[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 188 (Thursday, December 8, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S8445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TEMPORARY TAX HOLIDAY AND GOVERNMENT REDUCTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to S. 1931.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion is now 
pending.
  The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, this will be the last vote of this week. 
We will have a couple of votes on Monday night. I will announce later 
as much of the schedule as I am able to do. Right now, I can't do that, 
but I will before the day is out.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 2 
minutes of debate equally divided.
  The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CASEY. Madam President, what is about to happen is we are going 
to be taking a vote on a measure that got 20 votes last week--this same 
vote. I don't know what the vote will be today, obviously, but this is 
an exercise in futility to vote on this again.
  What we should do is cut the payroll tax in half for American 
workers. That is what we have been trying to do. I hope we can continue 
to work together, but we should move beyond this measure that got 20 
votes last week and cut the payroll tax in half for 160 million 
American workers. We should do that and give people the peace of mind 
and dollars in their pockets they would not have otherwise.
  I urge a ``no'' vote on this motion, and I hope we can continue to 
work together to support the American worker.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Time is yielded back.
  Under the previous order, the question is on agreeing to the motion 
to proceed to S. 1931, which is subject to a 60-affirmative-vote 
threshold.
  Mr. CORKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Kerry) and the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Kohl) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 22, nays 76, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 225 Leg.]

                                YEAS--22

     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Brown (MA)
     Cochran
     Collins
     Crapo
     Enzi
     Grassley
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hutchison
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Rubio
     Snowe
     Vitter
     Wicker

                                NAYS--76

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Baucus
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown (OH)
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Conrad
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     DeMint
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson (WI)
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Lee
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Manchin
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Kerry
     Kohl
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 22 and the nays are 
76. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of 
this motion, the motion is rejected.


                            Vote Explanation

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent for the 
votes on the motion to proceed to the Casey Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 
2011, S. 1944, and the motion to proceed to the Temporary Tax Holiday 
and Government Reduction Act, S. 1931. If I were able to attend today's 
session, I would have supported the motion to proceed to the Casey 
Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011, S. 1944, and opposed the motion to 
proceed to the Temporary Tax Holiday and Government Reduction Act, S. 
1931.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.

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