There were no key votes in the House this week.

SENATE VOTES

REGULATING NUCLEAR POWER: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Robert J. Feitel to be the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general. Feitel has been a Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation attorney since 1995. A supporter, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Feitel’s service was needed given the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s heavy workload in overseeing nuclear power plant licensing and plant shutdowns, as well as the development of “new nuclear technologies that will be essential to our clean energy future.” The vote, on May 4, was unanimous with 87 yeas.
YEAS: Susan Collins, R-Maine; Angus King, I-Maine

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of William R. Evanina to serve as director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Evanina has been the Center’s director since mid-2014, and before that was a longtime special agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and an official at the Central Intelligence Agency. A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Evanina’s “long professional experience has given him a well-trained eye. He has made clear he is focused on the most serious espionage threats facing our country today,” including Russia and China. An opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Evanina “has failed, repeatedly, the key test on protecting whistleblower rights.” The vote, on May 6, was 84 yeas to 7 nays.
YEAS: Collins, King

MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAN: The Senate has failed to override a veto by President Trump of a resolution (S.J. Res. 68), sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., to prevent the use of military force against Iran in the absence of a declaration of war by Congress or specific legal authorization from Congress. Kaine called the resolution a necessary way for Congress to assert its war-making powers and control the executive branch’s use of military force. A resolution opponent, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said it “would leave Americans vulnerable to the whims of Iran’s terrorist-supporting regime” by preventing the president from countering the threat from Iran. The vote, on May 7, was 49 yeas to 44 nays, with a two-thirds majority required to override the veto.
YEAS: Collins, King

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