mr. blinken. the notion that this is somehow the result of syria makes very little sense to me. that's because it's not about what we do or say in the first instance. it's about russia and its perceived instance. what mr. blinken doesn't understand is that weakness in one place translates throughout the world. when i tell my colleagues, when i tell my fellow citizens that we will not supply the ukraine people with defensive weapons, they don't believe me. they've watched the country dismembered. they've watched crimea go, watched a shootdown nobody talks about anymore. and they continue to create unrest and killing in eastern ukraine and we won't even supply the ukrainians with weapons with which to defend themselves. i see that i'm nearly out of time. i'd just like to say that i wish that mr. blinken's words were matched by his deeds. at the holocaust museum october 6, 2014, he said a new notion is gaining currency, a responsibility to protect. it holds its state side responsibilities as well as

mr. blinken. the notion that this is somehow the result of syria makes very little sense to me. that's because it's not about what we do or say in the first instance. it's about russia and its perceived instance. what mr. blinken doesn't understand is that weakness in one place translates throughout the world. when i tell my colleagues, when i tell my fellow citizens that we will not supply the ukraine people with defensive weapons, they don't believe me. they've watched the country dismembered. they've watched crimea go, watched a shootdown nobody talks about anymore. and they continue to create unrest and killing in eastern ukraine and we won't even supply the ukrainians with weapons with which to defend themselves. i see that i'm nearly out of time. i'd just like to say that i wish that mr. blinken's words were matched by his deeds. at the holocaust museum october 6, 2014, he said a new notion is gaining currency, a responsibility to protect. it holds its state side responsibilities as well as

mr. gross we've heard thus far. there is opposition to this as you might well imagine. during confirmation hearings for tony blinken to become secretary of state, marco rubio asked him questions about the evolving nature of u.s.-cuban relationships and rubio said at the time, quote, unless cuba begins irreversible democratic transformation the u.s. should not reward the castro region that enrich the regime and help oppress millions of cubans much. rubio will hold a pre conference immediately after the president's remarks from the cabinet room. how broad the bipartisan support for this deal remains to be seen. rubio said there is not enough votes in the senate to lift embargo against cuba and likely fewer of them when the republicans take control in january. heather, back to you. >> doug, we'll be watching all morning long, thanks. >> fox news confirming that the president will call for lifts of u.s. embargo with cuba and leading to normalization of talks to the communist nation. we await the president's remarks in the an hour. tom udall, democrat senator from new mexico and visited alan gross in cuba in prison last

the clerk: department of state, acht ntony blinken of new york to be deputy secretary. mr. reid: cloture motion, i ask the chair to order it reported. the president pro tempore: the chair will report the cloture motion. the clerk: 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 antony blinken of new york to be deputy secretary of -- mr. reid: i move -- the clerk: leahy, sanders, walsh, murray, whitehouse, klobuchar, stabenow, coons, menendez, levin, boxer, harkin, durbin. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the president pro tempore: the question is on the motion to proceed to legislative session. the yeas and nays have been requested. is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. a senator: mr. president? mr. president? would the majority leader yield for a unanimous consent request? the president pro tempore: the senate is in a roll call vote. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer

mr. president, the senate will proceed to executive session to debate the murthy, santos, rose, saldana and blinken nominations. i'm not going to give any extensive -- i'm not going to speak extensively on any of these. i'm going to just say now tony blinken i have known for many years. he was integral to the success of joe bidden as a -- joe biden as a united states senator. he has been with him as vice president. now he is going to be second in command at the state department. when we have our briefings in the classified room, there is no one more articulate and can answer the questions any better than tony blinken. i have great admiration for him. i think we as a country are so fortunate he is going to be in the position he's in. at 5:30 today, there will be four roll call votes. those votes will be as follows -- cloture on murthy to be surgeon general of the united states, confirmation of murthy nomination, cloture on the santos nomination to be a member of the defense nuclear facility safety board, and cloture on executive calendar number 635, frank rose being assistant secretary of state. mr.

blinken of new york to be deputy secretary. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 5:00 p.m. will be equally divided in the usual form. ms. mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i come to the floor with my colleague, senator ben cardin, from maryland to -- mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. please take your conversations outside the chamber. the senate will be in order. ms. mikulski: does that mean all conversations, mr. president? the presiding officer: please take your conversations outside the chamber. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i am on the floor along with my colleague, senator ben cardin from maryland, to advocate for carolyn colvin to be confirmed as the social security commissioner, making her the chief executive officer of the social security administration. i'm very frustrated that her nomination has become a casualty of the senate and unfair attacks by some members of the republican party. we need a social security administrator and we need a competent, qualified person to lead it, and that is carol