Votes

Legislation creating a commemorative coin to mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of the Baseball Hall of Fame was approved by the House Wednesday, in a 416-3 vote.

All three "no" votes came from Republicans: Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Paul Broun (Ga.), and Ron Paul (Texas).

Tuesday debate on the bill was marked by friendly ribbing between Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and William Clay (D-Mo.). The Texas Rangers are leading the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 in the World Series; game six was postponed until Thursday night due to rain in St. Louis.

The House on Wednesday evening approved a rule that will allow members to consider two bills — one to repeal a widely opposed withholding tax requirement, and another bill to pay for that repeal. Members approved the rule in a 253-172 vote.

The main repeal bill is H.R. 674, which would eliminate the current requirement that government at all levels withhold 3 percent of payments to government contractors in order to ensure proper tax payments. That rule has never been implemented, and Republicans and Democrats are generally together in seeking to repeal it completely.

Democrats argued the bill could benefit Iran because of a company involved in the land swap.

The House on Tuesday approved legislation that would grant the congressional gold medal to the Montford Point marines, the first black marines recruited in World War II.

The bill, H.R. 2447, was approved unanimously in a 422-0 vote after debate earlier in the day in which several members noted that the Montford Point marines were trained separately in Montford Point, North Carolina, while their white counterparts were trained in Paris Island, South Carolina.

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: