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Key Votes: 116th Congress, 2019-2020
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Members of the 116th United States Congress introduced 16,601 pieces of legislation, and 746 of those received a vote. Ballotpedia identified which of those were key votes—votes that helped citizens understand where their legislators stood on major policy issues. This page tracked key votes from the 116th Congress, which convened on January 3, 2019, and concluded on January 3, 2021.[1]
How do we identify key votes?
Between 2009 and 2019, lawmakers introduced 62,230 pieces of legislation, and 2,993 of those received a vote.[2] Ballotpedia monitored legislation that received a vote and highlighted the ones that we considered to be key to understanding where elected officials stood on the issues. Here are the criteria and questions we used to identify a key vote:
- Impact of the legislation
- What impact will it have on citizens?
- Is it a wide-reaching piece of legislation that will impact many citizens?
- Is it budget-related or an appropriations bill?
- Is it a major change to an existing law?
- Leadership's engagement with the legislation
- Are the president and party leaders discussing the legislation regularly?
- During a congressional or presidential election cycle, is the legislation being discussed regularly on the campaign trail?
- Citizen engagement with the legislation
- Is it on Congress.gov's "Most-Viewed Bills" list?
- Is it trending on social media?
116th Congress key votes
U.S. Senate
- U.S. House Motion 46 (Block border wall emergency declaration)
To block President Trump's declaration of an emergency at the U.S.-Mexican border, which allowed him to bypass Congress and re-allocate funds to build a border wall.
Passed 59 to 41 in the U.S. Senate on March 13th, 2019
- Amendment to U.S. House Bill 3877 (Impose budget caps and submit balanced budget amendment to the states)
To impose caps on federal spending through 2029 that did not exceed $3.5 trillion a year, and to allow the debt limit to be raised only after Congress sent a balanced budget constitutional amendment to the states for ratification.
Failed 23 to 70 in the U.S. Senate on July 31st, 2019
- U.S. House Bill 3055 (Temporarily fund federal government and renew PATRIOT Act)
To provide temporary funding for the federal government through December 20, averting for another month a possible government shutdown. The bill also reauthorized the PATRIOT Act, a law passed by Congress in the wake of 9/11 that gave the federal government broad surveillance powers.
Passed 74 to 20 in the U.S. Senate on November 20th, 2019
- U.S. House Resolution 755 (Convict President Trump of abuse of office)
To convict President Trump of the "high crime and misdemeanor" of abuse of office and remove him from office.
Failed 48 to 52 in the U.S. Senate on February 4th, 2020
- U.S. House Resolution 755 (Convict President Trump of contempt of Congress)
To convict President Trump of the "high crime and misdemeanor" of contempt of Congress and remove him from office.
Failed 47 to 53 in the U.S. Senate on February 5th, 2020
- U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 68 (End military actions against Iran)
To prohibit U.S. military actions against Iranian targets unless Congress authorized the use of force.
Passed 55 to 45 in the U.S. Senate on February 12th, 2020
- U.S. Senate Bill 3275 (Ban abortion after 20 weeks)
To prohibit a doctor from performing an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless it was to save the life of the mother or the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. This vote was to invoke cloture, or to end debate on the bill, so required 60 votes to pass.
Failed 53 to 44 in the U.S. Senate on February 24th, 2020
- U.S. House Bill 6201 (Provide federal aid for coronavirus economic impacts)
To mandate that businesses with fewer than 500 employees offered paid sick leave for two weeks, increase federal unemployment insurance payments to the states by $1 billion, provide more federal money for food aid programs, prohibit the Trump Administration from strengthening social welfare benefit work requirements, and provide waivers to insurance companies to give no-cost coronavirus tests, among other things.
Passed 90 to 8 in the U.S. Senate on March 17th, 2020
- U.S. House Bill 6172 (Renew FISA surveillance law authorization)
To renew provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that permitted federal government investigators to collect business records and other information without a warrant during national security investigations. The FISA law authorized a federal judge to approve such collections without notifying the target or hearing opposing arguments. The bill would also increase the number of FISA courts and expand the circumstances that require FISA judges to hear from a government-appointed critic of these requests.
Passed 80 to 16 in the U.S. Senate on May 12th, 2020
U.S. House of Representatives
- U.S. House Joint Resolution 46 (Terminate border wall emergency declaration)
To terminate President Trump's declaration of an emergency at the U.S.-Mexican border, which allowed him to bypass Congress and re-allocate funds to build a border wall.
Passed 245 to 182 in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 25th, 2019
- U.S. House Bill 1644 (Re-impose federal net neutrality rules)
To reinstate Federal Communications Commission rules that would regulate Internet service providers as public utilities. The rules would prohibit providers from offering pricing models that let websites or customers pay more to get faster speeds; prohibit providers from blocking or “throttling” the speed of certain websites; and impose other restrictions on how providers may manage their networks.
Passed 232 to 190 in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 9th, 2019
- U.S. House Bill 4617 (Expand restrictions on online campaign ads, regulate foreign involvement in elections)
To expand federal regulations and restrictions on online political communications, mandate that social media companies keep detailed records on individuals and organizations sponsoring political ads, require political campaigns to report offers of foreign assistance, prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to ballot initiative and referendum campaigns, increase restrictions on U.S. political campaigns soliciting support from foreign entities, and make it a federal crime to mislead voters about the time and place for voting and qualifications to vote.
Passed 227 to 181 in the U.S. House of Representatives on October 22nd, 2019
- U.S. House Bill 4 (Mandate federal approval before some states can change voting practices)
To mandate that states or local governments must get approval of the federal government before they make changes to voting practices in certain circumstances. This mandate for federal "pre-clearance" would apply to any state that had 15 or more Voting Rights Act violations in the past 25 years. The mandate would apply to local governments that had at least three Voting Rights Act violations in the past 25 years.
Passed 228 to 187 in the U.S. House of Representatives on December 5th, 2019
- U.S. House Resolution 755 (Impeach President Trump for abuse of power)
To impeach President Donald Trump on the charge of abusing his power in calling for the announcement of a Ukrainian investigation of a political rival (Joe Biden) in exchange for a meeting with the president and the release of previously approved foreign aid. After passage of these articles of impeachment, the Senate held a trial on removing the president from office. The Senate voted to acquit.
Passed 230 to 197 in the U.S. House of Representatives on December 17th, 2019
- U.S. House Resolution 755 (Impeach President Trump for obstruction of justice)
To impeach President Donald Trump for obstructing justice by directing White House officials to defy subpoenas and otherwise obstructing an impeachment investigation being held by the House of Representatives. After passage of these articles of impeachment, the Senate held a trial on removing the president from office. The Senate voted to acquit.
Passed 229 to 198 in the U.S. House of Representatives on December 17th, 2019
- U.S. House Concurrent Resolution 83 (Direct President Trump to end hostilities against Iran)
To adopt a non-binding House resolution directing President Trump to end military action in or against Iran unless Congress authorized such action.
Passed 224 to 194 in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 8th, 2020
- U.S. House Bill 6172 (Renew foreign surveillance authorization)
To renew provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that permit the federal government to collect business records and other information during national security investigations without a warrant. The FISA law authorized a federal judge to approve such collections without notifying the target or hearing opposing arguments. The bill would also increase the number of FISA courts and expand the circumstances that require FISA judges to hear from a government-appointed critic of these requests.
Passed 278 to 136 in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 10th, 2020
- U.S. House Bill 6201 (Provide federal aid for coronavirus economic impacts)
To mandate that businesses with fewer than 500 employees offer paid sick leave for two weeks, increase federal unemployment insurance payments to the states by $1 billion, provide more federal money for food aid programs, prohibit the Trump Administration from strengthening social welfare benefit work requirements, and provide waivers to insurance companies to give no-cost coronavirus tests, among other things.
Passed 363 to 41 in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 13th, 2020
See also
- 115th Congress key votes
- 116th United States Congress
- Tie-breaking votes cast by vice presidents in the Senate
External links
Footnotes
