Kind of crisis and problems that the c. B. O. Projects, that simpsonbowles projects that long. But the president obviously has other priorities, but toiled remind him what his own former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, said, when he was asked about the nations biggest threat to our national security. He said it was the national de debt. The president himself has echoed those comments but the president s still sitting on the sidelines and still takes the untenable position that hes unwilling to negotiate. At a time when the country needs genuine leadership, hes nowhere to be found. Natural changes, were not going to get any closer to where we need to be sooner rather than later and thats at a true bipartisan compromise. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Nelson mr. President , before you yield the chair, i just wanted to say that its almost like deja vu all over again. The great senator from maine was sitting in the chair only a couple of days ago when this senator had the chance to make comments and here we are again. I want to say the senator from texas as he is leaving the chamber that i think is he i think he is a good senator and he believes strongly in what hes saying. But if theres a will, theres a way. Reasonable people can come together and work through to a reasonable conclusion. And i was going to say with the senator from texas here on the floor that he had his chance to express his opinion. And, indeed, he did with his vote when he passed the appropriation bill now called the continuing resolution because we havent brought each of the Appropriations Bills to the floor. We accepted it at the house number. And the senior senator from texas expressed his opinion my means of his no vote. But the yes votes won and we sent it to the other body to keep the government open. And, indeed, the government is not open. And i go back to two days ago when the senator from maine was the presiding officer and here we are again talking about, you know, if we would kind of remember the golden rule, putting the old english do unto others as you would have to do unto you, or put into modern street language, treat others as you want to be treated. In other words, recognize that the other fella has a point of view and you have to respect his point of view. And even though his point of view may be different from yours, the genius of american democracy is hammering out those differences and building consensus in a civil way and achieving a workable solution. But what we have here is brink brinksmanship. We hammer it out. We pass an appropriations continuing resolution, we send it down to the house of representatives, and they dont get it up for a vote. Because there is, whats operative, were only going to pass this with republican votes. So what does that do . That takes an outsized minority of the Republican Caucus being the tail that is wagging the republican dog in the house of representatives. Because if you only pass it with republican votes instead of the will of the whole house, then, in fact, youre going to have what we have now, a small, out of the mainstream political philosophy Extremist Group dictating what they want and only what they want. Its their way or no way. Thats not treating others as you want to be treated. Thats an attitude of saying, i know better than you, and my way is going to be the only way. But thats not how we govern this country and thats not how we honor and respect other peoples point of view that may be difference than ours. I didnt want to hold up the senator from maine but i just wanted to follow up to the conversation that i had through the chair two days ago. And before the senator leaves, i have two unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have at approval of the majority and minority leaders. I ask consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Nelson now, mr. President of course, you know, all of th this now, mr. President , you know, all of this highminded, highfalutin ideas of getting together and treating each other as wement to b we want to be trd hammering out this policy, lo and behold, maybe everything im saying doesnt have anything to do with this by virtue of an investigative piece being having been done by the New York Times over the weekend. And i just want to read the first three paragraphs of this investigative piece. Its entitled a federal budget crisis months in the planning. And, mr. President , at the end of my remarks, i would ask consent that this be inserted in the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Nelson nelson its by chery stolberg and mike mcintyre. Shortly after president obama started his second term, a looseknit coalition of conservative activists, led by former attorney general edwin middlmeese, gathered in the capl to plot strategy. Their four repeal mr. Obamas Health Care Law was going nowhere and they desperately needed a plan. Out of that session held one morning in a location the members insist on keeping secret aim a little noticed quote blueprint to defunding obamacare signed by mr. Meese and the leaders of more than three dozen conservative groups. It articulated a takenoprisoners legislative strategy that has long percolated in conservative circles that republicans could derail the Health Care Overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow republicans, including their cautious leaders, into cutting off financing for the entire federal government. Thats just the first three paragraphparagraphs, mr. Presid. If thats true, then all these highminded ideas of the golden rule and treating open other with respect and working out your differences, its all out the window. And if thats true and it looks like it is by virtue of what we see going on down in the other end of this capitol building, where a small group of people are not going to do anything to open up the government unless they get their way to defund the Affordable Care act, the Health Care Reform bill. Now, i would suggest that if thats the case, then the people who are suffering should sit up and take notice of what is happening to their government. Weve heard over and over examples out here. Senator brown and i were just talking about the 70 that 97 of people that are laid off in nasa and then when do you that with all of the civilian work force of nasa, then just think what thats doing to all the contractors that work for nasa. Youve heard also the statistic out here that over 70 of the Intelligence Community has been furloughed. Youve heard out here that head start, the federally funded program to get children ready to start the Public Schools concerned garden anschools kit grade thats shut down. You know last week when we were in the middle of this shutdown, there was a Storm Brewing down in the gulf of mexico. Thank the good lord it fizzled out. But at one point it was expected to turn into a category 1 hurricane, hitting the gulf coast. And had that happened, do you know what . Fema had been laid off, although they reached back and started National Guard, et cetera, et cetera. Thank goodness for secretary of defense chuck hagel finding an unintended consequence in the law that was passed to pay the United States military while the governments shut down because he found a little hook in there that, in fact mr. President , i ask two more minutes. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection, so ordered. Mr. Nelson he found a hook in there that then he could extend that to most of the furloughed civilian work force, including some in the National Guard. But we didnt know that. And down in my state of florida, 156 employees were getting the notices go just in the National Guard on friday and there was already a thousand military technicians that had been furloughed in the National Guard and we had an inbound storm. What about the programs in our state to help veterans find jobs . If were not done with this shutdown at the end of october, thats gone. How about the florida fish and wildlife commission, a part of the state of government . 10 of their funds are federal funds. How about the Florida Department of agriculture . Over 6 of their work force are federally funded. And what about and youve heard this out here what about women, infants, and children . You know, a society is supposed to take care of its very old and its very young, and thats why we have programs for women, infants and children. And yet the Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, for nursing mothers, for children up to the age of five for breastfeeding support, for nutrition education, for Health Checkups its gone. Mr. President , i could go on and on. Others have said it more articulately than me. This is ridiculous. This shouldnt go on like this. And now, as the drumbeat of the very shacrescendo continues, itl grow larger as we march toward october the 17th, when i the debt ceiling has to be raised so we dont go into default. Mr. President , its a sad day. Mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the assistant majority leader. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i rise to speak in support of two individuals who will come up for a vote at 5 00. , no we havent set any records here in the senate in the last five weeks for productivity. We passed one major piece of legislation which the senator from oregon brought before us relative to the issue of our helium preserve. Great work. One of the few bipartisan things weve accomplished in five weeks. Maybe the only bipartisan thing. Well, heres a chance to improve our record at 5 00. There are two nominees for Federal District court judge in illinois that i commend to the members of United States senate and let me say at the outset, it isnt just this side of the aisle and this senator making the recommendation. Senator mark kirk and i worked together on a bipartisan basis to come up with these nominees and to get them approved by our nomination committees, then approved by us, by the white house, by the judiciary committee, brought to the floor. Since senator kirks been elected, we have done this in lockstep together every step of the way and by tradition, the president s partys senator, in this case myself, has three appointments, senator kirk has the fourth. But each of us has the veto power over the others choices. So we have a working relationship and a good one, and senator kirk has endorsed these two nominees, colin bruce, bhoans nominated to serve that the Central District of illinois, and sara ellis nominated to serve in the northern district. They have the experience, qualification and integrity to be excellent jobs. Both appeared before the Senate Judiciary committee on june 19. Both reported out of the committee by unanimous voice vote. Id like to briefly discuss their backgrounds and qualifications. Colin bruce nomineed to fill the judicial vacancy. Michael mccuskey is also one of my appointments, an outstranding federal judge. I am sorry that hes going on senior status, but he felt, and i did, too, that colin bruce would be an excellent replacement to succeed him in that position. Mr. Bruce has worked in the u. S. Attorneys office for the Central District of illinois since 199. He currently is in a position he has had since 2010, the man i selected jim lewis hired him as his First Assistant. It was about two months ago that jim lewis, the district the u. S. District attorney came by my office with colin bruce. We talked about a number of things and then he said incidentally, i dont know what id do without colin bruce. He is such an extraordinary First Assistant. When he finished his presentation, i said, jim, would you stick around for a minute. I said, jim, i have got an opening for a judge here. And i know colin is a person who would fill that bill. He has already gone through all the vetting. He would be an extraordinary judge, but youd lose him as your First Assistant. He said, i cant stand in his way. I couldnt think of a better choice to be a judge in this district. Colin bruce was born in urban u, illinois. He got his undergraduate and law degrees degrees from the university of illinois. He handled civil and criminal cases and tort cases and claims filed against the government. In 2007 appointed branch chief of the urbana division. 2010 First Assistant u. S. Attorney which is the numbertwo position. In his current capacity he oversees the daytoday operations of the u. S. Attorneys office. He handles Civil Defense and affirmative litigation in the district in which the u. S. Is a party. He has received numerous recognitions, certifications of afreerks the justice department, the f. B. I. , the d. E. Ark the metropolitan Enforcement Group and task force. He has a record of giving back to the Urbana Community through his association with charities like Central Illinois chapter of the American Red Cross and imagine no malaria, a charity purchasing mosquito nets for children in africa. He is an outstanding nominee for the federal bench and he has a great family. I urge my colleagues to join with senator kirk and me in supporting his nomination. The second nominee is sara he will list, shes been nominated to the chicagobased judgeship formerly okayed by judge gotchow. She works as a law firm in chicago where her practice involves whitecollar criminal crime, criminal matters i should say, complex civil litigation and corporate counseling. She was born in ontario, canada, to parents who had emigrated from jamaica. Her undergraduate degree is from indiana university, her law degree from Loyola School of law in chicago. After law school, miss he will list joined the federal Defender Program in chicago, served for six years as staff attorney and represented indigent criminal defendants in all aspects of criminal lit gas emissions, preliminary hearings, trials, sentencing and appeals. Then worked in private practice before joining the city of Chicago Department of law in 2004 where she served as assistant Corporation Counsel for four years. Primarily handing section 1983 cases. In 2008, ms. He will list joined schiffharass deny. She seabed as ads jufnghts professor as Loyola UniversityChicago School of law teaching federal criminal practice and legal wright. A distinguished record of pro bono work, shes taught reading and legal skills to children living in juvenile detention. She has provided guidance to the warren park youth baseball league. She is actively involved with the kath lithuania board in chicago. She is an excellent nominee for federal judge, another person with a great family and children backing her up. I am happy that senator kirk and i can commend her as well to the senate for this nomination. I hope my colleagues will join me in voting to confirm these two nominees who have bipartisan support and will be outstanding federal judges. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Wyden mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from or omplet. Mr. Wyden mr. President , before he leaves the floor, let me thank the senator for his kind words. Mr. President , on friday last, it was thrilling to read that the United States is now number one in the world when it comes to Energy Production. Not saudi arabia, not russia. Our country. And particularly, mr. President , it was a source of such satisfaction because, after all these years, the American People hearing about how were dependent on foreign sources of energy, at the top of our papers friday last, the Energy Experts said that the red, whierkts and blue was at the top in terms of Energy Production. And this good newnews story abt the energy boom is absolutely essential to creating more highskill, highwage jobs. I saw it with my colleague when i was in his state. You see it all across the country, this energy boom, for example, has been key to triggering a manufacturing renaissance, the lower cost of natural gas in particular being a magnet to bring companies that had gone overseas back to the United States again employing our workers with goodpaying jobs. And its been key to the falling imports of foreign oil and, of course, wind and solar farms are adding tremendously to the power mix. In our part of the country, its sheep lard slatt, our states biggest wind farm that we are proud of. But, mr. President , the current, senseless government shut downis putting this goodnews story at risk. When it comes to causing problems, unfortunately, this shutdown has something for everybody. If you care about oil and natural gas development, federal agencies now cannot approve drilling permits either on federal land or offshore. If you care about real estate e energy, wind and wave Energy Permitting is now at a standstill. It is at a standstill because of the shutdown. Environmental reviews for solar farms on federal land has stopped, and the federal Energy Regulatory commission has canceled a meeting about implementing two hydropower bills that passed this congress, mr. President , on overwhelming votes. Now, in my part of the country we are especia