March 22, 2023

H.R 1093 requires the State Department to report to Congress on efforts to implement the advanced capabilities pillar of the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US.  This pillar supports joint advanced military capabilities, such as artificial intelligence, hypersonics, and electronic warfare.

This noncontroversial bill passed by a wide, bipartisan margin 393-4. Molinaro voted FOR this bill.

This bill modifies existing State Department obligations to review and report to Congress its guidance to federal agencies on the U.S.-Taiwan relationship every two years.

Molinaro voted FOR the bill, which passed almost unanimously, 404-7.

This Senate-originated bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to declassify all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19 and submit an unclassified report to Congress. 

This bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and House. Molinaro voted FOR this bill.

H.R 140 creates dangerous limitations on the government to prevent disinformation online, threatening rank-and-file federal employees with fines and termination if they request or encourage social media platforms to correct false information that puts Americans in danger.

This bill was originally borne from Republican campaign promises to investigate Hunter Biden and fight the deplatforming of its most extreme voices that posted false information about voting, vaccines or expressed racism and anti-Semitism. It creates dangerous restrictions on how the government can respond to false information online.

The bill outlaws censorship by government employees and defines "censorship" as follows:

The term ‘censor’ or ‘censorship’ means influencing or coercing, or directing another to influence or coerce, for—

“(A) the removal or suppression of lawful speech, in whole or in part, from or on any interactive computer service;

“(B) the addition of any disclaimer, information, or other alert to lawful speech being expressed on an interactive computer service; or

“(C) the removal or restriction of access of any person or entity on an interactive computer service generally available to the public, unless such person or entity is engaged in unlawful speech or criminal activities on such service"

So, what does this mean? It would restrict the government from demanding that Twitter remove insulting posts, as the Trump White House attempted during his administration. However, it goes well beyond those clear misuses of governmental authority to impose dangerous restrictions on public safety and election security.

For example:

• H.R. 140 makes it illegal for the government to ask social media platforms to investigate or restrict malign fake accounts with purchased "blue checks" that claim to represent federal agencies or the military
• H.R. 140 prohibits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from correcting a false emergency alert about a radiation release at Indian Point
• H.R. 140 terminates any FEMA employee that contacts Facebook or Twitter to correct deliberate misinformation about hurricane evacuations, how to find disaster response resources or reconnect with family
• H.R. 140 would fine election officials who seek to correct false postings by enemy states on social media about voting locations or hours

Even those federal employees who are not in violation of this statute would certainly be chilled in their lawful actions to correct disinformation online, which is the intent of the bill's authors. The term "influencing" in the definition of censorship remains broad enough such that it forces rank-and-file government employees to make a decision to risk their employment and a $5,000 fine in order to effectively do their jobs.

H.R. 140 will presumably not pass the Senate, which will resolve the threats that this bill poses. However, voters in NY-19 are likely to begin questioning why they need to repeatedly be saved by the Senate from the votes of a Congressman who promised to be moderate and deliberative.

This bill passed by a fully party-line vote, 219-206. Molinaro voted FOR this bill.

The Biden administration largely reinstated certain Obama-era environmental protection laws that were rolled back by the Trump administration. H.J. Res 27 attempts to revert these environmental protections once again to the weaker and more permissive guidelines from the Trump administration. 

In a nutshell, the Clean Water Act seeks to protect American water resources from pollution, maintain their physical integrity and ensure that the flora and fauna that depend on the waters is protected to the extent practicable. It's a base set of statutes that have protected the environment for over 50 years. At the end of the Trump administration, he had the EPA change the determinations for what would be protected, exempting a significant portion of previously-protected waters in order to prioritize economic development. The Trump rules were then thrown out by a Federal judge that said they'd cause significant environmental harm.

The rules created under Biden are consistent with the governing Clean Water rules that had existed before the Trump presidency. Notwithstanding that history, development and mining industry lobbyists - including those associated with Molinaro - have made an aggressive attempt to return to the Trump rules invalidated by Federal courts.

Molinaro voted FOR the resolution, and for a return to the weaker Trump-era regulations. This bill passed by a largely party-line vote, 227-198, with a handful of Democrats voting FOR, and moderate Republican Brian Fitzpatrick voting AGAINST.

Molinaro had voted FOR the same resolution in committee, which passed there in a largely party-line vote of 30-24 .

H.R. 1226 requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish and maintain a secure online tool or website to enable a claimant or their representative to make records requests related to VA claims and benefits. 

This resolution passed unanimously. Molinaro voted FOR this bill. 

H.R. 1123 requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to examine and report on the cybersecurity of mobile service networks and the vulnerability of these networks and mobile devices to cyberattacks and surveillance conducted by adversaries. 

 This resolution passed by a wide margin, 393-22. Molinaro voted FOR this bill. 

H.R. 347, also known as the Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation (or REIN IN) Act provides an additional level of reporting for some executive orders. The reporting would attempt to quantify the executive orders' impact on inflation and the CPI. The bill does not have any actual impact on inflation.

As initially proposed, H.R. 347 required a disclosure for any executive order over $1 billion, and the CBO calculated the taxpayer cost of those inflation analyses at $1 million.  However, through the amendment process, Republicans forced through a change that would require this calculation for any executive order over $1 million, which significantly escalates the cost of the bill. Republicans would not permit another CBO analysis to take place before voting. So, ironically, Republicans have no idea how much H.R. 347 will cost taxpayers. 

6 amendments to the bill were voted on in roll call votes by the House. The amendments were:

1. Rep. Bost (R) - obligation to include rural and military household spending in the analysis for each report under this bill. According to the amendment sponsor, only urban households are included in CPI calculations. It appeared that most Congressmembers were surprised by that disclosure and thought that it might actually cause some overall overstatement of inflation. This amendment passed by a wide 324-83 margin. Molinaro voted FOR this amendment.
2. Rep Boebert (R) - provides that the H.R. 347 reports will be published on line. This amendment passed by a wide 386-31 margin. Molinaro voted FOR this amendment.
3. Rep Jackson Lee (D) - seeks to limit the types of matters covered by H.R. 347 so that critical executive orders would not be obstructed. This amendment failed in a largely party-line vote, 181-236. Molinaro voted AGAINST this amendment.
4. Rep Jackson Lee (D) - defines "significant impact" as causing an increase in inflation of 1% or more, limiting H.R. 347 reports to those executive orders that have 1% or greater impact. This amendment failed in a largely party-line vote, 187-232. Molinaro voted AGAINST this amendment.
5. Rep Lee (D) - acknowledges that although Congress is not imposing reporting requirements on itself, it is the responsibility of both the President and the House of Representatives to combat inflation. This amendment passed by a wide 364-56 margin. Molinaro voted FOR this amendment.
6. Rep Roy (R) - includes reporting requirements for executive orders in this bill that were previously excluded, such as orders in response to national security or other emergencies. This amendment failed with all Democrats and 20 Republicans opposed in a largely party-line vote, 199-226. Molinaro voted AGAINST this amendment, the first time he did not vote in lockstep with Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

This overall bill passed by a vote of 272-148, with almost all Republicans voting in favor. Molinaro voted FOR this bill.