Chris Collins

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 20, 1950 in Schenectady, NY

Key House Vote Data for Chris Collins in 2019

Date	Subject	Result	Conserv. Position	Collins Voted
2019-02-26	Expanding Government Land Control through the Permanent Reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund [S47]	Agreed To (363-62)
This bill makes permanent the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which allows more land-grabbing by the federal government. This fund is used to expand federal land holdings, which produces perverse results that harm private property rights through voracious landgrabs and restrictions on the extraction of mineral rights. Not to mention the National Park Service already has a $12 billion backlog to maintain existing land holdings. ACU believes the private sector and the states are best equipped to manage land, opposes further expanding federal land control -- especially considering the federal government controls an astonishing and unsustainable 28% of the country's total land.
2019-02-27	Establishing a Costly and Burdensome Barrier to Exercise Second Amendment Rights [HR8]	Passed (240-190)
This gun control bill would make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights by mandating "universal" background checks for nearly all private firearm sales and transfers. As a result, individuals privately selling a firearm would be forced to conduct the sale through a federal firearms licensee (FFL) and pay any fees charged by the FFL dealer. ACU recognizes that countless studies have found no correlation between imposing universal background checks and reducing unlawful usage of firearms. These sorts of legislative barriers do nothing to stop criminals from engaging in additional criminal behaviors; they just make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens who are not committing crimes to exercise their constitutional rights. ACU opposes this political attack intended to prevent law-abiding citizens from accessing firearms and opposed this bill.
2019-03-08	Weakening Election Integrity and Infringing Free Speech through the "For the Politicians Act" [HR1]	Passed (234-193)
This bill attempts to improve chances of election victories for Democrats at the federal, state and local levels and is therefore better known as the For the Politicians Act rather than Rep. Sarbanes' (D-MD) misnomer, For the People. The bill's list of atrocities begins with disenfranchising legitimate voters and instead embracing voter fraud through same-day, online, and automatic voter registration. Next, the bill would erode voluntary political support under the First Amendment with a system that bribes voters with tax credits to contribute to publicly-funded campaigns. The bill would also seek greater federal control of speech by burdening political organizations and committees with myriad new campaign finance disclosure requirements while altering the Federal Elections Committee and overhauling redistricting processes to benefit Democrat politicians. Furthermore, the bill would prohibit citizens from voting for their preferred presidential candidate unless he or she discloses recent personal income taxes. And, finally, the bill's proponents saw fit to burden taxpayers and harm private employers by making Election Day a federal holiday. ACU opposes this partisan political ploy which infringes free speech and disenfranchises legitimate voters by increasing the risk of voter fraud.
2019-04-04	Expanding Gun Control Measures within the Violence Against Women Act [HR1585]	Passed (263-158)
This bill would reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and violate Second Amendment rights through the expansion of the program's gun control measures. Specifically, the bill would rescind the Second Amendment rights of individuals with certain misdemeanors, a significant expansion which was previously only applied to individuals with certain felony convictions. Additionally, the bill would prevent a "dating partner" who is subject to restraining orders from purchasing a firearm, another expansion which the law currently only applies to married partners. ACU opposes this infringement of Second Amendment rights, recognizes VAWA has grown exponentially since its original passage, and provides millions of taxpayer dollars to leftist organizations.
2019-04-10	Re-Imposing "Net Neutrality" Regulations on the Internet [HR1644]	Passed (232-190)
This bill would re-impose Obama-era "net neutrality" regulations on the internet. These regulations, which were rescinded by Chairman Ajit Pai and the Federal Communications Commission, classify the internet as a public utility, allowing the government to impose price controls that prohibit internet service providers (ISPs) from charging different rates for faster service or blocking websites. ACU recognizes if the left were to succeed in imposing these draconian regulations, the world would be forced to defer to the Chinese Communist Party's puppet corporation Huawei to create and control the standards of infrastructure security, including 5G technology. ACU supports an internet free of government interference, which has allowed it to thrive since its conception, and opposes heavy-handed government regulations, such as net neutrality, which have favored some companies while placing over 1,000 small ISPs at a competitive disadvantage.
2019-05-09	Increasing Health Care Costs by Preventing States from Reforming Obamacare [HR986]	Passed (230-183)
This bill would overturn the Trump administration's efforts to allow insurers to offer less expensive, short-term health plans. The Trump administration provided states flexibility to bypass Obamacare mandates by permitting states to submit "state relief and empowerment waivers" to the federal Department of Health and Human Services under section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act. This bill would largely prohibit insurers from offering short-term health insurance plans or other policies exempt from the ACA's costly "essential health benefit" mandates by undoing reforms made by the Trump administration. ACU has long opposed Obamacare and its heavy-handed mandates which have led to skyrocketing health care costs and supports the Trump administration's use of waivers to provide consumers with more affordable health care by permitting them to select the health plans that best suit their needs.
2019-06-03	Hiking Wasteful Spending under the Guise of "Emergency" Disaster Relief [HR2157]	Passed (354-58)
This supplemental appropriations bill appropriates $19.1 billion in so-called "emergency" disaster relief spending. However, according to the Congressional Budget Office, only $5.3 billion of these funds would be spent in 2019, demonstrating that the majority of these funds have nothing to do with any kind of emergency. Additionally, the lion's share of the funds have been earmarked for programs benefiting special interests such as the National Flood Insurance Program and "climate crisis" slush funds, feeding into the worst kind of cronyism. This vote also came at a time when the Federal Emergency Management Agency had a balance in its account exceeding $28 billion. ACU opposes this scheme to bypass spending caps, opposes expanding wasteful government spending under the guise of "emergency" disaster relief, resulting in the nation lacking revenue for true emergencies.
2019-06-12	Protecting Health Care Providers from Being Forced to Abort Unborn Children [HR2740]	Rejected (192-228)
Cole (R-OK) amendment to a multi-agency appropriations bill, which would protect the lives of unborn children by restoring the Trump administration's conscience protection rule. Specifically, the rule protects health care professionals who work for entities which receive federal funding from being forced to take the lives of unborn children and other practices if doing so would violate their deeply-held religious beliefs.
2019-06-12	Protecting Life by Defunding Planned Parenthood and Other Abortion Providers [HR2740]	Rejected (191-229)
Roby (R-AL) amendment to a multi-agency appropriations bill, which would protect life by ensuring Title X family planning grants are not channeled to entities that provide abortion. Prior to the amendment, the bill contained a provision that was designed to obstruct the Trump administration's new rule which prevents Title X family planning grants from being provided to Planned Parenthood and other entities that provide abortion.
2019-06-18	Maintaining the Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement [HR2740]	Rejected (184-241)
Palmer (R-AL) amendment to a multi-agency appropriations bill, which would allow President Trump to follow through on his plan to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Specifically, the amendment would remove language which halted the withdrawal. Additionally, the amendment would block payments from being made to support the agreement, which would cost the U.S. hundreds of thousands of jobs and lead to skyrocketing consumer goods and energy costs. ACU supports the full withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement which would severely harm the financial well-being of Americans while having little to no impact on the so-called "climate crisis".
2019-06-18	Combatting the $23 Trillion National Debt by Restoring Fiscal Responsibility to Foreign Aid [HR2740]	Rejected (123-298)
Banks (R-IN) amendment to a multi-agency appropriations bill, which would combat the $23 trillion national debt by reducing spending on non-defense foreign aid by 14% or to the level that would avoid busting the budget cap. The amendment would include reductions to a number of leftist programs and initiatives regarding abortion promotion and "climate change." ACU supports significant spending cuts to force the federal government to re-prioritize spending to only the most pressing initiatives and help combat the ever-surging $23 trillion national debt.
2019-06-18	Weakening National Security by Halting Development of Long-Range Nuclear Weapons [HR2740]	Rejected (138-289)
Jayapal (D-WA) amendment to a multi-agency appropriations bill, which would halt development of the Long-Range Standoff missile program. As a result, the amendment would weaken national security by prohibiting any funding from being used to develop the nuclear-armed cruise missiles which have advanced accuracy, range, and stealth capabilities and play a crucial role in the Trump administration's plan to enhance U.S. military strength and readiness. ACU firmly believes in President Ronald Reagan's "peace through strength" doctrine and supports strengthening our national security by ensuring our military is as strong and prepared as possible.
2019-06-20	Reducing Spending in the EPA and Department of Interior to Levels Requested by the Trump Administration [HR3055]	Rejected (128-298)
Hice (R-GA) amendment to the continuing appropriations and health extenders bill, which would reduce spending to levels requested by the Trump administration at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior and other land management agencies. The original bill appropriated $37.4 billion in funding (a $1.6 billion increase over last year), while this amendment would reduce the bill's appropriations by 23.6%. ACU supports significant spending cuts to force the federal government to re-prioritize spending to only the most pressing initiatives and help combat the ever-surging $23 trillion national debt.
2019-06-21	Imposing Even Greater Taxpayer Costs through Protectionist Procurement Mandates [HR3055]	Agreed To (373-51)
The Bost (R-IL) amendment to the continuing appropriations and health extenders bill raises taxpayer costs by forcing federal agencies to comply with even more stringent "buy-American" requirements when procuring materials for infrastructure projects. ACU supports the principles of free trade while always taking into account direct and credible national security considerations and we recognize that the President's ability to negotiate bilateral, reciprocal trade agreements can reduce trade barriers, expand free trade and lower consumer costs in both countries. However, ACU opposes this stringent protectionist measure which prohibits some American companies from competing in the procurement process, drives up taxpayer costs, and is solely designed to enrich select companies.
2019-07-12	Strengthening National Security by Allowing Deployment of Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons [HR2500]	Rejected (201-220)
Turner (R-OH) amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill, which would strengthen national security by preventing the disarmament of low-yield nuclear weapons. Specifically, the amendment would ensure the Secretary of Defense may deploy "low-yield ballistic missile warheads" on submarines and other military equipment. The original bill contained a provision which was designed to eliminate these weapons by blocking funding. ACU firmly believes in President Ronald Reagan's "peace through strength" doctrine and opposes measures which weaken our country's military strength.
2019-07-12	Prohibiting the Armed Forces from Supporting Enforcement of Immigration Laws along the Southern Border [HR2500]	Rejected (179-241)
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill, which would advance an open borders agenda by prohibiting the Armed Forces from supporting enforcement of immigration laws along the southern border. Specifically, this amendment would prohibit the President from deploying members of the Armed Forces to the U.S. southern border to support the enforcement of immigration laws, even in administrative roles. While ACU opposes the use of combat troops for domestic purposes, we support the use of non-combat units to assist in protecting the border.
2019-07-18	Reducing Employment by Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 per Hour [HR582]	Passed (231-199)
This bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to reduce employment opportunities and infringe the right of employees and employers to freely contract by raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. This increase would be implemented over a period of six years and then increased annually based on inflation. The bill would also reduce employment opportunities for tipped employees by imposing the full minimum wage on those occupations. ACU opposes increases in the minimum wage which harm those who most need help with employment experience, such as students and inexperienced workers.
2019-07-25	Authorizing a Fiscally Irresponsible Budget [HR3877]	Passed (284-149)
This bill, known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, codifies the budget deal that busts the budget caps by $320 billion, suspends the debt limit, and "pays" for the new spending through budget gimmicks. Such gimmicks include changes in mandatory program spending which artificially create "savings" which are never actually realized. ACU believes the Senate missed a real opportunity to make the case that national security comes before all other spending by failing to offer an amendment to improve defense readiness while maintaining the domestic spending budget caps. While ACU supports additional defense spending necessary to improve defense readiness, we oppose busting the domestic spending budget caps which are intended to provide some form of fiscal discipline on Congress.
2019-09-09	Extending an Obama-Era "Clean" Diesel Engine Retrofit Program [HR1768]	Agreed To (295-114)
This bill would reauthorize the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act which forces taxpayers to provide grants, rebates or loans to either rebuild or retrofit diesel engines to reduce emissions. The bill would extend the program through 2024, which was expanded under the Obama administration to provide benefits to private individuals and companies. ACU opposes misusing taxpayer funds for a non-essential program.

Represents a "Yes" vote.   Represents a "No" vote.   Indicates that this member voted against the conservative position on a particular vote. "No vote" means that this member did not cast a vote (or voted 'Present' instead of Yes or No).