Thursday August 23, 2018

6:03 p.m. Senate adjourns

6:00 p.m. Items passed in wrap up: S. 2511; S 2896 (regarding lobbyists regarding disclosure by lobbyists of various crimes); S. Res 618 (commemorating the USS Kennedy)
UC to adjourn until 4:00 p.m. Monday August 27th. Vote at 5:30 p.m. on cloture vote on the nomination of Lynn Johnson to be Assistant Secretary for Family Support, Department of HHS.

5:40 p.m. Senator Hatch spoke on sports betting, the Kavanaugh nomination and criminal justice reform.

5:38 p.m. H.R. 6157, the legislative vehicle for Defense-Labor-HHS-Education appropriations minibus was agreed to 85-7.

Senators voting against: 6 Republicans: Crapo, Flake, Lee, Paul, Risch and Toomey; 1 Independent: Sanders.

Senators not voting: 4 Republicans: Corker, Cruz, Fischer and McCain; 3 Democrats: Hirono, Murray and Schatz.

5:14 p.m. Roll call vote began on passage of HR 6157.

5:10 p.m. Senators Shelby, Leahy and Blunt spoke before passage of HR 6157.

5:09 p.m. The Motion to waive was agreed to 68-24.

Senators voting against: 24 Republicans: Barrasso, Boozman, Casssidy, Cotton, Crapo, Enzi, Ernst, Flake, Grassley, Hatch, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kennedy, Lankford, Lee, Paul, Perdue, Risch, Rounds, Sasse, Scott, Thune and Toomey.

Senators not voting: Corker, Cruz, Fischer, Hirono, McCain, Murray, Schatz.

4:47 p.m. Roll call vote began on the Leahy motion to waive the budget act.

4:46 p.m. Senators Enzi and Leahy spoke about the motion to waive the budget act with respect to Pell Grants.

4:45 p.m. The Paul amendment was NOT agreed to 45-48, 60 vote threshold.

Senators in favor: 45 Republicans

Senators opposed: 44 Republicans, 2 Republicans (Collins and Murkowski) and 2 Independents (King and Sanders).

Senators not voting: Corker, Cruz, Fischer, Hirono, McCain, Murray, Schatz.

4:30 p.m. Following disposition of the Paul amendment, the manager’s package (below) will be adopted by unanimous consent. Senator Enzi will be recognized in order to raise a Budget Act point of order. Senator Leahy will then move to waive the point of order. The Senate will then proceed to a roll call vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act.

Following disposition of the motion to waive, the Shelby substitute amendment #3695 will be agreed to, and the Senate will then proceed to a roll call vote on passage of H.R. 6157, as amended.

Manager’s Package:

• Inhofe amendment to make available $2,000,000 for a program to commemorate the 75th anniversary of World War II (3731)

• Lankford amendment of a perfecting nature (3722)

• Menendez amendment to require a report on the portion of the Department of Defense’s advertising budget that is spent on advertising and public relations contracts with socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses (3903)

• Moran amendment to provide funding for the defense community infrastructure pilot program (3702)

• Sasse amendment to make available $4,000,000 for the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (3710)

• Schatz amendment to make available funds for Operation and Maintenance, Army for the sustainment of certain moral, welfare, and recreation facilities (3717)

• Portman-Brown amendment to express the sense of the Senate on research regarding blast exposure on the cellular level of the brain (3860)

• Warner amendment to make available from amounts appropriated for Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide $7,000,000 for the Information Assurance Scholarship Program (3764)

• Cardin amendment to require a report on investments of the Armed Forces in research on energetics (3750)

• Gillibrand amendment to make available from Operation and Maintenance, Air Force and Operation and Maintenance, Air National Guard $45,000,000 for payments to local water authorities and States for treatment of certain acids in drinking water as a result of Air Force-supported activities (3981)

• Shelby-Durbin amendment of a perfecting nature (3910)

• Kennedy amendment to prohibit payments to corporations that have delinquent federal tax liabilities (3880)

• Kennedy amendment to prohibit the use of funds for assistance to the Islamic Republic of Iran (3727)

• Hirono amendment to authorize the use of amounts to reimburse the Government of the Republic of Palau for land acquisition costs for defense sites (3733)

• Murray amendment to make available from Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy $2,000,000 for research on means of reducing fighter aircraft engine noise at the source (3830)

• Cassidy amendment to require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report on improving trauma training for trauma teams of the Department of Defense (3926)

• Merkley amendment to increase certain funding for the Air National Guard, and to provide an offset (3796)

• Isakson amendment to require a Comptroller General of the United States report on the monitoring, compliance, and remediation of lead in military housing (3857)

• Murray amendment to make available from Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide $20,000,000 for the Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program (3831)

• Perdue amendment to require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to Congress a report on maintenance of the E-SC Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft fleet (3940)

• Cruz amendment to limit the use of funds to implement the Arms Trade Treaty (3809)

• Flake amendment to prohibit the use of funds for the development of beerbots or other robot bartenders (3835)

• McCaskill amendment to require the Secretary of Defense to use amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense to provide testing for elevated blood lead levels at military treatment facilities for babies during their 12-month and 24-month wellness checks or annual physical examinations (3841)

• Donnelly-Crapo amendment to increase funding for the guidelines for investigation of potential cancer clusters (3707)

• Blunt-Murray amendment to authorize student aid administration funds to be available for payments for student loan servicing to an institution of higher education that services outstanding Federal Perkins Loans (3721)

• Reed-Capito amendment to require a report on barriers to obtaining and paying for adequate medical care for survivors of childhood cancer (3751)

• Schumer-Collins amendment to increase funding for Lyme Disease activities (3759)

• Warner-Capito-Manchin-Brown-Casey amendment to require a report on Congress on potential barriers to participation in the Coal Worker’s Health Surveillance program (3763)

• Whitehouse-Cassidy amendment to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide Congress a status update on rulemaking, with respect to conditions of certification of health information technology and information blocking, required by the 21st Century Cures Act (3765)

• Heller-Klobuchar amendment to require the Secretary of Education to report to Congress regarding coordination between the Department of Education, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation on STEM programs for students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12 (3810)

• Hyde-Smith-Reed amendment to improve section 115 of the title I of division B with regard to Unemployment Insurance State consortia (3812)

• Cortez-Masto-Ernst amendment to provide for the conduct of a study on the relationship between intimate partner violence and traumatic brain injury (3825)

• Rubio-Nelson amendment to provide funds to enhance harmful algal bloom exposure activities (3853)

• Cassidy-King amendment to require the Director of the NIH shall conduct a comprehensive study and submit to Congress a report that includes a portfolio analysis of current funding levels of the NIH related to mental health and substance use disorder (3858)

• Nelson-Rubio amendment to provide $10,000,000 to the Department of Education to fund a demonstration program to test and evaluate innovative partnerships between institutions of higher education and high-needs State or local educational agencies to train school counselors, social workers, psychologists, or other mental health professionals qualified to provide school-based mental health services in order to expand the employment pipeline and address employment shortages relating to school-based mental health services in low-income public elementary and secondary schools (3862)

• Peters-Capito amendment to ensure youth are considered when the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration follows guidance on the medication-assisted treatment for prescription drug and opioid addiction program (3870)

• Casey amendment to provide funding for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (3875)

• Kennedy amendment to require the Secretary of Labor to provide a report to the Committees on Appropriations on the implementation of the plan to reduce improper payments published by the Department of Labor in the fiscal year 2017 Agency Financial Report (3881)

• Wicker-Peters amendment to provide a sense of Congress that computer science education programs, including coding academies, can provide important benefits to local industries and the economy and help meet in-demand workforce needs, and the Department of Education and Department of Labor should work together with industry to improve and expand computer science education programs and opportunities, including through apprenticeships (3883)

• Heitkamp amendment to provide funding for the SOAR (Stop, Observe, Ask, Respond) to Health and Wellness Program (3893)

• Schatz-Hirono amendment to assess the ongoing mental health impact to the children and families impacted by a volcanic eruption covered by a major disaster declared by the President in calendar year 2018 (3897)

• Cantwell-Cassidy amendment to provide a sense of the Senate that dedicated funding for coding courses in kindergarten through grade 12 education should be a top priority (3908)

• Heller-Manchin amendment to provide additional funding for activities related to neonatal abstinence syndrome (3912)

• Isakson-Murphy amendment to provide for the establishment of the National Neurological Conditions Surveillance System (3927)

• Heitkamp-Murkowski amendment to improve obstetric care for women living in rural areas (3933)

• Blunt-Murray-Alexander amendment to increase funding for oversight of grant programs and operations of the National Institutes of Health (3950)

• Heller-Tester amendment to authorize the use of $2,000,000 to carry out a pilot program for preparing members of the Armed Forces transitioning to civilian life to qualify for, and for assisting in placing them in, apprenticeship programs (3951)

• Merkley-Tester-Crapo-Daines-Risch amendment to require a report on Civilian Conservation Centers (3977)

• Cornyn-Blumenthal amendment to promote school safety in rural areas (3979)

• Casey-Young amendment to increase amounts available for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State grant program (3982)

• Reed-Murkowski amendment to require the Comptroller General of the United States to study and report on the condition of the public school facilities of the United States (3985)

• Rubio amendment to require a report on circumstances in which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may be providing Medicare or Medicaid payments to, or otherwise funding, entities that process genome or exome data in the People’s Republic of China or the Russian Federation (3998)

• Durbin-Grassley amendment to provide for the use of funds by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue regulations on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and biological products (3964)

3:59 p.m. ML McConnell acheived the following UC agreement: At approximately 4:10pm the Senate will proceed to 3 votes in relation to H.R.6157, Minibus Appropriations:
1. Adoption of Paul amendment #3967 (60 vote threshold)
2. Motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to H.R.6157
3. Passage of H.R.6157, as amended

3:45 p.m. Senators Merkley and Whitehouse spoke on climate change.

3:41 p.m. Senator Sasse spoke on the Attorney General and President Trump.

3:32 p.m. Senator Bennet spoke briefly on the land and water conservation fund before discussing climate change.

3:16 p.m. Senator Burr spoke on the land and water conservation fund, and asked UC to take up his bill on this topic. He then objected to his own request.

3:10 p.m. Senator Manchin spoke on his amendment.

3:08 p.m. Senator Cornyn offered a further modification to move the Paul amendment to a 50 vote threshold; Senator Durbin objected, followed by Senator Cornyn objecting to the Durbin modification, followed by Senator Durbin objecting to the original request by Senator Paul.

3:05 p.m. Senator Durbin moved to modify the request, calling up the Manchin amendment 3865 related to pre-existing conditions as well.

2:59 p.m. Senator Paul spoke on his Planned Parenthood amendment, 3967.  Asked UC to call the amendment.

2:48 p.m. Senator Flake spoke on President Trumps tweet about South Africa.

2:33 p.m. Senator Carper spoke about the EPA and the clean power plan.

2:12 p.m. Senator Cornyn spoke on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey.

1:20 p.m. Senator Barrasso spoke on the economy.

1:13 p.m. Senator Flake spoke on “beer-bots”.

1:03 p.m. Senator Murphy spoke on his amendment #4004; regarding funding for arming teachers.

12:55 p.m. Senator Merkley spoke on the Rohingya situation in Myanmar; and later about the Kavanaugh nomination.

12:42 p.m. Senator Brown spoke on bank profits.

12:23 p.m. Senators Manchin, Durbin and Grassley spoke about Manchins amendment regarding pre-existing conditions.

12:10 p.m. Senator Menendez spoke against the Kavanaugh nomination and the affordable care act.

11:20 a.m. Senators Leahy, Capito, Moran, Collins, Blunt and Cardin spoke on the pending appropriations package; including funding for Alzheimers disease and pell grants.

11:19 a.m. By a tally of 90-6, cloture was invoked on the Shelby substitute amendment 3695 to H.R. 6157, the legislative vehicle for Defense-Labor-HHS-Education appropriations minibus.

Senators voting against: 5 Republicans: Flake, Grassley, Lee, Paul, and Toomey; 1 Independent: Sanders.

Senators not voting: 1 Republican: McCain; 3 Democrats: Hirono, Murray and Schatz.

10:33 a.m. The Senate is voting on cloture for the Shelby substitute (Amendment #3695) for the 2019 appropriations bill (H.R. 6157) for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

10:29 a.m. Senator Markey spoke about appropriations for research into Alzheimer’s Disease and other ailments.

10:17 a.m. Senator Blunt spoke about the appropriations bill.

9:55 a.m. Minority Leader Schumer spoke about the Cohen and Manafort cases and Republican support for President Trump. He spoke about the Kavanaugh nomination. He spoke about the proposed arming of school teachers.

9:41 a.m. Majority Leader McConnell spoke about the August agenda. He said the Senate will work through August until it confirms the 17 nominations for which he filed cloture on Wednesday. He spoke about the pending appropriations bill and the Kavanaugh nomination.

9:33 a.m. The Senate resumed consideration of the Johnson nomination.

*****

The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m. and resume consideration of the nomination of Lynn Johnson to be Assistant Secretary for Family Support, Department of HHS.

At 10:30 a.m., the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the Shelby substitute amendment 3695 to H.R. 6157, the legislative vehicle for Defense-Labor-HHS-Education appropriations minibus.

If cloture is invoked, there will be up to thirty hours of post-cloture debate on the amendment. Upon the use or yielding back of time, all pending amendments will be disposed of and the Senate will proceed to a vote on adoption of the substitute. Following disposition of the substitute, the Senate will immediately proceed to a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the underlying bill. The underlying bill would also be subject up to thirty hours of post-cloture debate.

Additional roll call votes are expected during Thursday’s session.