[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1978-S1980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TARGETED REWARDS FOR THE GLOBAL EDUCATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING--
Continued
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate now vote on the motion to invoke
cloture
[[Page S1979]]
on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment
to H.R. 1625; further, that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time
be yielded back and Senator Lee or his designee be recognized to make a
budget point of order; that the majority leader or his designee be
recognized to make a motion to waive; and that following the
disposition of the motion to waive, the Senate vote on the motion to
concur with further amendment with no other intervening action or
debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the House
sent a bill over today a little after 1 o'clock, and it is 11:56 p.m. I
know that every Senator here has the right to object, and I assume some
people have objected to voting.
We are not going to close. I had called down earlier and asked the
Secretary if we are not going to vote by 10 o'clock, if we could just
vote at 8 o'clock in the morning. This is ridiculous. It is juvenile.
This is a juvenile process that we go through every time we do one of
these.
I would respectfully ask our leader, who has been dealing with a lot
today--and I am glad that he has the job he has and I don't, and the
Secretary has the job that she has and I don't--could you explain to us
what has occurred over the last 11 hours that keeps us here voting on a
bill that we all know is going to pass, regardless of how we vote on it
and that has kept us from just going ahead and voting?
Could you explain to the body, just very quickly, what has happened?
And could we in the future possibly try to resolve these things at a
decent hour, or come back the next morning and vote?
Mr. McCONNELL. I would say to my good friend from Tennessee--by the
way, I am very sorry he has decided to leave the Senate, given how much
he has obviously enjoyed it today.
Mr. CORKER. The changes that have occurred at the White House in the
last several hours, and this--it has been an unusual day, I will say.
Mr. McCONNELL. Well, my good friend from Tennessee knows that my
principal responsibility is begging, pleading, and cajoling. I have
been in continuous discussions, shall I say, with several of our
Members who were legitimately unhappy about one aspect or another, and
they spent a lot of time thinking over whether or not they wanted to
expedite the process. I must say, after a long and intense day of such
discussions with several of our Members who have legitimate concerns, I
am relieved, rather than depressed, that we might be able to actually
finish tonight.
Mr. CORKER. Well, if I could, reserving the right to object, I would
like for us to have some degree of discussion about this in the
future--either to finish our business at a normal time or to come back
the next morning. This is a ridiculous process that we go through where
people extort us until we get so tired that we are willing to do
whatever it is they wish for us to do.
I don't know what the issues were today. For instance, I would love
to have a week's debate on an AUMF at some point. Now, I can hold this
vote up on a legitimate issue and say: No, we are not going to vote
until you agree that we are going to have an AUMF debate. I haven't
done that. To my knowledge, I have never in my life held a vote up.
Maybe I did 10 years ago and I can't remember.
But I just think that, again, we ought to have a little more
certainty around here. I appreciate that people have flights in the
morning and that there are some codels going out. So I am not going to
object.
However, I am going to discuss with other Members, whether in the
future, if we cannot finish our business at a reasonable hour, let's
just come back the next morning and start.
With that, I do not object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
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
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
concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R.
1625.
Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Susan M. Collins, Lamar
Alexander, Pat Roberts, Orrin G. Hatch, David Perdue,
Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Shelley
Moore Capito, Richard Burr, Mike Rounds, John Hoeven,
Rob Portman, John Boozman.
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 concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R.
1625, an act to amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of
1956 to include severe forms of trafficking in persons within the
definition of transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards
program of the Department of State, 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 Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Arizona (Mr.
McCain), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 67, nays 30, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 62 Leg.]
YEAS--67
Alexander
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Boozman
Brown
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Donnelly
Duckworth
Ernst
Graham
Hassan
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Jones
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
McConnell
Menendez
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Portman
Reed
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Schatz
Schumer
Scott
Shaheen
Shelby
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Whitehouse
Wyden
Young
NAYS--30
Barrasso
Booker
Cassidy
Corker
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Durbin
Enzi
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Gillibrand
Grassley
Harris
Johnson
Kennedy
Lee
McCaskill
Merkley
Paul
Perdue
Risch
Sanders
Sasse
Sullivan
Warren
Wicker
NOT VOTING--3
Burr
McCain
Toomey
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 67, the nays are
30.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
Cloture having been invoked, the motion to refer falls.
The majority leader.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the
motion to concur with further amendment and the Senate now vote on the
motion to concur.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Vote on Motion to Concur
The question now occurs on agreeing to the motion to concur in the
House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1625.
Mr. ROUNDS. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is 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 form North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator form Arizona (Mr.
McCain), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Toomey) would have voted ``nay''.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to Vote?
The result was announced--yeas 65, nays 32, as follows:
[[Page S1980]]
[Rollcall Vote No. 63 Leg.]
YEAS--65
Alexander
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Boozman
Brown
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Donnelly
Duckworth
Durbin
Graham
Hassan
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Jones
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Manchin
McConnell
Menendez
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Portman
Reed
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Schatz
Schumer
Scott
Shaheen
Shelby
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Thune
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--32
Barrasso
Booker
Cassidy
Corker
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Gillibrand
Grassley
Harris
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Markey
McCaskill
Merkley
Paul
Perdue
Risch
Sanders
Sasse
Sullivan
Tillis
Warren
NOT VOTING--3
Burr
McCain
Toomey
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
____________________