[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3782-S3783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order and pursuant to rule 
XXII, the hour of 2:15 having arrived, the clerk will report the motion 
to invoke cloture.


                             cloture motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to S. 543, a bill to provide certain protections to 
     volunteers, nonprofit organizations, and governmental 
     entities in lawsuits based on the activities of volunteers:
         Trent Lott, Paul Coverdell, Connie Mack, Slade Gorton, 
           Don Nickles, Spencer Abraham, Larry Craig, Michael 
           Enzi, Craig Thomas, Phil Gramm, Dan Coats, Rick 
           Santorum, Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, Robert Bennett, 
           Mike DeWine.


                            Call of the Roll

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent the quorum call has been 
waived.


                                  Vote

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, is it the sense of the Senate 
that debate on the motion to proceed to S. 543, the Volunteer 
Protection Act, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are required. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Missouri [Mr. Bond] is 
necessarily absent.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 53, nays 46, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 52 Leg.]

                                YEAS--53

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Brownback
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Faircloth
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kempthorne
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                                NAYS--46

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Cleland
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Glenn
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Bond
       
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 53, the nays are 46. 
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to.
  Mr. COVERDELL addressed the Chair.

[[Page S3783]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I have said earlier today I do not 
think this is an appropriate response to the bipartisan appeal from 
Philadelphia, to be filibustering very narrow legislation to help 
volunteers respond to the call by four former Presidents and a former 
Chief of Staff. But there will be plenty of time to talk about that. I 
know that the senior Senator from Texas has 5 minutes on another 
matter. So I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed up to 5 minutes 
to cover that, and then we will return to the motion to proceed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered. The Senator from Texas will be recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, let me join my colleague in expressing my 
disappointment that at the very moment where we have our former 
Presidents urging voluntarism, the Senate, on a partisan vote, is 
blocking our effort to remove legal liability constraints that limit 
the willingness of people to volunteer. So I am very disappointed that 
we did not get the job done, and I trust that this will not be the end 
of this bill.

                          ____________________