[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.
____________________