[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[Senate]
[Pages 31855-31856]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  ORDERLY AND RESPONSIBLE IRAQ REDEPLOYMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--
                           MOTION TO PROCEED


                             cloture motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report the motion to invoke cloture.
  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 
     proceed to H.R. 4156, the Orderly and Responsible Iraq 
     Redeployment Appropriations Act, 2008.
         Carl Levin, Robert Menendez, Claire McCaskill, Robert P. 
           Casey, Jr., Richard J. Durbin, Tom Carper, Amy 
           Klobuchar, Daniel K. Akaka, Jack Reed, Patty Murray, 
           Sherrod Brown, Frank R. Lautenberg, Charles E. Schumer, 
           S. Whitehouse, Debbie Stabenow, B.A. Mikulski, Harry 
           Reid.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 2 minutes, with the time 
equally divided. Who seeks time?
  The assistant majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, what will it take to end this war? How 
many lives? How many limbs? How many broken families? How many innocent 
victims?
  The Senate has an opportunity, with this next vote, to start to bring 
this war to an end and to start to bring our soldiers home in an 
orderly, responsible way.
  We know the President will not do this. But it is within our power, 
our authority, and our responsibility under the Constitution to do it. 
A vote now to move forward on this House appropriations bill will bring 
this war to an end in an orderly, responsible way.
  I urge my colleagues, do not shirk your responsibility. Do not be on 
the wrong side of history.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks time?
  The Senator from Alabama is recognized.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, this summer, we had grim numbers coming 
out of Iraq and we had an election and we went through a soul-searching 
analysis of what to do. By an 80-to-14 vote, this Senate voted to send 
General Petraeus to Iraq and give him a chance to succeed. We had his 
full report in September. We had other reports from General Jones and 
GAO, and we concluded to continue this.
  In recent weeks, progress has exceeded what we could have expected 
possible. This is not the right time to tie the hands of our military 
leaders. It is not the right thing to do--to leave any doubt that we 
are going to support the troops we have sent into harm's way.
  I urge colleagues to not leave our troops in uncertainty and stand 
firm with a policy that seems to be working. Let's continue to monitor 
it. If it fails, we need to know that. But, right now, things are going 
well, and it would be wrong to undermine that in any way.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired. By unanimous consent, 
the mandatory quorum call is waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
motion to proceed to H.R. 4156, a bill making emergency supplemental 
appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 2008, 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 assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Lott) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. 
McCain).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 53, nays 45, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 411 Leg.]

                                YEAS--53

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Clinton
     Collins
     Conrad

[[Page 31856]]


     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Smith
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--45

     Alexander
     Allard
     Barrasso
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lieberman
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Specter
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Lott
     McCain
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 
45. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted 
in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to reconsider vote No. 410.
  Mr. DODD. I move to table that, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider vote No. 411.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to reconsider is entered.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, at the request of the distinguished majority 
leader, and as the only Democrat who voted against cloture on the 
motion to proceed to H.R. 4156, the Orderly and Responsible Iraq 
redeployment Appropriations Bill, I have entered this motion to 
reconsider so that the Senate may have another opportunity to vote on 
this matter. Only Senators who voted no on this matter are able under 
Senate rules to ask for another vote.
  I am undertaking this procedural matter at the Leader's request and 
out of my respect for him. I am happy to do so.
  However, I want to make clear that should there be another cloture 
vote on H.R. 4156 or similar legislation, my position will remain the 
same--I will vote no. I am opposed to providing any additional funding 
for the war in Iraq unless there is a firm and enforceable deadline for 
the redeployment of our forces from Iraq.
  My views on the ongoing failed policy in Iraq are included in the 
Record earlier in the day at the time of the original vote and I urge 
my colleagues to take the opportunity to review my concerns about our 
continued involvement in a civil war which has no military solutions.

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