Ann Kirkpatrick–Votes 2nd half of 2013

Below is a comprehensive list of all House votes taken the second half of 2013. You will find a description of each bill, an indicator of vote passage, the votes in favor, the opposing votes, and at the bottom, you will see how Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick voted. 

 

In the last vote of the week, the House passed legislation on Thursday to ensure the timely consideration of all licenses and permits required for construction or operation of any natural gas pipeline projects. The bill, sponsored by Republican Mike Pompeo of Kansas, requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve or deny certificates within one year of receiving a complete permitting application. If other federal agencies, like the EPA, have to approve part of the project, then they would have 90 days to make a decision after the FERC ruling. In a mostly party-line vote, 26 Democrats joined all voting Republicans in support of the bill, and Democrats contributed all 165 dissenting votes.

 

 Amidst the Obama Administration’s struggles to launch the new online federal insurance exchange, 39 Democrats crossed party lines Friday to pass a bill that would allow Americans to keep their current medical plans through 2014. The measure would effectively delay key coverage requirements imposed on health care plans by 2010 reform measures. The bill allows insurers to continue to sell plans to individual consumers that went into effect at the beginning of this calendar year through 2014 outside of the health care exchange established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2014, the law mandates that individuals buy government-approved coverage plans that meet a more rigorous standard of quality than many insurers currently offer. The legislation, sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., was a response to the cancellation of a raft of health plans not in compliance with the law’s requirement that policies offer a comprehensive set of benefits. The cancellations prompted an outcry and raised questions about repeated assurances, from Obama and other Democrats, that Americans who liked their health insurance plans would be able to keep them under the new law. The Senate isn’t expected to take up the measure, and the White House on Nov. 14 threatened a veto if it got that far. Democratic Senators, however, are sponsoring similar measures that would allow consumers to retain their current coverage.

 

 On Wednesday, the House approved a bill that would repeal new restrictions imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law on derivatives trading by banks. The Dodd-Frank law encourages banks to “push out” their swaps desk to affiliates by restricting their access to deposit insurance and discount credit. Republicans argue that the regulation increases costs for companies and derivatives users; Most Democrats counter that a removal of the regulation would allow banks to partake in the risky trading that led to the 2008 financial crisis. 70 Democrats and nearly all Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The House also passed a bill last week to delay regulations that would require broker-dealers advising retirement accounts to have a fiduciary duty to put the interests of their clients ahead of their own. The Senate is unlikely to consider either of these bills, and the White House does not support the current versions of either bill.

 After Congress failed to pass a full continuing resolution (CR) last week, the government officially shut down on October 1. The House decided to take up “mini-CRs” to fund various parts of the government like military pay and veterans programs. This particular “mini-CR,” passed by the House Republicans with the help of 35 Democrats, would fund veterans programs including disability payments, education benefits and home loans at current levels until December 15. The bill would also fund the Veterans Benefits Administration at the annualized rate of $2.5 billion to process disability claims.

 On Friday, the House passed another “mini-CR” to fund the nutrition programs for women, infants and children (WIC). The bill would fund the special supplemental nutrition program until December 15 at post-sequester fiscal 2013 levels. The Senate is extremely unlikely to consider any of the House “mini-CRs.”

 Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick voted NO

 

 After the Senate amended and approved its version of the government funding legislation, the House voted on two amendments to the legislation in the early hours of Sunday. The first vote approved Minnesota Republican Erik Paulsen’s amendment that would remove the medical device tax implemented to help fund the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. 17 Democrats joined Republicans to approve the amendment.

 

 The second amendment, sponsored by Republican Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would reinstate the House language eliminated in the Senate bill to remove funding for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Only 2 Democrats (Jim Matheson of Utah and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina) and 2 New York Republicans (Chris Gibson and Richard Hanna) crossed party lines to vote in favor of or against the amendment, respectively.

 

 In a party-line vote, the House passed legislation that would speed up reviews of mineral exploration and mining permits. All House Republicans were joined by 15 Democrats in voting for the bill. Opponents cited provisions that limit a previous environmental law’s safeguard regulations over exploration and permitting.

 

 The House chose to split agriculture policy from food aid early in the summer, resulting in the passage of a farm bill without nutrition assistance in July. Last week, under threat of veto from the White House, the House approved a nutrition bill that results in a $40 billion reduction in the program over the next ten years, which is about 5% of current spending on nutrition assistance. The House bill would also seek to make permanent the separation of farm and nutrition legislation by authorizing the former through fiscal year 2018 and the latter only through fiscal year 2016. It would also remove the policy of states qualifying people for food aid based on non-cash aid or services they receive from other programs for low-income people. The Senate approved their comprehensive farm and nutrition legislation in June. The Senate bill and the two House bills will now go to a conference committee to try and produce a final piece of legislation.

 

 At the end of last week, the House passed legislation to fund the government through December 15. The resolution removed funds for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, a key victory for the House Republicans that align with the various tea party groups. It also authorizes the Treasury Department to continue borrowing above the $16.7 trillion statutory debt limit once it is reached, through December 15, 2014. Scott Rigell of Virginia was the only Republican to vote in opposition of the resolution, and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah were the only Democrats to vote in favor. Next, the Senate will debate the resolution and likely send a version back to the House with funding for the Affordable Care Act reinstated. Congress has until October 1, the start of the next fiscal year, to approve a continuing resolution and avoid a government shutdown.

 

 Returning last week from the August recess, the House passed a bill that would block premium and cost-sharing subsidies under the 2010 health care reform law until a program to verify household income and other qualifications for the subsidies is certified as operational. Only five Democrats joined the entire Republican caucus to vote in favor of the legislation sponsored by Tennessee Republican Diane Black. The Senate is unlikely to vote on the bill, and the White House administration has already vowed to veto it.

 

 On July 31, the House voted to concur with Senate amendments to a bill that permanently sets federal student loan interest rates. The measure, approved 392-31, culminated weeks of negotiation to reach a bipartisan deal after interest rates doubled for many loans on July 1. The bill annually would link the rates charged on new student loans to the rate paid in June on 10-year Treasury notes. The terms would apply to all new federal student loans, except for low-interest Perkins loans made to needy students. The premium charged in addition to the 10-year base rate would include 2.05 percentage points for subsidized and unsubsidized portions of undergraduate loans, 3.6 points for graduate loans, and 4.6 points for PLUS loans made to graduate students and parents of undergraduates. Rates would be capped at 8.25 percent, 9.5 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively, for the three classes of loans. The market-based rate system is similar to a plan proposed by the White House in its fiscal 2014 budget, and President Obama is expected to sign it.

 Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick voted YES

 House lawmakers voted 400-20 on July 31 to pass a bill aimed at reducing Iran’s oil exports and further isolating its economy. The bill would compel countries currently purchasing crude oil from Iran to reduce their combined purchases by a total of 1 million barrels per day within a year. Failure to comply would prompt a loss in those nations’ ability to obtain “significant reduction” sanction exemptions that let them continue to purchase Iranian oil. It also would expand the list of Iranian industries effectively blacklisted, further limit Iran’s access to overseas foreign currency reserves and impose additional shipping sanctions to limit Iran’s ability to engage in international commerce. Earlier in the week, Democratic and Republican sponsors of the bill brushed off pressure to delay the vote, saying that passage would send an important signal to Iran’s incoming president about the cost of continuing to advance a nuclear program.

 

 On August 2, the House passed a bill designed to block the Treasury Department from enforcing key components of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The vote, the last before members left for August recess, represented the 40th time the House has passed measures to repeal or dismantle the health care reform law. Four Democrats voted for the measure, which was supported by all Republicans. The bill prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing penalties the 2010 law would levy on those who do not purchase health insurance when the law goes into full effect in 2014. The vote culminated what House leaders dubbed “Stop Government Abuse Week.”

 

An unlikely pair of Michiganders, Republican Justin Amash and Democrat John Conyers Jr. united to ensure a House floor vote on the Amash sponsored amendment to the fiscal 2014 defense appropriations bill that would restrict collection of telephone records through Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders to only data involving people under investigation. 94 Republicans and 111 Democrats supported the bill; however, a group of 134 Republicans and 83 Democrats voted to kill the amendment. Republican John A. Boehner of Ohio voted no, a rare vote from the House Speaker that showed how close the vote was. The White House opposed the amendment.

In the last vote of the week, the House passed a bill that would allow states to create and implement their own permit programs for coal combustion residuals, removing that authority from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA would still be able to review state permit programs in a limited manner. The Senate is unlikely to consider the legislation.

 

 The House passed this bill that would delay a requirement from the 2010 health care overhaul for one year until the start of 2015. The requirement would mandate businesses with at least 50 full-time employees provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty. Morgan Griffith of Virginia was the only Republican to vote against the bill.

 

 After postponing the employer insurance mandate, the House moved a bill to postpone the same requirement of most individuals to maintain health insurance coverage or pay a penalty until the beginning of 2015. Once again, Griffith of Virginia was the only Republican to vote against the bill. Both the employer and individual mandate delays are unlikely to receive a vote in the Senate.

 

 In the last vote of the week, the House passed its updated version of federal education policy despite a veto threat from President Obama and unified Democratic opposition to the legislation. The bill would extend for an additional five years the elementary and secondary education law that was last reauthorized in 2001 as part of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative. The bill would reduce the federal government’s role in education and give state and local officials more authority to develop their own standards and accountability assessments. The House adopted by voice vote an amendment from Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana that would eliminate a requirement that states develop teacher evaluation systems. The Senate will most likely take up the legislation after the August recess.

 

 After voting on more than two dozen amendments, the House passed the fiscal 2014 energy-water spending measure on Wednesday. A mostly party-line vote, with only 8 Democrats in support and 9 Republicans in opposition, the legislation would provide $30.4 billion for the Energy and Interior Departments and the Army Corps of Engineers, which is $2.9 billion less than the enacted level for fiscal 2013 and $4.3 billion less than legislation currently being considered in the Senate. The measure would combine renewable-energy and electricity delivery programs into a single account funded at $958 million, about a 50 percent reduction from this year. Ohio Republican Rep. Michael R. Turner’s amendment to prohibit funds in the Energy Department’s nuclear-weapons program from being used to reduce the U.S. nuclear stockpile below levels in the New Start Treaty was adopted by voice vote. Turner said it would prevent President Barack Obama from implementing his plan to reduce the nuclear arsenal. The legislation will now likely be taken up by the Senate.

 

 After failing last month to approve a five-year $939 billion reauthorization of both agricultural and nutrition programs, the House decided to take a different approach and approved only agricultural programs through fiscal year 2018. The legislation passed without a single Democratic vote and twelve Republicans in opposition. The House will now try to pass a separate bill for nutrition programs that include the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). The Senate passed its version of the comprehensive legislation a month ago including $4 billion in reductions to SNAP; House Republicans have proposed $20.5 billion in cuts during committee mark-ups. Ultimate outcomes for the bill include either a conference committee between the Senate and House to negotiate a compromise or possibly another one-year extension like Congress had to do last year.

 

 Before leaving for the July 4th recess, the House passed a bill that would direct the Interior secretary to implement a five-year oil and gas leasing program off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, including areas off of California, South Carolina and Virginia. The vote largely broke along party lines, with 16 Democrats voting in favor of the bill and 6 Republicans voting no. Five of the six GOP no votes came from the New Jersey delegation. The bill would make at least half of the unleased costal areas with the most potential for energy production available for exploration and would create a nationwide revenue sharing system for all coastal states. Before passing the bill, the chamber narrowly defeated (209-210) a Democratic amendment by Alan Grayson of Florida that would prevent the bill from affecting states’ authority to restrict leasing and natural-resource development beneath states’ navigable waters. Reps. Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore. And Lois Capps, D-Calif. also offered amendments to protect sensitive coastline in Alaska and California. Both were defeated. The House adopted (217-202) a Paul Broun, R-Ga., amendment that would place a 60-day limit on judicial review of claims arising from projects in the leasing program. It would place restrictions on appeals and institute a “loser pays” requirement on individuals or entities filing suit, except in specified circumstances.

 

 The House detoured briefly from debating the farm bill to pass a measure that forbids abortions performed at 20 weeks after fertilization or later. The bill makes an exception for cases where the woman’s life is in danger or where rape or incest has been reported to authorities. Under the measure, physicians who violate the ban would face a maximum five-year prison sentence, fines or both. Six Republicans voted against the legislation, while six Democrats voted in favor. The justification for the 20-week limit was the belief that an unborn fetus can feel pain by 20 weeks of pregnancy. Although the medical veracity of this theory is debated, a handful of states have passed laws with the same benchmark. The White House issued a veto threat on the bill, and Democrats who control the Senate are expected to ignore the measure.

 

 After working through more than 100 amendments, the House nevertheless rejected a five-year, $939 billion reauthorization of agricultural and nutrition programs. Sixty-two Republicans rebelled against their leaders and voted against the bill. All but two dozen Democrats voted no as well. Nutritional aid to the poor was the major point of conflict for the bill’s passage for both sides of the aisle. Although the bill cuts $33 billion from current law, the chamber’s most conservative Republican members argued spending reductions did not go far enough. Democrats, however, claimed that the bill’s $20.5 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) – made mainly by changing eligibility requirements – would disproportionately harm low-income families. Democrats also objected to a provision that mandated work requirements for SNAP recipients. Like the Senate bill, the measure would have ended direct payments to farmers, replacing them with revenue protections that would assist farmers when county revenue levels fall 15 percent to 25 percent below a five-year benchmark. It also consolidated several rural conservation programs. With the bill’s defeat, the House now will have to draft a new bill, adopt the one the Senate passed earlier this month, or pass another one-year extension like Congress had to do last year.

 

 After voting on a series of amendments, including rejecting one from Adam Smith, D-Wash. to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba by the end of 2014, the House passed this bill authorizing spending on the Defense Department and national security programs for fiscal year 2014. Ignoring the White House administration’s threat to veto the bill, they passed a $638.4 billion measure that includes $85.8 billion for war costs, requirements for the Defense secretary to detail military intervention options in Syria, and new guidelines and harsher penalties for sexual assault in the armed services. Sexual assault amendments from Lois Frankel, D-Fla., and Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio, making it an offense to abuse one’s authority in the chain of command and establishing mandatory minimum sentences of discharge, dismissal and confinement for certain offenses, respectively, were adopted.

 

 After approving one amendment from Mark Amodei, R-Nev., specifying $44 million in funds dedicated to reducing disability claims backlogs in Veterans Benefits Administration offices, the House passed its first fiscal 2014 spending bill last Tuesday to fund military construction and Department of Veterans Affairs programs with $157.8 billion. It provides $73.3 billion in discretionary funds, including $55 billion for veterans health services, and $84.5 billion in mandatory spending covering veterans service compensation, benefits and pensions. Adding in another $10 billion for military construction, such as $1.5 billion for military family housing, the House-approved legislation is $1.4 billion less than President Barack Obama requested and $2.4 billion more than the fiscal 2013 level that included cuts due to sequestration. It also provides $55.6 billion in advance appropriations for select VA medical care accounts for the 2015 fiscal year. The legislation now goes to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; however, a markup still has not been scheduled for the bill.

 

 After clearing their first spending bill, two days later the House moved onto their second, funding the Homeland Security Department. The House passed, on a mostly party-line vote, Iowa Republican Steve King’s amendment that would bar the use of funds to implement or enforce six internal Homeland Security Department policies, including one from June 12, 2012 that granted temporary legal status to the so-called Dream Act immigrants – people younger than 31 who are in school and arrived in the United States prior to turning 16, have graduated or have served in the military, and do not have a criminal record. King said in House floor debate on June 5, “The president does not have the authority to waive immigration law, nor does he have the authority to create it out of thin air.”

 

 

 After the House completed votes on amendments, they passed Homeland Security appropriations legislation for the 2014 fiscal year, funding the department and related activities with $46.1 billion ($38.9 billion in discretionary funds and $5.6 billion in emergency disaster aid). The funds include $10.6 billion for Customs and Border Protection, $5.4 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $7.2 billion for the Transportation Security Administration and $9.9 billion each for the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An issue that may cause problems with Senate approval is an approved provision to prohibit federal funding for ICE to provide abortions for detainees, except in extreme circumstances including rape, incest or endangerment of the life of the woman. Like the Military Construction-VA legislation, the future for the Homeland Security appropriations bill is uncertain and is not on the Senate schedule, as of yet.

 

 Returning to an issue from last Congress, the House passed a bill last week to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport diluted bitumen (or “tar sands”) from Canada through the American heartland to refining facilities on the Gulf Coast. Approval of pipelines do not normally spark so much controversy, but Keystone requires presidential approval because it crossed an international boundary, thus placing President Obama in the middle of a fight that places labor unions and environmentalists, two of his key constituencies, on opposing sides. H.R. 3 would seek to remove Obama from the approval process by declaring a presidential permit was not a necessity. It would deem various documents and reports that have been issued by federal and state entities over the last two years as satisfying the various regulatory thresholds to begin construction of the pipeline. It would essentially cut the Environmental Protection Agency out of the oversight process, and would force the Army Corps of Engineers to issue construction permits within 90 days of an application being filed. The president has threatened to veto the bill, though the Senate is unlikely to take it up in any case.

 Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick voted NO

 

 In its last action before the recess, the House passed a bill to overhaul student loan interest rates. Interest rates are currently set to rise from 3.4 to 6.8 percent this summer. H.R. 1911 would set rates for Stafford loans at the level of the 10-year Treasury Note plus 2.5 percent (capped at 8.5 percent), while PLUS loans would be set at 10-year Treasuries plus 4.5 percent (capped at 10.5 percent). Though Republicans stated that the bill was modeled on reforms from President Obama’s FY 2014 budget, the president has threatened to veto the bill . It is not clear what the Senate intends to do about interest rates at this time.

 

 The House took its three dozenth or so vote last week on repealing the 2010 health care overhaul. We noted in this space last week that, as introduced, the bill appeared not to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a body created by the law to reduce supply-side Medicare expenditures. It is not clear whether this was a clerical error, or perhaps whether House Republicans had a separate bill dealing with IPAB – Phil Roe of Tennessee has introduced such a bill, and IPAB repeal did pass the House last Congress – but the version of H.R. 45 that passed leaves no such ambiguity. Democrats Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah – both very conservative by their caucus’s standards and in very competitive districts – joined all Republicans in voting ‘yes.’ As with each previous attempt at wholesale repeal, this bill will go nowhere in the Senate. The president issued a perfunctory veto threat.

 

 In its final action of the week, the House took aim at one of Wall Street’s main regulators, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). Republicans have long complained that federal regulations are impeding economic recovery. In that spirit, H.R. 1062 would require the SEC to change its rulemaking procedures by conducting cost-benefit analyses before issuing new rules and two years after a rule takes effect. The bill would also require the agency to review existing rules and alter or repeal them if they are not working. Democrats largely opposed the bill, though 17 did cross over to support the bill. Opponents largely framed the measure as a Trojan horse for dismantling the 2010 overhaul of financial regulations. The administration is opposed to the bill, and it is unlikely to be taken up in the Senate.

 

 The House passed a measure last week to allow private sector employers to provide comp time to their workers in lieu of overtime pay. Under current law, such an arrangement exists for most workers in the public sector and a few in the private sector. Republicans classified the mea sure as providing flexibility to both employers and employees, while Democrats and their allies in the labor movement suspect an attempt to weaken workers’ rights. In particular, they claim that there is no guarantee an individual will receive time off when he desires it and that employers could put pressure on workers to accept comp time instead of overtime. The White House seems to agree with these critiques, as it has threatened to veto the bill.

 

 In its final action of the week, the House took another foray into debt limit politics. The “Full Faith and Credit Act” would mandate that in the event of the government hitting the debt limit, the Treasury Secretary would prioritize payment to holders of government debt and to Social Security recipients above all other obligations. These payments would in fact be exempt from the debt limit, such that the government could theoretically continue functioning, if only in order to issue Social Security checks and service the debt. No Democrats backed the measure, and the administration has threatened a veto.