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: h✔ FOR h✖ AGAINST NOT VOTING PASSED DEFEATED
HOUSE
Democratic repair of 2010 health law. Passed 234-183, a bill (HR987) that would bolster sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that the Trump administration has allowed to deteriorate while pursuing dismantlement and repeal of the law. To reduce prescription drug costs, the measure also would change laws and regulations to expand and accelerate the marketing of generic versions of brand-name drugs. Reversing a presidential order, the bill would restore the 2010 health law’s original 3-month limit on short-term health insurance plans that do not meet core coverage requirements, including protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The bill would also authorize spending $100 million annually over 10 years on advertising campaigns and “navigator” programs to boost the Affordable Care Act enrollment. And it would recommend a $200 million outlay to establish insurance exchanges in states that now send residents to the federal exchange to buy Affordable Care Act coverage. Enrollment in federal and state Affordable Care Act exchanges, or marketplaces, peaked at 12.7 million in the last year of the Obama administration, and has declined by 930,000 enrollees, or 7.3 percent, during the Trump administration, according to the Government Accountability Office. Unofficial tallies show that in 2018 about 25 million individuals received coverage in Affordable Care Act exchanges or as a result of the law’s expanded Medicaid eligibility, while 2.6 million young adults were covered by their parents’ health plans under terms of the law.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. h✖ Rick Crawford (R) h✖ French Hill (R) h✖ Steve Womack (R) h✖ Bruce Westerman (R)
Cancer research versus health-law enrollment. Defeated 188-228, a Republican motion to HR 987 (above) to shift millions of dollars from Affordable Care Act enrollment accounts to National Institutes of Health research into childhood cancer. The measure targeted the Affordable Care Act’s “navigator” program, in which the government hires outside groups to help individuals and small businesses sign up for medical insurance in Affordable Care Act marketplaces. The Trump administration has cut the navigator budget by about 90 percent while presiding over a 7.3 percent decline since 2016 in enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s state and federal marketplaces.
A yes vote was to adopt the motion. h✔ Crawford (R) h✔ Hill (R) h✔ Womack (R) h✔ Westerman (R) Expanded protection against sex-based bias. Passed 236-173, a bill (HR5) that would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Fair Housing Act of 1968 to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals against discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The proposed Equality Act also would expand the Civil Rights Act’s listing of public accommodations to include retail stores, banks and transportation and health care services, and it would designate sexual characteristics as a protected class in public accommodations. In addition, the bill would prohibit the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1994 from being invoked to sanction discrimination against the LGBT community.
Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the bill is needed because the Trump administration is seeking to make our LGBTQ families and friends not just second-class citizens, but to deny them the fundamental American rights etched into our Constitution. Congress cannot erase hatred with legislation, but has an obligation to lead, to stamp out discrimination wherever it exists. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., said the bill does not end discrimination but imposes top-down, government-led discrimination against all Americans who hold a differing view of human sexuality and gender. “This grossly misnamed bill punishes everyday citizens, silences free speech and viewpoint disagreements, and discriminates against people of faith. In reality, this bill should be called the Women’s Inequality Act.”
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. h✖ Crawford (R) h✖ Hill (R) h✖ Womack (R) h Westerman (R) Title IX protection against sex-based bias. Defeated 181228 against, a Republican motion that sought to void HR5 (above) if it were to undercut protections conferred by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The title ensures women and girls the same access as men and boys to federally funded education programs, including sports activities, in schooling through the collegiate level.
Gregory Steube, R-Fla., said: “Requiring biological females to face competition from biological males will mean the end of women’s sports in any meaningful sense.” Katy Hill, D-Calif., told Republicans: “You are on the wrong side of history, and we will be waiting for you on the other side when we reject this amendment” and pass the bill. A yes vote was to adopt the motion. h✔ Crawford (R) h✔ Hill (R) h✔ Womack (R) h Westerman (R)
SENATE
Jeffrey Rosen, deputy attorney general. Confirmed 5245, Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation, as deputy attorney general. He replaces Rod J. Rosenstein as the second ranking official at the Department of Justice. Rosen, 61, previously served in the George W. Bush administration and has alternated between government assignments and work in private practice in Washington. A yes vote was to confirm the nominee. h✔ John Boozman (R) h✔ Tom Cotton (R)
Wendy
Vitter, federal district judge. Confirmed 52-45, Wendy Vitter, the general counsel of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, as a federal district, or trial-level, judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Republicans said Vitter’s long experience as a parish-level district attorney helped qualify her for the federal judgeship, while Democrats criticized her views on women’s reproductive-rights, for making false statements about Planned Parenthood, and for declining to say whether she feels that the Supreme Court correctly decided the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education school-desegregation ruling. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said: Ms. Vitter’s impressive legal career includes experience in private practice and a decade in the Orleans Parish district attorneys officeA yes vote was to confirm the nominee. h✔ Boozman (R) h✔ Cotton (R)