Monday, July 9, 2018

6:49 p.m. The Senate adjourned until 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 10th. Following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the Bennett nomination post-cloture. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 pm for the weekly policy lunches.

At 2:15 p.m., there will be two votes:

  1. Confirmation of Mark Jeremy Bennett to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the 9th Circuit. 
  2. Cloture on the nomination of Brian Allen Benczkowski to be an Assistant Attorney General.

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6:29 p.m. Senator Brown spoke against large banks.

6:27 p.m. Cloture was invoked on the Bennett nomination 72-25.

Senators voting against: 23 Republicans: Barrasso, Blunt, Boozman, Burr, Cotton, Crapo, Cruz, Daines, Enzi, Ernst, Flake, Gardner, Heller, Hoeven, Inhofe, Lankford, Moran, Paul, Risch, Rounds, Sasse, Scott, Thune; 2 Democrats: Booker and Hirono.

Senators not voting: Fischer, McCain and Sullivan.

5:33 p.m. Roll call vote began on cloture on the Bennett nomination.

5:21 p.m. Senator Hirono spoke against the Bennett nomination.

4:47 p.m. Senator Grassley spoke about the Supreme Court vacancy.

3:50 p.m. Senator Nelson spoke about algae blooms in Florida.

3:40 p.m. Majority Leader McConnell spoke about the Supreme Court vacancy.

3:25 p.m. Senator Cornyn spoke about the Supreme Court vacancy.

3:05 p.m. Minority Leader Schumer spoke about the Supreme Court vacancy.

3:03 p.m.  The Senate resumed consideration of the cloture motion for the nomination of Mark Bennett to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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The Senate will convene at 3:00 p.m. and proceed to the nomination of Mark Bennett to be a US Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.

At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the Bennett nomination.

ML McConnell filed cloture on the Bennett, Benczkowski, and Ney nominations. Those cloture motions will be processed one at a time, after disposition of the previous nomination. Each is subject to up to thirty hours of post-cloture debate.

At a date and time to be determined, the Senate will proceed to up to 5 hours of debate, equally divided, followed by a vote on confirmation of Exec. Cal. # 601 James Blew to be Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, & Policy Development, Department of Education (u.c. agreement from June 25, 2018).