Congressional roll call
Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues during the legislative week ending March 12.
House
LABOR RIGHTS: Voting 225-206, the House on March 9 passed a bill (HR 842) that would protect and expand employee rights to collectively bargain for better pay, benefits and working conditions.
The bill would establish the right to organize as a civil right enforceable in federal court, prohibit the permanent replacement of striking workers and enable employees to file classaction lawsuits over working conditions.
The bill also would negate state right-to-work laws allowing nonunion employees to benefit from negotiated contracts without paying union dues.
In addition, the bill would:
• Make it difficult for employers to classify “gig economy” workers as independent contractors to prevent them from joining unions.
• Authorize stiff National Labor Relations Board fines for employers who unlawfully disrupt organizing campaigns.
• Impose personal liability on corporate directors who knowingly sanction their company y’s union-busting tactics.
• Allow immediate reinstatement in court, through injunctive relief, of workers fired for union activity.
• Allow mediation and arbitration to resolve disputes between newly certified unions and companies in drafting their first contract.
• Permit unions to conduct secondary boycotts.
• Allow union elections to be conducted at neutral sites and prohibit employers’ “captive audience” meetings to persuade workers.
• Permit workers with multiple employers to negotiate directly with the one exercising the most control over their employment.
• Prevent employers from using a worker’s immigration status to determine his or her terms of employment. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
Antonio Delgado, DRhinebeck: Yes
Sean Maloney, D-Cold Spring: Yes
BACKGROUND CHECKS: The House voted 227-203 on March 11 to expand federal background checks to cover sales conducted at gun shows, over the Internet or through classified ads, with an exception for sales between family members. The bill (HR 8) would plug loopholes that allow millions of U.S. firearms sales to skirt the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is structured to deny guns to the mentally ill, individuals with criminal records and domestic abusers.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
Delgado: Yes
Maloney: Yes
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS: Voting 207 in favor and 217 opposed, the House on March 11 defeated a Republican motion to HR 8 (above) requiring undocumented immigrants to be reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when federal background checks detect they are attempting to buy a firearm. A yes vote was to adopt the GOP requirement.
Delgado: No
Maloney: No
EXTENDING BACKGROUND CHECKS: Voting 219-210, the House on March 11 passed a bill (HR 1446) that would allow more time for the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System to complete reviews of impending gun sales.
Now, sales automatically go through if the check is not finished within three business or weekend days. The bill would extend the window to as many as 20 business days.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
Delgado: Yes
Maloney: Yes
VIRUS RELIEF: Voting 220-211, the House on March 10 gave final congressional approval to a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package (HR 1319) that would add $300 per week to unemployment checks through Sept. 6; deliver payments of $1,400 per person to 150 million Americans; increase the Child
Tax Credit in a way designed to cut child poverty nearly in half; deliver $350 billion to state, county, city, tribal and territorial governments; provide $25 billion in grants to the restaurant industry; increase Affordable Care Act premium subsidies; fund the reopening of K-12 schools; provide $25 billion in rental aid to avert evictions and $10 billion to help landlords meet their expenses; and fund programs to vaccinate against Covid-19 and slow the spread of the virus. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Biden, who signed it the next day. Delgado: Yes
Maloney: Yes
Senate ATTORNEY GENERAL:
Voting 70-30, the Senate on March 10 confirmed federal appeals judge Merrick B. Garland, 68, as attorney general.
Garland held Department of Justice positions under former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In 2016, his nomination to the Supreme Court was blocked in the GOP-controlled Senate for 10 months and then withdrawn.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.:
Yes
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.:
Yes
SECRETARY OF HOUSING:
Voting 66-34, the Senate on March 10 confirmed Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, D-Ohio, as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Fudge, 68, was a mayor in suburban Cleveland before entering Congress in 2009, and she once chaired the Congressional Black Caucus.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gillibrand: Yes
Schumer: Yes
EPA CHIEF: Voting 66-34, the Senate on March 10 confirmed Michael S. Regan, 44, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, making him the first Black person to lead the agency in its 50-year history.
A specialist in reducing air pollution, Regan served at the EPA under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and was secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gillibrand: Yes
Schumer: Yes
Coming up
The House this week will take up a bill to protect women against violence. The Senate will vote on more Biden administration nominees.