about katherine archuleta. she is a terrific human being. he goes on to say she helped create the modern denver as we know it, as deputy chief of staff to mayor pina. she -- economic development efforts throughout the city, instrumental in the creation of the new denver international airport. and ken went on to say she was a star in the clinton team in the u.s. department of transportation. a star. i just want to say to my friends and colleagues, we got to get past this situation where i don't care if it's a democratic president or republican president who leave these gaping holes in confirmed positions. it's not good for our country, it's not good for departments, not good for morale or efficiency. you can disable the government by shutting it down or make it less efficient by making sure we don't have keep cay heap people in the top leadership positions. mate it makes a difference if people are confirmed as secretaries and deputy secretaries and these other positions. as the agency responsible for managing our

i appreciate the opportunity to say a few words today in support of my fellow coloradan, katherine archuleta, and her nomination to be the director of the office of personnel management. i've known her for years and i have tremendous respect for her. she's given much of her life to public service and her dedication to her communities, her state, and her country is a testament to her character. and i'm very confident that she'll be a steady hand at the helm of o.p.m. and i want to urge all my colleagues to support her confirmation. now, not everyone watching may be familiar with the office of personnel management but it's an important agency. let me talk about colorado in that context. thousands of federal employees in colorado, including those who are helping rebuild our state in the wake of september's tragic flooding, count on o.p.m. it's a critical part of the integrity and strength of the entire federal work force. it's responsible for, among so many other duties, employee recruitment and retention and for managing federal benefit and retirement programs. we all expect federal agencies a

the senate will consider the nomination of katherine archuleta to serve as director of the office of personnel management. that is an extremely important position. she started her career in public service as an elementty tri schoolteacher. she will be the agency's first hispanic director. this is what she said -- and i quote -- "you do it as public service because have you a deep passion for public good and civic engagement. that's her quote. she's working in both the transportation and energy departments under president clinton, she served as chief of staff to tib the the labor secretary hilda solis for three years. she is emintentsly qualified yet ms. arch let sea the first o.p.m. director to be filibustered in the history of this agency. this week the senate sentence tns will car the stalled nomination of alan astefs -- estevez to be undersecretary of defense. this man's nomination has been stalled for 402 days. he will be responsible for $170 billion logistics budget, $170 billion. that's a year. this budget supports our men and women in uniform as well as millions of machines th

the clerk: office of personnel management, katherine archuleta of colorado to be director. the presiding officer: pursuant to the provisions of s. res. 15 of the 113th congress, there will now be up to eight hours of postcloture consideration of the nomination equally divided in the usual form. mr. vitter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to speak on this nomination and to oppose it because of the recent actions of the office of personnel management with regard to the washington exemption from obamacare. i voted just now against cloture on the nomination and i will vote against the nomination itself later today because of these very, very serious matters. o.p.m., the office to which this nominee is nominated and which she would head, has issued an illegal rule that is very offensive, flies in the face of the obamacare statute language itself. and this nominee has pledge

the clerk: nomination, office of personnel management, katherine archuleta of colorado to be director of the office. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the 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 katherine archuleta of colorado to be director of the office of personnel management. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived without prejudice to anyone. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session -- madam president, i'm getting -- jumping way ahead of where i'm supposed to be. i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed nay. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to