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tv   U.S. Senate  CSPAN  March 1, 2012 12:00pm-5:00pm EST

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quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico is recognized. the senate be in order.
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the senate is in a quorum call. mr. bingaman: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. bingaman: mr. president, i'd send a bill to the desk entitled "the clean energy standard act of 2012," and ask that it be appropriately referred. the presiding officer: the bill will be received and appropriately referred. mr. bingaman: mr. president, let me take a few minutes to describe this legislation for my colleagues and hopefully urge them to seriously consider this legislation. it is introduced by me with several cosponsors, senators wyden, sanders,, senator mark udall from colorado, senator franken, senator coons, senator kerry, senator whitehouse, senator tom udall from my home state of new mexico.
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all of those individuals strongly support what we're trying to do in this legislation. i particularly want to thank the staff of the senate energy committee for the hard work they've put in to developing this proposal, particularly kevin rinehart. kevin rinehart who worked very hard on this proposal and got a lot of very useful input from many sectors and many individuals. this is a simple plan to modernize the power sector and guide it toward a future in which more and more of our electricity is generated with cleaner and cleaner energy. the purpose of the legislation is to make sure that, as we continue to grow and power our economy, we leverage the clean resources that we have available today and also provide a continuing incentive to develop the cheaper, cleaner
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technologies that will be needed in the future. we want to make sure that we drive continued diversity in our energy sources and allow every region of the country to deploy clean energy using the appropriate resources for that region. we want to make sure that we do all of this in a way that supports homegrown innovation and manufacturing and keeps us competitive in the global clean energy economy. the plan that we're putting forward with this legislation would implement a clean energy standard or c.e.s. for short, and let me describe how it works. starting in 2015, the largest utilities in the country would meet -- would meet the clean energy standard by showing that a certain percentage of the electricity that they sell is produced from clean energy sources.
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the initial percentage for 2015 is within the capabilities of those utilities today and each year after 2015 they would be required to sell a little bit more of their electricity from clean sources. they can do so either by making incremental adjustments to their own energy mix to become cleaner and more efficient or by purchasing clean energy from those who provide it at the lowest cost or by purchasing credits on an open and transparent market. to be considered clean, a generator must either be a zero carbon source of energy, such as renewables and nuclear power, or a generator must have a lower carbon intensity than a modern efficient coal plant. and by carbon intensity, i mean the amount of carbon dioxide
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emitted per megawatt hour of electricity generated. generators with low or no carbon intensity receive credits based on that criterion. for example, renewables would receive a full credit per megawatt hour. most natural gas generators would qualify for something around a half credit. and the more efficient natural gas generators would be incentivized compared to less efficient generators. a coal plant, coal-powered power plant would receive some credits if it lowered its carbon intensity by installing carbon capture technologies or by coal firing with renewable biomass. so accounting for clean in this way means that the cleanest resources have the greatest incentive. also, it means that every generator has a continuing incentive to become even more
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efficient. as the standard increases over time, the generation fleet will transition naturally toward cleaner and cleaner sources to meet it. the clean energy standard sets an overall goal for clean energy but the optimal and the cheapest set of technologies to use will be determined by the free market. the rate of transition is predictable and it's achievable and the rules of the road are transparent and they are clear. in addition to driving cleaner electricity generation in the power sector, the clean energy sector -- or the clean energy standard also rewards industrial efficiency. combined heat and power units generate electricity while also capturing and using the heat for other purposes, and these units are treated as clean generators under this proposal for a clean energy standard. this will help to deploy this kind of efficiency throughout our country and will provide
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another source of inexpensive clean energy. now, madam president, let me also describe what this proposal does not do. the clean energy standard does not put a limit on overall emissions. it does not limit the growth of electricity generation to meet the demands of a growing econo economy. all that the clean energy standard requires is that the generation we do use in future years and that we add to our fleet gradually becomes more clean over time. the clean energy standard does not cost the government anything and it does not raise money for the government to use either. if any money does come to the treasury as a result of the program because of refusal to participate or to comply, that money would go directly back to the particular state from which
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it came to fund energy efficiency programs. and finally, the clean energy standard will not hurt the economy. this past fall, i asked the energy information administration to analyze a number of clean energy standard policy options. the results of their study showed that a properly designed clean energy standard would have almost zero impact on gross domestic product growth and little or no impact on nationally averaged electricity rates for the first decade of the program. the energy information administration analysis did show that a clean energy standard would result in a substantial deployment of new clean energy and carbon reductions of between 20% and 40% in the power sector by 2035, which is the time frame provided for in the proposal.
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i've asked the energy information administration to update their modeling to reflect this final proposal that we're introducing today and when they've completed that analysis in the next few weeks, i plan to hold hearings on the proposal to further explore the benefits and effects of the clean energy standard in the energy committee. the goal of the clean energy standard is ambitious. it is a doubling of clean energy production in this country by 2035, but analysis has shown that the goal is achievable and affordable. meeting the clean energy standard will yield substantial benefits to our health and to our economy, to our global competitiveness, and, of course, to our environment. the bill that we are introducing today is simple. it sets a national goal for clean energy. it establishes a transparent framework, and it lets resources compete to achieve that goal
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based on how clean they are and then it gets out of the way and lets the market and american ingenuity determine the best path forward. i think this is very -- a very well-thought-out proposal and one that deserves the attention of all colleagues. i hope that they will look at it seriously, and i hope that we can attract additional supporters and cosponsors as the -- as the weeks proceed here in the senate. madam president, i yield the floor and i see i have a colleague here or two colleagues seeking recognition so i will not suggest the absence of a quorum. mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i appreciate the opportunity. i see the senator from arkansas on the floor. i will follow the senator from arkansas on another piece of legislation about which i hope
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to speak, but i do want to take about five minutes to read the letter that william barrett travis sent from the alamo on the -- tomorrow is the anniversary date. it would be march 2, 1836. -- 176 years ago tomorrow. i am going to read this letter in commemoration of texas indz pence day. because it was on this day that texas declared its independence from mexico. 59 brave men signed the texas declaration of independence putting their lives and the lives of their family on the line to declare that the people of texas do now constitute a free, sovereign and independent republic. i'm proud that my great, great-grandfather, charles s. tailor, was willing to sign that document that -- taylor was willing to sign that document
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that declared our freedom. in fact, our son houston is named houston taylor hutchison, for that texas patriot. and i'm humbled to hold the seat that was first held by another signer and one of charles s. taylor's best friends and that was thomas rusk, who was the secretary of war who defended the declaratio declaration of ie by fighting at the battle of san jucinto. as was the case in the american revolution, the freedom was ultimately secured through the actions of the brave texans who fought and died on the battlefield. the late senator john tower started the tradition of a texas senator reading the travis letter. it was continued by phil gramm and i took it in 1994 and this is something that we do to tell murk -- america and to assure that texans always remember this day in our history. because after this, of course,
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we became a republic and we were a republic for ten years before we became a part of the united states. so it is with pride that i read for the last time as a united states senator representing texas the wonderful letter that was written by colonel william barrett travis. he said, "to the people of texas and all americans and the world: fellow citizens and compatriots, i am besieged by a thousand or more of the mexicans under santa ana. i have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. the enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion. otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. i have answered the demand with a cannon shot and our flog still waves proudly from the walls. i shall never surrender or retreat. then i call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and
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everything dear to the american character to come to our aid with all dispatch. the enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to 3,000 or 4,000 in four or five days. if this call is neglected, i am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due his own honor and that of his country -- victory or death. william barrett travis, lieutenant colonel, commandant," and true to his word, he did not surrender. the mexicans did have thousands of reinforcements. he drew the line in the sand at the alamo. all but one man bravely crossed that line or was carried over it on a stretcher to accept the challenge to stay and fight. these men knew they would never leave the alamo aalive but they
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heroically defended the alamo for 13 days. the 13 days of glory, as it is known, against a force that eventually outnumbered them by more than 10-1. william barrett travis, davy crockett, jim bouie and the rest of the 89 men at the alamo gave their lives fighting for something greater than themselves. and it was that delay that gave general sam houston the time to organize his men and retreat to a point that they could defend which eventually became the battle of january jacinto. seven weeks followed and on april 21, 1836, sam houston, because of that delay that was given to them by william barret travis and the 189 men at the alamo was able to take a stand is he battle of san jacinto and
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texas was a republic from that time forward for ten years. and i have to say that texas is the only state that was a republic when it entered the united states, and with that distinction, we like to share our vivid history. i want to say, madam president, that it has been a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to read this letter every year, and i feel sure that it will be continued by senator cornyn or my successor in this seat, and we will always make sure that people know that we fought for our freedom just as the american patriots did, and we are very proud to have that rich and colorful history. so i thank the senator from arkansas and look forward to serving the rest of my term, but this will be the last time i get to share that piece of history. thank you, madam president.
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the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. pryor: madam president, i think it's unanimous on this side of the aisle that we're going to miss the senator from texas when she leaves. it's sad to hear about her doing something for the last time here in the senate. she has been a wonderful senator and colleague, and all of us on the democratic side, i'm sure the republican side as well, will greatly miss her. and also, madam president, i would like the record to reflect that texas does have a glorious history and one of the things that we are proud of in our state is that many of the men who gave their lives for the republic of texas at the alamo actually passed through arkansas because that's the old -- i guess the southwest trail back in those days, and many of those men passed through the state. there was a meeting place near the tavern, i think they might call it back then near hope, arkansas. we feel a little piece of that history in our state as well.
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mrs. hutchison: madam president, i would just thank the senator from arkansas for his kind remarks. i have so enjoyed serving with his father before him and then him. that is a point of history for arkansas that you followed your father into the united states senate. and i appreciate so much that we are contiguous with the state of arkansas and that so many of the people who settled the west did come through arkansas. some stayed there and some came on to texas. our whole history of the west is so exciting, and i'm glad that we are able to remember it. thank you very much. mr. pryor: thank you. madam president, thank you for your recognition, and i would like to talk about something today that is on everyone's mind. i know that when i was in arkansas, the last week for the
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recess, i did four or five town hall meetings and pretty much everywhere i went, this was the topic of discussion, and that is gas prices in our state. i know it hurts every american when gas prices go up because gasoline prices and diesel prices have a way of working their way through the entire economy and causing economic difficulties for this country, and one of the things that people pointed out to me is this roller coaster effect that we have seen on gas prices over the last year or so, and one thing that my friends from arkansas noticed is that the price there has gone up about 30 cents a gallon just in the last couple of months, so it's been a very dramatic increase and it's something that people are very concerned about. i would like to make three points about this. one is i do think the congress, house and senate as well as the white house should look at this
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problem of speculation. when you look at the numbers, they are saying that a fairly large percent of the cost of a gallon of gas. some people say 20 cents a gallon, some people say 40 cents a gallon actually goes to the speculators. so what that means is a lot of these guys have no intention of ever taking the product, ever doing anything with it other than just trading it to profiteer in a volatile market. so, you know, that's a big concern. we actually passed something here two or three years ago to get the cftc to issue some regulations on how to handle this, and now those apparently have been challenged in court. and of course the people who are challenging are the people who are benefiting from the speculation. so i think we need to find that balance. when you have a market, there is going to be speculators in the
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market and they are going to get out there and try to make some money in the marketplace. that's the nature of it. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. that's legitimate, but i do think that there are people and companies and some of these invest billions and billions of dollars, but they are trying to profiteer off a volatile oil situation. so we need to focus on speculation. we also need to focus on the supply of oil in this country. the good news is that we are seeing more and more acreage that is being drilled and is permitted to be drilled in this country after the terrible gulf spill a couple of years ago. you know, those permits are starting to be issued again down in the gulf of mexico, as i understand it. also i'm a supporter of the keystone pipeline as well, so we need to continue to develop our domestic supply and even our near domestic supply up in canada of oil, but also we need
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to have diversity in our energy portfolio and there needs to be alternatives to gasoline and diesel. we need to find different ways to run our vehicles, whether it's natural gas or whatever that may be. could be electricity, could be lots of different things. we need to continue to innovate in this country and try to do great things. that really brings me to my third point. this is the real reason why i am on the floor today. certainly, it touches on gas prices, and those are very important. we don't want to see gas prices slow down our economic recovery that we're undergoing right now, but also we need a more comprehensive and smarter national energy policy. and so i think an important first step of that is for us to evaluate what all the energy programs that we happen to have on the books already, what the department of energy is doing,
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what other many, many various departments are doing. someone needs to be looking at all the tax credits and tax incentives when it comes to energy, and we need a comprehensive analysis of where we are as a nation, what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are. and what i am proposing is a bill, the quadrennial energy review. so it's a bill that we have introduced that i am fortunate enough to have senator bingaman, the chairman of the energy committee as well as senator murkowski, the ranking member of the energy committee as cosponsors, and we would love to have other senators look at this , maybe relatively soon because we would like to start moving this through the process here if at all possible. quadrennial energy review is based on what they do at the department of defense. every four years, the d.o.d.
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goes through this very detailed, top-to-bottom analysis of all the things that they need to consider in the department of defense, and they come out with the q.d.r., the quadrennial defense review, and basically it's -- in looking at what you have, it also presents a road map for where you need to go. that's what we need to do with energy. we already have this model that works. this idea would be more of a governmentwide, not just the department of energy but actually governmentwide, and i would just encourage all my colleagues to look at this if you wouldn't mind having your stef checking back with my office. we would love to have you as a cosponsor if you're interested. i don't think it's controversial. i don't think there is much money or much requirement involved. i think it's just good government and smart government to try to come up with a great, comprehensive energy policy for our nation. so, madam president, with that, i'd just like to say that here in washington, we hear the american people loud and clear.
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we're concerned about gas prices as well on lots of different levels, and we will certainly be focused on that and paying a lot of attention to that issue over the next several weeks, and hopefully we can do some good for the market and do some good for the american people. madam president, with that, i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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quorum call:
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mr. brown: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i have had in the last couple of
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weeks around my state in ohio, had a number of conversations with workers and management both who work for auto companies, from the foreign-owned honda in central ohio to the big three auto companies which are very involved in the ohio's economy, including cries lette chrysler . also companies that are less well-known, and companies that are 1345ur8 than that who are called one-, two-, or three- tear suppliers, that sell supplies that end up in a durango or chevy cruze. and almost all of these conversations, these companies,
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these executives and workers are just simply incredulous that this is still being debated, about the auto rescue, that it worked or didn't work. you just got to come to ohio, not just northern ohio where the asum hon is where that's sort of where the auto industry is. but people all over ohio and all over the whole industrial midwest and i think all over the country understand that the auto rescue worked. we know back when senator stab know and levin and senator voinovich, who has since retired, took to the floor and in committee hearings and all that in december of 2008 when president bush realized the auto industry needed, at minimum, some bridge loans to stay in business, not because we have any interest in the government owning auto companies but because we knew hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of workers and small
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business -- and thousands of small businesses that manufacture things in our state and in michigan and in indiana and all over the region, all understood that it would be economic devastation, it would have led, i think -- i think many -- most economists think and most auto people and i think most ohioans think it would have led to a depression. so that was december 2008. because of a whole bunch of reasons, this place decided not to do what president bush thought we should do and then later on, a few months later when president obama said we've got to step up and do the right thing, it passed, with some republican support, not as much as we hoped for, but it passed. and we can now look -- this was december 2008 and early 2009 when president obama took the oamg of office. we can look at what has happened to this country. fundamentally we see an auto industry which is so important to our manufacturing in our
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country, and manufacturing so important to building a middle class. we can see what that's meant to our country. and i'll give you one big example. from 1997 until 2010 every single year we had seen a decline in manufacturing jobs in our country, every single year, and in my staivment and i know in the presiding officer officer's state in north carolina. manufacturing has been a huge presence. they have suffered, as every state has. but every single year a manufacturing job loss. since the auto rescue for the last 20, 21, 22 months we've seen manufacturing job growth, manufacturing job growth every single month for the country and for my state of ohio, every single month we've had more manufacturing jobs than the month before. that's not good enough because it's not enough growth, but it's clearly going in the right direction. in auto alone you can see what's happening in my state.
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the four large auto companies in ohio -- ford, chrysler, general motors, and honda -- all four of them have announced major expansion plans, major investments in our state, including building a new car in some cases, building a new line of cars, and in other cases expanding significantly. so wok look at a car like -- so you can look at a car like the chevy cruze, whose engine is made in defiance near the indiana border, its bumper is made in northwood, its tran mission is made in toledo, its speakers are made in spring bore row, in the dayton-cincinnati arks there are brackets made in brunswick and other places, there are -- the steel comes from cleveland, the aluminum comes from cleveland, the stamping is in a plant in parm anchts the stamping, i believe, of the component ofs for the c
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car. 5,000 people work in lordstown, ohio, stamping and assembling this small car that's been one of the bestsellers of any car in the united states of america. in throain toledo where the jeep wrangler is assembled, prior to the auto rescue, only about 50% of these cars, of the components in the jeep wrangler were american-made. so half of them came from production outside the united states. tared about 75 -- today about 75% of the jeep wrangler -- the components -- are assembled in the united states. that means jobs. that's why it's so important that the president continues to move forward, and i hope more aggressively, on the whole issue of auto supply parts. we saw just ten years ago -- we in a deficit with china of about $1 billion in auto parts.
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today we have a trade deficit with china on auto parts of almost $10b so i know how concerned the president is. i know that american auto companies, including honda, want to source more and more of their products in the united states of america. they want those products to be manufactured here in addition to being assembled here and manufactured here. it obviously means it will be close to the final assembly point in the critical mass that these manufacturers want to grow jobs. so we're seeing a partnership now that we've never seen in my lifetime, i believe, between the auto industry and the united states government. not for the government to have ownership, not for the government to tell the auto industry what to do, but the government to make the business climate for these auto companies more and more favorable. and that's what's good. that's what's come out of the auto rescue for toledo, the assembly of the jeep wrinkler,
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that's what's come out of the youngstown, lordstown area for the chevy cruze. we've seen the manufacturing job growth for more than 20 months takes us in the right direction. it's important that the naysayers just kind of dropped -- they can say whatever they want about the auto rescue. they're going to say what they want for political reasons. but it's clear that -- that we as policy-makers -- you know, presidential candidates are going to do what the presidential candidates are going to do in both parties. i don't really much care. but i do care that this body, the united states senate, focus its efforts on how do we cooperatively grow this industry. it means more union auto workers going to work. it means more nonunion auto supply chain workers going to work. but all of these are good-pay jobs and that's what -- what do we care about more here than -- than preparing an environment for good-paying jobs that put people back to work and can help
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them join the middle class? madam president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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mrs. hutchison: madam president?
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the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise to talk about a bill that i -- oh, i understand we're in a quorum call and i ask that it be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: i rise to talk about a bill that was introduced this morning but i'm told that it doesn't have a bill number yet, but the bill is "the strengthening and enhancing cyber security using research, education, and technology act," which we refer to as the scur scure -- secure i.t. act. madam president, this is a very important piece of legislation because we know that cyber security is a threat to our country and we need to strengthen our laws to assure that we are protecting our assets, our communications systems and all of the infrastructure that is run through communications systems. we are working as a group, senators mccain, chambliss,
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grassley, murkowski, coats, burr, and johnson, our original cosponsors. many of us are the ranking members on the relevant committees that must deal with cyber security. senator mccain, the lead sponsor, is, of course, the armed services ranking member. i am the ranking member of commerce. senator chambliss of intelligence. senator grassley certaint certaf jsh, and senatojudiciary, and si energy. it is certainly important that our committees have come together with our rank members -- and we hope very much to gain support from the democratic side as well -- on a bill that we think can get through all of congress and be signed by the president. because the -- the parts of our bill that will strengthen our
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cyber security in this country are i think accepted in the areas where we already have expertise in this area. for instance, our bill will help prevent the spread of cyber attacks from network to network and across the internet by removing barriers to sharing information about threats, attacks and strategies for improvement of defenses. we remove these barriers through addressing the antitrust laws that would allow companies that are sharing information not to be threatened with antitrust suits because this is a security issue, it's not a competitive issue. secondly, we want to have liability protections for those who disclose cyber threat information with their peers. these are things that would be
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in everyone's interest for us to do and we do need to address it in legislation. the liability and antitrust protections are available to all companies that would share information, not just those that share with the government but where they can talk to each other, understanding each other's systems. further, the security i.t. act would -- the secure i.t. act would provide that federal contractors providing electronic communication or cyber security services to federal agencies share cyber threat information related to those contracts. of course, when they have contracts with the government, those are going to be very important communications systems that would require the sharing of information about threats that might jeopardize the syst systems' security. in addition, the government will develop procedures for the timely sharing of classified,
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declassified and unclassified information to ensure that information needed to secure networks is fully accessible to trusted parties. we are concerned that there are other bills out there that will add another new bureaucracy, another layer of regulation that is not necessary and brings in another agency that would overlay the security agencies that already have systems in place. it would also allow the regulatory bodies for certain areas of interest to handle the cyber security rather than another overlay of a new department. i think, madam president, that so many people in our country who are in business feel that they are just overwhelmed with duplicative regulations and
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different agencies that they have to report to. we want to streamline who they have to report to and try to use existing structures and existing regulatory authorities to deal with each individual company or industry so that we don't have to give them yet another new bureaucracy that would then have regulations if they are deemed to be critical infrastructure. that's when it becomes the regulatory threat. we believe that the private sector is more aware of individual security needs, bertie quipped than the department of homeland security -- better equipped than the department of homeland security to secure its own network working with the regulators. according to the management -- the office of management and
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budget, the government itself as has had great difficulty in preventing attacks on federal systems, so we do require that the reporting of federal contractors go to the federal security agencies but we don't think the federal agencies being in charge of everything is necessarily an improvement. we want to make sure that the federal information security management act, which is the law, is actually updated so that the new forms of cyber threats are accommodated in this fisma, federal information security management act, and to strength than with the updates. the legislation also updates the criminal code to address cyber crimes, strengthening penalties, improving the department of justice's ability to prosecute this kind of criminal that would
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take down whole systems of our government. and our bill will prioritize cyber security research and development so we can harness innovation to protect our country and our private industries from cyber attacks. so i am very pleased that we've been able to introduce this legislation as an alternative to some of the other bills that have come out. i believe that if we can go forward with negotiating, perhaps we could come to an accommodation with the bills that have been introduced with other sponsors, but we don't think that the bills that have been introduced address our concerns that would assure that we don't have another big federal bureaucracy, that we don't overlay the regulators that already have expertise in this area with new regulators that we have to train
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and deal with. we think the defense agency, the national security agencies, the defense intelligence agency, the c.i.a., all of these and with their cybersecurity assets already in place are the better place to put the strength, not reinventing the wheel but better utilizing the systems that we already have. madam president, i think that it is time for our senate to address cybersecurity, i think we have good proposals out there. perhaps we can take the best of all of those proposals but i think this is the right approach, and senator mccain, senator chambliss, senator grassley and senator murkowski were key to drafting this piece of legislation that i think will get the support of all of the stakeholders as well as the
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house of representatives to actually pass a bill to improve our systems and take it to the president for signature. thank you, madam president, and i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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quorum call:
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mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings on the quorum call be suspended and i be recognized as if in
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morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: madam president, i also ask that morning business be extended for an additional ten minutes, and that i be allowed to engage in a colloquy with the senator from south carolina. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: madam president, senator graham and senator hoeven and senator blumenthal and senator sessions and i had a very interesting trip last week where we visited various countries and learned a lot at each one. but the reason why we are here on the floor today is to -- is to talk a bit about the recent release, thank god, of americans who were in the american embassy and were subject to trial and prosecution by the egyptian government. it was a humanitarian issue from
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the standpoint that no american citizen should be treated that way, especially by an ally, but it was also a larger issue in that the outcome could have significant impact on relations between our country and israel -- and egypt. and egypt, as my friend from south carolina well knows, is the heart and soul of the arab world. what happens in egypt affects the entire arab world, and our relationship with egypt is one that is vital not just for egypt but our national security interests are that the region remain peaceful and that there not be conflict and abrogation of the treaty that was concluded between egypt and israel as a result of the camp david
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agreements. i think it's important to recognize that egypt is in a bit of a turmoil. i think it's important to recognize -- madam president, i ask unanimous consent that senator hoeven be added to the unanimous consent for a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: so these young people were from national democratic institute and the international republican institute and freedom house, unfortunately, had to go to our embassy because they were going to be prosecuted under then egyptian law. and i'd like to begin by saying that our ambassador to egypt, ann patterson, may be one of the finest diplomats that this nation has produced. the more the senator from south
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carolina and i travel and the more representatives at the u.s. ambassadors that -- embassies that we meet and have -- have -- have discussions and travel with, these people are enormously good. and we are proud that they represent the united states, particularly ann patterson. she has worked tirelessly since this whole crisis began, and i believe that the majority of the credit for what the success outcome as far as our american citizens are concerned can be directly attributed to her dedication, her hard work, her tireless efforts day and night on behalf of these young people. so we are extremely proud of her. i'd like to ask my friend from south carolina what he thinks was the reasons why the egyptian
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government changed what they had previously said would be judicial prosecution of these american citizens to allowing them to leave egypt and return to the united states, as they are on their way. mr. graham: one, i'd like to add my gratitude and recognition of ambassador patterson, her whole team, the whole state department team on the ground. they the did a very good job making the case to the egyptian government but we have to all realize that egypt is in transition. they've just had their elections for the lower house, the parliament, the upper house has not been seated yet and they haven't elected a president. they've gone from a dictatorship to emerging democracy and this case comes along, the n.g.o. prosecutions i think both of us, all of our delegation, this is just offensive. the i.r.i., n.d.i., republican, democratic organizations funded by the government and the private
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sector that try to help emerging democracies all over the world. they've been in every country, hot spot you could name after the collapse of the soviet union doing great work and the accusations were that the people involved in these organizations, senator mccain is the head of i.r.i., were involved in spying and espionage. i just want to take the floor and say i find the accusation offensive and without merit. and the egyptian coworkers, egyptian citizens working with the i.r.i. and n.d.i. are still in custody in egypt facing criminal prosecutions for helping these fine organizations, and we will not take our eye off of that, and we will keep pushing to make sure we get the right answer. but how did this end? we know how it started. i think it was a political effort to talk about, try to justify mubarak-era law that was
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used to press and keep out of the country people who were helping to bring about change. and one of the bright spots of this engagement was that the army, general tentoway was as helpful as he could be given the army and this new government formation. but when we engage the muslim brotherhood, the freedom of justice party, the largest bloc in parliament, senator mccain in his first engagement, the first thing he said to the representative was this n.g.o. situation, how damaging it was to egypt-american relationships, how unfair it was, how out of bound it was in terms of the law. and the response was, from this group, that we find the n.g.o. law unacceptable, unjust. and we're wanting to change it. and once that statement was made publicly, it allowed this
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momentum to withdraw or lift the administrative travel ban. the cases may still go forward, but our people are coming home. so i think the reason this happened was because the collaboration between the state department, the delegation, every aspect. american government and the people on the ground in egypt i think understood the value of the u.s.-egyptian relationship and the judicial system finally made a wise decision. but to those left behind, we're certainly standing with you, and you will not be forgotten. this could have ended the u.s. -- senator mccain, let me ask you a question, senator hoeven both. if this had not been resolved, if they insisted on prosecuting and having the american citizens questioned, appear in cages before an egyptian court based
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on an outlandish accusation, what kind of reaction would we have had in the united states and what damage would it have done to u.s.-egyptian relationship in your opinion? cane as the senator from south -- mr. mccain: there was a pending amendment to cut the $1.3 billion. i would family size to my colleagues that $1.3 billion was a commitment made at the time of the camp david agreement which led to a peace agreement between israel and egypt which is if that amendment had been enacted, i am confident would have caused the egyptians to abrogate the peace treaty with israel. the consequences of all that, i'm not sure of. i would like to emphasize to my friend -- and i see senator hoeven here -- we did have meetings with the speaker of their parliament and his colleagues. we did have meetings with the chairman of their committee on human rights who happens to be the nephew of anwar sadat, one
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of the signatories to the camp david agreement -- the signatory along with menachem bay -- begin. we did meet with the ph*eupl brotherhood who did agree with us that n.g.o.'s are important and the law needed to be revised much we met with the head of the interim military government. what confused us a bit at first, i'd ask my colleague from north dakota, is everybody said we're with you, and yet they were gridlocked. in the words of the chairman of the joint chief staff who had been throefr earlier, they were -- over there earlier, they were paralyzed. it seemed to me that the statement of the muslim brotherhood, who all of us, i know, have concerns about, but it was the statement of the muslim brotherhood supporting n.g.o., supporting revision of the mubarak law that seemed to be a major factor in sticking
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what had clearly been a situation which day by day grew more and more of a crisis. i'd ask my friend from north dakota if he got that same impression. mr. hoeven: i'd like to thank the senator from arizona for allowing me to join him on the floor today to talk about this very important issue that has had a favorable outcome. even more importantly, i want to express my great appreciation and gratitude to senator mccain and senator graham for really organizing the opportunity for us to go over to egypt and to not only meet with our n.g.o. workers at the u.s. embassy, but to engage in conversations and meetings with military and government leaders on this very important issue. tanned's not just -- and it's not just these seven americans
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who we're very concerned about and their safety, which obviously is paramount, but as senator graham indicated, this situation clearly had ramifications for the relationship on a longer-term basis between egypt and the united states and egypt and israel, particularly in regard to the peace treaty. so taking this initiative to sit down with general -- marshal tanta w*eu, who is the leader of the military council, but also the leaders of the freedom and justice party, which is the majority party now in the parliament, and of course that is the muslim brotherhood. we sat down with the muslim brotherhood as well. i think those meetings were extremely important in helping to foster an understanding that broke the logjam.
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i too want to commend the work of our ambassador, ambassador ann paterson. she did an outstanding job. i want to thank secretary clinton and the people at the state department for their diligent efforts. but i must say having the opportunity to be part of a delegation led by senator mccain and senator graham gave us the opportunity to talk to the muslim brotherhood, gave us the opportunity to talk to the leaders of the freedom and justice party. and the next day they put out a statement, which i agree was very important in helping move things forward, because what they said in that statement were two things, two things that i do think helped break the logjam. first, that they support nongovernment organizations. they support nongovernment organizations. they recognize that these n.g.o.'s do important work, and they want to address the laws in egypt to make sure that they have good laws that will enable the n.g.o.'s to continue.
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the second thing they said, which i felt was particularly important is they also expressed their concern about n.g.o. workers and that those n.g.o. workers be treated fairly. and for me, as senator mccain said, i hail from the state of north dakota -- and he knows i'm going to say this. i can see the smile sneaking up on his face already. one of these n.g.o. workers, one of the americans detained under the travel ban, who i had an opportunity to visit with at the embassy, is a woman named stacy hodge. she's been over there working. and needless to say i was worried about all of our americans. i was really worried about stacy and making sure that she and her fellow workers and, of course, secretary lahood's son, sam lahood and all of them, that they were able to get home
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safely. i think it was important in terms of fostering an understanding that i hope now will continue as we work to build relations with egypt and their new government. i yield to the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: i can tell you very few people in egypt were -- almost no one in egypt did not realize somebody from north dakota was being held. you were on message. you were very effective. and i hope stacy and her family appreciates it. i know they do. but for everybody -- sam, the n.d.i. workers, the whole gang, we're proud of what you do. senator blumenthal is here. i want to let people know this is a bipartisan delegation. we had a dinner meeting when things were not going so well, and about the idea of bringing our american citizens down to egyptian court to be put at risk securitywise and maybe to be put behind cages, which would have destroyed the relationship. i think senator blumenthal made
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it crystal clear, that's not a good idea. and thank god it didn't happen. with that, i yield back to senator mccain. mr. mccain: i agree with my colleague from south carolina, senator blumenthal was very important, one, for bipartisanship. but his background as a prosecutor at one point in all this back and forth, one of the lawyers, will be unnamed, said to senator blumenthal that, well, we probably have to go along with the advice of the lawyers. senator blumenthal, in a very succinct way said, well, maybe it's time to fire the lawyers. i want to thank senator blumenthal for his involvement and the expertise and knowledge that he brought to this whole scenario because his background as a prosecutor and attorney general of his state. i guess i wonder from my friend
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from connecticut if he believes that this kind of thing is something that we should really be emphasizing, these n.g.o.'s so that maybe we can prevent this in the future. for example, when we visited tunesia, the tunesians enacted a law that encourages participation of these dedicated men and women who come and live and work in their country and help them build democracy. that was what was so not enraging, but certainly was so frustrating, was to hear these people who were only trying to build democracy. they weren't there to make money. they weren't contractors. they weren't anybody that was in business. they were just trying to help them build democracy, and they end up in the situation they were in, which caused us from time to time to maybe grit our teeth, skilled my friend from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you to my colleague from arizona who led this trip and very
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enthusiastically and emphatically, i would say the answer is, yes, we should be encouraging these nongovernmental organizations that are committed to the cause of democracy and human rights and civil society, their work in egypt and in places like tunesia and other areas of the middle east as well as around the globe where democracy and freedom are at risk and sometimes at grave peril has been enormously important. i was so proud and grateful to be part of this trip led by senator mccain and to really hear and see the kind of respect that there is in the world for his views, for his leadership as well as for senator graham's, and the receptiveness is probably an understatement, that
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field marshal tantawi, leaders in parliament, others in leadership had for his statements about the importance of allowing these americans, these seven americans who committed no crime, to leave that country. and the power of his and senator graham's statements, the ability of our colleagues, such as senator hoeven and senator sessions, to speak not on behalf of the united states, because we were not there to negotiate, but really on behalf of public opinion in the united states, i think was very instrumental and shows the importance of the interchanges and the relationships that can be built when we interact face-to-face on the ground with our peers and contemporaries in foreign countries. not that we were speaking as
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military people or as diplomats, but simply in reflecting the opinion of people in the united states that these americans, innocent of any crime, should be permitted to leave the country. and -- mr. mccain: don't you find it striking that these new parliamentarians, they were most eager to have interparliamentary association with us? they wanted to come to the united states to have further relations between the two elected bodies. i was very impressed by that. mr. blumenthal: i would say yes, indeed, i was extraordinarily impressed by their eagerness to see what democracy looks like as it really works. remember, some of these individuals have been in prison for long periods of time. some of them under the most brutal conditions, many of them tortured while they were there,
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with little exposure to the real world of democracy. i think in answer to the senator from arizona's question would be very helpful to them. and in fact on a number of occasions, we invited them to come to this country. but i would ask the senator from arizona and perhaps my other colleagues who are on the floor today to look ahead and to comment perhaps on what we can do to move in a positive way from here, because i think that all of us feel egypt is really a linchpin for our relationship to that area of the world going forward. so much that's exciting is happening in that part of the world, and egypt is so critical to it, so i would ask my friends from arizona and south carolina and north dakota what they feel perhaps are positive steps that
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we can take to build on this good step forward. mr. mccain: very briefly, before i turn to my other two colleagues, the day we arrived in egypt, there was a suppliers' conference, companies and corporations from all over the world ranging from companies like general electric, boeing, the major corporations, and it's very clear, the one thing this -- the one thing that they need is jobs, jobs, and jobs and jobs. unless their economy improves an--the tourism has collapsed di think they're going to face some very significant challenges. so at least i was very happy to see lot of american participation in that gathering. i think they said there was like 600 people in that room, all of them representing various businesses in the united states. that really is -- and of course they are experiencing a hard currency crunch right now that's
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very significant. senator? mr. graham: i think it's a very good topic to be talking about the future. because this was an episode that could have destroyed the relationship before it had a chance to mature. what am i concerned about? i am still concerned about the development in egypt. the constitution will be written here in the coming months, by the summer. i want to make sure that america's voice is heard about who we are. we hope the egyptian people embrace tolerance. the co coptic christians are gog to be welcomed, aes they have been for centuries, that women will not be taken back into the darkness, that the constitution will reflect an islamic nation that understands the concept of tolerance and free enterprise. so the muslim brotherhood will be the leading organization politically. it is up to them to create an environment where the world
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feels welcome. it is up to them to create an economy, working with their coalition partners. so we'll be watching. and it is not what you say in politics, it's what you do. apply that to all of us here. i think we're failing our people back in the united states by talking way too much and doing too little. but the summer -- between nowed and the summer -- between now and the summer can really determine the outcome for decades in egypt. so i am urging the egyptian leadership to create an environment where people can come to visit egypt and do business. senator mccampaign is dead on. there's lot of money to be made interacting with the egyps people. they are a proud and smart people. and i want to get our businesses on the ground. i want to help the egyptian economy develop through the private sector, not just the public sector. i am the ranking member of the foreign operations committee working with senator leahy, the chairman. we will be continuing to provide economic assistance, but the end game is to create a functioning
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society that we can do business with, where we can create jobs in america. the main thing to do in the short term is to maintain the military relationship. the reason egypt did not become syria when you had people rising up against the rot owe crateic -- against the autocratic regime is because the army stood up against the people. the relationship we've had with the egyptian people for over 30 years paid dividends. the egyptian officers coming to american military academies and schools have been maintained as we go forward. honor the treaty with israel, make sure you write a constitution worthy of a bright future in egypt, and to all the political leaders in egypt, the world is watching, the arab world is watching, and if you have a narrow agenda, if you have an exclusive agenda, then you will be doing your country a disservice. so we will be a willing partner but not under any and all circumstances.
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maybe we've learned our less son that you just can't have partnerships without basic principles. we look forward to working with the egyps parliament and people, but you have the chance to change the course of history. don't lose the opportunity. mr. hoeven: i would echo the sentiments of the good senator from south carolina and i guess what i'd like to add -- i think that's exactly the right question to pose. the senator from connecticut says where do we go from here? i think that's right on. there's no question in my mind that the relationships that senator mccain and senator graham have built overseas made a difference for the united states and our foreign policy. and this is a clear example of it. when we sat down with field marshal tantawi, when we met with the other government leaders, even when we met with the muslim brotherhood, the fact
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that there was a relationship there, that they knew these individuals, there was some level of trust there that enabled us to engage in very important communication that produced a message that i think was integral to resolution of this situation which could have been a very bad one. so this -- these relationships matter when we talk about working with other countries, particularly in that part of the world when there are so many differences between our countries and how we operate, having some relationships where people can sit down, have these discussions and talk about how we work together and foster some mutual agreement and some mutual understanding is vitally important. at the meeting with the freedom and justice party parliamentary members, we invited this emto come visit us -- them to come visit us. and i think that would be very help fled and very important, not just so these new leaders and their parliament have a better sense of the united
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states and how we work and the kind of relationships that we can foster in both business and government, but so that the members of this senate, of this congress and our people here get a better sense of them as well. i think that is very important as we track forward with this new, young government that is now embarking on writing a constitution and governing in a vitally important country in the middle east. and i at this point would like to turn things back to the good senator from arizona, with my sincere gratitude. mr. mccain: i'd just like to thank my colleagues and dear friends. it was an exciting trip and a very interesting wurntion and i'd -- and a very interesting one, and i'd just like to say when you go to a country like libya and see the challenges they have with the mill militiad yet the dedication of their leadership toward a free and democratic country, and when you go -- in libya where both the prime minister and the deputy
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prime minister both attended school -- or were professors at the university of alabama, it really does show the incredible effect of an education in the united states of america. mr. graham: would the senator greerld just one seconyield for? not only did th were they profes from the university of alabama, we met with the person that was detained at gitmo. someone that was detained at guantanamo bay because they'd been involved with some very unsavory characters but who did not adopt the al qaeda agenda but will be a key player in the relationship between libya and the united states -- and you just want to mention, i think my colleagues will verify this, and, you know, you've been highs to senator mccain and myself. but having the three of you
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there, as senator blumenthal said, echoing public opinion in america -- we weren't negotiators, we were trying to tell people the way it was here at home. you couldn't have done it without the three of y'all basically saying, here's the way it is. let me say when senator mccain turned to the former guantanamo bay detainee and said, you know, i've been in prison, too, and about forgiveness and starting over and starting the relationship with vietnam, senator mccain and senator kerry did that and about understanding that the future is what we want it to be, i thought it was a very moving moment. i thought the interaction between the two individuals gave me a sense of, you know, there's hope out there. and i just want to acknowledge that that was an unusual moment when you meet someone who had been in guantanamo bay who is now one of the future leaders of
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libia and have a senator from the united states senate who served his country and was a prisoner of war. that was an incredible exchange. and i hope something good comes from it. bhiewm blume will the senator yield for a -- mr. blumenthal: will the senator yield for a moment? it was an extraordinary moment but even more so because senator mccain asked a number of them, one in particular, but the impacts on their families. and in that case, i believe, the impact on his wife. we tend to forget in this country -- we tend to take all too often for granted the immense protections that we enjoy in this curntion the valut we enjoy in this country, the value of our freedoms. that moment was profoundly moving for me, and his remarks in the realization of how far he has come as a leader in his country, how much he's endured,
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how much pain and travail for him and his family. and so it was a striking reminder about the importance of democracy and freedom and the protections that we often take for grants, ants th and the grek being done by the nongovernmental organizations in fostering freedom and democracy, and sometimes at peril or risk to themselves. but i think that the senator from south carolina has hit a very important point, and it ties to what senator mccain said about the suppliers' conference in egypt; that these principles and the growth of democracies in that part of the world are worn important, not jt because we like democracy and not just because of the strategic value, militarily, and the interest that our national security has, but also they are potential markets for our exports.
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the senator from south carolina used that word. people should understand that there is an important interest that we have in promoting jobs in those countries because it will mean jobs for us. and that is at a very basic level one of the values of this trip in trying to promote and expand these markets, as senators mccain did in speaking to the suppliers' conference in cairo. a ballroom literally, hundreds and hundreds of egyptian businessmen wanting to go business, buy our product, and expand their masht markets so te will have more jobs. i yield the floor. mr. mccain: i would just like to again thank my cleesmtion every once in a while you can think we did a little bit of good around the world. thanks to the phaser u four of e five of you i think we can be proud, and we're also very proud that we represent still in their
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view and our view the greatest hags thanation in the world. madam president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. mccain: i don't suggest the absence of a quorum. mr. hoeven: madam president, i ask ten minutes to speak in regard to the hoeven-blumenthal resolution. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. h.o.v. mr. president, i rise to speak on the -- mr. hoeven: mr. president, i rues to speak on the hoeven-blumenthal resolution and in addition to asking ten minutes request that my colead sponsor on the resolution, senator blumenthal, be allowed
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to engage with me in this discussion. we have introduced a resolution calling for free and fair elections in iran. those elections will be held tomorrow, march 2, and it is the first time with the republic of iran -- that the republic of iran has had nationwide parliamentary elections since june 12, 2009. i'd like to thank senator blumenthal for joining me in this resolution, also senator lindsey graham, senator joe lieberman, joe kelly ayotte and as i say, we're now 60 cosponsors on this resolution in, wooing to see that it is -- in working to so that it passes the senate here. it expresses a sense of the senate, clearly calling for open, free, and fair elections
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in the republic of iran. the problem is that the elections that they will be holding tomorrow are neither fair, neither free nor fair. and they are certainly not consistent with international standards. as i said, these will be the first nationwide parliamentary elections since june 12 of 2009. those e exelections were neither -- those elections were neither free nor fair and they provoked widespread protests throughout iran. those protests were brutally repressed, put down by the regime of ayatollah and ahmadinejad, trampling rights and taking political prisoners who remain in prison to this very day. since the last election, uprises, popular movements have
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taken place throughout the middle east, often referred to as the arab spring. countries like tunisia, egypt and libya, other places as well. and we want to support that right for self-determination in iran, for the people of iran as well. right now the only people that can run for office in iran are people that are approved to run by the regime itself. they have the counsel of guardians. and the council of guardians has to approve anyone that wants to run for office. so the reality is the government itself, the regime itself decides whether or not you can run for office. and about something over 5,000 individuals applied to run for government. of those 5,000, about 3,000 were approved by the iranian regime to run. more than 2,000 were denied. so they can't even run. well, how can you have a free or a fair or an open election, an
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election that meets independent standards, when the government itself decides who can run and who can't run? doesn't work. that's not the way elections should work. and america truly is a force for freedom and for democracy in the world and that's why we're working to call the attention of the world to these elections. it is particularly important at this time that we stand with the iranian people in calling for free and fair elections as we impose sanctions to try to prevent the government from developing nuclear weapon. we want to make very clear that while we need to impose strong, consistent sanctions that prevent the iranian -- the iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear bomb, at the same time we support the iranian people's right to self-determination.
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mr. president, at this point, i will yield the floor. i see that the majority leader is here and i will yield the floor and reclaim my time after my colleague -- after for my colleague, senator blumenthal. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: it's my understand being the business before the senate now is the surface transportation bill, is that right? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. reid: does that need to be reported or we're on it? the presiding officer: it is already pending. mr. reid: mr. president, i withdraw amendment number 1730. the presiding officer: the senator has that right. mr. reid: i have a first-degree -- the presiding officer: amendment is withdrawn. mr. reid: i have an amendment that's at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 1761. strike all after the first word and insert the following. mr. reid: ask further reading of the amendment be waived and i ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be.
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the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk, plnsz. mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment 1762 to amendment numbered 1761. at the end, add -- mr. reid: ask further reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i have a motion to recommit the bill with instructions, mr. president, that is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to recommit the bill, s. 1813, to the committee on environment and public works, with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment as follows -- mr. reid: i ask further reading of that be waived, mr. president, and i ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: without objection. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have an amendment at the desk. that is to the instructions that we've already set forth. the presiding officer: the clerk
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will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment amendment numbered 1764 to the instructions, amendment numbered 1763, of the motion to recommit. mr. reid: mr. president on, that, i ask -- mr. president, on that, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 1764 to amendment numbered 1765. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask further reading be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, let me take just a moment to review where we are on this important surface transportation bill. no one disputes the fact that this is a job creator. millions of jobs, plural. today, with the senate's vote to dispose of the blunt amendment, the senate completed an important step to try to advance this bill. the republican leader and others on the republican side had made clear that they wouldn't allow
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the senate to move forward on this piece of legislation until they got a vote on contraception. we waited, we waited and we waited. it's done. and now we can move on to attempting to process other amendments to this important piece of legislation. now, not everything ground to a halt while the senate was working toward processing the blunt amendment. the bill's able managers have been working to clear amendments offered by a number of senators. as i've said before, the managers of this bill, multiple in nature, are seasoned and know what's going on legislatively. but they've worked together, boxer and inhofe, especially, because there's more of what they have in this bill than what the other committees have, but we have -- we have the banking committee, we have the finance committee, we have the commerce committee, and they've all
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worked forward to coming up with a number of cleared amendments. they've -- all these senators have worked closely together. they worked so closely even before their work of the past week, and on february 9, 85 senators voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill. and, as i've indicated, over the last several weeks, they've continued to work together and clear numerous amendments that senators have filed. i offered a revised amendment a little -- a few minutes ago. this amendment includes the very same consensus work that comes from the product of these three committees regarding my earlier amendment. it includes matters reported unanimously by the banking committee, strong bipartisan vote in the finance committee, matters negotiated between the chairman and ranking member of the commerce committee. what's new in the amendment that i just offered is that it now -- it also includes 37 additional
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amendments cleared by the managers of this bill. and, where appropriate, cleared by other committees. specifically, the commerce committee and the banking committee. 37 amendments. so that's now part of my substitute that's now before the senate. i would be very satisfied if the senate adopted this amendment and provided it would serve as original text for purpose of further amendment. the two managers will continue to work to clear additional amendments. but, mr. president, we need a path forward on this bill and we don't have it now. we continue to work on an agreement to have votes on a number of nongermane amendments in which the republican caucus say they want. on our side, if they want amendments, we could have some nongermane amendments also. i'd rather we disposed of the nongermane amendments.
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and i am thinking seriously of coming to the floor today and asking consent that we move forward on this bill with no irrelevant or nongermane amendments. it's vital that we complete work on this surface transportation bill. i'm determined that the senate will do so and do so as quickly as possible. doing so will take cooperation from different senators. so we need to keep our eye on the road. we need to get this legislation passed. saving or creating up to 2.8 million jobs is the destination of this path that we're seeking. let's work together to get there as soon as possible, mr. president. i appreciate my friends, senator hoeven, senator blumenthal, allowing me to proceed with this matter of importance to the senate. mr. hoeven: mr. president, i ask to reclaim the balance of my time. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota.
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mr. hoeven: again i want to thank the good senator from connecticut for working with me on this important resolution, recognizing the right of the iranian people to self-determination. i also want to thank our colleagues. as i say, now more than 60 who have joined us on this resolution. and also look forward, as i say, to quick passage. with that, i would like to turn the floor over to my colleague, the good senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. and thank you to the senator from north dakota for his leadership on this very, very important issue. i want to thank him for his perseverance and his vision in seeing the importance, along with senator mccain, senator
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graham, senator sessions of this kind of effort which really had its genesis in the trip that we took to afghanistan, egypt, israel, tunisia and libya. what impressed us so much is how democracy is growing and starting there, and in that part of the world how the dictatorship and tyranny of iran are such a contrast with the hopeful burgeoning democracy as that are growing there. and that is the reason that so many of our colleagues -- now i believe it's 57, and i want to ask unanimous consent that senator klobuchar of minnesota be added as a cosponsor. -- that is the reason why so many of them have joined. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i am honored
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today to speak in support of the hoeven-blumenthal resolution calling for free and fair elections in iran and condemning the government of the islamic republic of iran for its ongoing violations of human rights. these violations are brutal, tangible, real in their impact on individual lives in that country. and our hearts go out to the people of iran, particularly the individuals there fighting for freedom and democracy. the world has watched the arab spring bring down dictators in tunis and tripoli, and the people of iran continue to be denied those basic human rights that we hold dear and should be universal. i also want to thank secretary
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clinton for her tireless work in this region. she arrived in tunis shortly after we left to consult with all nations interested in aiding the syrian people, and she showed again her dedication to this same cause of human rights through her leadership there. i saw in our meetings with the new generation of leaders that are emerging in the middle east how dramatically the statements we make here, the actions that we take impress them in their fight for basic human rights. how we're speaking out here for universal suffrage and freedom has an impact on what they do. and perhaps many in our own country need to be reminded about the importance of what we say and do here. the parliamentary elections that will occur on friday in iran will be neither free nor fair.
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they've already taken actions to assure that it will be, as one observer said, the fakest one yet. but the brutal repression in human rights going on there are too real for those who suffer at that government's and that regime's hands. as the resolution makes clear, iran has already disqualified 2,200 candidates from actually running for office simply based on their political views, and it maintains severe restrictions on the press, strangling a free press, preventing even the voice of america and radio-free europe from reaching the people -- radio free europe from reaching the people of iran. having created a sham election, a travesty and a tragedy, the iranian regime now will try to force iranians to vote at the polls in an effort to show
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popular support, force them to vote simply to show this sham support. the truth is, it has no such support. allowing international monitors to bear witness, as we demand in our resolution, would reveal these acts of repression for what they are and for the world to see. the last nationwide election held in iran on june 12, 2009, was widely condemned throughout the world. following the election, there was brutal repression documented all too dramatically by the videos and other evidence that in effect was smuggled out of iran, although in real time, and that large campaign of politically motivated violence, intimidation, repression, torture and degrading treatment, including rape, executions and
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extra judicial killings and indefinite detention all are well documented. on december 26, 2011, the united nations general assembly passed a resolution denouncing the serious human rights abuses occurring in iran. the hoeven-blumenthal resolution lets the people of iran know that we are with them, they are not alone, we side with them, we stand and speak out on their behalf because they are not forgotten in their effort for democracy. the middle east future will be determined first and foremost by the people of the middle east themselves, but american strength, vision, leadership are absolutely essential, and so in that regard, i am very proud and grateful for the 60 cosponsors
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of this resolution, now 61 with senator klobuchar, and i thank again the senator from north dakota and yield the floor. mr. hoeven: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: i, too, want to again express my appreciation to senator blumenthal and to all of our cosponsors and look forward to passage of this important resolution. with that, i yield the floor, mr. president. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. i thank the two senators here for their work on this very important resolution. i come to the floor today on another topic, and that is to thank and congratulate the house of representatives who earlier today handed a great victory to the people of wisconsin and minnesota by passing legislation that will finally allow
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construction to begin on these stronger, -- on a stronger, safer bridge in the st. croix river valley. after 30 years of debate and delay, we have finally gotten it done, and i'm proud to say we got it done with broad support in both chambers. the legislation that i introduced in the senate to allow this bridge to be built passed unanimously in january and our senate bill has passed the house today with the overwhelming backing of 339 members, making the final vote count 339-80. this was truly a team effort, and it is an inspiring example of what we can accomplish when we are willing to put politics aside and come together to do what's right for the people that we represent. i want to thank my colleagues in the house for their hard work and dedication in moving this legislation forward. representatives ron kind, sean duffy, michelle bachmann, chip
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kravack and tammy baldwin. i also want to thank secretary ray lahood and his staff at the department of transportation as well as governors mark dayton and scott walker for their leadership at the state level. in both minnesota and wisconsin, there is overwhelming consensus about the critical need for a new bridge in the st. croix river valley. there are sometimes disputes on what that bridge should look like, but there tends to be consensus that we simply can't have a lift bridge in the 1930's -- from the 1930's with 18,000 cars going over it. the current lift bridge, as i mentioned, was built in 1931. chunks of rusting steel and concrete fall off it and into the river below. traffic backs up behind it, especially in the summer months, sometimes for a mile with cars lined up by houses, cars lined up by businesses, and it is not a desirable situation for anyone in the town of stillwater. the minnesota department of transportation has listed the bridge as being structurally
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deficient and fracture critical, meaning that if one component of the bridge fails, the entire structure fails. simply put, the bridge cannot meet the needs of the region, neither in terms of public safety or in -- nor in supporting traffic caused by a growing population. as the bridge has aged, we have seen significant increases in congestion. this is an especially big problem in the summer months when the bridge lifts frequently to allow watercraft to pass, causing traffic to back up on both sides of the bridge, increasing gridlock and air pollution, hindering economic activity and threatening public safety, particularly when emergency vehicles are unable to pass through. now, here are the numbers. the current structure was designed to support 11,200 vehicles a day. it cannot handle the average 18,400 cars that cross it every day, let alone anticipated increases in usage. but with this new bridge, 48,000 vehicles will be able to cross
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safely and efficiently every day. this is clearly important from a public safety perspective, but it also means new channels for economic growth. without a new bridge, anticipated usage would reach 23,500 by 2030. with a new bridge, anticipated usage will reach 43,000 vehicles per day. those 20,000 additional vehicles will mean more opportunities for local industry and more customers for local businesses, made possible by an infrastructure capable of supporting new growth and development. when you look at the numbers, it is easy to see why my senate legislation was able to pass not only in the senate without any opposition, but it is easy to see why the house passed the bill by such a wide bipartisan margin today. we are less than an inch away from the finish line, mr. president, and now we need the president of the united states to sign the bill. i spoke with secretary lahood this morning.
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i don't anticipate it to be an issue. he was very positive about the bridge, but we need a prompt signature. the people of minnesota and wisconsin have already waited 30 years. they cannot afford to wait any longer. we cannot afford to delay. it's time to finally get this bridge done. i want to once again thank all of my colleagues who worked hard to advance this bill. michelle bachmann in the house led the effort on the minnesota side and i led the effort in the senate. i want to thank the other senators who were so good to support this bill, senator franken, senator kohl and senator johnson. i look forward to standing with all of my colleagues when the president signs this into law. i look forward to standing with you again on that proud day in the near future when we finally break ground on a stronger and safer bridge for the st. croix river valley. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.
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a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today i come to the floor to mark the fifth anniversary of deamonte driver's death. deamonte was a 12-year-old who lived in prince george's county, maryland, only a few short miles from here. he died five years ago at the children's national medical center in washington, d.c., from a brain infection brought on by untreated tooth abscess. the driver family, like many families across the country, lacked dental insurance. at one point, his family had medicaid coverage but they lost it because they had moved into a temporary shelter and their paperwork fell through the cracks. when advocates for the family tried to help, it took more than 20 calls just to find a dentist who would treat him. deamonte began to complain about headaches on january 11.
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then an evaluation at children's hospital led beyond basic dental care to emergency brain surgery. he later experienced seizures and a second operation was required. even though he received additional treatment and therapy and he appeared to be recovering, medical intervention came too late. by the end of his treatment, the total costs to our health care system exceeded a quarter of a million dollars. more than 3,000 times the $80 it would have cost for a tooth extraction. deamonte driver passed away on sunday, february 25, 2007. deamonte's death was a national tragedy. it was a tragedy because it could have been prevented if he had received timely and proper basic dental care. it was a tragedy because it happened right here in the united states, in a state in one of the most affluent states in
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the most affluent nation. it happened in a state that is home to the first and one of the best dental schools in the nation, the university of maryland. it happened in prince george's county whose border is less than six miles from where we're standing here in the united states capital. i have spoken here on the senate floor about deamonte driver several times since that tragedy. in the intervening years in both my home state of maryland and nationally, we have made progress. when deamonte's case was brought to light, i believe it served as a wake-up call to our nation. it brought home what former surgeon general c. everett koop said -- there is no health without oral health. medical researchers have discovered the nexus between tooth plaque and heart disease. chewing stimulates brain cell growth, and that gum disease can signal diabetes, liver ailment and hormone imbalances. they have identified the vital connection between oral health research and advance treatment like gene therapy which can help patients with chronic reasonable
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failure -- renhl failure. they know that basic dental care can save money down the road and costly medical interventions for other diseases. but for all their research finding, without insurance coverage and adequate access to providers, we know that millions of children and adults will have oral health care needs that remain unmet. that is why the progress we have made over the past five years is so important to america's health. so i have come to the floor today to talk about what we have achieved and how we can move forward as a nation to ensure better access to oral health care. the maryland delegation is proud that maryland has emerged as a national leader in this area, launching a $1.2 million oral health literacy campaign, raising medicaid reimbursement rates for dentists and providing some allied health professionals and hygienists the opportunity to practice outside of the clinics. today, the deamonte driver
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dental project van which was dedicated in front of the u.s. capitol in may of 2010 provides services in the underserved neighborhoods in prince george's county. thanks to the efforts launched by members of the robert t. freeman dental society. this society, an arm of the national dental association, is named for dr. robert tanner freeman who in 1869 became the first black graduate of the harvard school of dental medicine. congressman elijah cummings and i were joined that day by miss alicia driver and her sons, the project's co-founders, dr. hazel harper and belinda carver taylor, and the national dental association's president, dr. walter owens. in 2009, two years after deamonte's death, congress took up the reauthorization of the children's health insurance program. in a frustrating attempt to locate a dentist for her child, deamonte driver's mother and her
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advocates had to contact numerous offices before locating anyone who would treat him. for a variety of reasons, it's difficult for medicaid and chip enrollees to find dental care and working parents whose children qualify for those programs are likely to be employed at jobs where they can't spend two hours a day on the phone to find a provider. so part of the chip reauthorization act now requires h.h.s. to include on its insure kids now web site a list of participating dentists and benefit information for all 50 states and the district of columbia. also in 2009, congress passed the edward m. kennedy serve america act. that law created the healthy futures corps which provides grants to states and nonprofit organizations so they could fund national service in low-income communities. it will allow us to put into action tools that can help close the gap in health status, prevention and health promotion.
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for too long, we have acknowledged health disparities, studied them, written reports about them. with the help of the senior senator from maryland, my colleague, senator barbara mikulski, we added language to that law specifying oral health as an area of focus. now the healthy futures corps can help recruit young people to work in the dental profession where they can serve shortages -- serve in areas where we have shortages of providers both in urban and rural areas. it will fund the work of individuals who can help parents find available oral health services for themselves and their children. it will make a difference in the lives of the healthy futures corps members who will work in underserved communities and in the lives and health of those who get improved access to care. then, mr. president, in 2010 we passed the affordable care act which guarantees pediatric oral health care as part of each state's essential health care
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package. the law also establishes a prevention education program at the centers for disease control and prevention, targeted towards key populations including children and pregnant women and creates demonstration programs to encourage innovation and oral health delivery. it also significantly ebbs pannedded work force training programs for oral health professionals. moving forward, the states have a critical role to play in ensuring the affordable care act benefit is designed to incentivize prevention, recognize some children are at greater risk and deliver care based on the level of their risk. among the cost-effective ways to improve children's health care is investments in prevention. dental sealants, coatings applied to the chewing surface of molars have been proven to prevent 60% of tooth decay at one-third the cost of filling a
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cavity. so we must make sure that prevention is a key part of every state's benefit package. further, in 2010 the united states department of health and human services launched its oral health initiative, establishing a coordinated multiagency effort to improve access to care across the nation. yet for all the progress we have made, we know that more must be done. in 2009 the last year for which we have complete data that's available, more than 16 million american children went without dental care. that's not acceptable. our nation has made significant progress in improving children's dental care in the five years since the death of deamonte driver, but there is still much work to be done. case in point, last summer 24-year-old kyle willis of ohio died from an untreated tooth infection that spread to his brain. in fact, the health of millions of americans is jeopardized because they cannot get treatment for tooth decay. the access problem has become so
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severe that many people are forced to seek treatment for tooth pain in the nation's emergency rooms, increasing the overall costs of health care and receiving uncoordinated care at the least cost efficient setting. in fact, many people seek treatment in emergency rooms for tooth pain than they do for asthma. the pew children's dental campaign produces report cards that grade the states on eight policies that are evidence based solutions to the problem of tooth decay. maryland received an a grade in both reports for meeting and exceeding these benchmarks, which includes dental seal apartment programs, flooreddation -- fluoridation, and collection of data and children's dental health. this is even more striking, mr. president, because in the late 1990's maryland had one of the worst records for oral health care. but but in 2010 the pew center
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ranked maryland as the top state in the country for oral health. however the access issue remains. as mrs. driver's efforts efforts to find care for her son showed, low-income families have great difficulty obtaining care due to a shortage of dentists willing to treat medicaid patients. nationally, the national health services corps addresses the national shortage of primary care oral health providers and dental professionals shoarnl areas by offering scholarships and loan repayments to primary care der dentists and dental hygienists to practice in underserved community. i will continue to work to increase funding for grants to states and expand training opportunities for dentists. we do not have enough professionals who are trained and available to treat children and adults with dental problems. it's our responsibility to fix it. we must improve reimbursement to dental providers and in offices and clinics so that no one who
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needs dental treatment will be turned away. mr. president, i would like to included my remarks -- conclude my remarks with con grat tri wishes for ms. elisey driver. as painful as deamonte's passing was to all of us nothing compares to the loss of one's own child. mrs. driver has been awarded a dental tech degree. she is out there helping others with dental care. she will be going to school next month to receive training in radiology. in maryland and throughout the nation there are signs of hope for the future of oral health care. february is national children's dental health month, and i want to express my appreciation to the many nonprofit organizations, universities and providers who are also working across the nation to make sure that we will never forget deamonte driver and never forget our responsibility to improving our oral health care for america's children. with that, mr. president, i
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would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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mr. barrasso: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent to spheerk up to ten minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: i come to the floor today to talk about something that is clearly on the minds of the people in my home state of i would wind to people a -- of wyoming and to people all across the country. and it is the high cost of gasoline. filled up on sunday evening in wyoming and on monday morning on the way to the airport i noticed that the price of gasoline in wyoming was ten cents higher per gallon than it was sunday night when i filled the tank. i'm heading back this weekend to wyoming, -- actually later today -- and we'll see what the cost of a gallon of gasoline will be. and i know absolutely that the price of diesel fuel is much higher, almost by $1 gallon, to the price of regular unleaded gasoline. and i think it real lay is
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something that is happening all across the country because even in this morning's "new york times," thursday march 1, 2012, above the foacialtion the fold,e specter of $5 gas leefnl gasoli. the possibility is hardly far-teched. it goes on, with no clear end, rising demand from countries like china, gas prices are already at record highs for the winter months. it goes on, averaging $4.32 in california, $3.73 a gallon nationally. on witness day ring co to aaa's daily fuel gauge report. as summerrate professes, demand for gasoline rises typically pushing prices up. no clear detentions in syria and
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rising demand from countries like china. it is interesting because obviously china is the country who told canada, the prime minister from canada, recently we'll buy all that extra oil you have that apparently the president of the united states isn't interested in he's tuns to block the keystone x.l. pipeline. that's what the american public is facing today, rising gasoline prices and an administration that continues to block access to an important source of safe, secure energy as opposed to continuing to spend and send so much money overseas. so here we are high gasoline prices continuing to cause additional hardships for american families and american businesses. when families pay more at the pump, it impacts the quality of their life. for people and families dealing with bills, mortgage, with kids, it's clearly less money available to deal with those things as they continue to see
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the money going to fill the tank. this also hurts economic can growth. it hurts our ability to create jobs. when companies pay more for gasoline, they also have less hone to expand their businesses, less money to create new jobs. wyoming families and wyoming businesses know this all too well because in wyoming we drive longer distances than most americans do. the president also knows that this impacts the economy. and that's why he continues to give speeches on energy. it's clear that the president is defensive on this issue, and it's understandable because the average price of gasoline of regular unleaded gasoline the day he became president -- well, today it's 103% higher, it's over double what it was the day that president obama took office. just three years ago. the price of gasoline 103%
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higher than the day president obama took office. now, there are a lot of factors at placement but i do know -- and what this does show -- is that the president's policies are at best infectual, and at worse are contributing to the higher gas prices. people on both sides of the aisle are knowing this, they're hearing it at home and this week actually one senate democrat wrote to the obama administration, and he pointed this out. specifically, he pointed out that these are -- quote -- "the highest prices we have ever seen for this time of year." unfortunately, that senate democrat's solution is to request that saudi arabia produce more oil. i'll repeat that. his solution is to have the secretary of state ask saudi arabia to produce more oil. and of course the president is
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also considering other proposals as well, and like asking saudi arabia to produce more oil, the president's ideas would put our national security at risk. and there i'm referring to the president's threat to tap the strategic oil petroleum reserve. this would be the second time that president obama has tapped the strategic petroleum reserve. prior to the president's decision to do that last june, well it had only been tapped twice for emergencies since 1975. so between 1975 and 2011 the strategic petroleum reserve had only been tapped twice for emergencies. it was tapped in 1991 upon the outbraiskt persian gulf war, and then again more recently following hurricane katrina. in both of these instances, we're talking about actual supply disruption. however, when president obama tapped the reserve last year,
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there was no substantial prospect of a supply disruption. the decision was based on politics, as would be the decision this time. the -- that's why jay leno recently earlier this week during his nightly television show called the strategic petroleum reserve "president obama's strategic reelection reserve." a number of my colleagues -- and i think there are others -- think there are other ways to address high gasoline prices. we need that the strategic petroleum reserve is for emergencies, not political disasters. and it's interesting because just earlier today the house minority leader nancy pelosi endorsed tapping the strategic petroleum reserve. not because of an emergency, not
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because of a crisis and supply disruption, but she says to combat rising gas prices. there is almost -- there is only so much energy, so much oil in the strategic petroleum reserve. the amount that was taken back last year was never put back in to fill the tank. the amount that was taken out last year was sold. that money, if you use that known fill the tank back up, not enough, almost $1 billion more this year to fill the tank than what they got for selling the tank last year. so wre we have a tank at the strategic petroleum reserve that is not full, still waiting to be filled from what was taken from it last year, and now here we are a year later and the president as well as nancy pelosi is considering tapping the strategic petroleum reserve,
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drawing down again, making us that much more vulnerable in case of a true emergency. well, the president actually has some options that make a lot of sense to a lot of americans, and that option of course is to increase american energy production. the president can begin to follow through on his words from miami just a week or so ago. "i will do whatever i can to develop every source of american energy." the president can provide more access to federal lands and federal waters. this week we learned that the oil and gas production on federal public lands -- public lands -- and public waters is down. in 2011 there was a 14% decrease in oil production on public lands and waters from 2010. less energy produced from federal lands and waters. and an 11% decrease in gas
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production from 2010. so oil production is down, gas production is dowfnlt in miami the president said that he has -- quote -- "directed my administration to look at every single area where we can make an impact and help consumers in the months ahead, including" he said, "permitting." again, the president needs to follow through on his words. the president can begin by increasing the number of permits issued by -- for development in the gulf of mexico. i understand that the administration has issued only 21 permit permits this sonar th. in 2010 the administration had issued 32 permits at this time. the president can also increase access to other offshore areas. he can provide access to offshore areas in the atlantic and pacific oceans shall not just the gulf of mexico. in november the president proposed an offshore leasing plan that excluded the atlantic ocean and the pacific ocean. what kind of offshore leasing
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plan is that? he excluded areas off the coast of virginia even though both senators and the governor of virginia supported such energy exploration. the president said no. the president can also increase being a he is to onshore areas. the president can open up areas in alaska and he can support proposals to open up anwr. both senators from alaska -- one republican be, one democrat -- and the governor of alaska strongly support opening up anwr for exploration. the president should, too. the president should also take steps to facilitate onshore exploration in the wevment specifically, he should scrap new regulations requiring what's called master leasing and development plans. these regulations were put into place over two years ago by the secretary of interior. it's unclear why the secretary issued such regulations. they add more red tape, they
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cause more bureaucratic delay, and they slow down american energy production. now, of course there are other regulations that drive up the cost of american energy. specifically, the e.p.a.'s for forthcoming tier-three regulations which will affect america's refineries. a recent study shows that this rule could increase the cost of manufacturing gasoline, which will add to what americans are paying at the pump and will add to the pain at the pouch. -- at the pump. we could also raise the operating cost for refineries to $13 billion a year. it could force as many as seven u.s. refineries to shut down and it could lead to a 7% to 14% reduction in gasoline supplies for american refineries. these -- these policies by this administration are completely unacceptable. the president should at the very least delay the issuance of this current rule. in addition to providing more
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access to federal lands and federal waters and eliminating burdensome regulations, the president should follow through on his words -- his words -- and address what he called delivery bottlenecks. well, specifically, he should address the bottlenecks at the keystone x.l. pipeline -- that the keystone x.l. pipeline would relieve. i'm referring to 100,000 barrels of oil a day that the pipeline would be able to ship from montana and north dakota. that's right, we're talking about homegrown american energy. of course the president ought to approve the keystone x.l. pipeline coming in from canada, but canada, it's -- it's north american oil from canada but specific and significant amounts of oil, 100,000 barrels a day from montana and north dakota. right now, there isn't sufficient pipeline capacity out of north dakota and montana. they're shipping the oil on trucks and trains and that is much more expensive than
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shipping it by pipeline. approving the keystone x.l. pipeline is an easy decision and the president should make this decision immediately. now, it was interesting today to see in "politico," one of the local papers here on capitol hill, an article with the headline, "bill clinton" -- quote -- "embrace keystone x.l." bill clinton. the first sentence, "bill clinton says it is time to build the keystone x.l. pipeline." perhaps president obama ought to listen to president clinton. you know, finally the president says, there are no silver bullets. that doesn't mean that the president should sit on the sidelines, doesn't mean his only options are asking saudi arabia to boost production or opening up the strategic petroleum
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reserve. the president needs to promote american energy production. he can eliminate costly regulations, and he can approve the keystone x.l. pipeline. those are the steps that the president needs to take and he needs to do that in the very near future because i believe, madam president, that we're going to continue to see headlines like the ones in today's "new york times" -- "tensions raise specter of gas at $5 a gallon." with that, madam president, i appreciate the time, and i yield the floor. notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: madam president, may i ask that the pending quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: madam president, marie colvin died last week, wednesday, in syria. as i speak, her body is still in holmes because the assad regime refuses to honor the centuries-old tradition of human decency that even in war, you're allowed to recover your dead. an american official in a position to know about the circumstances of her death has used with me the word "murder." and this is not an official who uses such words loosely. news reports have suggested that
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marie was targeted using her cell phone signals. why was she killed? marie once said, "covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction, and death and trying to bear witness." she was killed because she was doing what she was passionate about and what her gift was and that is to bear witness. marie was in syria to bear witness to the massacre of the innocent in the city of holmes by the assad? the city of homs by the assad regime. her last report to theb bbc was of a baby killed by shrapnel dying in its mother's arms.
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that baby had no choice and that mother had no voice but marie was there. she was there making sure the dead did not die unheralded and the killers did not escape unwatched. she was there so they wouldn't get away with it. she was there to bear witness. the dictionary tells us that to bear witness means: to see, to be present at or know at firsthand. it means to testify. it means to show by your existence that something is true. mr. whitehousemr. whitehouse: t. over and over she put herself in harm's way as she followed her
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calling to bear witness to the atrocities of our world. in sri lanka, in the brutal conflict, she was hit by the explosion of a rocket-propelled grenade, and in addition to other injuries, lost her sight in one eye. she was shot at that day after calling out, "i'm a journalist." in the balkans and chechnya and libya and around the world she went to bear witness to suffering and corruption. i think she spent more time on the ground in libya than any other western correspondent. marie was proud of this work. we can and do make a difference, she said, in exposing the
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horrors of war and especially the atrocities that befall civilians. and sometimes she managed to do more than just expose atrocities. in east timor, she went to bear witness to the massacres. when the u.n. threatened to pull out of a base, leaving local employees and those sheltering there to the mercies of the massacre, marie announced i'm staying with them. that created a new predicament for the u.n. leadership, and faced with marie's courage, they decided to stay. massacre averted.
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marie was special. her friends all knew it. her colleagues knew it. the people knew it who were trapped in the wars and conflicts she covered and who saw her there, sharing their risks and their suffering and who knew that someone would bear witness. the bible talks of bearing witness. it tells that john the baptist came as a witness to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. well, there's a parallel. marie went as a witness. she went to bear witness in the places cloaked in dark that we all might perceive through her.
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with her death, it's our turn to bear witness. marie colvin had a calling, and it's our turn to bear witness to the courage and the passion of that calling. it is our time to bear witness to the grace and humor and brains and skill with which marie colvin pursued that calling. and it is worth noting that marie did this all with style. i don't think she would want the record to reflect -- to fail to reflect that marie had style. there has been an outpouring since the news of marie's death spread around the world. from heads of state, famous
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writers, press celebrities, from old friends and colleagues and from those whose praise she valued the most, the small band of brothers and sisters who practiced the dangerous craft of conflict journalism, there has been a torrent of grief and praise. i have culled from this torrent a collection of remembrances, reflections, tributes and obituaries about marie, and i now ask unanimous consent that this collection be added as an appendix at the end of these remarks and put into the congressional record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: on behalf of a group of old friends who are stricken by her loss, i offer this in affection, in
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appreciation and in memorium. marie's mother rosemary colvin said of marie -- "her legacy is be passionate and be involved in what you believe in and do it as thoroughly and honestly and fearlessly as you can." indeed. with those words, madam president, i yield the floor. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: while i did not know marie colvin personally as my friend and colleague from rhode island did, but his words, his passion, his emotion make us
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all know her, allow us all to know her a little bit better. even just reading the newspaper accounts, she was a remarkable person, but hearing from sheldon both here and speaking to him privately, it's obvious that those who knew marie were privileged and were touched by her lifelong before her untimely death. she leaves an amazing mark, and i just want to say to my colleague sheldon there are times that measure the mettle of a person, and one of them is when they go through grief and tragedy, and my respect for him, high as it was before, is higher still knowing what he's going through and how he has worked to handle this difficult situation.
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i rise as simply new york senator who represents the area, long island, where marie katherine colvin came from. we are working, sheldon above all, desperately to bring her home to her mother rosemary so her family can provide her with a final resting place, providing her with the dignity of a life that she deserves. marie had a remarkable career. it's no doubt that not only as sheldon said the small band of journalists but many larger than that and-in she knew will mourn her death for years to come. because we have not just lost a daring journalist but we also have lost a humanitarian, one who took her abilities as an investigator and a storyteller to speak for the voiceless, it's
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clear from sheldon's remarks and from reading the biographical accounts in hero bit -- her obituary, that this was a woman of passion and courage who managed to weave the two into an amazing life where she served so many. marie grew up on long island, attended oyster bay high school, and of course as you know from what sheldon has said went on to study at yale. she studied anthropology. she moved to new york city, worked as a u.p.i. police reporter on the midnight to 6:00 a.m. shift. that's the time when most crimes occur. that's the times in the dark, particularly in those days in new york city, to be a journalist was difficult, took courage, but even then colvin didn't shy away from tough jobs. she worked her way up, moving to paris, later to work in the u.k.
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sunday times and became their middle east correspondent in 1986. she has been doing this kind of dangerous and important work that inevitably and inexorably saved lives for so many years, 26 years, 27 years. and colvin focused on years when the middle east was not calm. it hasn't been the warmest climate for women and certainly was not an area for the weak of heart. but she didn't just stay for a year or two. she stayed at the front. and after each conflict ended, she went to the next one because i think she knew -- and again, sheldon would know this much better than me -- but just reading about her, she knew that her talents were unique, that there wasn't anybody else who might fill those gaps and be
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able to do the kind of reporting that might bring change, so she followed the conflicts. in chechnya and the balkans, east timor, sierra leone, zimbabwe. she was not just in the middle east, she was there. for those of you who cannot instantly remember some of her coverage, i'm sure you remember her eyepatch. this is from her work in sri lanka where she defied a government ban on journalists' access, traveled over 30 miles through the jungles to report on the terrible war crimes of the sri lankan civil war. i remember reading them at the time and being moved to try and do something. colvin suffered. she never threw in the towel. if anything, it pushed her to work even harder. her quests to help the women and children from every single war-torn country she entered
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endeared her to those women, those communities, those members of our global community who knew and know that her type of bravery was so rare indeed. this brutal regime has broken families, torn apart homes and forever being changed the way of life for the syrian people. there is darkness that's descended over syria by design by this awful, awful regime. and there was colvin shining a candle, letting the world know, and now we are all deprived of an incredible journalist. with her, we lose an international role model, we lose the stories she would tell, the light she would bring to the darkest lives, most recently in syria but throughout the world, and we lose the voice she would
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have found wherever the next merciless regime tried to suppress it. yes, marie colvin would have been there. while there is currently no official, madam president, u.s. diplomatic presence in syria due to the awful human rights tragedy being carried out by the assad regime, we are working as best we can to explore every avenue to help sheldon and her family bring closure and to help her mother in particular who made clear that she won't rest until her daughter returns home. on behalf of all my colleagues, i offer my condolences to rose marie colvin in east norwich, marie's mother, and to the many, many people who will miss the work of one of the greatest correspondents of this generation. i yield the floor.
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the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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quorum call:
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mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 minutes -- speak for up to 20 minutes and to yield at the conclusion of my first ten minutes to senator portman. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. i join with my fellow senator from ohio, senator sportman, to offer condolences and prayers of the people of chardon, ohio. on monday morning a troubled boy opened fire in the crowded cafeteria at chardon high school. three students were killed, two students were wounded. the entire community remained shaken. his father -- we can't imagine the loss of a child and the loss
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of innocent children growing up knowing tragedy too early in life. we couldn't be more proud of the resiliency and love and the compassion the people of chardon have shown in the wake of such fear and sorrow. during the shooting teachers and school administrators risked their lives to protect and save the lives of their students. assistant football coach frank hall chased the gunman out of the cafeteria. the principal called 911. countless other teachers and students provided safety and comfort until help could arrive. chardon law enforcement and first responders from the 911 dispatchers to the police to the emergency medical people arrived to the scene to apprehend the suspect and restore calm aorpbd. chardon -- and order. the chardon police chief and his teach, especially the three officers who rushed to the school, did an outstanding job. hospital staff at metro health in hillcrest cared for the victims and counseled families
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of loved ones. out of this week's turmoil and tragedy we remain proud of the community coming together through vigils and prayer service through support and the red ribbons they wore. the day after the shooting more than 1,000 people crammed the st. mary's parish across from chardon high school. an overflow crowd of another 1,000 was outside listening to the principal express how proud he was of the students. yesterday president obama spoke to the principal to say how proud he was, as senator portman and i are of the school and the community. at the prayer service, the superintendent joe bergan explained why the school would close for a few days this week for students and family to get the help they need, for parents to hug their children and children hug their parents. yesterday i spoke with superintendent bergan to express connie and my prayers. the investigation into how and
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why this happened continues, but resilience and passion and love remain. tomorrow classes resume in chardon and at lake academy where students and staff are also dealing with this tragedy. tomorrow students will march together from the town square to the school in a show of solidarity and union. they will remember joy rivers and nick walczak still recovering from their injuries. they will honor fellow students no longer with them. demetrius parmertor was a 16-year-old high school junior. he was a dedicated student who loved snow boarding and video games and computers. he enjoyed wing night with his friends and was excited about starting his first job at a bowling alley and picking up his first paycheck. -- danny's parents were finishing their night shifts. you can imagine that -- were
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finishing that i shall night shifts when they learned of the shooting. the family in a statement said danny was a bright boy who had a bright future ahead of him. the familiar is torn by his loss. he is survived by his parents, siblings, grandparents, a great tkpwapbd mother and a number of uncles and aunts. russell king was 17 years old. as a junior he was enrolled in chardon high school and auburn career center was studying energy and solar and wind power. demetrius hewlin was 16 years old. affectionately known as dee, he was interested in healthy living, staying active, playing computer games and reading books. his family's statement was we're saddened by the loss of our son and others in our chardon community. deme trust was a happy man who loved life and his family and friends will very much miss him. we're proud he'll be able to
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help others through organ donation. imagine that, the parents and the family thinking of that, thinking of others so immediately. he is survived by his parents, grandparents, brother and sister and numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. on behalf of of all ohioans and the u.s. senate and joining with senator portman, we offer continued prayers and condolences to the chardon community. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quashing be tkeus -- the quorum call be dispensed with. i rise with my colleague, senator brown, who spoke this have terrible tragedy that occurred at chardon high school in skwraug county. i was -- in geauga county. i was calling into a radio
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program when the reports startd coming in. it was unbelievable there could be a shooting anywhere, but certainly in a high school in this community that i visited, that senator brown and i both know. unfortunately the rumors ended up being true, and the tragedy is that, as senator brown has just so well described, lives were cut short. these were lives full of promise. those young people senator brown just talked about, we will never know as adults, but we will always remember them. and now they are memorialized here in the "congressional record." my wife and i have been keeping the families in our prayers. for that matter, the entire chardon high school community. we continue to pray for the healing of those who are injured in flesh and in spirit through this terrible act. it's hard to comprehend.
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as the parent of a high school student about the same age as these young people, i just can't imagine what those parents have gone through over the last four days. chardon is a beautiful community. it's almost new england-style town on the western reserve, beautiful town square. it's a place of serenity. that serenity of course now has been shattered. it touches so many people around ohio. one of my staff has two cousins who attend the school, and along with two other cousins who have already graduated from the school. fortunately, their family members are all okay. but it shows that despite being a big state, all of us in ohio are tied together. we've been in touch with the chardon officials, offered to help in any way appropriate, as i know senator brown has, as has the governor. senator brown mentioned that the president has made a call. we all want to be there and help in any way that we can. we can draw some hope from the
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heroism of the day. unbelievable, the assistant football coach and teacher frank hall who chased the shooter with his gun and showing a lot of bravery. a math teacher, joe ricci, who rescued one of the injured students. we draw hope from the leadership of the principal, andy fetchik, sergeant school superintendent, chardon county sheriff, first responders responded as they always do. and we appreciate and commend them for their reactions and their ability to deal with a very difficult situation. the community received a lot of support and will need it as they come together to grieve and heal. reports i've heard about the vigils and gatherings over the past week have been moving. i'm told as students returned to school for the first time today,
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they gathered in that town square i talked about and walked together in unison. we need to make sure we continue to pull together, continue to support the community, the school. parents, to heal is a journey, and that journey has just begun. i've been really moved by the expressions of support from other local high school students too. other students in the cleveland area have donned hilltoper red and black, which is the mascot, hilltoper, to show their support for other students. we are here today in the chamber with some of our pages who are about the same age as these students. that shows support and love and is appreciated. it shows the character of our state. we pull together in ohio. we pull together in times of tragedy, through tears and through pain. we will get through this. again, i appreciate the opportunity to speak with my colleague about the tragedy and to be sure that here in the
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"congressional record," we are memorializing this event and ensuring that those students whose lives were cut short will indeed always be remembered. god bless chardon and the chardon community. mr. president, i yield back the balance of my time. mr. president, i yield the floor and notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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quorum call:
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the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. chambliss: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with and i be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. chambliss: mr. president, i ride todd to speak about our nation's energy policy. georgians as well as folks all across america are shocked every
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time they pull up to the gas pump at the jaw-dropping total cast they fill up their tanks. with rising food prices and a weak economic recovery, skyrocketing gas prices cannot come at a worse time. this situation illustrates why it is imperative for congress to focus on creating a policy to he can spanned and diversify our energy sources so that the american people are no longer held hostage by prices at the pump. the necessity of congressional action has become all too clear as gas prices continue to rise and unrest in the middle east threatens the global economy. we cannot afford keep sending hundreds of billions of dollars per year to foreign countries, many of whom are not america's friends. to meet our energy needs. doing so poses a threat to our national security and further harms our nation's struggling economy. unfortunately, the president and his administration have said some decisions that contribute to rising gas prices that
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prevent us from being able to take advantage of vast energy resources located right here in north america. first, the president's recent decision to reject the keystone x.l. pipeline was extremely disappointing. canada is a trusted ally and friend of the united states, and by tapping into its vast oil reserves, we could have substantially lessened our need to import oil from other potentially hostile nations. not only would this project instantly have created many jobs, it would also have helped secure or nation's energy future. in addition, the long line of burdensome regulations coming from the administration threatens both economic growth and energy costs in the united states. instead of navigating through this unprecedented regulatory environment, more and more industries would dhoos take their business overseas. this could potentially include refineries and other businesses
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essential to domestic energy production. in fact, we are already seeing the movement of the deep oil rigs in the gulf of mexico move to china, a classic example of what could happen, even more so in the future. rather than hindering domestic production of oil and gas, we must encourage the development of the abundant energy resources we have right here in the united states, and we must do so in an environmentally responsible manner. i will continue to support domestic oil and gas exploration and production. it is an essential component of a comprehensive energy policy that will enable america to become more energy-independent. as i hear more reports of new oil and natural gas deposits found within our borders and off america's shores, i am stunned that we are not doing more to encourage the development of these resources. i can't think of a better means of improving our economy, both
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by reducing america's energy imports and encouraging job growth. unfortunately, the administration continues to hold up and unnecessarily delay the approval of drilling leases and permits. now is not the time to tie up valuable and much-needed american energy production in bureaucratic red tape. a responsible energy policy that includes increased domestic energy production, improved energy efficiency through technology, improved conservation, and a diversified energy supply through the use of renewable fuel sources will keep gas prices low, lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and strengthen our economy. i am hopeful that we will take action on some form of comprehensive energy legislation during this congress. for the sake of our national security and our economy, we need to tackle this issue now. instead of procrastinating and letting others handle it.
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mr. president, i could have made this same speech four years ago when we saw gas prices approach $4 a gallon. and here we are four years later with the same hurdles standing in front of us with respect to the lack of a long-term energy policy in this country. so i hope that in a bipartisan way we can develop an energy policy, even if it's short-term and even if it's narrowly focused, that will provide relief to americans with respect to the rising gas prices which are going to impact every single product that's made in america today. mr. president, i also rise today to speak in support of the strengthening and enhancing cybersecurity by using research, information, and technology act of 2012, otherwise known as the secure i.t. act. this bill provides a strong foundation for congress to enact
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what i hope can be a truly bipartisan approach for improving the ability of all americans to protect themselves against the ever-increasing cybersecurity threat. this bill was dropped today with the leadership of senators mccain, senator hutchison, senator grassley, and senator murkowski and myself, and i am very proud to be a part of the group that has worked on this for a number months. there are very few who dispute the threat posed by cyber attacks. the financial harm inflicted by these attacks is now costing americans billions of dollars each year. denial of service attacks have been shutting down the internet, presence of business, and organizations for years. beyond the economic costs, malicious cyber activity is damaging our national security. every day cyber criminals and foreign adversaries steal large
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amounts of sensitive information from the networks of government and private-sector entities. these trends need to be reversed before these malicious activities are measured in terms of lives lost rather than in terms of dollars, as we're seeing today. for years the senate intelligence committee has been following the growing cybersecurity threats. early on, one of the most common questions asked in the cybersecurity context washings and i quote, "who's in charge?" close quote. while this seems like the natural place to start, it is important to understand why this is really not the right question. first, there is no consensus on who should be in charge. some have argued it should be the department of defense. some say it should be the department of homeland security. others think it might be best to start from scratch. all of these options have very obvious drawbacks. secondly and more important, we have been looking through the
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wrong end of the telescope in trying to answer this question. rather than trying to finders a find a governmentalent that i should be in charge of cybersecurity, it turns out that the answer is much simpler. each and every one of success in charge of our own cybersecurity. i know some people will scoff at this answer because it is too simple police fsimplistic or tht us to act in our own best interests. i think they're wrong on both accounts. and if we, all of us who use and rely on computer networks, whether individuals, groups, organizations, corporations, or government agencies, are in charge of our own cybersecurity, the real question then is, what should be done to reduce the threat of malicious cyber activity? i believe the answer to that question is contained in the bill called "the security i.t.
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act," that we have filed today. the secure i.t. act consists of four key areas of common ground identified in various efforts. first, information-sharing, second, federal information security management act reform; third, enhanced criminal penalties; and four, cybersecurity research and development. we have seen firsthand the positive impact better information-sharing can have on our national security. since the 9/11 terrorist attack, improved information-sharing throughout the government and especially within the intelligence community has greatly enhanced our national security. i believe that a similar improvement to information-sharing in the cyber context will pay huge long-term dividends in terms of our safety and national security. once there is an understanding that information-sharing will work best if it empowers the
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individual rather than a discreet government entity, the move from a regulatory approach to one that encourages voluntary sharing of cyber threat information by removing unintended barriers quickly follows. the information-sharing title of the secure i.t. act is based on this voluntary approach and on the principle that government account cannot and should not solve every problem. the cosponsors of this bill relied upon a number of principles and practical considerations to develop the information-sharing provisions in this bill. first, private-sector innovation is the engine that drives our economy. private-sector entities have a vested interest in protecting their assetted, businesses, and investments. what they often lack is noftion help them better -- is in fact to help them better protect themselves. our information-sharing
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provision authorizes private-sector entities and non-federal government agencies to voluntarily disclose cyber threat information to government and private-sector entities. the only time cyber threat information must be shared with the government is when it is directly related to a contract between a communications service provider and the government. which ordinarily is a term included in that contract anyway. the only new requirement is that such information will ultimately need to be shared with a cyber security center. informing-sharing is and must be a two-way street but there are no quid pro quos here because the government often sees different threat pictures than the private sector, our bill also encourages the government to immediately share more classified, declassified, and unclassified cyber threat
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information. as one example, consider how improved information-sharing might safeguard transportation industry systems. suppose a commercial airline company detects a virus in their reservation system. the virus is stealing information, including cus customers' credit card numbers and sending it to a hackers' service overseas. the airline, after investigating internally, determines where the stolen data is being sent. under our bill, the airline may shairt internet address that is receiving the stolen credit card information with any other companies, such as other airlines, as well as with the government. with this warning from the first airline, other transportation companies can can check their systems to see if any of their data ais being sent to the hack -- data is being sent to the hackers' server. moreover, using the hackers'
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internet address, law enforcement is able to begin an investigation to other victims of the same hacker. the cyber security centers will also be able to notify private entities of the nature of this particular threat. in this example, it is unlikely that the airline would ever need to share or release any customers' personally identifiable information. second, my cosponsors and i intentionally omitted a critical infrastructure title because we believe a top-down regulatory approach will stifle the voluntary sharing of cyber information by the private sector. consistent with this principle, our information sharing title does not provide any additional authority to any government entity to impose new regulations on the private sector. in fact, the bill prohibits government agencies from using any shared cyber threat information to regulate the
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lawful activities of an entity. in short, the bill leaves the existing regulatory regime unchanged. the real difficulty with trying to regulate in this area is that malicious cyber activities occur in real-time and are constantly changing. the bureaucracy-driven regulatory process is simply not nimble enough to keep up with the leading cyber security practices. another disadvantage to a regulatory approach is that it gives hackers insight into existing cyber security performance requirements and as a result, potential vulnerabilities. as industry representatives have told us, this could actually make us less safe, not more safe. thirdly, our bill does not create any new bureaucracy to facilitate the sharing of cyber threat information.
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rather, it relies upon the existing cyber security centers and gives private entities the flexibility to share their cyber threat information with any cyber center. to ensure thorough dissemination within the government, each cyber security center is required to pass on to other centers any cyber threat information that it receives from an entity. ultimately, we expect that our current decentralized cyber security center structure will be energized by an increase in shared cyber threat information. we also think that these centers, with their ongoing relationships with many private entities, provide a more robust and secure environment for information sharing than creating new cyber security exchanges or a new national center. another advantage of our no new regulatory authorities and no
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new bureaucracy approach is that it is also a no new spending approach. our bill does not authorize any new spending which is particularly important given our current economic situation. fourth, our bill contains clear and unconditional protection from civil and criminal liability for entities that rely upon the authorities in the information-sharing title. specifically, a private entity cannot be sued or prosecuted for using lawful countermeasures and cyber security systems to defend its network and identify threa threats. in addition, neither a private entity nor a federal government entity can be sued or prosecuted for using, disclosing or receiving cyber threat information or for the subsequent action or inaction by
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an entity to which they gave cyber threat information. these clear liability protections are necessary to encourage robust information sharing. if they are watered down or made conditional on sharing with the government, private-sector lawyers will likely discourage their clients from sharing cyber threat information and, at a minimum, sharing will be delayed while lawyers have to be consulted. the final practical consideration that govern the drafting of our -- governed the drafting of our information sharing title was to provide sensible safeguards for the protection of personal privacy. we accomplished this in a number of ways. this information sharing title is focused on the sharing of only cyber threat information. it is a key definition in the bill. if you study it carefully, you will see that it is limited primarily to information related to malicious cyber activities.
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there is no authorization or liability protection for using, sharing or receiving information that falls outside of this definition. nor can private entities use their cyber security systems to get information that falls outside this definition. moreover, it helps to remember that people engaged in malicious cyber activities are essentially trespassers who have no standing to assert privacy interests. besides this relatively narrow definition of cyber threat information, there is an additional privacy mechanism that limits the collection and disclosure of cyber threat information for the purpose of preventing, investigating or mitigating threats to information security. in other words, if what you're doing is not for these purposes, then you cannot do it under this bill. another way that this bill protects privacy is by requiring
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the government to handle all cyber threat information in a reasonable manner that considers the need to protect privacy and allows the use of anon weather mizing user information. since information sharing is under our bill, they can take steps to protect their own privacy interests and the privacy of their customers. moreover, our bill allows private-sector entities to require the recipients of their cyber threat information to seek their consent before further disseminating the information. finally, congress will be able to conduct its oversight since our bill requires an implementation report to congress within one year of enactment, with follow-on reports every two years thereafter. these reports will give congress detailed insight into a number of areas, including the degree to which privacy may be impacted
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by the provisions in this title. now that i've identified the key components and advantages of our approach to information sharing, let me explain why we were compelled to draft this separate bill. all of the cosponsors of secure i.t. act agree with senators lieberman and collins and the white house that congress needs to address the cyber security threat. when we attempted to participate in the cyber working groups, it became clear pretty early on that it was going to be difficult to come up with a consensus product. my experience with working on bipartisan bills like the intelligence authorization act is that we generally start from scratch and only put in those provisions that are agreed to by both sides. if a provision receives an objection, it is not included but it is understood that it may be an amendment during markup or on the floor. this approach always gives us a
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great starting point that enjoys the overwhelming support of both sides. since the working group process had essentially reached an impasse on the issue of critical infrastructure regulation and how best to promote information sharing, the cosponsors of secure i.t. act joined together to develop a bill that would cover common ground and could serve as a better starting point for negotiations. we have listened to all sides in putting this bill together: government, industry, private groups, cyber security experts, and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both the senate and the house. there should be nothing surprising in our bill. our ranking member group has been telegraphing our priorities for months now. if we're serious about passing cyber security legislation in this congress -- and i hope we are -- we should be working
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together to pass a bill with the support of a large group of senators far in excess of the 60 we need, as we have done in the past on many major pieces of legislation. i believe the common ground approach of the secure i.t. act puts us on a clear path to reaching this goal. this is important national security legislation. fortunately, leaders reid and mcconnell have an outstanding record of garnering overwhelming bipartisan support for national security legislation and i am confident that they will seek to do so again. i look forward to continuing these discussions and getting a strong bipartisan bill signed into law. and, mr. president, i yield the floor and i would ask unanimous consent that i be followed by senator brown of ohio, who assured me he would be waiting in the chamber when i concluded.
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but since i see he's not, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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quorum call:
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the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: mr. president, i would ask that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about my amendment to the transportation reauthorization bill that i have introduced with senator blunt. i am grateful this amendment has been included in the base bill of leader reid's substitute
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amendment. mr. president, i will take just a couple of minutes to explain this amendment. it's really a simple, commonsense amendment, and i'm glad it has been accepted. it's also of particular significance to my home state of minnesota. on august 1 of this year, we will mark the fifth anniversary of a tragedy in my home state, the collapse of the interstate 35-w bridge in minneapolis. the collapse killed 13 people and injured 145. that tragedy should have been a wake-up call in america and in this body. bridges should not collapse in the united states of america. unfortunately, the state of many of our bridges today is still extremely concerning. according to the most recent data compiled by the federal highway administration, one in nine highway bridges in this country are classified as structurally deficient.
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let me say it another way. one in nine bridges in our country needs significant rehabilitation or replacement and requires yearly inspection. in minnesota alone, more than 1,100 bridges were listed as being structurally deficient. the bill that we're debating today consolidates many varied surface transportation programs into five main pots of money -- the highway bridge program would be consolidated into the new national highway performance program, and of this new program, 60% would have to be spent on restoring national highway system roads and bridges into a state of good repair. the other 40% is more flexible and can be spent on a variety of projects, including federal aid highways that aren't on the national highway system or the n.h.s. however, if those non-n.h.s.
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roads have a bridge that needs repair, those funds wouldn't have been an allowable use of this flexible pot of money. my amendment which has now been included in the base bill fixes that. it allows the 40% both of money to be used for repair bridges on non-n.h.s. federal aid highways. it's just common sense if roads are eligible for this funding then bridges along those roads should be eligible as well. this is a no-brainer to me, especially given the poor state of our bridges today in our country. the i-35-w bridge collapse was a tragedy and it was a monumental failure of policy. i'm determined not to let that happen again, and i thank senator blunt for joining me in this effort. i would also like to thank transportation for america and smart growth america for their support on this important fix.
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thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor and i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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