[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 30, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7013-S7014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TSA OFFICE OF INSPECTION ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 719, which 
the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       House message to accompany H.R. 719, an act to require the 
     Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing 
     Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator 
     positions, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       McConnell motion to concur in the amendment of the House to 
     the amendment of the Senate to the bill, with McConnell (for 
     Cochran) amendment No. 2689, making continuing appropriations 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.
       McConnell amendment No. 2690 (to amendment No. 2689), to 
     change the enactment date.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 10 
a.m. will be equally divided between the two managers or their 
designees.
  The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to speak to the vote we are 
about to cast this morning at 10 o'clock. This is a vote to basically 
extend the authority and budget of the Federal Government until 
December 11. This September 30 is the end of our fiscal year, and at 
least legally, the authority to continue the government depends on 
budget and appropriations bills being passed by the House and Senate. 
That has not happened. So what we are doing is a continuing resolution. 
It basically extends last year's budget until December 11.
  Now, that will keep the lights on at Federal agencies, and it will 
avoid the catastrophic outcome of a government shutdown, but it is not 
good policy. We have done it on our side--on the Democratic side--and 
now the Republicans, in control of the Congress, are doing it on their 
side. It buys time to reach some sort of agreement that is longer 
lasting and more thoughtful.
  We know the notion of a government shutdown is a disaster, but it is 
not a unanimous opinion in the Senate or in the House of 
Representatives. There are actually Members of the Senate and the House 
who are applauding the possibility of a government shutdown. Some of 
them were the same people who inspired the shutdown several years ago--
a shutdown which cost us 800,000 jobs in America because of the 
uncertainty created by it and which created real hardship for people 
around our country. A shutdown, if it happened again in this context, 
would be even more serious in terms of its impact on the American 
economy.
  So we have a chance. And I would just say to those who follow this 
debate--and there is no reason why people would follow the minutia--
that in June of this year we asked on the Democratic side for the 
Republican leader to sit down and avoid this actual confrontation we 
are having today. We asked Senator McConnell and Speaker Boehner to 
negotiate with the President a new budget--a budget that is realistic 
and will not harm innocent people.
  I am troubled by the notion that Republicans have that we should find 
war funds to continue funding the Department of Defense and ignore the 
nondefense parts of the budget. Senator Reid made reference to one. 
National Institutes of Health medical research, which is critical to 
America and its future, is now facing the uncertainty of no budget, and 
that is unfair.
  Last night we had a meeting with some of the major medical 
researchers in the United States, and they said it is hard to convince 
the next generation of researchers that we as a nation are seriously 
committed, and it is because of this uncertainty in budgeting. It is a 
political problem, and one that should be solved by politicians, 
namely, Members of the House and Senate working with the President.
  So we will likely vote--and I certainly will vote in the next few 
minutes--to extend the operations of the government until December 11. 
But if it is only for more speechifying and breast-beating by those who 
want to shut down the government to prove some political point, I have 
to say they are seriously mistaken. It is the wrong thing for America 
to shut down the government. It is the wrong thing for job creation to 
shut down the government. It is the wrong thing for our future, when it 
comes to medical research, education, and critical programs, to shut 
down the government. Those who are preaching that gospel should be 
reminded that 3 out of 4 Americans think they are not very thoughtful--
I will clean up my words a little bit--not very thoughtful in using 
this approach.
  So I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this 
continuing resolution but really to light a fire under the leadership 
in the Democratic and Republican precincts and to come together in the 
House and Senate in the next few weeks of this continuing resolution. 
Let's make sure we have a budget and one that is befitting a great 
nation.
  I yield the floor.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today we are voting on a clean, short-
term continuous funding resolution, CR. Passing this legislation means 
no government shutdown. There may be some drama, but we intend to keep 
the government open and avoid shutdown, slamdown politics.
  Shutdowns are bad for everyone. Shutdowns create uncertainty which 
slows economic growth, hurts the health and well-being of the entire 
Nation, and causes the loss of private sector jobs. Shutdowns make it 
impossible for Federal agencies to meet missions that serve the 
American people.
  Let's show the American people we can work across the aisle and 
across the dome to get the job done.
  Avoiding a shutdown is just the first step. Next, we need a budget 
deal to cancel sequester. Right now, our budget caps spending, but 
doesn't cap tax breaks for billionaires and corporations that send jobs 
overseas.
  Americans are angry. They feel like the rules are rigged against them 
and that those who write the rules don't care.
  Let's show them this Congress cares. The people deserve a government 
on their side.
  That is why I am fighting to make sure they have a government that 
works as hard as they do. After we pass the bill to fund the 
government, we can move on to a new budget deal that cancels sequester, 
raising the caps equally for defense and nondefense domestic spending.
  The budget deal will give us a framework for an omnibus funding bill 
that invests in America, protecting national security, rebuilding our 
physical infrastructure, creating jobs for today and jobs for tomorrow, 
and meeting our compelling human needs. The Appropriations Committee 
needs 30 days to get the job done after a new budget deal is passed.
  I challenge leadership to work with Speaker Boehner to enact a new 
topline budget deal by the end of October. We can't let October 
brinksmanship become a Christmas crisis.
  It is clear we need to cancel sequester. And it is clear that the 
2013 shutdown was a disaster for everyone--not to be repeated.
  This bill provides the resources to keep our government open so 
agencies can continue to serve the American people, keeping us safe, 
healthy, educated, moving, and thriving.
  The bottom line is we need a new topline. With a new budget deal we 
get a new topline to invest in America's safety and future.
  But we need to pass this short-term CR to get to a deal and not to 
another shutdown.

[[Page S7014]]

  

  Mr. DURBIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                      Amendment No. 2690 Withdrawn

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw 
amendment No. 2690.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, all postcloture time 
is expired.


                        Vote on Motion to Concur

  The question occurs on agreeing to the motion to concur with 
amendment No. 2689 in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to 
H.R. 719.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) and the Senator from Florida 
(Mr. Rubio).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cotton). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 78, nays 20, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 272 Leg.]

                                YEAS--78

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--20

     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Coats
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Heller
     Inhofe
     Lankford
     Lee
     Moran
     Paul
     Risch
     Sasse
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Toomey
     Vitter

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Graham
     Rubio
       
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

                          ____________________