[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 109 (Monday, June 26, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S3750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  Mr. President, I want to suggest, as we approach our business later 
this week with respect to healthcare legislation, that maybe the way we 
have handled this nomination might be a little bit of a model for the 
way we can actually work together.
  We need to. People in this country say to me all the time and people 
in my State say to me all the time: Just work together. Get something 
done.
  I know the Presiding Officer and the Senator from West Virginia, who 
has just entered the Chamber, want to work that way, too, and so do I. 
What I think we ought to be doing on healthcare in this body is to look 
at the ACA and study it up and down. God knows we had enough hearings, 
roundtables, opportunities to debate it, vote for it, and amend it--
over 80, I think, or maybe over 400 amendments, all told, and 80-some 
days of working on it in 2009.
  Rather than have legislation that just Democrats or just Republicans 
vote to put on the table and to try to push through here on Thursday, 
my hope is that we will hit the pause button. My hope is that we will 
hit the pause button, and we will focus--Democrats and Republicans--on 
trying to figure out what in the Affordable Care Act needs to be fixed 
and fix it, and figure out what needs to be maintained and preserved 
and preserve it. That is what I think we should do.
  Lo and behold, if we were to do those things, I think we would end up 
with a better healthcare system with better healthcare coverage and 
maybe actually make true of the word of the Presidential nominee, 
Donald Trump, who said he favored healthcare legislation that would 
actually cover everybody and get better results for less money. That is 
not a bad goal for us to shoot for. What I have laid out here just very 
briefly is this: Figure out what needs to be fixed in the Affordable 
Care Act and fix it, figure out what needs to be preserved and preserve 
it, and do it not just as Democrats or Republicans, but do it together. 
I think if we would do that, in the words of Mark Twain, we would 
confound our enemies and amaze our friends.
  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. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  All time has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Svinicki 
nomination?
  Mr. MANCHIN. 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.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Arizona (Mr. Flake), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. 
Isakson), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Strange).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 88, nays 9, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 154 Ex.]

                                YEAS--88

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Franken
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--9

     Booker
     Cortez Masto
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Heller
     Markey
     Merkley
     Sanders
     Warren

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Flake
     Isakson
     Strange
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion 
to reconsider with respect to the Svinicki nomination be considered 
made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified 
of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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