Bryan Watch: Labor HHS Edition

On June 12 and 13, the House voted on 70 (Seventy!) amendments to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill (HR 2740). Most (43) passed on a non-party line basis.

So, what about the remaining 27? Steil actually voted with Democrats on nine (9) of the amendments, against Democrats on 14, and supported Republican amendments four (4) times. A Republican support score of only 66 percent.

Republican Amendments to HR 2740

Let’s start off with the Republican amendments, since that was some of the nastier stuff that Steil voted in favor of this week.

Steil supported Martha Roby’s efforts on backing the Trump administration’s ultra-extreme “domestic gag rule” that would severely limit funding for family planning clinics. Fortunately, Democrats beat back the effort 191-231. Every Republican supported Trump (Roby amendment, RC 267, June 12).

Steil also voted for efforts by Rep Tom Cole (OK) in support of the Trump administration’s “Denial of care” provisions, which allow physicians to deny treatment to patients. One of the more ultra-extreme anti-woman provisions of this session (Cole amendment, RC 266, June 12).

Steil voted to cut $90 million from the ACA navigator program, which assists people in finding health care on public exchanges (Hill of Arkansas amendment, RC 284, June 13).

Last but hardly least, Steil supported an ultra-extreme 14 percent cut in funding important programs under the Labor-HHS bill. Republicans sought to cut Head Start by $1.6 billion, Title I programs by $2.4 billion, eliminate research grants for the National Institutes of Health, cut meals on wheels funding, and shut down local Social Security field offices (Banks Amendment, RC 298, June 13).

Democratic Amendments to HR 2740

Of the party line votes, they generally fell into two categories: either attempts by Democrats to roll back the policies of the Trump administration, or attempts to increase funding for federal agencies.

Mark Pocan of Madison is seeking to prevent implementation of Trump policies on fetal tissue research. The University of Wisconsin is one of the world’s leading centers for disease research using fetal tissue. Steil sided with Trump (Pocan amendment, RC 321, June 13).

Bobby Scott of Virginia is seeking to prevent the Trump administration from weakening OSHA standards regarding construction and maritime workers exposed to beryllium (Scott amendment, RC 258, June 12).

Kathy Castor of Florida is seeking to delay the implementation of the Trump administration’s new rules of short-term, limited duration insurance, which benefit insurance companies, but harm health care consumers (Castor amendment, RC 283, June 13).

Katie Porter, one of the freshmen from California, is seeking better data regarding enrollment in Affordable Care Act exchanges (Porter amendment, RC 313, June 13).

Bill Foster of Illinois is looking for better information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics as it makes projections on the workforce of the future (Foster amendment, RC 272, June 12). Foster is also seeking to end antiquated regulations, which hinder healthcare professionals from correctly identifying patients (Foster amendment, RC 270, June 12).

Mark DeSaunier of California is also seeking better information from the BLS, this time on job loss statistics (DeSaulnier amendment, RC 253, June 12).

On the more funding front:

• $15 million in funding to combat the opioid crisis (Ocasio-Cortez amendment, RC 303, June 13).
• $10 million increase in funding for refugee assistance (Donna Shalala amendment, RC 252, June 12).
• $5 million to study the impact of firearm violence in schools (Sean Patrick Maloney amendment, RC 296, June 13).
• $4 million more for the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Education (Levin amendment, RC 315, June 13).
• $5 million more for the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (Deborah Mucarsel-Powell amendment, RC 314, June 13).
• $2 million for Senior Medicare Patrols (Porter amendment, RC 311, June 13).

Good Votes by Steil

Since I did say Steil has cast good votes, here they are:

• Supported Hakeem Jeffries (NY) and David Cicilline (RI) on their efforts to push back against Betsy DeVos’ efforts to destroy the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education (Jeffries, RC 295, June 13; Cicilline, RC 292, June 13).
• Supported Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (OR) efforts to prevent the Trump administration from eliminating the Jobs Corps Civilian Conservation Center program. The program is highly successful, helping thousands of at-risk young people every year (DeFazio amendment, RC 259, June 12).
• Supported Katie Porter on funding Intimate Partner Violence Strategy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (Porter amendment, RC 312, June 13).
• Supported a monthly census of the alien children being held in cages by the Trump administration (Beyer amendment, RC 300, June 13).
• Supported efforts by Alma Adams (NC) to increase funding for Children and Families Services Programs (Adams amendment, RC 298, June 13).
• Opposed efforts by Rep. French Hill of Arkansas to direct federal funds to questionable, uncertified apprenticeship programs (RC 285, June 13).
• Supported efforts by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas) to focus on the TRIO program, which helps at-risk students attend college, and to increase diversity for patients and professionals receiving federal funding for diabetes research (RC 260 and 261, June 12).

Crazy Caucus: Labor-HHS Edition

Just for fun, let’s take a look at the crazy caucus, those members who are on the sometime single digit side of 400 plus votes. There are ten votes during the Labor-HHS amendments where the vote was 400 plus or greater.

Co-chairs of the Crazy Caucus are Justin Amash (MI) and Chip Roy (TX), both of whom voted against every one of the 400 plus votes this week. Andy Biggs of Arizona is close, with eight crazy votes. Andy Harris (MD) had six, Bradley Byrne (AL) and Jody Hice (GA) had five. Rounding things out with four each are Neal Dunn (FL), Paul Gosar (AZ), Ralph Norman (SC) and John W Rose (TN).

So what exactly were the overwhelmingly popular things they were voting against?

• Increasing funding for research on Neonatal Abstinence Sydrome, which occurs in babies born to mother addicted to opioids and other addictive drugs (Miller amendmen, RC 291, June 13, Passed 421-3)
• In another opioid related vote, an increase in funding for the Building Communities of Recovery program (Barr amendment, RC 281, June 13, Passed 420-4).
• In another opioid related vote, provide funding for the Regional Centers of Excellence in Substance Use Disorder Education (Johnson of Ohio amendment, RC 277, June 12, Passed 408-15).
• In yet another opioid related vote, increasing funding for the SUPPORT Act, which helps to prevent overdoses in emergency rooms (McKinley amendment, RC 275, June 12, Passed 415-9).
• Increasing funding for the Firefighter Cancer Registry at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Firefighters are frequently exposed to carcinogenic chemicals in the line of duty (Pascrell amendment, RC 262, June 12, Passed 413-10).
• An amendment by Gwen Moore (Milwaukee) to increase funding for research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Moore amendment, RC 278, June 12, Passed 405-19).
• An additional $2 million to fight Lyme Disease outbreaks (Smith of New Jersey amendment, RC 257, June 12, Passed 413-11).
• Increase funding for birth defects and disability research at the Department of Health and Human Services (Danny Davis amendment, RC 263, June 12, Passed 410-12).
• An additional $5 million for school based mental health services for children sponsored by Massachusetts freshman Ayanna Presley (RC 286, June 13, Passed 401-23).
• Spending $6.25 million to study the long term effects of red tide algae blooms on human health (Buchanan of Florida amendment, RC 268, June 12, Passed 401-23).