Here is how our House members and New York’s two senators voted on select issues during the legislative weeks ending June 7, 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.
Jews and America
The House on June 3, by a 371-0 vote, approved a resolution (H. Res. 1215), sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) calling on politicians and civic leaders to work to educate the public on the contributions of Jewish Americans to the U.S. Wasserman Schultz said that by marking May as Jewish American Heritage Month, the resolution would help “celebrate generations of Jewish Americans who have been an integral part of the rich mosaic of people and heritages that make up the United States.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
VA Benefits and Gun Rights
The House on June 4, by a 211-193 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Elijah Crane (R-Ariz.) to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8580). The amendment would bar the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) from submitting benefit recipients to the federal government’s criminal background check system for gun purchases based on the VA having appointed a fiduciary for the recipient. Crane said the VA, by reporting such recipients to the system, has violated veterans’ constitutional right to bear arms. An amendment opponent, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), said it “not only prevents the VA from following the law that is intended to protect veterans and those around them, but it prioritizes firearms over the safety of veterans.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Veterans and Medical Marijuana
The House on June 4, by a 290-116 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8580). The amendment would bar funding for carrying out Veterans Affairs Department policies that prevent veterans from participating in medical marijuana programs approved by state governments. Mast said: “Veterans deserve to have access to every possible tool and the best medical options available and the best possible medical advice by their doctors.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
International Criminal Court
The House on June 4, by a 247-155 vote, passed the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act (H.R. 8282), sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), to impose sanctions against foreigners who attempt to help the International Criminal Court (ICC) detain or prosecute U.S. citizens, or people who work in the government of a U.S. ally, such as Israel. Roy said that allowing the Court to prosecute politicians in Israel and elsewhere would “give credence and power to an international body to which we are not a party, to which Israel is not a party, and that is being used to flex political muscle by targeting the prime minister [of Israel] for defending his own country.” A bill opponent, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), called it “a poorly drafted, rush-to-the-floor, strictly partisan messaging bill that distracts the world from the hypocrisy of the ICC.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Artificial Intelligence and the VA
The House on June 5, by a 392-11 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8580). The amendment would increase funding for artificial intelligence (AI) programs at the Veterans Affairs Department by $10 million, with an offsetting $10 million cut in other spending. Schweikert said using artificial intelligence to help operate VA programs “may make what we do, what we are responsible for, better, faster, cheaper, and maybe in some ways because of that efficiency, more moral.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Bonuses for VA Executives
The House on June 5, by a 237-169 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Gregory Steube (R-Fla.), to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8580). The amendment would block funding for the Veterans Affairs Department to pay bonuses to senior executives in its central office. Steube cited the recent improper awarding of over $10 million in bonuses to the executives, which he said prioritized VA bureaucrats over rank-and-file VA employees. An amendment opponent, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), said the bonuses problem was being resolved, and denying future bonuses to the executives would wrongly disincentivize “dedicated public servants from serving the VA by preventing any merit-based bonuses.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Veterans and Military Construction
The House on June 5, by a 209-197 vote, passed the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8580), sponsored by Rep. John Carter (R-Texas). The bill would provide $378 billion of fiscal 2025 funding for the Veterans Affairs Department, and construction and housing programs at the various military branches. Carter said it sought to protect the core American values of freedom, equality and justice, while providing full funding for veterans’ health care and other benefits, and ample funding for housing and new military efforts in the Indo-Pacific region. An opponent, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), said the bill cut funding for veterans by $6 billion, and claimed it included “partisan political culture war riders that deny women access to reproductive healthcare.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
SENATE
Regulating Nuclear Power
The Senate on June 4, by an 81-17 vote, confirmed the nomination of Christopher Hanson to be a commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a five-year term. Hanson has been a commissioner for the past four years, and chairman of the NRC for the past three years.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Federal Judges
The Senate on June 4, by a 57-41 vote, confirmed the nomination of Tanya Monique Jones Bosier to be a judge on the superior court for Washington, D.C., for a 15-year term. Bosier has been a magistrate judge on the superior court since 2017, and for the previous 17 years filled several different roles on the court.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
The Senate on June 5, by a 55-38 vote, confirmed the nomination of Judith Pipe to be a judge on the superior court for Washington, D.C., for a 15-year term. Pipe, a magistrate judge on the court since 2020, previously spent a dozen years at the District’s public defender division.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Along with this week’s roll call votes, the Senate also passed these two measures:
■ A resolution (S. Res. 385), calling for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter being detained in Russia; and
■ A resolution (S. Con. Res. 18), calling for the immediate release of Marc Fogel, a U.S. citizen who received a criminal sentence in Russia in 2022.
