HOW YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATES VOTED
For the week ending June 15
OPIOID RECOVERY, HOUSING VOUCHERS: Voting 230 for and 173 against, the House on June 14 passed a bill (HR 5735) establishing a pilot program that would make a small percentage of federal Section 8 housing vouchers available to individuals in recovery from substance abuse including opioid addiction. Administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development under a 1974 law, the Section 8 program pays the rent and in some cases utility costs of 2.2 million low-income households in the United States, providing shelter and improving their chances of escaping poverty. Because this bill expands eligibility without providing additional funding, critics said it would penalize poor families now on lengthy Section 8 waiting lists. Under the bill, up to 10,000 Section 8 vouchers — less than 1 percent of the available supply — would be distributed through nonprofit organizations to recovering drug addicts and combined with mandatory skills training.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
YES: PEARCE NO: LUJAN GRISHAM, LUJÁN
OPIOID DETECTION BY POSTAL SERVICE: Voting 353 for and 52 against, the House on June 14 passed a bill (HR 5788) that would require the United States Postal Service to develop technology by 2020 for detecting the presence of illicit synthetic opioids such as fentanyl in packages arriving from other countries. The USPS would promptly relay the information to U.S. customs officials for enforcement action. The bill would put USPS detection capabilities on a par with those of FedEx, UPS and other private services that already are required by federal law to track three pieces of information on international packages: point of origin, destination and contents.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
YES: LUJAN GRISHAM, PEARCE, LUJÁN
$716 BILLION FOR MILITARY IN 2019: Voting 81 for and 15 against, the Senate on June 13 advanced a bill that would authorize a $715.6 billion military budget (HR 5515) for fiscal 2019, including $68.5 billion for war-fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other hot spots, $57 billion for active-duty and retiree health care and funding for a 2.6 percent pay raise for uniformed personnel. A final vote on the bill was expected June 18.
A yes vote was to advance the bill.
YES: UDALL, HEINRICH
RIGHTS OF U.S. TERRORISM SUSPECTS: The Senate, during debate June 13 on HR 5515 (above), voted to repeal a seven-year-old law permitting indefinite detention without trial of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents seized in the United States as terrorism suspects. The tally on a motion to kill the amendment was 30 for and 68 against. The measure did not address the rights of foreign terrorism suspects captured outside this country and detained at U.S. facilities including the Guantanamo Bay military prison. Whether the Senate will include the repeal measure in the bill’s final version was to be determined.
A yes vote was in opposition to adding the repeal amendment to the military budget.
NO: UDALL, HEINRICH
CONGRESSIONAL CONTROL OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS: The Senate, during debate June 13 on HR 5515 (above), voted to uphold a 15-year-old requirement that Congress must explicitly authorize actions by the departments of defense and energy to develop or change U.S. nuclear weapons. The underlying bill sought to end or weaken this area of congressional authority. The tally on a motion to kill the amendment was 47 for and 50 against. Whether the amendment will be included in the bill’s final version was to be determined.
At issue was the degree of control Congress can exert over a new category of low-yield nuclear weapons — the W76-2 warhead that would be mounted on submarinelaunched Trident ballistic missiles. The American arsenal already has low-yield nuclear bombs that can be deployed from aircraft. Low-yield nuclear weapons are defined as those with less than five kilotons of explosives. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki 73 years ago, killing tens of thousands of people, contained 18 to 20 kilotons.
Military planners say low-yield, or tactical, warheads are for use in limited conflicts, in contrast to strategic nuclear weapons, which are designed to obliterate targets far from the immediate battlefield. Supporters of developing these weapons say the United States needs to counter Russia’s extensive low-yield arsenal. Critics say lowyield nuclear weapons heighten the risk of Armageddon because it is folly to think nuclear war can be waged on a limited basis.
A yes vote was to relax congressional oversight of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
NO: UDALL, HEINRICH