Congressional roll call

Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues during the past legislative week.

House

CORONAVIRUS: The House on March 14 voted 363-40 for a bill (HR 6201) to provide direct relief to Americans suffering physically, financially and emotionally from the coronavirus pandemic. Central to the aid package, called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, are free testing, paid sick leave and family leave provisions. The bill, among other things, provides two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of family/medical leave; increases food aid for the needy, students and food banks; and bolsters Medicaid funding. President Donald Trump on Friday declared the outbreak a national emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight it, then threw his support behind the congressional aid package. The 363 “yes” votes in the House were cast by 223 Democrats and 140 Republicans. The 40 “no” votes were all cast by Republicans. Twenty-six members did not vote, and Rep. Justin Amash, an independent from Michigan, voted “present,” the equivalent of abstaining. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, which was expected to act Monday.

Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck: Yes

Sean Maloney, D-Cold

Spring: Yes

FISA: Voting 278-136, the House on March 11 approved a five-year extension (HR 6172) of three sections of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that require periodic congressional renewal because of their direct clash with Americans’ civil liberties. One section allows law enforcement to place roving wiretaps on homegrown or foreign terrorist suspects moving about the United States, and another permits government surveillance on U.S. soil of foreign “lone wolf” suspects not linked to terrorist organizations. Under the third section, the FISA court can authorize forever-secret FBI searches of library, bookstore and business records in the United States if the agency shows “reasonable grounds” the targeted information is vital to an ongoing domestic probe of specifically defined foreign-sponsored threats to national security. This authority is rooted in Section 215 of FISA, a law enacted in 1978 and expanded after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to strengthen government powers to detect and prevent terrorist threats to America. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Delgado: Yes

Maloney: Yes

WAR POWERS: The House on March 11 voted 227-186, to require the Trump administration to obtain advance congressional approval for military actions against Iran or its proxy forces, except when there is an imminent threat to the United States, its armed forces or its territories. The measure (SJ Res 68) invokes the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which asserts the power of Congress to declare war under Article I of the Constitution. Under that Vietnam-era law, presidents must notify Congress within 48 hours when they send the U.S. military into combat, then withdraw the forces within a set period unless Congress has authorized the action. A yes vote was to send the measure to the White House, where President Trump is expected to veto it.

Delgado: Yes

Maloney: Yes

Senate

STUDENT LOANS: Voting 53-42, the Senate on March 11 joined the House in nullifying a Trump administration rule on debt forgiveness sought by more than 200,000 federal student loan borrowers who allege their school fraudulently misrepresented the quality of education they would receive. The borrowers’ claims have been lodged mainly against for-profit schools such as the ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges that abruptly went out of business, leaving them with steep debt but no degree and curtailed earning power. Critics said the Trump rule would provide debt forgiveness to only 3 percent of claimants. But Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in congressional testimony it would correct the “blanket forgiveness” of an

Obama administration rule it replaced. The new rule bars classaction lawsuits against schools and requires claims to be adjudicated one-by-one by mandatory arbitration rather than in open court, with borrowers prohibited from appealing the decision. The rule sets a standard of evidence requiring borrowers to prove the fraud was intentional. A yes vote was to send HJ Res 76 to the White House.

Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.:

Yes

Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.:

Yes

Coming up

The Senate this week will take up bills on coronavirus economic aid and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The House is tentatively scheduled to be in recess.