Congressional roll call

Voterama in Congress

Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues during the week ending April 7.

HOUSE

STOCK COMPENSATION:

Voting 331-87, the House on April 4 passed a bill (HR 1343) that would make it easier for private companies to offer stock compensation to employees without triggering Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements. At present, if the value of securities in compensation plans tops $5 million over 12 months, employers must make disclosures to employees about company finances, including risk assessments. This bill raises the disclosure threshold to $10 million and indexes it to inflation. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

John Faso, R-Kinderhook:

Yes

Sean Maloney, D-Cold Spring: Yes Claudia Tenney, R-New Hartford: Yes TRUMP-RUSSIA TIES:

Voting 185 in favor and 228 opposed, the House on April 4 refused to deny benefits under HR 1343 (above) to any company whose officers or directors have withheld from Congress information about any collusion between associates of candidate

Donald Trump and Russian officials aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. A yes vote was to adopt the Democratic motion.

Faso: No Maloney: Yes Tenney: No STOP-LOSS INSURANCE,

ACA: Voting 400-16, the House on April 5 passed a bill (HR 1304) that would prohibit regulation of stoploss insurance as health insurance under federal laws including the Affordable Care Act. The bill is designed to help companies with self-funded health plans, which depend on stop-loss policies to protect against catastrophic losses. Backers said these policies deal only with risk-management, while critics said that by setting payment limits, they shape provisions of the self-funded health plans they back up. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. Faso: Yes

Maloney: Yes Tenney: Yes TAX REFORM, TRUMP DISCLOSURES: Voting 228-185, the House on April 5 blocked a Democratic bid to force consideration of a resolution that would block action on tax-reform legislation until after the Ways and Means Committee has privately reviewed President

Trump’s returns from 2007-16 to determine how proposed tax-code changes would affect his finances. The resolution was quashed by a parliamentary ruling by the presiding officer representing the Republican majority that the measure did not qualify as a “privileged question” entitled to floor action under House rules. On the vote being reported here, Republicans upheld that ruling after it was appealed by Democrats. This occurred during consideration of HR 1304 (above). A yes vote opposed the Democratic motion. Faso: Yes

Maloney: No Tenney: Yes

VENTURE CAPITAL: Voting 417-3, the House on April 6 passed a bill (HR 1219) that would make it easier for individuals to form into a certain type of private investment fund without having to meet Securities and Exchange Commission registration requirements. Amending a 77-year-old SEC rule, the bill would raise from 100 to 250 the maximum number of accredited investors (those with at least $200,000 in annual income or $1 million in net assets) who are allowed in so-called “angel funds.” Together, they could pool up to $10 million for purchasing nonpublic, unregistered securities in start-ups and

other enterprises that seek capital. The SEC’s registration requirements stem from the Securities Act of 1933 (a Great Depression law), the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law (a response to the Enron debacle) and the 2010 DoddFrank law (an outgrowth of the Great Recession). They are designed to protect investors against fraudulent operators. But to spur commerce and for other reasons, the SEC occasionally grants narrowly defined exceptions to its registration rules. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. Faso: Yes

Maloney: Yes Tenney: Yes

SENATE

HOMELAND SECURITY:

The Senate on April 4 confirmed, 85-14, Elaine C. Duke as deputy secretary for homeland security. A budget and procurement specialist, Duke held homeland-security posts in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. The GOP-controlled Senate now has confirmed 23 Trump administration appointees, out of 553 key positions requiring confirmation, according to the Partnership for Public Service. The high vacancy rate stems from the administration’s failure to send nominations to Congress.

A yes vote was to confirm Duke as the department’s second-ranking official.

Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.:

Yes Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.: No

CONFIRMING JUSTICE

GORSUCH: Voting 5445, the Senate on April 7 confirmed Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as the 113th justice of the Supreme Court. Gorsuch, 49, fills a vacancy created when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. The GOP majority kept the seat open during Barack Obama’s final 10 months as president by refusing to act on his nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to replace Scalia. A yes vote was to confirm Gorsuch.

Schumer: No Gillibrand: No ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’:

Voting 48 in favor and 52 opposed, the Senate on April 6 permanently changed its filibuster rules to set a simple-majority vote as the new standard for advancing Supreme Court nominations. This replaced a three-fifths majority (usually 60 votes) as the hurdle for ending filibusters against nominees to the high court. The change was dubbed “the nuclear option” because it was a politically explosive rollback of

traditional minority rights in the Senate. The three-fifths threshold will continue to apply to filibusters aimed at blocking legislation. A yes vote was to retain a three-fifths majority as the standard for invoking cloture against Supreme Court nominees. A no vote was to lower the bar to simplemajority votes. Schumer: Yes Gillibrand: Yes GORSUCH FILIBUSTER: By a vote of 55-45, the Senate on April 6 failed to reach the 60 votes required to end a Democratic filibuster against Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination. This prompted the Republican majority to immediately vote to weaken filibuster rules (above) so that Gorsuch and other Supreme Court nominees could be confirmed by simple majority votes. A yes vote was to advance Gorsuch against a Democratic filibuster. Schumer: No Gillibrand: No

COMING UP

Congress is in recess for two weeks. When it returns, it will take up a bill to fund agencies and keep the government from shutting down after April 28.

© 2017, Thomas Voting Reports Inc.