Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted last week.

HOUSE VOTES

REGULATING HEALTH CARE WORKPLACES: The House has passed the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R. 1195), sponsored by Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., to require the Labor Department to make a new occupational safety and health standard for preventing workplace violence in the health care and social services sectors. Courtney said of the need for the standard: “Every year we fail to address this situation, we are condemning thousands of nurses, doctors, aides, EMTs, and social workers to suffer preventable injuries, sometimes fatal, on the job.” An opponent, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said the bill “is particularly ill-timed and ill-advised as it forces OSHA to issue an interim final rule on workplace violence within 1 year, which will significantly strain healthcare facilities that are heroically working on the front lines.” The vote, on April 16, was 254 yeas to 166 nays.

YEAS: Chellie Pingree, D-1st District; Jared Golden, D-2nd District

SMALL BUSINESS LOANS: The House has passed the 504 Credit Risk Management Improvement Act (H.R. 1482), sponsored by Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., to change the Small Business Administration’s 504 loan program by requiring it to issue rules for loan recipients to comply with environmental requirements. Bishop said the change would support a program that “has provided access to capital and helped build communities across the country for over six decades.” The vote, on April 16, was 411 yeas to 8 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

MARIJUANA AND BANKS: The House has passed the SAFE Banking Act (H.R. 1996), sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., to bar federal government agencies that regulate banks from penalizing them for providing services to legal marijuana-related businesses. Perlmutter said the bill, by enabling the businesses to access electronic banking systems rather than deal in cash, “will improve transparency and accountability and help law enforcement root out illegal transactions to prevent tax evasion, money laundering, and other white-collar crime.” An opponent, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., said the bill failed to address marijuana’s status as a federally banned controlled substance, and therefore would effectively legalize money laundering. The vote, on April 19, was 321 yeas to 101 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

DEMOCRACY IN HONG KONG: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 1130), sponsored by Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y., to condemn national security legislation adopted by China and the Hong Kong government for violating rights and freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong. Meeks called the resolution a needed response to the legislation, which “steals from the people of Hong Kong the ability to exercise the freedoms of speech and association and creates an environment of fear around the expression of any political sentiment.” The vote, on April 19, was 418 yeas to 1 nay.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

REPRIMANDING HOUSE MEMBER: The House has tabled a resolution (H. Res. 331), sponsored by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., that would have censured Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., for comments in which she demanded a guilty verdict ahead of the conclusion of the trial of Derek Chauvin in Minnesota. The vote, on April 20, was 216 yeas to 210 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

PASSING LEGISLATION: The House has agreed to a motion sponsored by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., to pass an array of 15 bills and one resolution without individual yea-nay votes. The vote on the motion, on April 20, was 355 yeas to 69 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS: The House has passed the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act (H.R. 1333), sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. The bill would limit the president’s authority to suspend or restrict travel into the U.S. by a given class of aliens, and require federal agencies to consult with Congress before restricting entry. Chu said: “We must make sure no president is ever able to ban people from coming to the U.S. simply because of their religion.” A bill opponent, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., criticized provisions requiring the president to get State Department permission for a restriction and giving anyone who claims harm from a restriction standing to go to court to block that restriction. The vote, on April 21, was 218 yeas to 208 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

IMMIGRANTS AND LEGAL ACCESS: The House has passed the Access to Counsel Act (H.R. 1573), sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., to establish various standards for access to legal counsel by people detained at the U.S. border or subject to greater inspection before entering the U.S. Jayapal said the standards would “make sure we treat everybody with dignity and respect” at the border. An opponent, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said the standards would redirect agency resources away from security operations, with a resulting deepening of the border crisis. The vote, on April 21, was 217 yeas to 207 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

SAUDI ARABIA: The House has passed the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act (H.R. 1392), sponsored by Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., to limit the sale of military material to Saudi Arabia absent reports by the president on human rights conditions in the country, and set out diplomatic penalties if Saudi Arabia harasses its citizens who are living in the U.S. Connolly said the bill would send “a message to human rights defenders, dissidents, and journalists worldwide and reaffirm the unshakeable American commitment to basic rights and freedoms.” The vote, on April 21, was 350 yeas to 71 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

STATUS OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: The House has passed the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., to make Washington, D.C., a state and establish a new federal government district called the Capital, which would include the White House, Capitol, and certain other nearby federal buildings. Norton said currently, “D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws under which they, as American citizens, must live.” An opponent, Rep. Jody B. Hice, R-Ga., said the bill “flies in the face of what our Founders intended. They never wanted the seat of our government to be a state, and they specifically framed the Constitution to say so.” The vote, on April 22, was 216 to 208 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

SENATE VOTES

REGULATING SECURITIES: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Gary Gensler to serve on the Securities and Exchange Commission for a term ending in June 2026. Gensler, who chaired the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Obama administration, was confirmed as SEC chairman last week for a term ending this June. The vote, on April 20, was 54 yeas to 45 nays.

YEAS: Susan Collins, R-Maine; Angus King, I-Maine

DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lisa O. Monaco to serve as Deputy Attorney General. Monaco was the White House’s homeland security advisor in the latter part of the Obama administration; previously, she was a Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation official from 2000 to 2013. The vote, on April 20, was 98 yeas to 2 nays.

YEAS: Collins, King

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Vanita Gupta to serve as Associate Attorney General. Gupta was head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from 2014 to January 2017; previously, she was an American Civil Liberties Union attorney and official. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said that in her time at Justice, Gupta “led efforts to reform police departments across the nation, and she did it in a way that brought people together.” An opponent, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Gupta “has repeatedly amplified leftwing fearmongering toward judicial nominees and sitting federal judges. She has levied ad hominem attacks on members of this body.” The vote, on April 21, was 51 yeas to 49 nays.

NAYS: Collins

YEAS: King

UNIVERSITY ADMISSION PRACTICES: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (S. 937). The amendment would have barred federal government funding for colleges and universities that discriminate against Asian Americans. Cruz said the amendment was needed because qualified Asian Americans were being denied admission “in favor of underrepresented minority groups.” An opponent, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said: “Discrimination against Asian-American students or any students on the basis of race is already prohibited by federal law.” The vote, on April 22, was 49 yeas to 48 nays.

YEAS: Collins

NAYS: King

COVID-19 BIAS: The Senate has passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (S. 937), sponsored by Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, to require the Justice Department to speed its review of alleged cases of COVID-19 hate crimes: offenses prompted by a person’s characteristics and actual or perceived relationship to COVID-19 spread. Hirono called the bill “real action to confront the wave of anti-Asian hate sweeping our country.” The vote, on April 22, was 94 yeas to 1 nay.

YEAS: Collins, King