Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be given 2 minutes and that Senator Gillibrand be given 2 minutes on this amendment.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to thank my dear friend Senator Gillibrand for her work on this amendment and for being such a fierce advocate for 9/11 responders and survivors. I would like to thank the Republican cosponsors, including Senators Braun and Lummis, for their support. And Senator Wicker, I thank him as well as thanking Leader McConnell. This amendment is a huge step forward in making sure the first responders and those injured on 9/11 are never left behind. Before the smoke even cleared on 9/11 and before the rubble even quit burning, our first responders--our firefighters, our police officers, EMT, FBI agents, construction workers--were just running to danger, trying to do their jobs and save lives. For their sacrifice, many first responders developed severe health complications from working in the aftermath of the attack--lifelong injuries, serious cancers. Many of them are no longer with us, and some of them were friends of mine. Twenty-two years later, people are still getting sick from the dust, the air, the poisons. We have created the World Trade Center Health Program so that 9/11 responders could afford the necessary healthcare, but we can't let funding for the program dry up. We cannot fail to properly care for those who answered the call of duty. Our work is not done. Just as the first responders have been there for us and for America, we will continue fighting for them. This will fund $450 million to the World Trade Center Health Program and another over $200 million for the military employees who rushed to danger at the Pentagon and in Shanksville. It will be fully paid for. It will also, for the first time, help those, as I said, at the Pentagon and the DOD. I hope, from all of my colleagues, that we can have unanimous and broad support for this amendment. I yield to the Senator from New York, my colleague, who is such a leader on this legislation.

Mr. SCHUMER. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this vote be 10 minutes, that subsequent votes be 10 minutes, and that we all hang around and get the job done.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) are necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, for the information of the Members, we are getting very close to locking down a final agreement, which will allow us to vote on a number of things, including the managers' amendments and final passage this evening. We are still waiting for some final paperwork to be done. So, in the meantime, I am going to introduce and ask unanimous consent for a resolution praising Tony Bennett, making August 3, his birthday, Tony Bennett Day.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 255.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the following amendments to S. 2226: Rubio, No. 523; Young, No. 230; Daines, No. 1084; further, that with respect to the amendments listed above, the Senate vote on the amendments in the order listed, with no further amendments or motions in order, and with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and that there be 2 minutes equally divided prior to each vote; further, that upon disposition of the Daines amendment, that it be in order to send to the desk a managers' package of 47 amendments, and after the clerk reports it, I ask that the clerk also read the numbers and sponsors of each of the individual amendments in this package and that they be the only amendments remaining in order to be offered to S. 2226; that the Senate vote on the amendment with no intervening action or debate; that upon disposition of the managers' amendments, the cloture motions filed during Wednesday's session ripen and the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the substitute amendment No. 935, as amended; further, that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be considered expired, the Schumer amendment No. 936 be withdrawn, and the Senate vote on the substitute amendment, as amended, with no intervening action or debate; further, that if the substitute amendment is agreed to, the cloture motion with respect to the underlying bill, S. 2226, be withdrawn, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with 60 affirmative votes required for passage; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with up to 10 minutes for debate, equally divided, prior to the vote on passage; finally, that upon disposition of S. 2226, the Senate immediately proceed to the consideration of H.R. 2670, which was received from the House and is at the desk; that all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of the Senate bill, as passed, be inserted; H.R. 2670, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, the Senate bill then be indefinitely postponed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. SCHUMER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) are necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Leader McConnell. I ask for the yeas and nays on final passage of the NDAA. Cloture Motions Withdrawn

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 60-vote threshold with respect to this amendment be vitiated and we vote by voice.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 60-vote threshold be vitiated and that we vote by voice.

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), are necessarily absent.