Congressional roll call
Here’s how senators voted on major issues during the legislative week ending March 26. (The House was in recess.)
Senate PAYCHECK PROTECTION:
Voting 92-7, the Senate on March 25 gave final congressional approval to a bill (HR 1799) extending from March 31 to May 31 the deadline for small businesses to apply for COVID-19 rescue funds under the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP.
Begun in March 2020, the PPP provides firms with fewer than 500employees with forgivable loans for meeting payroll and certain overhead costs, including rent or mortgage payments. The loans are forgiven if recipients agree to not lay off workers and rehire those already dismissed as a consequence of COVID.
To date, the Small Business Administration has approved about eight million loans totaling nearly $704 billion, with $93 billion yet to be allocated, including $28.6 billion earmarked for restaurants and additional set-asides for minority- and women-owned businesses. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Biden.
Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.:
Yes
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.:
Yes
DENYING AID TO RIOTERS: Voting 48in favor and 52 opposed, the Senate on March 25 defeated a Republican amendment that sought to deny aid under HR 1799 (above) to any person convicted in the preceding two years of a felony related to the Capitol riot or rioting in U.S. cities.
Opponent Ben Cardin, D-Md., said the amendment should be defeated “for the sake of getting this bill to the president … so we can help our small businesses.” A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.
Gillibrand: No
Schumer: No SECRETARY OF LABOR:
Voting 68-29, the Senate on March 22 confirmed Martin J. Walsh, 53, the mayor of Boston, as secretary of the Department of Labor, the first union member to head the department since 1977.
Walsh had been president of Laborers Local 223 in Boston and head of the city’s Building and Construction Trades Council.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gillibrand: Yes
Schumer: Yes SURGEON GENERAL:
Voting 57-43, the Senate on March 23 confirmed Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, 44, as U.S. surgeon general, a post he held under former President Barack Obama.
An adviser to Presidentelect Joe Biden on COVID-19issues following the November election, Murthy has been a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
in Boston.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gillibrand: Yes
Schumer: Yes DEPUTY BUDGET DIRECTOR: Voting 63-37, the Senate on March 23 confirmed Shalanda D. Young, a former staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
She also is under consideration to be nominated as OMB director.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gillibrand: Yes
Schumer: Yes ASSISTANT HEALTH SECRETARY: Voting 5248, the Senate on March 24 confirmed Dr. Rachel L. Levine, 63, as assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services.
She is the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate. Levine has been a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine and was physician general for Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2017.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gillibrand: Yes
Schumer: Yes
Coming up
Congress is in recess until the week of April 12.
Copyright 2021 Thomas Voting Reports Inc.