[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 136 (Thursday, August 16, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5684-S5685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              August Break

  Mr. President, for the Record, I wish to also make a couple of 
comments regarding where we are right now. This is August 16, 2018. 
Normally, this body, by tradition--at least in the last 50 years or 
so--would be back in their State, in a State workweek.
  I wish to give the majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell from 
Kentucky, full credit for deciding to keep us here this week and the 
next couple of weeks in August, which is normally when Senators would 
be back in their States.
  When we brought this up as a suggestion, this was never about staying 
here in August. It was only about two things. It was about trying to 
use every day to get as many nominees confirmed as we could before the 
end of the year.
  Why is that important? Today, because of the obstructionism of the 
minority party, we have over 300 nominees--the last count was 321 
nominees--waiting to be confirmed. By some estimate, this President 
will not be able to form his government for 10 years. The last time I 
checked, even if he gets reelected, he will not be here 10 years.
  I think this is one of the big reasons why we wanted to stay here and 
do all we could to get as many nominees done in this month as we could. 
The second, and equally important, purpose of staying here and using as 
many days as we could was to fund the government by the end of the 
fiscal year--something this body has only done four times in 44 years, 
since the 1974 Budget Act was put into law.
  Let me say that again. Only four times has the Senate and the House 
actually fully funded the Federal Government on time in the last 44 
years. We are supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills to do that. The 
average over those 44 years is only 2\1/2\. This is an unmitigated 
disaster that led directly to this $21 trillion debt crisis we have 
today.
  As a matter of fact, as I stand here today, the way the Senate works, 
we only have 12 working days between now and the end of the fiscal 
year. To the credit of leadership and people on both sides of the 
aisle, in a bipartisan way we have already passed seven appropriation 
bills this year. We are already three times better than the average of 
any other Congress in the last 44 years. Unfortunately, we still have 
five to go, and those five are predominantly most of the money that 
will be spent on the discretionary side, which is only $1.3 trillion of 
the $4.3 trillion the government ultimately will spend. That is a 
conversation for another day, but we only have 12 working days to do 
five bills, which totals almost $1 trillion.
  Getting close is not good enough. In the real world, if you don't get 
the whole job done, you don't get to compete. When you don't compete, 
you don't survive.
  In my view, we have several opportunities. Right now we know we have 
12 working days the way the Senate works, but if we work and vote on 
Mondays and Fridays, we pick up another 15 days. That is 27 days. We 
have a little better fighting chance. My rule is this. We either get 
all of them funded or we fail. That means we have 12 working days, the 
way we normally operate, to fund five more appropriations bills.
  We are called here, primarily, in this body--the first calling--to 
fund the Federal Government. I am absolutely committed to that, and I 
know most people in here are. Right now, we have to be dead serious 
about what the goal is, and the goal is funding the entire government 
of the United States. To do that, we have to pass 5 more bills in the 
next 12 days.
  I am going to end here, but I want to call out one other thing, and 
that is that this is not just this year. I want to thank the 
leadership, both Democratic and Republican, in the House and the 
Senate, for forming the joint select committee that is under way right 
now. I personally have the privilege to be a member of that committee. 
There are 16 members, 8 from the Senate and 8 from the House, 8 
Democrats and 8 Republicans, and 2 cochair people, 1 Democrat and 1 
Republican. Our charge is to come up with a new way, a different way, 
to fund the Federal Government every year. I will tell you that we are 
making progress. This is a tough hill to climb, but we have the right 
people doing it, I believe, and the right leadership. I want to thank 
leadership for allowing us to have that opportunity to make that 
effort.
  By November 30, we are charged to bring back proposals that will 
change the way we fund the Federal Government going forward. That is 
the final comment. This can't be a one-off year where we will actually 
get the majority of these bills done. We have to get them all done by 
September 30. We also have to put in place a way to do this every 
year--like breathing, like everybody else in the real world does.
  It is an honor and a privilege to be in the Senate, but it is an even 
bigger honor when we get our job done.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

[[Page S5685]]

  

  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WICKER. On behalf of the majority, I ask for a rollcall.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, we yield back all time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Richardson 
nomination?
  Mr. WICKER. 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.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. 
Flake), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Utah 
(Mr. Lee), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from 
Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), the Senator 
from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Toomey).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from Florida (Mr. 
Rubio) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) 
and the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 81, nays 8, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 185 Ex.]

                                YEAS--81

     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Manchin
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sasse
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--8

     Blumenthal
     Gillibrand
     Hirono
     Markey
     Merkley
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Warren

                             NOT VOTING--11

     Alexander
     Durbin
     Flake
     Inhofe
     Lee
     McCain
     Moran
     Murray
     Rubio
     Tillis
     Toomey
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that with 
respect to the Quattlebaum and Richardson nominations, the motions to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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