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Bryan Watch - Mar 2022

Steil votes against Wounded Veterans

By John HeckenlivelyPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Mark Takano led the fight on passing the "Honor the Pact" bill

A relatively slow week in Congress, with only 12 votes cast and only five of them party line. As usual, Steil voted with the Republicans 100 percent of the time during the first week of March.

The major bill this week was HR 3967, the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021, which seeks to provide medical treatment to veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals during the course of their service. During his State of the Union Address, President Biden discussed how exposure to toxic chemicals may have led to the cancer that caused his son Beau’s death.

Republicans, including Rep. Steil, voted against HR 3967 by a vote of 34 to 174. (RC 57, March 3). There were a variety of amendments to the Toxics bill, but only one that was controversial.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa (who won in an ultra close race in 2020) introduced an amendment (H Amdt 178) that would have substantially watered down the provisions of HR 3967. Steil and the vast majority of Republicans (203 to 4) voted to shaft veterans exposed to toxic chemicals (RC 53, Mar 2).

According to Mark Tarkano (CA), who was leading the debate for Democrats, Miller Meek’s proposal would leave 3.4 million service members who were exposed to toxic chemical hanging out to dry. Miller-Meeks may be a physician, but in this case she clearly forgot that “Do No Harm” is the first rule of medicine. Miller-Meeks spent much of the time trying to kill a bill that would help sick veterans, using extremely flimsy arguments.

The other amendments passed by fairly wide margins:

- H Amdt 182, by Rep. Tim Ryan (OH) which added some language related to burn pits (RC 56, Mar 3)

- H Amdt 191, by Rep Paul Ruiz (CA) making technical changes regarding next of kin (RC 55, Mar 3, passed 425-0)

- H Amdt 179, by Rep. Julia Brownley (CA) providing female veterans access to mammography. (RC 54, Mar 2, passed 425-0)

- H Amdt 177, an en bloc amendment by Rep. Mark Takano (CA) to add several amendments to HR 3967. Steil and a majority of Republicans (112-96) supported the en bloc amendments (RC 52, Mar 2)

And as usual, Republicans voted against even considering HR 3967 (H Res 950, RC 49 and 50, March 1)

The other bill that could be considered controversial this week was HR 2216, the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act. The bill would prevent discrimination against people based on their hair styles, most particularly in programs in programs involving federal assistance, housing, employment and public accommodations. The vast majority of Republicans (15 to 188) voted in favor of discriminating against people based solely on their hair. That included Rep. Steil – a disgraceful vote. (RC 48, Feb 28)

To his credit, Steil joined the vast majority of Republicans (201 to 3) in supporting HR 55, the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act. The bill is named after the teenager who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. The only three members to vote in favor of lynching were Andrew Clyde (GA), Tom Massie (KY) and Chip Roy (TX). They are three of the more reliable members of the Crazy Caucus.

Massie was also one only three to vote against a resolution supporting the people of Ukraine in their struggle against Russian aggression (H Res 956, RC 51, Mar 2, passed 426-3). Paul Gosar (AZ) and Matt Rosendale (MT) were the other two crazies.

Congress also passed S 321, the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act, which honors the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The 850 African American women spent much of 1945 ensuring that millions of pieces of mail made it to servicemembers in Europe. The gold medal bill passed 422-0 (RC 45, Feb 28)

Total Votes:12 - Party Line: 5 - NPL: 7

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