[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5793-S5794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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 motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 30, H.R. 815, a bill to amend title 
     38, United States Code, to make certain improvements relating 
     to the eligibility of veterans to receive reimbursement for 
     emergency treatment furnished through the Veterans Community 
     Care program, and for other purposes.
         Charles E. Schumer, Patty Murray, Jeanne Shaheen, Debbie 
           Stabenow, Tim Kaine, Benjamin L. Cardin, Sheldon 
           Whitehouse, Brian Schatz, Christopher Murphy, Mark R. 
           Warner, Richard J. Durbin, Martin Heinrich, Christopher 
           A. Coons, Jack Reed, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Baldwin, 
           Margaret Wood Hassan.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
motion to proceed to H.R. 815, a bill to amend title 38, United States 
Code, to make certain improvements relating to the eligibility of 
veterans to receive reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished 
through the Veterans Community Care program, and for other purposes, 
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.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 49, nays 51, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 332 Ex.]

                                YEAS--49

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Butler
     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

[[Page S5794]]


     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Schatz
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--51

     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
     Sanders
     Schmitt
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Vance
     Wicker
     Young
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). On this vote, the yeas are 
49, the nays are 51.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted 
in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to.
  The motion was rejected.


                          Motion to Reconsider

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, tonight is a sad night in the history 
of the Senate and in our country. Republicans just blocked a very much 
needed proposal to send funding for Ukraine, funding for Israel, 
humanitarian aid for innocent civilians in Gaza, and funding for the 
Indo-Pacific.
  If there is a word for what we most need now, it is to be 
``serious.'' If Republicans in the Senate do not get serious very soon 
about a national security package, Vladimir Putin is going to walk 
right through Ukraine and right through Europe.
  This is a historic moment for the Senate. Are we going to do 
something about the threats to democracy happening around the world? 
Are we going to hold the line against autocrats and dictators and the 
enemies of our way of life?
  We had before the Senate a proposal not only for national security 
but one that included significant funding for border security that 
President Biden requested.
  We also made our Republican colleagues an offer to get something done 
on border by allowing them to vote on an amendment on any border 
package they wanted--any one they wanted, and all they would need is 11 
Democratic votes.
  Unfortunately, Republicans refused to move forward, even with the 
offer to vote on a border amendment that would have required only 11 
Democratic votes. They couldn't come up with a solution.
  Nevertheless, Democrats remain committed to working very hard to find 
a solution to this impasse. I understand that Republican negotiators 
are preparing another package of border policies very soon, and I hope 
they come up with something serious instead of the extreme policies 
they presented thus far.
  Democrats have always supported commonsense, realistic solutions to 
the border. We wished Republicans would have taken us up on our offer 
to have a debate on the floor. Our offer to the Republicans of an 
amendment still stands, and we hope we can break this impasse soon.
  This is a serious moment that will have lasting consequences for the 
21st century. If Ukraine falls, Putin will not stop there. He will be 
emboldened. President Xi will be emboldened. Our adversaries will keep 
undermining us at every turn. Western democracy will begin to enter an 
age of decline if we aren't willing to defend it.
  This Senate, this Republican Party, must get serious.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, the clock is ticking. Aid for our 
allies in Ukraine has run dry, and the whole world is now watching to 
see if the United States is still capable of standing by all of its 
allies in times of need.
  There is a lot at stake here. Now is the time for choosing whether 
the United States will continue being a leader in the world and a 
champion for democracy. So I hope Senate Republicans think carefully 
about whether they truly want to abandon our allies in Ukraine over 
draconian, far-right immigration policies that will never become law or 
if they will work with us to stop conditioning this aid on partisan 
nonstarters and get this vital funding over the line.
  If they can put forward a commonsense bipartisan proposal regarding 
the border, we will consider that. They had a real opportunity today to 
do just that and debate those policies here on the Senate floor.
  But let's be clear: We do not have time to give up and call it a day. 
We have too much at stake to settle for half steps that tell the world 
the United States no longer knows how to stand with its allies or stand 
up to dictators.
  Votes matter. Blocking consideration of today's supplemental sends a 
real and dangerous signal to the entire world--to our allies and our 
adversaries alike. But it is not too late for us to come together and 
send a different message, a message that says ``America is united'' 
when it comes to leading on the world stage and keeping our country and 
our friends safe.
  Let's talk to one another. Let's understand that compromise has to 
happen. And let's act quickly and completely to deliver the national 
security resources that are so badly needed. I am ready to get to work 
with my colleagues and do just that.

                          ____________________