[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S343-S344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.J. Res. 106, which the 
clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 106) making further 
     continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other 
     purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 15 
minutes of debate equally divided.
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON. Madam President, I wish to speak on another matter 
pending in front of the Senate, the flood insurance bill.
  I wish to say that Senator Landrieu has been a real champion here. We 
are still insisting that we be able to bring up the bipartisan bill to 
delay for several years the flood insurance hikes. In my State, where 
40 percent of the policies are, we have seen spikes by tenfold of the 
rate on the flood insurance policies.
  Thank goodness there was in this omnibus appropriations a provision 
which would provide some partial relief for some homeowners facing huge 
rate hikes. The estimate is it would only cover less than a quarter of 
all the flood insurance policies being affected by the huge rate hikes. 
That is why we need to move forward with passing the broad bipartisan 
bill which will delay these hikes for several years while FEMA does an 
affordability study. I told Senator Landrieu earlier that I wanted to 
come in and support her in comments she made earlier today.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, what is the pending business before 
the Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. H.J. Res. 106 is the business pending before 
the Senate.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Which is?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The short-term CR.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise in support. This is a simple 
short-term extension of the continuing funding resolution we passed 
some weeks ago. This is Washington-speak and budget-speak for saying, 
as of today, the money that keeps the Federal Government in operation 
expires. However, being debated in the House this afternoon we have a 
consolidated appropriations bill which will fund the government through 
fiscal year 2014 and will come to the Senate either late this evening 
or will be on the floor tomorrow morning.
  I ask the Senate to pass the short-term extension because it is a 
technical situation. This isn't the usual delay, drama, and fiscal 
cliff situation. When the Budget Committee acted, and we passed the 
bill on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, we, the Appropriations 
Committee, were given a very stringent deadline of January 15 to 
produce an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2014. We have worked all 
the way through the holidays and all the way up to Sunday evening, and 
we have completed our work. It is now before the Senate and the House 
to be reviewed. It is on our Web site and so on. We just need a couple 
of hours to complete the job now.
  I can assure my colleagues this very short extension is status quo. 
It makes no changes in funding levels. It makes no changes in 
conditions for the operation of the government. The Appropriations 
Committee worked over the holidays. The agreement was made public on 
Monday. The House will vote on the agreement this afternoon. As soon as 
the House completes its work, it will come to the Senate.
  This is a short-term CR. It is for 72 hours. It will provide the time 
needed for the Senate to consider the agreement, for the paperwork to 
be prepared, and for the President to sign it. This is a very short-
term extension which will enable us to complete our work and not even 
have a temporary shutdown. I urge my colleagues to allow the short 
extension to pass the Senate expeditiously so we can move on to the 
diligence we need to provide in debating the appropriations bill.
  We will have a vote at 12:15. The vote at 12:15 is on the short-term 
extension of the current continuing funding resolution. It will be for 
72 hours. It takes us through Saturday. I hope we are done before 
Saturday.
  This is not a vote on the appropriations bill itself, nor should it 
be viewed as a proxy vote. It is just simply a technical time bridge to 
enable us to have adequate debate in the House and adequate debate and 
review in the Senate to do this.
  I really hope my colleagues support this 72-hour extension so we do 
not have the usual drama we have of fiscal cliffs and shutdowns and so 
on. My colleague, the Senator from Alabama Mr. Shelby, who is my vice 
chairman, is involved in other duties in the Senate, but he too 
supports this 72-hour extension. We have been working so diligently on 
our bill through the holidays so we could have a bill before the 
Senate, and I must say it has been characterized by diligence, 
determination, and courtesy. But it takes time. It takes time to 
review, and it takes time to scrutinize. Quite frankly, it took time to 
discuss the issues involved in the appropriations.

[[Page S344]]

  All 12 subcommittees are represented. But I will say more about it 
when we bring the actual bill to the floor.
  Madam President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. I ask now for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a 
sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The joint resolution was ordered to a third reading and was read the 
third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the joint resolution 
having been read the third time, the question is on passage of the 
joint resolution.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 86, nays 14, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 11 Leg.]

                                YEAS--86

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Baucus
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson (WI)
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--14

     Barrasso
     Coburn
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Enzi
     Heller
     Inhofe
     Lee
     Paul
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Scott
     Vitter
  The joint resolution (H.J. Res. 106) was passed.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I 
move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lie on the table was agreed to.
  I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________