This week in Congress wrap-up plus Senate stands in the way of help for homeschoolers

Yesterday, the Senate passed the Continuing Resolution funding the government through December 20 and reauthorizing Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act until March.

The vote was 74-20. You can see that vote here.

Congratulations to Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) for being the only member of Congress to oppose S. 1838. This bill requires the State Department to report on whether Hong Kong is “sufficiently autonomous” from China to justify U.S. special treatment of Hong Kong under U.S. law, with a particular emphasizes on civil rights in Hong Kong. The law also requires the Department of Commerce to report on China’s use of Hong Kong to evade U.S. export controls (protectionism) and requires the president to take action to protect U.S. citizens if Hong Kong passes a law subjecting U.S. citizen to extradition to China, which is odd because there’s no real threat of this occurring.

This bill is an attempt for the U.S. Congress to get involved in the conflict between China and a protest movement in Hong Kong (which is being abated by the U.S. regime change machine).

You can see the vote here.

Now something that happened in the Senate on November 7.  Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Ted Cruz (T-TX) went to the Senate floor seeking unanimous consent to vote on the SECURE Act (HR 1994), legislation making changes to IRAs and 401(k)s.

Sens. Toomey and Cruz also asked for unanimous consent to vote on an amendment adding a provision allowing homeschoolers and parents of children with disabilities to use Section 529 tax-free savings accounts. This provision was included in the bill that passed the House Ways and Means Committee but was stripped out before the bill reached the floor because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wanted to do a favor for the teacher unions.

Unfortunately, Senate Democrats are just as in cahoots with the union bosses as their House counterparts. Senator Patty Murry (D-WA) objected to the unanimous consent request, blocking the senators’ efforts to help homeschoolers.

You can see Sens. Cruz and Toomey attempt to get UC here.

You can read Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul on Section 529 here.

You can read more about the SECURE Act here and here.