The Past Two Weeks, Told by House Roll Call Votes, vol. 1, ed. 4

Author's Note: Today's edition of The Past Two Weeks, Told by House Roll Call Votes is short as the U.S. House is currently not in a normal session (Lesniewski), although there were three significant votes worth covering for today's post.

The Past Two Weeks, Told by House Roll Call Votes, vol. 1, ed. 4

Table 1: Simplified Chosen House Roll Call Statistics from August 14-August 28

Notes: Under the vote totals by party, the listed numbers are in this order: Yay/Yes-Nay/No-Present-Not Voting. Types of votes are listed in column three, and are abbreviated as follows: 

Source: "U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call." 

Summaries of Noteworthy Legislation Voted On:

• June 24: 
• John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (HR 4): Named after the former Civil Rights leader and longtime U.S. Representative, HR 4 seeks to expand on the existing Voting Rights Act (VRA). In the original VRA, Section 2 established laws allowing plaintiffs to challenge any state laws accused of violating minority voting rights, while Sections 4 and 5 prohibited jurisdictions with a significant history of violations from passing new voting laws without approval from the Federal government ("preclearance"). Both sections have been curtailed by two SCOTUS decisions in the last decade, leaving a significant hole in the original legislation. HR 4 would fill this hole by making it a right for plaintiffs to bring litigation against alleged VRA violations by bringing up non-electoral effects resulting from alleged unfair electoral laws (e.g. health inequities). Furthermore, HR 4 would also strengthen Section 4 through lowering the bar determining which jurisdictions could be subject to assessment under the VRA, and would prohibit the passing of future electoral or voting laws without Federal approval (Kilgore). In addition to reinstating preclearance, the bill would also require any changes in voting laws to be communicated publicly and would mandate that polling stations on Native American reservations be the financial responsibility of the states (Stevenson). The 2021 version of this bill was a perfect party-line vote, with no Democrats opposing and no Republicans supporting; this is in contrast to the 2019 version, when moderate Pennsylvania Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R) voted Yay. However, despite passing the House, its eventual passage is limited by the filibuster continuing to be in force, and the lack of a Senate majority in favor of eliminating it. Note that there also exists the For the People Act (HR 1), which also deals with voting rights. However, the two bills are not identical and address different issues related to voting rights (Kilgore).
• June 23:
• Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act (S 272): The House voted on the Senate version of the Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act, which aims to improve public reporting processes related to the yearly budget process. The Treasury Secretary would be required to publicly display all non-confidential or -classified budget justification materials on the department's website, while the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would be required to keep an archive of said materials per fiscal year. The original House version of this bill was altered by the Senate to include provisions exempting classified budget materials from the requirements ("Senate Passes")
• To amend the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act (S 325): Passed in 2016, the Alyce Spotted Bear and Water Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act created a special Federal-level commission to study socio-economic and health challenges faced by Native American children and Federal-level policies directed to alleviate these same problems (Flower, "How Maine's"). Senate Bill 325 proposes to extend the deadline for a final commission report by 5 years, thus allowing the commission to gain more insight from Native American institutions ("How Maine's").

Previous Editions of The Past Two Weeks, Told by House Roll Call Votes: 

• 3/14/2021: Vol. 1, ed. 1: Mar. 1-Mar. 12
• 4/25/2021: Vol. 1, ed. 2: Apr. 10-Apr. 23
• 6/30/2021: Vol. 1, ed. 3: Jun. 16-Jun. 29

Works Cited: 

Flower, Ruth. "Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children." Friends Committee on National Legislation, 5 Oct. 2016, www.fcnl.org/updates/2016-10/alyce-spotted-bear-and-walter-soboleff-commission-native-children. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

"How Maine’s members of Congress voted last week." Portland Press Herald, 29 Aug. 2021, www.pressherald.com/2021/08/29/how-maines-members-of-congress-voted-last-week-71-2/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

Kilgore, Ed. "What Would the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Actually Do?" Intelligencer, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2021, nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/what-would-the-john-lewis-voting-rights-act-actually-do.html. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

Lesniewski, Niels. "As Senate departs, House plots August recess return." Roll Call, 11 Aug. 2021, https://www.rollcall.com/2021/08/11/as-senate-departs-house-plots-august-recess-return/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

"Senate Passes S. 272, the “Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021”." Social Security Administration, 2 Jul. 2021, www.ssa.gov/legislation/legis_bulletin_062321.html. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

Stevenson, Peter. "How is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act different from H.R. 1?" The Washington Post, 8 Jun. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/08/how-is-john-lewis-voting-rights-act-different-hr-1/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

"U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 1st Session (2021)." Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, clerk.house.gov/evs/2021/ROLL_200.asp. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.

     Nathan Parmeter

     Author and Host, The Parmeter Politics and Policy Record