATIONS: The House has passed the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act (S. 111), sponsored by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., to require government agencies to include brief plain language summaries of proposed rules with their published notices for the rules. The vote, on July 17, was unanimous with 400 yeas.

YEAS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

INVESTMENT IN UNITED STATES: The House has passed the Global Investment in American Jobs Act (H.R. 813), sponsored by Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind. The bill would require the Commerce Department and Government Accountability Office to collaborate on an interagency review of America’s ability to attract direct investment from foreign businesses, and ways to improve that ability. Pence said increasing foreign investment could create many thousands of manufacturing jobs, and the review could also improve resistance to efforts by China to use anticompetitive practices “to undermine innovation and gain footholds in next-generation technologies” that the U.S. seeks to lead. The vote, on July 17, was 386 yeas to 22 nays.

YEAS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

LIBYA EMERGENCY: The House has rejected a resolution (H.J. Res. 70), sponsored by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, R-Ariz., that would have terminated the national emergency with regards to Libya that President Obama declared in February 2011. The vote, on July 18, was 30 yeas to 388 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

SYRIA EMERGENCY: The House has rejected a resolution (H.J. Res. 79), sponsored by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., that would have terminated a national emergency related to Syria that was declared by President Bush in May 2004 and has been used to apply various sanctions against officials in Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime. The vote, on July 18, was 24 yeas to 394 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

ISRAEL RESOLUTION: The House has passed a resolution (H. Con. Res. 57), sponsored by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, declaring U.S. support and partnership with Israel, rejecting the claim that Israel is a racist or apartheid state, and rejecting anti-Semitism and xenophobia. The vote, on July 18, was 412 yeas to 9 nays.

YEAS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

SCHOOLS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: The House has passed the Schools Not Shelters Act (H.R. 3941), sponsored by Rep. Marcus J. Molinaro, R-N.Y., to bar public schools and colleges that receive federal funding from using their facilities to house alien immigrants who are not legally in the U.S. The vote, on July 19, was 222 yeas to 201 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

TRAINING PILOTS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Nicholas Langworthy, R-N.Y., to the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R. 3935). The amendment would eliminate a bill provision that changes training requirements for pilots seeking to be certified by the FAA, and thereby maintain the current 1,500-hour in-flight training requirement. The vote, on July 19, was 243 yeas to 191 nays.

YEAS: Stansbury, Leger Fernández

NAYS: Vasquez

FLIGHT DELAY INFORMATION: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., R-N.J., to the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R. 3935), that would require the Transportation Department to make public available a variety of details about the cause of the cancellation and delay of commercial airplane flights. The vote, on July 19, was 240 yeas to 195 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

AIRPLANE FUEL SUPPLIES: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., to the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R. 3935). The amendment would allow airports to sell high-octane unleaded aviation gasoline in lieu of low-lead aviation gasoline. The vote, on July 19, was 229 yeas to 205 nays.

NAYS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

AVIATION POLICY: The House has passed the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R. 3935), sponsored by Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo. The bill would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board through fiscal 2028, and set out an array of policy directives for the FAA and the Transportation Department, including raising the retirement age for commercial airline pilots from 65 to 67. The vote, on July 20, was 351 yeas to 69 nays.

YEAS: Stansbury, Vasquez, Leger Fernández

SENATE Martin Heinrich (D) Ben Ray Luján (D)

APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Rachel Bloomekatz to be a judge on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Most of Bloomekatz’s career, spanning the past decade, has been as a private practice lawyer, for the past four years at her own law firm. The vote, on July 18, was 50 yeas to 48 nays.

YEAS: Heinrich, D, Luján

NATO MEMBERSHIP: The Senate has passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2226), that would require approval from Congress for the U.S. to suspend or withdraw its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The vote, on July 19, was 65 yeas to 28 nays.

YEAS: Heinrich, Luján

MILITARY ACCOUNTING PROCEDURES: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2226), that would have required the Defense Department to change its methods of accounting for the drawdown of military supplies, including weapons systems being sent to Ukraine. The vote, on July 19, was 39 yeas to 60 nays.

NAYS: Heinrich, Luján

ENFORCING EPA RULES: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of David Uhlmann to be the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Uhlmann, currently a law professor at the University of Michigan, was a federal prosecutor, specializing in environmental crimes, for 17 years. The vote, on July 20, was 53 yeas to 46 nays.

YEAS: Heinrich, Luján

PETROLEUM RESERVE SALES: The Senate has passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2226), that would bar the sale of petroleum products from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea. The vote, on July 20, was 85 yeas to 14 nays.

YEAS: Heinrich, Luján