[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13102-13103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HIRE MORE HEROES ACT OF 2015

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of H.R. 22, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 22) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
     to exempt employees with health coverage under TRICARE or the 
     Veterans Administration from being taken into account for 
     purposes of determining the employers to which the employer 
     mandate applies under the Patient Protection and Affordable 
     Care Act.

  Pending:

       McConnell modified amendment No. 2266, in the nature of a 
     substitute.
       McConnell amendment No. 2421 (to amendment No. 2266), of a 
     perfecting nature.
       McConnell (for Inhofe) amendment No. 2533 (to amendment No. 
     2421), relating to Federal-aid highways and highway safety 
     construction programs.
       McConnell amendment No. 2417 (to the language proposed to 
     be stricken by amendment No. 2266), to change the enactment 
     date.
       McConnell amendment No. 2418 (to amendment No. 2417), of a 
     perfecting nature.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 10 
a.m. will be divided in the usual form.
  Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I had some time reserved, and I am halfway 
through that time now. So I will talk a little faster than usual 
because we have an Armed Services meeting right now, and we are trying 
get to the bottom of this side agreement that was apparently made with 
Iran.
  I wish to applaud the Senate for taking another step, and that is 
what we are going to be doing in just a few minutes with the DRIVE Act 
in Congress with these votes, and tomorrow we expect to see a final 
vote for passage so we can send it to the House. This will be my sixth 
reauthorization over the past number of years. These bills are all 
about compromise. It is hard to do. There are a lot of Members of this 
body who didn't think they got what they wanted in this bill, and I 
have to say that I didn't get what I wanted. I suspect that the 
occupier of the chair didn't get what he wanted, and Senator Boxer 
didn't get what she wanted. That is not the way this works because this 
is a bill to get us away from the short-term extensions.
  It has been obvious that Members of this body are opposed to moving 
to a 6-year reauthorization bill and are willing to use any procedural 
means to slow it down, and that is what happened. If we had not dragged 
on yesterday, and if we had yielded back some of the time, we could 
have had these votes that we are about to have now yesterday. If we had 
done that, we could have final passage today, and it would be sent over 
to the House before they leave. They are going to leave. That doesn't 
mean that this is not important. What we are doing today and tomorrow 
is passing this bill. Even though the House is going home, they all 
agree that we need a good, long-term bill as soon as they get back. 
That is why we have a motion before us for a short-term delay--so they 
will have time to do it.
  We will have a good bill for them. We have worked on it for several 
months. It passed out of committee unanimously. Every Republican and 
every Democrat voted for it. We will have a chance to do that.
  Also, I have State sheets on every State. I can read off how every 
State benefits from this 6-year reauthorization bill. All you have to 
do is talk to the Governors, mayors, and the departments of 
transportation across the country. They fully expected Congress only to 
deliver piecemeal extensions, as we have in the past.
  We have to keep in mind that the last reauthorization bill that we 
had was in 2005. I remember that vividly because I was the author of 
the bill. When we passed it, everyone rejoiced. Yesterday the Senator 
from Minnesota was talking about the tragedy of the fallen bridge in 
Minnesota, where 13 people died. I told the story about how a bridge in 
Oklahoma City had a chunk of concrete fall off of it and hit a mother 
of three children and kill her. You don't want to wait until this 
happens.
  We have bridges in this country--and we have talked about each one of 
them on the Senate floor during the discussion on this bill--that are 
deteriorating, and we have to do something about it.
  If any Member or the staff of any Member--I know the staffs are all 
watching right now. We have every State listed on these sheets, and it 
shows what they will have and how they will benefit from the DRIVE Act, 
which will be before us in a moment. If we don't do it, there are 
consequences, and I have to remind everyone of that today as we 
approach a shutdown of the transit programs. I urge my colleagues to 
join in voting yes on this procedural hurdle today. If you vote no, you 
are reinforcing current laws and extensions, which is the worst 
possible outcome.
  One area deals with big projects. We cannot do big projects with 3-
month, 4-month or even 1-year extensions. We have gone through 33 
short-term extensions since the SAFETEA-LU bill was passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be given 5 
additional minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. We have the problem of not having any of the big 
projects, and everyone knows that is a problem. The reason big projects 
can't be done is due to the costs. But a study has been done

[[Page 13103]]

by Gary Ridley, who is one of the foremost authorities nationwide on 
this subject, and in that study he came to the conclusion that it costs 
an additional 30 percent off the top to do short-term extensions.
  If there is anyone who is a conservative and wants to take the 
conservative position on this issue, the conservative position is to 
vote for a long-term reauthorization bill, and that is what is before 
us now. The current funding has no growth--not even for inflation. The 
DRIVE Act provides growth in the highway and transit systems in each 
State. For those who are interested, we have all of this listed State 
by State. The current law gives States and local governments no 
certainty. However, the certainty is there in the DRIVE Act. So we have 
every reason to do this.
  Project delivery. We are going to be able to deliver the projects. We 
can't even start the projects on short-term extensions.
  Freight. We have a freight section. We have never had a freight 
section before for moving freight across the country.
  Transparency. Everything is there so that everyone can see every 
nickel that is used. This is the most transparent of all of the 
reauthorizations we have had.
  Lastly, innovation. The DRIVE Act prepares our transportation system 
for the future. That is why it is so important that we get to it today.
  I compliment the leaders for moving us forward and making every 
effort to get this done before the House goes home.
  This will give them a good start on what to do during the recess.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.


                       Vote on Amendment No. 2417

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to table amendment No. 2417.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to 
table.
  The motion was agreed to.


                       Vote on Amendment No. 2533

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the Inhofe 
amendment No. 2533.
  The amendment (No. 2533) was agreed to.


                 Vote on Amendment No. 2421, as Amended

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to vitiate the 
yeas and nays on amendment No. 2421.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 2421, as amended.
  The amendment (No. 2421), as amended, was agreed to.


          Vote on Amendment No. 2266, as Modified, as Amended

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 
2266, as modified, as amended.
  The yeas and nays were previously ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 62, nays 38, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 258 Leg.]

                                YEAS--62

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Daines
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Franken
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Portman
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Vitter
     Whitehouse
     Wicker

                                NAYS--38

     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Corker
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Donnelly
     Flake
     Gillibrand
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Lankford
     Lee
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Paul
     Perdue
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shelby
     Toomey
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Wyden
  The amendment (No. 2266), as modified, as amended, was agreed to.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory 
quorum call be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cotton). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  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 H.R. 22, an act 
     to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt 
     employees with health coverage under TRICARE or the Veterans 
     Administration from being taken into account for purposes of 
     determining the employers to which the employer mandate 
     applies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
         Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Orrin G. Hatch, John 
           Barrasso, Pat Roberts, Richard Burr, Thom Tillis, David 
           Vitter, Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte, Lamar Alexander, 
           Daniel Coats, John Hoeven, James M. Inhofe, Roger F. 
           Wicker, Susan M. Collins, John Thune.

  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 H.R. 
22, an act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt 
employees with health coverage under TRICARE or the Veterans 
Administration from being taken into account for purposes of 
determining the employers to which the employer mandate applies under 
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended, 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.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 65, nays 35, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 259 Leg.]

                                YEAS--65

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Daines
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Portman
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Vitter
     Whitehouse
     Wicker

                                NAYS--35

     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Corker
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Donnelly
     Gillibrand
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Lee
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Paul
     Perdue
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schumer
     Shelby
     Toomey
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Wyden
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 65, the nays are 
35.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.

                          ____________________