[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.
____________________