Mr. President, I yield my time to the Senator from North Carolina. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.

Mr. President, we will now finally have a vote on the nomination of Ellen L. Hollander to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Her nomination has been pending on the Senate's Executive Calendar since the Judicial…

Mr. President, while partisan rancor seems to have seized the Senate on so many issues this year, on at least one count, I am encouraged and hopeful. There may yet be sufficient bipartisan agreement to repeal the discriminatory don't ask…

Mr. President, for nearly 2 years, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been examining serious issues in forensic science that go to the heart of our criminal justice system. The committee has studied the problem exhaustively, and we reached…

Mr. President, on November 19, 2010, the Senate passed the Bankruptcy Technical Corrections Act of 2010. This legislation makes many important technical changes to our bankruptcy laws. Yesterday, on December 16, the House of…

Mr. President, last night, as snow fell in Washington, DC, the Senate freeze on confirming judges began to thaw a bit. I thank the leaders for clearing 4 of the 38 judicial nominations awaiting final action by the Senate. These nominations…

Mr. President, the Senate will soon vote on whether we should debate the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or the DREAM Act. I have been a cosponsor of this important legislation since it was first introduced in the…

Mr. President, I support the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also called the New START Treaty. New START, if ratified, will have several major and positive impacts on our national security and on global nonproliferation. I must…

Mr. President, this morning, both the New York Times and the Washington Post published strong editorials condemning the delays in Senate consideration of the President's nominees. The Washington Post wrote about the extraordinary and…

Mr. President, for just the eighth time in this country's history, the Senate has voted to impeach and remove a Federal judge from the bench. Impeachment is a serious, constitutional act intended not as a form of punishment, but rather as…

Madam President, it is with deep sadness that I speak in memory of a dear friend, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who died Monday at the far-too-early age of 69. I first met Dick years and years ago, long before he held his most recent post…

Mr. President, I strongly oppose the tax deal now before the Senate. While I support tax relief for working and middle-income Americans, I am not willing to add $858 billion to the national debt in order to give enormous tax breaks to…