The clerk will please read a communication to the Senate from the President pro tempore (Mr. Inouye).
The legislative clerk read the following letter:
Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby appoint the Honorable Richard Blumenthal, a Senator from the State of Connecticut, to perform the duties of the Chair. Daniel K. Inouye, President pro tempore.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL thereupon assumed the chair as Acting President pro tempore.