[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 175 (Wednesday, December 11, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8783-S8784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLOTURE MOTION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before
the Senate the pending cloture motion.
The assistant bill 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 nomination of
Heather Anne Higginbottom, of the District of Columbia, to be
Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.
Harry Reid, Sherrod Brown, Richard J. Durbin, Christopher
Murphy, Robert Menendez, Christopher A. Coons, Angus S.
King, Jr., Martin Heinrich, Amy Klobuchar, Dianne
Feinstein, Tom Udall, Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Bernard
Sanders, Barbara Boxer, Brian Schatz, Robert P. Casey,
Jr., Thomas R. Carper, Benjamin L. Cardin, Michael F.
Bennet.
Quorum Call
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair now directs
the
[[Page S8784]]
clerk to call the roll to ascertain the presence of a quorum.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll and the following
Senators entered the Chamber and answered to their names:
[Quorum No. 12]
Ayotte
Baldwin
Barrasso
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Boozman
Boxer
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cruz
Donnelly
Durbin
Enzi
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Franken
Gillibrand
Hagan
Harkin
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Manchin
Markey
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Portman
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Risch
Rubio
Sanders
Schumer
Scott
Sessions
Shaheen
Shelby
Stabenow
Tester
Thune
Toomey
Udall (NM)
Vitter
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is present.
The majority leader.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have an announcement. I realize everyone
is tired, anxious, and some are a little concerned about everything.
I have had, especially late last night and early this morning,
conversations with Republicans and Democrats as to what we should do
this weekend.
The next set of votes will come shortly before noon today. Then we
will have another set of votes this afternoon. Absent consent, the
Senate will vote late Saturday, about 10:30 or thereabouts, on
confirmation of Jeh Johnson to be the Secretary of Homeland Security.
The Senate has already received a budget bill from the House. We
expect momentarily to receive the Defense bill from the House. I wish
to have the Senate process these important bills as quickly possible. I
plan to move to proceed on these bills as soon as we can. That would be
as soon as we handle the pending nominations that are now before this
body.
Thereafter, there are certain things we need to do before Christmas
break. We need to do those two important bills, the budget and defense.
We have to do the Chair of the Federal Reserve system. There is an
Under Secretary of State that is very urgent, according to John Kerry.
We have a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Under Secretary of
Department of Interior, the head of the Internal Revenue Service, and
the remaining judge on the DC Circuit. There have been requests from
everybody--I shouldn't say that--lots and lots of people to do other
things, but we are limited as to what we can do before next weekend.
There are some other nominations that we are happy to discuss with
individual Senators.
So it would be my suggestion that we go ahead and do this vote;
during this vote, and prior to the next series of votes, I will meet
with the Republican leader to see if there is a way we can give some
time, especially to the staff, over the weekend. These people have
worked extremely hard, and I haven't heard a complaint from a single
one of them, quite frankly.
I went up last evening and visited the court reporters. We have 18
court reporters, and up on the 4th floor they have been sharing--for a
little respite--two beds and taking naps, or at least trying to lie
down and rest for a bit. They are working in 15-minute shifts, and they
have been doing that for days now. So if we can work that out, I would
be happy to do that.
My goal is we would wind up at the same place on Monday in the
evening as we would wind up if we did all this stuff over the weekend.
So I am happy to be as cooperative as possible. Christmas is on its
way, and there are certain things we need to have done. There are lots
of other things we need to do, but we are probably not going to be able
to do those.
So I have laid out for everyone a broad scope of the schedule. I will
meet with my friend the Republican leader and see if there is some way
we can do this; otherwise, we will just proceed on.
The good news is that following the vote this afternoon, we wouldn't
have anything until tomorrow night under the schedule as now listed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate
that debate be brought to a close on the nomination of Heather Anne
Higginbottom, of the District of Columbia, to be Deputy Secretary of
State for Management and Resources.
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from South Dakota (Mr.
Johnson), the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley), the Senator from
Florida (Mr. Nelson), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller),
the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz), and the Senator from Maryland
(Ms. Mikulski) are necessarily absent.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Missouri (Mr.
Blunt), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn), the Senator from
Tennessee (Mr. Corker), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Crapo), the Senator
from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Hatch),
the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), and the Senator from Illinois
(Mr. Kirk).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Alexander) would have voted ``nay.''
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 51, nays 34, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 271 Ex.]
YEAS--51
Baldwin
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Donnelly
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Hagan
Harkin
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Manchin
Markey
McCaskill
Menendez
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--34
Ayotte
Barrasso
Boozman
Burr
Chambliss
Coats
Cochran
Cornyn
Cruz
Enzi
Fischer
Flake
Grassley
Heller
Hoeven
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Lee
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Paul
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rubio
Scott
Sessions
Shelby
Thune
Toomey
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--15
Alexander
Blunt
Coburn
Corker
Crapo
Graham
Hatch
Inhofe
Johnson (SD)
Kirk
Merkley
Mikulski
Nelson
Rockefeller
Schatz
The motion was agreed to.
____________________