mr. begich: house members? mr. wyden: correct. the house members who have said that they would vote for it, it sure looks like the votes are there. and if you're trying to break the gridlock, why not try? so i hope that kind of thinking will set in here in the next few hours, because that would be the fastest way, the fastest way, as the senator from alaska has made clear, to get the government open again. mr. begich: thank you for allowing me to ask some questions. mr. wyden: i thank my colleague. i yield the floor. mr. tester: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we are in day number seven of this government shutdown. as was pointed out by the senator from alaska and the senator from oregon, we started out with a continuing resolution of $1,058,000,000,000. that was compromised down with the understanding there would be a c.r., that wasn't good enough because there were some that wanted to add different amendments to deal with the affordable health c

mr. begich: mr. president, if we could -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. begich: i ask for a vacation of the quorum call, please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. begich: i would like to enter into a colloquy with sell of my colleagues here, the senator from montana, the senator from oregon here. we would like unanimous consent until we completed with our colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. begich: mr. president, you know we come down here -- it's sunday afternoon and ip a sure all of us, as well as a lot of furloughed employees, would rather be preparing for monday's coming back to work, even though it was a holiday. they probably are thinking about it and maybe on tuesday getting ready. but here we are down on the senate floor thinking bolt issues that the shutdown, the default, the threat of the default is on us right now, as we creep closer and closer to this deadline, which when you tbhi ithink about it is unbelie, that we are at the risk of

mr. begich: for the information of all senators, we expect a voice vote on the estevez confirmation. the next vote in order will be cloture on the archuleta nomination. so senators should expect a roll call vote at noon. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. cornyn: madam president, i know we are on the postcloture time on the estevez nomination, and i wanted to explain why it was necessary for me to put a hold on this nomination this last march, for a very important porks as the second-ranking abg -- very important position as the second ranking acquisition position at the department of defense. the reason i put a hold on the nomination was so i could try to get the department of defense's attention to protest their -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. cornyn: i did so, madam president, in order to protest the department of defense's business relationship with the notorious russian arms dealer for the last few years the pentagon's been buying helicopters, mi-17 helicopters from roso boron export to supply

mr. begich, mr. tester and mr. blumenthal, which coincidentally held a news conference at the very same time we've been having this hearing with the secretary, to say that we should not be using him as a punching bag, mr. secretary, i trust that we have not use you as a punching bag today. we are trying to get the information out to the veterans. and again, you have talked in depth about those things that we will not be able to do. but my question, how many employees within va will still be on the job after november 1, if it's shut down continue to? >> again, mr. chairman, let me take that one for the record to give you specificity that you're looking for. as i said, there's still factors coming together. tell me how long that operate. if i told you the mandatory funds are expected to be completed before the end of this month. affecting both the one november checks and affecting dba in large measure, their present workforce about 13,000 people will be severely reduced. it would be down to about 1100, and roughly 10

mr. begich: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. gich: i want to follow up just briefly first on senator sanders' comments. you know, we have a continuing resolution over there. analyzed cut is $70 billion. usually when you compromise, one side gives a little, the other side gives a little. on this continuing resolution that passed out of this body, we took their numbers. compromise usually means a little bit from both sides. we took 100% their numbers of the house. $70 billion analyzed cut, that's what we took. so people who keep saying that we're not negotiating, we did. as a matter of fact, went much further than many of us wanted, but we did it because we wanted to keep the government open. so let's not get fooled by some of the political speeches that they're making on the floor or over there on the outside in the courtyard. we met their analyzed reduction that they wanted $70 billion, with this continuing resolution. when they have sent bills over here, we have voted on them. they have not prevailed on their side, but we have v

lou: i would like to extend a complement to the six senators, jeanne shaheen, mark begich, joe manchin, and of course mrthal, all democrats on the board, delaying and recommending the delay of obamacare is individual mandate. where were they when they were needed. for one, you can't find the people for not having health insurance is a cam by it. as of right now, they cannot. it looks like they may not be able to, as perhaps as far into the distance as the middle of december. we will see with that and much more. we have judith miller, a fox news contributor, joining us. pleased to have you here. it is good to have you with us. so what in the world is happening here? these democrats could have joined the republican colleagues in the senate and had some significant influence on history itself. what do you think? >> if we are talking about when the law was passed, this is obviously true for a number of them. poor richard blumenthal, that is not necessarily correct. lou: i was talking about joining with the call for the mandate to be delayed for a year. i did not want to go back in history quite that far. >>

mr. chairman, thank you for carrying on the legacy of the late senator. i would also like to thank senator begichsenator murray, and senator cantwell. and the strong support. my name is keith coburn and i'm on alaska crapper and some of you made recognizing the captain of the fishing vessel wizard on the discovery channel series the deadliest catch. i'm honored to be before the committee today, but i would rather be 4000 miles away is the first time in 20 years that have not been here in the month of october. and i'm here today on behalf of fishermen. i'm here to talk about the impacts to my fishery and i want the committee to understand that the shutdown is causing impacting fisheries nationwide. lack of personnel to perform routine functions, such as managing port allocations will result in millions of revenue losses to that sector of the industry. the federal observer program also be impacted longer this shutdown continues and across the country, it will be forced to shut down. many are facing tough times and many will be the tipping point if the situation isn't resolved soon. the alaskan king

mr. chairman thank you for caring on the -- late senator in a way. i would also like to thank the senators begich murkowski murray and cap well from the alaskan washington congressional delegations for their strong support for alaska fishermen. my name is keith colburn keith colburn and i am an alaska trapper. some of you may recognize me as the captain of the fishing vessel wizard on the discovery channels -- i would rather be awaiting the opening of my fishery. this is the first time in 28 years that i have not been a bering sea in the month of october. i am here today on behalf of fishermen. i am here to talk specifically about the impacts to my fishery and i want the committee to understand that the shutdown is causing impacts to fisheries nationwide. lack of personnel to perform routine administrative functions such as managing quota allocations will result in in the loss of millions in revenue to that sector of industry. the federal observer program will also be impacted the longer the shutdown continues. across the country vessels that are required to carry federal observers will be forced

mr. chairman, this is very important in thank you, senator. i repeat that i am so glad that you are here. >> just. >> senator begich has a question. >> one will be very short. it is a tough question. the ranking member has assets. we are in the crossways of a big issue and i want to assist the senator and the answer to his question. my friend from alaska, the coast guard wasn't in any of those bills. so your permits and your ability would not be solved to be in all fairness, i don't want to put you in the wrong view, i'm happy to answer these questions. the assumption is that magic happens and people get funded. but if i voted for every one of those, they would still not be out crabbing today in the satellites would not be up in the air and that is a fact. >> again, to be fair, the faa concluded that with the bill. >> oh, i agree with that. >> understood. >> a lot of people don't like noah because they don't like this. but the fact is that half of their budget is satellites. so to be fair, across the board. across the board we are also still struggling with the effects of the sequester. >> absolutely be met and that will be also tremendously

johnson of south dakota, begich, leahy, coons, heinrich, murray, sanders, shaheen, cardin, franken, brown, harkin, reed of rhode island, carper, whitehouse, nelson and schumer. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent 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. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 327. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, nay. all in favor say aye. all opposed say nay. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: there is another cloture motion at the desk. i ask that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, patricia ann millett of virginia to be united states circuit judge for the district of columbia circuit. mr. reid: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: the clerk will repor