How They Voted (Congress)

Here is how our House members and New York’s two senators voted on select issues during the legislative weeks ending March 22, as reported by Targeted News Service. Click here for previous votes.

Michael Lawler (R), District 17 (including Philipstown)
Lawler, 37, was elected to Congress in 2022. From 2021 to 2022, he was a Republican member of the state Assembly from the 97th district in Rockland County. A graduate of Suffern High School, he holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Manhattan College. He is a former  director of the state Republican Party and former deputy supervisor of Orangetown.

Pat Ryan (D), District 18 (including Beacon)
Ryan, 41, was elected to Congress in 2022. Formerly the county executive of Ulster, he grew up in Kingston and holds a bachelor’s degree in international politics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a master’s degree in security studies from Georgetown. Ryan served in the U.S. Army as a combat intelligence officer from 2004 to 2009, including two tours in Iraq. He is also a former technology executive.

Along with this week’s roll call votes, the House also passed these bills:

■ The Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act (H.R. 6610), to provide for the modernization of the passport issuance process;

■ The Impact of Crime on Public Building Usage Act (H.R. 6261), to direct the Comptroller General to conduct a review on the impact of crime on public building usage;

■ The Federal Oversight of Construction Use and Safety Act (H.R. 6260) provides for certain reviews of the use and safety of federal buildings.

Bosnia Peace Accords

The House on March 19, by a 365-30 vote, passed the Upholding the Dayton Peace Agreement Through Sanctions Act (H.R. 4723), sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.). The bill would require sanctions against foreigners deemed to be threatening the peace, stability, or territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or undermining the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian War of the 1990s. Wagner said: “As a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the United States must use its economic toolkit to deter corruption, obstructionism, and secessionism in Bosnia and promote its accession to Euro-Atlantic institutions.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes

Ukrainian Children and Russia

The House on March 19, by a 390-9 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 149), sponsored by Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), declaring that Russian abduction and forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia in the past two years amounts to genocide. Wild said: “The Russian objective is clear: to eradicate the young generations of the Ukrainians by attempting to destroy their sense of national and cultural identity.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes

Selling Data to U.S. Adversaries

The House on March 20, by a unanimous vote, passed the Protecting Americans Data from Foreign Adversaries Act (H.R. 7520), sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), to make it illegal for data brokers to send data on U.S. residents to North Korea, Russia, China or Iran, with the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the prohibition. Pallone said without the bill, data brokers would continue to be able to “aggregate information with vast amounts of Americans’ sensitive data and sell it to the highest bidder, including foreign adversaries.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes

Oil, Gas Drilling on Federal Lands

The House on March 20, by a 216-200 vote, passed the Restoring American Energy Dominance Act (H.R. 6009), sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), to require the withdrawal of a Bureau of Land Management rule that would increase fees for oil and natural gas production leases on federal lands. Boebert said the increase was unnecessary and “will ultimately harm returns and reduce revenues to state and local governments by disincentivizing development on federal lands.” A bill opponent, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), said: “We need to require any energy developer, including Big Oil, to fully cover the cost of cleanup and reclamation of their extraction.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no

Hydrocarbon Fracking

The House on March 20 passed, by a 229-188 vote, the Protecting American Energy Production Act (H.R. 1121), sponsored by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), to bar an executive order by the president banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and natural gas wells without Congressional authorization, and state that states should continue to be the primary regulators of fracking. A bill supporter, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), said state governments have “comprehensive laws and regulations to provide for safe operations, to protect drinking water sources, and to have trained personnel effectively regulating oil and gas exploration and production.” An opponent, Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), called it extreme legislation that “would limit the president’s ability to respond to public health, environmental, and climate risks.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no

Biden Energy Policies

The House on March 21, by a 217-200 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 987), sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), to denounce the energy and federal land policies of the Biden administration as harmful and unpredictable, and promote domestic production of reliable and affordable energy. Newhouse said: “The result of this failed track record has been higher prices for consumers — we all know that — and increased dependency on our adversaries like Russia, China, and Venezuela for our energy needs.” A resolution opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), said the administration was increasing production of oil and natural gas and renewable resources while “making sure that our economy grows, that gas prices don’t increase, and addressing the climate crisis.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no

Carbon Emissions Tax

The House on March 21, by a 222-196 vote, passed a resolution (H. Con. Res. 86), sponsored by Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon dioxide emissions tax would harm the U.S. economy. Zinke said, “A carbon tax makes America less competitive” with energy-supplying rivals such as China and Russia and increases costs for U.S. families. An opponent, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), said the resolution was “ignoring the cost of climate change to communities hit hardest by flooding, wildfires, and other climate catastrophes.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no

Marine Shipping

The House on March 21, by a 393-24 vote, passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act (H.R. 1836), sponsored by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) The bill would bar U.S. port authority agencies from using Chinese government-linked transportation data platforms, and require the Federal Maritime Commission to handle complaints about shipping exchanges while also increasing the commission’s authority to curtail market manipulation. Johnson cited China’s attempt “to get coercive economic power over our country and, frankly, every other country in the world, and one of the primary tools of that push for coercive economic power is data” such as would be obtained through the transportation data platforms.

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes

Federal Water Regulations

The House on March 21, by a 213-205 vote, passed the Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act (H.R. 7023), sponsored by Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) The bill would change Clean Water Act regulations of water quality and water use permits, and require implementation of the Waters of the United States rule that complies with a Supreme Court ruling that limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory powers. Rouzer said: “This legislation will enable the law to be executed and enforced more effectively, save taxpayers money, and provide more consistency for permit holders, seekers, and writers.” An opponent, Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), said it “would increase levels of pollution in our water bodies, increase risk of downstream flooding, and increase certainty that communities like mine cannot maintain sustainable sources of drinking water.”

Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no

SENATE

Federal Judges

The Senate on March 19, by a 50-47 vote, confirmed the nomination of Nicole Berner to be a judge on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Berner has been a lawyer at the Service Employees International Union since 2006, after several years at Planned Parenthood and as a private practice lawyer.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes

The Senate on March 20 confirmed, by a 50-49 vote, the nomination of Edward Kiel to be a judge on the U.S. district court for New Jersey. Kiel has been a federal magistrate judge in the state for 5 years; previously, he was a private practice lawyer for more than two decades.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes

The Senate on March 20, by a 50-49 vote, confirmed the nomination of Eumi Lee to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. A county-level judge in the Bay Area since 2018, Lee was previously a law professor in San Francisco and a private practice lawyer.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes

Assistant Labor Secretary

The Senate on March 21, by a 50-48 vote, confirmed the nomination of Jose Javier Rodriguez to be the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training. Rodriguez was a Florida state legislator from 2013 through 2020; he is a lawyer, specializing in labor and pension law, at a Miami law firm.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes

Imports of Paraguay Beef

The Senate on March 21, by a 70-25 vote, passed a resolution (S.J. Res. 62), sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), to disapprove of and void an Agriculture Department rule allowing imports of fresh beef from Paraguay. Imports had been disallowed due to concerns about the foot-and-mouth virus being in the imported beef. Tester cited Paraguay’s history of foot-and-mouth disease in its cattle herds, and said it “does not currently meet the animal health standards that are in place to warrant access to our markets.”

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes