I know something about all this because my father was ambassador to Laos at the time, after years of service in the Vietnam conflict. I lived in Laos for a year before college.
Congress Member Profile|U.S. Senator|Democrat|Rhode Island
Sheldon Whitehouse
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Voting Record — 789
Yes31%
No65%
Present0%
Not Voting4%
Party align95%
Cross-party5%
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Senate District (Statewide)
U.S. Census Bureau boundary data.
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Sheldon Whitehouse
U.S. SenatorDemocratRhode Island
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Sheldon's ATmosphere Activity
20 recent posts · 88 sponsored · 215 cosponsored
Recent ATmosphere posts, sponsorships, and cosponsorships.
Rhode Island and Minnesota were the two of the most welcoming states to Hmong refugees, and I’m proud to represent my Hmong constituents.
Grateful officials who had served with them worked to expedite their passage from the camps to the U.S.
Hundreds were rescued in that unauthorized airlift, but most had to flee into the mountains, hunted by the Pathet Lao, and work their way to camps across the border in Thailand to queue up for refuge in the United States.
Legend has it that one pilot pointed his pistol at an airbase official trying to keep him from getting to the runway.
Loyalty was mutual. When we abruptly left Laos, CIA and military pilots flew unauthorized missions from our Thai airbases in “borrowed” aircraft into Long Tieng to bring out their abandoned comrades-in-arms and their families.
They were loyal and brave and effective. Our U.S. military attaché in Laos Gen. Dick Trefry said after the war that were it not for the Hmong troops operating in Northern Laos, “there’d be a thousand more names on the Vietnam Memorial” in Washington.
They opposed the communist Pathet Lao, and fought to protect their territorial home. They helped rescue downed pilots and disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
During the Vietnam conflict, the CIA supported a Hmong military force operating out of a base in Laos called Long Tieng, run by a general named Vang Pao.
The gentleman who ICE hauled without cause out of his home in his underwear into the icy Minnesota winter (after terrifying his 5-year-old grandson) was from Laos, one of the Hmong hill tribes people of the then-Kingdom of Laos.
You should know a bit about the background of those people.
🧵
Representative De Luca’s legacy will be defined by his faith and bravery, which helped turned the tide in the fight for marriage equality in Rhode Island. We are all better off for his service.
The conclusion is worth reading in its entirety, but here’s the punchline: “this charade of Ms. Halligan [elsewhere in the order described as a “miscreant”!] masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.”
Oceans keep setting new heat records (by the zettajoule), raising the cost to us of fossil fuel’s climate crisis.
The beloved Ocean Mist in 1991 (all that beach!) vs. today. Climate change is driving up RI sea levels faster and faster.
Fossil fuel lying and denying can’t change these facts.
Read my letter here:
My response to the claims in Senator Cruz’s recent letter:
Time to reconsider Trump/Russia? Why Trump, who needs dominance in every relationship, goes submissive with Putin? Why everything Trump does helps, pleases, or goes easy on Putin? (War criminal on Board of Peace!)
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Voting History789 total votesExpandCollapse
Voting History
789 total votes
Recent roll calls with party-majority context so it is easier to scan how this member tends to vote.
| Date | Bill | Question | Position | Party Maj | Align? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-05-08 | H.J. Res. 60 (119th) | Approve resolution | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Joint Resolution Passed (50-43) |
| 2025-05-08 | S.J. Res. 7 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (50-38) |
| 2025-05-07 | S.J. Res. 13 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (52-47) |
| 2025-05-06 | H.J. Res. 60 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (53-47) |
| 2025-05-06 | S.J. Res. 7 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (53-47) |
| 2025-05-06 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (53-47) |
| 2025-05-06 | S.J. Res. 13 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (53-46) |
| 2025-05-06 | H.J. Res. 61 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (55-45) |
| 2025-05-05 | H.J. Res. 61 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (51-43) |
| 2025-05-01 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (50-45) |
| 2025-05-01 | S.J. Res. 31 (119th) | Approve resolution | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Joint Resolution Passed (52-46) |
| 2025-05-01 | H.J. Res. 75 (119th) | Approve resolution | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Joint Resolution Passed (52-45) |
| 2025-04-30 | S.J. Res. 31 (119th) | Begin consideration | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (52-40) |
| 2025-04-30 | S.J. Res. 49 (119th) | Kill the motion | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Motion to Table Agreed to (49-49, Vice President of the United States, voted Yea) |
| 2025-04-30 | S.J. Res. 49 (119th) | Approve resolution | NOT_VOTING | YES | — | Joint Resolution Defeated (49-49) |
| 2025-04-30 | H.J. Res. 75 (119th) | Begin consideration | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (52-46) |
| 2025-04-30 | H.J. Res. 42 (119th) | Approve resolution | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Joint Resolution Passed (52-46) |
| 2025-04-29 | H.J. Res. 42 (119th) | Begin consideration | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (52-46) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | Confirm nominee | NOT_VOTING | YES | — | Nomination Confirmed (83-14) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | End debate | NOT_VOTING | YES | — | Cloture Motion Agreed to (84-13) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | Confirm nominee | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Nomination Confirmed (60-36) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | End debate | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Cloture Motion Agreed to (62-36) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | Confirm nominee | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Nomination Confirmed (59-39) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | End debate | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Cloture Motion Agreed to (59-39) |
| 2025-04-29 | — | Confirm nominee | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Nomination Confirmed (67-29) |
| 2025-04-28 | — | End debate | NOT_VOTING | NO | — | Cloture Motion Agreed to (64-27) |
| 2025-04-11 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (60-25) |
| 2025-04-11 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (60-25) |
| 2025-04-11 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (59-26) |
| 2025-04-11 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (59-25) |
| 2025-04-10 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (50-46) |
| 2025-04-10 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (51-46) |
| 2025-04-10 | H.J. Res. 20 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (53-44) |
| 2025-04-09 | H.J. Res. 20 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (52-42) |
| 2025-04-09 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (52-44) |
| 2025-04-09 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (51-45) |
| 2025-04-09 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (49-46) |
| 2025-04-09 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (60-37) |
| 2025-04-09 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (53-46) |
| 2025-04-09 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (51-45) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (51-42) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (52-44) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (60-37) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (53-46) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (66-32) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (67-32) |
| 2025-04-08 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (54-45) |
| 2025-04-07 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (53-39) |
| 2025-04-05 | H. Con. Res. 14 (119th) | Vote on amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Amendment Rejected (48-51) |
| 2025-04-05 | H. Con. Res. 14 (119th) | Accept House changes | NO | NO | ✓ | Concurrent Resolution Agreed to (51-48) |
Alignment stats consider only votes where a clear yes/no majority existed for the legislator's party. Cross-party marks divergence where the vote matched the opposite party majority. ↔ indicates cross-party divergence.