and this will be our chance in the united states senate. in just an hour we'll have this procedural vote. we need 60. we have 55 democrats but we need five republicans to step up and join us. i believe we'll have them and i hope many, many more. let's make this a solid, bipartisan effort, a solid stand against discrimination. that ought to be one thing that brings both parties together. and with a solid vote coming out of the senate, i hope that our friends on the opposite side of the rotunda will consider and pass this important and historic legislation. madam president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi.

mr. cochran: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cochran: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. cochran: madam president, i'm pleased to support the confirmation of ms. debra brown to be a united states district court judge -- the presiding officer: will the senator suspend? under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations which the clerk will report. the clerk: nominations, gregory howard woods of new york to be united states district judge. debra m. brown of mississippi to be united states district judge. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form. the senator from mississippi. mr. cochran: madam president, i'm pleased to support the

confirmation of ms. debra brown to be a united states district court judge for the northern district of mississippi. ms. brown graduated from the mississippi state university school of architecture in 1987 where she served as a member of the school's advisory council. she worked as an architect in washington, d.c., where she participated in the renovation and restoration of municipal and historic buildings and in the construction of commercial and residential properties as well. she received her law degree from the university of mississippi school of law in 1997 where she served as associate editor and articles editor of the mississippi law journal. ms. brown became the only lawyer in mississippi with degrees in both architecture and law. in 1997 she joined the phelps

dunn bar law firm in jackson, mississippi, where she became a partner and remained until january 2012 when she joined as a shareholder to the jackson law firm of wise, carter, child and caraway. both of these firms are highly respected. during her almost 16 years in private practice, ms. brown has had the opportunity to be involved in numerous civil cases in a wide range of subjects. her specialty was commercial construction and civil liability litigation. she is a member of the american bar association, the national bar association, and the federal bar association as well as a member of the mississippi state bar, the magnolia bar association and the mississippi women lawyers association, where she has served as president. she is a fellow of the

mississippi bar foundation. in 2004, ms. brown received the jackson young lawyers outstanding service award. and in 2008, she was recognized by the mississippi business journal as one of mississippi's leading business women. her nomination was approved unanimously by the u.s. senate committee on the judiciary. madam president, i am very pleased to support this nomination. ms. debra brown is very well qualified for this important responsibility, and i am confident she will serve with distinction as a united states district court judge. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi.

mr. wicker: madam president, i rise this afternoon joining my colleague from mississippi in strong support of debra brown's confirmation to the united states district court for the northern district of mississippi. ms. brown was nominated in may by president obama to fill the seat held by my friend, the late district court judge allen pepper. as one of mississippi's two united states senators, i enthusiastically represent ms. brown based upon her qualifications. in addition, i am thrilled and honored to be part of this historic moment for our state. because if confirmed, ms. brown would become the first female african-american united states district judge in mississippi. making history, however, would be just the latest achievement in ms. brown's admirable career, which has reflected a longtime

commitment to excellence, the kind of excellence her parents expected of her and her four sisters throughout their childhood. ms. brown would go on to make her parents proud and to be a credit to her hometown. sharing in this special moment today is ms. brown's native yazoo city, mississippi. it is worth mentioning along with federal courts weir barber and reeves, ms. brown becomes the third district court judge in recent history from yazoo city. ms. brown is a proven trailblazer. as my colleague stated she was the second african-american female to graduate from the school of architecture at mississippi state university and the first member of her family to earn a law degree which she completed in 1997 from the university of mississippi school of law.

so her confirmation today will be a source of justifiable pride for two of mississippi's great universities. not many lawyers in the country have degrees in architecture and in law. and indeed, debra brown is reportedly the only practicing lawyer in mississippi with an architectural background. following law school, ms. brown rose to become a partner in the law office of phelps, dunn bar in jackson, mississippi. since last year she has been a shareholder in the law firm of wise, carter, child and caraway, where she has handled a wide variety of commercial litigation matters before both federal and state courts. according to press reports, ms. brown's friends expect her to be very coordinated, very detailed, and very prepared as a judge. ms. brown's college dean at mississippi state university recalled that her key character

traits are perseverance, diligence, and focus. he noted that she overcame early struggles winning the top architecture student honor, the alpha ro ki medal in her senior year. it is clear ms. brown will bring a unique perspective to the court, drawing upon a diverse professional and educational background. i'm confident her service will be good for our country, her state and especially for the city of greenville where she will reside. having a judge who is also an architect would be particularly serendipitous for greenville. the federal courthouse there is woefully inadequate, madam president. the court is in desperate need of a new state-of-the-art courthouse. i'm hopeful ms. brown's tenure will coincide with its construction. although ms. brown's law career has focused primarily on civil

litigation, her dedication to her professional -- to her profession goes far beyond casework. from 2003 to 2004, she served as president of the mississippi women lawyers association. she was also named by the mississippi business journal as one of mississippi's 50 leading businesswomen. in addition to pro bono work, ms. brown serves on the board of the mississippi center for justice, a public interest law firm that combats discrimination and poverty in mississippi, and also operation shoestring which empowers families and children in the jackson community. she's been endorsed by a number of prestigious organizations including the magnolia bar association, which represents minority and other lawyers and judges throughout the state of mississippi. madam president, our country needs judges who have a record of professional excellence, integrity and public service. ms. brown has demonstrated this

throughout her career. i urge my colleagues to vote for her confirmation for the u.s. district court for the northern district of mississippi. and i yield the floor. mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i'm told the senator from illinois is waiting to speak, and i know that the time is -- there has been time reserved to me on these judges. of course i'll be willing to yield to him. how long -- i ask the chair how long does the senator from illinois need. madam president, i will yield to him, but i do want to tell my two friends from mississippi, i agree with what they said about their nominee. i was proud to vote for her in the senate judiciary committee, proud to put her name on the agenda and proud to have the

hearing for her. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized. a senator: thank you, madam president. i ask to deliver my remarks while seated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kirk: madam president, i would say i have been silent for the last two years due to a stroke two years ago. i've risen to speak because i believe so passionately in enacting the enda statute, which is -- you know, this is not a major change to law. i would say it is already the law in 21 states. i think it's particularly appropriate for an illinois republican to speak on behalf of this measure. in the true tradition of everett mckinley dirksen and abraham lincoln, men who gave us the 1964 civil rights act and the

13th amendment to the constitution. with that, i would suggest an absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask consent to lift the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: madam president, would i be in order to speak about judges we're going to vote on? the presiding officer: you would be in order. mr. grassley: okay. i rise in support of the nominations of debra m. brown to be u.s. district judge, northern district mississippi, and gregory howard woods to be u.s. district judge for the southern district new york. before we vote on these nominations, i want to inform my fellow senators and the american people, and inform them again on

the excellent progress that we made on nominations and fair treatment of president obama's nominees and confirming the nominees of the president. with these confirmations today, the senate will have confirmed 38 lower court article 3 judicial nominees this year, despite what i frequently hear that this president is being treated differently than president bush, president obama is clearly ahead of where president bush was at a similar time frame, meaning at this time frame in a second term. the 38 confirmations this year is more than two and a half times the number confirmed at a similar stage in president bush's second term when only 14 judicial nominees had been confirmed. in fact, for 0 the entire fifth year of president bush's term only 21 lower court judges were confirmed.

again, in president obama's fifth year we will have confirmed 38 nominees after today's vote. in addition to the robust pace of activity on the floor, the committee has had an aggressive schedule of hearings and business meetings, taking action on many more nominees. in total, the senate will have confirmed 207 lower court article 3 judges. we have voted against three nominees. so 207 to 3 being defeated is a success rate for the president of 99% of his nominees. i think that's a pretty outstanding record not just for president obama, but for any president. so i reject the continuing rhetoric regarding how republicans are obstructing president obama's judicial nominees. again, i congratulate the nominees on their anticipated confirmations and will put my

complete statement in the record outlining the professional qualifications of these nominees. i yield the floor. mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: 0 the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i won't go so much into numbers, but i did hear my friend say that, question whether president obama is treated different than president bush. i would note that when president bush nominated john roberts for the ninth seat to the d.c. circuit, he was confirmed with every single republican and democrat voting for him. when patricia millett was nominated with exactly the same credentials as he was for the ninth seat, she was filibustered by the republicans. are they treated differently?

yeah. that happened last week so it's fresh in my memory. but i would talk about a different issue today. senators are finally going to have a chance to cast their vote to put on the record what every senator understands is a fundamental issue of fairness. the employment nondiscrimination act will help bring this great nation one step closer to equal rights for all americans. i've long believed that american workers should be evaluated based on how they perform, not on irrelevant considerations such as gender or race or gender identity or sexual orientation. how do they do the job? if they do the job, they have to be praised for it. in these difficult economic times, ensuring equal protection in the workplace is even more quilt. we have to do better. we don't question -- we

shouldn't question, anyway, the people who should be treated the same in the workplace, but that's what's happened in parts of this country to maintain the status quo, keep in place a system that supports a second class of workers in a majority of states. this actually runs counter of the values on which america was founded and has to end. the employment nondiscrimination act would prohibit workplace discrimination and make it illegal to fire or refuse to hire or refuse to promote employees simply based on an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. currently, federal law protects against employment discrimination on the basis of race or gender or religion or national origin or disability, as it should, but it doesn't

stop discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. it's long overdue for congress to extend these protections to all american workers. madam president, i am a native of vermont. i am proud to represent the state of vermont, as i have for almost four decades in this body. one of the reasons i am proud to represent vermont, our state has led the country on so many civil rights issues. vermonters believe in individual rights and fairness and in equality. more than two decades ago, our state of vermont added sexual orientation to the list of protected categories of its antidiscrimination employment law and vermont expanded this protection to include gender

identity protection six years ago. yet, in 29 states, 29 states, an employer can fire employees based on their sexual orientation. in 33 states, they can be fired based on their gender identity. this is not right. i might also point out to them, vermont has one of the lowest unemployment records -- or rates of any state in the country. many employers have taken this issue into their own hands. it made up for congress' inaction by implementing important antidiscrimination policies. 88% of the fortune 500 companies had nondiscrimination policies. they included sexual orientation , 57 had policies including gender identity. i want to just mention two vermont companies in particular.

fletcher allen health care and green mountain coffee roasters. they showed real leadership with this issue. they banned discrimination in the workplace based on gender identity and sexual orientation. i also applaud companies such as i.b.m. and microsoft and general electric and time warner for doing the right thing. two of these companies have major presence in vermont, and these corporations know that treating all of their employees is not only fair, it also makes good business sense. they know that. we in the congress, it's time that we know that, too. workplace discrimination hurts families, but the hatred, the hatred that drives discrimination has no place in a

nation continually striving to form a more perfect union. so i thank chairman harkin for making this bipartisan legislation a priority to this committee and for conducting the groundwork and creating the record we need to ensure this important bill's passage. the bipartisan team with senator merkley and senator collins brought together members by their thoughtfulness and tenacity. a dear friend of mine used to sit back there, who was in the senate when i came here. i learned so much from him. i'm speaking of ted kennedy. i have to think he is looking down on this chamber tonight as we try to pass legislation that he worked so hard to craft in his final years in the senate, and i was happy to work on this civil rights legislation with him and with his partner on this effort, a former vermont

senator, jim jeffords. we honor their leadership tonight with this vote. i'm encouraged the states' employers are moving forward where we have not. i believe that ending discrimination must also be a priority for congress. look at the distinguished presiding officer. when i think of her predecessor, another dear friend of mine for nearly four decades, the discrimination he faced when he came out of service having lost an arm, received the medal of honor for this country and was still told in some places in america that he couldn't walk into their establishment. and i'm sure that each of us can think of times of discrimination of all sorts. well, let's pass legislation that bans all discrimination in the workplace, whatever it is.

until we do that, we will fail to achieve the model engraved in vermont marble above the supreme court building that declares equal, equal justice under law. let's make sure that all americans have the equal rights they deserve. so i hope my fellow senators will come together and support this important bipartisan bill without delay, let the other body have the courage of standing up for america, stand up for all americans, every single american there is, and vote for the same legislation. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask consent the call. quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: madam president -- the presiding officer: all time has expired, senator. the question is on the woods nomination. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. the question occurs on the brown nomination. mr. leahy: i ask the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this vote, the ayes are 90, the nays are zero. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative business. the senate will come to order. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to s. 815.

the senate will be in order. the senators need to take their confirmations out of the well. -- conversations out of the well. the senate will come to order. senators, please take your conversations out of the well. the senate will come to order. who yields time? mr. harkin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: madam president, the senate is about to take another historic step. think about this: 1964 civil rights act. 1990, 23 years ago, i stood here and we passed the americans with disabilities act, extending civil rights to people with disabilities. here we are today now tabling one more -- taking one more step

to make the american family more inclusive to ban discrimination once and for all in employment against gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered americans. this is an historic opportunity for the senate, once again, to say that we're all members of of the american family. no one should be discriminated against because of race, sex, religion, national origin, and they shouldn't be discriminated against because of who they love or who they are or whether they're gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. this is an historic step for the united states senate to do today. i urge and aye vote on the motion to proceed. the presiding officer: who yields time? opposition? -- who yields time in opposition? without objection. the clesm clerk will report the commotion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion:

we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 184, is $815, a imil to promote -- prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to proceed to s. 815 a bill to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? the yins ar yeas and nays are my under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote: