Washington, D.C., roll call report

WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending Aug. 12.

There were no key votes in the House this week.

Senate

MALTA AMBASSADOR: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Constance J. Milstein to be the U.S. ambassador to Malta. Milstein, currently an executive at Ogden CAP Properties, a New York City real estate company, was an aide to the Army secretary in the Obama administration. The vote, on Aug. 6, was 57 yeas to 34 nays.

YEAS

Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Patty Murray, D-Wash.

IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM CLAIMS: The Senate has rejected a motion to waive a point of order applied to an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376). The amendment would have required the surgeon general to develop a plan for handling changes in immigration levels that would result from ending a suspension of asylum claims due to the federal government’s declared Covid emergency. The vote, on Aug. 6, was 56 yeas to 44 nays, with a three-fifths majority required for approval.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

TAXPAYER AUDITS: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376), that would have barred the Internal Revenue Service from using the bill’s increase in agency funding to audit taxpayers with annual taxable incomes below $400,000. Crapo said in the absence of such a limitation, “supersized IRS funding will squeeze billions from the middle-class workers and small businesses through ramped-up audits.” An opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said: “Billionaires often have little or no taxable income for years on end. So under this amendment, the billionaires who live off their borrowings would be immune from audit.” The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st nay vote.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

DRUG PRICES: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would have excluded certain Medicare Part D prescription drugs and breakthrough therapy drugs from the bill’s drug pricing provisions. Marshall said the exclusion would promote the development of “new innovative drugs for life-threatening illnesses, like Alzheimer’s and cancers.” An opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said it “would water down the new negotiations program, so it would be harder to negotiate over the most expensive drugs in Medicare today.” The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st nay vote.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

ENERGY PROJECT PERMITS: The Senate has rejected a motion to waive a budgetary point of order against an amendment sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376). The amendment would have streamlined permitting for infrastructure and energy projects such as natural gas pipelines. Capito said faster project reviews would ease “inflation, permitting, and energy supply challenges” that are hurting the U.S. An amendment opponent, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said it “would undermine protection of our water quality, weaken air quality protections, harm wildlife, and would have significant impacts on vulnerable communities.” The vote, on Aug. 7, was 49 yeas to 50 nays.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

OFFSHORE OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would have required the Interior Department to hold at least 10 sales of leases, over the next five years, to produce oil and natural gas in offshore waters that are part of the Outer Continental Shelf. The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st nay vote.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

EXPANDED IRS: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would have removed the bill’s increase in funding for the Internal Revenue Service. Cruz called the increase a “terrible idea” that would “make the IRS larger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and the Border Patrol all combined.” An opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the new staffers were needed to ensure that “wealthy tax cheats” do not “get away with breaking the law scot-free.” The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st nay vote.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

INSULIN SUBSIDIES: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would have reinstated a federal government rule, repealed by the Biden administration, to authorize health centers funded by the government to provide deeply discounted supplies of insulin and epinephrine to patients at the centers. Kennedy said the rule “would substantially and dramatically lower the cost of insulin for millions of Americans.” An opponent, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called the amendment part of a Republican effort to derail the attempt to pass the underlying bill. The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st nay vote.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

BORDER SECURITY: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would have provided $500 million for building pedestrian fencing and barriers on the border with Mexico. Sullivan said the spending was needed to prevent “crime; victims of human trafficking, many of them children; a fentanyl epidemic killing our young people; chaos — all fueled by a lawless border.” An opponent, Sen. Gary C. Peters, D-Mich., said the offsetting cut in spending at the Homeland Security Department would derail an effort to protect government workers from harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st nay vote.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

SMALL BUSINESS TAXES: The Senate has passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would exempt aggregations of businesses that are owned by a single entity from the bill’s minimum corporate book tax, and extend by one year a cap on the allowable state and local tax deduction for federal income tax payers. Thune said the amendment would “help ensure our nation’s small- and medium-size businesses aren’t hit with a misguided and entirely inappropriate $35 billion tax hike.” An opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said “there are no tax increases on small businesses in our bill.” The vote, on Aug. 7, was 57 yeas to 43 nays.

NAYS

Cantwell, Murray

BUSINESS TAXES: The Senate has passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., to a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376) that would strike the one-year extension of a cap on the allowable state and local tax deduction for federal income tax payers and replace it with a two-year extension of the cap on excess business losses. Warner said the amendment “will allow us to move forward on this historic legislation.” An opponent, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the one-year extension he had proposed in a separate amendment was the better policy. The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st yea vote.

YEAS:

Cantwell, Murray

TAX, SPENDING PROGRAMS: The Senate has passed a tax and spending bill (H.R. 5376), sponsored by Rep. John A. Yarmuth, D-Ky. The bill’s spending measures include changes to Medicare prescription drug programs and various subsidies for non-fossil fuel sources of energy and energy efficiency programs, while its tax policy changes include a 15 percent alternative minimum tax on large companies and about $80 billion of increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service. A supporter, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said it “will help fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, reduce carbon emissions, and lower health care costs for millions of Americans.” An opponent, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the bill “a long list of reckless tax increases and spending.” The vote, on Aug. 7, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a 51st yea vote.

YEAS

Cantwell, Murray