Here is how our House members and New York’s two senators voted on select issues during the legislative weeks ending April 19, 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.
Warrentless FISA Searches
The House on Aprli 12 rejected, by a 212-212 vote, an amendment sponsored by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888) that would have barred warrantless searches, under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), of communications made by legal U.S. residents except in emergency and other limited circumstances. Biggs said the prohibition was needed to give citizens basic legal protections against invasive searches. An amendment opponent, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said that by keeping intelligence agencies from learning about illegal activity, a prohibition would encourage foreign terrorist groups to “increase their recruitment of people inside the United States — not even American citizens — to do terrorist attacks, recruit for espionage, and to harm Americans.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted no
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Oversight of Communications Surveillance
The House on April 12 passed, by a 269-153 vote, an amendment sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888), to require the Federal Bureau of Investigation to submit quarterly reports to Congress on its number of communications database queries of legal U.S. residents, and authorize 12 senior members of Congress to attend proceedings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Roy said the increase in transparency was needed to prevent intelligence agencies from acting on their own, without adequate oversight from the legislative branch. An opponent, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), said: “This amendment undermines our security by giving Americans’ constitutional rights here in the United States to foreign adversaries.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Drug Trafficking FISA Searches
The House on April 12, by a 268-152 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888), to make evidence of the production and distribution of illegal drugs grounds for obtaining a warrant to search communications by foreigners overseas. Crenshaw said the amendment was about stopping “international drug traffickers trafficking illicit synthetics that are killing people.” An opponent, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) said that by expanding Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities to cover international drug crimes, the amendment would weaken the clear distinction between foreign intelligence and crime that is “essential to preserving the fundamental liberties of Americans under our constitutional system.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Screening Foreign Travelers
The House on April 12, by a 227-193 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888), to enable the use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities to screen foreigners seeking to travel into the U.S. Waltz said: “The American people expect us to use every tool we legally can, every intelligence piece of equipment and every database that we can, to protect them against foreigners who would mean us harm.” An opponent, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), said: “This inexcusable expansion of FISA will further increase warrantless surveillance, and it is at the expense of a whole slew of innocent immigrants.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Communications Providers and FISA Searches
The House on April 12, by a 236-186 vote, passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888) to change the definition of an electronic communications service provider to include any business that has access to equipment used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications, except for several excluded categories. Turner said the change was needed “to correct a technical issue that was found by the FISA court with respect to critical intelligence and a technological issue in which there was a gap.” An opponent, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), said the change would mean “virtually every retail outlet in the country, virtually every commercial enterprise in the country, virtually every commercial property in this country” being potentially subject to surveillance.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
FISA Communications Surveillance
The House on April 12, by a 273-147 vote, passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (H.R. 7888), sponsored by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), to make changes to surveillance practices under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), including new approval requirements for database searches of U.S. legal residents and audit and notification requirements for such searches. A supporter, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said the bill “criminalizes the FBI’s abuses, limits and restricts the FBI’s access to foreign intelligence, and further puts guardrails to punish the FBI” for abuse of its surveillance power. An opponent, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), faulted the bill for failing to require intelligence agencies “to obtain a probable cause warrant when they want to search the communications of Americans.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Financing Iranian Economy
The House on April 15, by a 294-105 vote, passed the No U.S. Financing for Iran Act (H.R. 5921), sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), to bar authorizing U.S. financial firms to take actions that support imports from or exports to Iran of goods or services, other than those that directly benefit Iran’s civilian population. Huizenga said the ban “will make sure that our U.S. financial system is safe, and it will prohibit the World Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund] from being able to finance anything dealing with Iran.” A bill opponent, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), said its restrictions would reduce the ability of the IMF and Export-Import Bank to operate effectively, which Cleaver said “will only harm U.S. businesses, our friends and allies around the world, and our international standing.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Sanctions Against Iran
The House on April 16, by a 407-16 vote, passed the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act (H.R. 3033), sponsored by Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), to change the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act by making permanent its requirements for sanctions to be imposed on people or groups assisting Iran’s effort to obtain chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, or certain elements of Iran’s energy sector. Steel said the sanctions were currently scheduled to end in 2026, but “there should be no sunset date to stop funding for Iran-backed terrorism throughout the world.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Israel and Palestinians
The House on Aprli 16, by a 377-44 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 883), sponsored by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), to condemn the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as anti-Semitic and harmful to efforts to reach a peace agreement. D’Esposito said the slogan is “a threat to Israel. It is a threat to the Jewish people. It does not get us any closer to peace. It gets us further from it. To employ this slogan is to perpetuate the cause of hate and regional instability.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Government and Communications Records
The House on April 17, by a 219-199 vote, passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (H.R. 4639), sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), to bar law enforcement and intelligence agencies from buying electronic records from data brokers and requires the brokers to maintain privacy protections for such records. Davidson called the bill a chance “to reclaim the right to privacy that is supposed to be protected by the Fourth Amendment.” An opponent, Rep. John H. Rutherford (R-Fla.), said: “This bill will only make our communities less safe by preventing local law enforcement and state law enforcement from being able to access information that has been legally collected and is publicly open-source information.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted no
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Sanctions Against Houthi Group
The House on April 17, by a 285-135 vote, passed the Standing Against Houthi Aggression Act (H.R. 6046), sponsored by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), to designate as a foreign terrorist organization Ansarallah, also known as Houthi, the group in Yemen blamed for making attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea over the past six months. Clyde said the designation would allow “for special criminal penalties for materiel support, like military supplies; immigration restrictions; and the ability for victims to seek damages” from a group Clyde called an existential danger in the Middle East. A bill opponent, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), said the designation “undermines the United States’ national security objective in the region and endangers innocent Yemenis, who are already on the brink of perishing,” by potentially blocking the delivery of humanitarian provisions to Yemen.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Reviewing Iran Sanctions
The House, by a 278-141 vote on April 17, passed the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act (H.R. 4691), sponsored by Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), to restrict the president’s authority to decrease sanctions against Iran, including by requiring a report to Congress before sanctions changes and by requiring Congressional approval for the changes to take effect. Self said: “Congress must rein in the actions of a lawless president. Congress must reassert Article I authority” over policy on Iran. An opponent, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), said requiring a presidential administration to submit agreements regarding sanctions to partisan votes in Congress would put U.S. negotiators with Iran “at an acute disadvantage” by weakening their authority.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Iran and Israel
The House on April 18, by a 404-14 vote, passed a resolution (H. Res. 1143), sponsored by Thomas Kean (R-N.J.), to condemn Iran’s recent launching of drones and missiles against Israel and support Israel’s right to respond to the attack and defend itself. Kean said the resolution was needed because “we absolutely must restore deterrence against Iran to protect our vital national security interests in the Middle East.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
SENATE
Mayorkas Impeachment Articles
The Senate on April 17, by a 51-49 vote, approved a point of order sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), finding that the second article of impeachment concerning Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas did not meet the Constitutional standard of impeachment that requires commission of a high crime or misdemeanor. An opponent, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), said dismissal without a trial or a committee first examining impeachment charges was unprecedented, and Schmitt said: “I will not assist Sen. Schumer in setting our Constitution ablaze and bulldozing 200 years of precedent. Therefore, I object.” A point of order against the first article of impeachment had been approved in a separate vote.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Dismissing Mayorkas Impeachment Trial
The Senate on April 17, by a vote of 51-49, approved a motion sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), to adjourn the court of impeachment concerning Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. A motion opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said there had been no debate on the merits of the articles of impeachment brought against Mayorkas, but “the only rational way to resolve this question is actually to debate it, to consider the Constitution, and consider the law.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Car Emissions Rules
On April 18, the Senate rejected, by a 52-46 vote, a bill (S. 4072) sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would have blocked funding to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for imposing rules restricting greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air emissions from cars and trucks beginning in model year 2027. Crapo said: “These emissions standards go too far and will restrict affordable vehicle choices for families, harm U.S. businesses, degrade our energy and national security, and hand the keys of our automotive industry over to China.” An opponent, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), said “blocking the EPA’s rule would be harmful to human health, to our planet, the economy and consumers.” A three-fifths majority was required for approval.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted no
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted no
