Election Day Information

While we await the launch of Congressional Heroes in 2025, I thought I'd share some election day information shared by Congressional Dish.

On September 30, 2024, CD301 "Election Study Guide" was released. This episode highlights a number of single-issue votes that you can actually use to inform your vote. This is important because much of legislation does not actually get passed through individual bills (despite what the Republicans claimed to want at the beginning of this Congress), but instead they ride into law attached to giant "Omnibus" bills passed once per year.

In addition, on October 23, 2024, CD302 "The Border Bills" was released specifically to identify the difference between what the Democrats are trying to do with the border, and what the Republicans are trying to do with the border. This is an especially good episode to listen to today if immigration and/or the border is something you care deeply about.

I will be working on writing my own summaries for each of these bills over the next week, however the summaries provided by Congressional Dish are available today. If you're voting early and want information on these bills, feel free to look there, or you may try reading the bills themselves. I can't promise I'll get through all of them by Election Day, but I can promise I'll definitely try.

Beyond that, these episodes on their own are really great to listen to. If you like what you see here, feel free to check out Congressional Dish's Most Valuable Episodes page to see what other listeners have vouched for. For me, my favorite episodes are CD300: Right to Repair, CD267: The Monopoly Powers of Live Nation/Ticketmaster, CD234: AWOL Recall: The Rock and Play Sleeper, and CD233: Long COVID.

With that being said, here are the bills in question:

HR7888: Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (CD291)

HR7521: Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (Medium)

HR8034: Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024 (CD289)

HR8035: Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024 (Summary)

HR7023: Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act (Summary)

HR1435: Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act (Summary)

HR7176: Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2024 (Summary)

HR6543: No Hidden FEES Act of 2023 (Summary)

HR3950: TICKET Act (Summary)

HR4639: Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (Summary)

S316: A bill to repeal the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq. (Summary)

S4072: A bill to prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce certain rules of the Environmental Protection Agency. (Summary)

S4445: Right to IVF Act (Summary)

HR2: Secure the Border Act of 2023 (Summary) [Republican Border Bill]

S4361: Border Act of 2024 (Summary) [Democratic Border Bill]

It's worth noting that S4361 was initially a bipartisan bill, and was even predominantly written by a Republican. However, when it did come to a vote, all Republicans ended up voting against it, and now this bill in particular is what Kamala Harris is promising to revive as President.

I point these out because the Senate Republicans seem to very much support the provisions in this bill, however it appears as though they were willing to shut it down merely to prevent Democrats from achieving a "win".

This may or may not particularly matter to you, however I do thing it's important to know when politicians vote not based on the merit of a piece of legislation, but rather based on what kind of messaging they can send out.

You may think this is a perfectly valid strategy, you may think a no vote is a no vote, and the reasons behind it are irrelevant, or you may hate this form of playing politics. Whatever your view, hopefully knowing this is informative to you when you go to the polls for this election.

And remember: You don't have to vote down-ballot. You are allowed to believe Donald Trump is a threat to America, but still like how Republicans legislate in Congress. You are also allowed to believe Kamala Harris will be terrible for the Economy, but still like the kind of bills Democrats push in Congress. You may very well view national politicians very differently than your state or local ones. And, more than anything, if you have ballot initiatives, please take the time to learn what you are voting for there before going to the polls -- these make a real difference in your state.

Making an informed vote takes time and effort, and my hope is that this blog post has helped you in that endeavor.

If you want my opinion on the matter, feel free to continue reading. Otherwise, you've essentially got everything you need to know.

I will be voting Democrat down-ballot, at least nationally, but I have specific reasons for each of the votes:

• Donald Trump's attempt to overthrow the 2020 election has made him completely out of the question. I'm incredibly disappointed that he became the Republican nominee. In addition, the Biden Administration has made real progress in right-to-repair (even if members of his administration did create setbacks), the click-to-cancel rule really matters to me, and Harris' promise to revive S4361 pretty much settles my vote here.
• Elijah Crane was one of the Republicans who voted to remove the Speaker of the House without having a plan to quickly fill the seat. This became important just four days later, when Hamas attacked Israel and Congress literally could not respond. Meanwhile, Jonathan Nez has been the president of the Navajo Nation (an Indian reservation in Arizona), and his time there seems to have informed his policy positions in a way I find interesting and valuable.
• Finally, Kari Lake perpetuated the claim that the 2020 Election was stolen, and was endorsed by Donald Trump in 2022. She also led anti-mask rallies and pushed ASU students to break school rules when they implemented a mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also pushed hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin for COVID treatment even though there simply was no science backing this up, and speaks out against the COVID vaccine despite that being backed by science. The fact that none of this has disqualified her from being a major candidate in a Senate election makes me weep for our future. It would really take a lot to get me to vote against Gallego, and his activities in the House do nothing to push me in that direction. In fact, his No vote on the TikTok bill has especially made me very happy to vote for him. The only vote I'm not happy with is his No vote on HR4639, but this is not a deal-breaker. I'm still gonna write to him and ask why he voted that way.

In any case, I'm gonna go vote now. See you all in 2025!