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HOUSE VOTES

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 326), sponsored by Rep. Alan S. Lowenthal, D-Calif., expressing the sense of the House supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the only way to ensure Israel’s survival as a secure Jewish and democratic state and fulfill the legitimate aspirations for a Palestinian state. A resolution opponent, The vote, on Dec. 6, was 226 yeas to 188 nays.

NAYS: Steil R-WI (1st)

CHANGING VOTING RULES: The House has passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), sponsored by Rep. Terri A. Sewell, D-Ala., to change the federal government’s criteria for whether a state receives preclearance approval for changes to its voting practices. The vote, on Dec. 6, was 228 yeas to 187 nays.

NAYS: Steil R-WI (1st)

OPIOID SMUGGLING: The House has passed the DHS Opioid Detection Resilience Act (H.R. 4761), sponsored by Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., to require the Customs and Border Protection agency to use chemical screening devices that can identify narcotics at purity levels equal to or less than 10 percent. The vote, on Dec. 9, was 393 yeas to 1 nay.

YEAS: Steil R-WI (1st)

FUNDING BLACK COLLEGES: The House has passed the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (H.R. 5363), sponsored by Rep. Alma S. Adams, D-N.C., to permanently reauthorize federal funding for historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving colleges. The vote, on Dec. 10, was 319 yeas to 96 nays.

YEAS: Steil R-WI (1st)

PROTECTING TRIBAL COASTAL LAND: The House has passed the Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act (H.R. 729), sponsored by Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., to authorize Commerce Department grants to Indian tribes for meeting various tribal environmental and cultural coastal zone goals. The vote, on Dec. 10, was 262 yeas to 151 nays.

NAYS: Steil R-WI (1st)

2020 MILITARY BUDGET: The House has agreed to the conference report with the Senate for the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1790), to authorize military spending, including military construction programs and Energy Department military-related spending, in fiscal 2020. The vote, on Dec. 11, was 377 yeas to 48 nays.

YEAS: Steil R-WI (1st)

GUEST AGRICULTURAL WORKERS: The House has passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 5038), sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. The bill would change laws governing non-immigrant alien agricultural workers in the U.S., including enabling the workers to apply for lawful permanent resident status after working for a number of years and changing the H-2A temporary worker program to adjust its minimum wage and make it available for year-round agricultural work. The vote, on Dec. 11, was 260 yeas to 165 nays.

NAYS: Steil R-WI (1st)

PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES: The House has passed the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3), sponsored by Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J. The bill would require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to negotiate for lower prices on certain insulin products and heavily used prescription drugs, and change Medicare drug coverage and pricing procedures with the aim of reducing costs for the federal government. Pallone said the bill was needed to remedy a situation in which “drug companies can charge whatever they want because there is no competition until a generic comes to market.” The vote, on Dec. 12, was 230 yeas to 192 nays.

NAYS: Steil R-WI (1st)

Along with this week’s roll call votes, the House also passed the Identifying Outputs of Generative Adversarial Networks Act (H.R. 4355), to direct the Director of the National Science Foundation to support research on the outputs that may be generated by generative adversarial networks, otherwise known as deepfakes, and other comparable techniques that may be developed in the future; and the Emerging Transportation Security Threats Act (H.R. 3318), to require the Transportation Security Administration to establish a task force to conduct an analysis of emerging and potential future threats to transportation security.

SENATE VOTES

APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Patrick J. Bumatay to serve as a judge on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote, on Dec. 10, was 53 yeas to 40 nays.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI

NAYS: Baldwin D-WI

REVIEWING NON-PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: The Senate has passed the Over-the-Counter Monograph Safety, Innovation, and Reform Act (S. 2740), sponsored by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to change the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory framework for reviewing the sale of non-prescription drugs. Isakson said the bill, by reforming the review process and speeding the marketing of sunscreens and other protective drugs, would save lives. An opponent, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the bill’s increase in drug application fees to over $2 million per application was eroding the capacity for congressional oversight of the Food and Drug Administration by replacing appropriated funding with fee-based funding of the agency. The vote, on Dec. 10, was 91 yeas to 2 nays.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI, Baldwin D-WI

VETERAN SUICIDES: The Senate has passed the Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act (H.R. 2333), sponsored by Rep. Anthony Brindisi, D-N.Y., to require a Government Accountability Office report to Congress on the responsibilities, workload, training, and vacancy rates of suicide prevention coordinators at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The vote, on Dec. 11, was unanimous with 95 yeas.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI, Baldwin D-WI

SECOND APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lawrence VanDyke to serve as a judge on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Appeals Court. The vote, on Dec. 11, was 51 yeas to 44 nays.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI

NAYS: Baldwin D-WI

FISH AND WILDLIFE HEAD: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Aurelia Skipwith to serve as director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Skipwith has been the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks since April 2017. The vote, on Dec. 12, was 52 yeas to 39 nays.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI

NAYS: Baldwin D-WI

AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of John Joseph Sullivan to serve as ambassador to Russia. Sullivan has been Deputy Secretary of State since May 2017, and previously was a private practice lawyer and senior official in the George W. Bush administration. The vote, on Dec. 12, was 70 yeas to 22 nays.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI

NAYS: Baldwin D-WI

FOOD AND DRUGS COMMISSIONER: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Stephen Hahn to serve as Commissioner of Food and Drugs at the Health and Human Services Department. Hahn, currently chief medical executive and a professor at a cancer center in Houston, previously was a radiation oncology professor in Philadelphia from 1996 to 2014. The vote, on Dec. 12, was 72 yeas to 18 nays.

YEAS: Johnson R-WI, Baldwin D-WI

The Senate also passed a bill (S. Res. 150), expressing the sense of the Senate that it is the policy of the United States to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance.