Along with roll call votes last week, the Senate also passed, by voice vote, the Safe Connections Act (S. 120), to prevent and respond to the misuse of communications services that facilitates domestic violence and other crimes.

HOUSE VOTES

DIGITIZING FEDERAL MAPS: The House has passed the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act (H.R. 3113), sponsored by Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, to direct federal agencies to develop compatibility standards for digitizing and distributing geographic information system data on government lands that are accessible for recreational purposes. Moore said: “Making this information more detailed and accessible in the digital age is one of the many reasons why this bill enjoys such broad support.” The vote, on March 15, was 414 yeas to 9 nays.

YEAS: Chellie Pingree, D-1st District; Jared Golden, D-2nd District

FISH MANAGEMENT AND WESTERN RIVERS: The House has passed the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins Recovery Act (H.R. 5001), sponsored by Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., to extend, through 2024, the Interior Department’s authority to build facilities to aid recovery of endangered fish populations in two Southwest river basins. The vote, on March 15, was 397 yeas to 27 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

PRESERVING LOUISIANA THEATRE: The House has passed the Save the Liberty Theatre Act (H.R. 3197), sponsored by Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to convey two parcels of federal parks land in Eunice, La., to the city of Eunice for the rehabilitation of its Liberty Theatre. The vote, on March 16, was 422 yeas to 4 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

EL PASO MEMORIAL GARDEN: The House has passed a bill (H.R. 4380), sponsored by Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, to designate a garden in El Paso, Texas, as the El Paso Community Healing Garden National Memorial, while not making the garden part of the National Park System. Escobar said the designation would “help ensure that our entire country honors the 23 innocent lives we lost in the attack on El Paso on August 3, 2019.” The vote, on March 16, was 403 yeas to 25 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

WORLD WAR II HISTORY SITES: The House has passed the Japanese American World War II History Network Act (H.R. 6434), sponsored by Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., to establish a network of National Park Service materials at sites related to Japanese Americans and World War II, including relocation camps. A supporter, Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., said: “The new network will be an important tool to ensure that this history, no matter how painful it may be, is always remembered, and the important stories of interned Japanese Americans are told with honor and respect.” The vote, on March 16, was 406 yeas to 16 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

TRADE WITH RUSSIA: The House has passed the Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act (H.R. 7108), sponsored by Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., to suspend normal trade relations with the two countries, at the World Trade Organization and other trade groups, over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Neal said: “We must do everything in our power to hold Russia accountable for the atrocities it is committing hourly in the nation of Ukraine.” The vote, on March 17, was 424 yeas to 8 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

FORCED ARBITRATION: The House has passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (H.R. 963), sponsored by Rep. Hank Johnson Jr., D-Ga., to invalidate agreements to use arbitration to settle disputes that involve employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights litigation. Johnson said: “It is a constitutional right that, when there is a dispute, a party should be able to take that dispute to court and have a jury trial, and no forced contract should deprive that person of that constitutional right.” A bill opponent, Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said it would destroy the use of arbitration, a legal mechanism “used with great utility and utilized throughout the last hundred years almost, since 1925.” The vote, on March 17, was 222 yeas to 209 nays.

YEAS: Pingree, Golden

SENATE VOTES

BUDGETING: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Shalanda Young to be Director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Young, the OMB acting director since March 2021, was previously a senior aide, in several different roles, on the House Appropriations Committee. A supporter, Sen. Gary C. Peters, D-Mich., said Young “has done an exemplary job serving as OMB’s Acting Director for the past year. She is a dedicated public servant and a proven leader.” The vote, on March 15, was 61 yeas to 36 nays.

YEAS: Susan Collins, R-Maine; Angus King, I-Maine

TRANSPORTATION MASKING: The Senate has passed a resolution (S.J. Res. 37), sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to disapprove of and void a Centers for Disease Control rule requiring masking on various modes of transportation, including trains, airplanes, and buses. Paul said: “No statute exists that remotely conveys a power to mandate masks to any department of the federal government.” An opponent, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said cancelling the rule “could lead us to be extremely vulnerable if there were a resurge in coronavirus cases, as we are seeing in other nations like Germany.” The vote, on March 15, was 57 yeas to 40 nays.

YEAS: Collins

NAYS: King

CALIFORNIA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Jacqueline Corley to be a judge on the U.S. district court for the northern district of California. Corley has been a magistrate judge in the district since 2011, and previously was a clerk for a district judge. The vote, on March 17, was 63 yeas to 36 nays.

YEAS: Collins, King

SECOND CALIFORNIA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Fred W. Slaughter to be a judge on the U.S. district court for the central district of California. Slaughter, a federal prosecutor in the district from 2002 to 2014, has since been an Orange County Superior Court judge. A supporter, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said: “Judge Slaughter’s long career demonstrates his legal excellence as well as his commitment to providing justice for all.” The vote, on March 17, was 57 yeas to 41 nays.

YEAS: Collins, King