HOW TEXANS VOTED
WASHINGTON – How the Texas congressional delegation voted on major issues last week:
Senate
1. Arms to Saudi Arabia: By a vote of 71 for and 27 against, the Senate on Wednesday tabled a measure (SJ Res 39) that sought to block a proposed $1.15 billion U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia. In the deal, the Saudis would receive 153 Abrams tanks, 20 Hercules armored vehicles and smaller arms such as machine guns and smoke-grenade launchers. Critics said the deal would further entangle the U.S. in Yemen’s civil war, which Saudi forces have joined. A yes vote was to approve the U.S.-Saudi weapons deal.
House
1. Stock options, national debt: Voting 287 for 124 against, the House on Thursday passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 5719) that would allow employees to defer for as long as seven years the payment of income taxes on compensation received in the form of stock options. The bill would add $1 billion to the federal debt over 10 years because it is not offset by spending cuts or revenue increases. Under existing law, stock options become a “taxable event” when they are fully conveyed to the employee, or vested. The bill applies to employees of companies at which at least 80 percent of the workforce receives stock compensation. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. 2. U.S. payments to Iran: Voting 254 for and 163 against, the House on Thursday passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 5931) that would censure the administration for having paid $1.7 billion in settlements to Iran in the nine months since a global deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program took effect. Made in publicly disclosed installments of $400 million and $1.3 billion, the payments would settle a dispute over arms transactions with the former shah of Iran. The first payment, for $400 million, was made on Jan.16, the date on which the nuclear deal took effect and the U.S. and Iran completed a prisoner swap. This bill imposes conditions on any future payments to settle Iranian claims, including a requirement that Congress be notified in advance. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was dead on arrival.