Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

Besides roll call votes, the Senate and House also took action on legislation by voice vote. The House passed the American Super Computing Leadership Act (H.R. 874), to improve the Energy Department’s high-end computing research and development program. It passed the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act (H.R. 1561), to improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather research and forecasting capabilities. It also passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act (H.R. 1987), to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.

HOUSE VOTES

House Vote 1

2016 MILITARY SPENDING: The House has passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (H.R. 1735), sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas. The bill would authorize $611.9 billion of spending on military programs in 2016. Thornberry said it reformed many military programs, including acquisition processes and overhead organization, which, together with its increased funding for key programs, would make the military “more agile in meeting the national security challenges we face.” A bill opponent, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., criticized its use of $38 billion from the overseas contingency operation fund and its failure to provide a long-term plan for military budgets in the years ahead. The vote, on May 15, was 269 yeas to 151 nays.

NAYS: Pingree, D-1st

YEAS: Poliquin, R-2nd

House Vote 2

ID CARDS FOR VETERANS: The House has passed the Veteran’s I.D. Card Act (H.R. 91), sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla. The bill would require the Veterans Affairs Department to issue identification cards, in exchange for a fee, when requested by military veterans. Buchanan said supplying cards to identify the veterans would make it easier for them to document their military service to potential employers and to businesses that offer discounts to veterans discounts. The vote, on May 18, was unanimous with 402 yeas.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

House Vote 3

SEX TRAFFICKING: The House has passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (S. 178), sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The bill would increase financial penalties for those found guilty of sex trafficking and increase compensation to trafficking victims, authorize block grants for child trafficking deterrence programs, and classify the production of child pornography as child abuse. A supporter, Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the bill’s measures aimed, by both preventing and punishing trafficking, to work toward “ending this terrible crime.” The vote, on May 19, was 420 yeas to 3 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

House Vote 4

EDUCATING FOREIGN POLITICIANS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act (H.R. 2250). The amendment would block funding for the Open World Leadership Center, a program begun in 1999 and intended to educate politicians from the former Soviet Union about democracy in the U.S. Ratcliffe said the federal government had nearly 90 similar programs, and the Open World Leadership Center has become redundant and produced few results since it began. An amendment opponent, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said what she called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made the center as vital as ever “because the old tactics of Soviet Russia are still being employed” by Russia’s government to dominate its neighbors. The vote, on May 19, was 224 yeas to 199 nays.

NAYS: Pingree

YEAS: Poliquin

House Vote 5

FUNDING LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: The House has passed the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act (H.R. 2250), sponsored by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga. The bill would provide $3.3 billion to fund the House and joint programs of Congress in fiscal 2016, but not the Senate. Graves said the funding levels set out by the bill avoid wasteful spending “while preserving the beauty of the Capitol campus, providing essential security for visitors and staff, and ensuring that we are able to provide the services that our constituents expect and deserve.” The vote, on May 19, was 357 yeas to 67 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

House Vote 6

EXTENDING FUNDING FOR TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS: The House has passed the Highway and Transportation Funding Act (H.R. 2353), sponsored by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa. The bill would extend through this July appropriations for the federal highway and other transportation programs funded by the Highway Trust Fund. Shuster said that without an extension, many transportation projects could be shut down this summer for lack of funding, and the extension would give Congress time to develop a long-term transportation spending plan for the country. A bill opponent, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said it continued the chronic practice of passing short-term extensions of Highway Trust Fund spending rather than taking a long-term approach that replaces and repairs crumbling roads and bridges across the U.S. The vote, on May 19, was 387 yeas to 35 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Poliquin

House Vote 7

CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE: The House has rejected an amendment sponsored by Rep. Alan S. Lowenthal, D-Calif., to the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1806). The amendment would have struck from the bill provisions placing added reporting requirements on research funded by the Energy Department and eliminating duplicative projects in climate change research. Lowenthal said duplicative research projects were necessary to reproduce and verify previously published science, but the bill provisions would block such research, and also curtail the Energy Department’s ability to chose to fund projects based on their merits. An amendment opponent, Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., said the provisions were needed to ensure greater transparency in the government’s climate change science programs and improve accountability at Energy’s Office of Science, especially given that “the Obama administration has unapologetically pushed forward a politicized climate agenda” to fund wasteful climate science research, while neglecting basic research in the physical sciences. The vote, on May 20, was 187 yeas to 236 nays.

YEAS: Pingree

NAYS: Poliquin

SENATE VOTES

Senate Vote 1

TRADE AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION: The Senate has passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., to the Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act (H.R. 1314). The amendment would require presidents to consider religious freedom in other countries when negotiating with those countries for trade agreements with the U.S. Lankford said the provision would help the U.S. encourage other nations to “recognize the power of the freedom of religion within their own borders” and discourage them from religious discrimination against their citizens. The vote, on May 18, was unanimous with 92 yeas.

YEAS: Collins R-Maine, King I-Maine

Senate Vote 2

FAST-TRACK TRADE NEGOTIATIONS: The Senate has agreed to a motion to end debate on the substitute amendment, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to the Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act (H.R. 1314). The substitute amendment would authorize fast-track trade promotion authority for presidents to negotiate the terms of trade treaties, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other nations bordering the Pacific Ocean. Hatch called for moving on to a vote on the trade legislation that he said was the only way for Congress to “effectively assert its priorities in our ongoing trade negotiations” and create a path for signing trade treaties that promise to open access to foreign markets for U.S. farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs. An opponent of ending debate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said fast-track authority would give presidents too much power to negotiate trade treaties that lack input from Congress. Sessions added that it appeared the Trans-Pacific Partnership would reduce U.S. jobs and wages, and diminish domestic manufacturing industries. The vote, on May 21, was 62 yeas to 38 nays.

NAYS: Collins, King