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.

HOUSE

Bill to reopen Cabinet departments. Passed 241-190, a bill (HR21) that would provide regular budgets through September for eight Cabinet departments and numerous agencies that have been closed since Dec. 22 in a dispute over President Donald Trump’s request for up to $5.7 billion to build a wall on the southwest border. Enactment of the bill would leave the Department of Homeland Security (below) as the only department still closed in a partisan standoff that has forced nearly 400,000 civil servants to take unpaid leave and another 420,000 to work without pay, sharply curtailing services to taxpayers. A combination of six individual appropriations measures, the bill would reopen the departments of Treasury, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, State, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development along with agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Security Administration. Congress has already passed regular 2019 budgets for the legislative branch and the departments of Defense, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, and certain agencies. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said: “Funding the federal government is one of the most important duties of Congress. The previous majority failed to do so, and they failed to do the most basic task of keeping the lights on. Here on day one of the 116th Congress we Democrats are here to reopen federal agencies shuttered by the Trump shutdown.” Kay Granger, R-Texas, said: “By accepting this bill, we’re throwing away … resources to help federal law enforcement better investigate groups such as terrorists, drug traffickers, human traffickers, violent criminals and criminal aliens.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. Rick Crawford (R) French Hill (R) Steve Womack (R) Bruce Westerman (R)

Dispute over abortion counseling. Defeated 199-232, a Republican bid to ensure that HR21 (above) complies with Trump’s executive order expanding the so-called Mexico City Policy. The policy is a Reagan-era directive used by Republican administrations to deny U.S. family-planning aid to nongovernmental foreign organizations that provide abortion counseling or perform abortions overseas. Trump expanded the policy to cover virtually all categories of U.S. global health funding, including support for children’s health programs and combating malaria and HIV/AIDS. Kay Granger, R-Texas, said the bill as written reverses the president’s protecting lives in global health assistance policies. This policy is important to protect lives and must be maintained. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said Trump’s order goes beyond existing U.S. law and forces the United States to withhold critical family-planning assistance from nongovernmental organizations with expertise, capacity and proven track records on supporting women’s health around the globe. A yes vote was to adopt the GOP motion. Crawford (R) Hill (R) Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Stopgap Homeland Security funding. Passed 239-192, a continuing resolution (HJRes1) that would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8, giving Congress and Trump more time to negotiate his request for up to $5.7 billion this year for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The department has been partially closed since Dec. 22. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, called Trump’s border wall a 14th century solution to a 21st century problem. “If you want to spend billions on that wall, I will spend $10 on a ladder to [scale] that wall.” Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said that in the new Congress, it looks like we are in for a “Democrat agenda influenced by the far-left echo chamber that promotes open borders and illegal immigration.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. Crawford (R) Hill (R) Womack (R) Westerman (R)

New House ground rules. Adopted 234-197, rules changing how the chamber processes legislation, oversees its members’ conduct and addresses issues, including climate change during the two-year span of the newly convened 116th Congress. The package (HRes6) offered by the House’s new Democratic majority was added to a body of standing rules that has controlled House proceedings since the 1st Congress in 1789. The rules package establishes a select committee on climate change, a special panel for modernizing congressional operations and a new legislative subcommittee to promote diversity in financial services. The texts of bills must be publicly available for at least 72 hours before floor action; bills considered by the Rules Committee for floor debate first have to receive a committee hearing and markup; bills with at least 290 co-sponsors are to get prompt floor consideration and committees must periodically hold Member Day hearings at which panel members can tout proposals they believe have been ignored. The new rules authorize the House to join court actions in defense of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, while the Administration Committee is newly empowered to conduct depositions while overseeing federal elections. The renamed Committee on Oversight and Reform is given jurisdiction to investigate all corners of government operations, including the White House. Term limits are dropped for committee chairmen and members of the Budget Committee. The former Committee on Education and the Workforce is now the Committee on Education and Labor. The Democrats are reinstating pay-go rules requiring that the costs of cuts in taxes or increases in mandatory spending programs including Medicare and Social Security must be offset so that they do not add to the deficit. The package eliminates a rule requiring three-fifths majority votes for income tax increases, and drops the dynamic scoring process promoted by Republicans to reduce the estimated costs of tax cuts by projecting economic benefits. Also reinstated is the Gephardt rule, under which adoption of the annual budget resolution automatically grants House approval of suspending the federal debt limit. The new ground rules repeal the Holman rule allowing appropriations bills to be used to eliminate federal programs or dismiss or cut the salary of specific federal employees. The new majority’s rules package includes several steps to tighten the chambers ethical standards and protect staff members and members of minority groups. House members and aides are prohibited from sitting on corporate boards, members and staffers have to receive annual ethics training, and committee assignments and leadership posts are to be denied to members indicted or convicted of serious crimes. House members would have to use personal funds to pay settlements resulting from harassment or discrimination claims by aides, and nondisclosure agreements cannot include language prohibiting current or former staff members from speaking to House authorities probing workplace abuses. House members are prohibited from having sexual relationships with their aides or with aides to the committees on which they serve. Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is outlawed, and religious headwear can now be worn on the House floor. The new rules allow the six delegates representing residents of the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands to vote on amendments when the House is meeting as the Committee of the Whole. But should their votes prove decisive, the roll call would have to be conducted again without their participation when the House is in official legislative session. A yes vote was to adopt House rules for the new Congress. Crawford (R) Hill (R) Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Coverage of pre-existing conditions. Approved 233-197, blocking a Republican bid to marshal HRe 6 (above) in support of the Affordable Care Act requirement that health policies cover pre-existing conditions. The Democratic-drafted rules package already gave the House authority to join lawsuits defending the health law against a federal court ruling in Texas that it is unconstitutional. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said let us come together and make sure that those Americans with pre-existing health conditions are protected, period, in the rule package. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said it’s laughable that Republicans are now defending coverage of pre-existing conditions after eight years of trying to repeal and dismantle the Affordable Care Act. A yes vote was to block the Republican motion. Crawford (R) Hill (R) Womack (R) Westerman (R)

SENATE

There were no Senate votes during the week.