What were Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking Senate votes in 2022?
GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin
Last year, Vice President Kamala Harris broke 15 tied Senate votes, the most in a single year in American history. This year, her 11 tie-breaking votes may seem like a comedown compared to that all-time record.
But this year still represents a huge number, historically speaking. For perspective, Harris’s 26 total tie-breaking votes through only two years is more than her five predecessors combined. And they were in office for a combined 32 years.
In a 50–50 Senate, like the one the U.S. has experienced for the past two years, tied votes are going to occur much more frequently. Here are the ones Harris broke in 2022.
Inflation Reduction Act
The sprawling legislation tackled multiple subjects, including creating a new 15% corporate minimum tax, setting price caps for prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients, adding $80 billion for IRS tax enforcement, and the single largest investment Congress has ever made to tackle the climate crisis.
Harris broke two ties: one on a “motion to proceed,” a procedural move about whether to vote on the bill, and then the actual vote itself.
“Because of this, we will lower the cost of prescription drugs for our seniors and reduce health insurance premiums for 13 million Americans,” Vice President Harris said in a statement. “We will make the largest investment in our nation’s history to address the climate crisis, creating good-paying, union jobs in wind, solar, and electric vehicle manufacturing.”
“We will lower energy bills for working families and support environmental justice. And the legislation is fully paid for by finally ensuring the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share,” Harris continued. “This is an historic achievement for our country that will directly benefit millions of Americans.”
Republicans blasted it as a costly giveaway, arguing that the corporate minimum tax would hurt the economy, while the climate spending would raise gas and energy prices.
“Democrats want to ram through hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes and hundreds of billions of dollars in reckless spending — and for what?” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a floor speech.
“For a so-called inflation bill that will not meaningfully reduce inflation at all, and will actually make inflation even worse in the short term. For a so-called economic bill that will kill American jobs and hammer our manufacturing sector. For a so-called climate bill that will have no meaningful impact on global temperatures whatsoever. For a so-called prescription drug bill that will result in fewer new life-saving medicines and higher prices for the new cures that are invented.”
Has the legislation lived up to its title? The record is mixed. Inflation has indeed gone down every month since the legislation was enacted, though at 7.1% it’s still currently triple or more the level it had been for most of the prior decade.
A Virginia senator’s bill amendment about state and local taxes
On August 7, while considering the aforementioned Inflation Reduction Act, senators voted on a series of proposed amendments to the bill. Several Republican proposals were rejected 50–50, with Harris electing not to vote, contrary to what one might expect, since her non-vote would accomplish the same thing: prevent a majority and doom the measures to failure, just like a “no” vote would have.
These included:
- An amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to rescind the $80 billion in additional funding for the IRS
- An amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) to establish more oil and gas lease sales
- An amendment from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) to add $500 million in additional funding for barriers along the Mexican border
- An amendment from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to omit a tax increase
- An amendment from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to omit provisions related to the Clean Air Act
- An amendment from Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) to appropriate more funding for a measure expelling certain immigrants at the border, known as Title 42
However, there was one Democratic-led amendment for which Harris broke a tie in favor: an amendment from Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) to eliminate the deduction cap pay-for on state and local taxes for the next two years.
Don’t understand that? We don’t blame you. Basically, it’s an alteration to a complicated provision regarding state and local taxes which many Democrats want to change, in large part because it disproportionately hurts Democratic-leaning districts.
(A U.S. News and World Report article on the subject was even titled “The War Against New Jersey and Other Blue States.”)
Alvaro Bedoya for the Federal Trade Commission
Bedoya was previously a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was the founding director of their Center on Privacy and Technology. Biden nominated him to serve on the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) through 2026, the agency which aims to protect consumers by taking legal actions against unfair or anticompetitive business behavior.
The commission is supposed to have five members. But between fall 2021 and spring 2022, it only had four, because former Commissioner Rohit Chopra left to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau instead.
Since the FTC members’ terms are supposed to outlast the presidents who nominated them, the now-four-member commission had often deadlocked between the two Democrats and two Republicans.
On March 30, Harris broke a tie to discharge Bedoya’s nomination. A month and a half later on May 11, she broke another tie to invoke cloture on his nomination, then later that day broke another tie to actually confirm him.
Bedoya’s confirmation “is good news for the American people and brings the agency back to full strength to enforce antitrust protections, fight against price gougers, market manipulators, and those trying to rip off American consumers,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a press release. “Mr. Bedoya’s confirmation is pivotal to unshackling the FTC and fully examining record energy company profits and inflated prices at the pump.”
Republicans counter that Bedoya is unfit to serve on the FTC given his political inclinations.
“This nominee would not be fit to neutrally oversee major economic decisions no matter what the makeup of the Senate was,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a floor speech. “But he is an especially foolish choice when the American people handed this Administration a 50–50 Senate.”
With Bedoya now on the commission, the FTC has gotten much more aggressive in its progressive pursuits. In December, for example, it announced its intent to block Microsoft from a $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision.
Julia Gordon for Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Gordon was previously President of the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST), a nonprofit aiming to promote the reuse of abandoned properties. Biden nominated her to be Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
On April 5, Harris broke a tie to discharge Gordon’s nomination. More than a month later on May 11, she broke another tie to invoke cloture on her nomination, then later that day broke another tie to actually confirm her.
“Her breadth of experience will help her work with a variety of stakeholders to design policies across the Office of Housing that will strengthen families and communities and help us bring down the cost of housing,” Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said in a floor speech.
“Ms. Gordon made clear that she doesn’t support defunding the police,” Sen. Brown continued. “People have done all kinds of things on social media on both sides, left and right. We can make all our decisions based on something somebody retweeted, but it is not the way to run a government. We know that.”
Republicans counter that her past statements and social media posts make her unfit to serve in a governmental position.
“Ms. Gordon has a history of troubling statements denigrating the police,” the committee’s top Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said in a speech. “Among other things, she retweeted an inflammatory post that described police officers as ‘the people killing us.’ She also suggested in a letter that she wrote — not a tweet or a retweet — that cases of police violence are not just outliers but ‘stem from flawed and biased systems that require structural change.’”
“Ms. Gordon’s insinuation that the institution of policing itself requires structural change because police officers are racist is offensive and, in my view, disqualifies her from holding a senior position in the federal government,” Sen. Toomey continued. “My view is shared by the National Sheriffs’ Association, a leading law enforcement group, which has publicly opposed her nomination.”
Lisa D. Cook for the Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve sets monetary policy, including most prominently (at least in recent months) by raising interest rates. It’s run by a seven-member board confirmed for 14-year terms.
Cook was previously an economics professor at Michigan State. Biden nominated her for a 14-year term.
Unlike the aforementioned Bedoya and Cook, for whom there were three tied Senate procedural votes along every step of their confirmation process, due to technicalities, Cook only saw a tie for one of the three steps: the actual nomination.
On March 29, the Senate voted 50–49 to discharge her nomination, since Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) didn’t vote.
A month and a half later on May 10, the Senate also voted 50–49 to invoke cloture on her nomination, this time because Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) didn’t vote.
But when it came time to actually vote on her confirmation, all 100 senators voted, doing so entirely along party lines. Harris broke the tie in favor.
“She brings a breadth of research and international experience on monetary policy, banking, and financial crises,” Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said in a floor speech. “In fact, she is one the country’s leading researchers on international economic growth and innovation economics.”
“She has made it clear that she is dedicated to Fed independence and will uphold the Fed’s dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability,” Sen. Brown continued. “Her nomination represents another example of the Biden administration’s serious efforts to make the economy work for everyone, not just those at the top.”
Republicans countered that her Senate hearing’s testimony indicated she didn’t consider fighting the 40-year-high inflation to be enough of a priority.
“Professor Cook has continued to insist that she would need to be confirmed to the Fed before she can have a view on inflation because, in her own words, ‘we don’t have access to all the data that the Fed has’ and ‘we don’t have access to […] the deliberations at the time they’re being made,’” the committee’s top Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said in a floor speech. “These statements are bewildering for someone who has been nominated to address the most pressing inflationary threat in nearly two generations.”
“And since we know very little about her views on inflation, my grave concern is that Professor Cook will serve as an inflation dove on the Fed at a time when American families are being ravaged by price increases.”
Mary T. Boyle for the Consumer Product Safety Commission
Boyle previously served as Executive Director and General Counsel for the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), a federal regulatory agency which aims to ensure items for sale are safe, for example by issuing product recalls. Biden nominated her to serve in one of the five commissioner positions until 2025.
Only one of the three Senate roll call votes in her confirmation process tied — and interestingly, it was arguably the least important of the three. On May 12, Harris broke a tie to discharge Boyle’s nomination.
The CPSC “is responsible for regulating the safety of more than 15,000 everyday products and helps keep hazardous products out of our homes and away from our families,” Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said in floor speech. “The CPSC’s work literally saves lives and prevents injuries.”
“We know that Ms. Boyle is well qualified for this position and that she will make consumers a top priority and their safety a top priority,” Sen. Cantwell continued. “I want to say to all my colleagues, I hope you will vote to confirm Ms. Boyle to ensure that the Consumer Product Safety Commission can move forward so that these important issues can be addressed and Americans can find safer products in their homes.”
Republicans countered that scandals during Boyle’s tenure in her previous CPSC position rendered her unfit for a promotion.
“I have significant concerns about major administrative failures at the agency during Ms. Boyle’s tenure as Executive Director there, including the improper disclosure of unredacted manufacturer and consumer data,” the committee’s top Republican Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said in a floor speech.
“An investigation I led as chairman of the Commerce Committee last Congress determined that the unauthorized release of this data, which violated section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, was the result of insufficient training, ineffective management, and poor information technology implementation.”
(The data disclosures revealed ages, genders, and addresses of around 30,000 consumers to researchers at Consumer Reports and Texas A&M University.)
“All of these failings at the CPSC were under Mary Boyle’s watch as the primary career official charged with the day-to-day administration of the Agency’s business,” Sen. Wicker concluded. “And yet today we are being asked to elevate her to an even more important and responsible position at CPSC.”
More than a month after the discharge vote, on June 16, the Senate voted 49–47 to invoke cloture on Boyle’s nomination. Nobody crossed party lines, but four senators didn’t vote: three Republicans — Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) — plus one Democrat: Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
Then on June 22, the Senate voted 50–48 to actually confirm Boyle. Again nobody crossed party lines, but two senators didn’t vote, both Republicans: Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Pat Toomey (R-PA).
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
Want more? Follow GovTrack by email, on Mastodon, and for our “A Bill a Minute” video series — on Instagram, or on YouTube.
Like our analyses? Support our work on Patreon.
