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

Providing whistleblower

complaint to Congress. Approved 421-0, calling upon Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, to provide the appropriate congressional committees with a whistleblower’s complaint alleging misconduct by President Donald Trump centered on his interactions this year with the Ukrainian government. When this vote occurred, adopting HRes576, the administration already had sent the complaint to Capitol Hill after having sequestered it from lawmakers since late August. The Senate adopted an identical disclosure resolution on a non-record vote. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: “Our national security depends on this [whistleblower] framework. This vote today is about more than just any one president. This resolution is about the preservation of our American system of government.” Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., voted for the resolution but said of Democrats: “Instead of moving on, they keep going down the impeachment path. People are sick and tired of the constant harassment of the president.”

A yes vote backed release of the whistleblower’s complaint to Congress.

Rick Crawford (R) French Hill (R)

Steve Womack (R) Bruce Westerman (R)

Blocking GOP measure on

impeachment inquiry. Approved 232-193, blocking a Republican attempt to force consideration of a resolution (HRes590) disapproving of Pelosi’s decision to begin a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump. Pelosi had announced the inquiry the day before, basing it, in part, on Trump having asked the Ukrainian government to produce damaging information about former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential Democratic opponent of his in the 2020 presidential election. This resolution was quashed by a parliamentary ruling that it did not qualify as a “privileged question” entitled to floor action under House rules. On the vote being reported here, Democrats upheld that ruling after it was appealed by Republicans. As a privileged resolution, the measure was not debatable.

A yes vote was in opposition to allowing debate on the GOP resolution.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R) Limiting separation of migrant children and parents. Passed 230-194, a bill (HR2203) that would impose stricter requirements for the Department of Homeland Security’s treatment of migrant families, including a ban on removing children from parents or guardians within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border except by court order. When a separation is ordered, Homeland Security must electronically track the location of the dislocated family members. The bill would create a Homeland Security ombudsman’s office for receiving and acting on complaints related to immigration practices, including the abuse of migrants; improve the training of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers for dealing with vulnerable populations; provide Congress with a plan for requiring immigration officers to wear body cameras; and establish an independent commission to investigate and make a public accounting of the Trump administration’s treatment of migrant families at and near the border since January 2017. In addition, the bill would reverse Trump administration policies designed to dissuade immigrants from Mexico and the Northern Triangle counties of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras from seeking asylum in the United States.

Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, said: “Our American values, moral conscience and Constitution require that we treat all individuals on American soil humanely and respectfully. This bill helps ensure that that happens.”

Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said: “All this bill does is waste taxpayers’ dollars on a duplicative new [ombudsman’s] office designed to demoralize law enforcement and serve the demands of illegal immigrants.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Reporting crime in sanctuary cities. Defeated 207-216, a bid by Republicans to allow victims of crimes by illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities to report the incidents to the Department of Homeland Security ombudsman’s office that would be created by HR2203 (above). More than 400 municipalities nationwide are known as sanctuary cities because they decline to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement on grounds that it would disrupt their community policing efforts. Sponsor Mark Green, R-Tenn., said his amendment would allow “victims and their families an opportunity to be heard by policymakers in Congress and by the Department of Homeland Security. Why would we not let the victims be heard?”

Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, said Green “completely misses the point of the office of the ombudsman. An ombudsman is supposed to be focused on oversight related to the inner workings of the [Homeland Security] department, not on external policy issues.” A yes vote was to adopt the GOP motion.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Nullifying Trump border

emergency. Approved 236-174, a measure (SJRes54) that would nullify a national emergency that Trump declared on the southwest border over immigration concerns. The president has used the Feb. 15 declaration as authority for diverting $3.6 billion appropriated for military construction at bases domestically and overseas to a nonmilitary account for building 175 miles of border barriers. If the president vetoes the measure as he is expected to do, two-thirds majority votes in both chambers would be required for an override. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said it was “a disgrace that money is being stolen from over two dozen states and territories, ensuring that American taxpayers, not Mexico as the president repeatedly promised, are actually paying for the wall.”

Ross Spano, R-Fla., said: “When are Democrats going to get serious about securing our border? … My constituents did not elect me to stand by silently as we transition to open borders in this country, and I will not.”

A yes vote was to send the resolution to the president. Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Medical screening of illegal immigrants. Passed 230-184, a bill (HR3525) that would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to conduct medical screenings within 12 hours of foreigners apprehended on the southwest border and establish an electronic database that all relevant Department of Homeland Security departments could use to track their medical histories. These requirements do not apply to migrants legally seeking U.S. asylum at ports of entry because their medical care is mainly handled by other agencies. Under this bill, vulnerable groups, including children would receive priority care and pediatric medical experts would be assigned to each of the nine Customs and Border Protection sectors in the southwest. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., said electronic record-keeping for illegal migrants is needed because “when I was at the border, I saw busy, overworked Border Patrol officials having to keep health records on paper. I also saw how these records don’t always follow migrants between facilities and transfers of custody.”

Jim Banks, R-Ind., said the bill “would require the Border Patrol to divert resources from its core mission of protecting our nation’s borders and create a new medical screening system for those who illegally cross and enter the country between ports of entry. I believe every part of that is wrongheaded.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Giving health-records preference to veterans. Defeated 202-213, a Republican motion that sought to give veterans preferred access to an electronic health-records system that would be established by HR3525 (above) in the Department of Homeland Security for tracking medical histories of newly arrived illegal immigrants, particularly children and those with serious illnesses.

Mark Green, R-Tenn., said constituents “would find it appalling that we are about to give this health-record system to illegal immigrants before our veterans receive it.” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called the motion “the gimmick of gimmicks. It does nothing for veterans’ health care, not a single thing. You know it. I know it. Everybody in this House knows it. All it does is try to delay this bill for 10 years.”

A yes vote was to adopt the GOP motion.

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R) Opening federal banking system to marijuana firms. Passed 321-103, a bill (HR1595) that would permit cannabis-related businesses to use federally regulated banks and credit unions in states where marijuana usage has been legalized. Marijuana, a product of cannabis, is a prohibited substance under federal law but allowed for recreational or medicinal use in a majority of the states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories. Cannabis-related firms usually are forced to deal in cash because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the National Credit Union Administration prohibit financial institutions from accepting their deposits. The bill also would allow the industrial hemp industry and firms that support cannabis-based businesses to use the federal banking system without fear of reprisal.

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

Crawford (R)

Hill (R)

Womack (R) Westerman (R)

Passing stopgap funding

through Nov. 21. Passed 81-16, a continuing resolution (HR4378) to provide stopgap appropriations for the first seven weeks of fiscal 2020, which starts Oct. 1. Averting a government shutdown, the bill would fund agencies at 2019 levels while giving negotiators time to reach agreement on regular appropriations bills for the 2020 budget year. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Donald Trump. John Boozman (R)

Tom Cotton (R)

Nullifying Trump border

emergency. Passed 54-41, a measure (SJRes54) that would nullify a national emergency that Trump declared Feb. 15 on the U.S.-Mexico border (see House issue above) as a backdoor means of obtaining funds for wall construction that Congress has declined to appropriate. The president has used the emergency declaration to divert $3.6 billion from military-construction projects to his wall project.

A yes vote was to send the resolution to the House, where it was approved and sent to Trump. Boozman (R)

Cotton (R)

Eugene Scalia, secretary

of Labor. Confirmed 53-44, Eugene Scalia to be secretary of the Department of Labor. Scalia, the son of deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has been employed in a Washington law firm with a specialty of representing corporations in labor-management disputes. Backers said he occasionally took the side of unions while serving as the department’s chief attorney under President George W. Bush.

A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.

Boozman (R)

Cotton (R)