HOW LEHIGH VALLEY-AREA LAWMAKERS VOTED LAST WEEK
Votes in the U.S. House
S3308: Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act of 2022
Voting 397 for and 12 against, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that authorizes the Colorado River Indian tribes (CRIT) to enter into an agreement or option to lease or exchange a portion of the consumptive use of water to be used off the tribe’s reservation if the use off the reservation is located in the Lower Basin of the Colorado River, Colorado.
The CRIT is authorized to enter into an agreement, including with the Arizona Water Banking Authority, for the storage of a portion of the consumptive use, or the water received under an exchange pursuant to an exchange agreement under this bill, at one or more underground storage facilities or groundwater savings facilities off the reservation if the facility is located in the Lower Basin.
The Department of the Interior, when approving a lease or exchange or storage agreement, must ensure that such agreement complies with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and other federal environmental laws.
Yes: Madeleine Dean, D-4th (Montgomery, parts of Berks); Susan Wild, D-7th (Lehigh, Northampton, parts of Monroe); Matt Cartwright, D-8th (most of Monroe); Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st (Bucks, parts of Montgomery and Philadelphia); Dan Meuser, R-9th (Schuylkill, parts of Carbon and Berks).
S3168: A bill to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to modify the enforceability date for certain provisions, and for other purposes.
Voting 378 for and 33 against, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that extends the deadline, from 2023 to 2025, for the Department of the Interior to publish a statement of findings required by the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010. In particular, the bill repeals the settlement agreement on May 1, 2025, if Interior does not publish by April 30, 2025, a statement of findings that specified conditions have been fulfilled (including that Interior has entered into appropriate contracts for water rights).
Yes: Dean, Wild, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick, Meuser HR1917: Hazard Eligibility and Local Projects Act
Voting 393 for and 19, against, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that makes an entity seeking assistance under a hazard mitigation assistance program eligible to receive such assistance for certain projects already in progress.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Fitzpatrick, Meuser Not voting: Cartwright
S 2834: Dr. Joanne Smith Memorial Rehabilitation Innovation Centers Act of 2021
Voting 393 for and 19 against, the House on Wednesday passed a bill directs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to publish and biennially update a list of all rehabilitation innovation centers. The bill defines rehabilitation innovation centers as rehabilitation facilities that hold specified federal research and training designations for traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury research, and serve at least a certain number of Medicare patients. The
CMS may waive such criteria as it deems appropriate.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Fitzpatrick, Meuser Not voting: Cartwright
S4926: Respect for Child Survivors Act
Voting 385 for and 28 against, the House on Wednesday voted To amend chapter 33 of title 28, United States Code, to require appropriate use of multidisciplinary teams for investigations of child sexual exploitation or abuse, the production of child sexual abuse material, or child trafficking conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Yes: Dean, Wild, Fitzpatrick, Meuser Not voting: Cartwright
S5168: Energy Security and Lightering Independence Act of 2022
Voting 394 for and 19 against, the House on Wednesday voted to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to include aliens passing in transit through the United States to board a vessel on which the alien will perform ship-to-ship liquid cargo transfer operations within a class of nonimmigrant aliens, and for other purposes.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Fitzpatrick, Meuser Not voting: Cartwright
S2333: Equal Pay for Team USA Act of 2022
Voting 350 for and 59 against, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that requires that all athletes representing the United States in international amateur athletic competitions receive equal compensation and benefits for their work, regardless of gender.
Each national governing body for a sport must report annually on compliance with this requirement.
The bill requires full compliance by January 31, 2022.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Fitzpatrick, Meuser, Cartwright HR 9640: Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act of 2022 Voting 222 for and 201 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct an examination to determine the correctness of a presidential income tax return as rapidly as practicable after it is filed.
The IRS must disclose and make publicly available (on the internet) an initial report, periodic reports, and a final report on the examination of such tax returns. The final report must include the date on which the
IRS examination of the return was completed, a list of audit materials, and a description of each proposed adjustment to a return and any controversy relating to its examination. This disclosure of tax return information is an exception to the general rule of confidentiality of taxpayer returns.
The bill defines presidential income tax return as any relevant income tax return of a president while the president is in office, the spouse of a president, a corporation or partnership controlled by a president or a president’s spouse, and the estate of a president or a president’s spouse.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Cartwright
No: Fitzpatrick, Meuser
S1942: National Heritage Area Act Voting 326 for and 95 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that requires a standard for the designation of National Heritage Areas.
The bill establishes a National Heritage Area System through which the Department of the Interior may furnish technical and financial assistance to local coordinating entities to support the establishment, development, and continuity of the National Heritage Areas. Such system shall be composed of each existing National Heritage Area, National Heritage Corridor, National Heritage Canalway, Cultural Heritage Corridor, and National Heritage Partnership designated by Congress; and each National Heritage Area designated by Congress after enactment of this bill, unless the law designating the area exempts that area from the system by specific reference to this bill.
Under the system, Interior shall review and approve management plans for heritage areas, and submit to Congress reports on the activities conducted with respect to such areas.
Interior may carry out or review a study that assesses the suitability and feasibility of each proposed heritage area. Interior must review and certify whether a study conducted by others determines an area meets specified requirements, including that it has natural, historic, and cultural resources that represent distinctive aspects of the heritage of the United States.
The bill declares that a heritage area shall be designated only by an act of Congress.
Management plans must be developed for heritage areas designated under this bill.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick
No: Meuser S3773: A bill to authorize the leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. Voting 377 for and 42 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that authorizes the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation to lease their land held in trust for a term of up to 99 years. The tribe is located in western Washington State.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick, Meuser
S4104: Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022
Voting 360 for and 55 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that modifies and ratifies the Hualapai
Tribe water rights settlement agreement negotiated between the tribe, the United States, Arizona, and others, thus satisfying the tribe’s claims for groundwater and surface water rights to water in Arizona, including the Verde River, the Bill Williams River, and the Colorado River.
The bill outlines the tribe’s water rights, including the right to divert, use, and store 4,000 acre-feet of agricultural priority water of the Central Arizona Project that was previously allocated to nontribal agricultural entities, but retained by the Department of the Interior for reallocation to tribes in Arizona pursuant to the Central Arizona Project Settlement Act of 2004.
Amounts deposited in an established trust fund account shall be made available to the tribe for specified purposes, including to construct the Hualapai Water Project. The project must be designed to divert, treat, and convey up to 3,414 acre-feet of water per year from the Colorado River for municipal, commercial, and industrial uses on the Hualapai Reservation.
The bill authorizes Interior to take specified land into trust for the benefit of the tribe. In the future, land located outside the reservation may only be taken into trust through an act of Congress.
The bill outlines waivers, releases, and retentions of claims by the tribe and the United States under the settlement agreement; and a limited waiver of sovereign immunity by the United States and the tribe with respect to certain claims.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick, Meuser
S5087: A bill to amend the Not Invisible Act of 2019 to extend, and provide additional support for, the activities of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice Joint Commission on Reducing Violent Crime Against Indians, and for other purposes.
The House on Thursday voted 374 for and 44 against on this bill.
Yes: Dean, Wild, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick,
Meuser
S989: Native American Language Resource Center Act of 2021
Voting 342 for and 71 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that authorizes the Department of Education to make a grant to or enter into a contract with an eligible entity (e.g., an institution of higher education) to establish, operate, and staff a Native American language resource center. The center must serve as a resource to improve the capacity to teach and learn Native American languages.
Yes: Dean, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick, Meuser
Not voting: Wild
S1402: Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2021
Voting 337 for and 79 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that directs the President to review whether federal agencies are in compliance with requirements to promote the use of Native American languages and make recommendations to improve interagency coordination to support the use of these languages. It also requires the Administration for Native Americans to survey the use of Native American languages in the United States.
Yes: Dean, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick, Meuser, Wild
HR 7939: Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022
Voting 380 for and 35 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that provides permanent authority for the application of certain flexibilities to assist veterans with their educational assistance benefits during emergency situations (as declared by the president). Specifically, the bill extends certain program adjustments that were implemented during the COVID-19 emergency to other emergency situations that may arise and have an effect on veterans and their educational assistance benefits.
Among other flexibilities, the bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue to provide educational assistance, including monthly housing stipends or subsistence allowances, for programs of education that have been converted to distance learning due to an emergency or health-related situation; ensures that an educational assistance payment will not be charged against any entitlement to educational assistance or counted against the aggregate period in situations where an individual was unable to complete a course or program due to an emergency situation; extends the time limitation for using educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill, Post-9/11 GI Bill, or vocational rehabilitation program when institutions are closed due to an emergency situation or executive order; authorizes the payment of work-study allowances during emergency periods; ensures an educational assistance payment shall not be charged against an individual’s entitlement if the individual was unable to complete a course or program due to the temporary closure of an educational institution or the temporary termination of a program by reason of an emergency situation; and adjusts the administration of certain benefits for veterans participating in an apprenticeship or other on-job training.
Yes: Dean, Cartwright, Fitzpatrick, Meuser, Wild
Votes in the U. S. Senate
Franklin R. Parker, Department of Defense
Voting 70 for and 22 against, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Franklin R. Parker, of the District of Columbia, to be an assistant secretary of the Navy, vice Gregory J. Slavonic.
Yes: Bob Casey, D; Pat Toomey, R Agnes Schaefer, Department of Defense
Voting 68 for and 26 against, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Agnes Schaefer, of Pennsylvania, to be an assistant secretary of the Army, vice Casey Wardynski.
Yes: Casey
No: Toomey Lynne M. Tracy, Department of State Voting 93 for and 2 against, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Lynne M. Tracy, of Ohio, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of career minister, to be ambassador extraordinary and lenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Russian Federation.
Yes: Casey, Toomey Robert Harley Shriver III, Office of Personnel Management Voting 57 for and 35 against, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Robert Harley Shriver III, of Virginia, to be deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management, vice Michael Rigas. Not voting: Casey
No: Toomey R. Russell Rumbaugh, Department of Defense Voting 80 for and 10 against, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed R. Russell Rumbaugh, of Nebraska, to be an assistant secretary of the Navy, vice Thomas Harker.
Yes: Casey, Toomey
Martin J. Gruenberg, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Voting 45 for and 39 against, the Senate on Monday confirmed Martin J. Gruenberg, of Maryland, to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a term of six years. (Reappointment)
Yes: Casey, Toomey