Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 184.

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 357; that the nomination be confirmed; the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, this is a fine young man. He worked for me, did my intelligence work. He is an outstanding person. We are so fortunate

that good people like him are in public service. He speaks well of everyone who is a public servant in our country.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, November 4, 2013, at 5 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 328, 329; that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote, with no intervening action or debate, on the nominations in the order listed; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 224, H.R. 3080, that the substitute amendment, which is at the desk, which is the text of S. 601, as passed by the Senate, be inserted in lieu thereof; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table; that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on part of the Senate with ratio of 5 to 3; all of the above without any action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 229.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

I ask unanimous consent the Veterans' Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3302 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 282, submitted earlier today by Senator Nelson.

Mr. President, I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 283, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday, November 4, 2013; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved until later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 815, the Employee Non-Discrimination Act; that at 5 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 328 and 329, under the previous order; finally, that following disposition of the Brown nomination and when the Senate resumes legislative session, there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form prior to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 815.

Mr. President, there will be up to three rollcall votes on Monday beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, following the remarks of myself and Senator McConnell, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Alan Estevez to be a Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, working with Senator Hagel. The time until 10:30 a.m. will be equally divided. At 10:30, there will be a cloture vote on the nomination. If cloture is invoked, we expect to confirm this nomination later today and continue with cloture votes on additional nominations.

We always complain about what we don't get done, but I think everyone in the Senate should recognize that as a result of our having changed the rules in the Senate, we are able to move through some of these things much more quickly. We have reduced the time from 30 hours after cloture has been invoked to 8 hours, and that has helped us move through these issues. So everybody complains about our never changing things around here, but we have, and it has helped us.

Mr. President, the Senate has the privilege of considering the nominations of many exceptionally talented individuals for a variety of jobs. This week the Senate has already approved three qualified and dedicated nominees--including Richard Griffin, to serve among the people's watchdogs against labor abuses, and Tom Wheeler, to lead the body that oversees the Nation's telecommunications industries. This week we will consider five other fine public servants for a variety of crucial roles in the executive branch. So when one nominee's personal story and professional dedication stands out in this distinguished crowd, it is remarkable. And it is remarkable when we talk about a woman by the name of Patricia Millett.

Ms. Millett has been chosen by the President to be a nominee to serve on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. She graduated at the top of her class from the University of Illinois and then attended Harvard Law School. She clerked for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and served as an appellate attorney in the Justice Department's civil division. She then served as assistant to the Solicitor General under Democratic President Bill Clinton as well as Republican President George W. Bush. Ms. Millett then was chosen to lead the Supreme Court practice at the prestigious law firm of Akin Gump, and has argued more than 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a stunning number that rarely anyone ever reaches. I am sure there are others who have reached this number, but the two who come to my mind are the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who argued many cases, and a long-time friend, the late Rex Lee, who was Solicitor General for President Reagan. Prior to, during his tenure as Solicitor General, and after he argued many cases before the Supreme Court. But 32 arguments before the Supreme Court is a stunningly high number.

Patricia Millett's professional credentials are matched by her personal integrity and determination. She is a military spouse, mother of two children, who argued a case before the Supreme Court while her husband, who

serves in the Navy, was deployed in Afghanistan. Ms. Millett has been a literacy tutor for more than two decades, and volunteers at her church's homeless shelter. She has the support of law enforcement officials, legal professionals, and military organizations from across the political spectrum. Her colleagues have called her fair-minded, principled, and exceptionally gifted, with unwavering integrity. So it is truly a shame that some Republicans would filibuster this exceedingly qualified nominee for unrelated political reasons.

Patricia Millett is nominated to what many call the second most important court in the land--the DC Circuit. This court reviews the complicated decisions and rulemakings of Federal agencies, and since September 11, 2001, has handled some of the most important terrorism and detention cases in the history of our country.

This is what former DC Chief Judge Patricia Wald said about the court's caseload:

The D.C. Circuit hears the most complex, time-consuming,

labyrinthine disputes over regulations with the greatest

impact on ordinary Americans' lives: clean air and water

regulations, nuclear plant safety, health-care reform issues,

insider trading and more. These cases can require thousands

of hours of preparation by the judges, often consuming days

of argument, involving hundreds of parties and interveners,

and necessitating dozens of briefs and thousands of pages of

record--all of which culminates in lengthy, technically

intricate legal opinions. . . . The nature of the D.C.

Circuit's caseload is what sets it apart from other courts.

Unfortunately, today the court is functioning far below its full complement of judges. The number of judges was chosen legislatively a long time ago. Today, only 8 of the 11 seats on the DC Circuit are full. The three remaining vacancies are due in part to Republican obstruction of qualified nominees such as Caitlin Halligan, an extremely qualified woman. Twice she was defeated.

Republicans claim that filling these three remaining vacancies on the DC Circuit would amount to court packing. This is ridiculous. We are not changing any law. We are filling vacancies. Circuit court nominees, including nominees for the DC Circuit, have waited seven times longer for confirmation under President Obama than they did under the last President Bush. So it is no mystery why we have a judiciary crisis in America. Making nominations to vacant judgeships is not court packing. It is the President's job.

I repeat, filling vacant judgeships is the President's job. It has nothing to do with court packing.

Senate Republicans were happy to confirm judges to the DC Circuit when President Reagan and President George W. Bush were in office, but now that a Democrat serves in the White House, they want to eliminate the remaining three DC Circuit seats, although the court's workload has actually grown since President Bush was in office.

Republicans are using convenient but flawed political arguments to hamstring our Nation's court and deny highly qualified nominees such as Ms. Millett a fair up-or-down vote. But she deserves better. She deserves a return to the days when all Senators--including Republicans--took their duty to advise and consent seriously.

I am cautiously optimistic that enough Republicans understand their responsibilities and will allow us to move forward on this very important nomination. She deserves a return to the days when qualified nominees were guaranteed a full and fair confirmation process to avoid the political games. It is basically fairness.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent as in executive session that the nomination of Rhea Sun Suh, of Colorado, to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, sent to the Senate by the President on October 30, 2013, be referred jointly to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.