Along with last week’s roll call votes, the Senate also passed the Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act (S. 2330), to provide for congressional oversight of the board of directors of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and to protect amateur athletes from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; the Composite Technology in Infrastructure (S. 384), to require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United States; and the No TikTok on Government Devices Act (S. 3455), to prohibit certain individuals from downloading or using TikTok on any device issued by the United States or a government corporation.

HOUSE VOTES

MILITARY SPENDING: The House has passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 7617), sponsored by Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, D-Ind. The bill would fund Defense Department programs for fiscal 2021. The vote, on July 31, was 217 yeas to 197 nays.
YEAS: Chellie Pingree, D-1st District; Jared Golden, D-2nd District

SENATE VOTES

ENERGY DEPUTY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Mark Wesley Menezes to serve as the Energy Department’s deputy secretary. Menezes had been the agency’s under secretary since 2017, and before that was an executive at various energy companies and chief counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A supporter, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Menezes had excelled at Energy and shown the knowledge and capacity to assume a higher role at the agency. The vote, on Aug. 4, was 79 yeas to 16 nays.
YEAS: Susan Collins, R-Maine; Angus King, I-Maine

NEW YORK DISTRICT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of John Peter Cronan to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the southern district of New York. Cronan has been an official in either the Justice Department or the southern district since 2004. The vote, on August 6, was 55 yeas to 42 nays.
YEAS: Collins
NAYS: King