Congressional Record, Volume 162 Issue 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)

[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3633-S3635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2017

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Chair lays
before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

Resolved, That the House insist upon its amendment to the
Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 2577) entitled ``An Act
making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation,
and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for
the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other
purposes,'' and ask a conference with the Senate on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon.

Compound Motion

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I move that the Senate disagree to the
amendment of the House, agree to the request by the House for a
conference, and authorize the Presiding Officer to appoint conferees.

Cloture Motion

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
The 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
disagree to the House amendment, agree to the request from
the House for a conference, and authorize the Presiding
Officer to appoint conferees with respect to H.R. 2577, an
act making appropriations for the Departments of
Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and
related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30,
2016, and for other purposes.
John McCain, John Cornyn, Marco Rubio, Deb Fischer, Rob
Portman, Roger F. Wicker, Richard Burr, Joni Ernst,
David Vitter, James M. Inhofe, Dean Heller, Pat
Roberts, Lamar Alexander, Ron Johnson, Tom Cotton, Thom
Tillis, Mitch McConnell.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call
be waived.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Under the previous order, all time is yielded back.

Cloture Motion

Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending
cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

Cloture Motion

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 disagree to the House amendment to the Senate amendment,
agree to the request by the House for a conference, and authorize the
Presiding Officer to appoint conferees with respect to H.R. 2577, an
act making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and
Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2016, 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Toomey) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski),
the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), the Senator from Vermont (Mr.
Sanders), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily
absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 93, nays 2, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 92 Leg.]

YEAS--93

Alexander
Ayotte
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Booker
Boozman
Boxer
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Donnelly
Durbin
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Franken
Gardner
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kaine
King
Kirk
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Perdue
Peters
Portman
Reed
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott
Sessions
Shaheen
Shelby
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Udall
Vitter
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden

NAYS--2

Lee
Paul

NOT VOTING--5

Mikulski
Reid
Sanders
Toomey
Warner
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 93, the nays are 2.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question occurs on agreeing to the
compound motion to go to conference.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.

Motion to Instruct

Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I have a motion to instruct conferees at
the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Florida [Mr. Nelson] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate
amendment to the bill H.R. 2577 be instructed to reject
proposals that would rescind existing Ebola emergency
funds provided by the Consolidated and Further Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law 113-235), and
designated by Congress as an emergency requirement
pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget
and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as such funds
support Ebola preparedness and response efforts which are
critical to preventing, detecting, and responding to
potential future Ebola outbreaks, and to insist that the
final conference report include $510,000,000 to reimburse
Ebola accounts, as provided for in the Consolidated and
Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law
113-235) and designated by Congress as an emergency
requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985,
for obligations incurred for Zika virus response, as such
emergency Ebola funds support critical initiatives to
prevent Ebola outbreaks, such as country operations and
public health infrastructure in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and
Guinea, public health research on infection control,
including detection of person to person transmission of
Ebola, and advanced research and development of new Ebola
vaccines and therapeutics.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 4
minutes of debate, equally divided.
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, this is a motion to instruct the conferees
that whatever is decided in the conference to fund the Zika crisis, the
money would not be taken out of the Ebola fund and that the money that
has been borrowed from the Ebola fund would be replenished.
Remember that since the Ebola outbreak was contained 1 year ago,
there have been seven more clusters of outbreaks since that time, and
the CDC still employs 80 employees working on Ebola. With the last
recent Ebola case

[[Page S3634]]

in Guinea, the CDC has had to vaccinate 1,700 people and then go out
and do the infection control over there in West Africa in 50 health
centers and make 20,000 connections to try to ensure that it does not
spread, which of course is the source of how Ebola gets to the United
States.
So this motion is simply to say: Let's not take the Zika crisis funds
out of Ebola and replenish what has already been taken out.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, we did just vote to go to conference. I
would like to see the conference be able to deal with this issue.
In the Ebola funds, there is still $1.2 billion left in the Ebola
funds. There is still $1.2 billion left in the Ebola fund. This is $510
million that was to be used for things like reimbursing hospitals that
would have an influx of Ebola patients in this country, which never
happened, and other issues.
The administration has said they do not need this $510 million for
Ebola. They clearly would like to use it for other purposes, and in
fact have used $510 million for other purposes.
I would urge a ``no'' vote.
Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, do I have any time left?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Twenty-nine seconds.
Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I would say to my friend from Missouri
simply that the administration does not say that they don't need this.
As a matter of fact, in their $1.9 billion request, they have asked for
the replenishment of this, and the statements that I just made were
made by Dr. Frieden and Dr. Fauci as early as this morning.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, do I have any time left?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 1 minute.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, in the $1.9 billion request, they would not
have asked for this money because they were asking for $1.9 billion of
new money, some justified and some not.
I believe we worked hard to get a good start here. This can clearly
be an open item in the conference, but I don't think it should be a
directed item in the conference.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Toomey) would have voted ``nay.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski),
the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), the Senator from Vermont (Mr.
Sanders), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily
absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Daines). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 46, nays 49, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 93 Leg.]

YEAS--46

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

NAYS--49

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

NOT VOTING--5

Mikulski
Reid
Sanders
Toomey
Warner
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes
for the adoption of this motion, the motion is rejected.
The Senator from Alaska.

Motion to Instruct

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I have a motion to instruct conferees at
the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Alaska [Mr. Sullivan] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 2577 be instructed to insist upon the
inclusion of the provisions contained in Senate amendment
4065 (relating to the reconstruction of certain bridges).

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska is recognized.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, this instruction relates to an earlier
amendment I had, No. 4065. It is a simple amendment that would allow
States and communities throughout our Nation to expedite the permitting
process and construction of their bridges that pose safety concerns for
their citizens. This would only apply to bridges that are built in the
same place--they are not expanding bridges--same size, and bridges they
are replacing. It is essentially maintenance on bridges. If State
environmental agencies determine that Federal permitting requirements
should be waived, then they are allowed to do this to expedite the
permitting of the bridge.
Let me explain why this is important. Right now in America, there are
61,000 structurally deficient bridges in need of repair. Yet when we
try to repair these bridges, it takes 5 years to 6 years just to get
the Federal permitting requirements. This amendment--these instructions
would allow this process to move much more quickly. It will be
important for the safety of our citizens, to put Americans back to
work, and to grow our economy. It is a commonsense instruction.
I know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle are focused on
permitting reform. This is something very simple that we can do that
will benefit all of our States and all of our citizens.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I have laryngitis, which is the dream of
my friends on the other side of the aisle, but I want to say that the
Sullivan amendment is dangerous and it is unnecessary. It is the last
thing we should do given the lessons we have learned in Flint, MI,
because what the Sullivan amendment says is that you can be exempted
from nine Federal health and safety laws when you rebuild the bridge.
For example, it would allow the dumping of oil, toxic materials that
could include lead, construction debris, and that all will go in the
water--water we swim in, water we fish in, water we drink. After Flint,
how could we do this?
This is not a problem. If you ask Senator Klobuchar--I just talked to
her--and Senator Franken, they rebuilt their bridge in a year because
there is already expedited language in all of the laws on which we
worked together.
So please reject this. It is dangerous, it is unnecessary, and it
certainly is unrelated to the underlying bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska has 15 seconds.
Mr. SULLIVAN. I yield to my colleague from Maine.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. KING. Mr. President, in 15 seconds I yield to no one here in my
commitment to the environment, but I also have a commitment to common
sense. We are talking about bridges, not expanding--same size, same
dimensions, and same location. If that were it, I would oppose this
amendment; however, this amendment has a safety valve that the
construction, reconstruction, or maintenance of the bridge must pass
muster with the State-level permitting and environmental protection
authority.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. KING. I understand. I think we should support it. Thank you.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, do I have any time remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 55 seconds.
Mrs. BOXER. Wow. In the beginning, God created.
I just want to say to my friend Senator King, just ask the people of
Flint,

[[Page S3635]]

MI, how happy they were that the State took over the health and safety
rules. Their kids are suffering from lead poisoning. Sometimes you are
talking about bridges that are 100 years old. They contain toxic
materials. Again, this is not necessary. We haven't got a problem
because we have taken care of expedited procedures. My arm was twisted
on it in the FAST Act. So let's reject this because we want to protect
the health and safety of the people we represent.
I urge a ``no'' vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
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 Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey) and the Senator from South
Carolina (Mr. Graham).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Toomey) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski),
the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), the Senator from Vermont (Mr.
Sanders), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily
absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 56, nays 38, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 94 Leg.]

YEAS--56

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

NAYS--38

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

NOT VOTING--6

Graham
Mikulski
Reid
Sanders
Toomey
Warner
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes
for the adoption of this motion, the motion is rejected.
The Presiding Officer appointed Ms. Collins, Mr. Kirk, Mr. McConnell,
Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Boozman, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cochran, Mr.
Blunt, Mr. Graham, Mr. Tester, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Reed, Mr. Udall, Mr.
Schatz, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Mikulski, and Mr. Leahy conferees
on the part of the Senate.

____________________