For the week ending February 5th
REMOVING CONGRESSWOMAN FROM COMMITTEES: Voting 230 for and 198 against, the House on Feb. 4 took away the committee assignments of Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in response to her false, shocking and violent public comments and Facebook postings in recent years, including endorsement of calls for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be shot and former President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to be lynched. Greene has claimed no airplane struck the Pentagon on 9/11, the Clintons were behind the plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy, Jr., that the Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings never occurred and a Jewish-guided laser beam from space caused California wildfires. She aligned herself as recently as July with the conspiracy cult QAnon. The first-term lawmaker from Georgia’s 14th District had been assigned to two panels: Budget, and Education and Labor. This vote to adopt H Res 72 left her with no committee seats.
A yes vote was to strip Greene of her committee assignments.
YES: Deb Haaland, D-1, Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-3 NO: Yvette Herrell, R-2
ADVANCING PLAN FOR BUDGET RECONCILIATION: Voting 218 for and 212 against, the House on Feb. 3 adopted a fiscal 2021 budget resolution (H Con Res 11) that would allow President Biden’s $1.9 trillion package of COVID-19 relief measures to pass the Senate on a simple majority vote in coming weeks. The resolution triggers the “budget reconciliation” process that protects specified measures from filibusters. Reconciliation is used to expedite complex legislation that affects spending and revenue levels and the national debt. Reconciliation can be used once per fiscal year. The current fiscal year began last Oct. 1, and another budget resolution for fiscal 2022 is due this spring.
A yes vote was to adopt the budget resolution.
YES: Haaland, Leger Fernandez
NO: Herrell
ADVANCING PLAN FOR BUDGET RECONCILIATION: Voting 51 for and 50 against, the Senate on Feb. 5 adopted a fiscal 2021 budget resolution (S Con Res 5) under which President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill could be passed by simple majority vote in coming weeks. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. The resolution triggers the “budget reconciliation” process that protects specified measures from filibusters.
A yes vote was to advance the administration’s pandemic-relief legislation.
YES: Ben Ray Luján, D, Martin Heinrich, D
CONFIRMING ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: Voting 56 for and 43 against, the Senate on Feb. 2 confirmed Alejandro N. Mayorkas, 61, as secretary of homeland security. The son of a holocaust survivor and native of Cuba, he is the first Latino and immigrant to hold the position. Mayorkas was deputy DHS secretary and director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under former President Barack Obama.
A yes vote was to confirm Mayorkas.
YES: Luján, Heinrich
CONFIRMING PETE BUTTIGIEG AS TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Voting 86 for and 13 against, the Senate on Feb. 2 approved the nomination of Pete Buttigieg, 39, as secretary of transportation, making him the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a Cabinet post in U.S. history. The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020.
A yes vote was to confirm Buttigieg.
YES: Luján, Heinrich
HOUSE: Deb Haaland (D) Ben Ray Luján (D) Yvette Herrell (R)
SENATE: Martin Heinrich (D) Tom Udall (D)
Contact your legislators at the U.S. Capitol
Zip codes: House 20515, Senate 20510
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