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H.R. 2029: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016

Dec 18, 2015 at 9:49 a.m. ET. On Concurring in Senate Amdt with Amdt Specified in Section 3(a) of H.Res. 566 in the House.

This vote was on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, also known as the omnibus spending bill. The bill would fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2016 (through September 30, 2016). The government had been funded through stop-gap measures over the last several months, with the latest expiring on December 22, 2015

A vote in favor was to add the Consolidated Appropriations Act into H.R. 2029, sending it to the Senate for a vote. The House had previously added the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 to H.R. 2029 in a vote yesterday. The Senate will receive the combined package and must pass it, and then the President must sign it, before the package becomes law.

A vote against would have sent H.R. 2029 to the Senate without the Consolidated Appropriations Act, leaving the federal government at risk of shutting down on December 23, unless another stop-gap measure or spending deal could be enacted.

H.R. 2029 has become the vehicle for passage for the spending and tax proposals. Prior to these votes, the bill was the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016. That text is now Division J of the full bill, although the text may have changed between the bill as it was before and as it appears now in Division J.

"Section 3(a) of H.Res. 566", mentioned in the vote title, refers to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, as printed in House Rules Committee Print 114-39, which we've linked to above.

This vote was related to a bill introduced by Rep. Charles Dent [R-PA15, 2005-2018] on April 24, 2015, H.R. 2029 (114th): Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016.
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Vote Outcome
All Votes R D
Yea 74%
 
 
316
150
 
166
 
Nay 26%
 
 
113
95
 
18
 
Not Voting
 
 
5
1
 
4
 

Passed. Simple Majority Required. Source: house.gov.

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Republican - Yea Democrat - Yea Republican - Nay Democrat - Nay

Seat position based on our ideology score.

Cartogram Map

Each hexagon represents one congressional district. Dark shaded hexes are Yea votes.

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Notes: The Speaker’s Vote?
The Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk. (See House Rules, Rule I(7).)
“Aye” or “Yea”?

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The U.S. Constitution says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). Congress takes this literally and uses “yea” and “nay” when voting on the final passage of bills.

All Senate votes use these words. But the House of Representatives uses “Aye” and “No” in other sorts of votes.

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Study Guide

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You can find answers to most of the questions below here on the vote page. For a guide to understanding the bill this vote was about, see here.

What was the procedure for this vote?

  1. What was this vote on?

    2. Not all votes are meant to pass legislation. In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions.

    This vote is related to a bill. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell you what it is about. Congress makes many decisions in the process of passing legislation, such as on the procedures for debating the bill, whether to change the bill before voting on passage, and even whether to vote on passage at all.

    You can learn more about the various motions used in Congress at EveryCRSReport.com. If you aren’t sure what the House was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.

  2. What is the next step after this vote?

    3. Take a look at where this bill is in the legislative process. What might come next? Keep in mind what this specific vote was on, and the context of the bill. Will there be amendments? Will the other chamber of Congress vote on it, or let it die?

    For this question it may help to briefly examine the bill itself.

What is your analysis of this vote?

  1. What trends do you see in this vote?

    2. Members of Congress side together for many reasons beside being in the same political party, especially so for less prominent legislation or legislation specific to a certain region. What might have determined how the roll call came out in this case? Does it look like Members of Congress voted based on party, geography, or some other reason?

    One tool that will be helpful in answering this question is the cartogram at the top of the page. A cartogram is a stylized map of the United States that shows each district as an identical hexagon. This view allows you to see the how the representatives from each district voted arranged by their geography and colored by their political party. What trends can you see in the cartogram for this vote?

  2. How did your representative vote?

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