Congressional Record, Senate, May 21, 2020 — Vote on Ratcliffe Nomination (S2572)
Summary
Page S2572 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for May 21, 2020. A speaker says John Ratcliffe's statement about the impact of Russian activities on the 2016 election contradicts what the intelligence community wrote. The Senate then takes the vote on the Ratcliffe nomination, with Scott of Florida asking for the yeas and nays, and Cardin speaks under Coronavirus about the coming recess and a bipartisan plea from the Governors, including Governor Hogan. The clerk also reads the nomination of John Leonard Badalamenti to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, May 21, 2020 — Vote on Ratcliffe Nomination (S2572).”
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S2572 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 21, 2020
RATCLIFFE directly contradicts what The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. The bill clerk read the nomination of
the Intelligence community had writ- FISCHER). Without objection, it is so John Leonard Badalamenti, of Florida,
ten in plain English. It said: ‘‘We did ordered. to be United States District Judge for
not make an assessment of the impact VOTE ON RATCLIFFE NOMINATION the Middle District of Florida.
that Russian activities had on the out- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under
come of the 2016 election.’’ So I asked question is, Will the Senate advise and the previous order, with respect to the
JOHN RATCLIFFE where he got his infor- consent to the Ratcliffe nomination? Ratcliffe nomination, the motion to re-
mation. He referred back to the Intel- Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam Presi- consider is considered made and laid
ligence community’s assessment and dent, I ask for the yeas and nays. upon the table, and the President will
the committee’s report, neither of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a be immediately notified of the Senate’s
which supported JOHN RATCLIFFE’s sufficient second? action.
statements. There appears to be a sufficient sec- The Senator from Maryland.
You have to ask yourself, Why would ond. CORONAVIRUS
JOHN RATCLIFFE say something that is Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I
The clerk will call the roll.
obviously not true? That is because know that we are all looking forward
The bill clerk called the roll.
Donald Trump wants us to believe that to trying to finish our legislative work
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators
he didn’t benefit from Russian inter- this week. The majority leader has an-
are necessarily absent: the Senator
ference, and that, first and foremost, is nounced that next week the Senate
from Tennessee (Mr. ALEXANDER), the
what matters to JOHN RATCLIFFE. If will be in recess for the traditional Me-
Senator from North Carolina (Mr.
JOHN RATCLIFFE is willing to misrepre- morial Day recess.
BURR), the Senator from Alaska (Ms.
sent intelligence assessments that are Let me just urge our colleagues that
MURKOWSKI), and the Senator from
already public that anybody can read before we leave for the recess, we need
South Dakota (Mr. ROUNDS).
for themselves, my take is there is no to act on the challenges that COVID–19
telling how he would misrepresent in- Further, if present and voting, the
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. ALEX- is imposing on our State and local gov-
telligence that is still classified. ernments. To me, it would be irrespon-
There is every reason to believe his ANDER) would have voted ‘‘yea.’’
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the sible for us to leave and go into recess
public statements would be designed recognizing that our State and local
for one purpose and one purpose only, Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. MAR-
KEY), the Senator from Washington
governments are so much impacted by
and that is to make sure that Donald COVID–19.
Trump is pleased. Neither the Congress (Mrs. MURRAY), and the Senator from
They are making decisions now. They
nor the American people have any rea- Vermont (Mr. SANDERS) are necessarily
have to put their budgets together.
son to trust that JOHN RATCLIFFE’s tes- absent.
They have to adjust this year’s budget
timony or his other public statements The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there
and plan for next year’s budget. What
are accurate. any other Senators in the Chamber de-
is in the balance? Well, it is our mu-
My view is this kind of approach siring to vote?
nicipalities, it is law enforcement, it is
taken by the Director of National In- The result was announced—yeas 49,
police, it is fire, it is emergency rescue.
telligence is a real threat to democ- nays 44, as follows:
For our counties, it is our schools and
racy. When the Director of National In- [Rollcall Vote No. 101 Ex.]
funding of our schools. It also deals
telligence demonstrates that he is will- YEAS—49 with public health for our State. It is
ing to bury the actual intelligence and Barrasso Gardner Portman public health and so many other dif-
say whatever makes Donald Trump Blackburn Graham Risch
ferent issues that are dependent upon
happy at any particular moment, the Blunt Grassley Roberts
Boozman Hawley Romney the State having the resources in order
American people are going to lose con- Braun Hoeven Rubio to respond to the needs of their citi-
fidence and lose confidence quickly. Capito Hyde-Smith
It is not just about foreign inter-
Sasse zens—our constituents—as well as to
Cassidy Inhofe Scott (FL)
ference in our democracy. That is plen- Collins Johnson deal with the challenges of COVID–19.
Scott (SC)
Cornyn Kennedy I will give you one example on that.
ty serious as it is. It is about other Shelby
Cotton Lankford
Sullivan This week, by teleconference with rep-
threats from countries like Iran, North Cramer Lee
Thune resentatives of our higher education,
Korea, and China. It is about weapons Crapo Loeffler
Cruz McConnell Tillis University of Maryland—they depend
of mass destruction and terrorism. It is Toomey
Daines McSally very much on the revenues they get
about whether the government is se- Enzi Moran Wicker
from the State and the revenues they
cretly spying on Americans without a Ernst Paul Young
Fischer Perdue get from their students. Both are very
warrant or committing torture. Ulti-
much in jeopardy today. The least we
mately, it is about the issue of war and NAYS—44 can do is to make sure that the States
peace and whether Americans will be Baldwin Harris Rosen have the resources to continue these
asked to die for our country. Bennet Hassan Schatz
The American people look to intel- Blumenthal Heinrich Schumer
critical missions. They just don’t have
ligence leaders for the facts—the facts, Booker Hirono Shaheen it.
Brown Jones Sinema Let me give you some of the numbers
the unvarnished truth on these and Cantwell Kaine Smith so that my colleagues are aware of it.
other issues, which is why it is so im- Cardin King Stabenow
Carper Klobuchar For the State of Maryland, in the rev-
portant this position must have a foun- Tester
Casey Leahy enue projections for the current fiscal
dation of credibility. Coons Manchin
Udall
Time and again, JOHN RATCLIFFE has Van Hollen year that ends June 30, the revenues
Cortez Masto Menendez
demonstrated that he does not clear Duckworth Merkley
Warner will be off by as much as $925 million to
that lowest bar; that bar that means Durbin Murphy Warren $1.25 billion. Those are revenue losses.
Feinstein Peters Whitehouse On top of that, their fiscal year 2022
you have to have credibility in this po- Gillibrand Reed Wyden
sition, and I urge my colleagues, when revenue projection is another loss of
we vote in a few minutes, to reject NOT VOTING—7 $2.1 to $2.4 billion. That is for the State
JOHN RATCLIFFE’s nomination to be Di- Alexander Murkowski Sanders of Maryland. Those are not our subdivi-
rector of National Intelligence. Burr Murray sions.
Markey Rounds Baltimore City is projecting a reduc-
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum. The nomination was confirmed. tion in revenues by $141 million this
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The f year. That is going to require layoffs.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
clerk will call the roll. They have already talked about layoffs
The legislative clerk proceeded to EXECUTIVE CALENDAR and not hiring additional police offi-
call the roll. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- cers. Those police officers are needed in
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam Presi- ate will resume consideration of the order to keep Baltimore safe. We know
dent, I ask unanimous consent that the following nomination, which the clerk the challenges we have in our munic-
order for the quorum call be rescinded. will report. ipal centers, and Baltimore City is
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May 21, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2573
under a consent order decree. That is Maryland, and Governor Cuomo, the The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
being jeopardized by the inability of Democratic Governor from New York, YOUNG). Without objection, it is so or-
Baltimore to deal with these costs. have joined with all of our Governors dered.
They have to balance their budget. in saying that they need help now from (The remarks of Mr. CRUZ pertaining
The State of Maryland has to balance the Federal Government in order to to the introduction of S. 3835 are print-
its budget. Baltimore City has to bal- maintain critical missions of public ed in today’s RECORD under ‘‘State-
ance its budget. It doesn’t have the lee- safety, of public health, of education ments on Introduced Bills and Joint
way we have in order to respond to a and, yes, to meet the direct needs re- Resolutions.’’)
crisis by pumping money at a problem. lated to COVID–19. They need help Mr. CRUZ. I yield the floor.
Baltimore County has a $172 million now. Yes, we need to respond. CLOTURE MOTION
revenue projection. That is a 22-percent I am pleased that there is a bipar-
tisan group of Senators who have filed The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant
reduction in this year’s budget in re-
the SMART Act. The Governors say to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the
gard to income tax revenues alone.
they need $500 billion in order to get Senate the pending cloture motion,
They have a 70-percent reduction in
through this immediate crisis—$500 bil- which the clerk will state.
motel and hotel tax revenues.
For Montgomery County, our neigh- lion more. Well, the SMART Act pro- The legislative clerk read as follows:
bor that borders DC, there is a $250 mil- vides $500 billion. Two-thirds would go CLOTURE MOTION
lion projected revenue loss for this to the State and one-third to the local We, the undersigned Senators, in ac-
year. Prince George’s County has a $134 governments. That is an important cordance with the provisions of rule
million revenue loss for this year, and start, but we could do better than that. XXII of the Standing Rules of the Sen-
that includes a reduction of $886 mil- The HEROES Act, the bill that ate, do hereby move to bring to a close
lion in income tax revenues. Anne passed the House of Representatives, debate on the nomination of John
Arundel County anticipates a $63 mil- provides $875 billion, and 57 percent Leonard Badalamenti, of Florida, to be
lion loss of revenue. They have frozen goes to the States, meeting what the United States District Judge for the
all positions. Howard County projects a States need; that is, basically the Middle District of Florida.
$30 to $40 million loss of revenue. They States’ needs. And 42 percent goes to Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Joni
normally have a growth of $25 million. local governments, half to the coun- Ernst, John Barrasso, Deb Fischer,
ties, half to municipalities over 50,000. John Cornyn, Roger F. Wicker, Roy
That is a swing of $55 million to $65 Blunt, John Thune, Rob Portman,
million for a county that wasn’t large That would go a long way to meeting
the needs of our local first responders, Shelley Moore Capito, Steve Daines,
enough to get direct help under the Lindsey Graham, Pat Roberts, Cindy
CARES Act. our police, our fire, our emergency res- Hyde-Smith, Richard Burr, Mike
I mention the CARES Act because it cue, our schools. Those types of issues Crapo.
was an important bill. When we first could be addressed under that need.
We have to respond. We just can’t go The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan-
took it up, it did not include a robust imous consent the mandatory quorum
provision for State and local. We put home and say that this is not our prob-
lem. These are our constituents. They call has been waived.
that in on the Senate floor, and we are The question is, Is it the sense of the
pleased we were able to do that. It is depend upon local police and fire. They
depend upon our schools being prepared Senate that debate on the nomination
limited. It is limited because the of John Leonard Badalamenti, of Flor-
money that we made available under to educate their children. They depend
upon sanitation being collected. They ida, to be United States District Judge
the CARES Act provided help to State for the Middle District of Florida, shall
depend upon the public health capac-
and local governments on their direct be brought to a close?
ities. That is where they get those
costs associated with COVID–19. That The yeas and nays are mandatory
services. If we don’t provide the where-
money has been used for direct costs under the rule.
withal under the balanced budget rules,
associated with COVID–19. The clerk will call the roll.
they are not going to be able to provide
I have already pointed out the rev-
those essential services. The legislative clerk called the roll.
enue losses in the State of Maryland My plea is that before we go into re- Mr. THUNE. The following Senators
and in our subdivisions. The CARES cess, let us take up at least the issues are necessarily absent: the Senator
Act doesn’t provide any help in regard affecting State and local governments from Tennessee (Mr. ALEXANDER), the
to making up for the revenue losses. and do something to help so that they Senator from North Carolina (Mr.
The CARES Act went only to jurisdic- can continue to provide essential serv- BURR), the Senator from Alaska (Ms.
tions of 500,000 or more—over 500,000. ices to our constituents and they can MURKOWSKI), and the Senator from
Only a few of our counties were eligi- deal with the direct costs associated South Dakota (Mr. ROUNDS).
ble for help in my State. Most of our with COVID–19 in their communities.
counties were not eligible for help di- Further, if present and voting the
As we are beginning to reopen our Senator from Tennessee (Mr. ALEX-
rectly. They had to apply through the communities, we need to make sure ANDER) would have voted ‘‘yea.’’
State, but they were not eligible for di- our State and local governments have
rect help. Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the
the resources to respond to the chal- Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. MAR-
Let me give you one county: lenges when more people are getting
Wicomico County, Eastern Shore of KEY), the Senator from Washington
together. We also need to respond if we (Mrs. MURRAY), and the Senator from
Maryland. That is where the poultry are going to get our economy back on
processing plants are located. That is Vermont (Mr. SANDERS) are necessarily
track. It is not going to get back on absent.
where the problems of COVID–19 need- track if our State and local govern-
ed to be contained. We did not provide The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there
ments are laying off their workers. We any other Senators in the Chamber de-
any direct help to Wicomico County in need to respond in a positive way, and
regard to stabilization funds. That was siring to vote?
we need to do that now. The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 65,
wrong. I urge my colleagues to take up legis-
As we all know, we treated our host nays 28, as follows:
lation before we go into recess in order
jurisdiction here, the District of Co- to help the people of our Nation [Rollcall Vote No. 102 Ex.]
lumbia, wrongly by not allowing them through our State and local govern- YEAS—65
to get the same minimum distribution ments. Barrasso Cramer Graham
as a State. The CARES Act helped, but I suggest the absence of a quorum. Blackburn Crapo Grassley
it didn’t deal with the current crisis Blunt Cruz Hassan
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
Boozman Daines Hawley
that we now find at State and local clerk will call the roll. Braun Duckworth Hoeven
governments. The senior assistant legislative clerk Capito Durbin Hyde-Smith
The Governors have issued a bipar- proceeded to call the roll. Carper Enzi Inhofe
tisan plea. Governor Hogan, who is the Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unan- Cassidy Ernst Johnson
Collins Feinstein Jones
chair of the National Governors Asso- imous consent that the order for the Cornyn Fischer Kennedy
ciation, the Republican Governor from quorum call be rescinded. Cotton Gardner King
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