[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5912-S5915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024--CONFERENCE 
                            REPORT--Resumed

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I call for the regular order with respect to 
the conference report to accompany H.R. 2670.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee on conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     2670) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for 
     military activities of the Department of Defense and for 
     military construction, and for defense activities of the 
     Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
     strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, 
     having met, have agreed that the House recede from its 
     disagreement to the amendment of the Senate and agree to the 
     same with an amendment and the Senate agree to the same, 
     signed by a majority of the conferees on the part of both 
     Houses.

  Pending:

       Schumer motion to recommit the conference report to 
     accompany the bill to the Committee on Conference, with 
     instructions.
       Schumer amendment No. 1373 (to the instructions of the 
     motion to recommit the conference report to accompany the 
     bill to the Committee on Conference), to modify the effective 
     date.
       Schumer amendment No. 1374 (to Amendment No. 1373), to 
     modify the effective date.

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask that Senator Ernst be permitted to 
speak for up to 5 minutes, and that, following the vote on the Ernst 
motion to table, Senators Hawley and Lujan be permitted to speak for up 
to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, Leader Schumer is blocking us from having 
an important and timely debate on Biden's unlawful, immoral policy to 
use tax dollars intended for our national defense to pay for abortions.
  The world is imploding because of Biden's failed leadership and 
weakness, and our country is under greater threat than it has been in 
years. Meanwhile, the Biden Department of Defense is waging a war on 
the unborn.
  I never back down from a fight, and Democrats' tactics will not deter 
my work to stop Biden from forcing the Pentagon to provide 
transportation tourism for abortion with taxpayers' hard-earned money.
  As a mom, soon-to-be grandma, and 23-year combat veteran and retired 
lieutenant colonel of our great U.S. Army, I firmly believe the 
Pentagon should be focusing on protecting innocent life, not destroying 
it. That is why I have led the legislation to overturn this abhorrent 
policy and why I am here today to continue my fight for life.
  Congress has been clear for nearly half a century: The Hyde amendment 
protects taxpayers from being forced to fund abortions, and that 
includes the Department of Defense.
  Senator Schumer should stop obstructing the world's greatest 
deliberative body from debating this important, longstanding issue.
  A ``yes'' vote on this motion would allow me to offer the House-
passed, pro-life provisions similar to my own bill. Including these 
protections in the Defense bill would restore the DoD's mission 
integrity by preventing any taxpayer funding for Biden's radical 
abortion tourism, including travel costs.
  America is being threatened by adversaries at home and abroad. Why 
are President Biden and Leader Schumer dividing us with their radical 
abortion agenda?
  This is a moment where we should all stand united in the defense of 
our Nation. Let's do so today.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote yes to defeat 
Schumer's gross attempt to silence our voices and those of the unborn.


                   Motion to Table Amendment No. 1373

  Mr. President, I move to table the Schumer amendment No. 1373 for the 
purposes of offering my amendment numbered 1376, 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.
  The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 53, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 339 Leg.]

                                YEAS--47

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Braun
     Britt
     Budd
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Moran
     Mullin
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Vance
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--53

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fetterman
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden
  The motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. LUJAN. Mr. President, I rise in support of Senator Hawley's 
motion to table.
  And I speak today on behalf of: Annie, Henry, Cipriano, Rosemary, 
Tina, Louisa, Francisco, Laura, Wilbert, Charles, and the thousands 
upon thousands of people who have endured the agony and suffering 
brought on by our nuclear weapons testing in New Mexico and across the 
country.
  In July of 1945, Annie was in her kitchen with her family when, all 
of a sudden, they heard a boom. The next second, they were on the floor 
holding onto one another, trying to comfort each other, because around 
them windows were shattering and walls were crumbling.

[[Page S5913]]

  When they went outside, they thought that it started to snow, but it 
was ash falling from the sky. Some families, who were away from the 
community, later that night returned, only to find clothing that they 
were hanging on a drying line full of this ash that they didn't know 
where it was coming from.
  Both Annie and her youngest sister Marcie were the only two children 
living in their little home--their casita--in Capitan, NM. Both have 
died from cancer.
  Henry was just 11 years old when the bomb went off. He recalls 
thinking the world was ending. Henry watched as his brother, his 
nephew, and niece all died of cancer. He was diagnosed with cancer at 
the age of 63. I am sorry to say that we lost him in 2022.
  And it is not just the downwinders who were impacted. Cipriano worked 
in the uranium mines for 8 years. Now, the personal protective 
equipment he was given: a single paper mask, one per shift. That mask 
was useless after into the first hour because it would get covered with 
something that we have known to be called yellowcake, the particulate 
from the uranium mine ore that would cover everything, including places 
where some of these uranium mineworkers would go to have their lunch. 
And they would try to clean the dust off, but they could never keep up 
with it because it just kept accumulating.
  Some folks were told: Just wait until you get home to shake the 
yellowcake--the dust--off your clothing, because in those mines, 
sometimes they would spread water to keep the particulate down. Well, 
they got the miners' clothing wet. So the yellowcake would stick to it. 
It was hard to peel off. So wait until you get home and it dries to 
shake it off.
  Many of these families--namely the Navajo uranium mineworkers--lived 
in a one-home generational house. So if you go home and start shaking 
your clothing filled with a yellowcake that then dries off, what are 
you doing to grandma and grandpa, to your siblings, to your kids, and 
maybe your grandkids when that particulate is now all around you?
  Cipriano lived with shortness of breath since he was in his twenties. 
Later, he developed pulmonary fibrosis, kidney failure, and he 
eventually needed a kidney transplant. He, too, sadly, passed away.
  All of these stories, medical traumas, and generational pain are 
happening on our watch. And while millions of people flocked to the 
theaters this summer to see a big blockbuster that told the story about 
this Trinity test that took place--some of us know what that is--in the 
Tularosa Basin, the first place that a nuclear bomb was set off on 
American soil to test it. But not much was mentioned about these 
families who are dying of cancer today.
  You know, some Navajo elders, some women, some grandmas--as we call 
them--came to Congress when I was a Member of the House to testify. And 
during one of those conversations, one of those elders asked a question 
back to those of us who were on the dais. And she said: Are you waiting 
for all of us to die so that the problem goes away?
  I don't know what to say to her when I go home--and I will see her 
right now--because this legislation, which we all fought for--and I 
want to thank Senator Hawley for finding a way for us to work together 
to fight for the families in and around Missouri, working with Senator 
Crapo, and every one of you for making this happen. And we passed this 
with a bipartisan strong vote out of the Senate. It has now been taken 
out of the NDAA in this conference. What do I tell these families?

  There is a lot that I have learned in this body: the challenges and 
frustrations that exist for our constituents, for each and every one of 
us on occasion. But I have also learned--especially here in the 
Senate--that the fight is never over; that there is always something 
that can be done. When I listen to the brilliant parliamentarian team, 
they teach me on how I can do my job better for the people that I 
represent. I know that a ``yes'' vote on this might be challenging; but 
for the families in States all across America, what can we do to help 
them?
  In the same way that this body came together to pass incredible 
pieces of policy to help victims due to exposure--I will point most 
recently to an act this Congress took after 9/11 when we got together 
in a bipartisan way and we said we are going to pass the Zadroga Act--
and that act was not only passed once, but then it was extended for, 
like, 90 years because it was the right thing to do. And it costs some 
money. But it was the right thing to do.
  There is a liability from the United States of America to these 
families. I believe that the CBO should actually be using this as a 
pay-for, because when there is a liability from the United States of 
America and you fix it, it actually creates credit, a path forward to 
pay for everything else. But for some reason, the CBO does not release 
this aggregated data to help us better understand what is happening 
here.
  So I plead and I urge with my colleagues that we find a way to do the 
right thing here; that going forward, we find a path to get this done.
  And I want to say thank you to all the staff and the Members who know 
about these families now. You have taken time to understand them. And 
many of you have given me advice on how we can do things better. And I 
thank you for that. The families thank you for that. So I hope that 
this fight will not be forgotten.
  I urge my Republican and Democratic leadership to work with us to 
help pass the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act amendments.
  I thank Senator Hawley.
  And I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, I want to add a few words to my friend 
Senator Lujan's eloquent statement of the need to do justice to these 
good Americans who have--let's just tell it like it is--been poisoned 
by their own government, who have been exposed to nuclear waste, 
nuclear radiation by the U.S. Government, by the U.S. Defense 
Department.
  These Americans are happy to do their part for national security. 
They are proud of what they have done for their country. But they 
deserve to be recognized, and they deserve to be compensated.
  And so I want to add again my voice in support of justice for these 
Americans. And I want to say again to this body that it is wrong--it is 
wrong--to turn our backs on these tens of thousands of Americans who 
have given their health and, in many cases, their lives for their 
country and not been recognized for it; in many cases not been 
compensated for it. And now they are told that because of the actions 
of this body, because of the conference report, because of a backroom 
deal struck in conference, this program that compensates victims of 
nuclear radiation will soon expire. And tens of thousands of Americans 
who have relied on this program for 30-plus years for lifesaving health 
and treatment will get nothing. The lights will go dark, and these 
Americans will be turned out into the cold. And thousands more--like 
the residents of my State and New Mexico and other States around this 
country who deserve compensation--will get nothing.
  That is not acceptable to me. It is not right. And I want to take a 
moment now to tell a story or two from the victims who are affected, 
just to help everybody understand what is at stake here because I know 
this is the national defense bill, and if I have learned one thing 
about this bill, it is, the suits always get paid. The corporations, 
they always get paid. The defense contractors, they always get paid. 
They come out great in the end. It is amazing. It is a law in 
Washington, ironclad. If you are a big corporation, you do defense 
work, you are going to be fine. This body will take care of you.
  But will we take care of the men and women who don't otherwise have a 
voice in this body? Will we take care of the men and women who don't 
pay DC lobbyists, who don't work for the Raytheon Corporation? Will 
they be taken care of? That is the question. Let's meet a few of them. 
Let me introduce you to Claire.
  Claire's parents grew up near Weldon Spring in my State, in Missouri. 
Weldon Spring is the site of a Manhattan Project uranium refining site. 
That site sat untouched from the Manhattan Project era until 2001, more 
than 50 years after it was contaminated.

[[Page S5914]]

  In 2020, Claire was diagnosed with lymphoma. She was 2 years old. Let 
me introduce you to Veda, Claire's cousin. Veda, her mom and dad, they 
all lived together right near that same site where nuclear waste has 
been dumped, not adequately cleaned up or dealt with. She grew up 
there, and, wouldn't you know it, just 6 weeks after her cousin Claire 
was diagnosed with lymphoma, Veda was diagnosed with leukemia. She was 
4 years old when she was diagnosed.
  Why is this happening in St. Louis? I will tell you why. St. Louis 
was a uranium processing site, like many other cities around the 
country, and St. Louis was proud to do its part in the Manhattan 
Project. You won't get any argument from me about that. You certainly 
won't get any argument from Missourians. But here is what is not 
acceptable. After the Manhattan Project was concluded, the Federal 
Government didn't clean up the waste. No, the Federal Government 
allowed nuclear waste to sit out in barrels right near a stream that 
runs along schools, that runs alongside suburbs, that cuts right 
through the heart of the city.
  The Federal Government dumped nuclear waste into a public landfill. 
Then it dumped the nuclear waste into a second landfill. Then it dumped 
it into an area in the downtown part of the city. And here we are, all 
these decades later, how much of it has been cleaned up? None of it. 
None of it. That is why these children are sick.
  Let me introduce you to Howard Billiman because it is not just in 
Missouri, but it is all over the country. This is Howard Billiman. 
Howard was a Navajo code talker in World War II, absolutely 
instrumental to the U.S. war effort. He died of stomach cancer after 
living downwind from the nuclear tests that Senator Lujan was talking 
about just a moment ago. And now his children who also grew up downwind 
have developed cancer themselves. So it is not just one generation. It 
is generation upon generation because the U.S. Government has not done 
what is right. They haven't cleaned up the contamination. They haven't 
made whole the families they injured.
  In fact, as this body recognized in 1990, when it first passed the 
radiation statute, the government owes these folks an apology; it owes 
them a cleanup; and it owes them recognition and compensation.
  That is true also of Bernice Gutierrez. Here is Bernice. She was 8 
days old--8 days--when the government tested the first atomic bomb just 
miles away from her family's home in New Mexico. Her entire family was 
repeatedly exposed to nuclear tests. As a consequence, 44 members of 
Bernice's family--44--have been diagnosed with cancer or other 
radiation-linked diseases. Her mother had cancer three times. Three of 
her brothers have had cancer. Her sister has had cancer, and she has 
thyroid disease. Her oldest son passed away from a radiation-linked 
disease, and her daughter now has thyroid cancer. Add to that, 36 
additional relatives who have cancers linked to radiation. This is all 
one family in one State who have been compensated not at all--not at 
all.
  They have given their health for this country. They haven't gotten 
recognition. They haven't gotten compensation. That is wrong.
  Meet Leslie Begay. Leslie is a Navajo marine who fought for his 
country in Vietnam. There he is. When he returned home, he went to work 
mining uranium to support the Cold War effort. Think about this. He 
goes to Vietnam, fights for his country in Vietnam, comes home, goes to 
the uranium mines to support his country's Cold War effort. He says he 
was issued--in his words--``just a rain jacket, safety glasses, and a 
hard hat. That's it.''
  Now, Leslie is having a double lung transplant. He lives in New 
Mexico. He pays $700 a month for medication. And what does he get for 
his injuries, for his illnesses brought on by his exposure in the 
mines? Nothing. Nothing. Zero. He has gotten zero.
  I want to introduce you to one more person, my friend, Kristen 
Camuso. Kristen grew up in St. Louis. She played in and around 
Coldwater Creek, that creek where the government left barrels of 
radioactive waste sitting out for literally years, open, the rain, the 
elements. The waste leaked out of the barrels right down into the 
creek. And for decades, the people of St. Louis were told: Oh, there is 
no problem. The creek is fine. No problem at all. You can play in it. 
Your kids can play in it. You can send your kids to school by it, build 
houses by it, and people did because that is what the government said. 
And now thousands of people are sick, including Kristen.
  Since her 2012 cancer diagnosis, Kristen has had her gall bladder 
removed. She has had a total hysterectomy. She has had her left adrenal 
gland removed, and after all that, doctors found another tumor on her 
right adrenal gland and a lesion on her liver. Her medicine is so 
expensive, she has to ration the care. There is just no way around it. 
As she says, ``I am forced to choose which way I can die.''
  I say, again, this is not right. These are good people who have done 
nothing wrong. Their government has caused this. When the government 
causes injury, the government should make it right. That is what we are 
asking for. That is what the radiation compensation program does, and 
it is wrong to let it expire. It is an injustice. It is a scar on the 
conscience of this body and this Nation.
  And I will come to the floor as long as it takes until we do right by 
these Americans who have done right by their country because they 
deserve better than this.
  Here is the last thing I will say. You know, you think about the 
billions of dollars in costs that the government has imposed on these 
people, taking their health, taking their lives, over decades, and yet 
what is in this year's Defense bills, the Defense appropriations bills, 
one analysis recently found that House and Senate appropriators have 
added at least $26 billion for programs the Pentagon doesn't even want, 
$26 billion in 1 year.
  Things like $5 million for a social network analysis for the Army, $4 
million to research the impacts of soil structures on hydrology, $12 
million for new snow removal equipment. Where is my favorite? The $15 
billion inserted by Senators--$15 billion with a ``b''--in 1 year, $15 
billion for 636 weapons projects the Pentagon did not request. That is 
636 weapons programs the Pentagon doesn't request. But yet we don't 
have a dime for these people.
  We don't have a dime for the people exposed to nuclear waste and 
radiation by their own government. No, this is not right. It is not 
right, and I am not willing to accept it. Senator Lujan is not willing 
to accept it. And I urge the Members of this body, do not be willing to 
accept it. We must reauthorize this program. We must do right by these 
Americans. They deserve it.
  This isn't a welfare check; this is justice. It is what they deserve. 
It is what they have earned. And I will continue to come to this floor 
as long as it takes.
  I am going to make a motion now to extend debate on this bill. I have 
no illusions that this will succeed. I realize my colleagues are eager, 
all too eager, to move on, but I think it is important we take as much 
time as is necessary to understand the stakes of what we are doing and 
to understand the stakes of turning our backs on these people.


                 Motion To Table the Motion To Recommit



 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S5914, December 12, 2023, third column, the following 
appears: MOTION TO TABLE AMENDMENT NO. 1373
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: MOTION TO TABLE 
THE MOTION TO RECOMMIT


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


  Mr. President, so now, I move to table the Schumer motion to 
recommit, 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 senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. 
Manchin) is necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 26, nays 73, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 340 Leg.]

                                YEAS--26

     Bennet
     Braun
     Cantwell
     Cortez Masto
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Johnson
     Kelly
     Lee
     Lujan
     Marshall
     Paul
     Risch
     Rosen
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schmitt
     Sinema
     Tester
     Vance

                                NAYS--73

     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boozman
     Britt
     Brown
     Budd
     Butler
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn

[[Page S5915]]


     Cotton
     Cramer
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lummis
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Manchin
       
  The motion was rejected.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). 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 conference 
     report to accompany H.R. 2670, a bill to authorize 
     appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities 
     of the Department of Defense and for military construction, 
     and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to 
     prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, 
     and for other purposes.
         Charles E. Schumer, Jack Reed, Tammy Duckworth, Margaret 
           Wood Hassan, Angus S. King, Jr., Robert P. Casey, Jr., 
           Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark 
           Kelly, Christopher A. Coons, Mazie K. Hirono, Alex 
           Padilla, Patty Murray, Michael F. Bennet, Catherine 
           Cortez Masto, Raphael G. Warnock.
  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 
conference report to accompany H.R. 2670, a bill to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense and for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 85, nays 15, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 341 Leg.]

                                YEAS--85

     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Boozman
     Britt
     Brown
     Budd
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Manchin
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Moran
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Schatz
     Schmitt
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--15

     Booker
     Braun
     Hawley
     Lee
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Markey
     Merkley
     Paul
     Sanders
     Tuberville
     Vance
     Warren
     Welch
     Wyden
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. On this vote, the yeas are 85, the 
nays are 15.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
  The motion was agreed to.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island.

                          ____________________