[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 160 (Saturday, September 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4885-S4887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
SECURING GROWTH AND ROBUST LEADERSHIP IN AMERICAN AVIATION ACT--
Continued
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3935, which the clerk will
report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 3935) to amend title 49, United States Code,
to reauthorize and improve the Federal Aviation
Administration and other civil aviation programs, and for
other purposes.
Pending:
Schumer (for Murray) amendment No. 1292, in the nature of a
substitute.
Schumer amendment No. 1293 (to amendment No. 1292), to add
an effective date.
Schumer motion to commit the bill to the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation, with instructions,
Schumer amendment No. 1294, to add an effective date.
Schumer amendment No. 1295 (to (the instructions) amendment
No. 1294), to modify the effective date.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. WELCH. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Remembering Dianne Feinstein
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today in joining a number of my
colleagues to pay tribute to the legacy of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
In the last couple of days since her unfortunate passing, much has
been said about my friend Dianne. She was a trailblazer who helped pave
the way for generations of women seeking public office. As the first
female mayor of San Francisco, she was elected to the Senate in 1992,
the so-called Year of the Woman, and she helped triple the number of
female Senators from two to six. Think about that. That was just in
1992. Although we still have a long way to go as we march toward true
representation in this body, today there are four times that many women
sitting in this Chamber, and, as many of them have already noted from
the floor, it is in part because of the legacy of Dianne Feinstein.
Dianne was propelled into office because she believed in the power of
public service to improve people's lives. It is why, having witnessed
the devastating effect of gun violence firsthand--literally coming up
on the murder of then-Supervisor Harvey Milk--she was such a champion
of gun safety.
Believing that weapons of war had no place on our streets, she
authored and shepherded into law the assault weapons ban. Although I
acknowledge that
[[Page S4886]]
my own record on this issue has been somewhat complicated, I am
convinced that this country would be far better and would be far safer
if that assault weapons ban was restored today.
In this and so many other ways, Senator Feinstein was long ahead of
the curve. She was a lifelong champion of equality, civil rights,
immigrants, and the gay community. She was proud to call herself an
environmentalist long before that term was even used.
Much has been said about her legacy on these issues, but as the
current chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I want to call
particular attention to her leadership on national security.
Let me cite right now that I have been in pretty regular contact with
my dear friend, the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, the former Senator from North Carolina, Richard Burr, who
also wanted, through me, to express his condolences as well.
Among her many firsts, Senator Feinstein was the first woman to chair
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. She served as chairman
from 2009 to 2015 and vice chairman from 2015 to 2017.
During her time as chair of the committee, the Senator led the
drafting and subsequent enactment of six consecutive authorization
bills following a 6-year span where we didn't do the IAA. These bills
are crucial tools to exercise oversight of the U.S. intelligence
community. They authorize funding for intelligence activities and add
or amend legislation affecting the IC.
But perhaps one of her greatest legacies was her unflinching
investigation into the brutal detention and interrogation methods used
by the CIA in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
As part of that report, which, I can tell you as a member of the
committee at that point, without her persistence, her diligence, would
not have gone through, as a part of that effort, the report that came
out of her investigation into CIA methods was a report that--committee
staff examined more than 6.3 million pages of records. They wrote a
6,700-page report, backed up by 38,000 footnotes, and eventually
released a public, 500-page, declassified, executive summary detailing
a host of brutal practices used against detainees, without--and this
was hard for those of us who supported the IC--without yielding
actionable intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks.
In doing so--again, I was a witness to this--Chairman Feinstein went
toe-to-toe with the CIA, went toe-to-toe with Presidents of two
different parties and others who were determined to bury that part of
the CIA's history. She made sure that we had a full reckoning.
I joined the committee in 2011, 2 years into Dianne's tenure as
chair. From her, I learned about both the intel, the necessity that
this committee be independent, that it needs to be bipartisan, and that
our role in oversight was critically important.
In so many ways, I am proud of the fact that under Senator Burr and
now under my tenure as leadership, we call ourselves the Senate
Intelligence Committee--the most bipartisan, fully functioning
committee not only in the Senate but in the whole Congress.
On a personal note, I remember--and I have such greater appreciation
for this now--when I was the new guy on the committee, I sat at the far
end of the dais. My particular interests were in satellites and
overhead. Whenever we had a hearing on the essential role that NGA,
NRO, and other Agencies play, in terms of overseeing the oversight of
our satellite imagery, and the fact that I felt we were sometimes
investing way too much in legacy systems, Dianne would always let me go
the extra minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes in terms of my questioning. That
is a type of courtesy and understanding that I have tried to emulate in
my role as chairman.
Sometimes, at the end of a long hearing, if you are the guy or the
gal at the end of the dais in your chair, you like things to be wrapped
up fairly quickly. She was always courteous. She was always
understanding. She allowed me the lane where I slowly developed some
level of expertise. And I stand here today proud of my work on that
committee.
But I learned so much from her about how to operate--how to operate
with integrity, how to operate in a bipartisan fashion, and with always
the eye on the ball that the work that the men and the women of the
intelligence community does is absolutely critical. But it is also
equally critical for those of us in Congress who are entrusted with the
oversight responsibility of that community that we do our job as well.
Like so many of my colleagues, we have lost a mentor. I lost a
friend, and the Senate has lost a giant.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia.
Continuing Resolution
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, thank you for the courtesy of allowing me
to speak again. I just spoke about Dianne Feinstein.
Later today, the House is potentially acting on legislation. One of
the things Dianne was always clear-eyed about was our national security
threats and the challenges posed by autocratic nation-states like
Russia. I implore my friends in the House--a House that just this week,
by a vote of 330-plus, said they did not want to walk away from
Ukraine, our commitment at this moment, our military support, our
diplomatic support, our State Department support at this critical
junction in this world.
Well, in a crass, crass move, Republican House leadership is not only
trying to remove all assistance for Ukraine but literally trying to
prevent our Defense Department, our State Department, and other
Agencies from transferring already-existing funds to those necessary
areas that are going to be most in jeopardy if we walk away from
Ukraine at this moment in time. I implore those who have said time and
again that we need to stand up for Ukraine not to walk away at this
moment in time.
The truth is, what happens today, as European elections over the next
few weeks with forces that are not in support of democracy's continued
fight against the autocracy that Putin represents, the brutal
dictatorship that Putin represents--they will be watching.
I hope that we stand firm, as so many of us in this body alone, north
of 85 Senators, have come to the floor at one point or another or in
voting have said they want to stand with the people of Ukraine in their
strong fight. We are going to have to address that question later today
as we sort through these final hours before the imminent and totally
avoidable shutdown happens at midnight tonight.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon to
urge my colleagues to keep moving this bipartisan CR forward and remind
them that this isn't the be-all, end-all of legislating this year. I
really appreciate the efforts, including considering a different
message in this bill.
I have a message for everyone who still wants this bill to do a
little bit more. This is not the last bill this Congress is ever going
to pass, but it is how we avoid a devastating shutdown. The issue that
the Senator from Virginia just talked about in terms of making sure we
are strong--not just here at home, but across the globe--I can assure
you, whatever other issue you care about, whether it is childcare or
the border or farmers or schools or air travel or rural healthcare or
veterans, you name it--a government shutdown is not going to make it
better. It will hurt our families. It will hurt our economy, and it
will hurt our national security. And, by the way, it is going to be
more expensive than just keeping things open.
That is why the first order of business for all of us, no matter what
you care about, has to be getting our bipartisan CR passed. Once we
take care of priority No. 1 and keep the lights on, we can and we
obviously will keep talking about how to deal with the pressing
challenges of childcare, the border, natural disasters, and more. And
we can get back to passing our 12 bipartisan appropriations bills to
provide full-year funding.
Let's get this done so we can avoid a complete disaster for families
and get back to making progress on all the other issues we all care
about. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to invoke cloture
on the substitute.
[[Page S4887]]
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Warren). The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, the bill that we will be voting on
shortly reflects intense bipartisan collaboration here in the Senate,
the type of collaboration that we need to see a lot more of in this
institution.
I share a lot of credit--let me put it differently. I thank the
coleads, Senator Murray and Senator Collins, for working so hard to get
all the appropriation bills out of committee and finding a path forward
for us to make sure that, with the CR, we can keep the government open.
It doesn't have things in it that I would like--a lot more disaster
aid for folks around the country, a lot more support for Ukraine. But I
think it represents exactly the type of modest package that is
appropriate at this moment, while, as the chair of Appropriations
pointed out, we will continue to work together in the month to come to
pass the actual appropriation bills.
The issue that I am very concerned about on the House side right now
is that they are taking and putting together a package that has no
support for Ukraine and that bans the administration from moving funds
throughout the Defense Department and the State Department to be able
to support Ukraine.
If you want China and Russia being No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, then
that would be the path to go. If you want to have dictatorships,
authoritarian governments crush democracy, then that would be the way
to go.
But I want our vision of a republic, our vision of a democracy, our
vision of a state that has freedom of speech and freedom of assembly to
be able to be the model that expands freedom in this world.
Let's support this package before us, and let's support a package
that has both disaster aid and aid for Ukraine.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
Quorum Call
Mr. BRAUN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. BRAUN. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The clerk will continue to call the roll.
The legislative clerk continued to call the roll, and the following
Senators entered the Chamber and answered to their names:
[Quorum No. 2]
Braun
Brown
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Hyde-Smith
Kelly
King
Markey
Merkley
Murray
Padilla
Reed
Schatz
Schumer
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is not present.
The majority leader.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I move to instruct the Sergeant At Arms
to request the presence of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and
nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow)
is necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 49, nays 48, as follows:
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On page S4887, September 30, 2023, second column, the following
appears: The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 48, as follows:
The online Record has been corrected to read: The yeas and nays
resulted--yeas 49, nays 48, as follows:
========================= END NOTE =========================
[Rollcall Vote No. 246 Leg.]
YEAS--49
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Fetterman
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--48
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Britt
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Mullin
Murkowski
Paul
Ricketts
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Vance
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING--2
Scott (SC)
Stabenow
(Mr. OSSOFF assumed the Chair.)
(Mr. HICKENLOOPER assumed the Chair.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). A quorum is present.
The majority leader.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On page S4887, September 30, 2023, second column, the following
appears: The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). The majority leader.
The online Record has been corrected to read: The PRESIDING
OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). A quorum is present. The majority leader.
========================= END NOTE =========================
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I lay
it on the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________