congressional roll call
HOUSE TO CONTINUE BENGHAZI COMMITTEE:
The House on Oct. 7 voted, 240 for and 183 against, to stand by its Select Committee on Benghazi despite comments by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy that the GOP has been using it as an instrument to lower Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential poll numbers. As a privileged resolution, this measure was not debatable.
The resolution to shutter the committee said, in part, it is “an outrage that more than $4.5 million in taxpayer funds have been used by Republicans in the House of Representatives, not to run the government, but to interfere inappropriately with an election for president of the United States.”
A yes vote was to keep the Benghazi committee in operation.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: Bruce Westerman, R-4
TEXAS
Voting yes: Louie Gohmert, R-1, John Ratcliffe, R-4
PLANNED PARENTHOOD INVESTIGATION:
By a vote of 242 for and 184 against, the House on Oct. 7 approved a GOP measure (H Res 461) to establish a select House committee to pursue allegations that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has engaged in misconduct if not illegality with its abortion practices and supply of aborted fetal tissue to medical researchers. Republicans said secretly recorded discussions by Planned Parenthood officials demonstrate the need for a special congressional probe, while Democratic critics said several state and congressional inquiries into the non-profit healthcare organization have found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Abortion is legal in the U.S. with certain restrictions, and federal funds, by law, cannot be used to pay for it.
A yes vote was to establish a committee to investigate Planned Parenthood.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: Westerman
TEXAS
Voting yes: Gohmert, Ratcliffe
GRACE PERIOD FOR MORTGAGE LENDERS:
Voting 303 for and 121 against, the House on Oct. 7 passed a bill (HR 3192) granting a four-month grace period in which home-mortgage lenders acting in good faith could not be prosecuted for violating a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule intended to streamline and add transparency to home-buying in the U.S. This bill was disputed over its shifting the burden of proof in lawsuits brought under the Truth in Lending Act during the four months from plaintiffs (home-buyers) to defendants (lenders). The grace period would start retroactively on Oct. 3.
Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, said the A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: Westerman
TEXAS
Voting yes: Gohmert, Ratcliffe
BACKGROUND CHECKS ON GUN SALES:
Voting 244 for and 183 against, the House on Oct. 8 blocked a parliamentary tactic by Democrats aimed at bringing to the floor a bill (HR 1217) now stranded in two committees that would greatly expand background checks on commercial gun sales. The bill would require checks on sales conducted over the Internet, between private parties at gun shows and through classified ads. It would plug existing loopholes that allow an estimated 40 percent of U.S. gun sales to avoid mandatory background checks. Conducted via the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, these checks are intended to prevent domestic abusers, the mentally ill and individuals with criminal records from obtaining firearms. The bill, which also prohibits the establishment of a national registry of gun owners, is nearly identical to the so-called Toomey-Manchin amendment that failed in a Senate vote in April 2013 four months after the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.
A yes vote opposed a procedural move by Democrats to bring a gun bill to the House floor.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: Westerman
TEXAS
Voting yes: Gohmert, Ratcliffe
DRILLING ON TRIBAL LANDS:
Voting 254 for and 187 against, the House on Oct. 8 passed a bill (HR 538) that would clear the way for oil and gas extraction on Native American and Alaska Native tribal lands where it is now prohibited. In part, the bill would waive parts of the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act; scale back judicial review of drilling projects; limit outside public comments on energy plans; require plaintiffs to pay defendants’ attorney’s fees and court costs if they lose their cases and waive certain federal rules that govern hydraulic fracturing.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: Westerman
TEXAS
Voting yes: Gohmert, Ratcliffe
SENATE FISCAL 2016 MILITARY BUDGET:
Voting 70 for and 27 against, the Senate on Oct. 7 approved the conference report on a bill (HR 1735) authorizing a $604.2 billion military budget for fiscal 2016, including $50.9 billion in emergency spending for U.S. combat operations abroad. The GOP-drafted bill faces a likely presidential veto over its shifting of $38 billion in routine military spending to an emergency war account in order to evade Pentagon spending caps imposed by the sequester. Democrats said they want sequester caps repealed for both domestic and military programs.
The bill authorizes more than $50 billion for active-duty and retiree healthcare; $3.8 billion for Afghan security forces; $715 million to help the Iraqi military fight Islamic State forces; $600 million to boost Syrian opposition forces; $350 million in military aid to Ukraine (including $50 million for arms) and $120 million for securing the U.S. southern border. The bill sets a 1.3 percent pay raise for uniformed personnel and begins a 401(k)-style retirement plan for active and retired service members as an alternative to the military’s defined-benefit retirement plan. In addition, the bill requires military personnel to obey the Army Field Manual’s ban on torture of prisoners.
A yes vote was to send the conference report to President Obama.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: John Boozman, R, Tom Cotton, R
TEXAS
Voting yes: John Cornyn, R Voting no: Ted Cruz, R
2016 ENERGY, WATER BUDGET:
Voting 49 for and 47 against, the Senate failed to reach 60 votes needed to advance a House-passed bill (HR 2028) that would appropriate $35.4 billion for energy, water and nuclear-safety programs in fiscal 2016. Democrats objected to the bill in an effort to force removal the sequester’s spending caps from domestic programs, just as the GOP majority has lifted caps from 2016 defense spending. In part, the bill provides $12.3 billion for securing the U.S. nuclear arsenal, $5.6 billion for Army Corps of Engineers public-works projects and $5.1 billion for cleaning up former Department of Defense nuclear-weapons production sites.
A yes vote was to advance the bill.
ARKANSAS
Voting yes: Boozman, Cotton
TEXAS
Voting yes: Cornyn, Cruz
KEY VOTES AHEAD
Both chambers will be in recess in the week of Oct. 12. The House schedule is yet to be announced for the week of Oct. 19, while the Senate that week will take up a bill dealing with sanctuary cities and other areas of immigration enforcement.