This week was a big one at Vote Smart! There were 957 new statements added, as well as well as the results for all 13 primary elections that have taken place so far this year, and the statistics from the Right to Try Act, which Congress passed this week. Read it all and more on today's Weekly Wrap-Up!
MAJOR EVENTS FROM THE WEEK:
Passing of Right to Try Act:
Congress passed the Right to Try Act, which allows terminally ill patients to use non-FDA approved drugs after exhausting all other options. Read our summary of the bill and see how your representatives voted: Summary here.
Statements on Chinese Trade and ZTE:
Curious about what Congress has to say on the developments with Chinese trade and ZTE? You can see what your officials are saying about it: Statements here.
National Defense Authorization Act of 2019:
Congress passed a bill that authorizes $717 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2019. Read Vote Smart's summary, as well as how your representatives voted: Summary here.
Statements on Trade Developments:
his was a big week for developments in trade. See what your representatives are saying about the tariffs on the EU, Mexico, and Canada: Statements here.
ELECTIONS:
National Ratings Released:
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) released their score card this week. The rating scorecard is a 2017 Scorecard, meaning that AFL-CIO is evaluating active Congress members based on their voting record in 2017. Scorecard here.
Endorsements:
We have released 8,000 endorsements so far this year. This page shows which groups that have released 2018 endorsements so you can see who is really supporting your representatives based on issues that matter to you: Read here
You can also see which groups have endorsed your candidates, or any candidate at all, by going to that candidate's ratings page as seen using the example of Stacey Abrams' page here.
Congressional Candidate Lists:
See the congressional candidate lists released for all 35 states that have certified ballots for 2018 Primary Elections. These can all be found on the election page: See all candidates here.
Primary Election Results:
Vote Smart also has released the election results for all 13 states in which primary elections have taken place so far this year for all levels of office. This is an example of what the live site looks like for North Carolina, but an equivalent can be found for any of the other states that has already had their primaries: NC Primary Results here.
OFFICIALS:
Public Statements:
There were 957 new public statements added to the Vote Smart database this week. Read public statements on noteworthy topics and related issues from last week here:
- Tariffs: Statements here.
- ZTE/China: Statements here.
- Immigration: Statements here.
Key Votes:
This week Vote Smart added summaries for three Congressional key votes and fifteen state key votes. All three of the Congressional bills were hot topics. Read more about them below!
- Right to Try Act: Summary here.
- National Defense Authorization Act: Summary here.
- FIRST STEP Act: Summary here.
UP NEXT:
Keep an eye out for these up-coming additions to Vote Smart!
Upcoming Primary Elections:
The next major primary election day is Tuesday, June 5th, 2018. There are 8 states with primary elections on that day: South Dakota, New Mexico, New Jersey, Montana, Mississippi, Iowa, California, and Alabama.
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