Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 52 (Saturday, March 21, 2026)

[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 52 (Saturday, March 21, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1465-S1467]
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 amendment No.
4421 to the motion to concur in the House message to
accompany S. 1383 with substitute amendment No. 4420, a bill
to establish the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access,
and for other purposes.
John Thune, Roger Marshall, John Barrasso, Bill Hagerty,
Pete Ricketts, Bernie Moreno, John Cornyn, Rick Scott
of Florida, Lindsey Graham, Shelley Moore Capito, Jim
Banks, Jon A. Husted, Joni Ernst, Marsha Blackburn, Ted
Budd, Steve Daines, Tommy Tuberville.

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
amendment No. 4421 to the motion to concur in the House message to
accompany S. 1383 with substitute amendment No. 4420, a bill to
establish the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access, 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.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessasrily absent: the
Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines),
the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), and the Senator from Montana (Mr.
Sheehy).
Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul)
would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons),
the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine), the Senator
from Arizona (Mr. Kelly), and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs.
Shaheen) are necessarily absent.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 49, nays 41, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 60 Leg.]

YEAS--49

Banks
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Britt
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Husted
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Justice
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
McCormick
Moody
Moran
Moreno
Mullin
Murkowski
Ricketts
Risch
Rounds
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Wicker
Young

NAYS--41

Alsobrooks
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt Rochester
Booker
Cantwell
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Gallego
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kim
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schiff
Schumer
Slotkin
Smith
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden

NOT VOTING--10

Coons
Curtis
Daines
Durbin
Fetterman
Kaine
Kelly
Paul
Shaheen
Sheehy
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. On this vote, the yeas are 49, and
the nays are 41.
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.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader.

S. 1383

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have a motion today that asks every
Senator a very simple question: Do you want TSA workers to get their
pay--yes or no? Are you tired, like many Americans are, of seeing long
lines at the airport--yes or no?
If Senators want to pay TSA workers and end the airport chaos, they
should support my motion. Our TSA workers cannot be taken hostage for
political games, but that is what Republicans have done.
It is unacceptable--unacceptable--to say we will only pay TSA workers
if it is attached to a bill that funds ICE with no reforms, but that is
what Republicans have done.
Democrats want to pay TSA workers ASAP, no strings attached. A
``yes'' vote on my motion would start doing just that. This is the only
vote--the only vote, not the others--that the Senate has taken that
will fund TSA--no ands, ifs, or buts.
This is the first time--the first time--the Senate holds a vote
related to paying TSA workers that has zero strings attached to it.
This is the only vote that says you are for supporting TSA families
unconditionally. All the votes Republicans have pushed so far tie TSA
paychecks to fully funding ICE without any reforms.
Republicans say: Sure, we will pay TSA, but only if you keep funding
ICE agents without any guardrails whatsoever.
That is not acceptable to the American people.
So, today, my motion makes the matter very simple: Let's pay TSA
workers ASAP. That is it--nothing else. We can keep negotiating ICE and
CBP separately.
We are having some productive conversations on getting reforms to
ICE, and Democrats are going to continue pushing for real, serious
reforms

[[Page S1466]]

through legislation. But that is an ongoing process that should not get
in the way of funding our TSA workers.
So let's keep negotiating the outstanding issues with ICE while
sending paychecks to TSA workers now. Let us end the long lines at the
airports now. This is the logical, expedient, and correct thing to do.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this motion--and when I hear the phrases
used like ``no strings attached'' or how ``simple'' this is--there
isn't anything that would be more complicated than this.
This is a Schumer motion to suspend the rules to refer the House
message--the bill that we are on--to the Rules Committee, which doesn't
have jurisdiction over appropriations or spending, and he is trying to
call it a vote to fund TSA.
Mr. SCHUMER. You bet.
Mr. THUNE. I mean, we have had countless votes to fund TSA. We had
one yesterday. We have had countless motions by our side to pass a
continuing resolution that funds all of DHS--including TSA--and
consistently blocked by this side.
So this is a convoluted--I mean, I don't know how you come up with
this. This is very--I will give you credit for coming up with something
that is this convoluted. But it doesn't do anything that the leader
says it does. It has nothing at all to do with funding TSA.
The opportunity to fund TSA has come and gone multiple times here,
when we have had votes here on the floor, including as recently as
yesterday; and countless motions, continuing resolutions, to fund all
of DHS, including TSA, numerous times, over and over and over again.
And our colleagues on the other side have blocked it.
Mr. SCHUMER. Would my colleague yield for a question?
Mr. THUNE. Sure. Sure.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this is the only vote available to us
because you have filled the tree and not allowed an amendment like this
here.
Would the Senator be willing to put this amendment to pay TSA
immediately on the tree?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this is not an appropriations bill. The
legislation we are on right now, which has to do with whether or not
citizens--and only citizens--ought to be able to vote in American
elections has nothing to do with funding the government.
We have had countless votes and countless appropriations bills
brought in front of this institution, the U.S. Senate, that actually
would fund TSA. And we ought to fund TSA. Let's get to work doing it.
And if that group that is meeting can't come up with a solution here
pretty quickly, things are going to get worse and worse and worse--and
they already are. People at airports--anybody who has gone through an
airport lately, they don't see what is happening here as ``serene.''
They see this as a convoluted mess, and that is what is happening
across the country if we don't fund the government--DHS--including TSA.
We are all for it. We have tried repeatedly to do it. This has
nothing to do with funding TSA. This is a ploy--nothing more, nothing
less, nothing else.
Let's vote.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Is the tree full, Mr. Leader?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
Mr. THUNE. The tree, I would say to my colleague from New York, has
on it right now a vote that we just completed, and there will be other
opportunities to vote on other amendments related to the legislation
that we are on here today.
Mr. SCHUMER. Like this past amendment was?
Mr. THUNE. But if we want to have--
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader has the floor.
Mr. THUNE. If you want to have a debate on appropriations, we can
have that.
We have made ourselves available. The White House is available. There
are meetings going on right now which I hope ultimately lead to a
result where we get these Agencies opened up again, including TSA. In
order for that to happen, you have to have a willing partner and
somebody who is willing to sit down at the table and negotiate with
you, which we haven't had until 2 days ago.
Now, hopefully, these discussions will lead to what ultimately will
be a result to fund all of these Agencies, including TSA, but that is
not what this is about, and you know that.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we are having productive discussions. I
just met with our team 20 minutes ago. We are making some progress.
There is more to be made. Each side has its own views.
But why hold pay for TSA workers up when we can do it immediately?
Why wait? We don't know how long these negotiations will take. There
are some pretty tough positions. We could do it now.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I will just say, when you talk about doing
something quickly, referring it to the Rules Committee, which has no
jurisdiction over spending, over appropriations, on a bill that has
nothing to do with funding these Agencies--but we are happy--we are
happy--we will pivot immediately to fund all these Agencies when you
are ready to do it.
I ask for the yeas and nays on this.

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 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
suspend the operation of rule XXV, paragraph (n)(1), to
permit the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider
the pending motion with respect to the message to accompany
S. 1383 to fund TSA and as noticed in the Congressional
Record on March 16, 2026.
Charles E. Schumer, Alex Padilla, Brian Schatz, Chris Van
Hollen, Raphael Warnock, Tammy Baldwin, Peter Welch,
Jack Reed, Richard J. Durbin, Amy Klobuchar, Adam B.
Schiff, Jacky Rosen, Christopher A. Coons, Tina Smith,
Cory A. Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark R. Warner.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. By unanimous consent, the mandatory
quorum call under rule XXII has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
motion to suspend the operation of rule XXV, paragraph (n)(1) to permit
the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider the pending
motion with respect to the message to accompany S. 1383 to fund the TSA
and as noticed in the Congressional Record on March 16, 2026, shall be
brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines),
the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), and the Senator from Montana (Mr.
Sheehy).
Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons),
the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine), the Senator
from Arizona (Mr. Kelly), and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs.
Shaheen) are necessarily absent.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 41, nays 49, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 61 Leg.]

YEAS--41

[[Page S1467]]

NAYS--49

NOT VOTING--10

Coons
Curtis
Daines
Durbin
Fetterman
Kaine
Kelly
Paul
Shaheen
Sheehy
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Lummis). On this vote, the yeas are 41,
and the nays are 49.
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.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

____________________