[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.
____________________