Here is how our House members and New York’s two senators voted on select issues during the legislative weeks ending Feb. 16, 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 town 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.
Sex and Labor Trafficking
The House on Feb. 13, by a 414-11 vote, passed the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5856), sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) The bill would reauthorize a 2000 law that created a variety of federal programs to reduce human trafficking. Smith said the programs were needed “to protect victims, prosecute traffickers, and to the extent possible, prevent human trafficking in the first place.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Impeaching Homeland Security Secretary
The House on Feb. 13, by a 214-213 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 863), sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for “willfully violating federal laws regarding immigration and border security, with resulting harms from an increase in illegal immigration and fentanyl imports into the U.S.”
Taylor Greene said: “His willful refusal to secure the border has bankrupted communities, closed down U.S. schools that our children attend, drowned hospitals, and incapacitated law enforcement, while empowering criminal cartels and illegal aliens.”
A resolution opponent, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said: “For a breach of public trust to rise to a high crime and misdemeanor, it would require conduct intended to serve an official’s own benefit or the benefit of a foreign power. Secretary Mayorkas has done nothing of the sort.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Hamas-Israel War
The House passed resolution (H. Res. 966), sponsored by Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) on Feb. 14 by a 418-0 vote, with one voting present, to condemn acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas in its war with Israel, and call for global action to criminalize rape and sexual assault. Frankel said the resolution “reaffirms our support for an independent investigation of rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas and reaffirms our commitment to supporting survivors of rape and sexual violence.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Syrian Government
The House on Feb. 14, by a 389-32 vote, passed the Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act (H.R. 3202), sponsored by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to bar the U.S. government from recognizing any Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad, and expand sanctions against the Assad regime. Wilson said the bill “holds those seeking to do business with the unrepentant, mass murderer and drug trafficker, Bashar al-Assad, accountable.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Uyghurs in China
The House on Feb. 15, by a 414-6 vote, passed the Uyghur Policy Act (H.R. 2766), sponsored by Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) to establish at the State Department a position devoted to the Uyghurs, a minority group in western China, and authorize funding through State for human rights groups advocating for Uyghurs and other minorities in China. Kim said the bill “will help us lead from a position of strength and will address several shortcomings in our existing approach in responding to these human rights abuses” against the Uyghurs.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Natural Gas Exports
The House on Feb. 15 passed, by a 224-200 vote, the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act (H.R. 7176), sponsored by Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) to assign the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exclusive authority to approve or deny applications for the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export or import terminals in the U.S. The bill would also find that LNG exports and imports are consistent with the public interest. Pfluger said that, by reversing a recent Biden administration halt on permits for LNG exports, the bill would benefit the U.S. economy and provide foreign countries with a cleaner, more secure alternative to natural gas from Russia and other U.S. adversaries. A bill opponent, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), said: “Increased LNG exports directly lead to higher natural gas prices here at home.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Tibet-China Relations
The House on Feb. 15 passed, by a 392-28 vote, the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act (H.R. 533), sponsored by Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Mass.) The bill would adopt a broader definition of Tibet than that used by China’s government, and declare as stated U.S. policy that Tibet’s legal status needs to be determined in accord with international law. McGovern said: “A vote for this bill is a vote to recognize the rights of the Tibetan people and a vote to insist on resolving the dispute between Tibet and the People’s Republic of China peacefully.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Partnering with Asia Allies
The House on Feb. 15 passed, by a 379-39 vote, the Strengthening the Quad Act (H.R. 5375), sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), to direct the State Department to develop a working group with India, Japan and Australia, to improve cooperation with those three countries on economic and security issues. Meeks said: “China’s growing global influence and authoritarian model is serving to undermine freedom in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. We need to work with fellow democracies in the region to showcase the heft of open markets and open societies.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
SENATE
Budgeting and Military Spending
The Senate on Feb. 12, by a 66-33 vote, waived a budget point of order for the substitute amendment sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to the National Security Act (H.R. 815), that would have objected to the emergency designation provisions contained in the bill. A point of order supporter, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said that “continuing to support the Ukraine war indefinitely is a terrible, terrible mistake.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Supplemental Military Spending
The Senate on Feb. 13, by a 70-29 vote, passed the substitute amendment sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to the National Security Act (H.R. 815). The bill would provide $95 billion of supplemental military spending in fiscal 2024 for the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, and for Taiwan. Murray said that with the bill, “we will show dictators that their flagrant attacks will not go unchecked and they cannot steamroll our allies.” An opponent, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said: “We cannot send billions of dollars to Ukraine while America’s own borders are bleeding.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
