Here is how our House members and New York’s two senators voted on select issues during the legislative week ending Nov. 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 and re-elected in 2024. 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 and re-elected in 2024. 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.
Veterans Programs
The House on Nov. 18, by a 389-9 vote, passed the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 8371), sponsored by Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.). The bill would make various changes to Department of Veterans Affairs programs, including homelessness, job training, health care and GI Bill education benefits. Ciscomani said the bill sought to “ensure we provide our veterans and their families with the support and benefits they earned through their service.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Tracking Mailed Ballots
The House on Nov. 18, by a 396-6 vote, passed the Vote by Mail Tracking Act (H.R. 5658), sponsored by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), to require mail-in ballots in federal elections to meet several design requirements, including a tracking barcode for the ballot. Porter said: “This commonsense modernization can improve transparency and trust in our elections for Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Geothermal Energy Leases
The House on Nov. 19, by a 244-171 vote, passed the Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act (H.R. 1449), sponsored by Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho). The bill would require the Interior Department to hold at least one annual sale of geothermal energy leases on federal land in a given state. Currently, a sale is required every two years. Fulcher said that “prioritizing geothermal exploration on federal land will increase certainty for domestic companies looking to explore for geothermal resources while still requiring a full environmental assessment” of potential development. An opponent, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), said the bill had unrealistically tight deadlines for regulatory reviews of geothermal permit applications, which “would undercut community voices and potential protections in sensitive places” and “make projects themselves more vulnerable to delays should lawsuits happen or there are shoddy reviews or a lack of outside input.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
North Korea
The House on Nov. 20, by a 335-37 vote, passed the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3012), sponsored by Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), to reauthorize through fiscal 2028 several U.S. measures to promote democracy and non-government media in North Korea. Kim said: “We cannot ignore the threat posed by North Korea, and holding the North Korean regime accountable without supporting human rights is a nonstarter.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Relocating Afghans to U.S.
The House on Nov. 20, by a 334-63 vote, passed the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts Authorization Act (H.R. 8368), sponsored by Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.). The bill would require the State Department to name a coordinator for Afghan relocation efforts to oversee movement from Afghanistan to the U.S. by Afghan allies and U.S. citizens. Titus said the bill would help satisfy “our moral obligation to help those who helped us so much, and to fulfill our promise to all of those who stood with us” during the war in Afghanistan.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Anti-semitism
The House on Nov. 20, by a 388-21 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 1449), sponsored by Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), to condemn the rise of anti-Semitism globally and urge international cooperation to counter anti-Semitism. Manning said anti-Semitism “deserves to be condemned, countered, and eradicated by all governments around the world.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Terrorism and Taxes
The House on Nov. 21, by a 219-184 vote, passed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495), sponsored by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.). The bill would postpone tax filing deadlines and fines for Americans who are or have been held hostage or otherwise detained in foreign countries. It would also enable the Treasury Secretary to unilaterally revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization he or she deems as providing support to terrorism. An opponent, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), said the bill “empowers Donald Trump to extinguish the life of any nonprofit, of any civic society group, which happens to be on his enemies’ list.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Ukraine and Adoptions
The House on Nov. 21, by a 372-6 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 915), sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), to urge Ukraine to change its policy, begun in March 2022, of suspending adoptions of Ukrainian children by Americans. Smith said the policy has left hundreds of orphaned Ukrainian children stranded as adoption efforts by Americans are halted.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Along with the week’s roll call votes, the House also passed the following measures:
■ The Grant Transparency Act (H.R. 5536) to require transparency in notices of funding opportunity;
■ The Banning Operations and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime Act (H.R. 825) to prohibit contracting with persons that have business operations with the Maduro regime;
■ A resolution (H. Res. 554) affirming U.S. support for the religious and ethnic minority survivors of genocide in Iraq;
■ A resolution (H. Res. 837) reaffirming the ties between the U.S. and the Philippines; and
■ A resolution (H. Res. 1328) deeming the actions of the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias in the Darfur region of Sudan against non-Arab ethnic communities to be acts of genocide.
SENATE
Judicial Confirmations
The Senate on Nov. 18, by a 49-45 vote, confirmed the nomination of Embry Kidd to be a judge on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Kidd was an assistant U.S. attorney and then a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
On Nov. 19, by a 51-44 vote, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Mutafa Kasubhai to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Oregon. After six years in private practice and a decade as an Oregon county circuit court judge, in 2018 Kasubhai took his present role as a magistrate judge for the Oregon district.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
The Senate on Nov. 19, by a 50-44 vote, confirmed the nomination of Sarah French Russell to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Connecticut. Russell has been a law professor at Yale and then at Quinnipiac University since 2007, after several years as a federal public defender in New Haven.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
The Senate on Nov. 20, by a 50-48 vote, confirmed the nomination of Rebecca Pennell to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. A judge on Washington’s appeals court since 2016, Pennell had previously been a public defender in Eastern Washington and Idaho.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
The Senate on Nov. 20, by a 50-49 vote, confirmed the nomination of Amir Ali to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. Ali has been a law instructor at Harvard since 2018, and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center since 2021.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
On Nov. 21, by an 82-12 vote, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Sharad Desai to be judge on the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Desai has been a lawyer at the Honeywell company since 2015, after eight years as a private practice lawyer in Phoenix.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Weapons Sales to Israel
The Senate on Nov. 20, by a 80-17 vote, rejected a motion to discharge from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a resolution (S.J. Res. 115) sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (ID-Vt.). The resolution would have disapproved of and voided the sale to Israel of materials and data that support use of Boeing Direct Attack Weapons. Sanders said the sale cancellation was necessary because the U.S. cannot legally “provide weapons to countries that violate internationally recognized human rights or block U.S. humanitarian aid.” An opponent, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), said cancelation would “embolden Iran and its terrorist proxies to continue and even to increase their vicious and deadly attacks” on Israel.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted no
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted no
Forgiving Ukrainian Debt
The Senate on Nov. 20, by a 61-37 vote, rejected a motion to proceed to consideration of a resolution (S.J. Res. 117), sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), that would have canceled President Biden’s intended forgiveness of $4.65 billion of U.S. loans to Ukraine for its war with Russia. Paul said providing such aid to Ukraine was wrong, because “while American families struggle to put food on the table and keep the lights on, U.S. taxpayers are paying for the salaries of thousands of Ukrainian bureaucrats.” A resolution opponent, Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), called the forgiven loans “a very small price for us to pay to maintain our democracy and to prevent the need for American soldiers fighting on foreign soil.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted no
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted no
The Senate also passed:
■ The FAFSA Deadline Act (H.R. 8932) to establish an earlier application processing cycle for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; and
■ The No Stolen Trademarks Honored in America Act (H.R. 1505) to modify the prohibition on recognition by U.S. courts of certain rights relating to certain marks, trade names or commercial names.
