[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 59 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2 
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to the cloture vote.
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Senate will vote on cloture on the 
nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be the Deputy Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency.
  The Deputy Administrator is critical in developing and implementing 
policies that fulfill the EPA's mission of protecting America's water, 
land, air, and communities.
  He is the right person for the job. He has spent 25 years working in 
environmental policy. In that time, he has served as a career employee 
of the EPA; a staff director on the Hill for the committee I now chair, 
the Environment and Public Works Committee; and, most recently, as a 
consultant in the energy policy space.
  Andrew Wheeler is well qualified to fill this critically important 
job. I urge all Senators to support the nomination.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Toomey). The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, they say that a man or woman's word is his 
bond. When the Environment and Public Works Committee voted on the 
nomination of Andrew Wheeler, someone I have known for 25 years or 
more, I was very clear about my desire to help smooth the way to a 
faster floor process. I was very clear that what I needed, and what we 
needed, was an assurance from EPA that it would respect settled law, 
that it would respect EPA actions and court decisions that found that 
global warming pollution from cars and SUVs is a danger to our Nation, 
to our citizens, and to our planet.
  What I asked for was an assurance from Scott Pruitt that he would do 
what the auto industry has asked him to do, which is to negotiate an 
agreement on vehicle standards for the State of California. I worked 
with Bill Wehrum, the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and 
Radiation, for weeks, and we reached an agreement that I was told 
Administrator Pruitt supported until Scott Pruitt reneged on the deal 
and decided he might prefer fighting and litigation to cooperating and 
negotiating.
  Let me be clear, I tried to work with the EPA. I believed that 
perhaps in just this one instance we could find a win-win. There is one 
that is right there to be grasped. But Administrator Pruitt ignored his 
own top air official.
  Let me close, if I can.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. CARPER. Whatever Mr. Wheeler's qualifications, he cannot solve 
this problem alone at EPA, which is that Scott Pruitt has no interest 
in governing, no interest in leaving a lasting and responsible legacy, 
and no interest in working with anyone who doesn't enable him to act on 
his own worst instincts.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. CARPER. I urge a ``no'' vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  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 nomination 
     of Andrew Wheeler, of Virginia, to be Deputy Administrator of 
     the Environmental Protection Agency.
         Mitch McConnell, Jerry Moran, Deb Fischer, John Barrasso, 
           Johnny Isakson, Thom Tillis, Roy Blunt, Mike Rounds, 
           Steve Daines, James M. Inhofe, Shelley Moore Capito, 
           John Cornyn, John Boozman, John Thune, Roger F. Wicker, 
           John Hoeven.

  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 
nomination of Andrew Wheeler, of Virginia, to be Deputy Administrator 
of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 53, nays 45, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 70 Ex.]

                                YEAS--53

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--45

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Reed
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Duckworth
     McCain
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 
45.
  The motion is agreed to.

                          ____________________