On the Nomination PN12-36: John Phelan, of Florida, to be Secretary of the Navy

Nomination Confirmed. Simple Majority Required. Independents are grouped with the party they caucus with.

Data from the official record at senate.gov.

The Yea votes represented 56% of the country’s population by apportioning each state’s population to its voting senators.

What was the procedure for this vote?

1. What was this vote on?Show Me Tips

Not all votes are meant to pass legislation. In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions.

This vote was on a nomination by the President. Use your favorite search engine to find more about who was nominated and what the position entails. What branch of government is the position in? What relevant experience does the nominee have?

You can learn more about the various motions used in Congress at EveryCRSReport.com. If you aren’t sure what the Senate was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.

What is your analysis of this vote?

1. What trends do you see in this vote?Show Me Tips

Members of Congress side together for many reasons beside being in the same political party, especially so for less prominent legislation or legislation specific to a certain region. What might have determined how the roll call came out in this case? Does it look like Members of Congress voted based on party, geography, or some other reason?

2. How did your senators vote?Show Me Tips

There are two votes here that should be more important to you than all the others. These are the votes cast by your senators, which are meant to represent you and your community. Do you agree with how your senators voted? Why do you think they voted the way they did?

If you don’t already know who your Members of Congress are you can find them by entering your address here.

3. How much of the United States population is represented by the yeas?Show Me Tips

GovTrack displays the percentage of the United States population represented by the yeas on some Senate votes just under the vote totals. We do this to highlight how the people of the United States are represented in the Senate. Since each state has two senators, but state populations vary significantly, the individuals living in each state have different Senate representation. For example, California’s population of near 40 million is given the same number of senators as Wyoming’s population of about 600,000.

Do the senators who voted yea represent a majority of the people of the United States? Does it matter?