The Past Two Weeks, Told by House Legislation and Roll Call Votes
Introduction: This past week, the U.S. reached the one-year anniversary of the COVID pandemic growing to a level where lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and other related measures were implemented throughout the country. Simultaneously, the past two weeks in the House of Representatives have been busy, with the chamber voting on several significant pieces of legislation that address some of the significant ongoing policy problems facing contemporary America. Some of the legislation that was voted on in the past two weeks had been previously proposed and/or voted on by the House, but sat dormant because of the Republican-controlled Senate. Despite current barriers to passing legislation through the Senate, the House has been fast to move through its legislative agenda because of the unique opportunity, which includes multiple notable bills to resolve several significant policy problems facing 21st century America (Marcos). Today's brief post will details the notable House roll calls that occurred from March 1st through March 12th. Note that in the midst of this time period being explored, Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge of OH-11 resigned after being confirmed and sworn-in as President Biden's Health and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary (Stracqualursi).
Table 1: Simplified House Roll Call Statistics from Mar. 1-Mar. 12
Notes: Unless noted, all roll call vote totals are for the passage of each bill or amendment, unless noted. Under the vote totals by party, the listed numbers are in this order: Yay/Yes-Nay/No-Present-Not Voting.
Source: "U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call"
Summaries of Noteworthy Legislation Voted On:
- March 3:
- George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H.R. 1280): The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was introduced in the aftermath of last summer's events to reform the police and judicial institutions in America. The legislation contains a wide range of reforms and policies, which include ending qualified immunity for police officers, ban the use of chokeholds by police, ban most no-knock warrants, and increase funding for community policing efforts (Weiner). State- and local-level governments will receive incentives and penalties to adopt the bill's provisions through federal funding (Collins).
- For the People Act (H.R. 1): Totaling almost 800 pages, the For the People Act would overhaul national elections-related rules, procedures, and guidelines to help expand voting rights and access. Among the most notable policies mandated by the bill impacting voter registration procedures include national online voter registration, same-day registration for federal elections, rules governing voter roll purges, automatic registration for 16- and 17-year olds, and enfranchisement of ex-felons. The bill would also mandate that mail voting be available for all voters if they would like to, and that early voting be allowed for 15 days prior to an election. Finally, the bill would ban partisan gerrymandering, provide additional funds for election-related cybersecurity, and reform campaign finance laws, including creating a new public campaign finance system focused on small money donations (Timm).
- Bush Amendment: Introduced by MO-1 Rep. Cori Bush (D), this amendment would allow all individuals convicted of a crime, including incarcerated individuals, to vote (Woodward).
- Pressley Amendment: Introduced by MA-6 Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D), this amendment would lower the national voting age to 16 (Fordham).
- March 9:
- Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R. 842): The PRO Act would expand labor and union rights amongst American workers, which includes allowing "independent contractors" (e.g. Uber and Lyft drivers) to organize, prohibit employers from retaliating against workers organizing, and prohibiting states from having "right-to-work" laws that make it optional for unionized businesses to collect union dues from workers (Santucci).
- March 10:
- American Rescue Plan Act (H.R. 1319): In regards to the American Rescue Plan (or "Biden Stimulus"), the original House bill was voted on in February and sent to the Senate ("U.S. House"). Last week, after the amended bill was returned by the Senate, the House voted to concur with the Senate version of the bill (Quinn and Segers). I plan to have a future post talking about the American Rescue Plan's contents.
- March 11:
- Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R. 8): The previously-proposed Bipartisan Background Checks Act would expand the use background checks for gun sales in the United States, especially in cases of private sales and guns shows. The legislation would also outlaw the sale of firearms through an unlicensed seller (Brown).
- March 11:
- Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 1446): Passed right after H.R. 8, and expanding on that bill, H.R. 1446 would prohibit a gun sale from being completed unless a background check is done on the potential buyer (Dean and Diaz). If a background check is not completed within 10 days, the FBI would be required to complete the background check before the purchase could go through. The act would close the "Charleston loophole" in existing gun laws, where a buyer is allowed to obtain their firearm purchase if a background check is not completed within 3 business days (Brown). Before the 2015 mass shooting at a Black church in Charleston, perpetrator Dylann Roof obtained the crime's firearm through that loophole (Dean and Diaz).
Analysis and Commentary: As shown on the Roll Call summary table (Table 1), all of the legislation above except for the two profiled H.R. 1 amendments passed the House of Representatives. However, it is notable that all narrowly passed, with almost all House Democrats, and very few or no House Republicans voting in favor of any (the 8 who voted on H.R. 8 was the maximum). On the H.R. 8 2021 roll call vote, 2 Republicans that had previously supported the bill, Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) and Brian Mast (FL-18), voted against it (Brown). In the case of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the lone House Republican vote was the result of Rep. Lance Gooden (R, TX-5) accidently voting "Yes." Afterwards, Gooden submitted a request to change the vote, noting that he did not support the legislation (Silverstein).
Simultaneously, one or more of two House Democrats representing largely-rural and small-town-dominated districts that voted for Trump, Reps. Jared Golden (D, ME-2) and Ron Kind (D, WI-5), voted against the Justice in Policing, American Rescue Plan, and both background checks acts (Mannito; Novelly; Solender). Both supported H.R. 1, while Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson (D) voted against it, citing district constituents' disagreement over the redistricting reforms in the bill (Schultz). Meanwhile, centrist Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-16), who faced a tough progressive challenge in last year's primary, voted against the PRO Act (Ferris and Mueller). The exceptions to this were the two H.R. 1 amendments, which divided the Democratic caucus, with the Bush Amendment (to enfranchise prisoners) being rejected by a majority of Democrats and Republicans, and the Pressley Amendment (to lower the voting age to 16) being rejected by the House, but approved by a majority of Democrats. Nonetheless, the low number of Democratic defectors reflects the high level of party unity that exists over the bills and their provisions that were ultimately passed.
Conclusion and Implications: Since gaining the new trifecta in Washington, Congressional Democrats have been busy constructing and implementing their legislative agenda, evident in the bills profiled above. However, the fight over these and other proposals still has a major barrier in the way: the Senate. While Democrats have a narrow 50-50 Senate majority (with VPOTUS Kamala Harris breaking ties), the Senate filibuster and its requirement to have 60 Senators vote to break it have become a point of major contention lately. Some Democrats (especially progressives) argue that the only way to pass anything non-fiscal related is to eliminate the filibuster, despite the opposition of moderate Senate Democrats Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) (Marcos).
Regardless, the 117th Congress still has other significant legislative that will be taken up this coming week, including the Equal Rights Act, immigration legislation, and the Violence Against Women Act (Beavers). Assuming a version of all three pass the House this coming week, it will continue to build on the wave of liberal reform legislation that the House has passed since Biden took office, especially considering that this is their first chance in years to pass said legislation (Marcos). Yet, as explained above regarding the filibuster, the drive to make said legislation into law reveals ongoing divides within the Democratic Party that could impact the success rate of House legislation such as the bills profiled above.
Works Cited:
Beavers, Olivia. "House Dems plan jam-packed legislative push." Politico, 3 Mar. 2021, www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2021/03/02/house-dems-plan-jam-packed-legislative-push-491955. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Brown, Matthew. "House passes bills to expand background checks for gun sales and close 'Charleston loophole'." USA Today, 11 Mar. 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/11/house-passes-bill-expanding-background-checks-gun-sales/6923667002/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Collins, Sean. "The House has passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act." Vox, 3 Mar. 2021, www.vox.com/2021/3/3/22295856/george-floyd-justice-in-policing-act-2021-passed-house. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Dean, Jessica, and Daniella Diaz. "House passes gun legislation that would expand background checks." CNN, 11 Mar. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/03/11/politics/background-checks-gun-bills-house-vote/index.html. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Ferris, Sarah, and Eleanor Mueller. "House passes labor overhaul, pitting unions against the filibuster." Politico, 9 Mar. 2021, www.politico.com/news/2021/03/09/house-pro-act-labor-unions-474941. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Fordham, Evie. "Majority of House Democrats vote in favor of lowering voting age to 16." Fox News, 3 Mar. 2021, www.foxnews.com/politics/house-democrats-hr-1-lower-voting-age-16. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Mannino, Gabrielle. "Maine Rep. Jared Golden votes against House police reform bill." Maine News Center, 4 Mar. 2021, www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/maine-democrat-rep-jared-golden-one-of-two-democrats-to-vote-against-george-floyd-police-reform-bill/97-759bc224-7cdf-4aac-8ce6-29763973fe40. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Marcos, Cristina. "House Democrats' ambitious agenda set to run into Senate blockade." The Hill, 3 Mar. 2021, thehill.com/homenews/house/541320-house-democrats-ambitious-agenda-set-to-run-into-senate-blockade. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Novelly, Thomas. "SC’s Rep. Jim Clyburn’s ‘Charleston loophole’ bill passes House. Heads to uncertain Senate." The Post and Currier, 11 Mar. 2021, www.postandcourier.com/politics/scs-rep-jim-clyburns-charleston-loophole-bill-passes-house-heads-to-senate/article_2e0471aa-8283-11eb-927a-7344c671f5d8.html. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Quinn, Melissa, and Grace Segers. "House approves $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, sending bill to Biden." CBS News, 11 Mar. 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-relief-bill-american-rescue-plan-passes-house-representatives/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Santucci, Jeanine. "House passes sweeping pro-union bill that would reform labor laws." USA Today, 10 Mar. 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/09/house-passes-pro-act-bill-would-reform-labor-laws/4636381001/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Schultz, Marisa. "Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson explains why he was only Dem to vote against massive HR 1 election bill." Fox News, 4 Mar. 2021, www.foxnews.com/politics/bennie-thompson-only-dem-vote-against-hr1-election-bill. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Silverstein, Jason. "The only Republican to vote for George Floyd police reform act says he "accidentally" pressed the wrong button." CBS News, 4 Mar. 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/george-floyd-justice-policing-act-lance-gooden-republican-accident-vote/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Solender, Andrew. "8 House Republicans Break With Party To Back Expanded Gun Background Checks." Forbes, 11 Mar. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/03/11/8-house-republicans-break-with-party-to-back-expanded-gun-background-checks/?sh=24934a2622c2. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Stracqualursi, Veronica. "Senate confirms Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as HUD secretary." CNN, 10 Mar. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/03/10/politics/marcia-fudge-confirmed-hud-secretary/index.html. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Timm, Jane C. "Democrats rethink the U.S. voting system. What's in the massive H.R. 1." NBC News, 10 Mar. 2021, www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/democrats-rethink-u-s-voting-system-what-s-massive-h-n1260284. Accessed 14 Mar. 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_000.asp. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Weiner, Chloee. "House Approves Police Reform Bill Named After George Floyd." National Public Radio, 3 Mar. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/03/973111306/house-approves-police-reform-bill-named-after-george-floyd. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Woodward, Alex. "Progressive Democrats’ landmark amendment to extend voting rights to prisoners fails in House." The Independent, 3 Mar. 2021, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/prisoners-voting-rights-democrats-cori-bush-b1811162.html. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
