DESK: It’s possible we’ll file an add this weekend covering Senate action on Covid-19 relief. Eds.
Voterama in Congress
Expanding Voting Rights, Reforming Campaign Finance: Voting 220-210, the House on March 3 passed a bill (HR 1) designed to broadly expand participation in U.S. elections and make limited changes in the way campaigns are financed. The bill would increase registration opportunities; require voting systems to be backed up with auditable paper ballots; begin partial public financing of House campaigns; require public disclosure of “dark money” political contributions; harden voting systems against cyberattacks; qualify felons who have served their time to vote in federal elections; and require states to use 15-member bipartisan commissions rather than partisan gerrymandering to redraw congressional districts. The bill would apply primarily to federal elections but also affect state and local balloting in major ways. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
Removing Democracy Panel: Voting 207-218, the House on March 2 refused to remove from HR 1 (above) a proposed commission for protecting U.S. democratic institutions against foreign interference. The amendment was sponsored by Republicans, who said ample defenses already are in place to fend off manipulation from abroad. A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.
Preventing, Punishing Misconduct by Police: The House on March 3 passed, 220-212, a bill (HR 1280) that would set federal rules and guidelines for policing practices at all levels of government. In addition to addressing misconduct by federal officers, the bill would use the high levels of police funding in federal programs to induce state and local reforms. The bill would prohibit chokeholds, no-knock drug warrants and racial and religious profiling; require officers to wear body cameras: end “qualified immunity” protection of abusive officers; expand Department of Justice oversight of troubled local departments; make lynching a federal crime; lower the criminal-intent standard of evidence in federal misconduct prosecutions; and establish of a public misconduct registry to keep disciplined officers from being rehired. A yes vote was to send the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to the Senate.
Advancing Virus Relief: By a tally of 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote, the Senate on March 4 advanced a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package (HR 1219) toward a vote on final passage expected within days. A yes vote was to advance the American Rescue Plan.
Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education: Voting 64-33, the Senate on March 1 confirmed Miguel A. Cardona, 45, as secretary of education, the first Latino to hold that position. An educator in public schools for 20 years, he served most recently as Connecticut’s commissioner of education. A bilingual son of Puerto Rican parents, he was raised in public housing in Connecticut. A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce: Voting 84-15, the Senate on March 2 confirmed Gina M. Raimondo, 49, the first woman governor of Rhode Island, as secretary of commerce. Formerly a venture capitalist, she has an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard College and is a graduate of Yale Law School. A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
Cecilia Rouse, Chief Economic Adviser: Voting 95-4, the Senate on March 2 confirmed Cecilia E. Rouse, 57, as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, a White House unit that shapes national economic policy. The dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Rouse served as an economic adviser under former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.
KEY VOTES AHEAD
House and Senate legislative schedules for the week of March 8 were to be announced.
Voterama in Congress
WASHINGTON — Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues during the legislative week ending March 5.
EXPANDING VOTING RIGHTS, REFORMING CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Voting 220 for and 210 against, the House on March 3 passed a bill (HR 1) designed to broadly expand participation in U.S. elections and make limited changes in the way campaigns are financed. The bill would increase registration opportunities; require voting systems to be backed up with auditable paper ballots; qualify felons who have served their time to vote in federal elections; require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to disclose personal and any corporate tax returns; modernize voting equipment and harden systems against cyberattacks; and prohibit influence peddling by inaugural committees. The bill would apply primarily to federal elections but also affect state and local balloting in major ways. In other provisions, the bill would:
GERRYMANDERING
Require states to use 15-member bipartisan and commissions rather than partisan gerrymandering to redraw congressional districts following the decennial census.
VOTER REGISTRATION
Authorize $750 million over five years on state programs to make voter registration easier. States would have to allow no-excuse absentee voting; automatically register residents who sign up for government services including education; allow registration applications online and in person on Election Day; and provide at least 15 days’ early voting.
PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING
Impose a surcharge on penalties paid by corporate and high-income tax cheats and use the projected $2 billion in revenue over 10 years to partially finance House general and primary election campaigns. Incumbents and challengers who agree to a $200 limit on individual contributions would receive $6 in public funds for each $1 raised privately.
FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, TWITTER
Require large social-media platforms including Facebook, Google and Twitter to compile public databases of foreign actors and other entities seeking to purchase at least $500 annually in political ads and identify anonymous “dark money” financiers of political ads to the public.
Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said the bill “restores guardrails to our democracy that almost went off the rails as Republicans pledged their loyalty to the cult of Donald Trump. Republicans have long found success creatively suppressing the votes, restrictive voter ID laws, limiting voter hours, locations, and extreme gerrymandering….Fraud is their description of any election that they lose.”
Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., branded the bill as “an attempt to destroy democracy by federalizing aspects of U.S. elections constitutionally delegated to the states. It would prohibit commonsense voter ID rules, encourage ballot harvesting, require no-excuse absentee and early voting, permit felons and noncitizens to vote, and make colleges and universities…voter-registration agencies.”
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. VOTE H-1 slugged VOTING
FLORIDA Voting yes: Al Lawson, D-5, Stephanie Murphy, D-7, Darren Soto, D-9, Val Demings, D-10, Charlie Crist, D-13, Kathy Castor, D-14, Alcee Hastings, D-20, Lois Frankel, D-21, Ted Deutch, D-22, Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-23, Frederica Wilson, D-24
Voting no: Matt Gaetz, R-1, Neal Dunn, R-2, Kat Cammack, R-3, John Rutherford, R-4, Michael Waltz, R-6, Bill Posey, R-8, Daniel Webster, R-11, Gus Bilirakis, R-12, Scott Franklin, R-15, Vern Buchanan, R-16, Greg Steube, R-17, Brian Mast, R-18, Byron Donalds, R-19, Mario Diaz-Balart, R-25, Carlos Gimenez, R-26, Maria Elvira Salazar, R-27
Not voting: None
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: G.K. Butterfield, D-1, Deborah Ross, D-2, David Price, D-4, Kathy Manning, D-6, Alma Adams, D-12
Voting no: Gregory Murphy, R-3, Virginia Foxx, R-5, David Rouzer, R-7, Richard Hudson, R-8, Dan Bishop, R-9, Patrick McHenry, R-10, Madison Cawthorn, R-11, Ted Budd, R-13
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Elaine Luria, D-2, Bobby Scott, D-3, Donald McEachin, D-4, Abigail Spanberger, D-7, Don Beyer, D-8, Jennifer Wexton, D-10, Gerald Connolly, D-11
Voting no: Rob Wittman, R-1, Bob Good, R-5, Ben Cline, R-6, Morgan Griffith, R-9
Not voting: None
REMOVING DEMOCRACY PANEL: Voting 207 for and 218 against, the House on March 2 refused to remove from HR 1 (above) a proposed commission for protecting U.S. democratic institutions against foreign interference. The amendment was sponsored by Republicans, who said ample defenses already are in place to fend off manipulation from abroad.
Rodney Davis, R-Ill., said “absolutely no one wants foreign interference in our elections, but the last thing we need to do is create a commission with another layer of bureaucracy when we have programs in place that have been successful for our local election officials.”
Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said that “in light of the evidence of foreign interference in the 2016, 2018 and 2020 federal elections, the federal government needs a coordinated approach to protect and secure our democracy.”
A yes vote was to adopt the amendment. VOTE H-2 slugged PANEL
FLORIDA Voting yes: Gaetz, Dunn, Cammack, Rutherford, Waltz, Posey, Franklin, C. Scott, Buchanan, Steube, Mast, Donalds, Diaz-Balart, Gimenez, Salazar
Voting no: Lawson (FL), Murphy (FL), Soto, Demings, Crist, Castor (FL), Hastings, Frankel, Lois, Deutch, Wasserman Schultz, Wilson (FL)
Not voting: Webster (FL), Bilirakis
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: Murphy (NC), Foxx, Rouzer, Hudson, Bishop (NC), McHenry, Cawthorn, Budd
Voting no: Butterfield, Ross, Price (NC), Manning, Adams
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Wittman, Cline, Griffith
Voting no: Luria, Scott (VA), McEachin, Spanberger, Beyer, Wexton, Connolly
Not voting: Good (VA),
PREVENTING, PUNISHING MISCONDUCT BY POLICE: The House on March 3 passed, 220 for and 212 against, a bill (HR 1280) that would set federal rules and guidelines for policing practices at all levels of government. In addition to addressing misconduct by federal officers, the bill would use the high levels of police funding in federal programs to induce state and local reforms. Dubbed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the bill would:
CHOKEHOLDS
Prohibit federal police from using chokeholds or other applications of pressure on the carotid arteries, throats or windpipes of persons being restrained, and use federal financial incentives to encourage state and local police to do the same. The use of chokeholds based on race would be defined as a civil rights violation.
QUALIFIED IMMUNITY
Eliminate the “qualified immunity” defense from federal and non-federal civil litigation in which a police officer is sued for damages based on misconduct including excessive use of force.
LYNCHING, NO-KNOCK DRUG WARRANTS
Make lynching a federal crime and prohibit no-knock warrants in federal drug cases while using federal funding to induce states and localities to do the same.
SUBPOENA POWER
Give the Department of Justice subpoena power for investigating discriminatory and brutal patterns and practices by local departments, and fund efforts by state attorneys general to investigate troubled departments.
REGISTRY OF MISCONDUCT
Establish a National Police Misconduct Registry of officers fired by local departments for reasons including excessive use of force.
RACIAL, RELIGIOUS PROFILING
Prohibit racial, religious and discriminatory profiling by federal and nonfederal law enforcement; aggrieved individuals could bring civil actions for declaratory or injunctive relief.
USE OF FORCE
Require police to justify use of force on grounds it was “necessary” rather than merely “reasonable” and require state and local police to report use-of-force data by race, sex, disability, religion and age to a Department of Justice database.
EVIDENCE STANDARD
Lower the criminal-intent standard of evidence in police misconduct prosecutions under federal law from “willful” to “reckless.”
CAMERA RULES
Require uniformed federal police to wear body cameras and marked federal police cars to mount dashboard cameras, while giving state and local departments financial incentives to do the same.
LOCAL OVERSIGHT
Fund local task forces to develop practices based on community policing rather than the use of force.
MILITARY EQUIPMENT
Limit the Pentagon’s transfer of combat-level equipment to state and local police.
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
Make it a crime for a federal officer to engage in sex, even if it is consensual, with an individual under arrest or in custody, and use financial incentives to encourage states to enact the same prohibition.
Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said the purpose of the bill “is not to second guess officers who act in good faith [but] to hold liable officers who repeatedly abuse their power and who rarely, if ever, face consequences for their repeat abuses. If you are a good officer, you have nothing to fear. But if you are a bad officer, you have accountability to fear….”
Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said the bill “aims to cripple or degrade our law enforcement” and would “diminish public safety and prevent…officers from serving and protecting our communities, all while trying to hold them personally liable. The brave men and women who put on the uniform every day deserve better.”
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. VOTE H-3 slugged POLICE
FLORIDA Voting yes: Lawson (FL), Murphy (FL), Soto, Demings, Crist, Castor (FL), Hastings, Frankel, Lois, Deutch, Wasserman Schultz, Wilson (FL)
Voting no: Gaetz, Dunn, Cammack, Rutherford, Waltz, Posey, Webster (FL), Bilirakis, Franklin, C. Scott, Buchanan, Steube, Mast, Donalds, Diaz-Balart, Gimenez, Salazar
Not voting: None
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: Butterfield, Ross, Price (NC), Manning, Adams
Voting no: Murphy (NC), Foxx, Rouzer, Hudson, Bishop (NC), McHenry, Cawthorn, Budd
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Luria, Scott (VA), McEachin, Spanberger, Beyer, Wexton, Connolly
Voting no: Wittman, Good (VA), Cline, Griffith
Not voting: None
SENATE
ADVANCING VIRUS RELIEF: By a tally of 51 for and 50 against, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote, the Senate on March 4 advanced a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package (HR 1219) toward a vote on final passage expected within days. In contrast to a House-passed version, the bill, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, would leave the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage unchanged.
A yes vote was to advance the bill. VOTE S-1 slugged VIRUS
FLORIDA Voting yes: None
Voting no: Marco Rubio, R, Rick Scott, R
Not voting: None
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: None
Voting no: Thom Tillis, R, Richard Burr, R
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Mark Warner, D, Tim Kaine, D
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
MIGUEL CARDONA, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Voting 64 for and 33 against, the Senate on March 1 confirmed Miguel A. Cardona, 45, as secretary of education, the first Latino to hold that position. An educator in public schools for 20 years, he served most recently as Connecticut’s commissioner of education. A bilingual son of Puerto Rican parents, he was raised in public housing in Connecticut.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee. VOTE S-2 slugged CARDONA
FLORIDA Voting yes: Rubio
Voting no: Scott
Not voting: None
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: Tillis, Burr
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Warner, Kaine
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
GINA RAIMONDO, SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Voting 84 for and 15 against, the Senate on March 2 confirmed Gina M. Raimondo, 49, the first woman governor of Rhode Island, as secretary of commerce. Formerly a venture capitalist, she has an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard College and is a graduate of Yale Law School.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee. VOTE S-3 slugged GINA
FLORIDA Voting yes: None
Voting no: Rubio, Scott
Not voting: None
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: Tillis, Burr
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Warner, Kaine
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
CECILIA ROUSE, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: Voting 95 for and four against, the Senate on March 2 confirmed Cecilia E. Rouse, 57, as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, a White House unit that determines administration economic policies. The dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a specialist in labor economics, Rouse also served former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as an economic adviser.
A yes vote was to confirm the nominee. VOTE S-4 slugged ROUSE
FLORIDA Voting yes: Rubio
Voting no: Scott
Not voting: None
NORTH CAROLINA Voting yes: Tillis, Burr
Voting no: None
Not voting: None
VIRGINIA Voting yes: Warner, Kaine
Voting no: None
Not voting: None -30- Copyright 2021, Thomas Voting Reports, Inc.