saldana nomination calendar number 1084. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of homeland security, sarah r. saldana of texas ton an assistant secretary. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, my colleague has just stepped off the floor from texas. he has spoken at some length about his position on this nomination, and i would like to address the same issue. first, with the utmost respect, for my colleague from texas, we disagree on many political issues but we are truly friends. we work together on the senate judiciary committee. i respect him very much, although we may disagree, as we do on this issue, and i want to say -- put in context what i am about to say in expressing my respect for the senior senator from texas. but, mr. president, i'm at a loss to explain the position of the senator from texas and the republican party of america when it comes to the issue of immigration. what are we to make of what they tell us when we talk about immigration? without fail, mr. president, they say to us, first, first and foremost

sarah saldana is fully qualified to serve as i.c.e. director. she is a senior federal law enforcement official for a border state district that spans almost 100,000 miles. ms. saldana has been on the ground in texas and fully understands the complexities and challenges we face with our immigration system. republicans and democrats agree that our immigration system is broken. until recently, we also agreed, republicans and democrats alike, that sarah saldana needed to be confirmed as the director of i.c.e. however, now republicans are playing politics with this nomination to a critical homeland security agency. i.c.e. is responsible for important law enforcement issues that makes us all safer and has been without a permanent director for over a year. i.c.e.'s 19,000 people are responsible for enforcement of our immigration laws, for drug interdiction, for fighting child exploitation and for keeping us safe from national security threats. the senate needs to do its job and let sarah saldana get to work as the permanent director of i.c.e. i understa

here's what senator cornyn had to say about sarah saldana: "in her role as u.s. attorney, prosecutor over the past decade, ms. saldana has served our state with honor, fighting public corruption officials, organized crime, sex offenders, sex traffickers, and other dangerous criminals." that sound like a highly qualified candidate to meevmen . that's not all that senator cornyn had to say about ms.al is dan navment he went on to say this as well, "if respect for the rule of law is our standard, then and i think it should be, d be hard-pressed to find a person more qualified to enforce the law than ms.al is did a navment "now, that is high pray -- high praise indeed. some rough saying that we shouldn't confirm her because of president obama's latest action on deportation. there are law-abiding people who are productive members of our community. some argue that the president's action should preclude the senate from confirming a highly qualified person like sara a saldana to this position. i think that's absurd. we have before us in this highly qualified candidate a p

sarah saldana. i quote, "ms. saldana is the first latina united states attorney in texas history. she's only the second woman to hold that position in the 135-year history of the texas northern district of the federal courts. second woman. in her role as u.s. attorney and prosecutor over the past decade, ms. saldana has served our state with honor, this person said, fighting corrupt public officials, organized crime, sex traffickers and other dangerous criminals. throughout her career, ms. saldana has developed a reputation for her decisive and fair temperament and her commitment to excellence. can you imagine a more ringing endorsement for someone to head up i.c.e., immigration, customs and enforcement? you would expect that came from the white house, wouldn't you? you would think this must have been sent by president obama personally, such glowing tribute to this nominee. no, the -- quote -- "that i've read -- the quote that i've read to you comes from the senior senator from texas, senator john cornyn. senator cornyn, of course, sits on the republican side of the aisle. senator

president, more than three months ago, i was proud to introduce a fellow texan, sarah saldana to the security and government affairs committee in connection with her nomination to be the top immigration enforcement official, a position of profound importance to our country and particularly to texas, being a border state. s this saldana has an amazing story. she was bench in corpus christi, texas and became the first latina united states attorney in texas history and only the second woman to hold that in the 135-year history of the northern district of texas that includes the dallas-fort worth metroplex and stretches across 95,000 miles. i along with former senator kay bailey hutchinson was proud to support her nomination for that important job. in her role as united states attorney and previously as a line prosecutor, sarah saldana has fought public corruption. she's fought organized crime, sex traffickers and other dangerous criminals. she's also prosecuted numerous high profile public construction cases including the very publicized corruption trial that resulted in the ickes of th

the senate confirmed texas prosecutor sarah saldana to head the immigration and customs enforcement agency. saldana stated she believes mr. obama does have the authority to defer deportation for millions of illegal immigrants. our first guest authored a bill passed in the house that challenges the administration's fiat on immigration. joining us congressman ted yoho, a member of the house foreign affairs and congressional committees. first, congratulations getting your bill passed. what is, however, necessary to stop the president's executive order that confers de facto amnesty. >> lou, i appreciate you having me on. this is something we have to get back to the rule. while the president doesn't have the authority, it will be proven that he doesn't have the authority to do this, according to article 1 section 8 of the constitution. that power solely in the branch of the house where naturalization laws are made. the president has overstepped it, in fact, if you go back to the 20 or 22 times he said he did not have the authority to do this, and he's the constitutional lawyer, and i agree 100%

and sarah saldana to head immigration and customs enforcement.nd most controversial of all, vivek murthy, president obama's nominee for surgeon general who strongly was opposed by the nra. but he was just confirmed by the senate moments ago. democrats were overjoyed. it was like christmas came early and senator cruz was santa claus. but republicans weren't as thrilled. susan collins declared it counterproductive. kelly ayotte called it ridiculous. and orrin hatch said it was, quote, irritating a lot of people. did senator cruz think we'd ignore his crash and burn on the senate floor? nice try, but looks like your fellow republicans gotcha. aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. they take us to worlds full of heroes and titans. for respawn, building the best interactive entertainment begins with the cloud. this is "titanfall," the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement. this is the microsoft cloud.

passed by president obama to be get the just be deputy secretary of state, and the nomination of sarah saldanaassistant secretary of homeland security, in charge of enforcing u.s. immigration laws," and a few others noted in that "wall street journal" store if you want to check that out. you can watch the senate action on c-span2. votes expected around 5:30 this afternoon. up next, we will return to the senate intelligence committee's post-9/11the cia's interrogation entertainment program. atlantic"ons of "the tells us what that means for president obama's foreign policy efforts. detailingew report the fiscal health of the 50 states. we will get to that in a second. last week the cato institute posted an old a on surveillance examining issues of national security, law enforcement, and civil liberties. here's a bit from that event. [video clip] >> 66% of americans expressed concern that the nsa was over surveilling. 69% of americans say that google is surveilling -- >> which we are not. the good news with that question is that you can ask me and i can answer definitively, and the answer is no.

rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of sarah saldana of texas to be an assistant secretary of homeland security signed by 17 senators as follows. reid of nevada, carper, leahy, murray, udall of new mexico, schatz, schumer, boxer, cardin, blumenthal, merkley, franken, casey, heinrich, warren, durbin, murphy. mr. reid: madam president, i ask consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? objection is heard. mr. reid: i now move -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is. there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 52 and the nays are 40, and the motion to proceed to legislative session is agreed to. mr. reid: i now move -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: i move to proceed to give executive

standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of sarah r. saldana of texas to be assistant secretary of homeland security, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the debate on the nomination of sarah r. saldana of texas to be an assistant secretary of homeland security shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. and the clerk will call the roll. vote: wit vote: . the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not the ayes are 53. the nays are 41. and the motion to invoke cloture is agreed to. under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. the question occurs on the saldana nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: does any member wish to change their vote or to vote? if not, on this the yeas are 55, the nays are 39 and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is consider

department of homeland security, sarah r. saldana of texas to be an assistant secretary. department of state, antony blinken of new york to be deputy secretary. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. >> in 1986, the people of south dakota elected me to serve them in the 100 session of the united states congress quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to oppose the nomination of dr. dr. vivek murthy to be surgeon general of the united states. surgeon general is known as america's doctor. americans have great respect for this important position. they expect their surgeon general to be someone who has substantial experience in helping patients, helping them improve their health and in helping them reduce their risk of illness and injury. this important position has been vacant since july of 2013, so about a year and a half. i