[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 75 (Monday, May 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6255-S6256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The hour of 4:20 p.m. having arrived, under 
the previous order, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provision of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on a substitute 
     amendment to H.R. 956, the product liability bill:
         Slade Gorton, Dan Coats, Richard G. Lugar, John Ashcroft, 
           Rod Grams, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Judd Gregg, Strom 
           Thurmond, Jay Rockefeller, Trent Lott, Rick Santorum, 
           Larry E. Craig, Bob Smith, Don Nickles, R.F. Bennett, 
           John McCain, Connie Mack.


                    vote on motion to invoke cloture

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent the quorum call has been 
waived.
  The question is: Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on 
amendment No. 690 to H.R. 956, the product liability bill, shall be 
brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays have been required.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Akaka], the 
Senator from Iowa [Mr. Harkin], the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. 
Kennedy], and the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Kerrey] are necessarly 
absent.
  I further announce that the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. Pell] is 
absent on official business.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Rhode Island [Mr. Pell] would vote ``yea.''
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Hawaii [Mr. Akaka] would vote ``nay.''
  Mr. LOTT. I announce that the Senator from Utah [Mr. Bennett], the 
Senator from Colorado [Mr. Campbell], and the Senator from Virginia 
[Mr. Warner] are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 43, nays 49, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 153 Leg.]

                                YEAS--43

     Abraham
     Ashcroft
     Bond
     Brown
     Burns
     Chafee
     Coats
     Coverdell
     Craig
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Exon
     Faircloth
     Frist
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Hatfield
     Helms
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kassebaum
     Kempthorne
     Kyl
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles [[Page S6256]] 
     Pressler
     Santorum
     Smith
     Snowe
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thurmond

                                NAYS--49

     Baucus
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Bradley
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Conrad
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Heflin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Johnston
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Nunn
     Packwood
     Pryor
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Simon
     Simpson
     Specter
     Thompson
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Akaka
     Bennett
     Campbell
     Harkin
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Pell
     Warner
  So the motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 43, and the nays 
are 49. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having 
voted in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. GORTON addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I said just before this vote, for 
technical reasons, given the nature of the amendment, with our 3 
o'clock deadline and the haste to file the Rockefeller-Gorton 
substitute, certain drafting errors were made which could not be cured 
without unanimous consent. Unanimous consent was not granted. 
Therefore, Senator Rockefeller and I both voted no on cloture this time 
around and regard this last vote as essentially meaningless.
  Between now and the adjournment of the Senate today, we will 
introduce a revised second-degree amendment with the majority leader 
that will reflect our precise views and the agreement that has been 
made with the consent of, I think, a very substantial majority of the 
Members, as to the final form of this bill.
  Tomorrow we will vote on cloture once again. If we have not been 
allowed by unanimous consent to adopt that second-degree amendment, the 
sponsors are confident in making a guarantee it will pass immediately 
after cloture is invoked.
  Mr. President, inquiry: Do we have an order to go on to another 
subject at this point?

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