vote:

vote:: vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 92, the nays are 6 and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate, equally divided in the usual form prior to a vote on the gibson nomination. mr. reid: madam president, i yield back all that time. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nomination. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table, the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate will resume legislative session. mr. reid: madam president, with the consent of the senate i ask

we proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, february 12 the senate consider the nominations numbered 525, 527 and 529, there be 30 minutes for divide debate, upon the use or yielding back of that time the senate vote with no intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed. with no intervening action or debate, that no further motion be in order, any related statements be printed in the record and that president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action and further two minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form prior to each vote and all votes after the first be 10 minutes in length. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to calendar number 292. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 292,

s. 1068, a bill to reauthorize and amend the national oceanic and atmospheric administration commissioned officers corps act of 2002 and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: madam president, i ask the committee-reported substitute amendment be reported, the begich amendment be agreed to and the bill as amended be read -- the motion to reconsider considered made and laid on the table, and there be no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the appointments at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate pleats he completes its business today it adjourn until february 12, following the prayer and pledge, the journal be approved and the journal of proceedings be approved to date, -- oh, minor technicality here.

i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. following the prayer and pledge, the journal be approved and the morning business deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders reserved for use later in the day, following any leader remarks the senate be in morning business until 10:00 a.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the first half, the majority the final half. following morning business proceed to executive session under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: there will be four roll call votes starting at 11:30 tomorrow. we expect to receive the debt limit legislation and military retirement pay bill from the house tomorrow, hope to consider both during tomorrow's session. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the

we're watching the guests arrive for the dinner. reporters are lined up.

this is a seventh state visit hosted by president obama. >> mr. norman siegel. [inaudible conversations] >> ms. laura colgate in dr. rick colby. [inaudible conversations] mr. and mrs. brian clobbers be. [inaudible conversations] >> mr charles adams jr. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. katy meador. [inaudible conversations] >> mr. -- mr. and mrs. canada for ehrlich. [inaudible conversations] >> okay. >> ms. constants. [inaudible conversations]

mr. and mrs. beat selleck. >> we are watching guests arrive . the entertainment tonight performed at the 2012 democratic national convention in charlotte , north carolina. >> mr. kevin smith.

correcting, mr. keith smith. [inaudible conversations] >> and mr. perkins smith. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> ms. you did when is there, ms. judy milligan. [inaudible conversations] >> ms. roberta catherine and ms. ms. rachael divine. [inaudible conversations]

>> ms. liz simon. mr. mark hyson. [inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. john goldman. >> in honor of president obama's visit placed throughout the white house. some events have already taken place. the president's visit it yesterday. and today we cover the on arrival ceremony, a joint press conference, and along with the state dinner coverage here on c-span2. >> the hon. and mrs. harold rogers.

[inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. jack smith. [inaudible conversations] >> mr. herbert jelly. [inaudible conversations]

>> this is mike donovan. >> mr. and mrs. joe benson. >> the governor of kentucky and mrs. bashir. >> mr. steve claman's.

[inaudible conversations] [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. steve holland.

>> the secretary of as -- transportation. >> ms. belmont goldman, mr. drew . [inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. joseph plunged.

>> the hon. stay feet -- stacy abrams.

[inaudible conversations] >> ms. julia murray's dreyfus. >> mr. job and a live line and emily the vine. >> mr. lobbied months.

>> the governor of tennessee. >> mrs. barbara schmidt and mr. richard schmidt. >> mr. brando kaplan. >> mr. kerry simon. [inaudible conversations]

>> mr. and mrs. randall stevenson. >> the honorable elijah cummings , dr. maya cummings. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> this is joanna cole and mr. peter god one. [inaudible conversations] one .. >> this is good.

[inaudible conversations] thank you. [inaudible conversations] ms. karine lynn and mr. john luddy. mr. mark to the locally and

ms. elizabeth strickland. the honorable todd stern and ms. jennifer klein. mr. and mrs. caleb ballou. mr. andrew tobias, ms. marie brenner.

the honorable edward randall royce and mrs. royce. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. lee saunders.

[inaudible conversations] >> ms. karen marisol key mr. vivid valvo truck. ms. jane stutzman and mr. bill stutman the third. the honorable daniel gray and

ms. seelye. the honorable wesley kiernan, mr. paul kiernan. mr. james crane. [inaudible conversations] ms. jennifer aleman and mr. frank skinner. ms. jill abramson and mr. william woodson.

ms. rebecca shaw, is the best shaw -- beth shaw. mr. and mrs. ken frazier. and ms. sarah smiley and commander dustin smiley. the honorable tina chen. [inaudible conversations]

mr. and mrs. david stern. him ms. nicola miner and mr. robert mailer anderson. ms. andrea bernstein and mr. tom bernstein. [inaudible conversations] mrs. laura ross, mr. james ross.

mr. medina, ms. signs. >> from the booksellers from at the white house we are going to the north portico to see president obama and the first lady greet french president hollande is her life coverage of the state visit continues. [background sounds]

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♪ ♪ >> and so the guest of honor has arrived. french president francois hollande greeted by the president of first lady from the north entrance of the white house. this is the seventh state dinner or official visit for the obama administration the first of the second term and later we will take you to the south on pavilion. it has turned into a springlike display of french culture and flowers and arts. but first we will take a look inside the state dinner as part of our coverage here on c-span2's. we will tell you what it's like to be invited to one of these exclusives upstairs and get some background on the role of first

lady's over the years and we will have a conversation with former white house social secretary giuliana smoot who served in the obama administration. as we continue to look at the scene from the portico entrance of the white house we want to begin with the perspective of james fallows from atlantic magazine. james as a national correspondent for the atlantic magazine you have attended three state dinners. what are they like? >> they are interesting and fun as you would imagine. usually at each dinner there's a sprinkling of journalists usually people that have had some connection to the country that is being invited. i've been to once for korea, for china recently and then for canada i guess because i'm from north america and is just interesting and fun. i think nobody can really not like these things. >> lets start the process at the beginning. you get the invitation. what is that like? >> it's a big heavy stark thing

back in the days protocol like something you think of from -- downton abbey. you check in with social secretary to find out the details of when you're supposed to be there and what you can and cannot bring with you and what kind of i.d. and then you show up in plenty of time early on. usually you take a taxi to one of the social gates of the white house and perceived in through the clearance which now i think is more intense than it used to be after the renegade group tried to get into i guess an indian state dinner. >> after clearance you walk into the white house and then what? >> you go through this corridor to the east wing. there are pictures of all that have, and you make your way to the receiving line. you're announced by military guests. each person coming in has this announcement. mr. presently announce this person coming in. there is a kind of if you are in

the less famous bottom group as we always were going to these things you have the sense that everyone is listening to the announcement. is it going to be yo-yo ma or some other famous person and then there is a category of people who are not famous that they announce. you come in and meet new meet the president of the united states and the first lady and the visiting president and his or her spouse and then you move on and mix and mingle. the brush with celebrity is part of coming to the receiving line. >> is certainly a festive evening but is it one with some added stress? >> i am sure there are people who have stressed that for me personally i found it just enjoyable because the most recent one that my wife and i went was for then president of china hu jintao about a year into the obama administration. we have been living in china for the previous three or four years so we thought it would just be interesting and fun to receive the present of china who has

never greeted the people in china. and to see other people who are involved in this whole world of u.s.-china affairs. i am personally find it fun more than stressful. maybe my wife is spending more time on clothing and hair than i was. >> the reception has concluded and you go to the state dining room. how do you know where to sit in what is that like? >> depending on the size, dinners have a larger and smaller groups of attendees. the big ones have several rooms out there so you check your table to see where you are going to be and you cannot help doing an assessment of how does this table stand? they try to be careful of sprinkling out the famous people in the table so nobody feels he or she has a bad seat. you go there and you are seated in their name cards at each place of course. there are menus and wine usually

american at least the ones i have seen. for the french president i don't know whether it's a gesture of franco-american amity but they will sprinkle in french wines are champagnes but then you spend quite a while just talking with the people at your table and other places and finally they have somebody who tells everyone to sit down to maximize their schmoozing time. >> what is the obvious like in the white house and the state dining room? >> long ago i worked for jimmy carter when he was the president. i was a speechwriter and i never got to attend the state dinners as a guess guest. i was under a lot of stress trying to make the toast but the ambience for the guests i think as far as i can tell it's just fun. people are almost universally excited to be there. i'm not trying to make this sound silly but it would be deal dishonest to say people don't enjoy this because there are a lot of usually well-known people there. they have common interest

generally for the visit and it is always interesting just to see the five and the body language of the american president and his spouse and the foreign leader, what they are like and how they carry themselves. the vibe is a positive one. >> how important are these dinners for american diplomacy and how to heads of state view their visit at these events? >> i think they can be very important. for example when the chinese leader at the time i believe it may have been hu jintao in his early stage came during the george w. bush demonstration there was kind of the chill in the u.s. chinese relations so he got a lunch rather than a dinner. he started his visit in seattle not in washington d.c. so that was a sign of the cooling of the relationship. hu jintao came in obama's early time and had a state dinner and was taken seriously in china as this was a sign of amity. from the u.s. point of view it's

a celebration. on the seat receiving end of the calibration that the u.s. can give to indicate its degree of warmth or coolness to a visiting partner. >> for those who will never be invited to a state dinner give us a sense of the sights and sounds and what you are looking at, what it feels like and how it comes across that you can't capture on television. >> i will try to give a quick panorama. you get out usually by taxi because there's no place to park on the east side of the white house which is the social wing where the first lady and eventually the first gentleman will be based. you walk through there and something inside the white house people may not recognize, it's full of these excellent pictures usually pictures of whoever's the current incumbent. there has been controversy about the white house official photographer pete souza anopoli singh opportunities in the obama administration. you walk through this long-haul that has historical memorabilia and all these interesting large

photos of current presidents going around the country. you see a lot of military people, u.s. military and occasionally some of the foreign ones wearing their dress outfits with medals and the receiving line, there is a kind of, everybody is looking as if he or she is not excited but you can tell that they are going through the lines. the most impressive display i have seen of coolness under challenge was when during late in the clinton administration in 1998 my wife and i got to go to a dinner for the korean president and right in front of us was a famous korean conceptual artist who is having some kind of i don't know whether he had -- coming in with a walker and was very unsteady. he was immediately in front of my wife. as he was shaking hands with president bill clinton my wife about 3 feet behind this korean

artist in his mid-60's or so his trousers fell down and he was wearing nothing underneath them. on a think live feed tv at the time you had a completely bottom half of an older korean gentleman with bill clinton looking every second into his eyes as the man's assistant pulled up his trousers. uchitel the korean president was not amused by this one little bit but bill clinton acted as if ,-com,-com ma he was taking it all in stride. the next person bill clinton greater was my wife so he had a raise on his eyebrows as to what just happened. usually things are more control than that. the other time i had seen something unexpected was during the chinese dinner early in obama's time. somebody started ringing out his smartphone to take pictures and suddenly everybody was doing it. you have the ceo of soft india had the pms from china and

michelle quan who are starting to take pictures and jackie chan was at our table taking pictures with a smartphone. i don't know that it then done at state dinners before but when someone started doing it they'll started doing it taking pictures of the president obama and hu as they were working the crowd table by table. >> finally as you remember the evening of entertainment how did the night conclude and what do you remember? >> so it's, this also is very interesting in the calibration of the signal that the president of the united states at the time. what i remember most vividly was the chinese state dinner where was essentially a celebration of american jazz. i believe as herbie hancock and several other great american jazz singers or instrumentalists. president obama said to the visiting chinese that culture is

part of our connection and we would like to highlight something that's an important part of our culture and then i believe the famous chinese pianist got up there and played with herbie hancock. that was a sign of cultural connection so it's one of the ways like the opening ceremonies of the olympics anymore condensed form that the united states can give a signal of what part of its cultured want to highlight and i thought that wal with the chinese and american attendees. >> james fallows of the atlantic magazine thanks for adding your perspective to tonight's coverage. >> my pleasure. >> you were looking at the scene from the bookseller which is on the ground floor of the white house. we will continue to watch as many of the nearly 350 guests arrive arrive for tonight state dinner gather. they will then head up to the state floor including the blue room which is where the obamas at this hour grading the president of france.

>> mr. richard winter and mrs. alexandra winter. ms. christine lagarde. ms. krystal a. connors. the honorable charles schumer and ms. irs's line shah.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] mr. and mrs. kevin f. o'malley. the honorable michael nutter mayor of philadelphia and mrs. nutter.

the honorable david l. cohen and mrs. cohen. the honorable debbie wasserman schultz and mr. stephen schultz. ms. juliana goldman and mr. mike gottlieb.

the honorable stephanie rollins blake mayor mayor of baltimore and mr. kent blake. mr. samuel hynes and ms. stacey mills. ms. alexandra stanton and ms. donna stanton. [inaudible conversations] the honorable kevin johnson

mayor of sacramento and ms. michelle lee. >> i'm really excited. this is my first state dinner. for my wife and i to big treat. i have learned to french phrases. >> go ahead. >> i can't remember. thank you. the honorable paul ryan and mrs. ryan. the honorable chuck hagel,

secretary of defense and daughter ms. ellen hagel. mr. dan barber and brother mr. david barber. ms. mindy kelling and guests ms. jocelyn leavitt.

[inaudible conversations] the honorable nancy pelosi and daughter jacqueline kelling. >> this is my daughter jack wayne. she is from texas. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] attorney general erik holder and mrs. holder.

>> i'm glad to be here. we have a great relationship which i'm sure will be made better by this dinner. spanish. >> thank you. ambassador to the united nations and ms. cass sunstein. [inaudible conversations] mr. and mrs. peter bashar.

mr. and mrs. james roosevelt junior. [inaudible conversations] the honorable karen bass and ms. barbara jordan. >> i've been to paris and i love it and i'm very honored to be here today. >> the honorable lives sure when randall and jeffrey randall.

>> i was responsible for europe in the first term. [inaudible conversations] >> ms. mary j. blige and mr. can do isaacs. >> it's a surprise. it's going to be fun though. i don't know. excuse me?

my last name is french. the reverend al sharpton and ms. asia schott. >> i have been practicing my french. [inaudible conversations] the honorable jennifer palmieri and james flatts. [inaudible conversations]

mr. and mrs. arnie sorensen. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

most of the guests have arrived in you are looking at the scene from an area known as the bookseller if you are on tour at the white house. it's one of the first locations before you had upstairs. this is a burst the area where the guests arrive before going to the state florida. we said earlier the president and mrs. obama hosting french president hollande and one of the rooms therein is the blue room which we should point out was decorated during the monroe administration with furniture from paris in 1817. a number of french-american connections on display tonight. and later in the program a chance for you to have a conversation with joanna smoot who served in the obama administration is white house social secretary. we will also get your calls and comments as well. some background on this one is the seventh state or official visit dinner by the obama

administration. the location for tonight's dinner is the south lawn pavilion and it's being turned into a montney inspired gala in honor of the french president. there will be 350 invited guests and you saw a moment ago r&b singer mary j. blige who will perform tonight and the cuisine will be american base but also a french inspired floral arrangement. some background on u.s. and french relations the last state visit by a french president was back in 1996 during the clinton administration french president jacques jaroch and the last official dinner was during the final year or two of the bush administration with french president sarkozy. by the way francois hollande is coming stag to tonight's dinner and we will talk more about that later but first a rifle which is part of the pomp and ceremony in the news conference that took place between the two leaders but it began shortly after 9:00 this morning on the crisp cold

winter morning but temperatures in the 20s. no rain and no snow and one of the photographs released by the white house earlier today shows the president french president hollande with the french flag. here is more from the south lawn this morning at the white house. [background sounds] ♪ ladies and gentlemen the president of the united states and mrs. michelle obama. [applause] ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds]

>> ladies and gentlemen. [inaudible] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

[applause] [background sounds] [background sounds]

[background sounds] >> mr. president the honor guard is prepared for inspection. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause]

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

[background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds]

>> thank you. [background sounds]

[background sounds] >> good morning everybody. that's the extent of my french. [laughter] few places in the world warmed the heart like paris in the spring. this morning we are going to do our best with washington in the winter. [speaking french]

>> france is america's oldest ally and in recent years we have deepened our alliance. today on behalf of the american people and michelle and myself it is a great honor to welcome my friend president hollande and his delegation for their first state visit to united states, in fact the first state visit by a french president in nearly 20 years. [applause] [speaking french] >> yesterday at monticello we reflected on the values that we share, the ideals at the heart of our alliance. here, under the red white and

blue and the blue, white and red we declare our devotion once more to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. [applause] [speaking french] >> for more than two centuries we have not only proclaimed our ideals, our citizens have led to preserve them from a field in yorktown to the beaches of normandy to the mountains of afghanistan. and today we are honored to be joined by two extraordinary men who were there those historic

days 70 years ago. i asked them to stand, proud veterans of d-day who are here in attendance today. [applause] [speaking french] >> so it's no exaggeration that we stand here because of each other. we owe our freedom to each other of course we americans also thank our french friends for so much else, this capitol city designed by l'enfant our statue of liberty a gift from france

and something many americans are especially grateful for, new orleans and the french quarter. [laughter] [speaking french] >> mr. president like generations before us we now have the tasks not simply to preserve our enduring alliance but to make it new for our time. no one nation can meet today's challenges alone or sees its opportunities. more nations must step up and meet the responsibilities of leadership and that is what the united states and france are doing together. [speaking french]

speak to our french friends, i say let's do even more together for the security that our citizens deserve, for the prosperity that they seek and for the dignity of people around the world who seek what we declared two centuries ago those inalienable rights, those sacred rights of man. [speaking french]

president hollande, members of the french delegation we are honored to have you here as one of our strongest allies and closest friends. welcome to the united states. [applause] [speaking french] >> mr. president, dear barack, dear michelle, ladies and gentlemen it's cold in washington. [laughter] you are right. but it's a beautiful day, a great day for our american friends. and i will speak in french because i am obliged to do that

for my country. [speaking french] >> translator: we are received here my delegation and myself and i'm particularly touched by this perception by the president of the united states. [speaking french] >> translator: we are always united by a history from the beaches of normandy and as you said each of our country knows

what it owes to the other, it's freedom. [speaking french] >> translator: yesterday we ran monticello thomas jefferson's residents a great american statesman once ambassador to france who remains one of the most beautiful symbols of the ties that unite us. ..