mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'd ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, margo kitsy brodie of new york to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york. mr. leahy: mr. president, am i correct that the order is such that the vote would be at 5:30? the presiding officer: the order is actually for 60 minutes of debate. mr. leahy: i'd ask consent that the sroebt at 5 -- that the vote be at 5:30. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: certainly if the ranking member comes to the floor and wishes to change that, i would not object. earlier this month the senate ended a four month and two day filibuster of the confirmation of judge

mr. leahy: while the senator from kentucky is still on the floor, i appreciate what he has said, and i'm glad that what he's done is shown support for the leahy amendment which passed in the last foreign aid bill. there was a lot of pushback from a number of people, the administration and on the senator's side of the aisle initially. when i wrote into the law that said -- that would fence any money, $1.3 billion, for the military unless there was a certification that they were upholding a moved -- the moves necessary towards democracy. as a result, all the money that the senator is concerned about is being held back because of the leahy amendment, which is joined in by the -- by senator graham, who i see coming on the floor. we did the foreign operations bill. so i appreciate -- i appreciate the words of the senator from kentucky. i can assure him with -- with the leahy amendment, no money, none of that foreign aid is going to egypt as they conduct their operations the way they are. and with th

mr. leahy: i scuk that the senate resume legislative session, proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each, further that the time in postcloture count during morning business and any recess or adjournment of the senate. a senator: mr. president 134. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: reserving the right to db ash and obviously i'm not going to object -- but i want to say to the senate that this is an example 789-5 that debate -- an example 89-5 that debate has been cut off on a nomination that has the bipartisan support of senator rubio and myself of a judge from florida, and one senator is holding up the works that he would not agree to the consent that you dismiss the 30 hours of debate, and that is causing us now to delay this. and so is it any wonder, i would ask the distinguished chairman of the judiciary committee, is it any wonder that we can't get things done around here when we see this kind of action on t

mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i see the distinguished senator from oklahoma, and i know he's waiting to go. i appreciate his courtesy that i might go first. mr. president, i speak in my capacity as chair of the senate judiciary committee. two weeks ago when the senate confirmed only one of the 19 judicial nominations which were delayed from last year when the republican leader decided to block votes on them last year, i urged senate republicans to join with senate democrats and take long overdue steps to remedy the serious vacancy crisis on federal courts throughout the country. nearly one out of every ten federal judgeships is vacant. throughout the country. that means that people who have to depend on the federal courts, whether they're republicans or democrats, they've got at least a 10% chance of finding a vacancy in the court they want to go over to. nonetheless, i'm concerned

mr. leahy: thank you. mr. president, i also wanted to respond briefly to comments that the junior senator from kentucky regarding his amendment to cut off all u.s. aid for egypt. let's take a little step back here. let's understand what we're talking about. the new conditions of military aid for egypt, which i wrote with senator lindsey graham, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in this body, and were signed into law just two months ago, requires certification by the secretary of state that the egyptian military is supporting the transition to civil government and protecting fundamental freedoms and due process. of course, upholding their obligations under the treaties with israel. if the crisis involving the nongovernmental organizations, whose offices were raided and now facing criminal charges is not resolved satisfactorily, well, there's no way that certification can be made and egypt will not receive $1.3 billion in u.s. military aid. but the leahy-graham conditions give the administration flex

mr. leahy: mr.ident, it pains me in a way to have to come here and talk about this, but this is the eighth time the majority leader has had to file a cloture petition to overcome yet another republican filibuster of one of president obama's superbly qualified judicial nominees. now, i've been here with -- during the time of president ford, president carter, president reagan, president george h.w. bush, president clinton, president bush and now president obama. i've been here when the senate a number of times was in republican control, a number of times the democratic control. never during all that time have i seen anything where the majority leader has had to file so many cloture petitions on superbly qualified judicial nominees, whether it's republican or democratic president. now, -- and why i think that for some reason president obama gets singled out when this wasn't done to president ford, president reagan, president george h.w. bush, president clinton, president george w. bush, you look at the

specter did that and i'm happy to say that i got the message and conveyed it to senator leahy and now we are here. mr. chairman, the supreme court justices are appointed for a lifetime. they make decisions that change the lives of americans as much or more as anything we do in congress. yet the so-called public hearings of the supreme court are open only to 250 americans on a real time basis. just how important is it in a democracy to bring the proceedings of an important american institution like the supreme court into full view of

mr. walz or ms. slaughter, and as a result they introduced a flawed bill. this bill is weaker, not stronger, and it has been denounced by senator grassley and senator leahy. like the lobbyists before them, political intelligence operatives use a proximity to power to serve high-paying clients. unlike lobbyists, these operatives are nameless. under current law they are not required to identify themselves as they go about their work, and we know all too well what happens when congress and k street work in the dark. i join my colleague, congresswoman slaughter, and congressman walz, in calling for a conference committee where senators leahy and grassley and also a bipartisan commission here in the house can work together to make sure that the intelligence, political intelligence community is covered by this bill. i thank my colleagues for their hard work and i will join them in working to make this stronger to really return it to the strong form that my colleagues drafted. i yield back to law ease slaughter. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, it is with great pleasure and absolute delight that i am able to yield to the next speaker who is a newly mentioned member o

mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: am i correct that amendment 1483, the leahy-cornyn amendment is next. the presiding officer: the amendment is now pending, sir. mr. leahy: this amendment is supported by the national taxpayers union, the f.b.i. agents association, the league of women voters and many others. it provides investigators and prosecutors the tools they need to hold officials at all levels of government -- -- accountable. i ask unanimous consent to put my full statement in the record, but senator cornyn and i have worked across the aisle as well as with the other body to craft this amendment. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i hope our colleagues will support this amendment. senator leahy and i have worked on it. it is an expansion of our public corruption prosecution and improvements act which passed the judiciary committee last year. i have a lengthier statement which i would ask unanimous consent be made a part of the record. the pr