Here's What The GOP Congress Did Last Week

Every day that Congress is in session our representatives are reviewing and voting on important pieces of legislation. Knowing what the people we elect to represent us in government are doing is vital to creating a population of educated voters. Here's what Congress did during the week of May 19 to May 23, 2014. None of the votes will come as any surprise to left-leaning constituents.

HR 4435, Fiscal 2015 Military Budget 

325 For, 98 Against
216 Republicans and 109 Democrats voted for this legislation, while 13 Republicans and 85 Democrats voted against it. The House authorized a $600.7 billion military budget for 2015. One thing done right in the passage of HR 4435 is improving mental health and suicide prevention programs for veterans.

 However, the House is sticking to its guns: Air Force U-2 spy planes will NOT be retired, even though the Pentagon doesn’t want them. The smart money is on the House catering to defense contractor lobbyists on this clause.

 Sadly, the House continues to block sexual assault victims from receiving justice outside the military chain of command. Military personnel who suffered rape or sexual assault will need to continue to fight against the status quo, good old boys club, that doesn’t want to acknowledge that they may be protecting rapists.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h240 

Minimum Wage, Equal Pay 

 Forget about it. The House voted against this bill (again). Just 4 Republicans voted in favor of this legislation, while 190 Democrats voted in favor. On the other hand, 4 Democrats voted against this legislation along with 227 Republicans.

The bill would have prohibited government contracts being awarded to companies that failed to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour, and provide pay equity between female and male employees. So Uncle Sam may continue to award contracts to employers who discriminate against women by paying them less than men, and who refuse to pay a living wage.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h226 

Ban on Climate Change Spending 

 227 Republicans and 4 Democrats voted for an amendment to HR 4435 to prohibit the use of federal funds that would have allowed the Department of Defense some latitude in its 2015 budget, for spending on programs that address climate change.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h231 

Repeal of 9/11 War Resolution

 15 Republicans and 176 Democrats voted for repealing open-ended war authority, which was enacted one week after 9/11. However, 233 voted to NOT repeal this authority, which has been the legal basis of our continuing military actions since 9/11.

 Pay careful attention here, ladies and gentlemen. House Republicans made it clear that they want presidents (including President Obama) to continue to have the authority to detain suspected terrorists in U.S. military custody without charges, rather than assigning such cases to the civilian criminal justice system.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h234 

Guantanamo Bay Closure

 Republicans in the House again defeated an amendment to HR 4435 to shut down Guantanamo Bay. A total of 224 Republicans and 23 Democrats voted against closing Gitmo.  (6 Republicans and 171 Democrats voted for the passage of this amendment.)

 All that talk about how President Obama hasn’t lived up to his promise to close Gitmo is cheap and misleading. The GOP Congress doesn’t want to let go of the presidential authority to hold people in places like Gitmo. The Republican controlled House lies to your faces whenever they say President Obama is the reason Gitmo still exists.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h233 

Curbs on NSA Surveillance

 303 House members voted to scale back the NSA’s authority to collect bulk data on American citizens. The NSA will now be required to scale back caching our phone calls and emails, which was allowed under The Patriot Act. In future, the NSA will have to provide a “degree of specific information” - short of probable cause - to identify its target in the context of a terrorism investigation.

 Critics of this successful vote say that the “degree of specific information” standard is so poorly defined as to make it no more restrictive than in the past, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.

Quick Firing of Civil Servants

 The House voted 330 voted for, and 33 against (all Democrats), waiving certain civil-service job protections in a clear response to the recently reported, but decade old VA scandal. The House sent HR 4031 to the Senate for passage in one of the most rapidly resolved issues during the 113th Congress.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h229

 To keep track of how Congress votes on issues important to you, go to https://www.govtrack.us/. If we don't know how our reps are voting, how can we possibly know how we should vote?