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the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the vote is 69 yeas, 28 nays. there being a majority, the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will -- a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. mr. crapo: i ask unanimous consent that the remaining votes in this series be ten minutes in length. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. crapo: madam president, i

have 11 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the well. the clerk will report the motion 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 nomination of karen gren scholer of texas, 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 the debate on the nomination of karen gren scholer of texas to be united states district judge for the

northern district of texas shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. 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? seeing none, the yeas are 96. the nays are 1. and the nomination -- and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators 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 tilman eugene self

iii of georgia to be united states district judge for the middle district of georgia, 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 nomination of tilman eugene self iii of georgia to be united states district judge for the middle district of georgia shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

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the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote, the yeas are 85, the nays are 12, the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: judiciary, tilman

eugene self iii to be united states district judge for the middle district of georgia. the presiding officer: the time until 1:30 p.m. will be equally divided. the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: i ask unanimous consent to address the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: mr. president, this chamber is familiar with deadlines and has a habit of running up against them, but we cannot lose sight of may 12, the deadline when president trump will make a decision about sanctions on iran. in january, the president waived sanctions for the last time, calling on congress to either fix the disaster disaster -- disastrous flaws or he will withdraw. we have a period where

bipartisan consensus on the issue of iran is absolutely necessary. to reimpose sanctions would effectively signal the end of america's participation in the joint comprehensive plan of action, the jcpoa, an agreement better known as the iran nuclear deal. the plan is flawed and we cannot fix it without action. i ask my colleagues for cooperation and collaboration so we can act in the national interest and prevent the nefarious aims of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. when it comes to iran, we must put aside our differences and work together on a bipartisan bill. i know the chairman of the foreign relations committee, senator corker, has been working with senator cardin on this issue. their efforts are comprehendible and necessary. let me stress against that this effort must be bipartisan.

one-sided legislation would signal division and weakness on the issue of iran. a partisan bill would also undermine our diplomatic efforts with the p-5-plus-1 countries to improve the jcpoa through a supplemental agreement. i'm confident we can do our part. mr. president, congress has repeatedly demonstrated support for countering iran's malign activities, second, president trump has laid out a clear road map for legislation that he would sign. finally, this president has the will to walk away. he's made this promise and i believe he will keep it. let me explore these three points in turn. number one, we have a long history of acting in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion on this issue. last august the president signed the countering america's

adversaries through sanctions act. the legislation included tough new sanctions on iran's ballistic missle program, on its sponsorship of terrorism, and its human rights abuses. the senate approved it by a vote of 98-2, and it earned a vote of 419-3 in the house. bipartisan majorities. we also passed by a voice vote senator rubio and senator shaheen's bill to crack down on illicit financing for iran's client, hezzbollah. it also passed by a voice vote. we have a blueprint for what to do. the president has outlined four proposals addressing critical flaws in the nuclear deal. one of those proposals is that iran allow any time anywhere

inspections. currently iran is blocking international inspectors from accessing military sites, such as the parchin facility. inspectors have to also follow elaborate rules even to request and receive access despite iran's long history of concealment and deception. if iran has nothing to hide, then it has no reason to object to any time anywhere inspections. second, the bill would ensure that iran never comes close to getting a nuclear weapon. the current nuclear deal attempts to keep iran one year away from breakout, the point at which iran can rapidly develop a nuclear capability. one year is not much of an insurance policy, mr. president, especially against the top state sponsor of terrorism. the bottom line is that tehran should never come close to a

nuclear weapon. third, the bill needs to maintain restrictions in perpetuity, the so-called sunset clauses are perhaps the most flawed part of the nuclear agreement. the way it currently reads, iran does not need to cheat. they can simply wait us out. the conventional weapons ban sunsets in 2020, the ban on receiving ballistic missle assistance sunsets in 2023. the ban on replacing old centrifuges with advanced models sunsets in 2026, and all nuclear facilities on heavy water production, centrifuges sunsets in 2021. and, finally, the bill cannot

overlook the connection between iran ballistic missle and nuclear weapons program. the legislation must severely sanction the ballistic missle program. this is another no-brainer. a nuclear warhead is effective to the extent that it can be launched on a missile. iran is not developing long-range and sophisticated ballistic missles to deliver conventional payloads. the architect of the iran deal, unfortunately, took great pains to keep it focused solely on nuclear. that has to end. these four demands constitute a sensible framework for the kind of bipartisan legislation that congress can achieve. the final reason for my cautious optimism is that we have a president who keeps his promises. when president trump calls may 12 the last chance, i take him

seriously, and i would encourage my colleagues to do the same. this president is dead serious about countering iran's agenda. he said he would decertify the deal last october. he followed through. that should have erased any doubts. we should not wait until the eleventh hour to deal with this issue. it is too important. by putting aside personal or political feelings, we can absolutely achieve a bipartisan bill that fixes the iran deal using the president's framework. thank you, mr. president, and -- do we need to go into a quorum call? i yield the floor.

a snore: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota.

ms. klobuchar: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to congratulate team u.s.a. and recognize the contributions of so many minnesotans at the 2018 olympic winter games in south korea, and i am happy to be joined here by my senate colleague from minnesota, senator smith. so why are senator smith and i here today? that is because we had an all-time incredible olympics with minnesota really leading the way when it came to the gold medals. now, of course our state is no stranger to the olympics. we sent athletes to compete in women's basketball and cycling, but it shouldn't be a surprise that it is the winter olympics where the bold north state really shines. we have a couple of things going for us.

mr. president, the weather, you know it's kind of cold. there is snow, so people are able to practice. and also we have a great athletic program at our high schools, and we have got a lot of team spirit, which is especially helpful in the teams that we were part of that won the gold, including curling, men's curling and women's hockey. of the 243 athletes that were on team u.s.a., 23 had ties to minnesota, making it the third highest represented state. these athletes competed at the highest level and showed the world just what our state could do. if minnesota were competing as a country, it would be tied for 12th globally in the number of gold medals won, but we're not a country, we're a proud state. this success is something all minnesotans can celebrate. so here are some examples for you, mr. president. for afton native jessie diggins,

winning a gold medal was a first for her and a first for the united states. her road to the olympics started on the cross country skiing trails that cover minnesota. jessie worked to keep spirits high in training and during olympic competition. she puts glitter on her cheeks as a reminder of what made her fall in love with cross country skiing as a little girl. her relentless energy and drive were on full display, and she became the first american with her -- with her teammate to bring home a gold in cross country team history. it is no surprise that they voted jessie to be the flag bearer for the closing ceremonies. but jessie and keagan weren't the only american women to bring home gold. the women's hockey team won their first gold medal since 1998, and it is no coincidence that the state of hockey sent

some serious talent. the american team included six current or former gofer college players and two current or former minnesota duluth players. from war road to minute tongue a, the minnesotans on team u.s.a. brought hockey toughness and the experience that comes with growing up on the ice. this gold medal will help inspire the next generation of hockey players in minnesota. special note to our incredible goalie, maddie rooney. if anyone stayed up, if i -- as i did to watch that shootout at the end, she showed such poise and such grace under pressure. also a little note to war road, minnesota, which produced the incredible gigi marvin, along with many gold medals from the past. now, while americans were fans of hockey well before the 2018 games, these olympics helped introduce the country to a sport already loved by so many minnesotans, curling. i will note that senator cornyn

of texas sent out a tweet saying that curling was an obscure sport. i don't think anyone thinks that anymore. they might think it's kind of an interesting sport, but it has gone from obscure to cool. and a lot of that had to do with the men's curling team. four out of five of the members of the team were from our home state of minnesota. and that game, that went on. the match went from 1:00 until 4:00 in the morning or midnight to 3:00, and i can't tell you how many minnesotans were up all night watching that and celebrating the gold medal. the success of minnesotans has been inspiring, and i know senator smith agrees from frozen ponds to back yards, it helped bring the minnesota out in everyone. i want to congratulate team u.s.a. on all the minnesota athletes who have made this game such a success.

senator smith. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. smith: thank you, mr. president. and thank you, senator klobuchar, for organizing this colloquy on the olympic contributions of minnesotans. ms. smith: i was proud to work with you on this resolution honoring our olympians, and while i have not yet given my first floor speech, which i plan to do in a couple of weeks, i couldn't pass up the opportunity to come down and talk about our state's amazing athletes. as i'm sure senator klobuchar snows, as we just heard from her, one a minnesotan can walk, you can bet that his or her parents will try to get them on skis or on skates or on a sled or maybe on a curling rink. that early start, not to mention the fact that minnesotans are the hardest working and most resilient people i know help explain why 23 of our athletes took part in this year's winter

games. as senator klobuchar said, that's the third most of any state in the country. and boy did they steal the show. minnesotans brought home gold medals in women's hockey, women's cross country skiing, and men's curling, and a bronze medal in the women's downhill. i do want to talk about afton, minnesota, own jessie diggins who carried the olympic torch for team u.s.a. at the closing ceremony. jessie began skiing at 4 years old and started racing against high schoolers at age 11. she earned her spot on the olympic cross country team and was the only woman to compete in all six women's cross country events, and compete she did. jessie, along with her teammate keagan randall, won the first olympic gold medal ever for the united states in cross country skiing, and in dramatic fashion. jessie came from behind during the final stretch of the race, inching out her competitor as they crossed the finish line.

i am amazed but not all that surprised by the accomplishments of my fellow minnesotans, and i'm so happy to be able to join senator klobuchar in saying we're glad the whole world had their chance to witness what we see every day in our jobs as senators in minnesota. minnesotans doing amazing things. thank you very much, mr. president. ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. i think that minnesotans will look forward to senator smith's actual first speech, but i think it's a tribute to our state that her first appearance on the senate floor was about all of these gold medals and hockey and curling and skiing. thank you. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on debate on the nomination of terry a. doughty

of louisiana. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory qoirk has been -- quorum call has been waived. is it the sense of the senate shall the nomination of terry doughty shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rules. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

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