Congressional roll call

Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues during the week ending March 23.

HOUSE FEDERAL SPENDING:

Voting 256-167 against, the House on March 22 passed a bill (HR 1625) that would fund the government through September at an annual level of $1.3 trillion in discretionary spending, with about $700 billion allocated to the military and the remainder to domestic and foreign affairs accounts. The bill does not fund the mandatory, or entitlement, spending for programs such as Social Security, crop subsidies and military pensions that accounts for two-thirds of the $4.02 trillion total budget for fiscal 2018. The bill funds a 2.4 percent pay increase for uniformed military personnel while appropriating $78.1 billion for combat operations overseas, $84 billion to fight the opioid epidemic and $21.3 billion for infrastructure. It raises spending over current levels for a host of domestic programs, including renewable energy, National Institutes of Health research, National Park Service maintenance, wildfire prevention and suppression in the West, Great Lakes restoration and Army Corps of Engineers river and harbor dredging. The bill provides $1.6 billion for physical and technological barriers on the southern border in response to President Trump’s request for $25 billion in wall funding but omits language sought by Democrats to grant permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

John Faso, R-Kinderhook:

Yes

Sean Maloney, D-Cold Spring: No EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS:

The House on March 21 passed, 267-149, a bill (HR 5247) that would give the terminally ill broad access to experimental drugs that have not received Food and Drug Administration approval. The bill would grant legal protection to doctors, hospitals, drug firms and others helping to facilitate these unproven treatments. Supporters said dying persons deserve access to high-risk medical interventions as a matter of personal freedom, while opponents said the bill would give false hopes to desperate individuals and undermine long-established FDA procedures. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Faso: Yes Maloney: Yes

SENATE

FEDERAL SPENDING: Voting 65-32, the Senate on March 23 joined the House in passing a bill (HR 1625) that would fund the government for the remaining six months of fiscal 2018 at an annual level of $1.3 trillion in discretionary spending, with about 55 percent allocated to the military and the remainder to domestic and foreign affairs accounts. The 2018 deficit, projected at $472 billion, would be separately funded out of the mandatory spending side of the $4.02 trillion federal budget. In gun-related measures, the bill authorizes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct research into gun violence, incentivizes states and communities to report mental health and criminal records to the National Instant Criminal Background System, and bars the Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs from submitting the names of mentally unstable individuals to the NICS in the absence of due-process hearings. In addition, the bill would fund security upgrades at schools along with training to help teachers, students and police spot potential gun violence and take steps to prevent it. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Trump, who signed it later the same day.

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

U.S. MILITARY ROLE IN

YEMEN: Voting 55-44, the Senate on March 20 tabled (killed) a measure (SJ Res 54) that would end funding of U.S. military operations in Yemen unless they receive congressional authorization under the 1976 War Powers Act. The resolution addressed aerial refueling, targeting assistance and other U.S. support of Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. Backers of the resolution said U.S. military involvement in Yemen is illegal without congressional authorization, while opponents countered that there are no U.S. boots on the ground there. A yes vote was to kill the resolution.

Gillibrand: No Schumer: No ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING: Voting 97-2, the Senate on March 21 passed a bill (HR 1865) that would authorize Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act to be used to prosecute websites that facilitate prostitution and sex trafficking. The law was enacted to combat the spread of pornography on the internet, and Section 230 protects internet service providers and third-party platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Tumblr against prosecution under state and local anti-pornography laws. This bill would deny that protection to websites whose business model is to “knowingly” advance the sex trade. But critics, including the Department of Justice, said its overly broad “reason to know” standard would endanger the free speech of innocent third parties, and therefore make prosecution of sex traffickers more difficult. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Trump. Gillibrand: Yes Schumer: Yes

COMING UP

Congress is in recess until April 9.