[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 169 (Saturday, December 18, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10666-S10667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SBIR/STTR REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1999--RESUMED

  Pending:

       Reid motion to concur in the amendment of the House to the 
     amendment of the Senate to the bill.
       Reid motion to concur in the amendment of the House to the 
     amendment of the Senate to the bill, with Reid amendment No. 
     4827 (to the House amendment to the Senate amendment), to 
     change the enactment date.
       Reid amendment No. 4828 (to amendment No. 4827), to change 
     the enactment date.
       Reid motion to refer the message of the House on the bill 
     to the Committee on Armed Services, with instructions, Reid 
     amendment No. 4829, to provide for a study.
       Reid amendment No. 4830 (to (the instructions) amendment 
     No. 4829), of a perfecting nature.
       Reid amendment No. 4831 (to amendment No. 4830), of a 
     perfecting nature.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2 
minutes of debate, equally divided. The Senate will be in order. The 
Senator from Connecticut is recognized.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to ask my colleagues on both 
sides of the political aisle to support this cloture motion. The fact 
is that removing a form of legalized discrimination from our books, 
allowing people to serve our military regardless of sexual orientation, 
is not a liberal or conservative idea; it is not a Republican or 
Democratic idea; it is an American idea consistent with American 
values. We have come to a point in our history, I hope, where neither 
race nor religion, ethnicity nor gender nor sexual orientation should 
deprive Americans of serving our country as the patriots that they are. 
This measure would accomplish that result in an orderly way to be 
determined by the leaders of our military when they decide that the 
military is ready to implement the change, repeal don't ask, don't 
tell, without negative effect on military effectiveness, unit cohesion, 
and military morale. It is time to right a wrong and put the military 
in line with the best of American values.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Today is a very sad day. The Commandant of the U.S. 
Marine Corps says: When your life hangs on the line, you don't want 
anything distracting. Mistakes and inattention and distractions cost 
marines' lives. I don't want to permit that opportunity to happen and I 
will tell you why. You go up to Bethesda Naval Hospital, marines are up 
there with no legs, none. We have marines in Walter Reed with no limbs.


                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             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 
     concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 
     2965, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act.
         Joseph I. Lieberman, Barbara Boxer, Ron Wyden, Michael F. 
           Bennet, Robert Menendez, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Frank R. 
           Lautenberg, Debbie Stabenow, Mark R. Warner, Tom Udall, 
           Jeff Merkley, Benjamin L. Cardin, Amy Klobuchar, 
           Christopher J. Dodd, Tom Carper, Al Franken.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 
2965, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. 
Manchin) is necessarily absent.
  I further announce that if present and voting, the Senator from West 
Virginia (Mr. Manchin) would vote ``nay.''
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning), the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. 
Gregg), and the Senator from Utah (Mr. Hatch).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Utah (Mr. Hatch) 
would have voted ``nay,'' and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning) 
would have voted ``nay.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 63, nays 33, as follows:

[[Page S10667]]

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 279 Leg.]

                                YEAS--63

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown (MA)
     Brown (OH)
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coons
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--33

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Kyl
     LeMieux
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Risch
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Thune
     Vitter
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Bunning
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Manchin
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 63, the nays are 
33. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. Cloture having been invoked, 
the motion to refer falls.

                          ____________________