[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S9437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COLLEGE COST REDUCTION ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, in an effort to use our time effectively, 
while the cloture motion on Homeland Security ripens, I am asking now 
unanimous consent to proceed to the education reconciliation bill, a 
bipartisan bill that will make college education more affordable for 
hundreds of thousands of students.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I do 
intend to object, I believe this body ought to stay on the Defense 
authorization bill. We have just seen a procedure in the last 24 hours 
which has been a colossal waste of time.
  The time to have a showdown with the President was either on the 
funding request, which was 2 months ago, or in September. There was no 
way there would have been sufficient votes to have 60 votes or 67 votes 
to have anything meaningful done. And speaking for myself, having been 
in this body for a substantial period of time, I think what has 
happened in the past 24 hours has been an indignity. This is reputed to 
be the world's----
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for regular order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SPECTER. I do object. And I would also----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. SPECTER. The leader speaks at great length about if another 
Member seeks to speak, he ought to be accorded that privilege.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, he is going to have all day to talk. He has 
the right to object, and he did that. We listened to his statement.
  We believe the American people were entitled to have 2 days, at least 
2 days of debate on the Levin-Reed amendment to change the course in 
Iraq. He may disagree. I would bet, with all due respect to my friend, 
the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, that the people of Pennsylvania 
want a change of course in the intractable war in which we find 
ourselves in Iraq.
  Mr. SPECTER. Will the majority leader yield?
  Mr. REID. So the Senator can talk about a waste of time. But I move 
to proceed to H.R. 2669, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. 
Johnson) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily 
absent.
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Idaho (Mr. Crapo).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 48, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 253 Leg.]

                                YEAS--49

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Clinton
     Conrad
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--48

     Alexander
     Allard
     Barrasso
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     DeMint
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Crapo
     Johnson
     Obama
  The motion was agreed to.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mrs. BOXER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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