[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8314-8315]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 2 minutes of debate equally 
divided prior to the vote to invoke cloture on the Costa nomination.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I yield back all time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, all time is yielded back.
  The cloture motion having presented under rule XXII, the Chair 
directs the clerk to report the motion.
  The assistant bill 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, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of 
     Gregg Jeffrey Costa, of Texas, to be United States Circuit 
     Judge for the 5th Circuit.
         Harry Reid, Patrick J. Leahy, Robert Menendez, 
           Christopher Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Christopher A. 
           Coons, Angus S. King, Jr., Richard Blumenthal, Jeff 
           Merkley, Cory A. Booker , Amy Klobuchar, Dianne 
           Feinstein, Richard J. Durbin, Tom Udall, Sheldon 
           Whitehouse, Charles E. Schumer, Edward J. Markey.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate on the 
nomination of Gregg Jeffrey Costa, of Texas, to be the United States 
Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. 
Manchin) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from New Hampshire (Ms. Ayotte), the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. 
Boozman), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), and the Senator from 
Kansas (Mr. Moran).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. (Ms. Warren.) Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 58, nays 36, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 156 Ex.]

                                YEAS--58

     Baldwin
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cruz
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--36

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Corker
     Crapo
     Enzi
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johanns
     Johnson (WI)
     Kirk
     Lee
     McCain
     McConnell
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Scott

[[Page 8315]]


     Sessions
     Shelby
     Thune
     Toomey
     Vitter
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Ayotte
     Boozman
     Isakson
     Manchin
     Moran
     Rockefeller
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On the motion to invoke cloture on Gregg 
Jeffrey Costa, of Texas, to be United States Circuit Judge for the 
Fifth Circuit, the yeas are 58, the nays are 36. The motion is agreed 
to.
  The Republican leader.


                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 3474

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, is the next vote in order on the 
underlying tax extender bill?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The next vote will be on the motion to invoke 
cloture on amendment No. 3060 to the tax extenders bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Thank you, Madam President.
  The American people actually need to know what is happening in their 
Senate. This body exists to ensure that the citizens of this country 
have a say in what our government does. The Senate is supposed to be 
the citadel of our democracy, the place where we guarantee that no one 
in the country is cut out of the legislative process. The whole purpose 
of this body is to make sure that nobody is left out or left behind.
  Yet today we have a Democratic majority that has turned this body 
literally on its head. Instead of preserving the Senate's prerogatives, 
they have systematically weakened or destroyed them all together. They 
have turned the Senate into a graveyard of good ideas and open 
democratic debate.
  It is a gag order on the American people we represent. Instead of 
robust, freewheeling debates about the important issues of the day, we 
get bizarre monologues about the Democrats' latest villain.
  We get silly, shameful attacks on private citizens. So in one sense 
it is fitting that the majority leader announced today he wants to 
rewrite the Constitution. I mean, at least you have to give them marks 
for consistency.
  They are already muzzling our constituents by blocking amendments, 
and now they want to muzzle them even more by changing the Bill of 
Rights. This is completely out of control.
  Even if the Democratic majority doesn't like our ideas or those of 
our constituents, the answer isn't to take away their constitutionally 
guaranteed right to speak their minds. The answer isn't to shut down 
their representatives' ability to influence legislation through 
amendments. The answer, my friends, is to come up with better 
arguments. The answer is to actually convince people in a free and open 
marketplace of ideas that you are right.
  Why are Washington Democrats so afraid of a free and open exchange of 
ideas? What are they afraid of? Do they have that little faith in the 
judgment of the people we represent? Over the past few weeks we have 
seen just how scared our friends on the other side are of a free and 
open debate.
  A big majority wants to repeal President Obama's medical device tax; 
79 people in this body voted for it. They won't allow a vote on it.
  The American people want to see a vote on the Keystone Pipeline. Most 
Senators say they want to vote on it too, but we are not allowed to 
vote on it.
  We have a tax bill that Members on both sides want to improve and 
Members on both sides want to support. Yet we don't get a chance to 
amend it.
  We should have certainty in our Tax Code instead of these endless 
expirations that only make it harder for people to prepare and for 
businesses to plan and to compete. They don't want to do that either. 
They are completely allergic--completely and totally allergic--to 
anything that is constructive.
  What they are doing is muzzling the people of this country, a gag 
order on the people we were sent to the Senate to represent--all 
presumably to protect their power. This is really quite scandalous. The 
American people need to know what is happening in their Senate because 
this is bigger than any one bill. It is about protecting the right of 
the American people to have a say in what goes on in Washington.
  We represent millions of people on this side of the aisle. They 
represent many of the people on their side of the aisle. I think there 
are something like 40 or so Democratic amendments pending to this 
bill--Democratic Senators who offered amendments to this bill who will 
not be heard.
  This is all about protecting the one opportunity they have to shut us 
out. It is about a party that has become so afraid of losing its hold 
on power that they are willing to do just about anything to hold onto 
it--even if it means, as I said earlier, to try to amend the Bill of 
Rights.
  We have a lot of smart people on the Democratic side, but I expect 
none of them are smarter than James Madison. Yet apparently they 
decided--after a couple of hundred years--Madison's work is not 
sufficient. They want to recommend we amend the Bill of Rights. What is 
before us today is not that; it is a tax extender bill.
  Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked on 
Senate amendment No. 3060, the Wyden substitute, the amendment be 
considered original text for the purpose of amendment; and 
notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, it be in order for the 
Republican leader or his designee to offer the Toomey amendment related 
to the medical device tax, and that amendments then be offered in 
alternating fashion between the majority and the minority, with all 
amendments being related to tax policy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Everyone listen. The selfpronounced guardian of gridlock 
just gave us his presentation. That is what the Republican leader calls 
himself, and that is a good name that he got for himself--the guardian 
of gridlock. That is what we have in the Senate. That is what we have 
had here for 5\1/2\ years. We have struggled through parts of it, but 
it has been difficult.
  It is no surprise to me or to us that, of course, when something is 
said about the Koch brothers, there are people who run down to the 
floor to defend them. This time we have the Republican leader defending 
the Koch brothers.
  What I talked about today is something so radical--listen to what it 
is--that we should have restrictions on how much money people can spend 
in political campaigns and not have the government purchased by the two 
richest people in America--the Koch brothers. So it is no surprise we 
have someone running to their rescue.
  I would also suggest this. My friend, the Republican leader, wants a 
vote on Keystone. They had a vote. They wouldn't take it. As one of my 
Democratic Senators said, my friend the Republican leader is more 
interested in an issue than getting the pipeline done.
  So here is where we are. The Republican leader has asked for 
alternating amendments. That is a buzzword for ``we are going to 
continue our filibusters.''
  The chairman of the Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, as the new chair--
and we all have great expectations from Ron Wyden. He is an experienced 
legislator. He spent many years in the House, and now he is a veteran 
here in the Senate. He made a reasonable proposal--it was done before 
the world--saying: OK, you want amendments, let's do them in relation 
to this bill; that is, the tax extenders bill.
  But I will go even a step further than that. First of all, everyone 
should understand that this is a bill which was done by the Finance 
Committee on a bipartisan basis. But if they are interested in more 
amendments, why don't we have Senator Wyden and Senator Hatch see what 
they can come up with? And if that is good enough for me, it is good 
enough for my caucus.
  I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

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