[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17659]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY ACT--CONFERENCE REPORT--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2 
minutes of debate equally divided.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, we are about to vote on the Higher 
Education Act. It is an excellent bipartisan bill, led by the architect 
of the bill, Senator Ted Kennedy, working with Senator Mike Enzi.
  We bring to the Senate a bill that expands opportunity, expands the 
Pell grants, simplifies the process, gets rid of cronyism in lending, 
and at the same time deals with important shortages with teachers and 
with nurses.
  I think when you review the whole content, you will know that tonight 
this Senate can pass a great bill. And we say to our friend, Senator 
Kennedy, who is watching this vote, ``This one's for you, Ted.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I just ask my colleagues to vote for this 
bill, and I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the conference 
report.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Ms. SNOWE (when her name was called). Present.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New York (Mrs. Clinton), 
the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), the Senator from 
Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Obama) 
are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Minnesota (Mr. Coleman), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. 
Domenici), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Hagel), 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 83, nays 8, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 194 Leg.]

                                YEAS--83

     Akaka
     Allard
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     Dodd
     Dole
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shelby
     Smith
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Tester
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--8

     Alexander
     Coburn
     Corker
     DeMint
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Sessions

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1

       
     Snowe
       

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Clinton
     Coleman
     Domenici
     Hagel
     Kennedy
     Klobuchar
     McCain
     Obama
  The conference report was agreed to.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

                          ____________________