[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16706-16707]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 3819 AND EXECUTIVE CALENDAR NO. 356

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate is about to pass a short-
term highway extension. This 3-week extension will allow the House and 
Senate to go to conference on our bipartisan bill and allow that to be 
signed into law by November 20.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of H.R. 3819; that the bill be read a third 
time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill with no 
intervening action or debate; that upon disposition of H.R. 3819, the 
Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 356; that 
the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; 
that following disposition of the nomination, the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action 
or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that 
any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; and 
that the President be immediately notified of the President's action 
and the Senate then resume legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I reserve the right to object because I 
want to make a suggestion.
  I ask consent that we modify this matter so that we can pass an 
amendment to extend the PTC deadline--the

[[Page 16707]]

deadline for positive train control--to make it a 1-year extension to 
December 31, 2016, and that that be agreed to. Right now, it is 3 years 
with a 2-year possible extension beyond that. I ask that it be changed 
to 1 year, and that following the use or yielding back of time, the 
Senate then proceed to a vote on passage of the bill with my amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator so modify his request?
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would 
state to my colleague from California that this is the practice she and 
I so often lament when it comes to highway bills, and that is kicking 
the can down the road. We know full well that a year from now, we will 
be back here doing this again.
  This language, which is agreed upon by both the House and the 
Senate--Democrats and Republicans of the relevant committees worked 
very hard to draft consensus language. That is what we have arrived at 
today. We believe it addresses the situation and provides the correct 
solution. I think it would be a big mistake to try to modify something 
that people have worked so hard to get to, knowing full well we will 
never get what the Senator from California wants to do passed through 
the House or the Senate.
  The House acted yesterday, and acted unanimously. Very rarely do you 
get a voice vote out of the House of Representatives. Democrats and 
Republicans in the House came together behind a solution that is 
incorporated into this base bill.
  With that, I object to the request of the Senator from California.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I just want to say to my friend I am not 
surprised, but I am still quite disappointed because I think it is 
horrible precedent to take a provision out of an underlying bill that 
we have all worked so hard on and attach it--a 3-year provision, a 3-
to-5-year provision, a delay in this safety measure--on a 3-week 
extension.
  Why didn't my friend pull out some of the good things in there for 
safety, such as the House rental bill, which says you can't lease a car 
that has been under recall? He didn't do that. I am not blaming him at 
all. I know it was a process. I know that. We didn't pull out the 
increased fines on NHTSA for car manufacturers who kill people because 
of their negligence.
  I feel it is a terrible precedent, but I will not object, and I am 
going to explain that later. Having withdrawn my objection, I would ask 
that I may have the floor for 15 minutes immediately following the 
vote, if that is possible, and I would give 5 minutes of that timeframe 
to my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the majority leader's 
original request?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request of the 
Senator from California?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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