Tuesday, June 6, 2017

6:24 p.m. Majority Leader McConnell announced the Senate will reconvene tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. and following Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 722, the Iran Sanctions bill. The Senate will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 722 at 10:30 a.m.

5:49 p.m. Senator Whitehouse spoke about the H.M.S. Gaspee.

5:35 p.m. The Senate passed S. 1094, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability Act as amended by voice vote.

5:31 p.m. Senator Isakson spoke about healthcare for veterans and yielded back all time.

5:17 p.m. Senators Hoeven and Rubio spoke about healthcare for veterans.

5:09 p.m. Senator Murray spoke about healthcare.

4:55 p.m. Senator Perdue spoke about the looming budget deadline.

4:45 p.m. Senator Nelson spoke about legislation he introduced to improve healthcare for veterans.

4:30 p.m. Senator Thune spoke about the Obama Administration’s broken healthcare promises.

3:44 p.m. Senator Merkley spoke against the administration’s budget plans.

3:22 p.m. Senator Durbin  spoke about the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris accord. He spoke in favor of the new health care system.

2:45 p.m. Senators Isakson, Tester and Portman joined in a colloquy in favor of the Veterans Administration bill.

2:44 p.m. By a vote of  67 to 33, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Courtney Elwood to be general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Joining 50 Republicans in support of confirmation were independent King and Democrats Bennet, Carper, Casey, Cortez-Masto, Donnelly, Duckworth, Feinstein, Harris, Heitkamp, Kaine, Klobuchar, Manchin, McCaskill, Murphy, Nelson and Warner.

Republicans Heller and Paul and independent Sanders joined all other Democrats in opposition to confirmation.

At 2:15 p.m. the Senate will proceed to a roll call vote on confirmation of the Elwood nomination.

Following disposition of the Elwood nomination, there will be up to 3 hours of debate, after which the Senate is expected to voice vote passage of S. 1094, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability Act.

Please note, ML McConnell has filed cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 722, Iran Sanctions.

12:01 p.m. The Senate recessed until 2:15 p.m. to accomodate the weekly caucus luncheons.

11:51 a.m. Senator Kennedy spoke on the anniversary of D-Day, Memorial Day, and the “ghost army”.

11:38 a.m. Senator Cassidy spoke on health care.

11:19 a.m. Senator Cotton spoke on the attacks in London and section 702 of the FISA act.

11:11 a.m. Senators Wyden and Cotton spoke about the Elwood nomination.

10:28 a.m. Senator Cornyn spoke about health care. He spoke about the veterans bill.

10:12 a.m. Minority Leader Schumer spoke about the Trump administration’s public works plans. He spoke about the health care law.

10:03 a.m. Majority Leader McConnell spoke about the Obama administration’s health care law. He spoke about the upcoming vote on the Veterans Affairs legislation. He spoke about the Elwood nomination.

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The Senate will convene at 10:00 a.m., and following any leader remarks, will proceed to Executive Session to resume consideration of the nomination of Courtney Elwood to be General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus meetings.

At 2:15 p.m. the Senate will proceed to a roll call vote on confirmation of the Elwood nomination.

Following disposition of the Elwood nomination, there will be up to 3 hours of debate, after which the Senate is expected to voice vote passage of S. 1094, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability Act.

Please note, ML McConnell has filed cloture on S. 722, Iran Sanctions.