North Dakota’s MegaVote; 1st Congressional District:
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Recent Senate Votes:
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Wage Discrimination
Vote Rejected (52-47, 1 Not Voting)
The Senate failed to invoke cloture last week on a motion to proceed to a bill that would provide additional legal recourse to individuals who experience gender-based wage discrimination. Among other provisions, the bill would have allowed employees to sue for punitive damages (as opposed to just back pay) and would increase penalties against employers who engage in wage discrimination based on gender. The measure would also make it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers for talking about their wages with each other. Republicans decried the bill as unnecessary and a boon to trial lawyers, while Democrats continued to hammer their election-year theme of the GOP being out of touch with women. The President expressed strong support for the bill.
Sen. Kent Conrad voted: YES
Sen. John Hoeven voted: NO
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Farm Bill
Vote Agreed to (90-8, 2 Not Voting)
The Senate invoked cloture on a motion to proceed to its version of the multi-year reauthorization of farm and nutrition programs. The Agriculture committee’s top two members are Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. and Ranking Member Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Stabenow and Roberts have drawn up a bill that eliminates about $5 billion in annual direct payments to farmers and replaces it with a “shallow loss” program that replaces revenue losses of 11 to 21 percent below a five-year average. Southern senators object that this program would be of little help to their farmers, and are less subject to natural disaster than wheat and corn but more subject to price fluctuation. Southerners are demanding some form of guaranteed price protection. Both the Senate and House Agriculture committees have proposed SNAP cuts, with much larger cuts expected to come out of the House. Democrats in both houses are opposed to these cuts. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Ranking Democratic on House Ag, has expressed confidence the measure will come to the floor, but a “summer agenda” memo distributed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. made no mention of it. President Obama has backed the Senate bill.
Sen. Kent Conrad voted: YES
Sen. John Hoeven voted: YES
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Recent House Votes:
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Energy-Water Appropriations
Vote Passed (255-165, 11 Not Voting)
The House passed three FY 2013 appropriations bills last week, the first of which covered funding for the Department of Energy (DOE), Army Corps of Engineers and water development projects under the Interior Department, as well as various independent agencies including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The underlying bill would increase funding for DOE nuclear weapons programs by $298 million and cut the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) account within the Energy Department by $428 million. Several Democratic amendments attempted to restore EERE funding, but each was turned aside. The bill would also prohibit the closure of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository, a priority of President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The President has issued a veto threat on the measure. Rep. Rick Berg voted: YES
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Medical Device Tax Repeal
Vote Passed (270-146, 15 Not Voting)
House Republicans, and 37 Democrats, passed a bill last week repealing the 2.3-percent tax on medical devices that was included as a pay-for in the 2010 health care overhaul. Bundled into the device tax repeal bill was a separate measure ending the overhaul’s restriction on using certain tax-preferred accounts to buy over-the-counter drugs, and a third provision allowing individuals to recoup up to $500 remaining in their FSAs at the end of a plan year. The measure would be paid for by lifting caps on liability for overpayments of subsidized coverage under the overhaul. President Obama has threatened to veto the measure. Senator Scott P. Brown, R-Mass. and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah have introduced device tax repeal bills in the upper chamber, neither of which has attracted Democratic cosponsors.
Rep. Rick Berg voted: YES
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Homeland Security Appropriations
Vote Passed (234-182, 15 Not Voting)
Second on the Appropriations docket last week was funding for the Department of Homeland Security. These include a new limitation on the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to provide abortions for detainees and cuts to a program that provides alternatives (such as electronic monitoring) to detention for individuals who are in deportation proceedings. An amendment offered by Steve King, (R-Iowa) that passed is to bar funding for the Administration’s “prosecutorial discretion” policy in targeting certain illegal immigrants for deportation. The policy, dating to June 2011, instructs ICE personnel to focus their resources on individuals with criminal records and to consider relevant factors before targeting certain others, including members of the armed forces, those who came to the United States as children, and high school and college graduates. Republicans have called this policy “administrative amnesty.” The president has threatened to veto the bill. Rep. Rick Berg voted: YES
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Legislative Branch Appropriations
Vote Passed (307-102, 22 Not Voting)
The House passed its measure funding FY 13 spending on legislative branch operations. The measure provides funding for Member and committee offices and operations of agencies such as the Library of Congress, Capitol Police, Congressional Research Service (CRS), and Government Accountability Office (GAO). The House bill would cut funding for House operations by one percent, hold CRS flat and give bumps of six, two, and one percent to the Capitol Police, GAO and the Congressional Budget Office respectively. A 10 percent cut to the Architect of the Capitol means that ongoing restoration of the Capitol dome would be placed on hold. Funding for Senate operations will be taken up by the Senate Appropriations committee. Rep. Rick Berg voted: YES
MOORHEAD BULLETIN BOARD
MOORHEAD BIKE NIGHT
When: Thursday, June 14 5:30 – 9:00 PM
Where: Moorhead Center Mall East Parking Lot
** Come on over to the east side of the Red! NO admission charge. Chow down on a variety of food available, including grilled burgers and tacos, dance to the music and win a door prize. Try out the climbing wall and don’t miss the Minnesota DNR’s AIRBOAT.
** Operations Manager Scott Hutchins wants all residents interested in the City of Moorhead’s “Request for Proposals” for the redevelopment of City-owned property located on 1st Avenue North to be aware the reference documents will be available on the City’s website: www.cityofmoorhead.com/rfp. If you have ideas or input for development in that area, call Moorhead’s city hall at: 218-299-5305
Please send questions or responses for Soo Asheim by email to: sooasheim@aol.com or by snail mail to: PO Box 123, Fargo, ND, 58107.