mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. oomey: thank you, mr. president. i rise to offer my support as well for the two nominees to serve as u.s. district court judges for the eastern district of pennsylvania, jerry pappert and mark kearney, whom we are scheduled to confirm in a short time. let me just start by thanking chairman leahy and ranking member grassley for facilitating this confirmation process, for handling this at the committee level. and i want to thank leader reid and leader mcconnell for promptly bringing these nominees to the senate floor. i also want to take a moment to thank my -- my colleague from the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, senator casey, for all the work that he and i have been able to do together, the collaboration that we've had has been very constructive and it's been a pleasure to work with senator casey. in the four years since i've been in the senate, we have confirmed 11 district court judges. we've been able to place a judge in the redding courthouse in burkes county which had been va

mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: i'm objecting on behalf of a colleague who is unavoidably detained. the senator from new hampshire will have to take this up with our colleague. mrs. shaheen: well, mr. president, in that case i would like to ask unanimous consent that the energy committee be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 2126, the energy efficiency improvement act, and that the senate proceed to its consideration. further, that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: on behalf of a colleague who is unavoidably detained, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. i would yield to my colleague from ohio who i know is here to talk about the legislation, or my colleague from new hampshire who has been working on the tenant sta

mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i rise this morning to offer my support for the gentleman for whom cloture was just invoked. we're going to have a confirmation vote this afternoon. it was mr. joseph leeson from pennsylvania. mr. leeson has been nominated to serve as a u.s. district judge in the eastern district of pennsylvania. i want to start by thanking chairman leahy and ranking member grassley for facilitating and moving his candidacy through the process through the create, and senator reid and senator mcconnell are our respected leaders for bringing the nomination to the senate floor. i appreciate that cooperation. i should also point out i am very grateful for the cooperation of my colleague senator casey. senator casey and i have spent a lot of time and energy making sure that we fill the vacancies that occur on the federal bench in pennsylvania with the absolutely most qualified terrific pennsylvanians. we have been blessed that so many wonderful pennsylvanians have offered to serve in this role to make this