[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10019-10023]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

 NOMINATION OF RENEE MARIE BUMB TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR 
                       THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session for consideration of Executive Calendar 
No. 626, which the clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read the nomination of Renee Marie Bumb, of New 
Jersey, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of New Jersey.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the time until 
10:20 a.m. shall be equally divided between the two managers or their 
designees.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, before I suggest the absence of a 
quorum, will the time run during the quorum call?
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It will be equally divided.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to express my pleasure and 
support for the confirmation of Ms. Renee Bumb to the U.S. District 
Court of New Jersey.
  Ms. Bumb is one of four accomplished individuals from New Jersey who 
have been nominated to vacancies on the district court.
  Just before we left for the Memorial Day recess, the Senate 
unanimously confirmed Judge Susan Wigenton for the district court. 
Judge Wigenton has been a Federal magistrate judge since 1997. She also 
worked at a law firm, served as a public defender in Asbury Park, NJ. 
She has been a first-rate magistrate judge. She will be an excellent 
district court judge. She served the public well. We are pleased to 
have her join the bench in New Jersey.
  Now we discuss today's nominee, Renee Bumb. She is exceptionally well 
qualified and will be an excellent addition to the court. She is 
currently attorney in charge of the Camden--our southernmost city--U.S. 
Attorney's Office. She is a gifted prosecutor and has handled cases 
ranging from drug trafficking to white-collar crime.
  For 6 years, Miss Bumb has supervised all of the attorneys in the 
Camden U.S. Attorney's Office. At the same time, she has tried cases 
herself, especially those dealing with public corruption.
  Ms. Bumb is from south Jersey. We are pleased she will be sitting as 
a Federal judge in Camden. There have been openings there for some 
time. The people of south Jersey deserve judges who understand that 
area of the State and the unique communities therein. Ms. Bumb fits 
that bill.
  When people look at tiny New Jersey on the map, they envision a small 
State but they are wrong. While we are relatively small geographically, 
we have the 10th largest population in the country. New Jersey is the 
most densely populated State in the country. While physical distance 
between north and south Jersey is not significant, there are 
differences between the two areas politically, economically, and 
culturally. The Federal Government needs to respect these distinctions.
  Thus, we have Renee Bumb, who is a judge from South Jersey. She will 
dispense justice with the unique character her community brings--not 
having the large cities, and with the population density much less than 
the north. They also lack some of the services immediately available in 
the northern part of our State. Ms. Bumb will represent the Federal 
Government and represent the Judiciary extremely well.
  At the same time, we have two other excellent nominees for vacancies 
on the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. One is Noel Hillman, another 
is Peter Sheridan. These nominees have been approved by the Judiciary 
Committee. They are ready to go. We should not delay the confirmation 
of these nominations past this week.
  I offer thanks to Chairman Specter and Ranking Member Leahy for 
moving these nominees so efficiently through the process. I am 
confident these four individuals will serve the people of New Jersey 
extremely well on

[[Page 10020]]

the Federal bench. They will bring distinction to the court. We urge 
their quick confirmation in the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the 
nomination of Renee Bumb to be a U.S. district judge for the District 
of New Jersey. I appreciate the opportunity to speak about this 
outstanding individual that the White House has selected to serve on 
the Federal bench.
  I take a moment to share with our colleagues a few of her 
accomplishments. Ms. Bumb is a graduate of Ohio State University and 
the University of Chicago Graduate School of International Relations. 
She attended my own alma mater, Rutgers University School of Law in 
Newark, where she served as editor in chief of the law review and has 
been a loyal New Jerseyan ever since.
  Ms. Bumb's reputation in the southern New Jersey legal community is 
both well known and exceptional. As assistant U.S. attorney, Ms. Bumb 
has been known for many efforts and is a staunch anticorruption 
prosecutor. She is best known for her prosecution of the former Camden 
City mayor. She has twice received the Director's Award, the highest 
award given to an assistant U.S. attorney presented by the U.S. 
Attorney General. Ms. Bumb is currently the attorney in charge of the 
U.S. Attorney's Office in Camden, NJ.
  The American Bar Association has rated Ms. Bumb as well qualified for 
the position to which she has been nominated. It is a view I share as 
well.
  I would also like to talk about the package of four nominees for 
district judge of New Jersey that Ms. Bumb is a part of. It is a 
package that is balanced in every sense of the word, from geographic to 
gender perspectives, as well as to quality. I should note that Ms. Bumb 
is not the first nominee of that package to be confirmed by the Senate. 
The day before the Memorial Day district work period began, the Senate 
confirmed Susan Wigenton to be a district court judge. Judge Wigenton 
graduated from Norfolk State University and the Marshall-Wythe School 
of Law from the College of William and Mary. She has spent the last 8 
years doing an exceptional job as a U.S. magistrate judge for the 
district of New Jersey, and she will do an exceptional job in the 
district court.
  I look forward to working with Senator Lautenberg, the chair and 
ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and the leadership in 
bringing the nominations of the other two nominees, Noel Hillman and 
Peter Sheridan, to the Senate floor for confirmation votes. This entire 
four-nominee package is one that every New Jerseyan can and should be 
proud of.
  There truly is no higher calling than the calling of public service. 
That is why I am pleased to see people of this quality who are willing 
to serve our Nation in the administration of justice. The confirmation 
of a judge to a lifetime appointment is a vital responsibility given to 
this body by the Constitution and one I take very seriously. I join my 
colleague, Senator Lautenberg, in support of Ms. Bumb and her 
confirmation. I look forward to her continued service to our State and 
Nation. I am confident she will put our shared Rutgers education to 
good use.
  I urge my colleagues to support the nomination of Renee M. Bumb to 
serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, as we resume consideration of judicial 
nominations today, it is worth taking stock of the mileposts we have 
passed and those we are working toward. Chairman Specter has now 
chaired the Judiciary Committee for 17 months. I congratulate him on 
that. The committee has been extremely active, and we have achieved a 
good deal working together.
  We reported a bill to provide compensation to asbestos victims and 
began its consideration in the Senate. Just recently, we joined 
together to introduce a new version of our legislation, to note the 
passing of our friend Judge Becker and to recommit ourselves to 
finishing this bipartisan task to provide fair compensation to asbestos 
victims and reduce the litigation burden that asbestos cases have 
imposed on our civil justice system.
  We worked together to report a comprehensive immigration reform bill 
and continued to work with Senators Kennedy, McCain, Hagel, Martinez, 
and others in a bipartisan coalition that culminated in Senate passage 
of S. 2611 late last month. We look forward to help from the President 
to enact that measure later this year.
  We worked together to revive and reauthorize the expiring provisions 
of the USA PATRIOT Act. I supported the Judiciary Committee and Senate 
bill. When our bill was hijacked, I appreciated Chairman Specter's 
efforts to restore some balance and his efforts to work with those of 
us seeking improvements. Sadly, the final product insisted upon by the 
Bush-Cheney administration and House Republicans was not one I could 
support.
  We are working together now in a bipartisan, bicameral partnership to 
reauthorize the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act. We need 
to complete hearings on our bill without further delay, and I hope that 
we can report our bipartisan bill by mid-June so that these important 
provisions, including those in section 203 providing voting access for 
language minorities, can be reauthorized this year.
  We worked together to report privacy legislation to the Senate last 
November. Senate action on our bill is overdue. The recent theft of 
millions of veterans' personal information and the growing problem of 
identification theft remind us how important these issues are for so 
many Americans.
  We have also worked together on competitiveness issues including the 
NOPEC legislation to clarify that our antitrust laws should be applied 
to the OPEC cartel, our broader bill on windfall oil company profits, 
and our bill to end the antitrust exemption for the insurance industry.
  We have made progress on several issues, but our work is far from 
over. There are only 13 weeks left in this legislative session of the 
Senate and we still have much that needs to get done. The Republican-
controlled House and Senate have yet to enact a Federal budget and are 
in violation of the statutory deadline of April 15. We have yet to pass 
a single appropriations bill, and we are required by law to pass 13. We 
have yet to reconcile and enact the emergency supplemental 
appropriations bill that has been pending for months and that includes 
funding for Iraq and Katrina victims and other matters. We have yet to 
reconcile and enact lobbying reform and ethics legislation. We have yet 
to deal with the skyrocketing cost of gasoline. We have yet to 
reconcile and enact a bipartisan and comprehensive immigration reform 
bill. We need to enact stronger privacy protection legislation, 
especially in the wake of the theft of information on more than 26 
million veterans. We have yet to enact stem cell research legislation. 
We need to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. We have yet to enact 
patent reform legislation. And I hope that we will take up, pass and 
enact our asbestos compensation legislation and my measure to speed 
lifesaving medicine to those in desperate need.
  I have urged that we exercise effective oversight of the executive 
branch, and I have supported Chairman Specter's efforts to get to the 
bottom of the NSA's unprecedented program of domestic spying on 
Americans without warrants. We need to make more progress on this 
important front and to restore accountability and check and balances in 
our Government.
  One of the most important checks and balances to unprecedented 
overreaching by the Bush-Cheney executive branch is an independent 
judiciary. With respect to judicial nominations, we worked together in 
connection with the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts, whom I came 
to support, and Justice Alito, whom I did not. I have sought to 
expedite consideration of qualified, consensus nominees and urged the 
President to work with us to make selections that unite all Americans.
  Today we will proceed to confirm another lifetime appointment to the 
Federal courts in New Jersey. With the

[[Page 10021]]

support of the New Jersey Senators, we were able to confirm Judge Susan 
Davis Wigenton just before the last recess. Her nomination, as well as 
the nomination of Renee Marie Bumb that we are considering today, were 
reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee to the Senate more than a 
month ago.
  Rather than proceed to those nominations promptly, the Republican 
leadership of the Senate delayed their consideration while proceeding 
over time with circuit court nominations. I was cooperative in 
proceeding to the confirmation of Judge Milan Smith to the Ninth 
Circuit. His confirmation demonstrated, again, that we can work 
together. I was pleased for his brother, the Senator from Oregon, and 
believe that he will be a fine judge.
  Regrettably, the Senate Republican leadership chose not to move to 
any of the four district court nominations from New Jersey, or the two 
nominations to district courts in Michigan that their home State 
Democratic Senators have reached out to support. Instead, they forced 
debate on another controversial nomination, that of a White House 
insider selected for a lifetime position on the DC Circuit as a reward 
for his loyalty to President Bush. I did not support confirmation of 
Brett Kavanaugh. That was the fight that the Republican leader had 
promised the narrow special interest groups of the rightwing of his 
party.
  The President and Senate Republican leadership continue to pick 
fights over judicial nominations rather than focus on filing vacancies. 
Judicial vacancies have now grown to more than 50 from the lowest 
vacancy rate in decades. More than half these vacancies are without a 
nominee. The Congressional Research Service has recently released a 
study showing that this President has been the slowest in decades to 
nominate and the Republican Senate among the slowest to act. If they 
would concentrate on the needs of the courts, our Federal justice 
system and the needs of the American people, we would be much further 
along.
  Still, we have passed a milestone. When the Senate votes today to 
confirm Renee Bumb as a district court judge, the Republican-controlled 
Senate will have this year confirmed 17 judicial nominations. That was 
the total number of judges confirmed in the 1996 congressional session, 
when Republicans controlled the Senate and stalled the nominations of 
President Clinton. In the 1996 session, however, Republicans would not 
confirm a single appellate court judge. All 17 confirmations were 
district court nominees. That is the only session I can remember in 
which the Senate has simply refused to consider a single appellate 
court nomination. That was part of their pocket filibuster strategy to 
stall and maintain vacancies so that a Republican President could pack 
the courts and tilt them decidedly to the right. In the important DC 
Circuit, the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh was the culmination the 
Republicans' decade-long attempt to pack the DC Circuit that began with 
the stalling of Merrick Garland's nomination in 1996 and continued with 
the blocking of President Clinton's other well-qualified nominees, 
Elena Kagan and Allen Snyder.
  Of course, with the confirmation today, we will tie that record of 17 
confirmations for the year. It is June, and we have a few more weeks in 
which to make progress. There remain four more district court nominees 
on the calendar whose consideration could be scheduled for debate and 
vote but are being delayed--not by Democratic opposition--but by 
Republican control. There is also another circuit court nominee on the 
calendar who was reported with Democratic support from the Judiciary 
Committee and whose confirmation could be scheduled for debate and 
vote. Successful consideration of those five additional nominees will 
bring the Senate's total judicial confirmations to 22, thereby matching 
the total achieved all last year.
  But the road ahead is likely to be rocky. In the runup to the 
Kavanaugh nomination debate, we saw that the Senate Republican 
leadership is apparently heeding the advice of The Wall Street Journal 
editorial page, which wrote, ``[a] filibuster fight would be exactly 
the sort of political battle Republicans need to energize conservative 
voters after their recent months of despond.'' Rich Lowery, editor of 
the conservative National Review, listed a fight over judges as one of 
the ways President Bush could revive his political fortunes, writing 
that he should, ``[p]ush for the confirmation of his circuit judges 
that are pending. Talk about them by name. The G.O.P. wins judiciary 
fights.''
  Republican Senators are relishing picking fights over controversial 
judicial nominees. Senator Thune has said, ``A good fight on judges 
does nothing but energize our base . . . . Right now our folks are 
feeling a little flat.'' Senator Cornyn has said, ``I think this is 
excellent timing. From a political standpoint, when we talk about 
judges, we win.'' On May 8, 2006, The New York Times reported: 
``Republicans are itching for a good election-year fight. Now they are 
about to get one: a reprise of last year's Senate showdown over 
judges.'' The Washington Post reported on May 10: ``Republicans had 
revived debate on Kavanaugh and another Bush appellate nominee, 
Terrence Boyle, in hopes of changing the pre-election subject from 
Iraq, high gasoline prices and bribery scandals.''
  We should not stand idly by as Republicans choose to use lifetime 
federal judgeships for partisan political advantage. In a May 11, 2006, 
editorial The Tennessean wrote:

       ``[T]he nation should look with complete dismay at the 
     blatantly political angle on nominations being advocated by 
     Senate Republicans now. . . . Republicans are girding for a 
     fight on judicial nominees for no reason other than to be 
     girding for a fight. They have admitted as much in public 
     comments. . . . In other words, picking a public fight over 
     judicial nominees is, in their minds, the right thing to do 
     because it's the politically right thing to do. . . . Now, 
     Republicans are advocating a brawl for openly political 
     purposes. The appointment of judges deserves far more respect 
     than to be an admitted election-year ploy. . . . It should be 
     beneath the Senate to have such a serious matter subjected to 
     nothing but a tool for political gain.''

  On May 3, 2006, The New York Times wrote in an editorial: ``The 
Republicans have long used judicial nominations as a way of placating 
the far right of their party, and it appears that with President Bush 
sinking in the polls, they now want to offer up some new appeals court 
judges to their conservative base.''
  Consider the President's nomination of Judge Terrence Boyle to the 
Fourth Circuit. We have learned from recent news reports that, as a 
sitting U.S. district judge and while a circuit court nominee, Judge 
Boyle ruled on multiple cases involving corporations in which he held 
investments. In at least one instance, he is alleged to have bought 
General Electric stock while presiding over a lawsuit in which General 
Electric was accused of illegally denying disability benefits to a 
long-time employee. Two months later, he ruled in favor of GE and 
denied the employee's claim for long term and pension disability 
benefits. Whether it turns out that Judge Boyle broke Federal law or 
canons of judicial ethics, these types of conflicts of interest have no 
place on the Federal bench. Certainly, they should not be rewarded with 
a promotion to the Fourth Circuit. Certainly, they should be 
investigated.
  The President should heed the call of North Carolina Police 
Benevolent Association, the North Carolina Troopers' Association, the 
Police Benevolent Associations from South Carolina and Virginia, the 
National Association of Police Organizations, the Professional Fire 
Fighters and Paramedics of North Carolina, as well as the advice of 
Senator John Edwards, and withdraw his ill-advised nomination of Judge 
Terrence Boyle. Law enforcement from North Carolina and law enforcement 
from across the country oppose the nomination. Civil rights groups 
oppose the nomination. Those knowledgeable and respectful of judicial 
ethics oppose this nomination. This nomination has been pending on the 
calendar in the Republican-controlled Senate since June of last year 
when it was forced out of the Committee on a party-line vote. It should 
be withdrawn.

[[Page 10022]]

  Also on the calendar is the nomination of William Myers to the Ninth 
Circuit. This is another administration insider and lobbyist whose 
record has made him extremely controversial. I opposed this nomination 
when it was considered by the Judiciary Committee in March 2005. He was 
a nominee who the so-called Gang of 14 expressly listed as someone for 
whom they made no commitment to vote for cloture, and with good reason. 
His anti-environmental record is reason enough to oppose his 
confirmation. His lack of independence is another. If anyone sought to 
proceed to this nomination, there would be a need to explore his 
connections with the lobbying scandals associated with the Interior 
Department and Jack Abramoff. This nomination should also be withdrawn.
  A few months ago, the President withdrew the nomination of Judge 
James Payne to the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit after 
information became public about that nominee's rulings in a number of 
cases in which he appears, like Judge Boyle, to have had conflicts of 
interest. Those conflicts were pointed out not by the administration's 
screening process or by the ABA but by journalists.
  Judge Payne joins a long list of nominations by this President that 
have been withdrawn. Among the more well known are Bernard Kerik to 
head the Department of Homeland Security and Harriet Miers to the 
Supreme Court. It was, as I recall, reporting in a national magazine 
that doomed the Kerik nomination. It was opposition within the 
President's own party that doomed the Miers nomination.
  During the last few months, President Bush also withdrew the 
nominations of Judge Henry Saad to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth 
Circuit and Judge Daniel P. Ryan to the Eastern District of Michigan 
after his ABA rating was downgraded.
  It is not as if we have not been victimized before by the White 
House's poor vetting of important nominations. If the White House had 
its way, we would already have confirmed Claude Allen to the Fourth 
Circuit. He is the Bush administration insider who recently resigned 
his position as a top domestic policy adviser to the President. 
Ultimately, we learned why he resigned when he was arrested for 
fraudulent conduct over an extended period of time. Had we Democrats 
not objected to the White House attempt to shift a circuit judgeship 
from Maryland to Virginia, someone now the subject of a criminal 
prosecution for the equivalent of stealing from retail stores would be 
a sitting judge on the Fourth Circuit confirmed with a Republican 
rubberstamp.
  Yet another controversial pending nomination is that of Norman Randy 
Smith to the Ninth Circuit. This nomination is another occasion on 
which this President is seeking to steal a circuit court seat from one 
State and reassign it to another one, one with Republican Senators. 
That is wrong. I support Senators Feinstein and Boxer in their 
opposition to this tactic. I have suggested a way to resolve two 
difficult situations if the President were to renominate Mr. Smith to 
fill the Idaho vacancy on the Ninth Circuit, instead of a vacancy for a 
California seat. Regrettably, the White House has not followed up on my 
suggestion.
  A complicit Republican-controlled Senate remains all too eager to act 
as a rubberstamp for the Bush-Cheney administration. The nomination of 
Kavanaugh was one of the few to be downgraded by the ABA upon further 
review. Until the Republican-controlled Senate proceeded to confirm 
this White House insider, I cannot recall anyone being confirmed after 
such a development. Another first, and another problematic confirmation 
that ill serves the American people.
  Another troubling nomination is that of William James Haynes to the 
Fourth Circuit, which has been pending in the Republican-controlled 
Senate without action for 3 years. Mr. Haynes is the general counsel at 
the Defense Department and was deeply involved developing the torture 
policies, detention and interrogation policies, military tribunals, and 
other controversial aspects of the manner in which this administration 
has proceeded unilaterally to make mistakes and exceed its legal 
authority. Concerns about the Haynes nomination may not be confined to 
Democratic Senators, according to recent press reports.
  I trust that the Senate will not repeat the mistake it made before. 
It was only after Jay Bybee was confirmed to a lifetime appointment to 
the Ninth Circuit that we learned of his involvement with the infamous 
Bybee memo seeking to justify torture and degrading treatment. I had 
asked him what he had worked on while head of the Department of 
Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, but he had refused to respond. This 
former Defense Department and Justice Department insider now sits on 
the Ninth Circuit for life.
  Finally, there is the more recent nomination of Michael Wallace to a 
vacancy on the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Wallace received the first ABA rating 
of unanimously ``not qualified'' that I have seen for a circuit court 
nominee since President Reagan. Yet that is one of the controversial 
nominations we can expect the Republican Senate to target for action 
given their track record.
  Working together we could do better. I made the point when in the 17 
months I chaired the Judiciary Committee we proceeded to confirm 100 
judicial nominees of President Bush. I urge the White House to work 
with us. I hope that the Republican-controlled Senate will stop 
rubberstamping this President's nominees and stop using controversial 
judicial nominations to score partisan political points. Our courts are 
too important. The rights and liberties of the American people are too 
important. The courts are the only check and balance left to protect 
the American people and provide some oversight of the actions of this 
President.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DeMint). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The hour of 10:20 having arrived, the vote is to occur on the 
nomination.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a 
sufficient second.
  Mr. SANTORUM. I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Renee Marie Bumb, of New Jersey, to be a 
United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey?
  On this question, the yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will 
call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators were necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Frist), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Burns), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Crapo), the Senator from New Mexico 
(Mr. Domenici), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Hagel), the Senator from 
Utah (Mr. Hatch), and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Talent).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Frist) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. 
Bingaman), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller), the 
Senator from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes), and the Senator from New York 
(Mr. Schumer) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 89, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 162 Ex.]

                                YEAS--89

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Dayton

[[Page 10023]]


     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Harkin
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Salazar
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--11

     Bingaman
     Burns
     Crapo
     Domenici
     Frist
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Talent
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President will 
be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________