[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 122 (Thursday, July 31, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION FUNDING ACT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate 
the House message to H.R. 5021.
  The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message 
from the House of Representatives:

       Resolved, That the House disagree to the amendment of the 
     Senate to the bill (H.R. 5021) entitled ``An Act to provide 
     an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor 
     carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the 
     highway trust fund and for other purposes.''

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. I move to recede in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5021.
  I ask 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 PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we request 2 minutes of debate on this side, 
1 minute for the chairman of the Finance Committee and 1 minute for the 
chairman of the public works committee.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Following that, I ask that 18 minutes be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, it is no secret that this Transportation 
bill is not the Senate's first choice. However, the alternative to 
acting tonight on transportation is to put at risk America's economy, 
our communities, and our quality of life. As Senator Hatch noted 
earlier tonight, the Senate had a real transportation debate this week 
with amendments, alternatives, and bipartisan initiatives. This will 
serve us well as we begin to work as soon as the Senate returns to 
develop a long-term, bipartisan transportation plan that ensures that 
our big-league economy is not plagued by little-league infrastructure.
  I urge the Senate to support the legislation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Senators, I will be brief. It is so unfortunate that the 
House walked away from the work we did, the bipartisan work we did 
together--79 votes. My goodness. We can't get that these days for 
Mother's Day. So it was fantastic what we did: the work of Senator 
Wyden and Senator Hatch, the work of Senator Carper and Senator Corker, 
the work of Senator Vitter in our committee that I as chair. It is very 
sad because what we wanted to do was to take care of this problem this 
year, in this Congress, on our watch, not kick the can down the road. 
That is what they chose to do in the House. It is most unfortunate, and 
their pay-fors were just a lot of smoke and mirrors.
  Having said all of that, we all know--and colleagues have asked me 
how am I going to vote--that we can't walk away from the highway trust 
fund. We can't let it stagger and fall. Millions of jobs and thousands 
of businesses depend on it.
  So I will be voting aye, and I will be working with Senator Wyden and 
the rest of my friends and colleagues to make sure we get a multiyear 
bill as soon as possible.
  Thank you. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Hagan), the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin), and the Senator from Hawaii 
(Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Mississippi 
(Mr. Cochran), and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``nay.''
  The result was announced--yeas 81, nays 13, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 255 Leg.]

                                YEAS--81

     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Vitter
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--13

     Carper
     Coburn
     Corker
     Cruz
     Flake
     Johnson (WI)
     Lee
     McCain
     Paul
     Portman
     Rubio
     Scott
     Sessions

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Alexander
     Cochran
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Roberts
     Schatz
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to recede from the Senate amendment 
to H.R. 5021 is agreed to.

                          ____________________