mr. president, what is the -- what is the parliamentary situation? the presiding officer: the senate right now is considering the estevez nomination. and the time right now is equally divided between both sides. mr. leahy: mr. president, i would then -- i would yield the floor, suggest the absence of a quorum and ask the time be equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. and the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. 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 alan f. estevez of the district of columbia to be principal deputy undersecretary of defense signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the questio

executive session to consider the estevez nomination with the time until 10:30 equally divided and controlled in the usual form. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: so, madam president the first roll call vote will be at 10:30 tomorrow morning on the motion to invoke cloture on the nonomination of alan estevez to be principal deputy under secretary of defense. so if there's 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 9:30 tomorrow morning.der. mr. mcconnell: i think at this point senators from both parties >> at this point, satterstrom both parties can agree, health care.gov is a roving disaster. every day seems to bring more near, calamity. we hear visitors being told things like their wife or their daughter or they have multiple spouses or that they are unable to apply due to current incarceration. unsurprisingly, just 12% of americans think the rollout has gone well. that is less than 14% of americans who believe in bigfoot. those who succeeded in actually enrolling in a thin are vastly outnumbered by those who've actually lost th

mr. reid: following the remarks of me and senator mcconnell, the senate will proceed to continuing resolution to consider the nomination of alan estevez principal undersecretary of defense working with senator hagel. this time will be until 10:30 equally divided. at 10:30 from there will be a cloture vote on the nomination. if cloture is confirmed, we expect to continue with cloture votes on additional nominations. mr. president, we always complain about what we don't get done but i think everyone in the senate should recognize that as a result of our having changed the rules in the senate, we're able to move through some of these things much more quickly. we've reduced the time from 30 hours after cloture has been invoked to eight hours and that's helped us move through these issues. so everybody complains about our never changing things around here but we have and it's helped us expedite some of this stuff. mr. president, the united states senate has a privilege of considering the nominations of many exceptionally talented individuals for a variety of jobs. this week the senate has already approved three qualified and dedicateds nom

mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: all time has expired. the question is on the estevez nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. 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, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of katherine archuleta of colorado to be director of the office of personnel management shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote, the yeas

estevez of the district to be principal deputy under secretary. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk 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 alan f. estevez of the district of columbia for a principal deputy of under secretary of defense, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. reid: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 also be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to live session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. mr. reid: aye. the presiding officer: all opposed nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to