Along with roll call votes last week, the House also passed the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act (H.R. 1222), to facilitate the establishment of additional or expanded public target ranges in certain states.

HOUSE VOTES

COLUMBIA RIVER TRIBAL FISHING RIGHTS: The House has passed a bill (H.R. 91), sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., to authorize an Interior Department study of potential sanitation and safety improvements to Indian traditional fishing grounds along the Columbia River that tribes hold by treaty. Blumenauer said the study could improve a situation in which tribal members near the Columbia “are living on a year-round basis in conditions that really should not exist anywhere in America.” The vote, on April 29, was 396 yeas to 18 nays.
YEAS: Chellie Pingree, D-1st District; Jared Golden, D-2nd District

PROTECTING ELDERLY INVESTORS: The House has passed the National Senior Investor Initiative Act (H.R. 1876), sponsored by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., to create a Securities and Exchange Commission task force charged with studying policy changes that could specifically benefit elderly investors, including problems associated with financial exploitation and cognitive decline by the investors. Gottheimer said the task force “will help stop financial predators from scamming seniors out of their savings by finding ways to strengthen protections and safeguards for seniors.” The vote, on April 30, was 392 yeas to 20 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

CLIMATE CHANGE PACT: The House has passed the Climate Action Now Act (H.R. 9), sponsored by Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., which would require the president to submit annual plans for the U.S. to meet a goal set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change of cutting its 2005 greenhouse gas emissions levels by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, and request that other large economies meet similar emissions reduction goals. Castor said: “In addition to sending an important signal to clean energy, job-creating businesses, this will send an important signal to our allies across the world. We expect ambitious action from them.” A bill opponent, Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., said the Paris agreement was flawed because Congress never approved the U.S. joining it, and therefore U.S. compliance was not required under the Constitution. The vote, on May 2, was 231 yeas to 190 nays.
YEAS: Pingree, Golden

SENATE VOTES

ENERGY DEPARTMENT LAWYER: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of William Cooper to serve as the Energy Department’s general counsel. Cooper is a senior counsel at the McConnell Valdes law firm in Washington, D.C., and a former legal official on various House energy and natural resources committees. The vote, on April 30, was 68 yeas to 31 nays.
YEAS: Susan Collins, R-Maine; Angus King, I-Maine

MILITARY DIPLOMAT: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of R. Clarke Cooper to serve as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. Cooper, an Army combat veteran and current senior military officer, was a State Department official during the George W. Bush administration. A supporter, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said that as head of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Cooper’s experience and leadership would help “ensure that our foreign policy goals are driving our security partnerships and security assistance around the world, including nearly $100 billion annually in arms sales.” The vote, on April 30, was 90 yeas to 8 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

TEXAS DISTRICT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of J. Campbell Barker to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the eastern district of Texas. Barker has been Texas’s deputy solicitor general since 2015, and was previously a private practice lawyer in Houston. An opponent, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., criticized Barker for opposing the health care reform law (Obamacare), and supporting President Trump’s so-called Muslim travel ban and Texas’s voter ID law. The vote, on May 1, was 51 yeas to 47 nays.
YEAS: Collins
NAYS: King

ALABAMA DISTRICT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Andrew Lynn Brasher to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the middle district of Alabama. Brasher, Alabama’s solicitor general since 2014, was previously deputy solicitor general and a private practice lawyer in Birmingham. An opponent, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., criticized Brasher for submitting “amicus briefs to the Supreme Court arguing against commonsense gun laws, such as age requirements for gun purchases and restrictions on concealed carry licenses.” The vote, on May 1, was 52 yeas to 47 nays.
YEAS: Collins
NAYS: King

FLORIDA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Rodolfo Armando Ruiz II to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the southern district of Florida. Ruiz, a Florida circuit court judge since 2015, was previously a county attorney and judge in Miami. The vote, on May 2, was 90 yeas to 8 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

PUERTO RICO JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Raul M. Arias-Marxuach to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for Puerto Rico. Arias-Marxuach has been a private practice lawyer and partner at San Juan law firms since 1994. The vote, on May 2, was 95 yeas to 3 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Joshua Wolson to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. Wolson has been a private practice lawyer at a Philadelphia law firm since 2008, specializing in commercial and government litigation. The vote, on May 2, was 65 yeas to 33 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

YEMEN INTERVENTION: The Senate has failed to override President Trump’s veto of a resolution (S.J. Res. 7), sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, ID-Vt., that would have required the removal from Yemen, within 30 days, of U.S. soldiers stationed there, barring congressional authorization of the use of force in Yemen. Sanders said a withdrawal would work toward peacefully resolving Yemen’s civil war and “providing immediate humanitarian aid, and helping the people, along with the international community, to rebuild their shattered economy.” An override opponent, Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said U.S. involvement in the civil war was very narrow and designed to minimize civilian casualties, and served the purpose of prevent Iran from helping the Houthi faction to imperil key Middle East shipping routes and use Iranian-made missile systems to endanger thousands of U.S. citizens. The vote, on May 2, was 53 yeas to 45 nays, with a two-thirds majority required to override the veto.
YEAS: Collins, King