May 23, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 87 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S3084-S3085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 91, 
H.R. 2157.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 91, H.R. 2157, a bill 
     making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2019, and for other purposes.

  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to proceed be 
agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2157) making supplemental appropriations for 
     the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the Shelby-Leahy 
substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to; that Senator Shelby or 
his designee be recognized to make a motion to waive any budget points 
of order; further, that if the motion to waive is agreed to, the bill, 
as amended, be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 250) in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of the 
applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections 
of the act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of H.R. 2157, 
as amended, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. 
Capito), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Kansas 
(Mr. Moran), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), and the 
Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from West Virginia 
(Mrs. Capito) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 84, nays 9, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 128 Leg.]

                                YEAS--84

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Roberts
     Rosen
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--9

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Braun
     Crapo
     Lee
     McSally
     Paul
     Risch
     Romney

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Alexander
     Capito
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Moran
     Rounds
     Toomey
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 84, the nays are 9.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the title of the bill for 
the third time.
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read the third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall the bill pass?
  Mr. CORNYN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. 
Capito), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Kansas 
(Mr. Moran), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), and the 
Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from West Virginia 
(Mrs. Capito) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 8, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 129 Leg.]

                                YEAS--85

     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner

[[Page S3085]]


     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Roberts
     Rosen
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--8

     Blackburn
     Braun
     Crapo
     Lee
     McSally
     Paul
     Risch
     Romney

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Alexander
     Capito
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Moran
     Rounds
     Toomey
  The bill (H.R. 2157), as amended, was passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle for their votes. Even though the final vote might be 5 months 
late, today is a good day for the Congress, for the Senate, for the 
American people, and for the Nation.
  I have said from the beginning--a position I have taken in all of my 
decades in the Senate--that any disaster supplemental that passes this 
Chamber cannot pick and choose which American citizens to help in their 
time of need. We are all Americans. The American community bands 
together to support one another when disaster strikes, regardless of 
where we are from, what our politics are, or what our beliefs are. That 
is the American way, and it is the role of the Congress to make sure 
that it is done.
  I am glad to stand on the Senate floor today, and I am glad to be 
here with my dear friend, the senior Senator from Alabama and the 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby, to support 
what is a bipartisan, bicameral disaster supplemental appropriations 
bill.
  Think of what we have done. This bill will provide long overdue aid 
to the people of California, Georgia, Florida, Nebraska, Iowa, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii, Texas, Missouri, Alabama, and Puerto 
Rico just to name a few. Some of these people--they are all American 
citizens--have been trying to put their lives back together for nearly 
2 years--since August of 2017.
  It provides $19.1 billion to help communities in these States and 
Territories to rebuild stronger than they were before. It includes more 
than $2.4 billion in community development block grants, more than $1.6 
billion for the Federal Highway Administration to rebuild roads and 
bridges, and more than $3 billion to support our Nation's farmers who 
lost their crops and livestock in the storms. It also provides more 
than $3 billion to rebuild our military's storm-damaged infrastructure.
  It has been no secret that how to help the American citizens of 
Puerto Rico has been at the heart of our dispute on disaster aid, but I 
am pleased to report that the bill provides much needed assistance to 
these Americans, including $605 million for the Nutrition Assistance 
Program, and $304 million in community development block grants to help 
the island meet the FEMA match requirements.
  One thing that we learned when Tropical Storm Irene struck Vermont is 
that you have rebuild better than you were so you are stronger when you 
face the next storm. We have included language that requires FEMA to 
rebuild the island stronger and better than it was before to help 
mitigate the damage of a future storm. We did this in certain areas in 
Vermont, and it made all the difference in the world.
  This supplemental will unlock billions of dollars that Congress had 
previously appropriated for Puerto Rico and other communities across 
the country that the Trump administration has held back in the 
Treasury.
  We reached this agreement because the Republicans and the Democrats 
came together across the aisle. It is a strong bipartisan agreement. It 
reflects that we are one Nation in times of need and that all Americans 
can count on each other. I was happy to see the strong support from the 
Senators here, but our work is not yet done.
  Now we have to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern 
border. We have to help those who are fleeing from violence and 
persecution in their own countries. The President has requested $4.5 
billion. Some of this money is badly needed. There is no dispute about 
that, and I will support the part that is badly needed.
  Everyone in this Chamber knows these are difficult issues that are 
often made more difficult given the President's rhetoric and extreme 
policies. Difficult issues take time. Let's lower the rhetoric, and 
let's do as we have done here--work together. We have been working day 
and night to strike a compromise on the President's request. We are 
close, but we are not there yet. Even as of late, late last night, we 
were still working on that. When we return, I hope we can negotiate a 
bipartisan agreement to provide additional humanitarian assistance.
  To reach this agreement today, many of the Senators--and I mentioned, 
of course, Senator Shelby, my friend, as chairman--and I, as vice 
chairman, worked together. So did many others, but none of us could do 
it without the dedicated staff that was involved. I could go home at 9 
o'clock and 10 o'clock at night, but they were still there. I am 
talking about both the Democratic staff and the Republican staff. So I 
asked my Appropriations chief of staff, Chuck Kieffer, to give me a 
list.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
at the end of my remarks the list of names of both the Democratic staff 
and the Republican staff who worked so hard on this.
  I said on a personal basis earlier that I remember when Tropical 
Storm Irene hit Vermont and how totally discouraged I was by the 
damage. Yet, within hours, I had texts and emails from Senators in this 
body--Republicans and Democrats alike. They said: When we were hit by a 
tornado, by flooding, by an earthquake--whatever it might have been--
Vermont stood with us, and we will stand with Vermont.
  That is what we are as the United States of America. The Senate did 
what it should do today. The Senate acted as the conscience of the 
Nation. We stood together to help all Americans.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

List Submitted for the Record by Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman 
   Leahy of Staff for H.R. 2157, the Supplemental Appropriations Act

       Charles E. Kieffer, Chanda Betourney, Jess Berry, Jay 
     Tilton, Hannah Chauvin, Dianne Nellor, Jean Toal Eisen, Erik 
     Raven, Doug Clapp, Ellen Murray, Scott Nance, Chip Walgren, 
     Drenan Dudley, Reeves Hart, Rachael Taylor, Alex Keenan, 
     Jason McMahon, Tim Rieser, Dabney Hegg, Christina Monroe, 
     Catie Finley, Shannon Hines, Jonathan Graffeo, David Adkins, 
     Carlisle Clarke, Hamilton Bloom, Brian Potts, Tyler Owens, 
     Andrew Newton, Adam Telle, Erny Lesofski, Laura Friedel, 
     Sarah Boliek, Patrick Magnuson, Paul Grove, Clare Doherty.

  Mr. LEAHY. I yield the floor.
  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. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Scott of Florida). Without objection, it 
is so ordered.

                          ____________________