House
Lower Personal Taxes, Higher Federal Debt
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was dead on arrival.
Voting 261 for and 147 against, the House on Sept. 13 passed a Republican-sponsored bill (HR 3590) that would increase the share of personal income that can be deducted for unreimbursed medical expenses. This tax cut for filers who itemize deductions would add a projected $32.7 billion to the national debt over 10 years because it is not offset by spending cuts or revenue increases. Specifically, the bill would lower from 10 percent to 7.5 percent (of adjusted gross income) the threshold above which taxpayers are allowed to deduct medical expenses not covered by insurance. At present, the 7.5 percent break point is available only to taxpayers 65 and older. Without this bill or a similar remedy, the threshold for seniors who itemize deductions will rise to 10 percent starting in 2017. Non-seniors who itemize deductions already are subject to the 10 percent threshold.
Yes: McSally, Gosar, Salmon, Schweikert, Franks, Sinema
Nay: Gallego, Grijalva
Did not vote: Kirkpatrick
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Ban on Guantanamo Bay Transfers
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it appeared certain to fail.
Voting 244 for and 174 against, the House on Sept. 15 passed a bill (HR 5351) that would prohibit the administration from transferring detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison to foreign countries or incarceration in the United States. Guantanamo now has 61 prisoners, down from about 800 during the George W. Bush administration and 240 when President Obama took office in 2009. The administration seeks to transfer 20 individuals who have never been charged with crimes and are considered acceptable security risks. Between 20-30 percent of Guantanamo detainees released by the Bush administration and 6 percent released by the Obama administration later joined hostile forces, it was stated in floor debate.
Yes: Salmon, Sinema, Gosar, Kirkpatrick, Franks, Salmon, McSally, Schweikert
Nay: Grijalva, Gallego
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Job Security at Department of Veterans Affairs
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was likely to fail.
Voting 310 for and 116 against, the House on Sept. 14 passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 5620) that would reduce civil-service job protections at the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to make it easier for the agency to fire or discipline poorly performing employees. In part, the bill would require the Merit Systems Protection Board to adjudicate appeals from targeted employees within 60 days; restrict the ability of these employees to pursue appeals in federal court; limit the ability of senior executives to appeal disciplinary actions within the department and give more protection to whistleblowers who call out supervisors.
Yes: Salmon, Sinema, Gosar, Kirkpatrick, Franks, Salmon, McSally, Schweikert
Nay: Grijalva, Gallego
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GOP Clampdown on Regulations
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it faced oblivion.
The House on Sept. 14 passed, 250-171, a Republican-sponsored bill (HR 5226) that would impose additional reporting and disclosure requirements on federal agencies when they seek public comments on proposed new regulations. In part, agencies would have to publish on their web sites the contents of their substantive verbal, written and electronic communications with interested parties, including sensitive internal discussions not now shared with the public. The bill would affect the several thousand new regulations agencies put into effect each year to implement the broadly worded laws passed by Congress.
Yes: Salmon, Sinema, Gosar, Franks, Salmon, McSally, Schweikert
Nay: Grijalva, Gallego, Kirkpatrick
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Lead Poisoning of Drinking Water
A yes vote was to adopt the motion.
Voting 185 for and 238 against, the House on Sept. 14 defeated a Democratic attempt to exclude from a GOP clampdown on federal
regulations (HR 5226, above) “any public communication to combat a public health crisis including the Zika virus, opioid abuse and lead poisoning.”
Yes: Salmon, Gosar, Franks, Salmon, McSally, Schweikert
Nay: Grijalva, Gallego, Kirkpatrick, Sinema
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Senate
Corps of Engineers Water Projects
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting 95 for and three against, the Senate on Sept. 15 passed a bill (S 2848) that would authorize $10.6 billion over 10 years for hundreds of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects for purposes such as flood control, shoreline protection, river navigation, harbor dredging, lock and dam maintenance and environmental restoration. The bill includes $100 million in emergency grants and loans to help communities such as Flint, Mich., deal with lead-poisoned drinking water and $700 million to help municipalities replace crumbling drinking-water infrastructure.
Yes: McCain
Nay: Flake
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Zila Virus, Planned Parenthood, Confederate Flag
A yes vote was to advance the bill toward final passage.
By a vote of 52 for and 46 against, the Senate on Sept. 6 failed to reach 60 votes needed to end Democratic delay and advance a bill (HR 2577) that would fund fiscal 2016 budgets for veterans, military construction and housing programs. The bill includes $1.1 billion for combating the mosquito-borne Zika virus now spreading in the United States. Democrats based their filibuster on GOP-sponsored language in the bill that would ban Planned Parenthood funding of Zika-related reproductive care, allow unfettered display of the Confederate flag in national cemeteries and ease federal regulation of pesticides. When contracted by pregnant women, Zika can cause microcephaly, a birth defect in which the baby’s head is smaller than expected.
Yes: McCain, Flake
