HOW TEXAS VOTED
WASHINGTON — How the Texas congressional delegation voted on major issues last week:
Senate
1. Blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia: Adopted, 53-45, a measure (SJ Res 36) that would disapprove of billions of dollars in planned and ongoing U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Middle East for use in a Saudi-led war against Iranian-backed forces in Yemen. Congress voted this year to end U.S. involvement in the war, but President Donald Trump successfully vetoed the measure.
A yes vote was to block the arms sales.
House
1. Citizenship question on census: Defeated, 192-240, a Republican effort to fund the Trump administration’s proposed addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The amendment was offered to a $690.4 billion spending package (HR 3055) for fiscal 2020 that remained in debate at week’s end. The Supreme Court is now weighing the constitutionality of a citizenship question, which Democrats say is a partisan tactic to deter undocumented immigrants from taking part in the census. Under the Constitution, the decennial census is required to count all persons living in the United States.
A yes vote was to adopt the GOP amendment.
2. $983 billion spending package: Approved, 226-203, a $982.8 billion package consisting of four of the 12 appropriations bills that will fund government operations in fiscal 2020, which starts Oct. 1. The bill (HR 2740) funds a $690.2 billion Pentagon budget while repealing the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force and prohibiting the diversion of military funds to wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition, the bill would provide $17.2 billion for operating the State Department and $24 billion in bilateral foreign aid including $3.3 billion for Israel. The bill also would appropriate $42.2 billion for K-12 education programs, $41.1 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $13.3 billion for the Labor Department, $4 billion for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and $495 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, among hundreds of other outlays.
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
3. Warrantless collection of Americans’ communications: Defeated, 175-253, an amendment to HR 2740 (above) aimed at restricting intelligence agencies’ use of the billions of telecommunications involving Americans inadvertently collected as part of warrantless surveillance of foreign targets under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The amendment sought to withhold funding to administer Section 702 next fiscal year unless the government takes additional steps to prevent violations of Americans’ Fourth Amendment privacy rights. For example, stricter controls would have to be imposed to keep agencies from using warrantless targeting of foreigners, which is permitted, to intentionally or accidentally access the communications of people in the United States.
A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.
4. U.S. funding to combat global w arming: Defeated, 174-251, an amendment to prohibit U.S. funding in HR 2740 (above) to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. With 195 signatory nations including the United States, the treaty is the governing authority for a series of international efforts to slow the rate of global warming. For example, it ushered in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2015.
A yes vote was to withhold U.S. support of international efforts to slow global warming.