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H.R. 757: North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016

Feb 12, 2016 at 11:49 a.m. ET. On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendment in the House.

This was a vote to pass H.R. 757 (114th) in the House. This vote was taken under a House procedure called “suspension of the rules” which is typically used to pass non-controversial bills. Votes under suspension require a 2/3rds majority. A failed vote under suspension can be taken again.

North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-Un are seen by many foreign policy experts as one of the greatest foreign threats to the United States. Their massive human rights abuses include forced labor camps, execution of dissidents, and mass starvation among their people. Their cyberwarfare famously targeted Sony in 2014, preventing the American theatrical release of the anti-North Korean film “The Interview.” They may have up to 20 nuclear warheads in their possession and could potentially have the capability to strike the western United States, though nobody knows for sure because the country has a history of refusing or not fully cooperating with United Nations weapons inspectors. The country claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb in January.

This is the backdrop for the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, H.R. 757 and S. 2144, which became law last week. In a political environment where it’s incredibly difficult to even achieve the three-fifths threshold necessary to pass most bills, even seemingly minor ones, the House voted 418–2 in January on the version introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA39) while the Senate voted 96–0 earlier this month on the version introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO). President Obama signed the bill earlier this month.

“It imposes mandatory sanctions on individuals who contribute to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, its malicious cyber-attacks, its censorship activities, and the regime’s continued human rights abuses. It also mandates that the Administration develop a comprehensive strategy to address the regime’s human rights abuses and cyber activities,” said Gardner in last week’s Weekly Republican Address, describing the legislation. “The goal of this bill is simple: to quell North Korea’s aggression, peacefully disarm the regime, and restore human rights.”

As Reutersdescribed, penalties include seizure of assets, visa bans, and denial of government contracts. Unlike most such laws, this one makes most of the sanctions mandatory, rather than giving the President the option of whether or not to impose them.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) even left the presidential campaign trail to come back to Washington and vote in favor. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), running for the Democratic nomination, missed the vote. The two dissenting votes in the House were Rep. Thomas Massier (R-KY4) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI3). Massie opposed what he perceived as an expansion of President Obama’s powers and the “legitimizing” of the United Nations, which he opposes US involvement with. Amash called the civil asset forfeiture provision unconstitutional.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R-TN) lamented that the bill had to be passed at all, saying that an international strategy may be more effective but China was blocking the UN Security Council’s attempts at multilateral action. On Thursday, China switched course and has backed a US-led draft resolution for UN sanctions. As the BBC reported, it would for the first time require UN member states to inspect all cargo to or from North Korea. By some measures, it would be the strongest sanctions imposed in more than two decades.

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Totals

All Votes R D
Yea 100%
 
 
408
232
 
176
 
Nay 0%
 
 
2
2
 
0
 
Not Voting
 
 
23
11
 
12
 

Passed. 2/3 Required. Source: house.gov.

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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).)
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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?

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

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  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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