December 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 198 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page S6986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair 
lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will 
state.
  The senior assistant 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 the nomination 
     of John Joseph Sullivan, of Maryland, to be Ambassador 
     Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of 
     America to the Russian Federation.
         Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, Richard Burr, Pat Roberts, 
           John Cornyn, John Hoeven, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger F. 
           Wicker, Marco Rubio, John Boozman, James E. Risch, John 
           Barrasso, John Thune, Roy Blunt, Lamar Alexander, Mike 
           Braun, Shelley Moore Capito.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. By unanimous consent, the mandatory 
quorum call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
nomination of John Joseph Sullivan, of Maryland, to be Ambassador 
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to 
the Russian Federation, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  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 North Carolina (Mr. Burr) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. 
Paul).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), 
the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. 
Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cramer). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted -- yeas 69, nays 25, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 392 Ex.]

                                YEAS--69

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Van Hollen
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--25

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Casey
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Klobuchar
     Markey
     Menendez
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Udall
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Bennet
     Booker
     Burr
     Paul
     Sanders
     Warren
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 69, the nays are 
25.
  The motion is agreed to.
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 
minutes of debate equally divided between the Senator from Washington 
and myself and that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided 
between the two leaders prior to the following vote. I further ask that 
the remaining votes in this series be 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Washington.


                       Nomination of Stephen Hahn

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Food and Drug Administration plays an 
important part in our families' everyday lives. When people across the 
country do anything from using a medical device, to getting a 
prescription filled, to sitting down together to eat, they rely on the 
FDA to keep them safe and healthy.
  There is a lot at stake for our families, and it is critical that we 
know the FDA's leadership will uphold its gold standard of safety and 
effectiveness and put people's health and well-being first. I am not 
convinced that is the case under Hahn's leadership.
  I have reviewed his records and carefully considered his answers on 
key issues. I want the Senate to know I was particularly concerned by 
his evasive response when it came to how to address skyrocketing youth 
e-cigarette use. Just a few months ago, the Trump administration 
promised it would take action and pull non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarette 
products from the market until after the FDA had reviewed them, only to 
reverse its course.
  We need a leader at the FDA who will fight for our families and stand 
up to this administration on this important policy. When Members from 
both sides of the aisle asked him about this, he refused to commit to 
follow through on the promising step President Trump decided to 
abandon. So given his answers--or lack thereof, really--on this 
concerning issue, I am voting no on this confirmation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. We have a vacancy at the Food and Drug Administration. 
So what if someone said: Wouldn't it be a good idea to go see if we can 
recruit the chief medical officer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in 
Houston, one of the most distinguished institutions in the world, an 
organization that is even larger than the FDA? Wouldn't it be a good 
idea to go get a practicing oncologist? Wouldn't it be a good idea to 
get somebody who has worked at the National Institutes of Health and 
who has letters of recommendation from more than 80 organizations? 
Wouldn't it be a good idea to get someone who has been recommended and 
endorsed by the last five FDA Commissioners, under Presidents Trump, 
Obama, and Bush?
  Well, we have such a person. That person came out of our committee 18 
to 5--Dr. Stephen Hahn, the Chief Medical Officer of the MD Anderson 
Cancer Center. We should be grateful he is willing to take this job at 
this period of time.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote, Mr. President.

                          ____________________