Along with roll call votes last week, the Senate also passed a bill (H.R. 5602), to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to include all funds when issuing certain geographic targeting orders.

The House also passed the Prescribed Burn Approval Act (S. 3395), to require limitations on prescribed burns; passed a bill (S. 795), to enhance whistleblower protection for contractor and grantee employees; passed the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act (H.R. 3381), to maximize discovery, and accelerate development and availability, of promising childhood cancer treatments; and passed the Ethical Patient Care for Veterans Act (H.R. 5399), to ensure that physicians of the Department of Veterans Affairs fulfill their ethical duty to report to state licensing authorities impaired, incompetent, and unethical health care activities.

HOUSE VOTES

2017 MILITARY SPENDING: The House has agreed to the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2943), sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to authorize $618 billion of fiscal 2017 spending at the Defense Department, military construction projects, and the Energy Department’s defense activities. A supporter, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said the bill streamlined the military’s bureaucracy, stabilized troop levels and military readiness, and improved the military’s health care system. An opponent, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said it would expand funding for wars that Congress has not formally approved, and “used an off-the-books spending gimmick to further expand the already-bloated Pentagon budget.” The vote, on Dec. 2, was 375 yeas to 34 nays.

YEAS: Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District

PAYMENTS TO WOUNDED VETERANS: The House has passed the Combat-Injured Veterans Tax Fairness Act (H.R. 5015), sponsored by Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C. The bill would require the Defense Department to restore severance payments withheld for tax purposes that the military has issued to veterans who suffered combat-related injuries from the first Gulf War in 1991 onward. Rouzer said nearly 14,000 wounded veterans have been denied the full amount of their severance payments because of the tax withholdings, making the bill necessary to redress the injustice. The vote, on Dec. 5, was unanimous with 392 yeas.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

CHANGING SEC PRACTICES: The House has passed the Creating Financial Prosperity for Businesses and Investors Act (H.R. 6427), sponsored by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J. The bill would make various changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including measures to reform regulation of crowd funding and require the SEC to respond to concerns submitted by small businesses. Garrett said the bill’s reforms would improve capital markets and help “create a financial system that works for the benefit of all Americans.” The vote, on Dec. 5, was 391 yeas to 2 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

2017 STATE DEPARTMENT BUDGET: The House has passed the Department of State Operations Authorization and Embassy Security Act (S. 1635), sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. The bill would authorize State Department spending in fiscal 2017 and establish various requirements for State activities, including changes to the operation of overseas embassies. A supporter, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., said the requirements strengthened congressional oversight of the department, bolstering its transparency, security and budgetary discipline. The vote, on Dec. 5, was 374 yeas to 16 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

INTERNET ACCESS AND CHILDREN: The House has passed a bill (H. Res. 939), sponsored by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., expressing the sense of the House that American youth need access to digital communications tools and connectivity to prepare to compete in the modern economy. Welch said that about a third of U.S. households with school-age children lack high-speed Internet connections, and the resolution would voice the House’s intent to expand broadband connections to rural and other underserved areas and improve opportunities for children. The vote, on Dec. 6, was 414 yeas to 1 nay.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

VETERANS AFFAIRS REFORMS: The House has passed the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 6416), sponsored by Rep. David P. Roe, R-Tenn. The bill would make various reforms to the Veterans Affairs Department, including adding judges to a VA court for hearing veterans’ benefits claims, requiring annual VA reports on its health care program and expanding services and benefits for disabled veterans and survivors of deceased veterans. Roe said much-needed improvements to the VA’s health programs would help the agency provide veterans with the care they deserve, minimizing wasteful spending while making care more effective. The vote, on Dec. 6, was unanimous with 419 yeas.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE STANDARDS: The House has passed the Transparent Insurance Standards Act (H.R. 5143), sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo. The bill would set out guidelines for the U.S. in negotiating an international financial standard for insurers, including the provision that any standard will not override state law regulating insurers, and allow for congressional review and public comment on the standard. Luetkemeyer said the guidelines would “help protect the best interests of U.S. insurance customers” by giving state insurance regulators more power over the negotiations, and strengthen the chances that U.S. insurance standards will be preserved. A bill opponent, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., said it “hamstrings the Federal Reserve’s ability to regulate the safety and soundness of the large insurance holding companies that it has authority over and to ensure that those regulatory standards are consistent internationally.” The vote, on Dec. 7, was 239 yeas to 170 nays.

YEAS: Poliquin

NAYS: Pingree

URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS: The House has passed the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act (S. 2971), sponsored by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. The bill would authorize the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System through fiscal 2019, and require training and cooperation efforts for state and local search and rescue agencies. A supporter, Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., said the bill sought to give the country’s 28 urban search and rescue teams assurances that, when they are enlisted for federal duty, they will enjoy compensation and liability protections for potential injuries or fatalities suffered in service. The vote, on Dec. 7, was 405 yeas to 7 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

PROTECTING FBI WHISTLEBLOWERS: The House has passed the Federal Bureau of Investigation Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 5790), sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. The bill would bar supervisors at the FBI from retaliating against subordinates who report misbehavior by their supervisors, and extend other whistleblower protections for agency employees. Chaffetz said the measure would do much to give FBI whistleblowers a level of security similar to what other federal government employees have when they report wrongdoing. The vote, on Dec. 7, was unanimous with 404 yeas.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

TRACKING DEVICES FOR ALZHEIMER’S AND AUTISM: The House has passed Kevin and Avonte’s Law (H.R. 4919), sponsored by Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J. The bill would authorize offering grant programs for parents and caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s and autism to put tracking devices on those individuals to provide knowledge of their whereabouts. Smith said dozens of children with autism and Alzheimer’s patients have died in recent years after wandering away from caregivers and their family, and the voluntary tracking devices would help prevent such deaths without violating privacy. An opponent, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said the grants posed the danger of opening the way for future government measures that violate citizens’ rights by tracking other individuals for unjustified reasons. The vote, on Dec. 8, was 346 yeas to 66 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT FUNDING: The House has concurred in the Senate amendment to a bill (H.R. 2028), sponsored by Rep. Michael K. Simpson, R-Idaho, to fund the federal government through April 28, and fund responses to recent natural disasters and measures countering opioid abuse. Simpson called the funding a step toward needed efforts to return the House to the timely processing of appropriations bills under regular order, rather than the ad hoc consideration of appropriations that has been in place for two decades. The vote, on Dec. 8, was 326 yeas to 96 nays.

YEAS: Poliquin

NAYS: Pingree

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE: The House has passed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (S. 612), sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to authorize water infrastructure projects by the Army Corps of Engineers, including efforts to increase water supplies in California and restore Florida’s Everglades. A supporter, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said the projects should boost the economy by improving flood control, expanding transportation capabilities on waterways, and restoring damaged habitat. An opponent, Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., faulted recent changes to the bill that would take money away from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and hurt West Coast fisheries by diverting water from California rivers. The vote, on Dec. 8, was 360 yeas to 61 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

SENATE VOTES

ADVANCED MEDICAL RESEARCH: The Senate has agreed to the House amendment to the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 34), sponsored by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore. The bill would establish programs at the National Institutes of Health to promote biomedical research and change processes for reviewing new drugs. A supporter, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said it promised to maintain U.S. leadership in medical innovation by supporting genetic therapies, advanced medical devices, and other breakthrough technologies in treating and preventing disease. The vote, on Dec. 7, was 94 yeas to 5 nays.

YEAS: Susan Collins R-Maine, Angus King, I-Maine

2017 MILITARY BUDGET: The Senate has agreed to the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2943), sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to authorize $618 billion of fiscal 2017 spending by the Defense Department, military programs at the Energy Department, and military construction projects. McCain said the bill’s bold reforms of unwieldy bureaucratic structures would improve the military’s ability to adequately respond to a diverse and complex array of dilemmas, including threats posed by China, Russia, rogue states, and radical Islamist terrorism. The vote, on Dec. 8, was 92 yeas to 7 nays.

YEAS: Collins, King

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