[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 37 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1068-S1072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EXTENSION OF CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS AND OTHER MATTERS ACT, 2024

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 7463) making further continuing appropriations 
     for fiscal year 2024, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am pleased that Democrats have just 
reached an agreement with the Republicans to pass a temporary extension 
of government funding tonight. We will have up to five votes: four on 
amendments and then final passage. This agreement is an important step 
because we not only avoid a shutdown on Friday, we also clear the way 
for passing the first six appropriations bills next week.
  We want to move quickly. So I ask Senators to stay in their seats or 
near the floor until we finish our work. We are going to try, starting 
on the second vote, to keep votes limited to 10 minutes. So please stay 
in your seats.
  Now, Mr. President, this year, the good Lord gave us an extra day in 
February. So let's make sure we finish the job and don't drag this 
debate into March.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Excuse me. Just one more thing.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all votes in 
this series after the first vote be 10 minutes in duration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am really glad that we have cleared 
consensus that no one wants to see a government shutdown and that 
preventing one now will require a very short CR so we can continue 
making good progress on our full-year funding bills.
  I have been at the table for a long time now pushing to make progress 
every single day, and we are genuinely close. And if bipartisan 
cooperation prevails, I am very confident we can, at long last--at long 
last--wrap up our fiscal year 2024 bills.
  And, as my colleagues are aware, we plan to release the first six 
bills in the coming days to give everyone time to review them before a 
vote next week, while we continue to lock up the last six bills.
  I am confident we can get all of our funding bills done in the next 
few weeks, as long as partisan poison pills are taken off the table.
  We are working in a divided government. That means, to get anything 
done, we have to work together in good faith to reach reasonable 
outcomes. That has been true from day one of these negotiations, and we 
will only reach the last day of these negotiations if that happens.
  Again, we are close. We are moving in the right direction. It is full 
speed ahead. And we will keep working hard with our colleagues to get 
this wrapped up and take a shutdown completely off the table by passing 
the strongest bipartisan spending bills we can and, hopefully, soon.
  I urge all of our colleagues to vote yes on this CR so we have the 
time to get these done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, several of the amendments that we will 
vote on propose a full-year continuing resolution that would lock in 
dangerously inadequate funding levels for our national defense and lead 
to cuts in other vital programs serving our veterans, farmers, low-
income families, and older Americans.
  In a briefing last month, the Commander of U.S. Central Command told 
me that this is the most dangerous security situation in 50 years. The 
idea that we would consider hamstringing our military under a yearlong 
continuing resolution at such a time is unconscionable.
  The Department of Defense has never operated under a yearlong CR. It 
would reduce defense spending by $27 billion relative to the level 
called for under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Further, there would be 
problems with the misalignment of funds that in many cases would 
prevent critical funding from being executed. For example, 30 percent 
of the Navy's shipbuilding request could not be spent because the 
funding would be misaligned.
  According to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, under a 
yearlong CR, ``thousands of [defense] programs will be impacted with 
the most devastating impacts to our national defense being to 
personnel, nuclear triad modernization, shipbuilding and maintenance, 
munitions production and replenishments, and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command 
priorities.''
  Let us also remember that we would be wasting taxpayer dollars as we 
would forego billions of dollars in potential spending reductions and 
rescissions carefully identified by the Appropriations Committee.
  A yearlong CR would result in a military that is less able to respond 
to serious security threats around the globe, and it would harm 
important domestic investments in biomedical research, infrastructure, 
and other priority areas. It would result in furloughs or hiring 
freezes for food inspectors and air traffic controllers, as well as 
slash housing assistance at a time when we already face a severe 
affordable housing shortage.
  I urge my colleagues to reject these motions and support the 
responsible approach of passing the short-term measure to fund the 
government. We will then move to the six completed conference reports 
on appropriations bills and continue our important work on the 
remainder of the full-year appropriations bills.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.


                           Amendment No. 1614

  Mr. Paul. Mr. President, I call up Senate amendment No. 1614 and ask 
that it be reported by number.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Paul] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 1614.

  The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To establish prohibitions relating to the purchase or sale of 
                     State or municipal securities)

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. _____. PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO THE PURCHASE OR SALE OF 
                   STATE OR MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.

       (a) Emergency Lending Programs and Facilities.--The Board 
     of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may not establish 
     any emergency lending program or facility, including pursuant 
     to section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
     343(3)), that purchases or sells any security issued by a 
     State or municipality, including a bond, note, draft, or bill 
     of exchange.

[[Page S1069]]

       (b) Open Market Operations.--No Federal reserve bank may 
     purchase or sell any security described in subsection (a), 
     including pursuant to section 14 of the Federal Reserve Act 
     (12 U.S.C. 353 et seq.).

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, here we go again. Senators of both parties 
will once again kick the can down the road.
  Our national debt is over $34 trillion and growing at an alarming 
rate.
  The majority of the Senate meets today to vote once again for more 
deficit spending. We now know that the Federal Reserve is not only 
buying the Federal debt; they are buying the debt of profligate, large-
spending States like California, New York, and Illinois.
  My amendment would make it explicitly illegal for the Federal Reserve 
to buy the debt of these big-spending, profligate individual States. It 
was never intended that Congress give the Fed the power, and we should 
make sure that it is explicit that the Federal Reserve cannot buy the 
debt of individual States.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Paul amendment.
  As part of the effort to support our economy following the onset of 
the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve established a liquidity 
facility to help State and local governments better manage their cash 
flow and those pressures that existed and that they faced as a result 
of the increase in State and local government expenditures related to 
the pandemic and the delay and decrease of some tax revenues and other 
revenues. And all of the funds borrowed by municipalities under this 
program have been repaid.
  So tying the Feds' hands to prevent it from helping States and 
municipalities, as this provision would do, would be dangerous. 
Congress has given the Fed the flexibility to transact in State and 
local bonds because we knew that it could be an important and helpful 
tool in times of an emergency--protecting millions of public workers, 
including police officers, healthcare workers, and other first 
responders.
  So, as we have seen during the pandemic and natural disasters, 
uncertainty can hurt both big and small States, and the Fed's simple 
ability to assist States and local governments in this way can provide 
stability and allow policymakers to address emerging crises. Preventing 
emergency programs outright would be dangerous and unnecessary.
  And, finally, adopting this amendment would require the continuing 
resolution go back to the House and be voted on again.
  So I urge my colleagues to vote no on the Paul amendment.


                       Vote on Amendment No. 1614

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question occurs on agreeing to the 
amendment.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, 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.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Daines), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Idaho 
(Mr. Risch), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Romney), the Senator from South 
Carolina (Mr. Scott), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).
  The result was announced--yeas 37, nays 53, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 63 Leg.]

                                YEAS--37

     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Braun
     Budd
     Capito
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Mullin
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--53

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fetterman
     Gillibrand
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Barrasso
     Britt
     Cassidy
     Daines
     Manchin
     Moran
     Risch
     Romney
     Scott (SC)
     Vance
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 37, the nays are 
53.
  Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this 
amendment, the amendment is not agreed to.
  The amendment (No. 1614) was rejected.


                            Motion to Commit

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
       The Senator from Kansas [Mr. Marshall] moves to commit the 
     bill H.R. 7463 to the Committee on Appropriations of the 
     Senate with instructions to report the same back to the 
     Senate in 1 day, not counting any day in which the Senate is 
     not in session, with changes that--
       (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and
       (2) provide--
       (A) continuing appropriations for the entire Federal 
     Government through the end of fiscal year 2024; and
       (B) $14,300,000,000 in aid to Israel, which is full offset 
     by reductions in appropriations for the Internal Revenue 
     Service.

  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I ask 4 minutes equally divided prior to 
the vote on the motion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, as we assess an embarrassing fiscal 
fiasco, I believe a full-year continuing resolution funding the 
remainder of this year at last year's levels is the least of the evils 
we face tonight.
  Our amendment will effectively freeze spending and save American 
taxpayers at least $70 billion.
  Look, here we are already 5 months late, and I see no path to 
gathering in the reins of an out-of-control budget process. American 
taxpayers full well understand we have a broken budget process, and 
every Senator here knows we have not done any serious work on the 
Senate floor with appropriations bills since October, already 4 months 
into the fiscal year.
  And while the Appropriations Committee should be commended for 
accomplishing its job in a timely fashion last July, American taxpayers 
also realize these individual appropriations bills could have easily 
been brought to the floor one at a time, exposed to sunlight and 
cameras, amended, and then passed in a timely fashion months ago.
  But today we realize the symptoms of a bigger problem. Today, we feel 
the pain of a disease of failed congressional budget process, which 
gives too much power to too few people. But just like American 
families, the American Government needs to learn to live within its 
means, and that is why I hope soon we can turn to legislation that will 
secure a more stable, competent budget process.
  We need to get this year's appropriations process behind us, pass a 
yearlong CR, and then address legislation which brings teeth to an old 
budget law that forces the President and Congress to do our job in a 
competent, timely fashion.
  And, finally, our amendment also funds Israel at the White House's 
request, thus showing the world once again America stands besides 
Israel.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the House just voted overwhelmingly to 
send us this clean and very short CR to keep our government open while 
we work on passing final funding bills, which is exactly what we should 
all be focused on now.
  But this particular motion wouldn't just prevent the Senate from 
averting a shutdown tomorrow; it would swap the clean, short-term CR 
for a full-year CR that means devastating across-the-board cuts and tie 
it to military aid for Israel to a yearlong CR.

[[Page S1070]]

  We are not going to throw in the towel on our funding bills, and we 
are not going to do half of our job by sending aid to some of our 
allies while leaving others like Ukraine in the dust.
  We have already on this floor passed a comprehensive national 
security package in an overwhelming bipartisan vote. Now the House just 
needs to pass that--and I am confident they will--as soon as the 
Speaker brings it up for a vote.
  So, tonight, let's pass this CR, get our funding bills done, and keep 
working to get the comprehensive supplemental signed into law. I urge 
my colleagues to vote ``no.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Has time expired for both sides?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington has 50 seconds.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I yield it back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Time is expired.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we are going to enforce the 10-minute 
rule. We announced it earlier. So please stay in your seats. Let's get 
the next amendments done with expedition.


                        Vote on Motion to Commit

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  Mr. MARSHALL. 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.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Daines), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Idaho 
(Mr. Risch), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Romney), the Senator from South 
Carolina (Mr. Scott), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).
  The result was announced--yeas 14, nays 76, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 64 Leg.]

                                YEAS--14

     Blackburn
     Budd
     Cruz
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     Paul
     Rubio
     Scott (FL)
     Tuberville

                                NAYS--76

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lujan
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schmitt
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Barrasso
     Britt
     Cassidy
     Daines
     Manchin
     Moran
     Risch
     Romney
     Scott (SC)
     Vance
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this motion, the yeas are 14, the nays are 
76, and the motion is not agreed to.
  The motion was rejected.


                            Motion to Commit

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I have a motion at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Utah [Mr. Lee] moves to commit the bill 
     H.R. 7463 to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate 
     with instructions to report the same back to the Senate in 1 
     day, not counting any day in which the Senate is not in 
     session, with changes that--
       (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and
       (2) provide continuing appropriations for the entire 
     Federal Government through the end of fiscal year 2024.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be up to 2 minutes of debate 
equally divided.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, this motion calls for a full-year CR. Let me 
tell you what a full-year CR taking us to September 30--if we were to 
go to a full-year CR, one taking us to September 30, we would save $130 
billion.
  Now, there have been comments made on the floor even this evening 
that are not correct, suggesting that this would take 
disproportionately from defense. It is just not true. Under a full-year 
CR, regular defense would be $1.4 billion higher relative to fiscal 
year 2023, while regular nondefense would be $40 billion less than 
fiscal year 2023.
  In a day and age in which we are living with a $2 trillion deficit 
and crippling inflation coming as a result of that, we should take this 
as an opportunity to achieve a win for the American people.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, right now, our job is to avoid a 
government shutdown. The House has just sent us a very short, 
bipartisan CR to make sure that our Agencies and programs continue 
operating as we work together to pass the first six of our final 
funding bills next week. The House did its job. We need to do ours, and 
we need to keep pushing to complete our 2024 budget.
  This motion would not prevent us from averting a shutdown. It would 
direct the Appropriations Committee to abandon weeks and weeks of very 
hard work and negotiations that reflect the input and interests of the 
Members of this body.
  I urge a ``no'' vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
  The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, that one took 14 minutes. Let's beat it 
on this one. Please stay in your seats.


                        Vote on Motion to Commit

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  Mr. LEE. 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. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. 
Manchin) is necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Daines), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Kentucky 
(Mr. Paul), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Utah 
(Mr. Romney), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), and the 
Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).
  Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance) 
would have voted ``yea.''
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 12, nays 77, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 65 Leg.]

                                YEAS--12

     Blackburn
     Budd
     Cruz
     Hawley
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     Rubio
     Scott (FL)
     Tuberville

                                NAYS--77

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lujan
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schmitt
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--11

     Barrasso
     Britt
     Cassidy
     Daines
     Manchin
     Moran
     Paul
     Risch
     Romney
     Scott (SC)
     Vance

[[Page S1071]]


  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). On this vote, the yeas are 12, 
the nays are 77.
  The motion is rejected.
  The Senator from Texas.


                            Motion to Commit

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I have a motion at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Texas [Mr. Cruz] moves to commit the bill 
     H.R. 7463 to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate 
     with instructions to report the same back to the Senate in 1 
     day, not counting any day in which the Senate is not in 
     session, with changes that--
       (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee;
       (2) provide continuing appropriations for the entire 
     Federal Government through the end of fiscal year 2024; and
       (3) include the text of the H.R. 2 (the Secure the Border 
     Act of 2023), as passed by the House of Representatives on 
     May 11, 2023.

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise today with a motion to commit to 
instruct that H.R. 2 be added to this continuing resolution.
  H.R. 2 contains a comprehensive plan to secure the border, to stop 
catch-and-release, to build the wall, to stop visa overstays, and to 
reform abuse of immigration, parole, and asylum laws.
  In the past couple of weeks, we have seen tragedy across this 
country, including of a 22-year-old woman murdered in the State of 
Georgia, including a 2-year-old child murdered in the State of 
Virginia, including a 14-year-old child raped in Boston, MA, including 
a child under 14 raped in Louisiana--all by illegal aliens released by 
the Biden administration.
  It is time for this to end. This bill has passed the House, and if 
the Senate wants to secure our open borders, we can do so right now--
today.
  I urge an affirmative vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the clock is ticking. We face a partial 
shutdown of the government tomorrow night. We cannot let the threat of 
that government shutdown be used as leverage to set aside the 
bipartisan agreement on the CR before us in order to jam through deeply 
partisan immigration policy. We are not going to throw in the towel on 
our very carefully negotiated funding bills we have worked on in favor 
of a full-year CR that would impose devastating across-the-board cuts 
to defense and nondefense programs.
  Vote no.


                        Vote on Motion to Commit

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
  Mr. CRUZ. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing none, the question is on agreeing to 
the motion.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, that one was 11 minutes. Let us get to 
10.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is 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.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Daines), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Kentucky 
(Mr. Paul), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Utah 
(Mr. Romney), and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 32, nays 58, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 66 Leg.]

                                YEAS--32

     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Budd
     Capito
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     Mullin
     Ricketts
     Rubio
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Vance

                                NAYS--58

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Braun
     Brown
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fetterman
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Barrasso
     Britt
     Cassidy
     Daines
     Manchin
     Moran
     Paul
     Risch
     Romney
     Scott (SC)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas are 32, the nays are 58.
  The motion was rejected.
  The majority leader.


                           Government Funding

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am happy to inform the American people 
there will be no government shutdown on Friday. When we pass this bill, 
we will have, thank God, avoided a shutdown, with all its harmful 
effects on the American people.
  I thank my colleagues for working together. It is good we are not 
shutting down. Now let us finish the job of funding the government so 
we don't have to do this again.
  As I have said repeatedly to the Speaker, the only way to get things 
done in divided government is bipartisanship. I am glad the Speaker 
heard our plea and worked with us to avoid a shutdown.
  Next week, we hope to bring the first six funding bills to the floor 
and send them to the President's desk before March 8. The vote tonight 
is a strong indication that we can work in a bipartisan way to get 
those bills passed.
  We hope to finish funding all of the government by March 22. That is 
the commitment the Speaker made to us yesterday, and we are counting on 
him to follow through.
  What we have done today has overcome the opposition of the MAGA hard 
right and gives us a formula for completing the appropriations process 
in a way that does not shut down the government and capitulate to 
extremists.
  I thank Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, Chair 
Murray, Vice Chair Collins, and all the appropriators who helped reach 
this agreement.


                           Vote on H.R. 7463

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the bill is 
considered read a third time.
  The bill was ordered to a third reading and was read the third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall the bill pass?
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. 
Manchin) is necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Daines), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Kentucky 
(Mr. Paul), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Utah 
(Mr. Romney), and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).
  The result was announced--yeas 77, nays 13, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 67 Leg.]

                                YEAS--77

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Butler
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer

[[Page S1072]]


     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--13

     Blackburn
     Braun
     Budd
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Hawley
     Johnson
     Lee
     Marshall
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Tuberville
     Vance

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Barrasso
     Britt
     Cassidy
     Daines
     Manchin
     Moran
     Paul
     Risch
     Romney
     Scott (SC)
  (Mr. WELCH assumed the Chair.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). On this vote, the yeas are 77, the 
nays are 13.
  The 60-vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed.
  The bill (H.R. 7463) was passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

                          ____________________