WASHINGTON— Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending Jan. 14.
Along with roll call votes this week, the Senate also passed the Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act (H.R. 2471), to measure the progress of post-disaster recovery and efforts to address corruption, governance, rule of law, and media freedoms in Haiti.
House
GI BILL EDUCATION AID: The House has passed the Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act (H.R. 1836), sponsored by Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif. The bill would include service time in the National Guard or the military’s reserves as counting toward a military member’s eligibility to receive funds to help pay for the member’s education. Levin said the change would work “to deliver some basic fairness in the way we provide GI Bill benefits for the men and women who serve our nation.” The vote, on Jan. 12, was 287 yeas to 135 nays.
YEAS
Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-3rd
FEDERAL ELECTION PROCEDURES: The House has passed the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act (H.R. 5746), sponsored by Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., D-Va. The bill would make numerous changes to voting and election procedures for federal offices, including making the November election day a legal holiday and requiring that formerly imprisoned criminals be able to vote. Beyer called the bill a “stand against efforts to manipulate voting rules in favor of the few and take our essential democratic privilege away from all Americans.” An opponent, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said that giving Congress direct control of elections administered by the states was a violation of the Constitution. The vote, on Jan. 13, was 220 yeas to 203 nays.