Bryan Watch: July 9-11

Big week for Representative Steil as his first bill passed the House of Representatives. It was HR 3050, the Expanding Investment in Small Businesses Act. The purpose of the bill is to require the Securities and Exchange Commission to carry out a study of the 10 per centum threshold limitation applicable to the definition of a diversified company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. (RC 432, July 9)

If that sounds a little arcane, it is. But the broader purpose is to obtain data about investment in capital markets so that Congress can draft new rules so companies can more easily obtain venture capital. Both Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Andy Barr (R-KY) were enthusiastic supporters of the bill, which passed 417 to 2. The only two people voting against it were Sean Casten (D-IL) and Thomas Massie (R-KY). Massie is one of the most extreme conservatives in the House and is often on the losing end of 400 plus votes.

The House passed three other bills on non-party line votes this week. On Tuesday, they passed HR 2409, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act by 413 to 7, and HR 2515,

The Whistleblower Protection Reform Act by 410 to 12. On July 10, HR 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act passed 365 to 65. Steil was in the majority on all three.

HR 1044 could be called the Raj Koothrapali bill, because it would allow highly skilled foreign nationals, like physicists, easier access to green cards. The bill had broad bipartisan support as a sensible step in reforming immigration policy.

Not surprisingly, Republicans voted against consideration of HR 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (RC 434 and 426, July 10, H Res 476). They also voted against the rules report for HR 2500, which included hundreds of amendments to the NDAA (McGovern Amendment, RC 435, July 10)

NDAA Amendments

On Thursday, the House began dealing with amendments to HR 2500. In the report for the bill over 400 amendments were listed. Steil did cosponsor an amendment to honor the members of the United States Cadet Nurses Corps who served during World War II. (Amendment 85, Bustos)

There were twenty-one (21) votes on amendments. All were party line, and Steil voted with the Republicans every time. It was generally to block Democratic amendments, often measures to reverse or limit the policies of the Trump administration.

Here are some of the more key amendments that Steil and the Republicans opposed:

In perhaps the biggest vote on NDAA, Rep. Jackie Speier (CA) moved to include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes for military personnel, effectively reversing the Trump Administration ban on transgender individuals serving in the armed forces (RC 439). All but 10 Republicans sided with Trump and discrimination.

Ted Lieu (CA) continued efforts to uphold the emoluments clause by blocking the use of federal funds at Trump owned properties. Republicans sided with Trump’s unconstitutional raiding of the federal treasury. (RC 457, July 11)

In a similar vein, Adam Smith (WA) seeks to limit contracting by federal officials. Under current federal law, members of Congress are prohibited from contracting with the federal government, for obvious reasons. Smith is seeking to expand that prohibition to the President, Vice President and Cabinet members (RC 446).

Democrats also sought to limit military operations in Yemen. Both Lieu and Smith (WA) proposed prohibiting support of Saudi operations in Yemen (RC 448 and 450), while Lieu sought to prevent the Trump administration from supplying Saudi Arabia and the UAE with weapons without congressional oversight (RC 449).

Elliott Engel (NY) is seeking to extend the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia and to constrain the Trump administration from abandoning nuclear disarmament treaties (RC 453). The only Republicans to support disarmament were Gus Bilirakis (FL), Bill Posey (FL), David Schweikert (AZ) and Chris Smith (NJ).

Norma Torres (CA) sought to keep oversight of weapons sales under the purview of the State Department, in order to prevent weapons from getting into the hands of terrorists. The Trump administration is attempting to move that oversight to the Commerce Department, which does not have the same expertise as State. Republicans sided with the Trump administration to make it easier for terrorists to buy weapons. (RC 442)

Other interesting amendments:

• An amendment by Jamie Raskin (MD) to preclude the use of military hardware at future Trump rallies (Raskin amendment, RC 458, July 11). Not a single Republican voted in favor; Justin Amash (MI), who just left the Republican party, supported limiting the excesses of the Trump administration.
• Freshman Anthony Brinidisi (NY) is trying to restore “Buy American” policies at the Department of Defense. A vast majority of Republicans (24-173) voted against buying American. (RC 441)
• Freshman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota passed an amendment seeking a report on the costs of the uS military empire. (RC 445)

The only amendments that failed were efforts by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Oregon) to limit production of W80-4 nuclear warheads (RC 455) and delaying the ground based strategic deterrent program (RC 456).