[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 198 (Wednesday, December 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLOTURE MOTION
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. 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 nomination
of John Joseph Sullivan, of Maryland, to be Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of
America to the Russian Federation.
Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, Richard Burr, Pat Roberts,
John Cornyn, John Hoeven, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger F.
Wicker, Marco Rubio, John Boozman, James E. Risch, John
Barrasso, John Thune, Roy Blunt, Lamar Alexander, Mike
Braun, Shelley Moore Capito.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. By unanimous consent, the mandatory
quorum call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
nomination of John Joseph Sullivan, of Maryland, to be Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to
the Russian Federation, 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. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from North Carolina (Mr. Burr) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
Paul).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet),
the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Vermont (Mr.
Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cramer). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted -- yeas 69, nays 25, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 392 Ex.]
YEAS--69
Alexander
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hassan
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Jones
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Manchin
McConnell
McSally
Merkley
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Shelby
Sinema
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Van Hollen
Wicker
Young
NAYS--25
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Brown
Cantwell
Casey
Duckworth
Durbin
Gillibrand
Harris
Heinrich
Hirono
Klobuchar
Markey
Menendez
Murray
Peters
Reed
Schatz
Schumer
Smith
Stabenow
Udall
Warner
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--6
Bennet
Booker
Burr
Paul
Sanders
Warren
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 69, the nays are
25.
The motion is agreed to.
The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 2
minutes of debate equally divided between the Senator from Washington
and myself and that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided
between the two leaders prior to the following vote. I further ask that
the remaining votes in this series be 10 minutes each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Washington.
Nomination of Stephen Hahn
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Food and Drug Administration plays an
important part in our families' everyday lives. When people across the
country do anything from using a medical device, to getting a
prescription filled, to sitting down together to eat, they rely on the
FDA to keep them safe and healthy.
There is a lot at stake for our families, and it is critical that we
know the FDA's leadership will uphold its gold standard of safety and
effectiveness and put people's health and well-being first. I am not
convinced that is the case under Hahn's leadership.
I have reviewed his records and carefully considered his answers on
key issues. I want the Senate to know I was particularly concerned by
his evasive response when it came to how to address skyrocketing youth
e-cigarette use. Just a few months ago, the Trump administration
promised it would take action and pull non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarette
products from the market until after the FDA had reviewed them, only to
reverse its course.
We need a leader at the FDA who will fight for our families and stand
up to this administration on this important policy. When Members from
both sides of the aisle asked him about this, he refused to commit to
follow through on the promising step President Trump decided to
abandon. So given his answers--or lack thereof, really--on this
concerning issue, I am voting no on this confirmation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. ALEXANDER. We have a vacancy at the Food and Drug Administration.
So what if someone said: Wouldn't it be a good idea to go see if we can
recruit the chief medical officer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston, one of the most distinguished institutions in the world, an
organization that is even larger than the FDA? Wouldn't it be a good
idea to go get a practicing oncologist? Wouldn't it be a good idea to
get somebody who has worked at the National Institutes of Health and
who has letters of recommendation from more than 80 organizations?
Wouldn't it be a good idea to get someone who has been recommended and
endorsed by the last five FDA Commissioners, under Presidents Trump,
Obama, and Bush?
Well, we have such a person. That person came out of our committee 18
to 5--Dr. Stephen Hahn, the Chief Medical Officer of the MD Anderson
Cancer Center. We should be grateful he is willing to take this job at
this period of time.
I urge a ``yes'' vote, Mr. President.
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