ms. klobuchar: madam president, i rise gene today -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. ms. klobuchar: i ask that the quorum call be virkted. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i rise again today to urge a vote in the united states senate to confirm andrew lugar to be minnesota's u.s. attorney. for two and a half years or 890 days, minnesota has not had a full-time u.s. attorney. during those years from august 2011 to august 2013, todd jones was responsible for doing two jobs, as a minnesota u.s. attorney and then also as acting director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. over the summer, as the president is aware, the senate confirmed todd jones as director of the a.t.f., leaving the minnesota u.s. attorney's position open. even before the confirmation of todd jones this summer, senator franken, upon the recommendation of our bipartisan u.s. attorney advisory committee, had already recommended andrew lugar, a respected litigator and former assistant u.s. attorney, to fill the position. that was 199 days ago. in

ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. i rice today to speak on two -- i rise today to speak on two matters, the first is the farm bill and the second is the u.s. attorney situation in my state, the state of minnesota. being a senator from ar a state that is a leader in agricultural products and now the sixth-biggest state in terms of agricultural exports, i can tell you that the agriculture sector of this country is strong and it has been a jewel in this economy, when you look over the last few years and you look at the industries that were hit so hard during the downiit downtur. our food supply remains strong because we believing in investing in agriculture and agricultural research and the next wave of machinery and all kinds of things. it has helped our country and been a positive for our country. we have 80,000 farms in minnesota. we're an exporting state. it is not just about the small farmers all over our state. it is also about the businesses, it is about the employees, and it is about the fact that as it is a coun

ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to address two issues, the first before us, the emergency unemployment compensation extension act, and the second is something that should be before pus, and that is the confirmation of the u.s. attorney from minnesota, this will be the third time in a few days that i have spoken on this which i will continue to do until this gets done. i rise today in support of the emergency unemployment compensation act. i know we're making progress on a proposal that extends federal support for emergency unemployment compensation for three months and is fully offset. i've spoken about the need to extend federal unemployment insurance and i thank senator jack reed and dean heller for their bipartisan leadership on this issue. unemployment insurance provides a critical life line. workers pay into the program so it will be there when they are looking for work. unemployment insurance helps families pay the mortgage or rent and put gas in the 257bg. federal support for unemploym

ms. klobuchar: thank you very much, mr. president. i rise today in support of andrew luger. i thank my colleagues for the work that they have done to make sure that minnesota has a u.s. attorney in place. i want to particularly thank leader reid and senator mcconnell, the two leaders, for their work on this as well as senator franken. the two of us put together a nonpartisan recommendation coming from a committee, and we're very glad the president took that recommendation and recommended andy luger with his vast criminal prosecution experience as well as civil experience. i also want to thank senator grassley for his work on this as well as senator corker. minnesota has gone really two and a half years without a full-time u.s. attorney as our u.s. attorney was doing the job as a.t.f. director at the same time, and the over 100 people that work at the u.s. attorney's office in minnesota truly deserve a leader, and i thank my colleagues for their support. the presiding officer: the question occurs now on the luger nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appe