HOW TEXAS VOTED
WASHINGTON — How the Texas congressional delegation voted on major issues last week:
Senate
1. Restoring Obamaera “clean power plan”: Defeated, 41-53, a Democratic bid to restore the Obama administration’s “Clean Power Plan” for reducing carbon emissions by coal- and natural gas-fired electricity-generating plants.
President Donald Trump in March 2017 ordered a rollback of the previous administration’s multipronged federalstate plan for addressing global warming caused by power plants. On this vote, the Senate defeated a measure (SJ Res 53) that sought to kill an Environmental Protection Agency rule putting his directive into effect.
Power-plant emissions make up about one-third of greenhouse-gas discharges in the United States and are the nation’s largest source of carbon pollution, according to the EPA.
A yes vote was to adopt the resolution.
2. Affirming Trump border emergency: Failed, 53-36, to override Trump’s veto of a measure (SJ Res 54) that would nullify a national emergency he declared on the southwest border over immigration concerns. Override forces needed a two-thirds majority of senators voting to prevail.
The vote affirmed the Feb. 15 emergency declaration, which Trump has used as authority for diverting $3.6 billion appropriated for military construction at bases domestically and overseas to a non-military account for building 175 miles of border barriers.
Override supporter Sen. Susan Collins, RMaine, said the question presented by Trump’s veto “is not whether you are for a border wall or against a border wall. … The question is simply: Do we want the executive branch, now or in the future, to hold the power of the purse, a power the founders deliberately entrusted to Congress?”
No senator spoke on the other side of the issue.
A yes vote was to override The veto.
House
1. Condemning troop withdrawal from Syria: Adopted, 354-60, a nonbinding resolution (HJ Res 77) condemning Trump’s decision to abruptly remove U.S. troops from Syria. The measure also called on Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to halt his country’s attacks on Kurdish forces that began after American forces stood down in northeastern Syria following Trump’s Oct. 6 phone call with Erdogan.
The resolution was backed by all 225 Democrats who voted, and by 129 of the 189 Republicans who voted. Four members answered “present,” which indicates they participated in the roll call without taking a stand. They are Republicans Bob Gibbs of Ohio, Jody Hice of Georgia and Chip Roy of Texas and independent Justin Amash of Michigan.
A yes vote was to send the resolution to the Senate.
2. Public reporting of U.S. jobs sent abroad: Passed, 226-184, a bill (HR 3624) that would require publicly traded companies to annually report to the Securities and Exchange Commission the number of people they employ in each foreign country, each U.S. territory and each of the 50 states.
The geographical breakdowns would enable investors and consumers to assess the extent to which American corporations are exporting jobs and relocating employees within the United States. In part, this would enable the public to determine the extent to which domestic layoffs are attributable to outsourcing.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.