Congressional roll call

Here’s how area House members voted on major issues during the week ending Oct. 13. (The Senate was in recess).

HOUSE

HURRICANE, WILDFIRE

RELIEF: Voting 353-69, the House on Oct. 12 passed a bill (HR 2266) that would appropriate $36.5 billion to fund recovery from hurricanes Maria, Harvey and Irma and this month’s wildfires in California. Because this is emergency spending not offset elsewhere in the budget, it would be added to federal deficits. The bill’s major outlays are $18.7 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster-relief fund, $16 billion to enable the heavily indebted National Flood Insurance Program pay claims, and $576.6

million for wildfire recovery. The package includes $4.9 billion in loan authority to help Puerto Rico and its municipalities pay their bills as recovery proceeds. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

John Faso, R-Kinderhook:

Yes

Sean Maloney, D-Cold Spring: Yes

‘DREAMERS’: Voting 227190, the House on Oct. 11 blocked a Democratic bid to force floor consideration of a bill (HR 3440) now in committee that would grant permanent legal status to the so-called “dreamers” who were brought illegally to the United States as children. The bill would grant relief to potentially hundreds of thousands of undocumented aliens who were younger than 18 when they entered the United States; have been continuously present in the United States for at least four years; have clean law-enforcement records; and have received a high school (or equivalent) degree and met other conditions. President Trump on Sept. 5 revoked former President Barack Obama’s executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that temporarily shielded dreamers from potential deportation and gave them the right to work legally. Trump allowed six months for Congress to either put protections into law or stand aside as removals go forward. Trump said he would work with Democrats to enact legislation safeguarding dreamers from deportation, but he set terms that Democratic lawmakers would not accept. With congressional Republicans also showing little interest in developing a legislative solution, Democrats have begun forcing votes such as this one to

keep the issue before the public as the March deadline approaches. A yes vote was to block floor debate on the DACA bill. Faso: Yes

Maloney: No WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS: By a unanimous vote of 420-0, the House on Oct. 12 passed a bill (S 585) that would increase protections for whistleblowers in the civil service, with a focus on shielding Department of Veterans Affairs employees who challenge their supervisors policies and actions. The bill is named after Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick, a clinical psychologist at the Tomah, Wis., veterans hospital who committed suicide in 2009 after being fired in a dispute with superiors over whether patients were being overmedicated by drugs including opioids. In part, the bill requires the training of all DVA employees in whistleblower rights; requires the department to inform employees of available mental health services including online counseling; stiffens penalties against supervisors throughout the government who retaliate against defiant employees; and takes government-wide steps to prevent whistleblowers’ medical records from being used against them. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Trump. Faso: Yes

Maloney: Yes BLOWING WHISTLES ON CABINET TRAVEL: Voting 190 in favor and 232 opposed, the House on Oct. 12 defeated a bid by Democrats to extend whistleblower protections in S 585 (above) to civil servants who reveal information on improper travel by political appointees in the Executive Branch, including Cabinet members. The vote followed Tom Price’s resignation as secretary of Health and Human Services over disclosures that he had taken charter and military flights costing taxpayers more than $1 million, and amid questions raised over taxpayer-funded travel by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin. A yes vote was to expand the bill to cover whistleblowing on improper Cabinet travel.

Faso: No Maloney: Yes

COMING UP

The Senate this week will debate the congressional budget resolution for fiscal 2018 and later years. The House will be in recess.