How Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted
Here is how Arkansas' U.S. senators and U.S. representatives voted on major roll call votes during the week that ended Friday. KEY: ✔ FOR ✖ AGAINST □ NOT VOTING ⇧ PASSED ⇩ DEFEATED
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HOUSE
⇧ Consolidated appropriations. Passed 286-134, an amendment to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2882) to provide $1.2 trillion of funding for discretionary federal programs in fiscal 2024. Supporter Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, said: The bill “strengthens our national security and funds critical defense efforts,” and also “continues our strong support of Israel, combats the flow of illegal drugs, and fully funds medical research for cancer and chronic diseases.” Opponent Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said: The bill was “filled with all manner of spending priorities that are at odds with the American people,” including lax enforcement of immigration laws and wasteful earmark spending.
✔ Rick Crawford (R)
✔ French Hill (R)
✖ Bruce Westerman (R)
✔ Steve Womack (R)
GHG emissions fund. Passed 209-204, the Cutting Green Corruption and Taxes Act (H.R. 1023) to repeal the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Fund for providing aid to low-income areas to reduce GHG emissions, as well as a tax on methane emissions associated with natural gas production. Bill sponsor Rep. Gary J. Palmer, R-Ala., said: The fund would cost $27 billion, and claimed it had “little to no oversight to fund climate activists, green groups and Democrat political allies that do little to impact the climate.” Opponent Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said: “These two programs work to slash dangerous climate pollution and invest in communities across the country all while lowering the deficit.”
✔ Crawford (R)
✔ Hill (R)
✔ Westerman (R)
✔ Womack (R)
SENATE
⇧ Texas judge. Confirmed 88-7, the nomination of Ernest Gonzalez to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Over the past three decades, Gonzalez has been a county assistant attorney, federal prosecutor in the eastern and western Texas districts, and, for the past year, a Justice Department lawyer.
✔ John Boozman (R)
✔ Tom Cotton (R)
⇧ Second Texas judge. Confirmed 90-8, the nomination of Leon Schydlower to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Schydlower has been a magistrate judge in the district since 2015, after stints as a private practice lawyer and lawyer in the military.
✔ Boozman (R)
✔ Cotton (R)
⇩ Illegal aliens and airport security. Rejected 51-45, an amendment to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2882) that would have barred funding for use of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP One smart phone application, or any similar successor application, to facilitate the entry of foreign aliens into the U.S. Amendment sponsor Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said: The app, by allowing illegal immigrants to board airplanes without proof of identification, has enabled criminal activity and established an unequal standard in favor of the immigrants.
Opponent Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: “Using this app improves security because it provides the CBP with advanced notice of who is arriving and of those individuals who have already passed security checks.”
✔ Boozman (R)
✔ Cotton (R)
⇧ Iran sanctions waivers.
Tabled 51-47, an amendment to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2882) that would have barred funding for measures to waive various sanctions that have been imposed on Iran.
Amendment sponsor Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said: Funding waivers would mean “funding the genocidal, theocratic lunatic who leads Iran, who is funding Hamas, who is waging war against Israel.” Opponent Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., said: Waivers were useful “for accommodating humanitarian or basic human needs, including food and medicine and to pay for vetted third-party, non-Iranian vendors.”
✖ Boozman (R)
✖ Cotton (R)
⇩ Online censorship. Rejected 51-47, an amendment to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2882) that would have barred funding for federal government efforts to label speech by U.S. citizens as disinformation or misinformation, including requests for social media companies to alter, remove, restrict or suppress such speech. Amendment sponsor Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said: “The First Amendment is the beating heart of our Constitution. It protects fundamental human expression, and the government shouldn’t be deciding what we can read or what we can hear or what we can say.”
Opponent Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said: “If you want to make sure we are doing everything in our power to stop Vladimir Putin and others from infiltrating America, vote no on this amendment.”
✔ Boozman (R)
✔ Cotton (R)
⇧ Immigration sanctuary cities. Tabled 51-47, an amendment to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2882) that would have barred Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services Department funds from being sent to city governments that do not fulfill Homeland Security Department requests for them to provide advance notice of the date and time that they will release illegal aliens from local custody.
✖ Boozman (R)
✖ Cotton (R)
⇧ Continuing appropriations. Concurred 74-24, in the House amendment to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2882) to provide $1.2 trillion of funding for discretionary federal programs in fiscal 2024. Supporter Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: It “delivers on the investments that matter most in people’s daily lives – on everything from Pell Grants to community health centers.” Opponent Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said: It continued a trend of excessive government spending that has created large deficits and spurred inflation that results in “the erosion of your paycheck, the explosion of your gas prices and the explosion of your grocery bills.”
✔ Boozman (R)
✔ Cotton (R)
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