HOW YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATES VOTED

RULE AGAINST WASTE OF

NATURAL GAS: The Senate on May 10 voted to retain a new regulation for reducing the waste of natural gas at drilling sites on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and tribal lands in the West. The tally was 49 for and 51 against during debate on HJ Res 36. The rule is the first update of the agency’s anti-waste rule in 30 years. The BLM says waste from practices such as flaring and venting natural gas reduces energy production, deprives taxpayers and tribes of royalty payments and discharges methane into the atmosphere. But foes of the new rule say it places undue burdens on energy companies in a regulatory area best left to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A yes vote to nullify the BLM’s gas-conservation rule.

NO: UDALL, HEINRICH

SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FOOD AND DRUG COMMISSIONER:

Voting 57 for and 42 against, the Senate on May 9 confirmed Dr. Scott Gottlieb, 45, a faculty member at the New York University School of Medicine, as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Democrats questioned Gottlieb’s financial links to the pharmaceutical industry and doubted that would confront the scourge of opioid addiction or the firms that manufacture and market prescription painkillers.

A yes vote was to confirm Gottlieb.

NO: UDALL, HEINRICH

ROBERT LIGHTHIZER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE:

Voting 82 for and 14 against, the Senate on May 11 confirmed Robert E. Lighthizer, 69, as U.S. trade representative, putting him in charge of administering the administration’s trade policies and negotiating international trade agreements. A partner in a Washington law firm, Lighthizer held a high trade post under President Ronald Reagan and was chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Finance Committee.

A yes vote was to confirm Lighthizer.

YES: UDALL, HEINRICH