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

HOUSE

Debt- limit waiver. Passed 285-144, a Republican bill (HR325) to waive the statutory debt limit until May 19, thus allowing the Treasury to borrow above the current $16.4 trillion limit until then. The borrowing is needed to accommodate spending already approved by Congress. The bill also would impound House members’ and senators’ paychecks if either chamber were to fail to adopt what is known as a “congressional budget resolution” by the required date of April 15. Those fiscal blueprints set annual spending levels, make revenue and deficit projections, and set rules for debating fiscal measures but lack the force of law. Under the bill, any impounded pay would be released to members no later than the end of the 113th Congress in January 2015. GOP leaders said this approach would not violate the Constitution’s ban on members of Congress varying their pay before a general election has intervened. Stated in the 27th Amendment, the ban is designed to keep lawmakers from accepting pay raises without first having to face voters in the next biennial congressional election. But Democratic critics used terms such as “institutionalized bribery” to denounce the “no budget, no pay” linkage. Todd Young, R-Ind., said: “A budget is essentially spending priorities. It lays out your vision for the future. Whatever solutions you may or may not have are revealed in a budget. It’s not easy to put together a budget. Sometimes it’s unpopular, but it is our duty [in Congress]. So I say ‘no budget, no pay.’ I’m tired of the Senate being dilatory in its responsibilities.” Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., said a Republican Party “that voted for tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars and a massive new prescriptiondrug benefit program and put all of the costs of that on a credit card doesn’t believe it’s important now to honor those obligations of paying those bills and maintaining the full faith and credit of the United States of America.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

✔ Rick Crawford (R)

✔ Tim Griffin (R)

✔ Steve Womack (R)

✔ Tom Cotton (R)

Social Security, Medicare benefits. Defeated 151-277, a Democratic motion to prevent any congressional budget resulting from HR325 (above) from privatizing Social Security; converting Medicare into a voucher plan; reducing Medicaid or home-nursing-care benefits; cutting benefits for veterans or active-duty military personnel and their families; or reducing guaranteed health-insurance benefits for disabled people or senior citizens. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., said the motion “would merely add common sense protections to the bill for members of our armed forces, our veterans and our seniors from the budget-cutting process.” Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said “we should defeat this motion” because “it is premature, and it is prejudging a budget that does not yet exist.” A yes vote backed the Democratic motion.

✖ Crawford (R)

✖ Griffin (R)

✖ Womack (R)

✖ Cotton (R)

Chemical, biological attacks on U.S. Approved 395-29, the renewal for five years several post-9/11 programs to develop and deploy vaccines and other medical countermeasures in the event of chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear attacks on America. Now awaiting Senate action, the bill (HR307) also reauthorizes federal-state medical responses to outbreaks of infectious diseases and natural disasters. Additionally, the bill invests federal funds to help state and local health departments prepare for dealing with mass casualties. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration operate most programs reauthorized by this bill. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said acts of bioterrorism such as the anthrax attacks of 2001 remain “a very real danger” to the U.S. “As we have seen in events across northern Africa, our adversaries in al Qaida and others are still hellbent on their terrorism acts, and we know that they are interested in chemical and radiological and biological elements to further their political gains.” No member spoke against the bill. A yes vote was to pass the bill.

✔ Crawford (R)

✔ Griffin (R)

✔ Womack (R)

✖ Cotton (R)

SENATE

Filibuster changes. Adopted 86-9, a rule for the 113th Congress that retains the 60-vote threshold for ending filibusters but takes marginal steps to make filibusters slightly less of an obstacle to the flow of legislation and nominations on the Senate floor. In part, the measure (SR16) gives the majority and minority leaders tools for preventing filibusters on motions to proceed to new bills, shortens filibusters against judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level and executive-branch nominees below the Cabinet level, restricts filibusters against conference reports and gives the minority party greater standing to offer amendments. By adopting this rule, the Senate rebuffed changes sponsored mainly by Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Tom Udall of New Mexico. Their most fundamental change was to require senators to conduct talking filibusters on the Senate floor rather than just announce in advance, as they do under existing rules, that they plan to filibuster a bill or nomination. John McCain, R-Ariz., said: “Some of the most vociferous [filibuster critics] have never served in the minority. They do not appreciate that the course of action they were urging, if undertaken, ultimately would be to their disadvantage when they served in the minority, which inevitably some of them will.” Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said “the filibuster should be used to slow things down, to make sure the minority has the right to offer amendments and to have them debated and voted on. It does not mean the minority has a right to win. ... The filibuster should not be used as a method to put things in the trash can.” A yes vote was to tweak filibuster rules for the 113th Congress.

✔ Mark Pryor (D)

✔ John Boozman (R)