HOW LAWMAKERS VOTED Votes in the US House
HR 5375: Strengthening the Quad Act Voting 379 for and 39
against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that directs the Department of State to seek to establish a working group with Japan, Australia and India to facilitate closer cooperation on shared interests and values. (The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the Quad, is a coalition comprised of the United States and these three countries.)
The bill also requires the State Department to report to Congress a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation with the Quad. The strategy shall address cooperation on issues including preparing for the next pandemic, co-developing new innovative technologies and deepening economic engagement and integration.
Yes: Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st (Bucks, parts of Montgomery); Dan Meuser, R-9th (Schuylkill, parts of Berks); Madeleine Dean, D-4th (Montgomery, parts of Berks); Matt Cartwright, D-8th (most of Monroe); Susan Wild, D-7th (Lehigh, Northampton, parts of Monroe and Carbon)
HR 533: Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act Voting 392 for and 28
against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that addresses issues relating to Tibet, including by establishing a statutory definition of Tibet that includes areas in Chinese provinces outside the Tibet Autonomous Region.
For the purposes of U.S. policies and activities relating to Tibet, this bill defines Tibet to include the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan areas of the Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. (Generally, when China’s government refers to Tibet, it means only the Tibet Autonomous Region, while Tibetan exile groups consider historical Tibet to include the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as areas in the provinces included in this bill’s definition. China’s government formally established the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965.)
Furthermore, the objectives of the Office of the U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues shall include working to ensure that U.S. government statements and documents counter disinformation about Tibet by China’s government and the Chinese Communist Party, including disinformation about Tibet’s history and institutions. The bill also authorizes the office to take other actions to counter such disinformation.
This bill also states that it is U.S. policy that the conflict between Tibet and China is unresolved and that Tibet’s legal status remains to be determined in accordance with international law.
Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick, Dean, Wild, Cartwright
HR 7176: Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2024
Voting 224 for and 200 against, the House on Thursday passed an act to repeal restrictions on the export and import of natural gas.
Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick No: Dean, Wild, Cartwright
HR 2766: Uyghur Policy Act of 2023 Voting 414 for and 6
against, the House on Thursday passed a bill that addresses human rights issues concerning the Uyghurs and other minority groups residing primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.
The bill authorizes the establishment of a Special Coordinator for Uyghur Issues position within the Department of State.
The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs may, subject to appropriations, make certain funds available to human rights advocates working on behalf of Uyghurs and members of other persecuted minority groups in China. The funds, if made available, shall be used to facilitate the presence of such human rights advocates at public diplomacy forums to speak on issues related to the human rights and religious freedoms of persecuted minority groups in China.
The State Department must ensure that Uyghur language training is available to Foreign Service officers. It must also ensure that a Uyghur-speaking member of the Foreign Service is assigned to U.S. diplomatic and consular missions in China. Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick, Wild, Cartwright, Dean
HR 3202: Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act of 2023
Voting 389 for and 32
against, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that prohibits federal officials or employees from taking any action to recognize a Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad. The bill also expands existing sanctions related to the Syrian conflict to cover additional activities and persons (individuals and entities).
Current law requires the president to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on foreign persons engaged in certain activities related to the conflict in Syria. For example, such sanctions must be imposed on those that knowingly are responsible for serious human rights abuses against the Syrian people, or provide aircraft or spare aircraft parts for military purposes on behalf of the Syrian government to a foreign person operating in certain areas of Syria.
This bill expands the types of activities that would subject a foreign person to sanctions, including knowingly providing any type of aircraft or spare aircraft parts to the Syrian government, diverting humanitarian assistance intended for the Syrian people, or confiscating property in Syria or owned by a Syrian citizen for personal gain or political purposes.
The bill also extends these sanctions to entities owned or controlled by a sanctioned person and to a sanctioned person’s adult family members. Additionally, the bill removes an exception to the sanctions related to the importation of goods.
The Department of State must provide Congress with a strategy to counter foreign government efforts to normalize relations with the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick, Wild, Cartwright, Dean HRes 966: Condemning rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas in its war against Israel. Voting 418 for and 0 against, the House on Wednesday passed a resolution that condemns acts of rape and sexual violence as weapons of war, including those acts committed by Hamas on and since October 7, 2023. The resolution also calls on all nations to criminalize rape and sexual assault and hold accountable all perpetrators of sexual violence, including state and non-state armed groups. Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick, Wild, Cartwright, Dean
HRes 863: Impeaching Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Voting 214 for and 213 against, the House on Tuesday passed a resolution that impeaches Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas for high crimes and misdemeanors, including for his handling of issues involving fentanyl and border security.
Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick No: Cartwright, Dean, Wld
HR 5856: Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023
Voting 414 for and 11 against, the House on Tuesday passed an act to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and for other purposes.
Yes: Meuser, Fitzpatrick, Cartwright, Dean, Wld