i would like to talk about judge max cogburn jr., judicial nominee for the united states district court in the western district of north carolina. judge cogburn was nominated for the second time by president obama on january 5, 2011, and was favorably reported out of the judiciary committee by voice vote on february 3, 2011. it is extremely important to me that north carolina has highly capable representation on our federal courts. judge cogburn is exactly the type of legal mind that we need as a judge on north carolina's western district court. since coming to the u.s. senate, i have worked to increase the number of north carolinians on our federal judiciary. unfortunately, it has turned out to be a rather slow and arduous process, and after months of making the case that north carolina deserves more representation on the fourth circuit last year, judges jim wynn and al diaz were confirmed unanimously by the united states senate. north carolina is better off because judges jim wynn and al diaz, highly qualified, experienced and fire-minded judges, are now serving on the fourth circuit,

reid: the senate will vote on the confirmation of max oliver cogburn to be a district judge for north carolina. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> live coverage of the senate when members return here on c-span2. npr ceo vivian schiller resigned today after comments were made. the video made public on tuesday shows her, no relation to the ceo, conspiracying groups with two groups posing an muslim contributors. the meeting was secretly filmed. journalist david, a pulitzer prize winner died this week. >> now that the senate rejected both the republican and the democratic versions of the fiscal year 2011 spending bill, members of the house and senate will need to reach agreement in order to keep the government funded after march 18. here's part of the senate debate from today. >> mr. president, the amendment i introduced on friday cost $51 billion from the discretionary spending requests submitted by the president for fy2011. if

the senate will proceed to executive session and consider the nomination of max oliver cogburn of north carolina to be district judge for the western district of north carolina. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent there be a total of 45 minutes for debate on the nomination with the provisions of the previous order remaining in effect with a vote being at rather than 2:30 be at 3:00 p.m. today. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. reid:. mr. reid: there will be a vote on the confirmation of the cogburn nomination at 3:00 p.m. the senate small business committee reported s. 493, the reauthorization act of 2011. they did that yesterday. we hope to begin consideration of that bill early next week. mr. president, it's time once again for us to get down to business. yesterday's budget votes didn't brings pwr*eu us any closer to -- didn't bring us any closer to a conclusion but it did bring one thing to our minds and it did that clearly. that lesson is this: one party alone cannot reach a resolution without the other party's consent. we sroetd on a -