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: ☑ FOR ☒ AGAINST □ NOT VOTING ⇧ PASSED ⇩ DEFEATED
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HOUSE
⇧
Investing in companies. Passed 212-205, the Expanding Access to Capital Act (H.R. 2799) that would reduce regulation of investment in smaller businesses, which includes lessening government registration requirements and by expanding eligibility for investment and the size of investments. Bill sponsor Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., said: The changes would “make improvements to our public markets and create new opportunities for everyday investors to save and build wealth and enjoy their version of the American dream.” Opponent Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said: “By weakening investor protections in numerous ways, this bill would allow fraud to proliferate and retirees and other mom-and-pop investors to be ripped off by bad actors.”
☑ Rick Crawford (R)
☑ French Hill (R)
☑ Bruce Westerman (R)
☑ Steve Womack (R)
⇧ Rural broadband service. Passed 375-20, the E-BRIDGE Act (H.R. 1752) to authorize Commerce Department grants for funding broadband Internet development projects in rural areas.
Bill sponsor Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., said: The bill was intended to remove “hurdles to using these grants for broadband projects, including difficult lastmile efforts that often delay rural broadband deployment.”
□ Crawford (R)
☑ Hill (R)
☑ Westerman (R)
☑ Womack (R)
⇧ Ocean litter. Passed 32673, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act (H.R. 886) to make changes to the Marine Debris Foundation and Marine Debris Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including requesting that the foundation’s main office be moved from Washington, D.C., to a coastal state. Bill sponsor Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., said: The bill gave NOAA “greater flexibility to deliver federal resources and enter into cooperative agreements to conduct marine debris prevention and cleanup.”
□ Crawford (R)
☑ Hill (R)
☑ Westerman (R)
☑ Womack (R)
⇧ Use of federal office space. Passed 217-203, the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act (H.R. 6276) to require the establishment of standards to measure the utilization and management of federal government buildings, and require a plan for ensuring that building utilization in Washington, D.C., exceeds 60%. Bill sponsor Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said: “Empty federal buildings are not only a drain to the federal taxpayer, they also don’t produce investments needed for local economies because nobody is in the building.” Opponent Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said: The bill “does fall short by failing to take into account the complexity of the federal leasing process and using an incomplete and flawed metric for measuring the occupancy rate of federal buildings.”
☑ Crawford (R)
☑ Hill (R)
☑ Westerman (R)
☑ Womack (R)
⇧ Biden immigration policies. Passed 226-193, a resolution (H. Res. 1065) to denounce the Biden administration’s immigration policies as creating the country’s worst border security crisis ever.
Resolution sponsor Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, said: The administration’s “approach to border security, marked by its relentless pursuit of political correctness at the expense of common sense and American lives, has reached a point of abject failure.” Opponent Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called the resolution “another ham-fisted attempt to weaponize the issue at the border, and it is filled with misinformation.”
☑ Crawford (R)
☑ Hill (R)
☑ Westerman (R)
☑ Womack (R)
⇧ Banning TikTok. Passed 352-65, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (H.R. 7521) to prohibit U.S. Internet hosting service companies from doing business with TikTok, unless TikTok is sold to a non-Chinese entity.
Bill sponsor Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., called the bill “a commonsense measure to protect our national security” by ending China’s control of TikTok, without censoring speech on TikTok or social media platforms owned by U.S. companies. Opponent Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said: The bill violated the principle that in the U.S. “the citizen decides what to be exposed to and what ideologies to embrace and consider and is always free to engage in expression including across international boundaries.”
☑ Crawford (R)
☑ Hill (R)
☑ Westerman (R)
☑ Womack (R)
SENATE
⇩
Politicized prosecutions. Rejected 50-43, an amendment to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 4366) that would have blocked funding for Justice Department efforts to bring federal charges against individuals for political purposes. Amendment sponsor Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, cited prosecutions of former President Donald Trump and various non-liberal groups as indicating that the Justice Department has pursued charges against those believed to be a threat to the political interests of the Democratic party.
☑ John Boozman (R)
☒ Tom Cotton (R)
⇩ Earmark spending. Rejected 64-32, a motion to refer the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 4366) to a committee to have all so-called earmark spending provisions be removed from the bill.
Supporter Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said: The bill had more than 6,600 earmarks, costing $12 billion, and said “the American taxpayer should not be used as a political piggy bank” to advance reckless spending.
Opponent Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: The motion “should be unacceptable to everyone who has worked with us to make sure this package includes the projects they know will make a difference to folks back home.”
☒ Boozman (R)
☑ Cotton (R)
⇩ Census and illegal aliens. Rejected 51-45, an amendment to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 4366) that would have required that for the Census – counts of only U.S. citizens and not non-citizen immigrants – be used to determine each state’s number of House seats and number of electoral votes.
Amendment sponsor Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said: The current practice “encourages illegal immigration in sanctuary cities as a way to increase political power” in states such as California that have many illegal immigrants.
Opponent Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: “This amendment adds detrimental new requirements that would inject politics into the Census,” and Murray claimed it also went against a constitutional requirement to count all residents of each state, not just citizens.
☑ Boozman (R)
☑ Cotton (R)
⇧ Consolidated appropriations. Passed 75-22, the House amendment to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 4366) to provide fiscal 2024 funding for various federal departments – including Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs. Supporter Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: The amendment “invests in keeping Americans safe and in keeping America moving forward as we rebuild our country’s infrastructure.” Opponent Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said: The amendment continued a trend of unsustainable high deficits and wasteful spending, with resulting harms from inflation.
☑ Boozman (R)
☑ Cotton (R)
⇧ Virginia judge. Confirmed 55-41, the nomination of Jasmine Hyejung Yoon to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. In the past two decades, Yoon has variously been a private practice lawyer in Washington, D.C., an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia, and an official at the Capital One company. Supporter Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said: Yoon’s “community-oriented mindset, her career qualifications, and numerous accolades and awards make her an exceptional nominee.”
☒ Boozman (R)
☒ Cotton (R)
⇧ Illinois judge. Confirmed 53-46, the nomination of Sunil R. Harjani to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Harjani has been a magistrate judge in the district since 2019, after being an assistant U.S. attorney in the district for a decade, and spent several years as a private practice lawyer and at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
☒ Boozman (R)
☒ Cotton (R)
⇧ Rhode Island judge. Confirmed 51-47, the nomination of Melissa R. DuBose to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island. Currently a district judge in Rhode Island’s courts, DuBose was a lawyer at Schneider Electric for 10 years. Supporter Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said: DuBose “is known for ensuring proceedings in her courtroom are fair and efficient. She is someone who not only knows the law but understands that her task as a judge is to seek justice.”
☒ Boozman (R)
☒ Cotton (R)
⇧ Developed countries diplomacy. Confirmed 63-31, the nomination of Sean Patrick Maloney to be the U.S. representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 countries that includes much of Europe, Japan and Australia. Maloney was a member of the House, representing a New York district, from 2013 to 2023.
Supporter Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., said: Maloney “is committed to using the OECD’s research capacity and convening power to lead with our values and counter Beijing’s efforts with the Belt and Road Initiative.”
☒ Boozman (R)
☒ Cotton (R)
D Haiti ambassador. Confirmed 89-1, the nomination of Dennis Hankins to be U.S. ambassador to Haiti. Hankins, a career member of the State Department’s Senior Foreign Service, has been ambassador to Mali and Guinea, and a diplomat in Haiti and numerous other countries. Supporter Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., said: Increasing unrest in Haiti has created “a security and humanitarian catastrophe. [Hankins] has the experience and the vision to guide this process [of restoring security] forward and advance U.S. national interests.”
□ Boozman (R)
□ Cotton (R)
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