[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 38 (Monday, March 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1616-S1617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Tornadoes in Alabama and Georgia

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I am from Georgia. Last night in Georgia, 
Alabama, and throughout the Southeast, one of the worst tornadoes went 
through that has ever gone through in history.
  Twenty-three Alabamians were killed last night; a number of homes in 
Georgia were wiped out and ruined. I don't think we had a death, but 
they had 23 in Alabama. The tragedies we are having in the Southeast 
continue to rise.
  In a few weeks, we are going to ask the Senate to pass a disaster 
bill to reinstate some of the agricultural money for the last 2 years 
for our pecan crop, our blueberry crop, and others.
  On behalf of the people of Georgia, I just want to say that we are 
having a tough time. Our agricultural community is in the most 
difficult time it could possibly be. We are going to ask the Senate to 
work with us to find appropriations that would make sense to bring back 
those pecan and blueberry farmers in Georgia, Alabama, and

[[Page S1617]]

South Carolina and to deal with the agricultural emergency we have had.
  We also say a prayer of thanksgiving for the great opportunity we 
have to live in the Southeast but also recognize that we are now ground 
zero for tornadoes and those types of death-defying acts that are 
taking place. We want all of the people in Georgia and Alabama to know 
that our prayers go out to them. We will do everything we can to make 
them right.
  Thank you.
  I yield back my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. 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for the quorum call be rescinded.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. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time 
and call the previous question.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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 Allison Jones Rushing, of North Carolina, to be United 
     States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit.
         Mitch McConnell, David Perdue, Mike Crapo, Johnny 
           Isakson, John Cornyn, Pat Roberts, James M. Inhofe, 
           Thom Tillis, Roger F. Wicker, Lindsey Graham, Roy 
           Blunt, John Thune, John Boozman, John Barrasso, James 
           E. Risch, Richard Burr, 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 the debate on the 
nomination of Allison Jones Rushing, of North Carolina, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit, 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. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Brown), the 
Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. 
Sanders), and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 52, nays 43, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 34 Ex.]

                                YEAS--52

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--43

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

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Brown
     Heinrich
     Murkowski
     Sanders
     Sinema
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 
43.
  The motion is agreed to.