supplies to meet fire suppression needs. it is inconceivable that in 2012, navajo and hopi families are still living in these conditions. legally the navajo nation and the hopi tribe may have certain claims to ladies and gentlemen of the jury quantities -- claims to larger waters of quantity but as seen here they cannot make use of those supplies. they are said to have paper water as opposed to wet water. those claims are far-reaching, extending beyond the mesas and plateaus of northern arizona and calling into question water uses even in california and nevada. the legislation we introduce today however would resolve many of those issues. in exchopping for legal waive,the navajo nation and hopi tribe would receive critical drinking water infrastructure, with three groundwater projects contemplated by this act would deliver much-needed drinking water supplies to the impoverished areas of the navajo

and hopi reservations. it is also important note that this settlement would facilitate water deliveries to the eastern part of the navajo reservation through the navajo gallup water supply project, a project that has not only been approved by congress but was one of 14 projects chosen by the president in october for expedited environmental review and permanenting. -- an permitting. although the project may deliver water to navajo communities in arizona, such deliveries cannot occur until the navajo claims in arizona have been resolved. this settlement accomplishes that goal. reallocating water for delivery through the navajo gallup pipeline. this settlement would not only inair to the benefit of the trierks but it would also provide immeasurable benefits to non-indian communities. without a settlement, resolution of the tribe's claims would take years, require parties to expend

significant sums, create continued uncertainty concerning water supplies, and seriously impair the economic well-being of all of the parties to the settlement. for example, municipals, farmers, ranchers, and industrial water users in northern arizona would be able to better plan for their water future without the uncertainty and expense of continuing costly litigation against the tribes. likewise, water users from the imperial valley of california to the las vegas strip would be able to take comfort in the knowledge that lower colorado river water management regulations that they spent years developing will no longer be subject to challenge by the navajo nation. in addition to resolving the tribe's claims to the little colorado river, this settlement sets the table for future negotiations regarding the lower colorado river. the settlement, among other things, reserves water for future negotiation of those claims. in doing so, the bill acknowledges the importance of those settlement negotiation to the tribes and the non-indian

communities throughout the south wevmensouthwest. i've had the privilege to work on a number of water settlements throughout my career. each has been rewarding and served to meet significant needs for both the indian and non-indian communities involved. in that same regard, i'm pleased to have had the opportunity to work with the many parties that have negotiated this settlement and i'm committed to bring it to fruition through congressional enactment. i believe this bill represents the best opportunity for all of the parties and for the american taxpayer to achieve a fair result. the settlement resolves significant legal claims, limits legal exposure, avoids protracted litigation costs, and, most importantly, saves lives. therefore, i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and, as we move forward with the request for hearings that we will need to hold and hopefully after that bringing this legislation -- after properly marking it up, of course, to the floor of the senate, senator mccain and i will have much more to say about how the

settlement came about, what it's importance is to the people of arizona, describing the legal consequences of it and when it means to the future of my staivment i am particularly pleased that all of the parties in arizona, literally runs of people came together, to reach an agreement that we could then embody in legislation that i could introduce on the day of arizona's birthday, its centennial, its 100th birthda birthday, as another event, another very important event in the history of our state. i think it would be a fitting birthday present to the people of the state of arizona if our colleagues will help us in ensuring that this legislation can be adopted in this centennial year. and so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that this statement and the text of the bill be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the snoer from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. i know this comes as no surprise you to, but today is valentine's

day. today millions of americans are buying flowers and candy for their loved ones to celebrate valentine's day. this is an important day for american businesses, especially candy manufacturers. consumers will purchase over 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates for valentine's day. but, unfortunately, the price that american candy manufacturers must pay for the sugar leaves a very bitter taste in their mouths. why, you ask. well, because these companies face artificially high prices for sugar, about twice the world average. that's because there is an outdated and unnecessary government program that keeps sugar prices significantly higher than they should be. it's programs like these sugar

subsidies that reflect people's frustration with what's going on here in washington. because the sugar program, like too many other subsidies, protects special interests at the expense of regular businesses and consumers. that's why i joined with senator mark kirk on valentine's day last year to encourage our colleagues to join us in supporting our bipartisan sugar act. the sugar act would phase out the u.s. sugar program, which costs businesses and consumers about $4 billion a year. this is a big concern for us in new hampshire, where we are the american home of lindt chocolate as well as a number of other smaller candy companies that use a lot of sugar. i know it's a concern for the president, who has hershey's

chocolate in his home state of pennsylvania. it is a big concern for illinois, where senator kirk is from, because they have so many candy companies. and this legislation isn't about democrats or republicans. this legislation is about ending a bad deal for businesses and consumers. senator kirk and i sponsored this legislation because we need to end the sweetheart deal for the sugar industry. there is simply no reason to continue a program that makes candy makers, bakers, and other food manufacturers in our states pay double the world average price for sugar. one of the other fallouts from these high sugar prices is that it costs jobs. for every one job that we save in the sugar industry because of these subsidies, we're losing three manufacturing jobs.

today, as we celebrate valentine's day, my thoughts are with senator kirk who continues to recover from a serious illness. and while senator kirk couldn't be with us here this valentine's day, i do wish him well, and i look forward to his speedy return to the senate. i know that he's focused on getting better so that he's going to be able to get back here to work for his constituents from illinois. it's been my pleasure to work with senator kirk on this bipartisan legislation. i look forward to our continued work in the future on the sugar act and on other matters that help our constituents in new hampshire and illinois. thank you very much, mr. president. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quoarp quorum quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask to speak as if in morning business for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you very much, mr. president. i rise today to recognize the dedicated service of one of my team members, claire griffin.

claire retired this january after a long and eventful career. she stuck with me through thick and thin from when i was a newly elected state representative to the speakership of the oregon house and finally to my service here in the u.s. senate. i first met claire in 1998 at a candidate training event when i was running for the oregon house. claire came as a campaign manager for another candidate who was running for a tough race in an open seat, and claire and her candidate kept making key points, responding to all the questions being asked about how you would run your campaign, and i just kept thinking i am in so much trouble. i wish i had it together like the two of them. well, they were enormously outspent in their race, didn't win and finished respectively.

it was just after the election that the candidate called me up and encouraged me to hire claire for my team, and so i did, and thus began a wonderful 13-year partnership. one of the first things i got to know about claire was that while she had moved to oregon, she was steeped in california politics. her face would light up with stories from her california days. jesse unra, the former california assemblyman, treasurer and speaker figured prominently in these stories. the underlying theme of these stories was that if i had just a fraction of speaker unra's political smarts, we could get a lot more done. fortunately, claire did what she could to help provide those political smarts for me. during these years, i was working full time for the world affairs council, in addition to serving as a legislator, a citizen legislator system in oregon, and this greatly increased claire's workload.

and on pretty much a daily basis, it increased her blood pressure. i don't know how i would have gotten through those years without her extraordinary diligence. i kept hearing from constituents how promptly claire responded when they called my legislative office. in fact, i think a good share of the folks in my oregon house district thought that claire was the state representative and i was assisting her. then in 2003, our collective experience took a big turn. the good news for claire was that i resigned from my day job as director of the world affairs council of oregon, and i could finally devote myself fully to my responsibilities as a state legislator. the bad news for her blood pressure was that i also decided to make a long-shot bid to be house democratic leader. claire always says she was sure i would win. i, on the other hand, was equally sure i would not win. but as so often has proved the

case over time, claire was right and i was wrong, and when the first day of the voting arrived, it became clear after the first ballot that the race was going to be a close three-way contest, and the next two rounds of voting, one of us won and another two tied, so nobody was out of the race, and so the voting continued. and then i finally won on the fifth ballot, bringing a new challenge for claire, developing a strong working relationship with the entire house democratic leadership. over the next three years, claire had to hear me obsess over the challenge of recruiting candidates in 60 districts, raising funds, developing a policy agenda and overcoming the sometimes dramatic ups and downs of a state legislature, but together we soldiered on. starting in the 2005 session, claire took on a new duty, the essential task of training and mentoring the democratic legislative assistants. just as she had impressed me in

that first fortuitous meeting in 1998, she impressed her new trainees. many of the allies would stop me in the halls of the capitol in salem, oregon, and give thanks for her down-to-earth trainings and support. in 2007, our world changed again when i became speaker of the house. as always, claire was the rock of our operation. even as i assumed my new duties. and then shortly after the 2007 session, took on the long-shot race of running for the u.s. senate. when i was elected to the senate in 2008, claire applied her enormous skills to lead my casework team. she and her team have done an amazing job. if you would like to see proof, just visit her office in portland. the wall is covered in multitudes of thank you notes. recently, i received this letter from a constituent."

senator, you hardly need one of your constituents to tell me how great your staff operates, but i must try. i recently had a problem with government bureaucracy and i was beyond frustration. then two years ago, i contacted your office and was put in contact with claire griffin. i may have found my government to be unresponsive before this, but from that day forward, i have been amazed. my issue didn't even affect very many people, but claire did not let those facts guide her efforts. from the very beginning, she made me feel that my problem was worthy of her total effort." the letter continues -- "in the end, claire brought the mountain to me and a large part of my problem was resolved. the frustration that i experienced for so many years with an unresponsive government has been lifted through her actions."

like so many other letters through the years, he closed by thanking claire. for the past 13 years, i have always appreciated claire's dedication as a staff member, but i have been equally blessed to know her as a person. if anyone should doubt, i can testify that claire has been the funniest person in oregon politics. she wields her wit like a sword, and sometimes it stings, but you can't help but smile even when her comments make you smart. she made it in part her job to make sure that the various offices didn't go to my head, and she was very good at this. and when she trained legislative assistants in salem, she made sure that they were trained in how to keep their bosses from

taking their office too much to their headband. claire has been a full member of mine and mary's extended family. she joined the team when my son jonathan was 2 years old and my daughter brynn was a newborn. she has stepped in to cut down the mountains and fill in the valleys all along this 13-year journey. she gave my son jonathan the best gift he's ever had -- a box of eight classy adventure novels rewritten for a little tyke to read. he enjoyed them immensely. she rescued me when i forgot my i.d. card and couldn't get through airport security. as you can imagine, over the years, she has been there through one crisis, one challenge after another. claire, i couldn't have done it without you. my family couldn't have done it without you. thank you for joining our team and our family and working so hard to make this journey a success. claire, you have carried on the

fight to build a better world and you have carried on that fight with heart and humor. thank you. we will miss you. please enjoy your well-earned retirement and, of course, keep in touch. you will always be a valued member of team merkley. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. that was a beautiful tribute by my colleague, and i wanted to come to the floor to just speak for a few minutes while we are trying to figure a way forward on a very important piece of legislation having to do with the transportation infrastructure for our nation. i know it's a bill that senator boxer as the chair of the e.p.w. committee has worked tirelessly on for years, along with senator inhofe. it's a very important piece of

legislation authorizing billions of dollars of programs and projects, and i really want to say that i appreciate her leadership so much and i'm so hoping that the republican leadership and the democratic leadership can come together so sometime in the next few days we can have some votes relative to this important piece of legislation and move forward, because i know for the people that i represent in louisiana, this is one of our most important infrastructure bills, and i'm sure, mr. president, that you have many people in pennsylvania talking with you about the importance of getting these road projects authorized at a time when people are looking for jobs and looking for work, this would be one of the bills we'd like to pass. so let's all be patient but not too patient to get this through because it's very important. but while we're waiting for that, i thought i'd come to the floor on this very special day,

valentine's day, to talk about a very special kind of love that happens between children and parents. and you know, mr. president, because you have been really a wonderful, wonderful leader, along with many others here on the floor, for the idea that every child deserves a protective family and that children really don't do a very good job of raising themselves, governments don't do a really good job of raising children. children really need to be raised in a family, and a child should be with their siblings whenever possible, raised under the protective arms or in the protective arms and under the watchful eye of parents. at least one responsible adult. and, mr. president, you know how hard breaking it is on every day -- heart breaking it is on every day but particularly a day like today where we're sending cards to our loved ones. i know the first call i made was

to my husband this morning and to my children to wish them a happy valentine's. people are doing that all over the world today. in fact, i was given some very interesting information. i had no idea that 180 million valentine's cards are purchased today, 180 million. that's pretty amazing. 200 million roses are sold today and 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are eaten today. i haven't gotten my box of chocolate yet. i don't know if you have, i'm still looking for mine. but the sad thing is that there are millions of children that are not going to receive a phone call today. they're not going to receive a card. they will not receive a box of chocolate. and they may not even receive a pat on the head or a hug or a -- a word of encouragement. because they're orphans.

these are children that live all over the world, in our own country, sad to say. we have about 100,000 children in our foster care system that have had their biological parents, their rights terminated because of either gross neglect or abuse. children that are waiting for another family to step up. you, mr. president, were very active and successful in passing the adoption tax credit provision that provides some financial assistance to families that are stepping up to adopt children in need in our own country and around the world. there are 100,000 children waiting for that valentine card or that box of chocolate or that hug or just to belong to a family. and around the world we don't even know what those numbers are. they're just overwhelming. we know that in countries that have high incidents of aids for

instance, the death of a parent, particularly a mom but a dad as well, really leaves sometimes families of eight children, nine children, six children, abandoned. even if a grandmother steps up to try to do that work and she dies within a few years, what happens to these children? well, you and i and many of my colleagues here, i'm proud to say, have introduced a resolution today, and i want to thank my cosponsors, particularly senator lugar, who has been just a terrific advocate as the former chair, now ranking member of the foreign relations committee, senator klobuchar, senator grassley who is my co-chair on the foster care caucus, senator gillibrand, senator inhofe who has probably traveled to more countries more times in africa than any senator in the history of our country, and he should be commended for the work that he's doing on that continent.

and then senator blumenthal and senator boozman, who have been outstanding advocates in their own right for different aspects of family policy. we are proud to introduce a sense of the senate resolution, of course, does not have the force of law, but it most certainly expresses our views as a body and does have impact on policymakers around the world and nonprofits and faith-based community and private, the private sector. and most importantly, governments around the world, when they say what does the federal government or they're -- they won't say that, they'll say what does the senate think about this, senator? you say this but what do the other senators think about the fact of adoption or international adoption or do they agree with you that children belong in a family? because, mr. president, it's sad to say that there are some places in this world that think

that children can grow up fine in an institution, or they can grow up fine without parents. now, we don't think that in the united states. not only does our heart and our mind and our faith tell us that, but the science also says that children who grow up outside of a family or without that loving, nurturing -- particularly in the early years. you know this is true raising your own children. i know this as a mother. those early years, and every year, but particularly those early years where infants get the confidence and the affirmation of kindness and gentleness from a parent. i've been learning more about this lately, not only how important that is but what i've been learning is what the science says when children don't get that. the term that the american academy of pediatrics just released is called "toxic stress." toxic stress on the brains of

infants. they underline how even one caring and supportive relationship with an adult in those early years is so important that it can offset the damaging neurological and physiological effects of stress on children. i know adults have stress, because i have it myself. what i didn't realize, mr. president, was that infants , tiniest little infants, can have toxic stress that affects the development of their brain, and their ability to function. i hope that our country will realize how important it is for us to do a better job of connecting orphans and abandoned infants and neglected children of all ages, not to put them in institution, not to turn them out on the street, not to allow them to be trafficked by drug cartels or sex traders or people that will exploit them for other purposes, but to put them in the arms of a loving family,

connecting them to a loving and responsible adult. we, of course, try to keep children in their own biological families when possible, but if war, disease, or death separates them, why do we not think that it's not the most important thing in the world, because it is, to connect those children to a loving family. that's what this resolution says. it's just as simple as we can say it on valentine's day. for kids that will never get a kiss or a box of chocolate or haven't yet, there's still hope that we can give them a family, a protective family, that we can protect these sibling groups. and if government would work just a little bit smarter, not even necessarily throwing that much more money, although you can always use a little extra, i find -- but just working smarter and better and working with the churches, working with faith-based communities around the world, we can connect children to families. that's all this resolution says.

it expresses the sense of the senate. i hope that we can pass this by unanimous consent. so when i travel around the world, as i do often, when i'm in guatemala or when i'm in uganda or when i have been in places like russia and in china and the senators there, the members or the people, the leaders ask me, what do the other senators say, do they believe this as well? i can say absolutely, i'm going to carry this resolution with me, and i'm going to show it to them because that's all this resolution says. is that every child in the world deserves a protective and loving family. so i don't know if valentine's day will be perfect for many children. i hope that my children have had a wonderful day today. but we can work a little harder to try to do our best to make sure that they have at least one caring, nurturing, loving adult in their life. it would make the world of difference in our school systems, in our health care, in our criminal justice system.

it will make our communities stronger, it will make our straits and our nation stronger, and ultimately the world. i know that you believe that, mr. president, so i thank the leadership for allowing me to come to the floor and speak on this today, and hopefully all of my colleagues will vote favorably for this senate resolution. and i yield the floor. mr. wicker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: i ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: mr. president, thank you. i expect that a resolution authorizing national crime victims' rights week will be adopted unanimously by the senate in a few moments. and i wanted to come to the floor today and reaffirm my support for the rights and needs of survivors of crime. i also want to express my gratitude for the dedicated

crime victims advocates as well as the health and law enforcement professionals who work to fight crime and help its victims recover. keeping our neighborhoods and communities safe is and will always be a top priority of this country. but close to 20 million americans are victims of crime each year. and these individuals and their families are confronted with unique and difficult challenges. acts of crime inflict lasting physical, emotional and psychological wounds that take time and care to heal. it is important that the necessary resources and services be available to help rebuild the lives of crime survivors. national crime victims' rights week, which our nation has commemorated annually for the last 30 years, renews our commitment to those impacted by crime. and the ways we can help them move forward. it is a time for remembrance and

reflection, a moment to pause and honor victims, advocates, professionals, and volunteers. this year's theme is ambitious but critical, extending the vision, reaching every victim. this calls on each of us to make sure that all victims get the help they need. too many victim are still unable to receive the protections and services they deserve. our efforts toward better safety and security now are integral to ensuring the safety and security of future generations. on april 8, 1981, president ronald reagan proclaimed the first crime victims rights week. as a former prosecutor myself, i remember when the concept of victims' rights was practically unknown. as few mechanisms for victims assistance and support even existed. with his first proclamation, president reagan fulfilled an

important and long-awaited call to put the concerns and rights of crime victims on the national agenda. as president reagan said in the first proclamation in 1981, we need a renewed emphasis on and an enhanced sensitivety to the rights of victims. these rights should be a central concern of those who participate in the criminal justice system, and it is time all of us paid greater heed to the plight of victims. mr. president, this pioneering vision of president reagan is one we continue to embrace today. we are blessed to live in a nation of good samaritans, and we have achieved impressive strides towards helping crime victims get the services they need. but the task of preventing crime and healing its harmful effects remains a constant battle. technology, globalization, and new types of criminal behavior

have made the challenge before us more complex than ever before. our fight against crime in the 21st century will take strategic partnerships at the local, state, and national levels. it will rely on supportive, vigilant, and compassionate communities and individuals. serving these individuals is more than an act of kindness. it helps make all of our homes, neighborhood, and communities safer and stronger. the resolution i have introduced with senator leahy, schumer, and grassley, and which i expect to be passed today, supports the mission and goals of this year's national crime victims rights week. i urge my colleagues to continue supporting those who have suffered crimes' effects, and a renewed commitment towards reducing crime during this week, which this year will be observed the week of april 22. in closing, we have come a long

way sips the days when crime -- since the days when crime victims had few rights and services, yet it is also true that too many crimes are still committed and too few are reported, and that many victims struggle to overcome the lasting effects of crime. i'm pleased that national crime victims' rights week offers us the opportunity each year to highlight the needs of crime survivors, recognize those who help them, and engage the public in the fight for victims' rights. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of -- en bloc of the following resolutions which were submitted earlier today: s. res. 373, s. res. 374, and s. res. 375. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measures en bloc. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed, to the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the tail en bloc with no intervening action or debate and any statements related to the resolutions be printed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i would like to speak on one of these resolutions, the resolution number 37 -- 375

about the columbus-ohio bicentennial. today marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of columbus, the largest city, one of the great cities of america, the capital of the great state of ohio. i've lived in different neighborhoods in columbus over the last 30 years, from german village to berwick to the hilltop. my grandson lives in clintonville.my daughter lives in -- i mean grandson and his parents. he's only three. live in clintonville, a great neighborhood in sort of the north side of columbus. our daughter lives in the short north, one of the most exciting places of any city in the midwest. for 200 years, columbus has been a hub of economic and cultural activity for the state. we talk often in columbus about the great brain gain, how columbus is one of the fastest-growing cities in the midwest and east of the mississippi. columbus started its early days as a trading post along the sciota river, continued in steamboats and railroads

connected more people with new opportunities and new commerce. i should add that the presiding officer, if i'm allowed to say this, one lived in the great city of columbus. i -- i think i'm allowed to say that. he now is the very able junior senator from colorado. deurduring the civil war, colums became an important location for the union army and something we're particularly proud of, for the underground railroad. through the turmoil of that era, president lincoln signed the moral act, which led to the agricultural and mechanical college in 1870. in 1878, it was renamed ohio state university. today, o.s.u. is one of the nation's premier public universities and there are many other institutions of higher learning in columbus. capital university, established much earlier than that, 1830, the columbus college of art and design, established in 1879. the pontifical college, joseph efinem, established in 1888.

franklin university, established in 1902. the mount caramel college of nursing in 1903. the ohio dominican university, established in 1911, the year my father was born. and the columbus state community college, established one of ohio's great part of the -- the great group of community colleges that were visiting the capitol today -- there are many people from those colleges -- established in 19763. columbus is home to some of nation's earliest schools for americans living with disabilities. the ohio school for the deaf was established in 1829. many graduates of that school have gone on to gallaudet university, located in washington, founded during the civil war by abraham lincoln, the most outstanding school of its kind in the country. the ohio school for the blind was established in 1837. 2011, ohio's columbus's library system was name the best in the united states, as the recipient of the national medal for museum and library service.

columbus prospered in the post-civil war era through new banks, expanded railroad networks, extended discreetcar service in the city's first waterworks system. manufacturers from horse and buggy manufacturers to steel and brewers made columbus an important location for organized labor. the american fed ration of -- federation of labor, which later merged with the congress of industrial organizations into the afl-cio -- what we know today as the afl-cio, the american federation of labor was founded in column wit columbus s ago in 1886. today the legacy of advanced manufacturing continue at ohio's cutting-edge edison ned works, the ohio manufacturing association and batel. the spirit of labor movement continues as workers of columbus local unions represent all types of industries and professions. attracted by world-class work forces and cultural outlets, leading retail corporations, health care insurance companies and financial institutions, such as the limited, nationwide,

grange, cardinal health and huntington, all call columbus their home. it's a leader in cutting-edge medical research and hospital systems. we see it at the ohio state medical center, the arthur james cancer hospital, the richard solaf research institute, nationwide children's hospitals, among almost all ranking of the top 10 children's hospitals in america. three of them in ohio consistently, cleveland, columbus and cincinnati, in addition to other great children's hospitals in ohio. mount carmel hospital, riverside community and grand medical center. columbus is a crown jewel of arts and cultures in the midwest. the majestic southern theater which was one of -- southern theater in -- southern theater and hotel was -- attract world-class performances for more than a hundred years. the southern hotel was one of president theodore roosevelt's favorite stops as he traveled through the midwest. the short north is the epicenter of the burgeoning arts scene, homes to galleries and parks and

restaurants like betty's, the happy greek, ginnee ice cream and the north market that attract an incredible number of young people with energy and commitment to that city. it hosts some of the midwest's largest concerts, fairs and festivals, ranging from comfest to the pride festival. columbus is also home to the midwest's largest 4th of july festival and the very famous ohio state fair. mayor coleman and the columbus partnership, which is the business but much more than just businesses, organization are doing a tremendous job promoting economic development from the south campus gateway to the short north to the sciota riverfront and to german village. and like ohioans across the state, the people have -- have long served those who serve us, our veterans. one of the first veterans of foreign war chapters in the country was founded in columbus in 1899. aside from -- columbus is also known for great sports teams, obviously ohio state, columbus

clippers, columbus crew and the columbus blue jackets. this year the city of columbus will commence a yearlong bicentennial celebration with the theme "honoring the past, celebrating the present and visioning the future." in doing so, we'll celebrate the economic, cultural, educational and artistic contributions of the -- of the people of ohio -- of columbus to you are great state and our great -- to our great state and our great nation. so on behalf of the united states senate with unanimous consent i wish all the cities of columbus a happy 200th anniversary. i thank the presiding officer. mr. president, i understand that s. 2105, introduced earlier today by senator lieberman, is at the desk and i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 205, a bill to en-- 2105, a bill tone hans security and resiliency of the cyber and communications infrastructure of the united states. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask for the -- i ask for the second

reading and object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be read the second time on the next legislative day. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the resolution of the senate of january 24, 1901, the traditional reading of washington's farewell address take place on monday, february 27, 2012, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: and one of the great traditions in -- in this body. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the senate adjourn until 9:30 on wednesday, february 15. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired and the time twor the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. that following any leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business -- be in a period of morning business

until 12:00 noon with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided by -- and controlled between the leaders or their designees, with the republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the second 30. that following morning business, the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the jordan nomination with two minutes of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form prior to a vote on confirmation of the jordan nomination. that upon confirmation of the nomination, the motion to be reconsidered be made and laid upon the -- be considered, be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be north, that any related stawments be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session in consideration of s. 1813, the surface transportation bill. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: mr. president, the first vote tomorrow will be at approximately 12:00 noon on

confirmation of the jordan nomination. additional votes in relation to the amendments to the surface transportation bill are possib possible. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it -- that it recess under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

[applause] >> thank you very much, bob, and thank you to all of you for coming out today. this is a special day for us, and i'd like to join bob in welcoming all of those who came to tweet. as some of you heard me talk to them as i came in. i get a chance to see them down

at the cape and other places when they come out for launches, and before anybody asked the question, i'll answer it. they are here because they represent a totally new way for us to communicate with the public. they represent a way that we just did not know how to do before, and we're trying to take advantage of technologies that are available, so i welcome you, and i really appreciate all that you've done to help us tell our story over the last few years. it's my privilege today to share nasa's fiscal 2013 budget. it's a great new story. it's a blueprint for nasa and the nation to embark on a plan of space exploration taking us further into the solar system than we've ever gone. despite the constrained fiscal environment, this budget continues to aggressively implement the space exploration program agreed to by the president and bipartisan majority in congress laying the foundation for remarkell

discoveries here on earth and as well as in deep space. while reaching for new heights in space, we're creating new jobs here on earth, helping to support an economy that's built to last. we're developing new capacities of exploration, new ways of doing business and creating a bright future driven by aviation and space technology breakthroughs and missions to places we've never been including an asteroid and mars. the time for debate about our future is over. we have a solid plan, a sustainable plan, and we're moving out to implement it, opening the next great chapter of american exploration. there's no doubt that tough decisions had to be made. here at that sac as well as across the government. however, this is a stable budget allowing us to support a diverse portfolio, exploration, science, aeronautic, and education work. this budget continues the work

we started last year with bipartisan support of the congress and approval of the president. we have made steady and tangible progress on the next generation deep space crew capsule and the new heavy lift rocket that will launch astronauts on journeys to destinations further in our solar system. those priorities are funded in this budget. already, we've been doing test firings of the j2x engine to power the heavy lifts upper stage. orion under gone water drop tests for eventual ocean landings. funding is included to keep this work going. we promised to maintain an american presence in space on board the international space station. the orbiting laboratory where we learn more about human health and demonstrate technologies like those we need for bolder missions in the future. this budget funds our work on

station while supporting jobs right here at home. as a former astronaut and head of the world's most successful space agency, i am committed to launching astronauts from american soil on spacecraft built by american companies. this year, we'll have the first ever launch and birthing of a spacecraft by a private company. that's a critical, historic milestone. just last week, we issued an announcement for proposals for the next round of commercial crew acquisition activities. this budget provides the funding needed to bring that work back home to the u.s. and get american companies transporting our astronauts into space. some of these are the same american companies on whom we're depending to build the biggest rocket this nation has ever produced, to go deeper into space to destinations like an asteroid, back to the moon, and on to mars. these are like the american

companies on whom we're depending to build the state of the art crew capsule that will carry u.s. astronauts further than anyone has ever gone before. we just concluded our latest call for astronauts, which drew a near record number of applicants. the 2013 class will join the class of 2009 that just graduated last november. even now are training for missions of the future. these are the first space travelers that could one day reach an asteroid and they will pioneer the path for future astronauts to step foot on mars. space technology is generating the ideas and the actual innovations that will take us further, ideas like solar propulsion and propellant tanks. these cutting edge ideas are supported in this budget that builds on the work we've already been doing. last year, we provided 80 space

technology research fellowships to graduate students to complete their studies and join us in tomorrow's missions. continuation of that important initiative is funded in this budget. with this budget, we continue to refine and demonstrate technologies that will increase our nation's capabilities. this budget provides for more of the type of projects like the three technology demonstration mission proposals we selected this year to transform space laser communications, deep space navigation using atomic clock, and in space capabilities like solar sales. we do many things in space. as i said in the video, spending u.s. taxpayer dollars is not withdrawn of them. every dollar spent on space exploration is spent here on earth. this budget insources jobs, creates capabilities here as

home, and strengthens our work force. the rapid pace of scientific discoveries from nasa missions continues. in year, we'll land curiosity, the largest rover ever on mars and continue to develop and conduct contribute cat tests on -- critical tests on the telescope leading to its planned launch in 2018. as the successor to the hubble space telescope, this will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. this supports 80 missions, 28 now under development that cover the vital data we need to understand our own planet, diverse missions reaching further into our solar system, and the next jen -- generation of observatories appearing beyond the reaches of our neighborhood to other galaxies and their solar systems

and undiscovered phenomena. however, tough choices had to be made. this means, we will not be moving forward with the planned 2016 and 2018 mars mission we've been exploring with the european space agency. instead, we'll develop an integrated strategy to ensure that the next steps for mar's exploration supports science as well as human exploration goals and potentially take advantage of the 2018-2020 exploration window. the budget provides support for this new approach, and this process will be informed by extensive coordination with the science community and our international partners. this admission remains committed to a vibrant and coordinated strategy of mars exploration and continuing america's leadership role in the exploration of the red planet within an available budget. our goals include not only path breaking robotic missions to

mars, but also future human missions as outlined by the president. i've tasked the head of the science mission directer, and the chief technologist and our chief scientist with crafting an integrated mar's strategy, one that will ensure that the next steps for the robotic mars exploration program supports science as well as long term human exploration goals. the missions currently at mars, the mars science laboratory on its way and mavon, well into develop, provide many years of data to help us understand the red planet and our needs in future years to meet the president's challenge to send humans to mar in the mid-2030s. in aeronautics, our investments drive technology breakthroughs for cleaner, safer, and more

efficient aircraft. the millions of fliers around the world benefit from our work and our partnership with greater aviation community to transform our air travel system. one of my greatest pleasures is to talk to young people and answer their questions about what it's like to go to space and how they can pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, and math. in this budget, we focus on education programs with measurable return. this will help us feed that pipeline we so urgently need of new scientists and engineers, to share their energies, their passions, and great intelligence with us. i'm very optimistic about our future and the next generation of exploration leaders. the missions we begin now, the technologies we create now, and the discoveries we make are all going to inspire them and help

us to sustain an american economy built to last. this budget is about american innovation and american i think newty, about csh ingenuity, about keeping america the world leader and show our knack for solving problems and improving life here on earth. we're ready to work, ready to be surprised not only by what we discover, but how much we can accomplish working as one nation proud and energized by a space program that's reaching higher and unfolding the future today. now, let me turn to the podium over to my chief, financial officer, dr. beth robinson to brief the details of the fiscal year 2013 budget proposal before we take your questions. >> thank you, charlie. bring up my slide?

this should be on the website now. this is the cover of all the budget materials, and we talk about rockets and crew capsules, satellites, and all of that. they are all done by people. this are some of the people who worked hard to bring those into fruition. charlie and our video gave a lot of overview, so i'm going to stipover the first slide. if you're interested in them, go to the website to read them. can i have the next -- keep on going. start looking at the details, and i want to ensure we're all on the same page. nasa produced budgets with different formats and assumptions, and so i want to go through them here. first is the out years. nasa has programs that last 5,

7, and 10 years, and we plan them on that time scale. we need some planning envelope to which we work to. now, i'm sure you heard from the president's budget that the discretionary outyears are notional, and ours are as well, but we develop a plan to a top line, and the top line here is nominally flat, meaning no increase with inflation. this should remind you of last year. this is the exact dupe my cat of last year, and so the counts in general are held the that request level, but there's trades within accounts toking the for the rise and falls of missions and other needs. okay. also in this budgets, you're going to see a change in the emphasis of what kinds of expenditures we're doing, and in particular, we are working to reduce the administrative expenditures, travel, supplies, i.t., energy management in order to increase expenditures within the same top line, increase them on program expenditures.

in 2012, we have a goal -- this year, we have a goal to reduce our administrative costs by $100 million, and we're well on the way to meeting that, and for the 201 budget, we double that to $200 million. we're also having -- you know, well into a multiyear effort to work with our work force and realign it as our program needs changed. in particular, of course, the space shuttle has last flight last year, and this budget, you'll see that, part of the reorienting of the work force. there's a small reduction consistent with the budget limitations. then also all the numbers presented in full costs. i think you remember last year, there were labor broken out by projects. this year, we're not. all project costs are together, and they are included in the cost of specific program or project. the institutional costs are still in the account, but we're

working in full cost. okay. next slide. this slide is impossible to talk to. i like to include it just to say, yes, the numbers add up. check it out for yourself. i'll talk through the various lines here in detail. next slide. part of chai charlie and others said is we have a vigorous launch profile even with the shuttle retires last year, nasa's going to be launching a lot of things from kennedy and elsewhere. about half of them are science and work with our partner, and the other half are trips with cargo and crew back and forth to the station. next slide. okay. our firsting the, speaking of launches, the earth science program is heading for two launches in 20 # 13. the land continuity mission and the global precipitation mission. the program also still vigorously working on many of the projects i think you know

well, smap, isap2, replacement for oco1 and 2 and the maintenance of research, and we have so many missions in operation streaming down data as we speak, and in earth science, we have 16, working on that data every day. next slide. in planetary science, charlie mentioned this as one of the few aspects of the budget that's changed much since 2012. it's one of the major messages of the bucket -- budget is we continue the bipartisan plan we developed in the 2010 authorization act, and so here you do see a reduction of about .3 billion from 2012. almost all of that, indeed, all of it can be attributed to the launch last year of juno and

planning two more launches in 2013, and, again their expendtures go down. the question we faced is how much do you then reorient and build up into new portfolios? we are taking advantage of this time to restructure our long term mar's mission, and i say "long term" because asl is on the way and producing for quite a few years, but we're looking to better integrate the science and human mar's exploration efforts. we are developing to go to an asteroid in 2016, and we have six teams as wellings missions and operations, and we've been trying to crack the problem of developing energy sources for satellites as they go so far away from earth and planetary programming by the sun and its source of energy, and so we are working on technology, the advanced drilling radio isotope

radiator and plutonium 238 in the budget to supply energy needed for future launches. next slide. okay. for astrophysics, remember last year, we broke out the james webb telescope line from astrophysics. did that again this year. this is the non james webb part. funding gravity and extreme mag magnetism measure, and we have a lot of missions, most notely hubble, still in operation. next slide. here's the james webb space telescope. i hope the numbers look familiar to you. this is the plan we briefed last summer and the numbers associated with it. this program is working hard and targeted for the october 2018 launch date, and as you can see, they are making progress as we speak. next slide. okay.

heliophysics. one thing i should have mentioned is that the research counsel had asked us to increase our focus on explorer missions, on smaller applications, and we're doing that in this budget. from the astrophysics budget, we are selecting a mission in 2013, and heliophysics, we're selecting one and launching one in 2013. working with mms in 2015 and continuing the formulation of the next large mission, the solar mission, and we're already undertaking initial development of the solar orbital collaboration. we are still operates others in space. next slide. before going on, i want to mention how much work we do do with other agencies. billions of dollars worth of work and our largest partner by far is noaa, and we're working

with them on the joint polar satellite system, jason 3 and the discovery satellite, all proceeding at pace. next slide. aeronautics -- aeronautics has a slight decrease of about $18 million from 2012 to 2013. half of that is a content transfer where we transfer entry landing activities from this account to the space technology account. this account is supporting the, again, the same initiatives you've seen now for several years on improving aviation, safety, minimizing the environmental impact of aviation and developing innovative air traffic management technologies, truly, they are coming to fruition, and it's going to be very exciting to see the energy savings and other things we get from those as they roll out. again, we are also continuing from last year a reduction in the hypersonics research.

combines hypersonics with supersonic research into a single project to focus on fundamental research for high speed flight. next slide. space technology. okay. this is -- it's debut as a fully formed new account. we had that account created in the 2012 budget, and in creation, and we're asking for $699 million. a slight increase to mainly support the big nine projects they have going and the scholarships and other things that charlie was mentioning, and these are in areas such as in safe propulsion, robotics, deep space communications. you can see there's solar sale, and the point of this program is to advance revolutionary con cements that industry is not yet ready to take on, and then the program also vigorously works to commercialize those technologies to ensure the economic value and

ensure the spinoffs we've seen into the economy. next slide. moving on to the human exploration director. one of the largest things we do that is develop the heavy lift launch system and crew capsule, the sls and mupv. there's two changes here. maybe i'll describe them as three changes here in presentation requested by the congress so in support and understanding of these comparing to previous years budget. okay. first, the congress asked us to break out the ground system component of sla, space launch system, from that line. there's now three lines. rather than just sls, there's sls, ncpb, and exploration systems development, esd. there's also a transfer of construction funds from this account to the construction account, so they'll be over in the construction account although they really are esd

activity, and that's because congress only allows us construction in one account, and they wanted all the money over there, so we've done that. the third thing is about exploration ground systems itself. we've broken that into two pieces, the largest by far is that associate the with sls and orion, about $400 million, but there's a piece focused on multiuse capability at kennedy, and that's the space ops account, and i'll talk about that when we get there. next slide. combine all of these things and put them back together to compare to last year's formulation urges we are still developing the heavy lift vehicle at 1.88 billion, and we -- and of course, part of that are corresponding modifications and operations at ksc for about $400 million. we're also developing the orion multicrew purpose vehicle at a

million dollars, including construction, and no number should look -- and that number should look familiar to you. we spent a lot of time and effort formulating a plan. it was looked at by the independent cost assessors, and so this the number that was in that plan. we're going back to plan for sls and slpb. this does support an exploration flight test in 2014 of orion to reduce the crew vehicle program cost and schedule risks. next slide. also in the human exploration, we have the commercial space flight programs. we talked about it being so important to provide first cargo and then crew to the international space station with american companies. we've asked for $830 million here, and the vast ma majority f this amount plus amounts from the $406 million appropriated this year will go to support the

proposals that come in in response to the announcement for proposals that went out last week, and we have every intent to select more than one providing for that. it's really important to keep competition going in this program, both to assure we have the safety capabilities, the technology capabilities, and the robustness we need to ensure we have the ability to develop strong commercial flight capability. next slide. okay. there is a dedicated research and development program in the human research -- in the human exploration that focuses on technologies that are very close, that can be rapidly prototypes to use in other programs as well as things like human research that are so important to understanding exactly what's going on on the isf at this time and others, and to go into deep space, and so here, we have the advanced exploration systems program,

which is the technology work and the human research program with technology and bilogical science workment i think you know we reorganized the human space exploration last year, and we have a dedicated science and physical sciences research program. that program coordinated both the hrp and the piece that i'll talk about when we get to the space operations director account. sorry. next slide. here we are. space ops. this is the space shuttle program that has thousands and thousands of pieces of equipment that need to be transitioned and retired, and we hope this is the last year we'll be asking for funds to do this. this is a multiyear program, and the biggest of those pieces of equipment are, of course, the orbiters themself, and the discovery is going to the smithsonian by political of this year moving the enterprise moves from there to the intrepid

museum in new york, and the others transferred to the visitors center next year in 2013. next side. this is the main account to fund the international space station, funds the maintain operation, extension, and lifetime utilization of the isf research capabilities including oversight talked about in the video. there's also a slight increase in this account. it's primarily to fund crew and cargo to the isf for 2016. you know, we have to con straes at least -- contrast at least three years earlier to do that. last year's budget carry the us through mid-2016, and this year's budget adds seats after that, and since there's probably a high likelihood we'll have some personal use at that point, that does involve the issue and the administration coming forth

in early spring here with a proposal. next slide. space flight support is the account that supports all the work that we do, ground systems and satellites to enable space flight for us and partners and supports the modernization plans for 20 2* -- 21st century, and this is the amount i was talking about, the multiuser technology capability, that's about $40 million in the budget. we provide all the navigation capabilities, and this last year, we initiated -- exercised the option to get the next speaker satellite that's fully funded here, and then there's a number of things this account does ranging from crew and crew preparations to ensuring safe and nasa -- that elvs launched safely and nasa sponsors payloads and does the rocket propulsion testing. next slide. okay. we also talked about how

important the education efforts are at nasa. education incurs throughout all of our missions, and our accounts, but we have a dedicated account for education activities. there is a decrease here from last year. we were appropriated this year at $138 million, but this program works hard with the office of policy and is working on the costem five year strategic plan, and it's bringing what nasa does uniquely, very hands-on and other unique things, to the program, and we work collaboratively with nsf, department of education, and others with other activities. we do fully support the minority university research and education projects supporting hpcu, cybercolleges, and hispanic serves institutions, and we have a lot of leveraging with government academia and industry going on in this. next slide.

.. and assurance of the success that we've done in the past. similarly, we talked about the construction accounts, and you can see the numbers are larger. 619 and its usual run out which is the 400. that's because we have transfer amounts of 144 from exploration being the largest in to this account in accordance with

congress'' wishes. any questions? >> we will get started here. headquarters, then we have questions from social media, so we will go in and start here. with seth over at ap don't forget to give your name and affiliation. >> for charlie, can you tell me how do you reconcile the president's stated goals of going to mars with humans and cooperating with europeans when you are cutting the two european marcion missions against what i'm trying to understand is when you are ramping up to send humans to mars, why are you cutting the robotic missions? how will that not affect human exploration? is it because when they last tried to go someplace new to the moon, and you ramped up, not down, the robotic missions. can you explain how that works?

>> let me try. as i said, we are embarked on the program to take us further than we have ever been before, and the program on which we are embarking complies with the fundamental premise of the 2010 authorization act signed -- designed by the wally signed by the president and what we are doing with our partners is not walking away at all. but we are trying to get together with them so that we take the limited assets that we now all have. we have been discussing this for almost a little bit more than two months now. everybody is seeing the decrease funding. so we are trying to take the funds that are available and restructure a reasonable strategy. a couple things i want to say to make sure that everybody understands, we are not talking about evaluating a new mission or a new mission concept. we are talking about a fundamental change in the way we do business and developing a new

strategy for the robotic exploration, and i've had conversations with our european partners, the russians, everybody has the house this morning. everyone understands where we are. everyone is very glad about two things colin quote one that the budget is 173 pos seven because they believe when you are writing so the expected and was going to be much worse, and they are very happy that we are still intent on cooperating with them on the mars exploration, robotic exploration. so, i see that we are trying to gain efficiency and get a more -- by virtually getting a program that is realistic i think it is more robust. you must remember as def pointed out the heavy broker opportunity that's busy on the moon and on mars right now, still sending this data. we have the two orders that continue to send data and are helping us in formulating plans to go forward. it's on its way and will land in all guest, and that is a mission that has slated for two years

but it has 55 worth of power so to someone say we are walking away from cars with the largest ever and not even there yet, i don't think that makes much sense. and one of the things we don't understand about mars is the period its upper atmosphere is going to be studied with the mission that is on track to launched in 2013. so i feel that we are moving right along the way that we thought. we felt if we couldn't afford the path we were on and so we are getting together with the science community and our partners in determining a better strategy for attacking the robotic missions. >> when does that do for the mars symbol return? is that completely off the table? what is really -- what are you really going to -- >> nothing is off the table, seth. but i will tell you, people -- a problematic of the mars mission as a was laid out was that it was another, quote on quote

coming and you hear us use the term flagship mission of is another multimillion-dollar mission. we have msl on its way, a flagship. we have james webb space telescope on work. the flag ships are a social for the nation. anybody in the scientific community will tell you that anybody that wants to lead the world in scientific exploration and discovery. given these very difficult fiscal times. so you are going to hear -- hopefully you can grab john and this corner is the corner over here but hopefully you will hear them say things like we are looking at medium class missions, notte flagship missions that accomplish the objectives that were set out in the mars program and me to the priority that laid out for us in the decade surveys of the

planetary to cable coming and it remains to be seen whether we can do that or not. we are confident we can. the excitement of people sitting around the table in the last few weeks is something that i find personally very rewarding. we are asking them to think about things they didn't think about. we are going to think about getting information in ways that they didn't do before. so that is exciting for us. >> thanks. let's go to work. >> mark matthews with the orlando sentinel. one of you just list every single program and was expected by the cost overrun, james webb even had the budget reduced outright. islamic could we do what, the one to say that again? >> list all of the programs that were completely cut or reduced as a result of the james webb. we know about the mission's but what else is in addition to those budgets? >> i think you know as well as i do, these are very difficult fiscal times. i think if you listen to any of

the budget rollouts that came prior to this one, everyone is reducing their budgets. that is the only thing we can do. so i don't agree with the premise that you levy in the first place. we are having to make tough decisions because these are tough economic times. you look at our education program. that had nothing at all to do with anything. we are really looking for smarter ways to do business. leon put together an education design team that has told us new ways to get measurable data. that's what i talked about in my comments. i want to be able to measure and give you metrics data that says we are being successful in the things we are doing and you are going to find we do things differently than you are accustomed to. >> i understand that. but james webb, the cost of the programs are larger than what is expected. there has to be some other program that needs that money in order to pay for it. i mean it is simple math.

>> we are embarked on an ambitious program of exploration. we are trying to meet the premises or the agreements that the president made with the congress after their bipartisan vote on the authorization act, and in the appropriations for this year. and we are trying to do things that create jobs for america and create new technology. that's what we are doing. >> mark, thank you. let's go to the front. frank. >> frank, aviation week. fer beth, you mentioned i think you used the word realignment of employment. and there are different kinds of employment at nasa, contractors and even at jpl with a reduction in the mars program. can you put some numbers on that realignment, particularly as it relates to contractors? and people at jpl? >> well, i would -- i would like to address that question to dave because they know it the best

but i will give you the way we think about it. you know, first of all, in 2012 we are not expecting any real employment impact, though we will be seeking to reorient some of the work there. but i will all be within jpl to go away from the 2016, the 2018 portfolio and towards the new formulation effort and technology that will take. now, msl, as you read of msl, there was great to be several hundred more jobs. maybe a maximum of the 300 to 400 that would have read off. so the issue was always how much money are we to do to bring it to put jpl on any project but you will still see those. in addition to the projects that dhaka mars specific project the follow-on to we've been talking about, the 300 to 400 students that jpl and that is the worst

case, they will also be working with the science technology program on the landing that has a very strong project that's ramping up. it also has for in fact even a mars mission in 2016 a very small mission and numerous other things. so as, you know, always with science since we have a competitive environment we are never sure who is going to win, cosecant say how that is going to go but jpl has done well in the past and we expect them to do well in the future. >> i'm a little bit curious about what i should tell from. should i tell from what you have a and 12 or should i care for 40 projected for 12 last year, which is about a billion dollars difference there. in terms of how you are calculating roughly where your jobs will be in 13 and beyond. >> you mean jpl alone? yes. i mean, as you go down that billion dollars they have a job impacts. obviously there's strong impact on the contracts.

we are sustaining the work force, and we don't have -- we just finished 11 and we have those figures, and that was based on a budget that was 18.4 billion. so we actually -- we were hoping to go up if you remember from the budget's past and so we are up, we're down about 700 million. >> i just want to say one other thing is that we were all ready to planning to go down and one of the interesting things is we were ranting of the programs we had planned all of those decreases. what has happened is the debate has been about how much do we reinvest in other programs and so almost all of the reductions in fact i would say almost all of the reductions and the contractors were already planned and they are familiar and there is a space shuttle reduction. >> let's go to the back here.

>> if i heard you right you are planning on buying more from the russians to of the astronauts and that seems like a mission that is going to take longer than 2017 for the commercial providers here to take his restaurants to this peace mission. >> i hope you didn't hear us say that because we didn't. we didn't give you a date. what i said is we are asking for -- we are asking to take a commercial crew funding lined up to eight for 37 or so, and we have changed our acquisition strategy which allows us to bring more competitors. 14 to 20 months from whenever we award the winners of the space that agreement we would hope to be able to go into competition for the firms in the contract that we can deliver the present schedule but we have, so no, we have not said that we intend to

go any longer. we would love to close the gap if we get adequate funding that we are asking for, we did that we can hold the scheduled br on right now. spearman but you are now budgeting in this budget i thought you said to buy from russia. >> well, but i should have said is budgeting device -- so, i think any agency like ours winning five or ten years in the horizon is always trying to be prudent and so the issue comes up if we have to buy the seats to go past 2016. so i was saying we are looking for a proposal there. we are working on the proposals we cannot get ourselves up into a box about the exact data proposal at this point. 64. let's go over to our social media site.

here in the back and be sure to get a microphone. >> question for charlie. you mentioned trying to come up with a new strategy for mars exploration, integrated strategy, human and science. can be more specific? so far i have heard two things. you want things to be cheaper, you want median class missions and then someone else will give the example of, you know, sensors, like on the msl to gather the data about the environment. but other than that, can you be more specific about what you mean by an integrated -- >> let me be very specific about why not been. we are not merging directorates. we are not merging science and human exploration. we are looking for synergy. we are realizing -- >> we do not deal with hypothetical because that is what i asked them to go off and

do and as i mentioned, i do not want to define a mission because that is something that the science community would probably find offensive if the administrator decided that he had an idea on how we should now going to robotic speed and exploration. so why i understand your frustration as the administrator not being able to get you an example but i have sworn off on that, and that's what i ask john and the group. they are coming up with a conceptual form of how we can strategize with our international partners on how we can go back to the science community in the form of the decade-old survey group and go to the academia industry and find out how to lease energize in order to give the best science return for the dollar, and also support the continuing path that we are honored to meet the president's challenge of being able to put humans in the

mars de semidey dubious what is going to be several months before that team is able to come in and say okay we've met with the europeans, we've met with the science community we are all on the same sheet of music now so here's the strategy we want to do it here comes some concepts of things we can do. it won't take years, trust me, because we've got to be able to lay out a plan if we are going to realize -- if we are going to be able to capture the 2018, 2020 mission window which is often will for the mission. so, it will be months, not years. >> over here. >> i saw in the budget numbers that there has already been quite a bit of money spent on the mars - or would her. i think something like 20 million was spent in 2011.

now, since that is not going to fly in the 2016 because of exomars is cancelled what is the public going to get out of the money that was spent? so, basically two questions. how much money has nasa already spent on exomars, and where are we going to see that return? >> i'm not going to try to tell you how much we have spent on the 2016 because i don't know that it will get you an answer. what we are trying to do is within our means live within the budget that we felt we had and carry out this ambitious program by putting our heads together with our european partners and others and come up with a strategy that will get us and the robotic mars exploration program that will put us on a path to meet the president's budget for putting humans within

the martian environment in the mid 20s, 30's. but i will have to give you any answer on how much money has been spent on the exomars come on the 2016 mission in the formulation of the 2018 mission because we hadn't gotten any farther than the formulation. >> you are asking a question i cannot answer and we will get you an answer. at best the best people to ask are the folks at jpl. we are told by them that, you know, they have people and work that will continue to go on as happens in a lot of the cases able to take the crown jewels from any program and use them on others and when you talk about synergy and looking at a strategy for going forward, you would probably hope that you can utilize or to get in touch of things that you have done already. >> some of those specific questions we can address in the follow-up media telecom.

the schedule is on a nasa.gov. let's take one other question over here, and then we will to decouple from twitter and go to the field center. >> i am care in lopez, ibm datachick on the trigger. one way the public and the rest of us can benefit from the nasa missions, is access to the open government transparency and open the the initiatives, like the data.nasa.gov to the house budget pressures made changes to that and will they continue to expand? >> de want to take that? >> okay, so nasa -- a couple things, one is you know the administration has a very vigorous open government initiative, and nasa is a participant in that come and as recently as international we have an international event coming out in april -- april we will be gathering together folks from around the world to work on things.

so, we have a very vigorous program. and a large part of what we do in the open government is as you said, we leverage off the things the programs you already, make their data available and accessible. the government is all but more to play the the right direction. so it's really open government is a philosophy in that, that we try to put as much as we can into the public and in the most understandable way possible. and so, we are doing that. the open government initiative has taken us in a few different directions, and we will continue that. and we plan to keep on going forward. but when you talk about open government, it's really -- it is hard to predict, because we are going to do so much, right? we will have so much data coming into that. and so, nasa is very excited to work because now we have the application of our iphone for nasa and all kinds of things. we are already out there in the government and enjoying it. >> well, not in the near future.

we are going to access -- when looking at my partner here. an official for the open government, and though cio over there, and the folks mainly who do it. and so, the -- i think we are going to ss after this international event how to keep those kind of things going or not. >> let's take a question that we received from twitter. with the budget remaining steady over the coming years, what plans does nasa have to increase the utilization and return? >> i think one of the things you are seeing already, we have finally put in place the nongovernmental organization to help us recruit researchers and research for the international space station and bring some enhancement to its operation. we want to better utilize it. we want to make sure we can expand its use through 20-20. what will be critical as i

mentioned before is for us to speed up the development of the commercial cargo and capability so that we can support the international space station with the american crews and of vehicles using american technology. that's really important for us, and i would say, you know, the iss is critical for any deep space exploration. it's also critical for bringing the benefits back heretofore, whether it is drugs like the salmonella vaccine that most of the work which was done on the iss or i think that they are called by zero capsules that are being developed right now. these are all things that benefit humans on earth, and, you know, they have hopefully some benefit from astronauts. but we are trying to make life better for people here are the and the iss is doing it. >> one more twitter question and then the kennedy space center. we have several questions along the same theme. i will try to parse these out, but people were expressing some concerns that we reword large projects that go -- that have

significant cost overruns. and they are asking how we can better fund these long-term projects and get costs under control, so we don't cannibalize other projects. >> these are -- as the question implies these are very difficult fiscal times, and we are trying -- we are doing all that we can to be fiscally responsible to make sure that our programs fit into the provisions of the authorization act. it came from congress and help us with the ambitious programs the we want. we've instituted programs like the great confidence level analysis. if you look at programs like graybill, juneau, i forget -- >> [inaudible] >> some of the more recent missions that we've launched have come in on cost on schedule, because we are now -- we have refined our management training, our management techniques. we pay much more attention to detail what it comes to the cost

and schedule. so you will find we are doing projects on time and on cost. the other thing i will say is before you can go out and ask for the big projects coming to have to demonstrate that you can do little ones well. and that is what we are doing. we are making slow and steady progress. if you look at where we are with the james web space telescope, since we have replant that mission, we send every month an accounting of how we are doing on the many my milestones and costs and i am proud to say that from the time that we did the plan and start of that documentation, we are on or ahead in some cases, on cost or below what we estimated the cost to be and grew diligent, diligent and really paying attention to it i think we can do this. >> let's go to some of the field centers and began at the kennedy space center in florida. your question. >> my name is dan west.

my question has three dates. i missed part of the last answer and i hope this isn't a repetition. but what is your best estimate for the first crew launch of o rollin emco the first launch of the lss and how were those different from the last budget if any? and the third is the first launch from american's wheel of an astronaut on the commercial vehicle would be your best guess for when that happens, please? >> i'm not going to guess. i'm going to say what is in our plan and i'm sticking with it. it's my story and i'm sticking with it. the planned date for the first launch from american soil and american commercial spacecraft is no earlier than 2017, and we are confident. as i said, if we can get the budget we are asking the we are

confident we can hold to that budget if not better. the next plan is what we go through what we briefed before. first flight of orion will hopefully be 2014, and it's an exploration test run by lockheed as a matter of fact, and we will take the data that they gather from that aveda will accelerate the vehicle in the orbits of earth such that its reentry velocity and pressures will be similar to what we would experience coming back from the moon or from the deep space missions so that we can verify that the vehicle is as good as we think it will be. the second is 2017 for the first flight integrated flight of orion on the sls and the first crew of flight is scheduled for 2021. so that's it. >> just a reminder about 3:30 we will be having a media teleconference with a human exploration folks who can give you additional information on

dates and future planning. we've got a question from the ames research center in california. >> with kcbs radio in silicon valley. of course we are concerned. just wondering how much ames budget will be cut and how that will affect missions here, and what about the status? what is going to happen with the hang your? thank you. >> let me answer the first one. the second one, first. we continue to be in contact with the community out there. the congressional delegation. and we are working to do what is in the best interest of the community and the taxpayer in terms of ames' budget to have a brief this afternoon where pete will be giving the details, and i would rather not usurp what he's going to give. >> okay. we will come back here for a couple of questions from twitter. we have one that asks can the fy

13 budget be -- with stakeholders in congress? >> we always do. [laughter] >> we will take that as a yes. >> yes. >> okay. let's come back here for a couple of questions. here come on the end. right behind bill. >> he was recently paraphrasing, i hope accurately, that when they built pyramids they did revisit every year. you have an annual budget cycle driven i think by the law, and you don't have the ability to move money between the year. i don't know if it is legally possible, but if you have the flexibility to move money between the years, but in that helped you to reduce the overruns deutsch and the project and also to avoid some of the tough choices that you've referred to several times today? >> yes. [laughter] >> we do have a limited amount. the money that is given for the programs usually last for two years, they are not and you

will. it we do have limited programming authority within each year we can move money between accounts. it is limited by 10%, whether you are in or out. but it's not like we are locked in when the appropriation houses. >> we will take a couple of more questions and start to wrap up. here in the front. >> karen from durhan. since you are concerned about instability and the trade-off of funding, for example, from one project to support another mission, what other options might we consider? if the public overwhelmingly supports the project and it's willing to voluntarily put personal funds towards a particular project, is there some way to accept the funding stream? verso alumni endowment or the university research project? at the state university or, for

example, the wheat exporter start-ups? .. >> there's candidates offering own ideas for flag ships. is there any flag ship for the american public to look forward to? is it sls, orion, or commercial? >> there's two to look for with

great anticipation and angst. the first is the mar's science lab that we'll land on the 5 #th -- i think it's the 5th -- of august. it's critical. i encourage people to follow it with great interest. the hardest part of that is yet to come. you know, we're going to do something that we have not done before in putting a vehicle of that size on the surface of another planet. that's hard work. look at the guys over here shaking their heads, and there's a lot of people biting their fingers in august, because we'll be really proud when curiosity is safely on the surface of mars, and we will be able to say we've accomplished something that was never, ever done before in the humanity as far as we know. the second is the james webb space telescope which is, i believe, will be an incredible asset to humanity and the world. it is going to take, i firmly believe because i anticipated in

hubble, and i remember people saying that will answer all the questions in the world, and i said i don't think so. based on my faith, it causes us to have more questions than we ever dreamed possible. i'm not a scientist, but i'll tell you, hubble created more questions than we ever imagined. i think james webb with dwarf that. we're talking 50 to 100 times the capability of hubble. let's be patient. let's eat to pie that we have. let's nibble on the two flag ships we are trying to work before we bite off another one. they are two incredible missions that we can look forward to. >> let's go here to the left. mark matthews. >> mark matthews with "the sent

sentinal," and what is the cost of the large scale projects, and how much money do you think you've saved. i can't answer how much money we saved until each project came to its end mark, and i won't take any credit for what's been done because join level confidence analysis was critical. and that started before i knew how to spell it and before i was administrator. getting a budget was an incredible accomplishment of beth and her folk in not a lot of people understand how hard that was. that was nine years of effort led by a team, jerry buoy, who rently retired. he deserves credit for just shepherding that and making it happen. i think when people are fair with us, they'll recognize we took the work that was begun by a group of people before us, and we tried to refine it in demonstrating that we can be

responsible to the american taxpayer, and i'm proud to say i think we've done that. >> got one time question over here. >> part of the tweeters here, also part of the space generation. so there are three major programs in the budget that i would like to talk about, probably commercial crew at $830 million, orino at $900 million, and sls. this year those are the three large targets in terms of moving money away from those three to other parts of the budget that congress might be interested in doing. can you prioritize of those three programs what you would fight for the most? is it commercial crew? is it the orino, sls? people are afraid the commercial crew is a large target here in this budget sighing l. >> this budget that represents an ambitious program as i said before in an incredibly fiscal

time, represents the commitment of the congress, overwhelming bipartisan vote in the 2010 authorization act, agreement with the president when he signed that act into law, and then when he signed appropriations in 2012 under which we're operating now. that laid out the three priorities for the agency. exploration, the james webb space telescope, just critical for science in understanding of our universe, and enhancement of the international space station and extending its life to at least 2020 shored up by the critical need for an american capability to get humans and cargo from here to the international space station and lower earth orbit, all to enhance the american economy and bring good jobs here, so we have written a budget that says what we're fighting for, and that's what the congress and the

president agreed to, you know, and that's what we're sticking with. >> i'd like to thank you, all, for joining us here today. i want to give everybody enough time to get to the follow-on conferences we have at 3:306789 you can listen them at www.nasa.gov/newsaudio. additional information online at www.nasa.gov/budget. thank you for joining us. have a good afternoon. [inaudible conversations] >> today in the senate, members considered the nomination of a u.s. district judge in miami to serve on the federal appeals

court. later this week, we're expecting the senate to take up a two year, $109 billion surface transportation bill. today, senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell came to the senate floor to talk about president obama's 2013 budget. we also hear from illinois senator dick durbin. >> we've had time to look at the budget and the more one looks at it, it harder it is to believe this is the president's considered response to the crisis we face. president obama knows better than anyone in this country that government spending and debt is completely out of control and that america's heading down the same road as europe. this budget was his chance to show it. instead, he decided to basically pretend these problems don't

even exist, and to the extent that he does acknowledge them, to propose solutions that are either gimmicks or that he knows will never come to pass. just to take two examples, he says he'll back savings by not fighting a war he already declared we wouldn't be fighting. take credit for saving money on a war that he already declared we're not going to be fighting. a gimmick. and he'd raise money with tax hikes that have been rejected eight times by both parties. oh, and by the way, forget the fact that government spends a trillion dollars a year more than it takes in. the president says government spending should be even higher. he significantly increases government spending. at a time when he was a $15

trillion debt, that's as big as our economy. this is what passes for leadership down at the white house. the president looks at our fiscal crisis, throws together a plan that he knows is completely deceptive, and then goes on the road to sell it to captive audiences at high schools and colleges across the country. the failure of leadership here is truly breathtaking. the president knows how grave our nation's fiscal condition is. when he thinks it helps him, he admits it. a year ago tomorrow when debt and spending were in the news, he used his budget announcement to reiterate a pledge to cut the deficit in half. here's what he said just a year ago tomorrow. quote, "the only way we can make these investments in our future is if our government starts living within its means.

if we start taking responsibility for our deficits. that's why when i was sworn in as president, i swore to cut the budget by half, and the budget i propose today accomplishes that." that was a year ago tomorrow. here we are a year later, and he has not come close, not even close. last month, the president said he wanted an economy that's built to last. what he's given us instead is a blueprint for deficits that are built to last. he had not done a thing to live up to the pledge to get our nation's fiscal house in order. in fact, he's made it worse. last year's budget was not worth the paper it was printed on, and neither is this one. not worth the paper it was printed on. the president's job is not to

tell the people what he thinks they want to hear, but to unite around a solution and get the job done. this president is truly failing the american people. the only question is hoping it takes for that -- how long it takes for that failure to catch up with us. >> mr. president, i listened carefully to the statement made by the republican minority leader about deficit, and i think it's worthy of note that history suggests an opposite cop collusion from -- conclusion from what he just said. remember this. the last time the federal government ever balanced its budget and generated a surplus was in the closing years of the presidency of william jefferson clinton, a democrat. when president clinton left office, the national debt accumulated over the history of the united states of america was

$5 trillion. clinton left office, handed the keys to president george w. bush and said next year, welcome to washington, another surplus, $120 billion surplus, the economy created 123 million jobs in my eight years, and i wish you the best. he left. turned the keys over to president george w. bush and gave him control for eight years. eight years later, another snapshot. the national debt was no longer $5 trillion. it was $11 trillion, more than doubled under president george w. bush. we had lost jobs, dramatically lost jobs in america, unlike president clinton and when george w. bush handed the keys over to president obama and said welcome to washington, next year's budget deficit is $1.2

trillion. a different story, isn't it? the suggestion is democrats just don't get it right when it comes to deficits, but republicans do. history tells us otherwise. president obama inherited one of the weakest economies since the great depression. in fact, we were teetering on another depression. the month that he took the oath of office, putting his hand on abraham lincoln's bobby, we lost over -- abraham lincoln's bible, we lost over. that's what he inherited. we didn't hear that from the minority leader. here's a story that tells is graphically, and it's a chart that those who follow the floor debates see it over and over again. the red reflects job losses during president george w. bush,

and the blue lines reflect employment under president obama. this was the month that president obama was sworn into office. almost 800 million jobs were lost in america. that's what he saw as he came to the presidency, and then look what happened. the job losses started reducing and finally turned the corner on the positive side. there you have a graphic presentation of two views of the economy,s views of the republicans and george w. bush with all of the job loss and the views of president obama, and that, mr. president, is the debate we're currently engaged in. the republicans want us to return to these policies. policies which call for tax breaks and cuts for the wealthiest in america and basically ignore investments we

need to put people back to work. i served in the bowles-simpson deficit commission. i understand this issue a little, maybe more than some. i don't profess to be an expert, but deficits have to be brought under control. you can't borrow 40 cents for every dollar you spend in washington and sustain economic growth in america, period. i also know this. with 10, 11, or 12 million americans out of work, you cannot balance this budget. we have got to get america back to work. these workers have to start earning a good wage, paying their fair share taxes, creating growth in the economy, and also growth in revenue which allows us to balance our budget. the president has two accelerators. he has to push on them both at the same time. fiscal speedometer -- fiscal responsibility on one

side and growth on the other. we have to move forward on the straight path, his budget does that. others say ignore growth and jobs, just cut spending, just cut the deficit. if you did that, that alone, i'm afraid the result would be disastrous. the president understands and we all should. there are three basic pillars to economic growth in america, and they are orve. training and education. is there a single senator, congressmen, or anyone here who doesn't understand they wouldn't be here without an education? we value education in america. it's the ladder of opportunity, and president obama, in his budget, focuses on educating and training the next generation of skilled workers and leaders in the american economy. when we walk away from that commitment to ex, we walk away from our future. the second thing the president's budget foe cueses is on is

innovation, finding those new technologies, those new discoveries that make our live less burdensome and create more economic opportunity. it may be the next medical device, a diagnose diagnostic tt saves a life, the next pharmaceutical breakthrough at the international institutes of health, may be the new technology to clean america to put us back in the race to be the world leader in the field. those investments by our federal government pay off in good businesses, good jobs, and a better life for all of us. education, innovation, and the third piece is on the floor today, infrastructure. it's kind of a sterile word, but what it gets down to is it represents the highways, the bridges, the airports, the mass transit, the ports of america that are literally the arteries true which our economic blood will flow, and when they are not

as good as they should be, as official as they should be, our economy struggles. let me give one example. i live in illinois and proud of it. my family came to that state. my mother as an immigrant to the country, my father off a farm in southern illinois, to work in east st. louis at a railroad. you almost equate illinois with railroads. we're in the center of america, and most railroads pass through the state. there's railroads in every direction. rights now, it takes as long to take a freight shipment through the city of chicago as it does from the west coast to chicago -- from chicago to the east coast. why? our railroad infrastructure has not kept up with the growing need for rail freight transportation. we need to invest in that. we have an opportunity to invest in it. when we do, when goods move more quickly, there's more profitability. businesses do better and hire

more people. the same is true with the highway system, mass transit, with passenger rail, and look what the republicans view this issue. we're considering a bill coming over from the house of representatives which would be a disaster for america's infrastructure and for the state of illinois. unqualified disaster. instead of investing in building the infrastructure so america's economy can grow, this bill sadly cuts the investment in transportation by 15%-20% over the next five years, cuts the investment in mass transit dramatically by eliminating the transfer of money from the highway trust fund to mass transit, something that's gone on for 30 years, and it makes a 25% cut in amtrack. at a time when amtrack is growing and proving itself, they want to basically start shutting it down, closing it down, eliminating trains.

that's no vision for the future, but what the house transportation bill will do. we can do better. we have a bipartisan bill. it's a word you don't hear often in this chamber, but a bipartisan bill with senator barbara boxer of california, senator inhofe of oklahoma, agreed on a bill two move us forward. we need to make the investment. the president understands that in the budget. we should understand it in the senate, and we have to make it happen. the last point to make is this. mr. president, there was a breakthrough yesterday. some people will be critical, perhaps of the house speaker for reversing field and changing his position. it's on a question of whether or not the payroll tax cut, which president obama put in place, is going to be continued beyond the end of this month. we -- many remember the flat that occurred in december when we were questioning whether to extend it for two additional

months. i went back to my state and taked about it county by county as to how much it meant to working families, and the republicans relented in the house and agreed to extend it until the end of february, and unfortunately, just a short time ago, the speaker said, and i quote, "if we're going to extend the payroll tax credit, unemployment benefits with reforms and take care of the dock fix, we have to offset the spending." that's what the speaker said a few years ago. yesterday, a different announcement. mr. boehner of ohio said, "we're prepared to act small businesses of the economy from the business of washington bureaucrats political gains." in other words, now, the republicans are prepared to extend the payroll tax cut without paying for it. it would be easier to take a shot at the speaker because he changed positions, but i won't. i remember this the week of celebrating abraham lincoln's birth, 203rd anniversary of his

birth, and lincoln was criticized for changing positions on the issue. lincoln said, yes, i did change my position, but i'd rather be right some of the time than wrong all the time. i think speaker boehner is right. let us extend the payroll tax cut, but the last point, the extension of unemployment benefits is of equal value to the economy and of major value to those out of work. make sure if we get this done with the payroll tax cut, we don't give up on extending unemployment benefits, benefits that will allow people to get back to work. i want to see these blue lines growing, mr. president. i want to see us move in the right direction, creating jobs in america. if president obama's payroll tax cut and the unemployment benefits, which we pushed for, pushed us over the line in creating jobs, let's not end the record of success, but build on it. i yield the floor. >> also, in the senate today,

harry reid spoke about the transportation bill under consideration this week. >> mr. president, we all know the up convenience of a -- inconvenience of a few potholes as we drive down a street. it's an inconvenience. for companies that ship tens of trillions dollars worth of goods across the country every year, these di -- di send grating roads are more than an inconvenience, an elevator at a station where you are trying to pick up a subway or metro may be a hassle, but for 51 million americans who have disabilities, most of whom rely on some type of public transportation to get around, outdated station, overcrowded

trains are more than a minor inconvenience. mr. president, this country's deteriorating infrastructure is something we should be very concerned about. this great nation of ours has an infrastructure that is falling apart. our highways, our roadways, our bridges, our dams, our railways, they are more than an inconvenience. they are a drain on our economy. 20% of america's roads don't meet safety standards. as presiding officer heard me say yesterday, i believe you were presiding when i talked on the issues, 70,000 bridges need to be replaced or overhauled. we have bridges in america, i'm told, mr. president, that school busses stop when it gets to the bridge, have the kids walk across the bridge, bus comes across without the kids because

they are afraid the bridge would collapse. our public transportation system can't keep up with the pace of growing ridership. nine out of ten americans say rebuilding the crumbling roads and bridges is important, 90%. we agree. democrats agree. modernizing the transit system, rebuilding the roads, american families and businesses depend on will help fuel our economy. this legislation's now before the senate is too important to be bogged down with underrated ideological amendments. senate republicans should not have this bill diverted by my republican friends to try to take away women's access to health care such as contraception that we've been dealing with in the last week, mammograms, and other cancer screenings, and then, mr. president, late last night we're told that one of the republican senators wants the issue --

offer an amendment dealing with something totally unrelated to this, dealing with the country of egypt. now, a debate on egypt may be the right thing to do, but shouldn't we start in the foreign relations committee? maybe we should start there. tv cameras can be there. that doesn't hold up this transportation bill that's so important. this bill will create or save 2 million jobs. it has broad bipartisan support. i've said it here and i'll say it again, i appreciate the work done by senator boxer and senator inhofe on this bill. unfortunately, our house colleagues, our republicans, have gone in the direct opposition direction. they have a bill that's a love note to the tea party. a house bill didn't get a single democratic vote in committee, and obviously for reasons that are very clear. the senate bill, on the other

hand, passed out of the committee unanimously. even some republicans don't support the house bill although it's paid forment drilling in anwar. mr. president, that issue has a beard that's turned white. that's so outdated. drilling in anwar. transportation secretary, ray lahood, by the way, a long time republican congressman from illinois, said the house legislation is the worst transportation bill he's seen in the 35 years he's been in public service. that's our secretary of transportation, a republican. there's lots of reasons, but here's a few. house legislation would gut public health and environmental protections, and that is a gross understatement. it would ax funding for pedestrian safety, although pedestrian is injuried or killed

by a car in this country every seven minutes. it would starve our nation's public transportation system. house bill reverses 30 years of good policy of dedicating funding each year for mass transit. policy was enacted in 1982 by the ultraliberal ronald reagan. mr. president, there's ads on radio and television where you see president reagan speaking as he did so well as one of his signature issues doing something about the transportation system in this country. maybe someone red something to him or told him about general eisenhower, how much he believed that the transportation system should keep moving forward. many house republicans don't support the plan to shortchange millions of americans. i just don't understand why seniors and people with

disabilities who count on public transportation should be hurt by what the house has done in their bill by what they have over there. mr. president, the chamber of commerce, aarp, came out against the drastic approach taken by the house bill. on the other hand, the u.s. chamber and dozens of others -- not dozens -- hundreds of other organizations support the boxer inhofe bill. i'm disappointed house republicans once again chose this very partisan path. rebuilding a transportation system, our economy can rely on shouldn't be revicive. given a choice working with democrats and playing poll -- politics, house republicans chose politics. it's too bad. this bill before the senate is a good bill. we need to pass this. i'm very disappointed that the house has taken this road that has recently been well-traveled, that is, what