[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2240-S2241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is now 5 minutes equally divided before 
the next vote.
  The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Thank you, Madam President and colleagues.
  The next vote will be on cloture on a motion to concur with an 
amendment that is the Coast Guard reauthorization, but with a special 
provision that I want to draw all my colleagues' attention to, dealing 
with incidental discharges from vessels.
  I am strongly supportive of the Coast Guard reauthorization, but this 
VIDA provision, as it is known, is extremely troublesome. It impacts 
both freshwater coasts of the Great Lakes as well as our other coastal 
regions, and it strips the Environmental Protection Agency of its 
scientific role in setting standards for discharges and puts the Coast 
Guard entirely in charge of these decisions and enforcement.
  In addition, it strips all of our coastal States of the authority to 
pass laws concerning the waters off their coasts. Wisconsin is a State 
that has passed its own water discharge rules. It has done so because 
we need to protect the greatest fresh drinking water source in the 
world and in our Nation.
  We also have had threats of invasive species that would decimate our 
Great Lakes. Ballast water and incidental discharges can often be the 
cause of those invasive species. In addition, there are chemicals that 
can enter the water if this is not regulated. This is not the time for 
a one-size-fits-all approach.
  We should remove the VIDA provision from the Coast Guard 
reauthorization, pass the Coast Guard reauthorization on a voice vote 
because it is absolutely not controversial, and then get to the hard 
work of doing VIDA the right way.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, the title that our colleagues are 
complaining about in this bill--the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, or 
VIDA--has been introduced in the last five Congresses since 2008, 
several times being led by Democrats.
  There have been numerous hearings, meetings, and protracted 
negotiations regarding VIDA, spanning days, weeks, months, and years. 
The bill has been passed out of the Commerce Committee two times this 
year and multiple times in the past always by voice vote.
  There are 23 cosponsors, including many from the other side of the 
aisle--Senators Casey, Nelson, Schatz, McCaskill, Coons, and Shaheen 
this year. Other cosponsors of similar past VIDA bills include Senators 
Hirono, Markey, Pryor, Warren, Coons, Manchin, and Hagan. There have 
been negotiations with committee members and people off the committee. 
We have accommodated and accommodated and accommodated so much--I have 
bent over backward so many times that I can't hardly stand up 
straight--trying to accommodate concerns that people have on this.
  Many of the folks speaking against VIDA have been in those 
negotiations, very honestly. Some of the friends across the aisle have 
extracted concession after concession, only to move the goalpost 
whenever we get close.
  Here is a list of some of the changes we have agreed to: State 
incidental discharge standards remain in place until promulgation of a 
final Coast Guard rule, allowing at least 2 years during which all the 
current standards remain in place. Both ballast water and incidental 
discharge rules will be developed by the Coast Guard in concurrence 
with the EPA. We respect the EPA's good work in this area and fully 
anticipate that the Agency will be closely involved every step of the 
way. States will have the authority to enforce the Federal regulations 
regarding ballast water and incidental discharges. States will have the 
authority to require that vessel operators provide ballast water 
compliance information prior to arrival at a port. States will have the 
ability to charge existing and new fees for ballast water and 
incidental discharge inspections.
  Madam President, this was a bipartisan bill when it was introduced, 
and since, we have made numerous changes to accommodate concerns. VIDA 
preserves environmental protections and allows commerce to move. It has 
gone through extraordinary debate, process, and input from both sides 
of the aisle. It is time to pass this bill now.
  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 senior assistant 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 accompany S. 140, an act to 
     amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights 
     Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify use of amounts in the 
     WMAT Settlement Fund, with a further amendment.
         Mitch McConnell, John Barrasso, Roy Blunt, Johnny 
           Isakson, Todd Young, Tom Cotton, Tim Scott, Roger F. 
           Wicker, Cory Gardner, John Thune, Jerry Moran, John 
           Hoeven, Lamar Alexander, Pat Roberts, Mike Crapo, Jeff 
           Flake, 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 S. 140, with amendment No. 
2232, offered by the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. McConnell, shall be 
brought to a close?
  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 Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 56, nays 42, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 77 Leg.]

                                YEAS--56

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Casey
     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
     Jones
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCaskill
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--42

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen

[[Page S2241]]


     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Duckworth
     McCain
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 56, the nays 42.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted 
in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the 
vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered.

                          ____________________