How Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted

Here is how Arkansas’ U.S. senators and U.S. representatives voted on major roll call votes during the week that ended Friday.

KEY: FOR AGAINST NOT VOTING PASSED DEFEATED

HOUSE Aviation funding, hurricane tax relief, flood insurance.

Disaster aid for Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands.

Defeated 188-227, a motion by Democrats to add unspecified disaster aid for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to HR3823 (above). That would be in addition to the bill’s temporary tax breaks to help those American territories recover from recent hurricanes. Although President Donald Trump has not sent Congress a request for Hurricane Maria disaster aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is using funds already in the pipeline to help Puerto Rico recover from the Category 4 storm that devastated the island on Sept. 20. Sponsor Jerrod Nadler, D-N.Y., said his measure “would do more for the people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands” than the bill’s hurricane-related tax breaks. “Unlike the underlying bill, this motion will give them funds to help them rebuild. The dollars are directed for rebuilding and other economic support.” Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., called the underlying bill “an important first step that we have to take to help people in all of these jurisdictions, especially the people of Puerto Rico, because we know that the situation there is in no way comparable to anything that has happened on the mainland.” A yes vote was to expand the bill to include disaster aid for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Crawford (R) Hill (R) Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Renewal of home-visitation program.

Passed 214-209, a GOP-written bill (HR2824) that would extend the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program through fiscal 2022 on a budget of $400 million per year. The bill drew criticism over a new requirement that jurisdictions, including Indian tribes, provide matching funds if they wish to participate. Under the program, social workers, nurses and educators regularly visit the households of young parents in at-risk communities, helping them to promote the healthy development of their children in a settled home environment, with an emphasis on laying the groundwork for success in school.

Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said the program “promotes school readiness of young children, increases economic self-sufficiency of families, improves prenatal health and birth outcomes, and prevents childhood abuse and neglect.” Sander Levin, D-Mich., said the bill “would cut off funding to states and tribal organizations that are unable to match federal spending on home visiting,” which “could cause states to scale back or even end their programs altogether.”

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Denial of Supplemental Security Income. SENATE Heath Tarbert, assistant treasury secretary.

Confirmed 87-8, Heath Tarbert, 41, as assistant secretary of the Treasury for international markets. He will head the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which monitors foreign transactions with U.S. companies to determine their impact on U.S. national security. A former law clerk for Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and Department of Justice attorney under President George W. Bush, Tarbert leaves a Washington law firm to join the administration. Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, said Tarbert “has served in senior roles in all three branches of government and is an experienced lawyer and a recognized financial expert” who would ably fill this “critical national security and international economic policy job.” Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned Tarbert’s vigilance over transactions that foreign governments use to acquire American technology. “We don’t want to wake up one day and discover that our adversaries have access to key components of our national security technology because Congress and the White House were asleep at the wheel,” she said. A yes vote was to confirm Tarbert. John Boozman (R) Tom Cotton (R)

Makan Delrahim, assistant attorney general.

Confirmed 7321, Makan Delrahim, 47, as assistant attorney general for antitrust enforcement. He served in the Justice Department’s antitrust division under President George W. Bush and worked as a congressional aide and Washington-based attorney and lobbyist.

Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, praised the nominee as “a high-quality lawyer” and said “all of us, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, are going to make sure that our markets remain free and competitive. Cheap talking points are not going to cut it; only serious debate will.”

Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Delrahim’s “approach to antitrust enforcement is based on a handsoff economic theory that just leaves big corporations to do pretty much whatever they want to do. Case in point, just last year, when asked [about] the proposed merger of AT&T and Time Warner [he] said he didn’t think it was a ‘major antitrust problem.’”

A yes vote was to confirm Delrahim.

Boozman (R)

Cotton (R)