The Senate completed an annual series of symbolic “Vote-a-rama” budget roll calls early Friday morning, giving hints at reforms and policy tweaks that could pass the 114th Congress.
Out of the 58 “deficit neutral reserve fund” legislative placeholder amendments attached to the budget, senators approved of five by unanimous consent. Voting on the amendments started Tuesday.
The purely domestic measures to pass the sideshow without opposition were Federal Water Pollution Control Act tweaks proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), a bill aimed at strengthening veterans’ healthcare offered by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and an amendment put forth by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to bolster reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers.
Unsurprisingly, also passing unanimously were an amendment “relating to supporting Israel” proposed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and one, offered by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), that calls on Congress to reimpose and strengthen sanctions on Iran if it violates any US-spearheaded multilateral agreement on its nuclear program.
The Vote-a-rama also yielded whip counts that could have stopped filibusters and Presidential vetoes. It contained three votes on health and social security benefits, and middle class tax cuts that passed by supermajorities.
An amendment “to protect Medicaid beneficiaries from benefit cuts” co-sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) passed 94-3.
A measure brought to the floor by Sen. Wyden that expands middle class tax cuts passed 73-27. Joining Democrats, notably, in passing the bill were Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.), among other Republicans.
An amendment proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) to preserve only current retirees’ Social Security benefits also passed with three-quarters of the Senate’s approval. Notably, however, it was criticized by Sen. Sanders, a democratic socialist and reliable champion of strong retirement benefits.
“If you’re 63 years of age, 64 years of age, 65 years of age, watch out. They’re going after you,” he said earlier this week, as The Hill noted.
As The Sentinel noted on Thursday, a Vote-a-rama amendment mandating one week of paid sick leave for workers every year also crossed the 60-vote threshold.
Politico on Wednesday described the yearly string of votes as a “charade,” albeit one that could have non-zero influence on the orientation of policies and campaign priorities in run-up to 2016.
In the legislative arena, the vote on protections for pregnant workers could particularly be telling. The issue made headlines on Wednesday, when the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to keep an aggrieved UPS driver’s lawsuit alive.
Peggy Young had alleged that the company discriminated against her by placing her on “unpaid leave” after learning she was pregnant. Other workers who were injured on the job, she successfully argued, would routinely be given “light duty” and that the discrepancy violated federal statutes. According to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, companies must treat pregnant workers the way they’d treat any employee “in their ability or inability to work.”
According to the National Women’s Law Center, pregnant women received some protections in 2008, when Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act. The legislation granted additional relief to workers with temporary and less severe impairments.
The overall budget resolution passed the Senate at 3 in the morning on Friday in a 52-46 vote, with Sens. Cruz and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) defecting from the Republican caucus. The bill’s supporters claim it would slash federal spending by $5.1 trillion over the next decade. The House passed its own version of the budget on Wednesday. A conference committee between the two chambers will seek to iron out their differences when Congress reconvenes after the Easter break, The Hill noted.
