HOUSE VOTES:

ABORTION RESTRICTIONS: The House has passed the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 8296), sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., to bar state and local governments from restricting a range of abortion-related services, including abortion, the provision of telemedicine abortion consultations, and prescribing of abortifacient drugs. Chu said the bill “respects our right to make our own decisions about our bodies. It is time to put control of our bodies back in our hands.” An opponent, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said: “We cannot deny life to the most disadvantaged and marginalized among us. They have no voice to defend themselves.” The vote, on July 15, was 219 yeas to 210 nays.
YEAS: Chellie Pingree D-ME (1st), Jared Golden D-ME (2nd)

ABORTION AND STATE LAWS: The House has passed the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act (H.R. 8297), sponsored by Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, to bar a state’s government from penalizing individuals in other states for providing abortion services to women who live in that state, so long as those services are legal in the other states. Fletcher said of the need to respond to such penalizing acts: “Congress has the authority and the responsibility to protect people from these unconstitutional efforts.” An opponent, Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, said the bill “undermines the ability of states to hold sexual abusers accountable, stops states from preventing abortion pill mills, and it gives human traffickers and abusers more direct access to chemical abortions in all 50 states.” The vote, on July 15, was 223 yeas to 205 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

INFANT FORMULA IMPORTS: The House has passed the Formula Act (H.R. 8351), sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., to temporarily suspend, for the remainder of 2022, duties on imports of infant formula food. Blumenauer said of the need to give parents relief from higher costs due to the tariffs: “It is unacceptable that families would be taxed on a product that they need and have no other way of getting in the midst of this crisis.” The vote, on July 15, was 421 yeas to 2 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

House Vote 4:
NEW NATO MEMBERS: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 1130), sponsored by Rep. William R. Keating, D-Mass., supporting the possibility of Finland and Sweden soon joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). A supporter, Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, said: “Finland and Sweden’s strategic location in northern Europe, advanced militaries, and decades of fighting alongside the U.S. and NATO mean that their accession will immediately strengthen transatlantic security.” The vote, on July 18, was 394 yeas to 18 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

STATE MARRIAGE LAWS: The House has passed the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 8404), sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and instead federally recognize any marriage authorized under a state’s marriage laws, and require states to similarly recognize marriages in other states. Nadler said: “All married people who are building their lives together must know that the government will respect and recognize their marriages.” An opponent, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called the bill “the latest installment of the Democrats’ campaign to delegitimize and attempt to intimidate the United States Supreme Court” following the Dobbs abortion ruling. The vote, on July 19, was 267 yeas to 157 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

PASSING FIVE BILLS: The House has passed a motion sponsored by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Conn., to pass an array of five bills en bloc. The bills dealt with management of historical sites in Maryland and the South, long distance bike trails, and lighting the Gateway Arch in St. Louis in blue and yellow to show solidarity with Ukraine. The vote, on July 19, was 365 yeas to 57 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

FUNDING FOREIGN SECURITY FORCES: The House has passed the Advancing Human Rights-Centered International Conservation Act (H.R. 7025), sponsored by Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., to require the Fish and Wildlife Service to work to avoid providing money, through its conservation grants, to foreign security forces believed to have violated human rights. The vote, on July 19, was 379 yeas to 43 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

NATIONAL PARKS: The House has passed the National Park Foundation Reauthorization Act (H.R. 7693), sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., to reauthorize the National Park Foundation through fiscal 2030 and increase its annual funding from $5 million to $15 million. The vote, on July 19, was 397 yeas to 22 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION SPENDING: The House has passed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8294), sponsored by Rep. David E. Price, D-N.C., to provide $90.9 billion of fiscal 2023 funding for the various agencies at the Transportation Department and Housing and Urban Development. Price said the funding would improve transportation infrastructure and resiliency against climate change and natural disaster, while “remedying inequities and disparities in our housing and transportation systems, and prioritizing safety.” An opponent, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., cited the inflationary impacts of a more than 10 percent increase in spending over fiscal 2022 levels. The vote, on July 20, was 220 yeas to 207 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

CONTRACEPTIVES: The House has passed the Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 8373), sponsored by Rep. Kathy E. Manning, D-N.C., to bar state and local governments from restricting the ability of individuals and health care entities to provide and consume contraceptives, and take contraceptive actions. Manning said: “This bill is about allowing women the freedom to choose the contraception that works best for them to allow them to prevent unintended pregnancies.” A bill opponent, Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., said it would override parental authority over minor children, and wrongly aimed at “forcing providers to prescribe various forms of contraception that violates their religious rights.” The vote, on July 21, was 228 yeas to 195 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

SENATE VOTES:

COLORADO JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Nina Nin-Yuen Wang to be a judge on the U.S. district court for Colorado. Wang, a U.S. magistrate judge since 2015, was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado. The vote, on July 19, was 58 yeas to 36 nays.
YEAS: Susan Collins R-ME, Angus King I-ME

ILLINOIS JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Nancy Maldonado to be a judge on the U.S. district court for the northern district of Illinois. Maldonado has been a private practice lawyer in Chicago since 2002. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Maldonado “has dedicated herself to defending the rights of working people as a plaintiff-side employment law litigator. Throughout her career, she has continually answered the call to serve our state.” The vote, on July 19, was 53 yeas to 45 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Julianna Michelle Childs to be a judge on the U.S. appeals court for the Washington, D.C., circuit. Since 2010, Childs has been a judge on the U.S. district court for South Carolina. A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that in her tenure in South Carolina, Childs has “built a reputation as both a trailblazing jurist and a staunch defender of the Constitution.” The vote, on July 19, was 64 yeas to 34 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

DELAWARE JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Gregory Brian Williams to be a judge on the U.S. district court for Delaware. Williams has been a private practice lawyer in Wilmington since 1995, focusing on intellectual property and commercial litigation. A supporter, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said Williams “not only has the credentials and the temperament, but the strong work ethic that are necessary for this court to continue to function as one of the most important district courts in our land.” The vote on July 20, was 52 yeas to 43 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

CHILE AMBASSADOR: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Bernadette Meehan to be the U.S. ambassador to Chile. Meehan had been an executive at the Obama Foundation; previously, she was in the State Department’s Foreign Service for more than a decade, including a posting at the U.S. embassy in Colombia. The vote, on July 20, was 51 yeas to 44 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

SOUTH AFRICA AMBASSADOR: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Reuben Brigety to be the U.S. ambassador to South Africa. Brigety has been a State Department official in the Obama administration, a mayor in Tennessee, president of the University of the South; and, currently, is an official at the Council on Foreign Relations. The vote, on July 21, was 55 yeas to 40 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

VETERANS HEALTH: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Shereef Elnahal to be the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Under Secretary for Health. For three years, Elnahal has been the CEO of University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey; previously, he was that state’s health commissioner and, from 2016 to 2018, a Veterans Health Administration official. A supporter, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Elnahal’s experience would help the VA implement a transformational electronic health records system and deal with stress and turnover among the VA staff. The vote, on July 21, was 66 yeas to 23 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

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