Votes

The House on Tuesday afternoon approved a rule for a bill that would allow a land swap between the federal government and a foreign-owned mining company, which would allow that company to extract copper from a massive copper deposit in southeast Arizona.

The rule was approved in a 245-178 vote in which less than a dozen Democrats voted for it. Democrats lodged several protests against the bill, including that it would only help foreign owned companies. Resolution Copper Mining LLC would be permitted to mine the copper, and that company is owned by Rio Tinto and BHP-Billiton, which both have headquarters and major offices in Britain and Australia.

The House on Monday evening approved two more bills in recorded votes, and was preparing to hear general speeches for the rest of the night.

The lower chamber quickly approved the legislation with both Democrats and Republicans supporting the measure.

The House on Monday afternoon made quick work of several bills that would transfer land between the federal government and the states. By unanimous consent, the House approved the following bills by voice vote:

The Senate on Thursday night approved more than a dozen nominations to key trade and financial posts by unanimous consent.

Among those confirmed were Michael Punke as a deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR), and Islam Siddiqui a chief agricultural negotiator at USTR.

The Senate on Tuesday evening quickly approved eight land-use bills by unanimous consent.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) asked that all bills be approved as amended, in those cases where amendments were pending in committee. Approved bills are:

The Senate on Tuesday evening approved seven ambassadorships by unanimous consent:

The Senate voted late Tuesday to adopt more flexible — some would say weaker — nutrition standards for school meals following intense lobbying by the potato and frozen-food industries.

New federal nutrition standards scheduled to kick in next September would have limited servings of potatoes and other starchy vegetables to 1 cup per week, the equivalent of two servings. An amendment to the Agriculture spending bill from Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) that prohibits limits on vegetable servings passed by voice vote.

The Senate voted 44-55 against an amendment from Sen. John McCain to limit funding for a Trade Adjustment Assistance program.

The House voted to override pending Environmental Protection Agency rules on coal ash.