next year. a first vote on the measure could come late this evening. majority leader harry reid has expressed his intention to vote on a number of president obama's nominees before concluding the 113th congress. among them surging general nominee and the top post at the social security mad ministration. also anthony lincoln's nomination to serve as deputy secretary of state. consideration of a number of judicial nominations also expected. live now to the senate floor on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, the giver of every good and perfect gift thank you for this season of giving that reminds us of your blessing of

salvation. your redemptive thread can be seen throughout the fabric of our nation's history, redeem us again. may your redemptive power give wisdom and courage to our lawmakers. as you illuminate their path with the light of your guidance. empower them to make decisions after weighting them on the scale of long term consequences. today, bless our united states capitol police who routinely risk their lives for liberty. surround them and their loved

one with the shield of your protection and favor. in a special way, embrace senator thad cochran with your transforming presence as he grieves the loss of his beloved rose. lord, thank you for the life and legacy of rose cochran. we pray in your great name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks

and those of the republican leader, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment h.r. 83 which is the omnibus spending bill. roll call votes are expected throughout the day. if no time agreement is reached the cloture vote on the motion to concur in relation to the omnibus will be at approximately 1:00 a.m. this morning. mr. president, i won't use a lot of time here this morning. we have a lot to do. we worked for a long time yesterday, into the late hours of the night trying to secure an agreement to vote on long-term government funding bill. i was last talking to the chairman of the appropriations committee around 11:00 last night. regrettably, a small group of senate republicans has determined it is in their political interest to hold this legislation hostage. they objected to an agreement that would allow us to vote on monday night. now we're relegated to watching the time tick away on our clocks just so we can keep the

government open and funded. i remind everyone at 12:00 midnight -- 12:00 a.m. -- the united states government tonight runs out of money. we tried to get an agreement last night to extend government funding for a few extra days while we worked to pass the long-term bill but republicans wouldn't let us do that. so now we wait. but while we wait we shouldn't waste time. the republican leader has known for weeks if not months we intend to vote on the president's nominations. so it's clear that this impasse we're having here today is not about nominees. it's about preventing us from funding the government. so now on the eve of our government running out of funding, senate republicans are forcing completely unnecessary procedure votes just to waste time and slow us down from funding the government. it doesn't have to be this way,

mr. president. we can still come to agreement, take care of funding for our great country right now. mr. durbin: will the majority leader yield for a question? mr. reid: i will. mr. durbin: i would like to ask for classification. it is my -- for clarification. it is my understanding at midnight tonight officially funding for our government ceases? mr. reid: absolutely true. mr. durbin: the majority leader asked the republican side of the aisle to extend it? mr. reid: yes, we had yesterday evening a piece of legislation from the house doing just that, extending the time for a few days. mr. durbin: was there an objection by the republicans to the short-term extension so our government would continue operating? mr. reid: we were told it wouldn't be necessary to do that because we couldn't get agreement to do it so the answer is yes. mr. durbin: late last night the junior senator from texas came to the floor. is he part of the group that is objecting to moving forward on the omnibus bill?

mr. reid: it appears so. at 10:00 or so last night he gave a relatively extended speech. but if someone looks at that speech -- if you look at that speech, he wasn't critical of me. most of his criticism was on the speaker and the majority leader here that he was daring -- wrong word. strike daring from the record. he was challenging whether they were people of their word as to what they were going to do. mr. durbin: i might ask the majority leader this is the same senator who sut -- shut down the government last year? mr. reid: same leader. now he's hung up on the president's action to give relieve to some people so they can come out of the shadows? mr. durbin: i thank the majority leader and hope we can find bipartisan support to move forward. mr. reid: mr. president?

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 1084. the president pro tempore: under the previous order -- mr. reid: mr. president, i would kwr50e8d to my friend, the -- my friend, -- mr. president, i move to proceed to executive session -- the president pro tempore: under the -- mr. reid: calendar 1084. the president pro tempore: the senate will resume consideration of the message to accompany h.r. 83. the clerk: notion concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 83, an act to require the secretary of the interior to assemble a team of technical policy and financial experts, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 1084. we would move to executive session to do that. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the president pro tempore: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second.

there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote?

if not, the ayes are 48, the nays are 34. and the motion to proceed to executive session is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of homeland security, sarah r.saldana of texas to be assistant secretary. mr. reid: madam president, could we have order? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: could we have order? the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: we have a series of votes we're going to do today and we're going to cut the votes off at exact time, so everyone will be better off if they stayed here on the senate floor because these are going to move every 20 minutes. as there is a cloture motion at the desk and would ask the chair to order it. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate move to bring to a

close debate on the nomination of sarah saldana of texas to be an assistant secretary of homeland security signed by 17 senators as follows. reid of nevada, carper, leahy, murray, udall of new mexico, schatz, schumer, boxer, cardin, blumenthal, merkley, franken, casey, heinrich, warren, durbin, murphy. mr. reid: madam president, i ask consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? objection is heard. mr. reid: i now move -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is. there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 52 and the nays are 40, and the motion to proceed to legislative session is agreed to. mr. reid: i now move -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: i move to proceed to give executive session to consider calendar number 1058. i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not the ayes are 52. the nays are 41. and the motion to proceed to executive session is agreed to. the clerk will report the nominations. the clerk: nominations, social security administration, carolyn colvin of maryland to be commissioner of social security. mr. reid: there is a cloture

motion. i ask the chair to order it reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators in in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to close to debate on the nomination of carolyn colvin to commissioner of social security signed by 18 senators as follows: reid, wyden, mikulski, cardin, murphy, warren, gillibrand, harkin, king, blumenthal, schumer, hirono, klobuchar, boxer, sanders, whitehouse and merkley. mr. reid: madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: a number of senators have come to me indicating that they've read -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: they've read the rules and the time for a vote is 15 minutes. through the chair, is it true the extra five minutes is not in the rule?

the presiding officer: would the senator restate the last part? mr. reid: we have been calling votes at the end of 20 minutes. it's my understanding, madam president, that the rule calls for votes being 15 minutes in length. the presiding officer: it's a 15-minute vote with a 5-minute grace period. mr. reid: five-minute grace period? is that in the rule, the grace period? the presiding officer: the chair will research the unanimous consent from january of last -- mr. reid: in the meantime, madam president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? mr. hatch: madam president? madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i voted for this final amendment out of the committee but there since has arisen all kinds of problems

concerning perhaps criminal problem at the social security. mr. reid: i can't understand the senator. the presiding officer: the senate should come to order. hatch i'll make one more -- mr. hatch: i'll make one more statement. there's enough evidence of criminal conduct there. i'm not accusing her -- mr. reid: madam president, regular order, madam president. the presiding officer: the question is on the order on the motion to proceed to legislative session. mr. reid: have the yeas and nays been ordered? the presiding officer: the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the president pro tempore: are there other senators wishing to vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 51. the nays are 41. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that any remaining votes with these nominations be ten minutes in duration. the president pro tempore: is there objection? a senator: mr. president, i object. the president pro tempore: objection is heard. mr. reid: mr. president, under the rule, the roll calls are 15 minutes. the president pro tempore: can we have order. mr. reid: thank you. under the standing order, roll call votes are 15 minutes. what we usually do is grace period just by practice. so in the future, the chair will call the votes after 15 minutes. the president pro tempore: the rule is 15 minutes and votes will be called at 15 minutes.

mr. reid: move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 681. the president pro tempore: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. yeas and nays have been requested. is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the president pro tempore: all senators wishing to vote have voted. the yeas are 52, the noes are 40. the motion to proceed to executive session is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: public health service, murphy of massachusetts to be medical director in the regular corps. the president pro tempore: all those in favor of the nomination. the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of vivic murphy of massachusetts to be medical

director in the regular corps of the public health service and to be surgeon general of the public health service, signed by 17 senators as follows -- reid, harkin, leahy, murray, udall of new mexico, schatz, schumer, boxer, cardin, blumenthal, casey, warren, durbin, murphy and sanders. mr. reid: mr. president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the president pro tempore: the question is on the motion to proceed to legislative session. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays. the president pro tempore: is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:# vote:

the president pro tempore: senators who wish to vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 52. the nays are 41. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 1150, anthony blinken. the president pro tempore: the question is on the motion to proceed. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

the president pro tempore: voted on this vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 41. the motion to proceed to executive session for anthony blinken has been approved. the clerk will report the nomination. the count was 52-41. the clerk reported the nomination. the clerk: department of state, acht ntony blinken of new york to be deputy secretary. mr. reid: cloture motion, i ask the chair to order it reported. the president pro tempore: the chair will report the cloture motion. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the

standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate, on the nomination of antony blinken of new york to be deputy secretary of -- mr. reid: i move -- the clerk: leahy, sanders, walsh, murray, whitehouse, klobuchar, stabenow, coons, menendez, levin, boxer, harkin, durbin. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the president pro tempore: the question is on the motion to proceed to legislative session. the yeas and nays have been requested. is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. a senator: mr. president? mr. president? would the majority leader yield for a unanimous consent request? the president pro tempore: the senate is in a roll call vote. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their votes? if not, the vote is 52 ayes, 41 nays, the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to

legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the yeas and nays have been called for. is there a sufficient second? 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, the ayes are 52, the nays are 41. the motion to proceed to executive session is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, frank a. rose of massachusetts to be an assistant secretary. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion i ask the chair to order reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture

motion. 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 nomination of frank a. rose of massachusetts to be an assistant secretary of state, verification and compliance, signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: u. reid, menendez, leahy, heinrich, reed of rhode island, feinstein, udall of new mexico, cardin, nelson, boxer, carper, merkley -- markey, americay, tester, durbin, and schumer. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i now pro move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. a senator: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not you the vote i 52 yeas, a 41 naissments the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president, if i can have everyone's attention. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to h.j. res. 131, which is a short-term continuing resolution that will go until wednesday, december 17, which was received from the house and is at the desk. further, that the joint resolution be read three times and the senate now proceed to

vote on passage of the joint resolution with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the motion reconsider dw -- the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: house joint resolution 131, making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2015 and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the joint resolution is read three times. the question is on passage of the joint resolution. all in sphaifer aye. -- all in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the guys do have it. the joint resolution is passed. mr. reid: i ask that the joint e motion to reconsider be laid on the table be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider

calendar number 1144. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 50, the nays are 41. the motion to proceed to executive session is agreed to.

the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: federal energy regulatory commission, collette honorable of arkansas to be a member. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion at the desk i ask to be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. 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 nomination of collette dodson honorable of arc being a to be a member of the federal energy regulatory commission signed by 17 senators: reid, schatz, leahy, walsh, murray, reed of rhode island, udall of new mexico, whitehouse, klobuchar, stabenow, coons, menendez, levin, boxer, harkin and durbin. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote: