Last Week in Congress

The House is out for a two-week break, so today we will go back and review some of the events and legislation of last week.

 

On Thursday, the Senate passed the Continuing Resolution keeping the government open until November 24.

 

Before voting on the bill, the Senate considered an amendment offered by Senator Rand Paul to cut spending by 2%. Only 24 Senators voted for Senator Paul’s amendment.

 

You can see the vote on Senator Paul’s amendment here.

 

You can see the vote on the CR here.

 

You probably heard that both the House and Senate unanimously passed resolutions calling on the Trump administration to release a transcript of the president’s conversation with the Ukrainian President. What you probably have not heard about is that Republican leader Kevin McCarthy twice offered a resolution disapproving of Speaker Pelosi’s commencing an official impeachment inquiry without first holding a full House vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry—as has been the case with every other impeachment inquiry in history.

 

McCarthy’s resolutions were tabled by a partisan vote. Independent Justin Amash voted with the Democrats both times.

 

You can see those votes here and here.

 

The House and Senate also voted to overturn President Trump’s February emergency declaration relating to immigration.

 

The Senate vote was 54-41.

 

The following Republicans voted for the resolution:

 

Lamar Alexander (TN)

Roy Blunt (MO)

Susan Collins (ME)

Mike Lee (UT)

Rand Paul (KY)

Rob Portman (OH)

Mitt Romney (UT)

Roger Wicker (MS)

 

You can see the Senate vote here.

 

The House passed the resolution with a vote of 236-174. Eleven Republicans joined every Democrat and Independent Justin Amash in voting to overturn the order. You can see the House vote here.

 

Here are some suspensions considered by the House last week:

 

1. H.R. 3190— Authorizes $220,500,000 for humanitarian aid for Burma and imposes new sanctions against those in the Burmese government or military believed to have committed human rights abuses. The bill passed with a vote of 394-21. You can see the vote here.

2. H.R.  2327—Authorizes the State Department to provide aid to organizations working to free and otherwise assist Burmese political prisons including by supporting their efforts to reform the government. Passed by voice vote.

 

3. H.Res. 127—Expresses the sense of Congress that the US should maintain and depend its relations with South Korea and Japan. Passed by voice vote.

 

4. H.R. 1632—Requires the US to develop a strategy for engagement with southwest Asian countries via diplomacy, trade, and military investment.  Passed by voice vote.

 

Justin Amash was the only Representative to vote against H.R. 3722, which establishes a new task force to prevent opioids from entering the country.

 

You can see that vote here.

 

Finally, the House passed the Safe Banking Act by a vote of 321-103. Ninety-one Republicans joined almost every Democrat in voting for this bill that allows financial institutions to do business with legal marijuana-related businesses without fear of federal prosecution.

You can see that vote here.