WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.
House
LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING: The House has rejected the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act (S. 4003), sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The bill would have the Justice Department develop training and grant programs for law enforcement departments to adopt alternative responses to individuals in a mental, behavioral health, or suicidal crisis. A supporter, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said: “Reforms to law enforcement, including de-escalation training, both improve public safety and reduce crime.” An opponent, Rep. Thomas P. Tiffany, R-Wis., said the programs were a soft-on-crime approach to law enforcement, and “in recent years, these kinds of approaches to fighting crime have been a boon to criminals and have led to our current crime epidemic.” The vote, on Nov. 29, was 247 yeas to 160 nays, with a two-thirds majority required for approval.
YEAS
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-3rd
CRACK COCAINE SENTENCES: The House has passed the Terry Technical Correction Act (H.R. 5455), sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, to make all those convicted of crack cocaine offenses eligible for retroactive reductions of their sentences under the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. Lee said that by supplanting a Supreme Court ruling that disallowed such sentencing reductions, the bill would help “eradicate the devastating consequences of the poorly conceived War on Drugs.” The vote, on Nov. 29, was 307 yeas to 101 nays.
NOT VOTING
Herrera Beutler
RAILROAD LABOR DISPUTE: The House has passed a bill (H.J. Res. 100), sponsored by Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr., D-N.J., to require that U.S. railroads and several rail worker unions accept labor agreements that include wage and benefit increases. Payne said of the need for the bill: “The failure to prevent a rail stoppage would be irresponsible as it would have devastating consequences on our economy and everyday American life.” The vote, on Nov. 30, was 290 yeas to 137 nays.