Here is how our House members and New York’s two senators voted on select issues during the legislative weeks ending May 3, 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.
Wildfire Management Collaborations
The House on April 29, by a 341-48 vote, passed the Fire Weather Development Act (H.R. 4866), sponsored by Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), to take several measures for improving inter-government collaboration on wildfire management at the federal, state, and local levels. Garcia said the bill “invests in fuel mapping, unmanned vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, wildfire behavior models and more, and all the steps to make one firefighter fight like 10 and to minimize the need to put them in danger.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Technologies to Increase Privacy
The House on April 29 passed, by a 354-36 vote, the Privacy Enhancing Technology Research Act (H.R. 4755), sponsored by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). The bill would require several federal government agencies to fund the development of technologies to decrease the exposure of private information from data processing. Stevens said the research could produce “the necessary tools to fully implement privacy legislation without stifling innovation” in areas such as artificial intelligence.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
CO2 Sequestration
The House on April 30, by a 364-44 vote, passed the Carbon Sequestration Collaboration Act (H.R. 4824), sponsored by Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.), to require the Energy Department to include geological and terrestrial, plant-based sequestration of carbon dioxide in its carbon storage research and development program. Baird said the expanded research areas would help give Americans “the best information that is available when making informed decisions about their land and their community.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Old Oil and Gas Wells
The House on April 30, by a 333-75 vote, passed the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act (H.R. 4877), sponsored by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), to require the Energy Department to institute a research program for handling abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reducing environmental harms caused by the wells. Lee said the roughly 3 million abandoned oil and gas wells nationwide “expose our families to cancer-causing toxins like benzene, leave our homes vulnerable to explosive gases, and lower property values making it tougher for families to maintain and sell their homes.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Regulating Use of Federal Lands
The House on April 30, by a 212-202 vote, passed the Western Economic Security Today Act (H.R. 3397), sponsored by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), to require the withdrawal of a proposed Bureau of Land Management rule regarding conservation and landscape health that was published in April 2023. Curtis said the rule was preventing responsible use of federal lands by the public, including farmers and ranchers. A bill opponent, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), said the rule was needed to “protect our public lands, wildlife, and cultural sites and access to the outdoors.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Using Lead Ammunition on Federal Lands
The House on April 30, by a 214-201 vote, passed the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act (H.R. 615), sponsored by Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.), to bar, except for certain exceptions, the Agriculture and Interior Departments from restricting the use of lead ammunition or fishing tackle on federal lands under the two agencies’ jurisdiction. Wittman said a broad ban on using lead to fish or hunt on the lands would hurt sportsmen by forcing them to use higher-cost alternative metals. An opponent, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), said the bill would likely lead to less access to hunting and fishing by prompting litigation under the Endangered Species Act that will result in no use of lead on federal lands.
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Gray Wolf Endangered Species Listing
The House on April 30, by a 209-205 vote, passed the Trust the Science Act (H.R. 764), sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), to direct the Interior Department to reissue a November 2020 rule to remove the gray wolf from the list of endangered species. The rule was vacated by a federal court in February 2022. Boebert cited examples, dating to 2009, of federal intent to delist the gray wolf because the species had fully recovered, and said the bill would “focus scarce taxpayer funding on endangered species that actually need help being recovered.” A bill opponent, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), said: “The gray wolf is one of America’s most iconic species. While it is making a comeback, the science and the facts on the ground tell us that it still needs help.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Minnesota Mining
The House on April 30, by a 212-203 vote, passed the Superior National Forest Restoration Act (H.R. 3195), sponsored by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), to direct the U.S. Forest Service to issue leases and permits for mining to take place on agency lands in northern Minnesota. Stauber said allowing the mining “would revitalize an essential pillar of northern Minnesota’s economy, provide for the production of critical minerals, secure our supply chain, strengthen our national security, and bolster the entire domestic mining industry.” An opponent, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), said the bill “seeks to destroy now and deal with the ramifications not later but not at all.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Anti-Semitism and Higher Education
The House on May 1, by a 320-91 vote, passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act (H.R. 6090), sponsored by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), to declare the need to increase awareness of anti-Semitism, take measures against it and seek to improve security for Jewish communities, and have the Education Department use a specific definition of anti-Semitism when investigating allegations of discrimination based on Jewish ethnicity. Lawler said the specific definition “will help the Department of Education and school administrators, who have been feckless, clearly identify instances of anti-Semitism and protect the safety of all students, including Jewish students.” An opponent, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), criticized the definition because it “may include protected speech in some contexts, particularly with respect to criticism of the State of Israel.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Oil and Gas Production in Alaska
The House on May 1, by a vote of 214-199, passed the Alaska’s Right to Produce Act (H.R. 6285), sponsored by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), to require the Interior Department to hold sales of leases for oil and natural gas drilling in sections of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Stauber said preventing fossil fuel production in Alaska was hurting “hardworking Alaskans who stood to benefit from the jobs, opportunities, and revenue that the responsible production of these resources would create.” An opponent, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), said: “Exploiting these sensitive areas is equivalent to sacrificing those on the front lines of the climate crisis as martyrs in order to temporarily quench the insatiable thirst of Big Oil for money.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted yes
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted no
Revising Mining Regulations Bill
The House agreed on May 1, by a 210-204 vote, to a motion sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), to recommit the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act (H.R. 2925) to the House Natural Resources Committee and have the committee add a provision barring mining operations on federal land by companies that are controlled by a nation, such as China, deemed an adversary to the U.S. Leger Fernandez said the companies “shouldn’t be allowed to exploit American resources and pollute our public lands and to take those resources back to China for free.” An opponent, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), said the motion was irrelevant because under the Biden administration’s regulatory regime, “nobody is going to be mining in the United States.”
Michael Lawler (R-17, including Philipstown) voted no
Pat Ryan (D-18, including Beacon) voted yes
Along with roll call votes this week, the House also passed these measures:
■ The Investing in All of America Act (H.R. 5333), to exclude from the limit on leverage certain amounts invested in smaller enterprises located in rural or low-income areas and small businesses in critical technology areas;
■ The Plain Language in Contracting Act (H.R. 7987), to require plain language and the inclusion of keywords in covered notices that are clear, concise, and accessible to small business concerns; and
■ The Clean Energy Demonstration Transparency Act (H.R. 1069), to require reporting regarding clean energy demonstration projects.
SENATE
Federal Judge
The Senate on May 1, by a 54-44 vote, confirmed the nomination of Georgia Alexakis to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Over the past two decades Alexakis has variously been a federal prosecutor in the district and a private practice attorney at two different law firms.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) voted yes
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted yes
The Senate also passed:
■ The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act (H.R. 1042), to prohibit the importation of unirradiated low-enriched uranium produced in Russia; and
■ The Strengthening Support for American Manufacturing Act (S. 2116), to require the Commerce Department to produce a report that provides recommendations to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of Commerce programs related to supply chain resilience and manufacturing and industrial innovation.
