determine whether you support the president or not. this is also not a vote to determine whether you can work in a bipartisan manner. i think this is a vote to determine whether you support the american taxpayer. mrs. galante has demonstrated her ability to identify the multitude of problems of the f.a.a. and i believe it is incumbent upon us to reject in nomination and demand real forms at f.h.a. and a nominee who represents and appreciates the urgency of this situation and a willingness to address it. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: i very much enjoy working with the senator from alabama. he's been outstanding on the banking committee and i agree with almost every criticism he's made regarding the f.h.a.

we have stood together trying to cause the housing industry to work much better than it is for not just those trying to purchase homes but obviously the american taxpayer that he just alluded to. but i want to also point out something that was just said. the reason -- one of the main reasons the f.h.a. is in the problem it's in is the loans that were made in 2006, 2007, and 2008, long before this nominee was there. and i agree that this nominee needs to be more aggressive in making changes, and i agree that even more so that this congress needs to be more aggressive in making changes. mr. president, i would like to ask unanimous consent that this letter from the nominee to myself regarding reforms between now and january 1 be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: i thank you and i

want to thank the senator from alabama regarding f.h.a. i think it's better having a director there to try to make those changes happen than not. with that, i yield the floor and see the senator from ohio. mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i thank the senator from tennessee who is a valued member of the banking committee. thank you for your comments in support of mrs. galante. i heard the criticisms senator shelby offered. i want to answer a couple of those and then want to go on with the support of mrs. galante. two years i introduced an f.h.a. reform bill which unfortunately because of people on the other side has been blocked for whatever reasons. two weeks ago we tried to pass the f.h.a. emergency fiscal solvency act, a commonsense reform measure that came out of the house of representatives, sponsored by a republican from

illinois, congressman begert, a chair of the house services subcommittee. it passed the house on a suspension of 402-7. passing that bill would not have prevented action that connects congress, yet my colleagues, some of my colleagues stand in the way of taxpayer protections. let me turn to ms. galante and the reason i'm supporting her nomination. i'm inclined to support an ohioan. she shows deep interest in the challenges facing the housing market in northeast ohio, a place that's been devastated by a hollowing out of our manufacturing base and preyed upon by unscrupulous subprime lenders for a period of more than a decade. she met with the cleveland housing network, city officials to hear about all the great work that people are doing in northeast ohio to rebuild the

city's housing market. some of the most innovative ideas in the country have come out of cleveland in the land bank and housing network. after i sat down with her and shared stories of big banks allowing f.h.a. properties in cincinnati to fall into decay, f.h.a. updated its servicing rules to hold these banks accountable. f.h.a. selected cleveland, akron and canton for its next round of note sales. this program allows for the sale of distressed and delinquent f.h.a. mortgages to parties that will rehabilitate the loans in order to help stabilize these neighborhoods. because of her many years of experience in housing and in real estate and her commitment to addressing the crucial issues facing today's hardest-hit cities, big cities and smaller cities alike and what's happened to these housing markets i urge a "yes" vote on the galante nomination. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the

clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. johnson: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. johnson: mr. president, today i rise in support of the nomination of miss carol j. galante to be h.u.d. assistant secretary for housing and housing commissioner. carol galante, prior to her designation as the acting f.h.a.

commissioner, ms. galante served as deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing programs overseeing f.h.a.'s family portfolio as well as 1.6 million units of assisted housing. the f.h.a. has played an important counter cyclical role in the housing market as private sources of capital have withdrawn. much has been done by the administration and congress to strengthen f.h.a.'s underwriting and fiscal position in recent years. however, as we have seen in a recent report on the financial status of the f.h.a., the legacy of loans insured in prior years still pose a threat to the fund that must be banished.

it is important f.h.a. have a confirmed management team in place to continue oversight on this legacy of loans. ms. galante is a highly qualified nominee and i urge my colleagues to confirm her without delay. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings on the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, my office submitted our latest

offer to the majority leader last night at 7:10 p.m. and offered to work through the night to find common ground. the majority leader's staff informed us they would be getting back to us this morning at 10:00 a.m., despite the obvious time crunch we all have. it's now 2:00 p.m., and we have yet to receive a response to our good-faith offer. now, i'm concerned about the lack of urgency here. i think we all know we're running out of time. this is far too much at stake for political gamesmanship. we need to protect the american families and businesses from this looming tax hike. everyone agrees that that action is necessary. in order to get things moving, i have just spoken with the majority leader. i also placed a call to the vice president to see if he could help jump-start the negotiations

on his side. the vice president and i have worked together on solutions before, and i believe we can again. i want my colleagues to know that we'll keep everyone updated. the consequences of this are too high for the american people to be engaged in a political messaging campaign. i'm interested in getting a result here. i was here all day yesterday. as i indicated, we submitted our latest proposal at 7:00 p.m. last night. we're willing to work with whoever, whoever can help. there is no single issue that remains an impossible sticking point. the sticking point appears to be a willingness, an interest or frankly the courage to close the deal. i want everyone to know i'm willing to get this done, but i need a dance partner.

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: we have been negotiating now for 36 hours or thereabouts. we did have conversations last night that ended late in the evening between staffs. this morning, we have been trying to come up with some counteroffer to my friend's proposal. we have been unable to do that. i have had a number of conversations with the president, and at this stage we're not able to make a counteroffer. the republican leader has told me that -- and he's just said here -- that he's working with the vice president, and he and the vice president, i wish them well. in the meantime, i will continue to try to come up with something, but at this stage, i don't have a counteroffer to make. perhaps as the day wears on, i will be able to.

i will say this. i think that the republican leader has shown absolutely good faith. it's just that we are apart on some pretty big issues. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there are now two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the baer nomination. who yields time? the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is.

the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or to change his or her vote? hearing none, the ayes are of 64, the nays are 26, and the nomination is confirmed. the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: can we have order, please. the presiding officer: yes. order, please. mr. leader. mr. reid: mr. president, we had a brief colloquy, the republican leader and i, before the vote. now that everyone's on the floor, i'll elaborate a little bit. we have one more vote today. then we're both going to have our respective caucuses. we hope there will be an announcement after that but we'll have to wait and see. over the last 24 hours, we've been working with senator mcconnell's staff and senator

mcconnell to craft legislation to shield middle-class families from huge tax increases that could pass both chambers on a bipartisan basis. but i want to be clear that there are still serious differences between the two sides. i'm only going to talk about one. we've made a lot of progress, and i said earlier today, i appreciate very much senator mcconnell's good-faith efforts and i'm confident that he feels the same way about me. the one thing i do want to mention is that we're not going to have any social security cu cuts. at this stage, that just doesn't seem appropriate. we're open to discussion about entitlement reforms but we're going to have to take it in a different direction. the present status will not work. we're willing to make difficult concessions as part of a balanced, comprehensive agreement but we'll not agree to cut social security benefits as part of a small or short-term agreement, especially if that agreement gives more handouts to the rich. with 36 hours left until the country goes over the cliff, i

remain hopeful but realistic about the prospects of reaching a bipartisan agreement. at some point in the negotiating process, it becomes obvious when the other side is intentionally demanding concessions they know the other side's not willing to make. we are not there, mr. president. so i hope that we are going to be able to go further. right now with the status of negotiations, we are not where we could come forward and say we have this for you. as i indicated, i'll just make another statement in that regard, at some point in the negotiating process, it appears that there are things that stop us from moving forward. i hope we're not there but we're getting real close and that's why i still hold out hope that we can get something done. but i'm not overly optimistic but i am cautiously optimistic that we can get something done.

the presiding officer: okay. under the previous order, there are now -- under the previous order, there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote on the galante nomination. who yields time? leader. mr. reid: mr. president, i hope i made clear -- i hope i made clear, we have one vote. that's all we have. i hope later in the evening we'll have another vote or two. but right now we don't have th that. we have one scheduled vote and that's taking place right now. but everybody should hang loose because we -- something may break and we'll be able to get something done. the presiding officer: who yields time? all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination.

is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: