the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, michael a. shipp michael a. shipp of new jersey to be united states district judge. mr. leahy: i ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion be withdrawn and that there be time equally divided between now and the hour of 5:30 for debate by the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of time the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate of the nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and no further motions be in order, that any related statements be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: now, mr. president would it always be that easy. i thank the distinguished

michael shipp is a magistrate judge in new jersey whose equipment to the rule of law and knowledge and long commitment to public service. patty shwartz is a well respected magistrate judge, has handled over 4,000 civil and criminal cases. both of these judges deserve immediate consideration. their qualifications will make them an exceptional addition to the federal bench in new jersey and i offer my strong support to both of them as we move forward in this process. i hope after tonight's vote where we expect this extraordinary candidate to be confirmed that we will get the opportunity to do so also for judge shipp and judge schwartz. with that i yield the floor and observe the absence of a quorum. or withhold that observation. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: just for an announcement. after the conclusion of these votes i'll be making what i think is a very significant announcement in terms of 34 -- 35, actually, members of this body who have stated they will oppose the law treaty, which means it would not -- able to be passed this session. so i'll be doing

consent to proceed to executive session and calendar number 663, which is the nomination of michael a. shipp of new jersey. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. er michael a. shipp of new jersey tock united states district judge for the district of new jersey. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to it. 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 nomination of michael a. shipp of new jersey to be united states district judge senator the district of new jersey signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to a period of morning business. the presiding officer: w

the next vote will be monday in relation to the nomination of michael shipp. mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i thank the distinguished majority leader and urge him however possible to bring up the defense authorization bill, which i hope we can do sooner rather than later, as we have done for the last 50 years. i thank the majority leader. mr. reid: madam president, if i can respond to my friend, i had a long conversation yesterday with the chairman of the committee who we're working with and the ranking member is senator mccain. i understand the importance of the legislation. i know senator mccain is working on that to try to narrow the focus of what we will do when we get on that bill. we will get on it. it's only a question of when. mr. mccain: i thank the majority leader. i would just like to mention to my friend from connecticut as we continue this colloquy. there is another aspect of this i would appreciate comments on. we all agree that bashar assad will go. we know that. now, the question is, how ma