[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 87 (Thursday, May 23, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3084-S3085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 91,
H.R. 2157.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 91, H.R. 2157, a bill
making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2019, and for other purposes.
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to proceed be
agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 2157) making supplemental appropriations for
the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other
purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the Shelby-Leahy
substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to; that Senator Shelby or
his designee be recognized to make a motion to waive any budget points
of order; further, that if the motion to waive is agreed to, the bill,
as amended, be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage with no
intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 250) in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of
Amendments.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of the
applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections
of the act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of H.R. 2157,
as amended, and 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs.
Capito), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Kansas
(Mr. Moran), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), 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 West Virginia
(Mrs. Capito) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin)
is necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 84, nays 9, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 128 Leg.]
YEAS--84
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Booker
Boozman
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gardner
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Harris
Hassan
Hawley
Heinrich
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Jones
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Perdue
Peters
Portman
Reed
Roberts
Rosen
Rubio
Sanders
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Shelby
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--9
Barrasso
Blackburn
Braun
Crapo
Lee
McSally
Paul
Risch
Romney
NOT VOTING--7
Alexander
Capito
Durbin
Enzi
Moran
Rounds
Toomey
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 84, the nays are 9.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the title of the bill for
the third time.
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a
third time.
The bill was read the third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the
question is, Shall the bill pass?
Mr. CORNYN. 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 senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs.
Capito), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Kansas
(Mr. Moran), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), 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 West Virginia
(Mrs. Capito) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin)
is necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 8, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 129 Leg.]
YEAS--85
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Booker
Boozman
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gardner
[[Page S3085]]
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Harris
Hassan
Hawley
Heinrich
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Jones
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Perdue
Peters
Portman
Reed
Roberts
Rosen
Rubio
Sanders
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Shelby
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--8
Blackburn
Braun
Crapo
Lee
McSally
Paul
Risch
Romney
NOT VOTING--7
Alexander
Capito
Durbin
Enzi
Moran
Rounds
Toomey
The bill (H.R. 2157), as amended, was passed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle for their votes. Even though the final vote might be 5 months
late, today is a good day for the Congress, for the Senate, for the
American people, and for the Nation.
I have said from the beginning--a position I have taken in all of my
decades in the Senate--that any disaster supplemental that passes this
Chamber cannot pick and choose which American citizens to help in their
time of need. We are all Americans. The American community bands
together to support one another when disaster strikes, regardless of
where we are from, what our politics are, or what our beliefs are. That
is the American way, and it is the role of the Congress to make sure
that it is done.
I am glad to stand on the Senate floor today, and I am glad to be
here with my dear friend, the senior Senator from Alabama and the
chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby, to support
what is a bipartisan, bicameral disaster supplemental appropriations
bill.
Think of what we have done. This bill will provide long overdue aid
to the people of California, Georgia, Florida, Nebraska, Iowa, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii, Texas, Missouri, Alabama, and Puerto
Rico just to name a few. Some of these people--they are all American
citizens--have been trying to put their lives back together for nearly
2 years--since August of 2017.
It provides $19.1 billion to help communities in these States and
Territories to rebuild stronger than they were before. It includes more
than $2.4 billion in community development block grants, more than $1.6
billion for the Federal Highway Administration to rebuild roads and
bridges, and more than $3 billion to support our Nation's farmers who
lost their crops and livestock in the storms. It also provides more
than $3 billion to rebuild our military's storm-damaged infrastructure.
It has been no secret that how to help the American citizens of
Puerto Rico has been at the heart of our dispute on disaster aid, but I
am pleased to report that the bill provides much needed assistance to
these Americans, including $605 million for the Nutrition Assistance
Program, and $304 million in community development block grants to help
the island meet the FEMA match requirements.
One thing that we learned when Tropical Storm Irene struck Vermont is
that you have rebuild better than you were so you are stronger when you
face the next storm. We have included language that requires FEMA to
rebuild the island stronger and better than it was before to help
mitigate the damage of a future storm. We did this in certain areas in
Vermont, and it made all the difference in the world.
This supplemental will unlock billions of dollars that Congress had
previously appropriated for Puerto Rico and other communities across
the country that the Trump administration has held back in the
Treasury.
We reached this agreement because the Republicans and the Democrats
came together across the aisle. It is a strong bipartisan agreement. It
reflects that we are one Nation in times of need and that all Americans
can count on each other. I was happy to see the strong support from the
Senators here, but our work is not yet done.
Now we have to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern
border. We have to help those who are fleeing from violence and
persecution in their own countries. The President has requested $4.5
billion. Some of this money is badly needed. There is no dispute about
that, and I will support the part that is badly needed.
Everyone in this Chamber knows these are difficult issues that are
often made more difficult given the President's rhetoric and extreme
policies. Difficult issues take time. Let's lower the rhetoric, and
let's do as we have done here--work together. We have been working day
and night to strike a compromise on the President's request. We are
close, but we are not there yet. Even as of late, late last night, we
were still working on that. When we return, I hope we can negotiate a
bipartisan agreement to provide additional humanitarian assistance.
To reach this agreement today, many of the Senators--and I mentioned,
of course, Senator Shelby, my friend, as chairman--and I, as vice
chairman, worked together. So did many others, but none of us could do
it without the dedicated staff that was involved. I could go home at 9
o'clock and 10 o'clock at night, but they were still there. I am
talking about both the Democratic staff and the Republican staff. So I
asked my Appropriations chief of staff, Chuck Kieffer, to give me a
list.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
at the end of my remarks the list of names of both the Democratic staff
and the Republican staff who worked so hard on this.
I said on a personal basis earlier that I remember when Tropical
Storm Irene hit Vermont and how totally discouraged I was by the
damage. Yet, within hours, I had texts and emails from Senators in this
body--Republicans and Democrats alike. They said: When we were hit by a
tornado, by flooding, by an earthquake--whatever it might have been--
Vermont stood with us, and we will stand with Vermont.
That is what we are as the United States of America. The Senate did
what it should do today. The Senate acted as the conscience of the
Nation. We stood together to help all Americans.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
List Submitted for the Record by Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman
Leahy of Staff for H.R. 2157, the Supplemental Appropriations Act
Charles E. Kieffer, Chanda Betourney, Jess Berry, Jay
Tilton, Hannah Chauvin, Dianne Nellor, Jean Toal Eisen, Erik
Raven, Doug Clapp, Ellen Murray, Scott Nance, Chip Walgren,
Drenan Dudley, Reeves Hart, Rachael Taylor, Alex Keenan,
Jason McMahon, Tim Rieser, Dabney Hegg, Christina Monroe,
Catie Finley, Shannon Hines, Jonathan Graffeo, David Adkins,
Carlisle Clarke, Hamilton Bloom, Brian Potts, Tyler Owens,
Andrew Newton, Adam Telle, Erny Lesofski, Laura Friedel,
Sarah Boliek, Patrick Magnuson, Paul Grove, Clare Doherty.
Mr. LEAHY. I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Scott of Florida). Without objection, it
is so ordered.
____________________