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H.J.Res. 1: Making further continuing appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2019, and for other purposes.

Jan 3, 2019 at 9:34 p.m. ET. On Passage of the Bill in the House.

This was the vote on the House Democrats' continuing resolution to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the midst of the government shutdown beginning on December 22, 2018. The resolution does not include $5.6 billion in funding for a southern border wall, and as such the President has stated that he will not sign it, adding that he would be willing to continue the shutdown for months or years.

The resolution would fund DHS until February 8, which House Democrats argue would give time to come to an agreement about the border wall without continuing the shutdown. House Democrats issued a press release on passage of the resolution.

A continuing resolution must be passed in both chambers and signed by the President to be enacted into law.

This vote was related to a resolution introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY17, 2013-2020] on January 3, 2019, H.J.Res. 1 (116th): Making further continuing appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2019, and for other purposes..
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Vote Outcome
All Votes D R
Aye 55%
 
 
239
234
 
5
 
No 45%
 
 
192
0
 
192
 
Not Voting
 
 
1
0
 
1
 

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

Ideology Vote Chart
Key:
Democrat - Aye Republican - Aye Republican - No

Seat position based on our ideology score.

Cartogram Map

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

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Vote Details

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”?

“Aye” and “Yea” mean the same thing, and so do “No” and “Nay”. Congress uses different words in different sorts of votes.

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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Statistically Notable Votes

Statistically notable votes are the votes that are most surprising, or least predictable, given how other members of each voter’s party voted and other factors.

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Study Guide

How well do you understand this vote? Use this study guide to find out.

You can find answers to most of the questions below here on the vote page. For a guide to understanding the resolution 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 resolution. 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 resolution, whether to change the resolution 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 resolution is in the legislative process. What might come next? Keep in mind what this specific vote was on, and the context of the resolution. 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 resolution 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?

    3. There is one vote here that should be more important to you than all the others. These are the votes cast by your representative, which is meant to represent you and your community. Do you agree with how your representative voted? Why do you think they voted the way they did?

    If you don’t already know who your Members of Congress are you can find them by entering your address here.

Each vote’s study guide is a little different — we automatically choose which questions to include based on the information we have available about the vote. Study guides are a new feature to GovTrack. You can help us improve them by filling out this survey or by sending your feedback to hello@govtrack.us.