ms. mikulski: mr. president, i am so proud to be here on the floor of the united states senate to support the nomination of judge george levi russel. he is nominated for the united states district court and he has the enthusiastic support of senator cardin and myself. senator cardin will speak right after myself. i want to thank senators leahy and grassley for moving this nomination and the cooperation of senator reid and mcconnell. mr. president, when i take my advice and consent responsibilities very seriously. when i nominate someone for the federal bench, i have four criteria: absolute personal integrity, judicial competence and temperament, a commitment to core constitutional principles, and a history of civic engagement in maryland. i say these standards because i mean it. and i must say that judge russell, because he currently is on the circuit court of baltimore city, brings the right values to the bench. he has the necessary experience. he has seen the legal system from all perspectives and br

ms. mikulski: and i'll be very brief. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: thank you very much, mr. president. to our colleague from oklahoma, himself a physician, he would be very keenly interested in this issue of prescription drug shortages. this is a problem that's been brought to my attention by marylanders, leaders of great institutions like the university of maryland and hopkins as well as family members who care for someone and find that though there's been the right diagnosis and there's even the right drug to care for that problem, like the dreaded cancer word, the drug is not vague. so you can imagine the worst thing that you want to hear is that your child has cancer. then the worst thing you want to hear is that there is a shortage of that drug to take care of that child not because it hasn't been developed, not because there hasn't been a scientific breakthrough. but because there's been a manufacturing problem or because the company stopped making the drug when it was no longer profitable. mr. president, that is inexcusable, and the b

ms. mikulski: gavin good afternoon, mr. president. i ask that the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: i come to the floor to ask my colleagues to vote for the motion to proceed to the f.d.a. administration safety and innovation act. mr. president, i come to this floor as someone who represents a state that is absolutely critical to the innovation economy. and like you in delaware, with its excellent private sector and public sector, have been in the hallmark of innovation. if you're from maryland, you know that life science innovation is one of the important economic engines in our economy, both today and in the future. we're the home to government agencies like the national institutes of health and to f.d.a. iconic internationally branded universities that do research and move it into clinical practice at johns hopkins and the university of maryland. and also lots of thriving biotech companies and some medical devices. so for us, life science is part of the life blood of the maryland economy, and it's also part of the life blood