Bryan Watch: Feb 2021

Week 1 (Feb 1-5)

The biggest thing the House dealt with the first week was the budget. Not surprisingly, Republicans unanimously rejected it, including Steil. They opposed even discussing it, as usual. (H Res 101, RC 26 and 27, February 5) The bill paves the way for Congress to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

The other major bill the House dealt with was HR 447, the National Apprenticeship Act. Steil, to his credit, voted for the bill, as well as supporting amendments by Andy Levin (MI) and opposing an amendment by French Hill (AR). (Passage, RC 31, Feb 5)

However, Steil did support an amendment by Rep Elise Stefanik (NY) that would allow fly by night apprenticeship programs without a proven track record to receive federal funding, eliminate an interagency agreement with the Department of Education on apprenticeship, and cut funding for programs by over two-thirds. Fortunately, Stefanik’s effort failed. (RC 30. Feb 5)

To his credit, Steil voted against the Hill amendment, which was intended as an attack on labor unions, but which could instead hinder the ability of small businesses to participate in apprenticeship programs. Notably, the vast majority of Republicans voted for it simply because it was anti-union. Steil was one of only 19 Republicans to vote against. (RC 29, Feb 5)

And Steil did vote for an en bloc amendment that would make several meaningful improvements to the Apprenticeship bill. (Levin, H Amdt 5, RC 28, Feb 5)

Last week, House Republicans had a choice between rejecting insanity or alienating Trump supporters, and the vast majority chose the politically expedient path, including Representative Steil. House Republicans voted 199 to 11 against H Res 72, which stripped Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments as a result of her extreme positions (RC 25, February 4)

Congratulations to the following Republican members for choosing sanity over party allegiance: Mario Díaz-Balart (FL), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Carlos A. Giménez (FL), Chris Jacobs (NY), John Katko (NY), Young Kim (CA), Adam Kinzinger (IL), Nicole Malliotakis (NY), Maria Elvira Salazar (FL), Chris Smith (NJ) and Fred Upton (MI). Fitzpatrick, Katko, Smith and Upton had been frequent critics of the Trump Administration during the last Congress. Gimenez, Kim, Malliotakis and Salazar were elected in November.

Steil, along with every other Republican, voted against even considering H Res 72 (H Res 91, RC 22 and 23, February 4) and voted to adjourn before the House could vote on the Greene resolution (RC 24, February 4)

Republicans voted against consideration of the budget as well as considering the National Apprenticeship Act (H Res 85, RC 19 and 20, Feb 2).

Scorecard: There were 13 votes the week of February 1-5, and all of them were party line. Steil voted with the Republicans on 10 of them. His good votes were 28, 29 and 31, all on the Apprenticeship Act.

In non-voting related news, Rep. Steil retained his positions on the House Administration and House Financial Services committees.

Rep Steil currently has two bills pending before the Foreign Affairs Committee: HR 901, which deals with waivers from sanctions on Iran, and HR 233, which focuses on criminal financial activities associated with human trafficking. He also has a bill before the Financial Services Committee, HR 733, regarding US banks and their relationship with INSTEX, the European trading agreement with Iran.

Week 4 (Feb 22-26)

Republicans Endorse Discrimination

Another banner week in the decline of the Republican party, as almost every Republican (save three) votes in favor of discrimination, not once but four times.

House Republicans voted 206 to 3 against passage of HR 5, the Equality Act, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender. (RC 39, Feb 25) The only Republicans voting to protect the rights of LGBTQ citizens were Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), John Katko (NY) and Tom Reed (NY). They are among the small handful of progressives left in the Republican party.

Republicans also sided twice with Marjorie Taylor Greene (Crackpot-GA) on motions to adjourn the house rather than vote on the Equality Act (RC 38, Feb 25; RC 33, Feb 24). Republicans also unanimously supported an effort to reconsider the vote on HR 5 (RC 40, Feb 25)

Predictably, all Republicans voted against even considering HR 5 or HR 803, the Colorado Wilderness Act (RC 34 and 25, Feb 24)

There were three bills that passed with little opposition:

- HR 1192, the Puerto Rico Recovery Accuracy in Disclosures Act, which ensures that attorneys who helped disaster victims are properly compensated (RC 37, Feb 24)

- HR 546, Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act, which prohibits the Department of Justice from spying on communications between incarcerated persons and their lawyers (RC 36, Feb 24)

- And HR 208, which named a post office in Tupelo, Mississippi after a Vietnam era prisoner of war, Colonel Carlyle “Smitty” Harris (RC 32, Feb 23). The Squad and some of the more liberal members of the House voted against this.

Scorecard: There were 9 votes the last week of February. Six were party line and Steil voted with the Republicans 100 percent. There were three non-party line (RC 32, 36 and 37).