H.J.Res. 31: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019
This was a vote to agree to H.J.Res. 31 (116th) in the Senate. The federal budget process occurs in two stages: appropriations and authorizations. This is an appropriations bill, which sets overall spending limits by agency or program, typically for a single fiscal year (October 1 through September 30 of the next year).
This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019.
On December 22, 2018 the 115th Congress was unable to reach a deal to fund some federal agencies through fiscal year 2019 after President Trump demanded $5 billion in funding for a southern border wall. The Senate had unanimously passed a bill to fund the government through 2019, without the border wall, the then Republican-controlled House amended the bill adding $5 billion in funding for a southern border wall. The Senate neglected to vote on that bill leaving it to die in the previous Congress. When funding lapsed for the USDA, FDA, and Departments of Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security, Interior, Environment, State, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, the partial government shutdown began.
Through January 24, 2019, the House --- newly controlled by Democrats --- passed ten different bills that would have completely or partially reopened the federal government. This bill was originally introduced to reopen just the Department of Homeland Security through February 28, 2019 and passed the House on January 24. No funding for a southern border wall was included. But only H.R. 268 had been considered by the Senate, where Republican and Democratic amendments to the bill both failed.
On January 25, H.J.Res. 28 was enacted with temporary funding for the federal agencies through February 15, ending the government shutdown so long as lawmakers could reach a deal for funding beyond that date.
This bill was then amended to fund the agencies through the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30, 2019). It was enacted in that form on Feb. 15, 2019, after votes in the House and Senate on the previous day.
The funding included:
- $1.375 billion, less than the $5.7 billion the Trump administration requested, for approximately 55 miles of physical barrier along the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
- $415 million for humanitarian relief for medical care, transportation, food and clothing at the southern border.
- $12 billion for disaster relief.
- $3.16 billion for agricultural research.
- $3.64 billion for rural development.
- $3.3 billion for highway and bridge rehabilitation and construction.
Among hundreds of other provisions.
Totals
| All Votes | Republicans | Democrats | Independents | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yea | 84% |
83
|
41
|
40
|
2
|
| Nay | 16% |
16
|
11
|
5
|
0
|
| Not Voting |
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
|
Conference Report Agreed to. Simple Majority Required. Source: senate.gov.
The Yea votes represented 73% of the country’s population by apportioning each state’s population to its voting senators.
Ideology Vote Chart
Vote Details
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D), the Senate Democratic Conference Vice Chair, voted Nay against her party.
Somtimes a party leader will vote on the winning side, even if it is against his or her position, to have the right to call for a new vote under a motion to reconsider. For more, see this explanation from The Washington Post.
We do not know the rationale behind any vote, however.
“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.
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?
- What was this vote on?
- What is the next step after this vote?
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 Senate was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.
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?
- What trends do you see in this vote?
- How did your senators vote?
- How much of the United States population is represented by the yeas?
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?
There are two votes here that should be more important to you than all the others. These are the votes cast by your senators, which are meant to represent you and your community. Do you agree with how your senators 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.
GovTrack displays the percentage of the United States population represented by the yeas on some Senate votes just under the vote totals. We do this to highlight how the people of the United States are represented in the Senate. Since each state has two senators, but state populations vary significantly, the individuals living in each state have different Senate representation. For example, California’s population of near 40 million is given the same number of senators as Wyoming’s population of about 600,000.
Do the senators who voted yea represent a majority of the people of the United States? Does it matter?
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