[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 114 (Thursday, July 14, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S5114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to the motion to 
reconsider the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to 
proceed to H.R. 5293.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The motion was agreed to.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote on the 
motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5293.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The motion was agreed to.


                           Order of Business

  Mr. McCONNELL. For the information of all Senators, the next and 
final vote will be cloture on the MILCON-VA-Zika proposal at 2 o'clock. 
That will be it for the week.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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

       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. 524, H.R. 5293, an act making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes.
         Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, Shelley Moore Capito, Mike 
           Crapo, Thad Cochran, Jerry Moran, Richard C. Shelby, 
           John Hoeven, Lamar Alexander, Orrin G. Hatch, Daniel 
           Coats, Pat Roberts, John Barrasso, Bill Cassidy, John 
           Thune, John Boozman, John Cornyn.

  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 H.R. 5293, an act making appropriations for the 
Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, 
and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close, upon 
consideration?
  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 Utah (Mr. Lee).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Franken) 
and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Ernst). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 55, nays 42, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 133 Leg.]

                                YEAS--55

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

                                NAYS--42

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

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Franken
     Klobuchar
     Lee
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 55, the nays are 
42.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted 
in the affirmative, upon reconsideration, the motion is rejected.
  The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I was about to leave the Chamber, but in 
light of the results of the last vote, I am compelled--I am compelled 
to speak out more in disappointment than in rage. Although I think a 
lot of men and women who are serving in the military who are dependent 
on what we do for their safety and their livelihood, for pure--pure--
partisan and political reasons, we will not be moving forward to 
consider a bill to train and equip the men and women who are in the 
military, to give them their pay and benefits and defend this Nation.
  How? How do you do that in good conscience? I understand we are in an 
election year. I understand all that, but how in the world do you 
refuse to take up legislation that its only purpose is to defend this 
Nation, which is under assault?
  I just came back from spending the Fourth of July with the troops in 
Afghanistan. They depend on us. They depend on us. We are their elected 
representatives, and what have we done now? We refuse to move forward 
with legislation that allows them to defend themselves, and they are in 
harm's way.
  All I can say is that when we see polling data that shows the 
American people have a very low opinion of us--I see numbers, 13, 14 
percent of the American people approve of Congress--this is validation. 
This is validation of their absolute disgust with our failure to do the 
work to protect the Nation. Isn't that our first priority? That has 
always been mine, to secure the Nation, to make sure we protect 
ourselves as much as possible. We rely on these young men and women. We 
rely on them to defend the Nation, and now we will not even act to 
train, arm, equip, pay, and care for them. That is disgraceful. That is 
disgraceful.
  Yes, this side of the aisle has been guilty of partisan behavior, and 
I will plead guilty to all that. But how in the world--how in the world 
do you go back to your home State, as we will tonight and tomorrow, and 
meet these young men and women who are serving, as is one of the great 
privileges we have, and look them in the eye--look them in the eye and 
tell them I voted against legislation which was to arm and train and 
equip you and protect this Nation. I voted against it because the 
Democratic leader said, well, he didn't want an amendment that would 
increase spending on defense--on defense.
  Without getting too redundant, I hope maybe we might take the next 
couple of months before we come back and examine what we are doing and 
why we can't agree at least on debating and amending and making 
better--which we can do because that is what the Senate is all about. 
Can't we do that for them? Do we have to be so divided that we will not 
even move forward with perhaps one of the most important pieces of 
legislation this body and this Nation is responsible for?
  I hope my friends on the other side of the aisle will examine their 
conscience.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  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. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________