Rep. Conaway speaks with Lions Club, gives update on the House

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway from the 11th U.S. Congressional District was in town last Friday to speak to the Lions Club.

Conaway’s main points centered around the work happening in the House of Representatives, specifically saying they are working for the people and it is the U.S. Senate that is clogging up legislation and not getting work done. There are 435 members of the House and they need a majority of 218 votes to pass most legislation.

During this past term, Conaway said the House has passed authorizations that include appropriations for the Defense Department to use their funds to support the troops with equipment they require to do their jobs all over the world. This passed in the House 250-166.

The House has also passed legislation for appropriations for the Labor Department, the Housing and Human Development Services and the Education Department, to carry out their programs through September 2019. Conaway is chair of the House Agricultural Committee and has been involved in helping to pass the Farm Bill, which failed in May (198-213), due to disagreements about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The legislators removed SNAP from the Farm Bill and it passed in June by a very narrow margin 213-211, with 11 not voting. Though, it has failed the Senate. The deadline to renew the Farm Bill, originally passed in 2014, was Sept.

30. There still has not been one signed into law.

In June, the House passed the a bill to prohibit certain synthetic drugs not for sale in a 239-142 vote.

Another bill that supports veterans to have the option to choose private care instead of a VA hospital passed 347-70. That shows that 417 voted on the bill, with 18 not voting.

Another bill that passed was making it a federal crime to target law enforcement, with a vote of 382-35.

Funding for measures to prevent school violence, including the training of officials and threat detection, which was passed 407-10 vote in the House.

One of the more interesting pieces of legislation to pass was a motion to table Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump, with a 355-66 vote. There was 421 that voted and 14 that didn’t vote. That vote demonstrates that there is not a very large margin of legislators who are prepared to vote for the president’s impeachment, despite rhetoric surrounding several Democratic candidates and elected officials.

There is wide-spread agreement in both parties about the drug crisis in America and broad legislation was passed in the House with a 396-14 vote, to aid that crisis.

Often, it is misleading to read about a bill that didn’t pass and wonder why not but often an amendment or rider is tacked on to the original bill that some could not support and then they are forced to vote against what appears as a reasonable bill.

In some instances, both chambers of Congress have passed a bill but the language differs so a conference committee meets with representatives from both houses and they try to work out a compromise that will go back to each house for a new vote. If it passes in the new form, then it goes to the president who can sign it, veto it or let it lie on his desk while Congress is not in session and the bill dies there, called a Pocket Veto.

Conaway said some measures will be re-introduced in the Lame Duck session, which is between Election Day and when Congress re-convenes in January and when new members take their seats.

Depending on the results of the Nov. 6 election, the party in power could attempt to get certain bills pushed through before the new ones take their seats, unless that party remains in power, then there is no need to push legislation through during that period.

There are 29 Texas counties in District 11. Conaway has been the representative since 2005. His Democratic opponent for this upcoming midterm election is Jennie Lou Leeder. In this 11th district, 58.7 percent of the people who voted in 2016, voted for Trump. Conaway represents a portion of Stephens County, which generally speaking, covers the area south of 7th Street. Stephens County is split between the two congressmen that represent our county in the U.S. Congress.