How Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted

HOUSE

$696 billion for military in 2018. Passed 344-81, a $696.5 billion military budget (HR2810) for fiscal 2018, including $64.6 billion for war-fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other theaters and more than $50 billion for active-duty and retiree health care. The bill authorizes $150 million in military aid to Ukraine while increasing spending for steps to deter what it calls “Russian aggression” against U.S. and NATO interests in Europe. In addition, the bill establishes a U.S. Space Corps within the Air Force in 2019; treats as nonbinding the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia; sets a 2.4 percent pay raise for uniformed personnel; requires a Pentagon strategy for dealing with Syria once ISIS is defeated; bars detainee transfers from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison; authorizes 1,594,300 active-duty, Guard and Reserve personnel; funds programs for military victims of sexual assault; and prohibits base closures, along with authorizing tens of billions to fund conventional and nuclear weapons programs.

Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said the bill provides resources for addressing “this growing threat coming from North Korea” as well as “Iran … the provocative actions of Russia and China … the terrorist organizations of various shades.”

Jim McGovern, D-Mass., called for updating the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force as the basis of U.S. war fighting in the Middle East, saying “the idea that we are using that authorization to justify our military operations in Syria and a whole bunch of other places in the world is ludicrous.”

A yes vote was to pass the bill. Rick Crawford (R) French Hill (R)

Steve Womack (R) Bruce Westerman (R)

Climate change, national

security. Rejected 185-234, a bill to strip HR2810 (above) of a requirement for Department of Defense reports on the impact of climate change on U.S. military installations and combat readiness.

Scott Perry, R-Pa., said: “This federal mandate detracts from the essential mission of the Department of Defense, which is to secure our nation from enemies, and is best left to the agencies that are better suited to deal with these [climate] issues.” Jim Langevin, D-R.I., said: “We already see the strategic implications of new sea lanes being cut in the melting Arctic, where countries are seeking an economic advantage. As we speak, along our coasts, rising seas are affecting our naval installations, including at Naval Station Norfolk, the home of the Atlantic Fleet.”

A yes vote was to strip the bill of its climate-change reporting requirement.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Funding of transgender

surgery. Refused 209-214, to strip the 2018 military budget (HR2810, above) of its authority to fund gender-change surgeries and related hormone therapies for members of the military and their dependents. The amendment did not apply to funding of related mental-health counseling.

Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., said: “Funding transition surgeries with tax dollars is especially problematic because the surgery is very costly. Surgical recovery time decreases deployability of our soldiers, and there is lack of medical consensus on the effectiveness of gender transition treatments.”

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: “Make no mistake, the intent of this unjust and mean-spirited amendment is to ban patriotic Americans from serving our country. It is designed to drum transgender service members out of the military.” A yes vote was to adopt the funding ban.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Funding Mexican border

wall. Rejected 190-235, a Democratic bid to bar funding in HR2810 (above) for President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall and other physical barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border. In its specific language, the bill neither authorizes nor prohibits wall funding. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said the measure “would simply ensure that [military] resources aren’t siphoned off for a pointless wall that we don’t need and cannot afford.”

Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said “there is nothing in this bill that funds the construction of a border wall.”

A yes vote was to prohibit wall funding in the bill.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

1% cut in military budget.

Defeated 73-351, an amendment that sought to cut the 2018 military budget (HR2810, above) in areas other than health care and personnel by 1 percent or $6.2 billion. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said: “By spending beyond our means, we make ourselves economically beholden to other nations like China and Saudi Arabia. That makes America less secure rather than more secure.”

Michael Turner, R-Ohio, said: “Our military should be honored. It should not be faced with additional cuts.” A yes vote was to cut the 2018 military budget by $6.2 billion. Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

SENATE

Neomi Rao, regulatory czar. Confirmed 54-41, Neomi Rao to head a unit of the White House and Office of Management and Budget that oversees the federal regulatory process. Rao, 44, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is a faculty member at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where she is the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State.

No senator spoke for the nominee. Opponent Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said: “Professor Rao is especially critical of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is the agency that has forced the biggest corporations and banks in this country to return more than $12 billion directly to Americans they have cheated and held big banks like Wells Fargo accountable when they have ripped off customers. [She] says the CFPB’s problem is its independence — seriously.” A yes vote was to confirm Rao. John Boozman (R) Tom Cotton (R)

William Hagerty, ambassador to Japan. Confirmed 86-12, William F. Hagerty IV, 57, a private-equity investor, former economic adviser to President George H.W. Bush and member of President Trump’s White House transition team, as U.S. ambassador to Japan. Hagerty, who is fluent in Japanese, was commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development between 2001-14.

A yes vote was to confirm Hagerty. Boozman (R) Cotton (R)