WASHINGTON — Here’s a look at how area members of Congress voted over the week ending Feb. 27.
Along with roll call votes this week, the House also passed: the Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act (H.R. 5236), to prohibit minimum educational requirements for proposed contractor personnel in certain contract solicitations; the Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act (H.R. 3679), to require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop resources for small businesses in utilizing artificial intelligence; the Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries Act (H.R. 2600), to require the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to establish a program for NASA use of commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery.
House
GOVERNMENT REGULATORY DATA: The House has passed the Information Quality Assurance Act (H.R. 6329), sponsored by Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., to change guidelines for federal government agencies to release to the public information or evidence that influences government policies and actions. Under the bill, agencies would need to use the best reasonably available influential information and evidence. McClain said: “My bill strengthens safeguards to ensure federal agencies rely on data that meets clear standards for objectivity, integrity, and accountability before new regulations move forward.” The vote, on Feb. 24, was 362 yeas to 1 nay.
YEAS: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-3rd
AIRPLANE COMMUNICATIONS: The House has rejected the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act (S. 2503), sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a bill that would require aircraft to be equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) systems for communications between air traffic controllers and aircraft. A supporter, Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., D-Va., said: “Passing the ROTOR Act is the strongest first step we can take for ensuring a safer airspace for the flying public today to improve aviation safety.” An opponent, Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., called the bill “an overly prescriptive approach to mandating a specific technology, which is still largely under development, in a manner that can prove burdensome to some operators and create burdens to its adoption.” The vote, on Feb. 24, was 264 yeas to 133 nays, with a two-thirds majority required.
