[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13841-13845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

                             CLOTURE MOTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session and, pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays 
before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will 
state.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of 
     Jill A. Pryor, of Georgia, to be United State Circuit Judge 
     for the Eleventh Circuit.
         Harry Reid, Patrick J. Leahy, Christopher A. Coons, 
           Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray, Amy Klobuchar, Maria 
           Cantwell, Jack Reed, Bill Nelson, Elizabeth Warren, Tom 
           Udall, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Barbara 
           Boxer, Tom Harkin, Benjamin L. Cardin, Charles E. 
           Schumer.

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, for the fifth year in a row, more than a 
dozen qualified, consensus judicial nominees pending before the full 
Senate will remain on the Executive Calendar during the August recess. 
Each year, I have come before the Senate to remind my fellow Senators 
that their refusal to take action on these nominations prior to the 
August recess is an unfortunate departure from Senate tradition and to 
urge them to stop their obstructive practices and delay tactics. Again, 
I am disappointed to see partisanship and senseless obstruction 
continue to keep the Senate from fulfilling its constitutional duty of 
advice and consent.
  We could be voting today to confirm 13 nominees to serve on our 
Federal courts, 12 of whom were reported favorably by the Senate 
Judiciary Committee by unanimous voice vote. Instead, we are voting to 
invoke cloture on only one nomination, that of Jill Pryor, to fill a 
judicial emergency vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
Eleventh Circuit. She has received the American Bar Association's 
highest rating of unanimously ``well qualified'' and has the support of 
both of her Republican home State Senators. She will no doubt be 
confirmed unanimously, or near unanimously, when we return in 
September. As the senior Senator from Georgia, Mr. Chambliss, noted at 
her confirmation hearing, ``Jill Pryor has been in private practice in 
Atlanta for nearly 25 years. During that time she has played a pivotal 
role in some of the largest and most complex cases in Georgia 
history.'' We have before us an outstanding candidate to serve on the 
Federal bench. Yet her nomination is being filibustered by Senate 
Republicans who are delaying her vote for the sake of obstruction.
  Despite this unyielding and irrational partisan strategy, the Senate 
has made great strides to fill vacancies on courts around the Nation by 
confirming 61 circuit and district court nominees this year. I have 
heard some Republican Senators point to these confirmations to claim 
that today's Senate is treating judicial nominees fairly. These 
Senators overlook an important truth: This progress was made because of 
the persistent dedication of the majority leader and Democratic 
Senators to confront vacancies on the Federal bench and despite the 
unprecedented levels of opposition and obstruction from Republican 
Senators.

[[Page 13842]]

  Because of our Democratic leadership in the Senate, there are now 
fewer vacancies on the Federal courts than at any time since January 
2009. Since the beginning of this year, we have reduced the vacancies 
on our Federal courts by over a third, from 92 to 57, and reduced the 
number of judicial emergency vacancies by nearly half, from 37 to 19. 
There are now only eight vacancies on the U.S. courts of appeals. Not 
since December 1990--over 23 years ago--have there been so few. This is 
real progress for the millions of Americans who depend on our courts 
for justice.
  Many of these confirmations were of nominees to courts that began the 
year with record-high numbers of vacancies. In Arizona, I worked with 
Senator McCain and Senator Flake to confirm six nominees to fill 
judicial emergency vacancies on their district court. In Florida, I 
worked with Senator Nelson and Senator Rubio to confirm seven nominees 
to fill judicial emergency vacancies in the Southern and Middle 
Districts of Florida as well as on the Eleventh Circuit. These States 
are success stories, and the people of Arizona and Florida are better 
served for having trial and appellate judges ready to hear their cases.
  No Senator should believe, however, that our work is done. There are 
13 judicial nominees pending on the Senate floor who should be 
confirmed without delay. Yet, even if the Senate were to confirm these 
nominees today, the Federal judiciary would remain understaffed. In 
addition to the 57 current vacancies, the Judicial Conference has 
identified the need for 91 new judgeships in some of America's judicial 
districts and circuits with the most burdensome caseloads. Last year, 
Senator Coons and I introduced the Federal Judgeship Act of 2013 to 
enact these recommendations into law. The timely administration of 
justice should not be a partisan issue. It is an issue that affects all 
Americans and the Senate should take it seriously by passing this bill.
  The recommendations of the Judicial Conference only underscore how, 
despite the 61 judicial confirmations so far in 2014, the Senate 
continues to fall short of its obligations to the Federal judiciary and 
the American people. I have heard some Republican Senators claim the 
opposite by citing the total judicial confirmation figures of current 
and former Presidents. It is true that the Senate has now confirmed 277 
of President Obama's circuit, district, and U.S. Court of International 
Trade nominees, compared to 253 confirmations at the same point in the 
last administration. Yet these numbers are meaningless without 
providing their proper context. These confirmations were sorely needed. 
There remain 57 vacancies on the Federal bench--far more than the 42 
vacancies at this point during the Bush administration. There are an 
additional 24 announced future vacancies on our Federal courts that 
will also need to be filled in the coming months.
  Vacancies remain high not because of a failure of Senate Democrats or 
President Obama to make judicial confirmations a priority; Americans 
seeking justice around the country face delays because of the endless 
obstruction of partisan Republicans who take every opportunity they can 
to shut down the important work of the Senate. Last year, no longer 
content to block individual judges, Senate Republicans attempted a 
wholesale filibuster of three nominees to the DC Circuit, without even 
considering their qualifications. Then, instead of confirming the 
consensus judicial nominees pending on the Executive Calendar prior to 
the end of the congressional session, Republicans forced the President 
to renominate each nominee and the Senate Judiciary Committee to report 
them again this year.
  This year, Senate Republicans have proceeded to filibuster each and 
every judicial nominee. After today, the Senate will have taken 62 
cloture votes on judicial nominations so far this year, amounting to 
well over 400 wasted hours the Senate should have spent considering 
legislation to help the American people. Never before has the Senate 
seen the systematic filibuster of every judicial nominee, or such 
unfair treatment of qualified, consensus nominees.
  The result of these tactics has been high vacancy levels on the 
Federal courts. The implications of these vacancies were made clear by 
a recent Brennan Center for Justice paper titled ``The Impact of 
Judicial Vacancies on Federal Trial Courts.'' In it, judges and 
attorneys in districts with high levels of vacancies describe the way 
empty court rooms slow the administration of justice, ``raise the cost 
of litigation, cause evidence to go stale, make it harder to settle 
civil cases, and even put pressure on criminal defendants to plead 
guilty.'' Chief Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas 
said the impact of vacancies comes down to ``simple math.'' Vacancies 
lead to heavier caseloads and judges ``have less time to give to [an 
individual] case . . . It affects the quality of justice that's being 
dispensed and the quantity of work you can complete.''
  The incredible burden facing Federal courts in Texas is 
understandable with its nine current district court vacancies--more 
than any other State. Therefore, I hope that Republicans on the 
Judiciary Committee, including both Senators from Texas, will be ready 
to proceed with a hearing on the three pending Texas district court 
nominees as soon as the Senate returns to session in September. I also 
hope that the Texas Senators will continue to work with the 
administration on nominees to fill the six other current district 
vacancies in their State as well as the four known future district 
court vacancies.
  The continued high number of vacancies across our Federal courts is 
unacceptable to me and should be unacceptable to every Member of this 
body. The Senate should act quickly to confirm the consensus nominees 
pending on the Senate floor. The Senate should also pass the Federal 
Judgeship Act of 2013 to ensure that our coequal branch of government 
has the resources it needs to serve its constitutionally mandated 
function.
  I am glad that we are voting to overcome the Republican filibuster of 
the nomination of Jill Pryor, and I thank the majority leader for 
taking action on her nomination. If the Senate were operating as it 
once did, without this partisan treatment of judicial nominations, she 
would have been confirmed weeks ago.
  I hope that in the weeks following the August recess Senators will 
start working together to continue the progress we have made so far in 
2014. The American people deserve courts capable of providing access to 
swift justice, not empty courtrooms and delays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
nomination of Jill A. Pryor, of Georgia, to be United States Circuit 
Judge for the Eleventh Circuit, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN, I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Hagan), the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin), and the Senator from Hawaii 
(Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. 
Cochran), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Kansas 
(Mr. Roberts), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), and the 
Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``nay'' and the Senator from Texas (Mr. 
Cornyn) would have voted ``nay.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 58, nays 33, as follows:

[[Page 13843]]



                      [Rollcall Vote No. 256 Ex.]

                                YEAS--58

     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Collins
     Coons
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Isakson
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--33

     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Coats
     Coburn
     Corker
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Enzi
     Flake
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johanns
     Johnson (WI)
     Kirk
     Lee
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moran
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Rubio
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Thune
     Vitter
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--9

     Alexander
     Cochran
     Cornyn
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Roberts
     Schatz
     Scott
     Toomey
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 58, the nays are 33. 
The motion is agreed to.
  The majority leader.


                Unanimous Consent Request--H.J. Res. 76

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I renew the request I made earlier this 
evening.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 220; 
that a Reid-McConnell-Mikulski substitute amendment at the desk 
providing emergency appropriations for the Iron Dome defense system in 
Israel be agreed to; that the joint resolution, as amended, be read a 
third time and passed; that the motions to reconsider be considered 
made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. COBURN. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from New Jersey.


             UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I rise in support of all of the career 
Foreign Service officers whose nominations have been held up in the 
Chamber until there is a crisis somewhere in the world, until there is 
a Presidential or Vice Presidential trip to some part of the world that 
suddenly demands our attention, and then miraculously holds are lifted 
and nominees are approved.
  On a Thursday, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern 
Ukraine. On the following Monday, the Senate confirmed Michael Lawson 
as the U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation 
Organization. He had been pending before the Senate. His first day on 
the job, his first time meeting his colleagues, he was forced to 
grapple with this crisis.
  In the last week or 10 days, two more plane crashes have occurred in 
Taiwan and in Mali, an Algerian plane. Random events around the world 
cannot determine when the Senate acts on nominees. We cannot continue 
to follow a policy of confirmation by crisis. It took the President to 
travel to Saudi Arabia--an important ally--and the Vice President to 
travel to Chile for the Senate to confirm the nominees to those 
countries. In the case of Chile, Ambassador Hammer was taken to his new 
office in Santiago for his first day on the job on Air Force Two 
because the Senate approved his nomination just before the Vice 
President was to visit Chile. It should not require flying on Air Force 
Two to get to your posting for your first day of work as a U.S. 
Ambassador. Take the case of our Ambassador to Qatar. She waited for 
months, and then Bergdahl was exchanged for five Guantanamo detainees 
released to Qatar, and suddenly she was approved. It almost required 
the President to be ``wheels up'' on Air Force One on his way to Riyadh 
before we confirmed an Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
  I repeat, the criteria for confirming nominees should not be 
determined by a sudden just-breaking crisis, with the urgent need to 
fill a vacant post. Confirmation-by-crisis is not a strategy. It is not 
in the national security interests of the United States.
  Now the Foreign Relations Committee has moved judiciously--in some 
cases with record-setting speed--to confirm nominees. In the face of 
obstructionism on the floor of the Senate, the committee has proven 
that bipartisanship is not only possible but it can thrive when 
American national security interests are put first.
  It is my view that we must lift up our Ambassadors and their 
families, not put them down. These individuals are serving our Nation. 
Their families are sacrificing for our Nation. They deserve better. Our 
career Foreign Service officers serve Democratic and Republican 
Presidents. They should not, must not be treated as political pawns.
  We cannot continue to allow the pulpits where we preach American 
values to remain vacant. No Nation can listen to us if we are not 
present to speak for ourselves. American leadership can only occur if 
American leaders are present on the international stage.
  The Senate standoff that has left so many career Foreign Service 
nominees in political and personal limbo is damaging our credibility, 
undermining our national security, and it has to end now.
  I rise today for the career ambassadors who have not gotten the 
decency of a vote in the Senate, career ambassadors who are waiting, 
along with their families, for months, some more than a year, to take 
their posts. They are trapped on the Executive Calendar, unable to 
assume their appointed posts because the leadership on the Republican 
side has chosen to hold them hostage as a political tool. They have 
consciously chosen a strategy to do nothing, pass nothing, approve 
nothing, and leave key diplomatic posts unfilled for months, 
threatening national security and our ability to conduct foreign 
policy.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session 
to consider the following nominees: Calendar No. 524, Adam M. Scheinman 
to be Special Representative of the President for Nuclear 
Nonproliferation, with the rank of Ambassador; Calendar No. 533, Karen 
Stanton to be the Ambassador to the Republic of Timor-Leste; Calendar 
No. 536, Eric Schultz to be Ambassador to the Republic of Zambia; 
Calendar No. 540, Donald Lu to be the Ambassador to the Republic of 
Albania; Calendar No. 542, Amy Hyatt to be Ambassador to the Republic 
of Palau; Calendar No. 544, John Hoover to be the Ambassador to the 
Republic of Sierra Leone; Calendar No. 546, Matthew Harrington to be 
the Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho; Calendar No. 548, Thomas 
Daughton to be the Ambassador to Namibia; Calendar No. 637, Arnold 
Chacon to be Director General of the Foreign Service; Calendar No. 696, 
Luis Moreno to be Ambassador to Jamaica; Calendar No. 699, Maureen 
Cormack to be the Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina; Calendar No. 
707, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an Assistant Secretary of State of 
African Affairs, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the 
African Development Foundation; Calendar No. 898, Ted Osius to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam; Calendar No. 902, Gentry O. 
Smith to be Director of the Office of Foreign Missions and have the 
rank of Ambassador during his tenure; Calendar No. 927, Leslie Bassett 
to be Ambassador to Paraguay; Calendar No. 953, George Albert Krol to 
be Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan; Calendar No. 954, Marcia 
Stephens Bloom Bernicat to be Ambassador to the People's Republic of 
Bangladesh; Calendar No. 955, James D. Pettit to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Moldova; Calendar No. 956, John R. Bass to be Ambassador to 
the Republic of Turkey; Calendar No. 957, Allan P. Mustard to be 
Ambassador to Turkmenistan; Calendar No. 958, Todd Robinson to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala; Calendar No. 961, Erica J. 
Barks Ruggles to be Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda; Calendar No. 
962, Brent Robert Hartley to be Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia; 
Calendar No. 966, Michele Jeanne Sison to be the Deputy Representative 
of the United States of

[[Page 13844]]

America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador, 
and the Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the 
Security Council of the United Nations; finally, Calendar No. 967, 
Michele Jeanne Sison to be Representative of the United States of 
America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, 
during her tenure of service as the Deputy Representative of the United 
States of America to the United Nations.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I don't think he is finished with his 
unanimous consent request.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I appreciate that.
  Further, that their nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no 
intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to 
any of the nominations; that any related statements be printed in the 
Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's 
action and the Senate resume legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, reserving the right to object, we used to 
pass ambassadors and all kinds of people en bloc like that. But we have 
this nuclear option that the majority chose, so it takes a little 
longer to do the whole process.
  On that basis, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I don't know about nuclear options, 
but I do know about national security.
  When we have objections to some career ambassadors--I am not even 
talking about other nominees who are equally as important to places in 
the world where we face a challenge. But when I extract those out of 
the list that are also pending before the Senate in critical places in 
the world and just say, my God, if a career ambassador--someone who 
serves under Democratic and Republican administrations and has 
committed their life to the service of our country in the foreign 
service--cannot get to their places, I don't understand.
  I don't understand how we can actually object to places like 
Guatemala where we are having the crisis that we just debated right 
now. Wouldn't it be great to have a U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala to 
direct the Guatemalan Government as to our concerns about how children 
are coming here? Wouldn't it be great to have the Ambassador to Turkey 
at a time when we have all of these challenges in the region, where 
Turkey has a huge number of Syrian refugees. And we say we object to 
those? Or Vietnam, where we are looking at a 123 nuclear agreement and 
where we are concerned about what China is doing in the South China Sea 
as it ultimately challenges Vietnam in international waters for 
drilling purposes? And the list goes on and on.
  So let me at least try some. If I can't do them as a bloc, let's see 
if we can get somebody confirmed here at the end of the day to critical 
positions.
  So let me ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive 
session to consider this following nomination: Calendar No. 968, John 
Tefft to be Ambassador to Russia, a career ambassador.
  Now, imagine if we cannot send a United States Ambassador to Russia 
in the midst of the enormous challenges.
  So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive 
session to consider nomination Calendar No. 968, John Tefft, Ambassador 
to Russia; that the nomination be confirmed; that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that there be no 
intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to 
that nomination; that any related statements be printed in the Record; 
that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and 
the Senate then resume legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, this is the procedure the majority set up. 
And the majority is going to be stuck with their decision to delay 
people, thinking they could speed them up and take away some of the 
minority rights.
  So I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, this is not a procedure the majority 
set up. The procedure that is being set up is one where career nominees 
and critical nominees are being held on the floor as a procedure that 
the Republicans have decided to do.
  Let me try once again. Let's see whether there is a more important 
place than Russia.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session 
to consider the following nomination: Mark Lippert to be Ambassador to 
South Korea, Calendar No. 893; that the nomination be confirmed; that 
the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table 
with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be made 
in order to that nomination; that any related statements be printed in 
the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's 
action, and the Senate then resume legislative business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, this is a political appointment, not a 
career appointment. If I objected to a career appointment, I certainly 
object to a political appointment.
  So I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. It is true it is a political appointment, but to the 
Republic of South Korea. At a time when we are facing challenges in the 
South China Sea, where there is a dispute between China and Korea, 
where we have critical interests, where we are dealing with North 
Korea, we can't have an Ambassador to South Korea?
  Let me just say that I could go through a list of critical countries. 
And it is pretty amazing to me. I have some of my colleagues who have 
come to the floor to talk about national security. Well, national 
security isn't only about having a trigger and a gun. National security 
is also about having an ambassador in a country to ultimately press our 
case and our concerns as it relates to our bilateral relationship with 
that country.
  So places like Russia, which was objected to, places like South 
Korea, places like Guatemala, where we are having the crisis, and a 
whole bunch of African countries that were in the career list--we are 
going to have the African leader come here next Monday and Tuesday, but 
we are not going to have ambassadors to a whole bunch of their 
countries--career ambassadors to a whole bunch of their countries. That 
is not in the national interests and security of the United States.
  I hope that after having waited quite some time in order to finally 
get to this point where I felt the necessity to come to the floor and 
ask for unanimous consent, that instead of the trickle that we 
occasionally get because there is a crisis and therefore there is a 
response to the crisis, that we can avoid responding by crisis and 
having people in places that maybe would help us to ensure that the 
crisis doesn't take place.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. CARPER. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I would be happy to yield.
  Mr. CARPER. Would the chairman tell us again the name of the 
ambassador nominated by the President to be Ambassador to Guatemala?
  Mr. MENENDEZ. The gentleman who is nominated, a career nominee to be 
the Ambassador to Guatemala is Todd D. Robinson.
  Mr. CARPER. I would say to my colleagues, as chairman of the homeland 
security committee, I have been down to a number of Central American 
countries--Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador. If there is 
anybody that needs a U.S. ambassador down there, it

[[Page 13845]]

is Guatemala. We see all these young people, not so young people, 
coming to this country, trying to get in this country. The reason they 
are coming up here is there is no hope--no economic hope, crime, lack 
of opportunity--and we have no ambassador there. We haven't had an 
ambassador there for months.
  I would just make a plea for the chairman to make a unanimous consent 
if only for the Ambassador to Guatemala. And I would just plead with my 
colleague, my friend from Wyoming, not to object.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I say to my distinguished colleague from Delaware that 
I already included the Ambassador to Guatemala in my list and there was 
objection. If the Senator from Wyoming, who I believe is not doing this 
in his own course but on behalf of his leadership, has an indication 
that he would accept that, I would be happy to do it; otherwise, I 
think we would further not be able to achieve it.
  Mr. CARPER. I would ask, would the Senator one more time make the 
unanimous consent request for Todd Robinson.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to 
executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 
958, Todd D. Robinson to be the Ambassador to Guatemala; that the 
nomination be confirmed; that the motion to reconsider be made and laid 
upon the table; that no intervening action or debate or further motions 
be in order to that nomination; that any related statements be printed 
in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the 
Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. We have been through this nomination and the others before. 
There is a procedure that was set up that is recognized now by both 
sides but that our side feels forced into because of the nuclear option 
where the other side broke the rules in order to change the rules. And 
the way that works, the majority leader is still the one that has every 
power within this body--except the Congressional Review Act--and he 
hasn't chosen to bring these up in the normal order, instead asking to 
bring them up en bloc.
  My college roommate was a career ambassador, and I helped him get 
assignments and brought a lot of people through en bloc at the same 
time. But that was before we had the nuclear option.
  So on that basis, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I will close on this. Look, the 
reality is that if each of these ambassadors was going to be brought up 
and had to go through cloture and go through the whole process of time 
or the debate time that would be attributed to each one of them, we 
would spend the rest of this congressional session doing exactly that. 
That would not help our national security interests in terms of getting 
these people in place.
  I want to get these people in place. I have limited the requests to 
countries that have career individuals and to countries that also are 
critical for our national security. I just hope that, in the national 
interest of the United States, we can come to a better position at some 
other time.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Cloture having been invoked on the Pryor 
nomination, the Chair directs the clerk to report the nomination.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Jill A. Pryor, of 
Georgia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

                          ____________________