For the week ending October 25
SCALING BACK ANTI-POVERTY INVESTMENTS BY BANKS: Voting 43 for and 48 against, the Senate on Oct. 19 cleared the way for a Trump administration regulatory rollback that would allow banks to skirt anti-poverty objectives of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). A civil rights law, the CRA gives banks incentives to issue loans for economic development and affordable housing in low- and moderate-income communities where they have branches. In part, the rollback would allow banks to comply with the law by meeting broad criteria rather than specific social and economic obligations in poor communities. On this vote, the Senate turned back a Democratic-sponsored measure (HJ Res 90) to block the new rule, which has not yet taken effect.
A yes vote opposed a weakening of the Community Reinvestment Act.
YES: Tom Udall, D, Martin Heinrich, D
BLOCKING GOP CORONAVIRUS PACKAGE: Voting 51 for and 44 against, the Senate on Oct. 21 failed to reach 60 votes needed to advance a Republican-sponsored $500 billion coronavirus-relief package (S 178). The measure included funds to expand unemployment benefits, extend the Paycheck Protection Program for businesses, build protective features at K-12 schools, expand COVID-19 testing, advance vaccine development and take other steps to deal with the pandemic. Democrats called the bill small-bore compared to a $2.2 trillion measure recently passed by the House, noting that it omitted benefits including $1,200 stimulus payments to individuals, aid for renters and homeowners, expanded child tax credits and funding for postal operations, election security and the 2020 Census.
A yes vote was to advance the Republican bill.
NO: Udall, Heinrich
HOUSE Deb Haaland (D) Ben Ray Luján (D) Xochitl Torres Small (D)
SENATE Martin Heinrich (D) Tom Udall (D)
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Zip codes: House 20515, Senate 20510
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