For the week ending Oct. 18
CONDEMNING TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM SYRIA: Voting 354 for and 60 against, the House on Oct. 16 adopted a nonbinding resolution (HJ Res 77) condemning President Trump’s decision to abruptly remove U.S. troops from Syria. The measure also called on Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to halt his country’s attacks on Kurdish forces that began after American forces stood down in northeastern Syria following Trump’s Oct. 6 phone call with Erdogan. The resolution was backed by all 225 Democrats who voted, and by 129 of the 189 Republicans who voted. Four members answered “present,” which indicates they participated in the roll call without taking a stand. They are Republicans Bob Gibbs of Ohio, Jody Hice of Georgia and Chip Roy of Texas and independent Justin Amash of Michigan.
A yes vote was to send the resolution to the Senate.
YES: Deb Haaland, D-1, Xochitl Torres Small, D-2, Ben Ray Luján, D-3
PUBLIC REPORTING OF U.S. JOBS SENT ABROAD: Voting 226 for and 184 against, the House on Oct. 18 passed a bill (HR 3624) that would require publicly traded companies to annually report to the Securities and Exchange Commission the number of people they employ in each foreign country, each U.S. territory and each of the 50 states. The geographical breakdowns would enable investors and consumers to assess the extent to which American corporations are exporting jobs and relocating employees within the United States. In part, this would enable the public to determine the extent to which domestic layoffs are attributable to outsourcing.
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.
YES: Haaland, Torres Small, Luján
RESTORING OBAMA-ERA “CLEAN POWER PLAN”: Voting 41 for and 53 against, the Senate on Oct. 17 defeated a Democratic bid to restore the Obama administration’s “Clean Power Plan” for reducing carbon emissions by coal- and natural gas-fired electricity-generating plants. President Trump in March 2017 ordered a rollback of the previous administration’s many-pronged federal-state plan for addressing global warming caused by power plants. On this vote, the Senate defeated a measure (SJ Res 53) that sought to kill an Environmental Protection Agency rule putting his directive into effect. Power-plant emissions make up about one-third of greenhouse-gas discharges in the United States and are the
nation’s largest source of carbon pollution, according to the EPA.
A yes vote was to adopt the resolution.
YES: Tom Udall, D, Martin Heinrich, D
AFFIRMING TRUMP BORDER EMERGENCY: Voting 53 for and 36 against, the Senate on Oct. 17 failed to override President Trump’s veto of a measure (SJ Res 54) that would nullify a national emergency he declared on the Southwest border over immigration concerns. The vote affirmed the Feb. 15 emergency declaration, which he has used as authority for diverting $3.6 billion appropriated for military construction at bases domestically and overseas to a non-military account for building 175 miles of border barriers. Override forces needed a two-thirds majority of senators voting to prevail. No senator spoke on the other side of the issue.
A yes vote was to override the veto.
YES: Udall, Heinrich
HOUSE: Deb Haaland (D) Ben Ray Luján (D) Xochitl Torres Small (D)
SENATE: Martin Heinrich (D) Tom Udall (D)
Contact your legislators at the U.S. Capitol
Zip codes: House 20515, Senate 20510
Capitol operator: (202) 224-3121
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