Floor Statements

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 202.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 24.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 221.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 199, submitted earlier today.

I further ask unanimous consent 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 the consideration of S. Res. 200, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and that the motion 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 3 p.m., Monday, May 13; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Truncale nomination; finally, notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motions filed during today's session of the Senate ripen at 5:30 p.m., Monday, May 13.

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

Madam President, on a completely different matter, as I have been discussing, the Senate is continuing to make better progress in its filling of vacancies in the executive branch and the Federal judiciary. After last month's action to restore a more functional, straightforward system for considering lower level nominations, we have begun the process of clearing the executive calendar backlog that has been left by literally years of partisan obstruction.

This morning, we will vote to confirm three qualified individuals the President nominated for the Export-Import Bank: Kimberley Reed, of West Virginia, to serve as President and Spencer Bachus, of Alabama, and Judith Pryor, of Ohio, to serve on the Board of Directors. Combined, they have spent years waiting for confirmation. Now, thanks to last month's action, we will consider them on the floor this week.

We will also vote to confirm Joseph Bianco, of New York, as U.S. circuit judge for the Second Circuit. Mr. Bianco is a graduate of Georgetown University and of Columbia University School of Law. He has contributed years of distinguished service as an assistant U.S. attorney and now as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York. The Senate confirmed him to that last role by a voice vote back in 2005. So I hope we can muster

another strong, bipartisan vote of confidence in this exceptionally well-qualified jurist.

Finally, the Senate will consider Janet Dhillon, of Pennsylvania, to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and it will consider Michael Park, of New York, to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Second Circuit. I am proud that even amid partisan distractions, this body will continue fulfilling one of its key constitutional responsibilities.

Madam President, I am saddened to have to begin my remarks this morning by acknowledging yet another senseless act of school violence in America.

Less than a month after the 20th anniversary of the tragic shooting at Columbine High School, another Colorado community was shattered yesterday afternoon. Just miles away, at the STEM School Highlands Ranch, one student has been killed, eight others have been wounded, and many more young lives have been changed forever at the hands of two of their fellow students.

I know the entire Senate joins me in holding the victims of yesterday's shooting, their families, and their entire community in our prayers today.

Our gratitude is with the first responders of Douglas County, whose swift action to engage the shooters saved untold lives.