[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   AMERICAN SECURITY AGAINST FOREIGN ENEMIES ACT OF 2015--MOTION TO 
                                PROCEED

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 4038, which the 
clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 300, H.R. 4038, a bill to 
     require that supplemental certifications and background 
     investigations be completed prior to the admission of certain 
     aliens as refugees, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 2:30 
p.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their 
designees.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it is unfortunate that the fear and 
xenophobia being peddled by some Republican candidates for President is 
now being given time on the Senate floor.
  Instead of solving the real problems facing Americans--like the 
student debt crisis or our need for energy independence--or responding 
to real threats to our national security--like our failure to track 
visa overstays or prevent terrorists from buying guns--today we are 
debating a strawman inspired by Donald Trump's baseless rhetoric.
  The bill the Republican leader is asking us to consider will not make 
America safer. In fact, it is a dangerous distraction that plays into 
the hands of the ISIS propaganda machine.
  Instead of demonizing refugees, who are the most thoroughly screened 
group of people who enter the United States, we should take up and pass 
the Defeat ISIS and Protect and Secure the United States Act of 2015. 
That bill offers a comprehensive strategy to counter ISIS propaganda 
and violent extremism in the United States and abroad. It offers real 
solutions that will keep us safe rather than scapegoating refugees who 
are fleeing war and torture.
  In contrast, the bill we are asked to consider has put forward fresh 
fodder for the false narrative that we are at war with Islam.
  I will oppose this House bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call 
be equally divided between both sides.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BURR. 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. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before 
the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
  The senior assistant legislative 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, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to calendar No. 300, H.R. 4038, an act to require 
     that supplemental certifications and background 
     investigations be completed prior to the admission of certain 
     aliens as refugees, and for other purposes.
         Mitch McConnell, Rob Portman, John Thune, Tom Cotton, 
           Steve Daines, James M. Inhofe, Mike Crapo, Thom Tillis, 
           Roger F. Wicker, Lindsey Graham, Pat Roberts, John 
           Cornyn, Shelley Moore Capito, John Boozman, Michael B. 
           Enzi, James E. Risch, John McCain.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
motion to proceed to Calendar No. 300, H.R. 4038, an act to require 
that supplemental certifications and background investigations be 
completed prior to the admission of certain aliens as refugees, and for 
other purposes, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from South Carolina (Mr. Graham).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Toomey). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 55, nays 43, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 4 Leg.]

                                YEAS--55

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kirk
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Vitter
     Wicker

                                NAYS--43

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Reed
     Reid
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Graham
     Sanders
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 55, the nays are 
43.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted 
in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  The majority leader.

                          ____________________