While House Democrats last week continued with impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, the chamber approved legislation to statutorily ban insider trading and a measure to restore voting rights protections removed by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling.

The Senate continued to confirm Trump’s nominations last week, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scheduled a vote for next week on former Nevada Solicitor General Lawrence VanDyke to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

House impeachment likely

Last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the Democratic leaders of six committees—including the Intelligence Committee, Oversight and Reform Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee—to draft articles of impeachment detailing how Trump violated his oath of office. 

That decision was spurred by closed-door depositions taken by those panels followed by public hearings held last month. Last week, the Intelligence Committee released a report of the investigation, which found “President Trump, personally and acting through agents within and outside of the U.S. government, solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his reelection.

A member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Dina Titus, called the evidence of an impeachable offense “overwhelming.”

“I support the next phase in this inquiry as we continue to make the strongest possible case to the Senate and the American people,” Titus said in a statement. “Unlike the President, I take my oath seriously. President Trump’s conduct and cover-up will require me to vote for impeachment.”

A vote on the articles of impeachment could come before the end of the year. House impeachment of Trump would trigger a trial in the Senate, which would likely take place in January. If the trial drags on, it could end within weeks of the Nevada Democratic caucus on Feb. 22. Early voting starts Feb. 15.

Along with energizing Democrats, the trial could have the added effect of helping Vice President Joe Biden, who is the leading candidate in the state, by pulling senators off of the campaign trail the month before the caucus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Bernie Sanders are behind Biden in Nevada in recent polls, and the two would have to take a break from campaigning to be jurors in the trial.

Republicans also see impeachment as energizing their voters. On Thursday The American Action Network, which is funded almost entirely via the Congressional Leadership Fund, launched a new television ad urging Democratic Rep. Susie Lee to oppose impeachment. Trump won the 3rd Congressional District in 2016 by one percentage point. Elected in 2018, Lee defeated her Republican opponent, Danny Tarkanian, by almost 10 points. 

Trump Victory spokesman Keith Schipper also called out Lee and Rep. Steven Horsford on the issue after Pelosi’s announcement Thursday that the House is pushing ahead with articles of impeachment. 

“Nevadans are sick of this sideshow and want their representatives to get back to the issues that matter,” Schipper said in a statement.

Asked to comment on whether she believes Trump committed an impeachable offense, she told KSNV in Las Vegas that it seemed likely. 

“As the evidence is rolling in and we're now into the phase of getting some expert testimony on applying the constitution and tests of the constitution, I think it's rolling in that direction,” Lee said. 

House votes

In a show of near-unity, the House voted 410 to 13 to approve a bill that would codify the prohibition against insider trading, which is designed to establish a clear, consistent standard for both courts and market participants to follow.

“For decades, these scammers have taken advantage of the fact that insider trading is not clearly defined or strongly enforced,” Lee said in a statement. “The bipartisan Insider Trading Prohibition Act changes that by making it clear to all would-be fraudsters that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will not turn its back on serious crimes that hurt our economy and working families.”

The House also approved a measure, 417 to 3, to beat back the onslaught of robocalls everyone seems to get, especially during dinner. The bill, which reconciled the different anti-robocalls measures passed by the Senate in May and the House in June, would require carriers to offer call-authentication technology to everyone at no additional charge. It would also require that opt-in or opt-out robocall blocking be offered at no additional charge to consumers.

“Today I voted to pass legislation to crack down on robocalls,” Titus wrote on Twitter. “Consumers shouldn't be subjected to constant harassment, fraud, and abuse. Wrongdoers must be held accountable.”

The House split mostly along party lines on voting rights legislation and a non-binding resolution in support of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Mark Amodei said he was leaning against supporting the measures and ended up voting against both.

The voting rights bill was approved 228 to 187 with only one Republican voting with all Democrats. The measure would establish a process to determine which states—typically those with a history of discriminatory election practices—must pre-clear any changes to voting practices with the Department of Justice. It will also require a nationwide, practice-based pre-clearance of known discriminatory practices, including the creation of at-large districts, inadequate multilingual voting materials and cuts to polling places.

The bill is designed to restore part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which established which states were subject to DOJ pre-clearance. But in 2013, the Supreme Court agreed with Shelby County, Alabama that 50 years after enactment of the law, DOJ oversight was no longer needed. 

Horsford argued that hurdles to voting persist.

“More than 50 years after passage of the Voting Rights Act, Americans still face discriminatory voting practices at the polls,” he said in a statement. “This bill bolsters protections against discriminatory voting practices in the face of narrowed voting windows, closing polling places, and the creation of new barriers to voting across the country.

Amodei cited GOP arguments against the bill, including that it would give the federal government control over state and local elections without any proof of voter discrimination. He also contends existing law already prohibits voting discrimination.

On a two-state solution resolution, he said that the House had already passed a resolution in July, 398 to 17, in support of the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He also believes it’s an effort to rebuke the White House, which has been working on a Middle East peace plan. 

Amodei called the measure “political” rather than substantive.

The resolution was approved 226 to 188 with only five Republicans voting against and with all but four Democrats in favor of the measure.

Senate

The Senate continued its steady march of confirming Trump’s nominees, voting on 10 last week including the new Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette who was confirmed Monday 70 to 15. Both Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen voted against him.

“I look forward to working with him,” Cortez Masto said last week. “The Department of Energy, in general, has a lot of work to do to regain our trust.” 

The DOE-Nevada relationship was further strained this year when DOE revealed in July that it improperly sent shipments of radioactive waste over six years to the Nevada National Security Site that did not meet disposal requirements.

That came after the agency disclosed in January as part of a lawsuit filed by the state to prevent any plutonium from being shipped to Nevada—after talks with DOE yielded no resolution—that it had already shipped the plutonium. 

The Senate will vote on another nominee Cortez Masto and Rosen oppose next week: VanDyke.

Rosen attended VanDyke’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in October. The panel advanced him on a party-line vote last month. That appears to be the likely outcome on the Senate floor next week. 

The two senators differed over Richard Myers to be a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Cortez Masto opposed the nomination, while Rosen voted for Myers.

Myers, one of only a small number of African American judges appointed to a federal district court by Trump, was confirmed Thursday 68 to 21.

Cortez Masto’s office said her vote was based on the fact that Myers did not practice law for very long.

“Senator Cortez Masto had concerns about Mr. Myers’ lack of experience practicing law, as he only practiced for six years prior to becoming a professor,” her office said.

Rosen’s office cited Myers’ “Well Qualified” rating by the American Bar Association for her vote in favor of the judge. 

For a full rundown of the measures the delegates supported or opposed this week, check out The Nevada Independent’s congressional vote tracker and other information below.

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO

Legislation sponsored:

S. 2978 – A bill to ensure consideration of water intensity in the Department of Energy's energy research, development, and demonstration programs to help guarantee efficient, reliable, and sustainable delivery of energy and clean water resources.

Legislation co-sponsored:

S. 2961 – A bill to establish duties for online service providers with respect to end user data that such providers collect and use.

REP. STEVEN HORSFORD

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.R.5291 – To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set forth a method of determining annual updates to premium tax credit eligibility and maximum out-of-pocket limits.