>> excuse me. yes. >> in particular, page 01467 which is the fourth undertaking, maintenance of the editorial -- you undertook to bind yourself to a separate identity of the times "the sunday times" and maintain the quality of the editor in the appointment of the best starts with political policy of the newspapers and in all respects to maintain the title as editorially independent newspapers of quality. did you accept mr. murdoch -- >> to continue board thompson's arrangement what he made but he put the two to get there.

i did undertake to expand the number of independent directors from 4 to 6. >> yes you did. did the fact that the undertaking itself is an indication of the power that is capable of possessing the surgeon feesurgencies ? >> yes. is the responsibility of the proprietor to step in. for the thick of the journalists and everybody. particularly a responsibility to many thousands of shareholders. >> the next stage is on the 26

of january. the secretary of state pointing this out. i will just read it out. it is page 01589. cannot emphasize too strongly affairs reference to the commission, the "news international" proposal automatically lapses because it's conditions cannot be met. was that your understanding? >> yes. >> if there was a reference, if they allow this to proceed you would have to renegotiate? was that the position? >> i thought the record would show, told him i did not mind any reference. went on a long time. i reserve the right in the paper blamed more money and i reserve

the right to renegotiate the price. >> that is a fair summary. [talking over each other] >> the cabinet minutes which we have submitted show that. >> we take those and we will cover this. the minutes of the meeting with the secretary of state is 66 of this bundle. this is an important document. it can't be displayed at. maybe you will write it down. you were accompanied by your australian chief counsel. >> at the time the chairman of the company.

>> i am sure this is a point you wish to bring about. mr. murdoch said the report was referred to the emcee, tilling misleading. he claimed when he said that he was merely responding to the thompson deadline. it would be difficult to negotiate with the union, managed to do this, he was prepared to cooperate with the negotiation. at the same time he would point out that a reference would create problems for himself and would delay his own negotiations and the uncertainty would cause loss of advertising revenue which would make their losses greater. fair interpretation of that is you were not making any obstacle in the way of reference to the m m c but pointing out a commercial advantage. would you agree?

>> the testimony from earlier today. now back to live coverage of rupert murdoch answering questions before the british board investigating media ethics and practices and his company, news corp. international. >> to give you my recollection of him, quince, maybe even twice. family picnics my weekends at my daughter's house in the grounds of land in council where he came with his family. we were overrun by children. i was extremely impressed that the kindness should to the children and particularly these -- i came away talking about what a good family. >> did you feel he was light

weight? >> not then, certainly. hasn't had the opportunity to make that judgment. >> when you were a leader of the opposition we know from one of the documents you put in that you saw him on a number of occasions. it is exhibit k r m 29. that will be turned up for you. might be no. 28 in that bundle. page 01907. >> thank you. we can see, mr. murdoch, that there are a number of meetings

with him. in 2006 there were two, lunch and breakfast. [talking over each other] >> politics and policy. in 2007 it is less clear whether that breakfast played. in 2008 -- >> it is and clear -- don't have a memory of that. >> just the general flavor. the exact dates of service. in 2008, rebecca bob brooks quite often nose and -- you attended -- she attended the wedding of rebecca bob brooks to charlie brooks. >> together with mr. brown and mr. blair, cameron. >> if you turn the page to

01908. a breakfast meeting with mr. cameron when the day "the sun" endorsed him. do you see that? >> was that the endorsement? >> that is not possible. today we declared -- the time of the labor party conference. at the end of it. and american. >> nothing working on the basis of the last two days, the right day--september of 2009. you are saying that is incorrect? >> the day the labor party

conference. >> september 30, 2009. [talking over each other] >> i wasn't here. >> you are sure about that? >> oh yes. >> when you referred to policy did you discuss with mr. cameron is the use such as broadcasting regulation? >> no. you keep in furring that endorsements were motivated by business motive for. if that had been the case we

would endorse -- every election was more prone. could have been like the telegraph or text them every day. but i didn't. >> it says here we probably discussed afghanistan. >> part of your thinking involves an assessment of who is going to win the next election. would not be supporting the same party this year. >> if that had been the case. it was not the case. >> do you remember discussing with mr. cameron the issue of bbc license fees? >> not at all. >> did you discuss the role of

outcomes? >> no. >> did you discuss the context of his becoming director of communication for the conservative party and the coalition government? >> no. i was just as surprised as anybody else. >> were you not interested to know what mr. cameron's position was on various matters i just put to you? >> no. no. [talking over each other] >> and broadcast -- >> the bbc license fee. i had been through that. it didn't matter what they said. they all hated the bbc and gave whatever they wanted. [laughter] >> did you just assume --

>> the idea of slicing and giving it to commotion and preparedness. a never heard of that before and it sounds crazy. >> mr. -- >> i don't believe in that policy. >> i will ask you to separate out in your mind the question whether you might be discussing some topical issue for commercial advantage. you told mr. jay that you never did. on a separate question, whether in fact these were topics were the -- that were worthy of discussion on which you had a review. dimension you talked about afghanistan. it would be reasonable. lots of people will.

your view may be informed by your worldwide contacts through the businesses you operate. that is your view. so your view on for example the regulation of television would itself be of value and may be of interest to those who are formulating policy not because it would necessarily affect news corp. but because this is a business to which you have devoted your life and therefore not surprising you have strong views. >> i understand. i just want to say i have long since become -- there is a time to talk to the bbc.

that was all there was to it. i did not speak to them about that. >> would have been asking for something. i didn't do that. >> if i may. if i had been interested in commercial interests i would have supported the tory party because they were pro-business. [talking over each other] >> against my better interests but i don't think so. as justice leveson pointed out it was in my interest to reflect

the views or talk to our readers. afghanistan, i felt very strongly about. that this was beyond going in there. i talked very strongly particularly when i came here, the great young british soldiers who had been wounded or killed. i talked very strongly -- they were not properly protected. i was dissatisfied with cameron's answer about a europeans. our argument was it should protect the americans. we kept relationship always with

mr. cameron -- mr. brown. you will note in the letters between he and i, best wishes. >> in terms than of how your bid for the remaining shares with bskyb were treated, would work with other reasonable default position that the government would be more favorable to the bid than a later company. >> it happens every day, the shareholders decide to take in shares. >> i understand -- >> didn't think there was any --

>> i was in america. what was worrying me was the independent directors were driving up the price, many billions of dollars. they didn't even settle for that. that is a lot of money to bring into this country. and a lot of money departed. >> you said you didn't believe it was a legitimate interest of government but surely your experience over the gears would tell you that government for political reasons would be interested in bids of this sort? >> it didn't change anything.

we controlled the -- we won't gained control. we are just going to continue. we did hope to make a stronger and greater course in europe. and where we were having plenty of difficulties but that is another story. >> the whole experience of what happened on the twenty-seventh of january 1981, a heated debate in parliament over your acquisition of the times and "the sunday times" and what happened today in 1987 and what happened with the "the sunday times" -- bskyb merger. there was always a political freestyle around your mergers

and acquisitions and -- [talking over each other] >> i welcome that question. i want to put it to bed once and for all. that is a complete myth. >> what is the myth? >> that i used the influence, suppose the political power to get favorable treatment. >> the reason we have what are called a political free start is there is a section about -- you use your influence politically. you only repudiate the effect will basis of that, what we see in 1981 or 1990 and in 2010. don't you agree that is a recurring theme in the guardian? >> not everywhere.

after a while if these lies are repeated again and again -- particularly if you are successful, people who are resentful and grab on to them. >> we don't have in this list will looking at, mr. cameron flying out to center ring the --santori --santorini. your wife remembers but not you. you have no recollection at all of that? >> no. it is coming back to me. he was being flown by my son-in-law's plane on his way to

holiday inn turkey and stopped and she says i met him on her both. but it doesn't matte . but it doesn't matter. >> mr. cameron taking quite significant steps to meet you. why do you say that? >> politicians go out of their way to impress people in the press. i don't remember discussing

things with him at all. there may have been some issues discussed. wasn't a long meeting. i don't really remember the meeting. that is part of the democratic process. all politicians like to have their views known by the editors. hoping they will come to pass. hoping they will succeed in in impressing people. that is the game. >> doesn't the game go further than that? not just dividing politician

with a megaphone but also powerful institutions like "the sun" endorsing the politicians and therefore they might run the votes of british people might be affected. do you see that? >> of course. they would like us to carry their views in a favorable way. i think that is totally normal. both parties for all parties. and very lucky in this country that we have ten vibrant national newspapers to keep the

national debate going. mr. cameron -- i don't know. he certainly didn't -- >> perhaps he -- >> i don't have anything on the tory party. or the labour party. i don't get invited to dinner. >> the importance of the face-to-face meeting, importance which you appreciate is when you invited yourself to checkers on january 4th, 1991. he was seeking access to you. >> let me be quite honest. i enjoyed meetings.

our leaders. some impressed me more than others. i meet them around the world. one or two particularly impressed me. >> you've mentioned -- >> one looks at personalities, knowledge, policies. their principles. they're principles. >> can i bring you back to these -- the democratic process. did you feel there is any validity to the perception that there is an implied trade-off? people think -- i have been

thinking over 30 years that the support you give to politicians in "the sun" in particular. believe met with quid pro quo at the same time. wait for the end. if that is right than the democratic process -- i am not really interested -- we understand your evidence that there is no empirical basis to that. do you see a need for that? >> the perception is very interesting. i think it is a myth. everything i do every day proves it to be such. how i treat mayor bloomberg in

new york. simply crazy. we support him every time they run for reelection. >> shortly after the coalition government was set up, to number 10 of the eighteenth of may, 2010. on that occasion and possibly other occasions you go in the back door. is that right? >> yes. there are reasons for that. >> they don't want me to be photographed going out the front door. >> to the apartment. >> why do you think -- >> the car park is usually parked behind downing street.

>> do you deal with it in a short encounter overt team. the statement, mr murdoch -- and -- >> can't tell you everything from memory. >> page 03015. >> i got 110. most of the way through that paragraph. go to the beginning, i do recall that.

do you see that? shortly after his election mr. cameron invited me to tea. he backed me to the support of his papers. i congratulated him and told him i was sure we would watch carefully and report whether he kept his campaign policies. is that the extent of its? >> yes. >> i have to leadd mr. thompson was present. >> at this stage the bid was about to be announced. was announced in june of 2010. was there no link between your support for mr. cameron and the bskyb bid?

>> the chairman of news corp. rupert murdoch will continue on line at c-span.org. you can find his full testimony there. and before the inquiry tomorrow, friday at 5:00 eastern c-span2. the senate is coming in for more work on a bill that authorizes the violence against women act and at 2:00 eastern continue voting on amendments to the post office bill. final passage is expected today. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. today's opening prayer will be offered by his emnance, archbishop, oshagan choloyan from the armenian apostolic church of america in new york city.

the guest chaplain: in the name of the father, and of the son, and the holy spirit. amen. almighty god, eternal guide of humankind, we seek the grace of your wisdom in our lives and in the lives of our leaders. we thank you in the name of the armenian people for your divine mercy in providing them a safe refuge in this blessed country, the united states of america where they were delivered from the depths of despair of genocide and welcomed with new life. we beseech you to spare all of your children from tyranny and persecution. reveal your infinite spirit to the members of this senate, that

they may be inspired toward a greatness of purpose and ennobled in their quest for good governance. we offer to you our sacrifices upon the altar of freedom in an act of redemption for all of humankind with hope of harmony, compassion and tolerance. we stand before you today and ask this in your name and for your glory. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., april 25, 2012. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable kirsten gillibrand, a senator from the state of new york, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the senate is considering a motion to proceed to s. 1925, violence against women reauthorization act. republicans will control the first half-hour. the majority the second half-hour this morning. the republicans will also control the time from 11:30 to 12:30 today. the majority will control the time from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

at 2:00 p.m. the senate will resume consideration of the postal reform bill. there will be several roll call votes, six to eight votes, at that time in order to complete the bill. madam president, i am very, very gratified about the work that's been done for the last many months which will culminate today in the passing of this postal bill. it's been extremely difficult. lots of people worked on this, and it's been a bipartisan effort. and it's going to be something that is going to send to the house a message that we can do big things. it's an important piece of legislation, one of the biggest we have dealt with, the most complicated we have dealt with in a long, long time. as i said, i'm gratified we've been able to do this, and i congratulate and applaud senator lieberman, senator collins and others on our side, especially

senator tom carper who worked hard with the ranking member. there are many other stalwarts. we saw that yesterday. the first vote we took was to bring the bill down. on a bipartisan basis senators stood in the well of the senate, near their desks in the chamber and indicated how important this legislation was. it was, i think, a very important day for the american people. we're on the legislation i just announced dealing with violence against women. each year five million americans are victims of violence by their spouse or partner. every single day three women are killed at the hands of their abusers. and nine or ten every day are beaten really very, very bad,

and they're hospitalized, and they have permanent injuries from these abusers. so reauthorizing this law will ensure the police have tools to more effectively stop this and prosecute -- should be prosecuted. should be persecuted. strike that from the record. prosecute these people. as i said yesterday, madam president, i held hearings many years ago on this subject, and the one issue that was pronounced so clearly is that in many, many instances, the only thing that helps these abusers is to send them to jail. it works better than counseling. it works better than threats. and people should realize that we need law enforcement to have better ways of approaching these calls they get all the time. i also mentioned yesterday in las vegas, one of our prize

police officers, a sergeant, had been in the police officers for many many kwraoerbgs was -- for many, many years, was called out and goes with another police officer, and gets killed as he walks through the door. this is an important piece of legislation and we should pass it. madam president, the senate has a long list of things to do, lots of things to do. one of the things we have to do is stop the raising of interest rates from students who borrow money to go to school. we were fortunate to reduce this rate from 6.8% to 3.4%. we cut it in half. we did this in 2007. we had just obtained the majority here in the senate, and we worked on this very, very hard. it went to president bush.

he signed the law, and rightfully so. and everyone should understand this was a bill that was signed by president bush. so we need to go back to what president bush signed. we cannot have these rates go up. if we don't act by july 1, more than seven million students will be forced to pay an average of $1,000 more each year for these student loans. college is already unaffordable for too many people. so i'm hopeful, mr. president -- madam president, we can get this done. i'm going to stop my comments today because i was, of course, impressed by the remarks of the guest chaplain. and many years ago i went to the armenian church in armenia, and it was a wonderful experience. we came -- and i say to my friend from rhode island, who i'm going to yield to just in a second -- we went to armenia after that very brutal winter.

the turks had cut off the oil to armenia. the armenians cut down a lot of trees. they survived. most said they couldn't surenvironment pras a brutal -- couldn't survive. it was a brutal winter. the peace corps volunteers there, not a single volunteer left that winter even though they suffered with the armenian people. i have fond memories from my visit to armenia. i understand the resiliency of the people of armenia and remember going and visiting that church. certainly fond memories. i now yield to my friend, the senator from rhode island, senator reed. mr. reed: i thank the -- the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: madam president, let me thank the leader for yielding. let me say how honored it is to be here today to welcome his

excellence archbishop choloyan. he serves for the arrest -- armenian apostolic church of america. he plays a significant role as the shepherd for many from florida to texas. my state of rhode island is blessed to have the archbishop as a strong spiritual and community leader. we continue to benefit from his wisdom, his compassion and his generous spirit. it is an honor to have him here today as we not only listen to his moving and thoughtful words, but also as we commemorate the 97th anniversary of the armenian genocide. 9 # years ago -- 97 years ago on april 24, 1915, the young turk leaders of the ottoman empire summoned and executed over 200

armenian intellectuals. by 1923, nearly 1.5 million armenians were killed and over half a million survivors were compiled. these at -- ex-saoeuld. these atrocities affected lives in asia minor and throughout the world. due to their unbreakable spirit, steadfast resolve and deep commitment to their faith and families, they went on to enrich their countries of emigration, including the united states, with their customs, their culture and their innate decency. in fact, not only were the ottomans unable to destroy the armenian empire, they strengthened it. and through their participation, armenians worldwide made this world a much better place; indeed my home state a much, much better place.

that is why today we not only commemorate this great tragedy, but we celebrate the traditions, contributions and the extraordinary hard work and decency of the armenian americans and armenians throughout the world. this year i once again join my colleagues in the senate in encouraging the united states for officially recognizing the armenian genocide. denial of this history is not account with -- consistent with our country's recognition of human rights. we must continue to educate our young people against this type of hatred and oppression so that we can seek to prevent such crimes against humanity in the future. it is an honor to be here today to listen to the wise words of the archbishop, to hear his prayer, his reflection and to go forward knowing that he is a powerful force in our country for tolerance and decency. i thank him for being here today. and with that, madam president, i would yield the floor.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 1925, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 312, s. 1925, a bill to reauthorize the violence against women act of 1994. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 2:00 p.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the second 30 minutes. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. heller: i rise in support of the reauthorization of the violence against women act. i am proud to be the crucial 60th cosponsor of this legislation. i commend chairman leahy for producing a bill that enjoys broad bipartisan support and i look forward to swift passage of vawa reauthorization. violence in all forms is

unacceptable, but in this particular -- but it is particularly horrifying when it takes place in a home which should be a sanctuary for all who leave there. a recent c.d.c. report found nearly half of all the women living in my home state of nevada at the time of the survey had experienced domestic violence at some point in their lifetime. this statistic is sickening and unacceptable. women and children often feel powerless to escape abusive or dangerous situations which often, too often, end in tragedy. my home state knows this sad reality all too well. nevada is ranked first in the nation for women murdered by men in domestic violence. sadly, our state has appeared in the top-three states in this horrific category in the last seven years. thankfully, organizations throughout the state of nevada worked tirelessly to help those skwrep died -- jeopardized by

domestic violence. while these groups have faced significant challenges due to funding cuts in recent years, they're doing their best about what they have to provide and to provide assistance to families who need it most. according to last year's nevada census of domestic violence services, nearly 500 nevadans received crisis assistance through nevada's domestic violence programs hon a single day. 272 found refuge in emergency shelters or temporary housing, 204 received nonresidential assistance. staff and volunteers fee field e o-- anaverage of six emergency s per hour. thousands of nevadans could not access the services they needed last year. nevada's struggling economy has

limited state resources to help those -- limited state resources to help those who are affected by domestic violence. reauthorization of vawa will provide authority for organizations who work hard every day to prevent and address domestic violence. i trust this bill will ensure and enable domestic violence programs to plan for the future and serve even more americans in need. importantly, this bill will also further preventionests hopefully will riewlt in reducing domestic violence. i'm also pleased that this legislation reauthorizes programs vital to the national council of family and juvenile court judges. the national council has made strong impact in courts throughout the nation by teaching judges innovative strategies that equip them to appropriately assist families and young people who face significant hardships. i could not be more proud of the

positive changes the national council has affected in courtrooms and communities in nevada and nationwide and i'm glad this bill will further their efforts. as a fiscal conservative, i'm also glad this bill was written with full awareness of the fiscal crisis our nation is facing. this legislation repeals duplicative provisions and programs, creating a more efficient system. i encourage my deletion use this bill as a model when considering additional reauthorizations this year. we must not forget the need to implement commonsense budgetary processes across the board in order to put our nation on path to long-term fiscal responsibility. while not perfect, i am pleased the senate is proceeding with this bill and trustful further the goal of reducing violence in all its forms. this bipartisan effort is an example of how members of congress should be working together to solve the problems

facing our nation and protect those who have no voice. i look forward to the passage of vawa reauthorization measure and believe it will truly make a difference in the lives of countless women in nevada and throughout the united states. thank you, mr. president. i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: madam president, as certainly every kansan and all americans know, our gas prices are on the rise and the u.s. economy continues to struggle. i believe one of the most important things congress can do now is to facilitate affordable energy in this country. in kansas we have the third-highest number of highway miles of any state in the country. so higher fuel prices are particularly difficult for kansans who drive long distances

each day for work and for school. when business owners pay more for fuel, they have less to invest in their businesses and fewer resources to use to hire new employees. in our state, higher fuel prices increase operate costs for farmers and ranchers. one kansas farmer feeds is 55 people. the global food supply is threatened when food suppliers have to pay high costs to produce and transport their product. the gas prices also affect every american as they shop at the grocery store. the increased cost gets passed on to the consumer. we all are paying more. for the united states to remain competitive in this global economy, congress must develop a comprehensive national energy policy. no single form of energy can

provide all the answers. high fuel prices and an uncertain energy supply will continue until we take serious steps towards increasing the development of our own natural resources. our country has some of the most plentiful, affordable, and reliable energy sources available. our own congressional research service has reported that the united states has greater energy resources than china, saudi arabia, and canada combined. unfortunately, access to those resources continues to be restricted. technological advances have made the exploration, extraction, and transportation of bill oil and gas safer and more efficient. yet the obama administration has blocked efforts to expand energy production. in the president's state of the union drearvetion the president claimed that oil and gas production halls increased under his leadership. while private lands are being further developed and energy production is being increased on those private lands, energy production on federal lands has actually addressed.

-- actually decreased. oil production on federal property fell by 14% and natural gas production fell by 11% just last year. the failure to explore and develop our vast natural resources hits an unfortunate milestone last week. ten years ago the united states senate failed to open up a fractional portion of the arctic national wildlife reserve for responsible resource development. those opposed to developing that small portion that have vast area claimed that the resources available in anwr would not reach the market for ten years. well, here we are ten years later, no closer than we were in 2002 to gaining our energy independence. american businesses involved in the oil and gas industry can bring these resources to market and send a strong signal that the u.s. is serious about energy security. yet rear than allowing these companies to deploy their

expertise and increase production, there are those who say oil and gas companies deserve even more taxes -- a tax increase. raising taxes on the very businesses tasked with locate, extracting and distributing the fuel that powers our economy would do nothing, nothing, to lower the cost and reduce our dependence on foreign oil t would do exactly the opposite. when the congressional research service analyzed president obama's proposal to raise taxes on the oil and gas companies, they concluded that this would have the effect of "decreasing exploration while increasing prices and increasing the nation's foreign oil dependence." the nonpartisan congressional research service says that these taxes will hurt consumers. to increase domestic production i've sponsored the 3-d act which would require the administration to reverse their cancellation of dozens of oil and gas leases, open areas previously

resphricted to responsible oil and gas development such as the arctic national wildlife reserve and streamline the process that ties up projects in costly litigation. the administration is also delaying projects that will improve our energy's infrastructure. the president's denial of the trans-canada keystone x.l. pipeline delayed bringing thousands of jobs. this is exactly the tippet of investment that the president should be encouraging. construction projects create jobs and boost local economies. for example, back home in kansas, clay county -- it is a small, lowly populated county -- their utility sales could add more than a million dollars to the local economy every year. president obama's own jobs

council cited the pipeline construction as a way to boost the economy stating this, "policies that facilitate safe, thoughtful, and timely development of pipelines, transmission and distribution projects are necessary to facilitate the delivery of america's fuel and electricity and maintain the reliability of our nation's energy sum." a trans-canada's project has been stalled as the company works to seek a new route through the state of nebraska to our north. but instead of putting the entire project on hold, we'd be so much better off if we would allow construction to begin in areas not subject to this rerouting so that jobs could be created and our nation could have greater access to more reliable energy. is $2041 would do just that. renewable energy must also play a role in supplying our energy needs as new technologies allow for the increased commercialization of renewable fuels. kansas is a leader in wind

production and second only to texas in wind resource potential. innovation in biofuel production has also increased our ability to develop additional energy from renewable sources rabel in my home state. nuclear energy is a nighs component that will help us supply our country's future energy needs and allow our country to be less reliant on energy from other nations. i will continue to support growth in the nuclear energy industry. when americans drive more efficient vehicles, they not only consume less energy but they save money. at a time when gas prices continue to climb, we need to be looking pour more innovative ways to help consumers save money on energy bills. congress must develop a comprehensive national energy policy, a policy based on the free market principles that say that we can find the resources necessary to meet our country's needs.

we must develop our domestic sources of oil in natural gas and coal and promote conservation. not only would the development of our nation's resources reduce or dependence on foreign energy, it would also provide our economy with a reliable, affordable fuel supply. if future generations of americans are to experience the quality of life that we enjoy today, the time to address our energy needs is now. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i know we have not yet concluded the postal reform bill, but i have come to the floor to speak on an amendment i intend to offer when we move to the reauthorization of the violence

against women act. the amendment that i intend to offer is one that enjoys bipartisan support, and i hope that, as more senators learn about the content of this amendment and how it will strengthen the violence against women act, that they will join me and senator mark kirk of illinois, senator bennet of colorado in supporting it, as well as senator vitter from louisiana. i believe that it will strengthen the violence against women act that we will vote on presumably later today, probably tomorrow. i'm also glad to have the support for this amendment from the rape and incest network, rain; protect, and the texas association against sexual assault, as well as bear county district attorney -- in san antonio, texas -- judge susan reid ha who has worked with us n

this amendment and we benefited from her counsel and that of her staff, as well as san antonio police chief william mcmanus. this would improve law enforcement tools to crack down on violent criminals who target women and children for sexual assault. just to give a little context, in the course of an investigation, law enforcement officials will collect d.n.a. evidence in something called a rape kit, which is then bodily fluids that can be tested because of their signature, their d.n.a. signature, against a bank of d.n.a. evidence for a match p in fact, this is a very powerful fool for law enforcement because it will literally identify someone from this d.n.a. match in way that

nothing else can, and it also, for those of us who care, as we all do, about making sure that the innocent are not held in suspicion or convicted for crimes they didn't commit, d d.n.a. evidence can be so powerful as to literally exclude in some instances suspects of criminal conduct. the nationwide rape kid bac kitg is a national scandal, one that many people don't know much about, and it has serious consequences for sexual assault victims. the truth is, we don't really know about the scope of the problem, but one estimate is there's as many as 400,000 untested rape kits currently sitting in labs and in police station shelves across the nation. each one of them holding within themselves the potential to help

solve a serious crime. and in the process take a rapist off the streets and provide a victim with the justice that they zev. they deserve. take, for example, the case of carol bart. carol is from dallas, texas, and in 1984 ms. bart was kidnapped and raped at gunpoint inside her dallas apartment. although she submitted herself for rape kit testing following the crime, her kit was not tested until 2008, 24 years later. when it was tested 24 years after the rape kit specimens were collected, it yielded a match for a serial sex offender who had attempted to rape another woman only four months later after he raped ms. bart. this is one of the most important reasons why this evidence is important, because the fact of the matter is people who commit sexual assaults are

not onetime offenders. they do it many times, and often they do it until they are caught. but because the rape kit in ms. bart's case was not tested for 24 years after the crime, the statute of limitations had run, meaning that her attacker could not be brought to justice for that particular crime. statutes of limitations serve a worthwhile purpose under ordinary circumstances, they're designed to make sure that charges are brought on a timely basis while witnesses memories' are fresh and they can identify the perpetrator and the like. but in this instance, what it revealed as an injustice -- what it concealed was an injustice because in fact this late testing, 24 years after the fact, which means that she could not, her attacker could not be brought to justice for that particular crime. take also the case of helena

lazaro raped outside of los angeles in 1996 when she was a teenager. her kit remained untested for more than 13 years after her assault. when it was tested in 2009 it yielded a match to a repeat offender who raped several women at knife point in indiana and ohio. there are countless, i'm sorry to say, countless examples of similar tragedies across the country, only a handful of which are actually reported in the front pages of our major newspapers. and some of these victims, of course, have just phaoefrl suffered in -- merely suffered in silence in towns and communities across our country. one thing is clear, that while d.n.a. evidence is powerful evidence, that we have not yet adapted our administration of testing nor the capacity to inventory these kits in a way to make sure that they're tested on

a timely basis. we have not kept up with that. but that's what this amendment hopes to do. according to a 2011 report by the national institute of justice, current federal programs to reduce backlogs in crime laboratories are not designed to address untested evidence stored in law enforcement agencies. as a matter of fact, this is one of the problems that requires an inventory, these untested rape kits. often the national institute of justice and law enforcement personnel don't even categorize a rape kit as untested until it actually is in the hands of the laboratory. and so many of them sit in evidence lockers never making their way to the labs and are not identified as backlog. so there are two distinct types of rape kit backlogs. the well-known backlog of untested rape kits that have already been submitted for testing. and the hidden backlog of kits in law enforcement storage that

have not been submitted for testing. as you can see, sometimes over a span of 13, in one case 24 years in the next. this amendment would help us learn more about this hidden backlog and ultimately help state and local law enforcement officials to end it. one of my experiences during the four years i was attorney general of texas was that many local jurisdictions simply don't have the expertise or the experience or the knowledge to deal with new technology, whether it's internet crimes or whether it's this new powerful d.n.a. tool. it's not so new now, but in urban areas it's not as big of a problem. in new york city, for example, i'm sure they're quite sophisticated when dealing with this sort of evidence, but less so in smaller towns and communities across the country. the justice for victims amendment would reserve 7% of existing debbie smith act grant funding for the purpose of

helping state and local governments to conduct audits of their rape kit backlogs. in my hometown of san antonio, the police department recently conducted such an audit of their evidence storage facilities using similar grant funding from the state of texas. they identified more than 5,000 -- and just in san antonio alone -- 5,000 untested sexual assault kits, of which 2,000 they determined should be submitted promptly for testing. my amendment would use existing appropriations to encourage miles-per-hour audits like -- to encourage more audits like this. it would add accountability by requiring grantees of these funds to upload critical information about the size, scope, and status of their backlog into a new sexual assault evidence forensic registry. this valuable information would also help the national institute of justice better target the

approximately $100 million of existing appropriations already available for this type of testing. and in the spirit of open government, the amendment would also require the department of justice to publish aggregate nonpersonally identifying information about the rape kit backlog on an appropriate internet web site. to ensure that these audit grants do not take resources away from actual testing, my amendment would increase the amount of debbie smith act appropriations required to be spent directly on laboratory testing from the 40% currently on the underlying bill, the leahy bill, which will be the base bill, to 75%. so what it will do is it will actually take more of the funding that congress intended be used to process rape kits and do actual testing. it would take more of it and return it to that core function. a comprehensive approach to crime prevention and victims' rights also requires updated tools for federal law

enforcement officials to target fugitives and repeat offenders. my amendment addresses this need by including bipartisan language authored by senator jeff sessions that would authorize the united states marshal service to issue administrative subpoenas for the purpose of investigating unregistered sex offenders. it would actually be limited to that narrow purpose. this provision would allow the marshal service to swiftly obtain time-sensitive tracking information such as rent records and credit card statements without having to go through the grand jury process, which may or may not be necessary, depending on the circumstances. such authority is urgently needed given the long and complicated paper trail that fugitive sex offenders investigations often entail. my amendment will guarantee we hand down tough punishments appropriately to some of the worst crimes against women and children. for example, it includes enhanced sentencing provisions

for aggravated domestic violence resulting in death or life-threatening bodily injury to the victim. aggravated sexual abuse and child sex trafficking. preventing these horrible crimes i think is at the heart of the purpose of the violence against women act. and we should take the opportunity to improve the underlying bill by adopting this amendment and send a message to would-be perpetrators and child sex traffickers. if you commit some of the worst crimes imaginable in the united states, you should have the certain knowledge that you will be tracked down and that you will receive tough and appropriate punishment. finally, thanks to the great work of senator mark kirk of illinois, my amendment would further shed light on one of the tkpraeutest scourges -- greatest scourges of our time, and that is child prostitution and the trafficking that goes along with it. the so call adult entertainment section of the popular online

classified web site, backpage.com, is nothing more than a front for pimps and child sex traffickers. a lot has been written in "the new york times" on this topic. on this web site, young children and coerced women are openly advertised for sale in the sex trade. in fact, this web site has been affirmatively linked to dozens of cases of child sex trafficking. let me give you a few recent examples. last month ronnie leon tramb le was sentenced to 15 years of prison for internet sex trafficking. he forced more than five young women and minors into prostitution over a period of at least five years throughout the state of washington. he repeatedly subjected his victims to brutal physical emotional abuse during this time while using backpage.com to facilitate their prostitution. in february of this last -- this

year, layton martin curtis was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and production of child pornography. curtis pimped a 15-year-old girl throughout florida, georgia, and north carolina. he prostituted the girl to approximately 20 to 35 customers per week for more than a year to use backpage.com to facilitate these crimes. according to human trafficking experts, a casual review of the backpage.com adult entertainment web site -- i put that in quotations -- reveals literally hundreds of children being sold for sex every day. this is absolutely sickening and should be stopped with all the tools available to us. we should no longer stand idle while thousands of children and trafficked women are raped, abused and sold like chattels in modern-day slavery on the internet.

my amendment would, therefore, join all 50 state attorneys general in calling on backpage to remove the -- quote -- "adult entertainment section" of its web site. i would like to thank senator kirk for his leadership on this issue. every case of sex trafficking or forced prostitution is modern-day slavery. nothing more, nothing less. and we should do everything in our power to ensure this practice is eradicated in the united states of america. madam president, i believe the justice for victims amendment would reduce the rape kit backlog, take serial perpetrators off the street and ultimately reduce the number of victims of sex violence. i ask my colleagues to join me in considering this amendment which already enjoys bipartisan support. i hope it will get much broader bipartisan support. and i hope my colleagues will join with me in strengthening the reauthorization of the violence against women act by cosponsoring and supporting this

amendment. our constituents and victims of these heinous crimes deserve nothing less. thank you, and i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: before the senator from texas leaves the floor -- he's walking off the floor -- i was just going to add that i be added as a cosponsor to his very worthwhile amendment. madam president, on another matter, one of the most heartbreaking yet unreported consequences of the obama economy is the extent to which college graduates today are stepping out into a world where

the possibilities no longer seem endless. unlike generations past, today's college graduates are more likely to end up either unemployed or back at home with mom and dad. saddled with student loan debt that they are to end up with for the rest of their lives. and they don't tend to have the opportunity to get that job of their dreams. for a great many of them, the excitement and the promise of president obama's campaign four years ago have long since faded as their hopes collided with an economy that he's done so much to reshape. so it's understandable that the president is so busy these days trying to persuade these students that the struggles they face, or will soon face, have more to do with a piece of legislation that we expect to fix than it does with his own failed promises. it's understandable he'd want to

make them believe the fairy tale that there are those in washington who would rather help billionaires and millionaires than struggling college students, but that doesn't make this kind of deception any more acceptable. today the president will hold another rally at which he'll tell students that unless congress acts, their interest rates will go up in july. what he won't tell them is that he cared so little about this legislation that created this problem five years ago that he didn't even show up to vote for it. and that once he became president, he didn't even bother to include a fix for this problem in his own budget. look, if the president was more interested in solving this problem than in hearing the sound of his own voice or the applause of college students, all he'd have to do is pick up the phone and work it out with congress. we don't want the interest rates on these loans to double in this economy. we don't want today's graduates to have to suffer any more than they already are as a result of this president's failure to turn the economy around after more

than three years in office. really the only question is how to pay for it. democrats want to pay for it by raiding social security and medicare. and by making it even harder for small businesses to hire. we happen to think that at a time when millions of americans and countless college students can't even find a decent job, it makes no sense whatsoever to punish the very businesses we're koupbgts on to hire -- counting on to hire them. it's counter productive and the wrong direction to take. the only reason democrats proposed this solution to the problem is to get republicans to oppose it and make us cast a vote they think will make us look bad to voters they need to win in the next election. they adm -- they admitted using the floor as an extension of the obama campaign so no one should be surprised that they opted for a political showboat over a solution. what republicans are saying is

let's end the political games and solve the problem like adults. this is an easy one. the only real challenge in this debate is coaxing the president off the campaign table and up to the negotiating table to get him to choose results over rallies. we can solve the problems we face if only he'll let us do it. now, madam president, on an entirely different matter, it is with great sadness that i wish to report that our nation and my state has lost a brave and valiant soldier. staff sergeant garry l. woods jr. of shepherdsville, kentucky, was killed on april 10, 2009, in mosul, iraq. in a terrorist suicide bombing astack tack. he was 24 years old.

for his service to america, staff sergeant woods received several medals, award, and decorations. including the bronze star medal, the purple heart, two army commendation medals, three army achievement medals, two army good conduct medals, the national defense service medal, three iraq campaign medals with bronze service stars, the global war on terrorism expedition nature medal, the global war on terrorism service medal, two noncommissioned officers professional development rib borntion the army service ribbon, and three overseas service ribbons. staff sergeant woods, who went by lee, was born on june 24, 1984, on a sunday. he had very light-brawn hair and beautiful blue eyes, remembers

his mother becky johnson. "he was my first-born child and my only son." lee grew up in shepherdsville, where he attended roby elementary school, bullet middle school and bullet high school from which he graduated in 2002. he participated in the gifted and talented program and was a member of the academic team in both middle school and high school. lee also loved music. he played the trumpet, baritone, and trombone in school and sang in the concert choir. he taught himself how to play piano at age six. he played the guitar at two and took a guitar with him on two tours in iraq to entertain his friends. lee also played the drums. before returning from his second tour, he ordered a set of drums

and had them delivered to my house, becky remembers. when he came home on family leave, he had to set them up. the minute he got there and played them in my basement for a full week. i would give anything to hear him beat on those drums again. lee also enjoyed drawing pictures, fishing, camping, and woodworking. he was obviously a talented young man, but his mother will always remember music as one of his greatest loves. during his sophomore year in high school, lee joined junior rotc. it was then they first had the idea to one day join the service. in january 2003, lee told his mother that he had joined the army. becky was surprised at first, but when lee laid out his argument, she could see that he had given the opportunity serious thought and was exsilented about the future.

i knew at that instant that my son had become one heck of a map, she says. "he had listened to me. after all, i couldn't say anything except, i love you and i will always support you 110%." lee entered active service in january 2003 and did his basic training at fort knox in my state of ken keen. he graduated as a tank armor crewman and deployed on his first of three missions to iraq in august 2003 to march 2004. lee's second iraq deployment lasted from march 2005 to february 2006. after his second deployment, lee got a reassignment to the first battalion 67th armored regimen based in fort carson, colorado. he deployed for the third and final time to iraq in september

2008 and received a promotion to staff sergeant soon afterwards, in december. in january 2009 one of lee's fellow soldiers and close friends, darryl hernandez, was killed and lee escorted his friend back home in february. soon after returning from this, he volunteered for a mission that would take his own life and the lives of four other soacialtion becky remembers. that put lee in a -- the mission put lee in a convoy of five vehicles that on april 10, 2009, exited the gates of forward operating base in mosul, iraq. shortly after leaving the base, a dump truck sped toward the convoy. lee was driving the fifth and

last vehicle. lee drove to put his begunner in position to -- his gunner in fogs fire on the dufn truck but tragically, that dump truck detonated with 10,000 pound of explosives killing sergeant woods and four other american soldiers. thifthe f.b.i. says that the dup truck's destination was the forward operating base at merrick. according to lee's mother becky. if in fact that forward-operating base was the target, these five men saved the lives of thousands of soldiersalitsoldiersat that bas. on that same day, the same day that lee acted heroically to save his fellow soldiers at the cost of his own life, half a world away, becky johnson heard

a knock at the door that all military families dread. those men in dress green uniforms with highly polished black shoes came to my house, she remembers. "yes, i noticed their shoes, because that was all i could look at while they asked me if i was becky johnson." "i told them no, as my husband stood behind me shaking his head yes." we're thinking of staff sergeant wood's loved wound ones, as he t his story for my colleagues today, including his mother and stepfather, becky and pat johnson, his father and stepmother, garry and debby woods, his sister brittany linwoods, his two half brothers courtney and troy, his half

sister heather, his stepsister man did i merryman, his two stepbrothers corey and newman and many other beloved family members and friends. staff sergeant woods lost in the line of duty is tragic. however, as a small comfort as it may be, i'm pleased to report that his family may take some solace in the fact that a terrorist connected to the suicide bombing that caused lee's death was arrested in edmonton, canada, and lee's family can look forward to the prosecution of this terrorist and justice for lee. becky johnson intends to attending thattendthe trial ande sentencing phase. may she and her family have the

strength they will truly need to endure this process and may they find peaceness its final outcome. -- peace in its final outcome. i will ask my senate colleagues to join me in saying to the family of staff sergeant woods that our nation is forever grateful. to them and recognize the great cost they have paid, and this nation will never forget the heroism of staff sergeant gary l. woods jr. or his great sacrifice and service. mr. president, i yield the floor.

marine man madamr. manchin: mad? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i rise to speak about the importance of teaching our young people to embrace their right and responsibility to participate in our democratic election process and to highlight a west virginia high school that has an outstanding record for going the extra mile to encourage of students to vegster and vote. there is no greater freedom or responsibility than our right to vote. our country was born because brave men and women fought tirelessly and endured countless hardships to win their voting rights. in fact, even young people had to fight for this right and it was west virginia's own senator william randolph who advocated for the 26th amendment to the constitution so that americans can vote starting at age 18. in 1971 the measure finally passed. what few people know is he worked on that for over 20 years.

senator randolph believed just as is do that every vote counts and just as importantly i believe that every voter has the right and responsibility to take an active role in our electoral process. i tell young people all the time, you cannot just sit on the sidelines and watch life happen. you have to get in the game. voting not only gives us the opportunity to have our voices heard but also to have a real impact on setting the priorities for america's future. as secretary of state from 2000 to 2004, i made it a priority to educate young people all over west virginia on the electoral process and encourage them to get involved. at that time, very few people knew that if you were 17 years of age and you would turn 1u89 -- turn 18 years of age before the general election, you could vote in the primary still at 17. we educated them and went around to every school. we established a program called

"saving history and reaching every student," the acronym of share, which was successful. i'm proud to say that during my tenure, we registered 42,000 high school students to vote. 11 years after the program began, it is my privilege to stand here on the senate floor today and recognize the school that is truly, truly committed to carin carrying on this tradin and passing it on to each senior class and generation that has come after them. i am so pleased that they have joined me here in the gallery. every year for the past 11 years, the staff at the high school have registered 100% of their senior class. think about that. 100%. it is truly an incredible accomplishment. i am unaware of any other school in the nation and in our great state also that has registered every student in their senior class for 11 straight years.

this school and this year the class got it together in the school's cafeteria so that they could register at the same time. this is not only a testament to the tradition established at met at thatbridge high school but also to the students and they are commitment to their community and their civic responsibility. i congratulate the metabridge high school students, their faculty and staff, under the leadership of their principle tail al marfine. their commitment to the democracy and i would also challenge every high school not just in west virginia but in new york and every other state to follow their example, an unbelievable example. we must work together to engage our young people in national issues and encourage them to participate in the democratic process by getting our young adults involved. they're no children anymore and the world is growing up so fast around them and we are preparing

them to be active an and passioe leaders. we as americans cannot afford to let them stand on the sidelines. we need them in the game now. this is not a democrat or republican or independent issue, but one that all americans can and should embrace for the future of our great nation. we see so many divides here in this great capitol of ours with so many of our colleagues. everyone comes here for the right reason. the right reason truly is sitting here in this gallery today and back home: the children, the young adults who are going to be the difference and lead the next generation. i for one do not intend to turn this generation and the keys to this generation in worse shape than we received it. i don't want to be a person in history that says we did not do a better job than the previous generation, and we're going to work hard to make sure. but the unbelievable commitment they have made, the knowledge that they have and the importance of voting shows me

that this next generation will take us to a new level. so, i'm proud that west virginians all over our great state, but most importantly at meadow bridge high school is leading that example for the rest of our country. i thank them and appreciate so much the effort they have made in setting example for all. i want to thank you, madam president. i yield the floor and notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. begich: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. begich: i wish to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. begich: i rise today in support of senate bill 1925, the violence against women act. it's not every day we get to vote on a law that actually saves lives, but this one does. the senate needs to send the simple and important message that america will not tolerate violence against women, children and families. we must do our part to reduce domestic violence and sexual assault. it's time for us to step up and make sure this happens now.

i look forward to casting my vote for the reauthorization, hopefully very soon. and truly, this legislation, as we continue to move forward, is headed in the right direction. there is bipartisan support, with 61 of us in this chamber signed on as cosponsors. and it's a lot of good work the bill has done through the judiciary committee. all of us have heard from prosecutors, victim service providers, judges, health care officials and victims themselves. unfortunately, the fight to protect women and families from violence is far from over. the violence against women's act was first passed just 18 years ago and it hasn't been reauthorized since 2006. the law has many differences. we are making progress, and we know a great deal more about domestic violence than when vawa was written. services for victims have improved. more communities offer safer shelters. local state and federal laws are

stronger. listen to these national statistics. since the law was first passed in 1994, the number of women killed by an intimate partner has dropped 30%. an annual rates of domestic violence against women have decreased by two-thirds. vawa really does save lives and works. yet, there are still far too many awful stories, inexcusable numbers, especially in my home state. mr. akaka: continues to have -- alaska continues to have some of the worst statistics in the country. three out of every four alaskans have or known someone who experienced sexual violence. mr. begich: child sexual assault in alaska is almost six times the national average. one out of every 100 adult women in alaska experienced sexual violence, partner violence or both. the rape rate in alaska is nearly two and a half times the national average, even worse for

alaska's native women. in alaska's rural communities, domestic violence and sexual assault is far too common. our numbers are often far worse than the rest of the country and clearly we have to continue to do more work in this area. we're insisting that alaska tries to retain their current authority to issue civil protective orders. i'm working on a separate bill to expand resources for alaska tribes in their fight against violence. so you can see why i'm standing here today. we need to do something about this. not someday, not next year, but truly today. i've been around here for three years now and i'm not shy about having my say in a good political fight. but in this case, on this issue, truly i have no patience. it's hard to believe we even have to debate the law that protects people from abuse and sexual violence. it's truly a piece of legislation we should just move forward and vote on. we need fewer victims, whoever they are: women, kids, white, black, american indian, alaskan

native, immigrants, lesbians, even men. as a former mayor of a city in a state with a higher rate, i know this issue. i was responsible for the police investigating these cases and the agencies providing health services to victims and funding to shelters. with the support of the entire community, we pooled our efforts, using resources from the state and local government and businesses and nonprofits alike, we improved services for victims of child sexual abuse. but intervention and better treatment is not enough. far from it. domestic and sexual violence is a public health epidemic. so what really -- what we really need is prevention. and this reauthorization effort is just that, the right step in eventually stopping this

epidemic. in alaska, violence against women's act dollars are used in our biggest cities and our smallest villages. funding going to every corner of the state. the a women's shelter in the remote southwestern alaska to aware shelter in urban juneau and many others throughout alaska. we asked alaska network on domestic violence and sexual assault for their stories, examples of how vawa is helping real families. here is just one. it's uncomfortable to hear but it is exactly why we need to act now. a shelter in rural alaska helped a young woman after she suffered a domestic assault by the father of their three-year-old child. when she had asked the father for money for food, he choked her and threw her to the ground in front of the child. she reported this was the third such incident of violence and she could not live there anymore. she spent time in a shelter recovering from her injuries and

working to find safe housing in her home village. she also attended d.v. education groups and received referral for legal services to assist her with her custody order. months later the shelter program received a call from this quiet young woman. she and her child were safe and doing well. she had read all the books recommended to her by the shelter to help her understand the cycle of domestic violence. she was looking for suggestion -gs on more -- suggestions on more reading material to continue her education on the topic. now it's hoped the young woman will become a leader in her community so she can help educate others and work to end domestic violence in alaska. madam president, there are stories like this from all over the country, stories of assault and rape and murder. need we hear more? it's time to reauthorize vawa. before i yield the floor, i have one more bit of business. i want to thank the shell -- shelter staff, police, court

system employees, advocates and everyone else who worked so hard to protect women, children and families across this country. and to the victims of domestic violence, whoever you are, there is truly hope. we will work with you for you to break the cycle of violence and to bring an end and a change in this area. thank you, and i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. tester: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i ask that the quorum call be viscerated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tester: i rise too talk about an issue that affects every american community. it is hard to imagine right now but some of the people we serve fear for their own lives, not because of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. they're afraid that somebody who is supposed to love them or support them will hurt or even kill them. madam president, this is an upsetting issue but one that we need to face head-on, and i'm glad we're addressing it today. domestic violence and sexual assault are harsh realities. they know no class, race, or economic limitations. although we've made good progress curbing domestic and sexual value violence over the t decade, we still have work tosmed the lels before us takes another step towards our goal of ending domestic and sexual violence. it might not go far enough but

it is progress and i will proud to appellate court it. over the years the violence against women act has helped reduce the rates of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. but the numbers are still stunning. madam president, this bill gives us an opportunity to help victims get out of a dangerous situation. we have an tobltion pass this reauthorization of the violence against women act. fortunately, montana is no different than the rest of the nation. there were almost 5,000 cases of domestic violence or sexual assault in 2011, 10% of them on montana kids. federal funding is crucial for montana shelters, crisis lines, mental health centers. the programs in montana rely heavily on violence again women act funding to keep women and children safe and to administer the important programs we have operating in montana. it will also promote changes in the culture of law enforcement,

pushing governments and courts to treat violence against women and children as a serious violation in criminal law and to hold the offenders accountable. the violence against women act helped a constituent of mine in billings rebuild her life after she was the sick tim of domestic violence. maria martin was beaten by her boyfriend. her crisis for help were answered by the police who rescued her. but it is the program supported by the violence against women act that helped maria rebuild her life. the violence against women act provides funding to strengthen law enforcement, prosecution, and victim services. each community has flexibility to use these funds in ways that respond to folks most in need and take into account the unique cultural and geographical factors. this is especially important for a rural state like montana. i am proud of my work with the

judiciary committee to ensure that the set-aside of funding for sexual assault services does not disadvantage service providers in montana who offer many services in one place. i want to thank chairman leahy for his efforts to address this important issue. for states and cities with specialized programs, this wasn't a big concern. in montana and other rural states, we have county and regional service coalitions. that means funds must be flexible enough so that we can serve everyone who walks in. if rural areas had to carve out funds for each type of service, people wouldn't get what they need to regain their footing. the next closest facility might be 90 miles away. that's not a referral. it is not help. it is another obstacle for folks who are already face ago life-threatening situation. domestic violence times crimes also take a heavy toll on those who survive the violence. the vast majority of survivors report lingering effects such as

post-traumatic stress disorder, serious injury from the abuse, missing school or works, higher frequents of headaches and poor physical and mental health. while it affects every community, every race and wrung of the economic learksd the problem is even more is he screer in montana's indian country. in fact, violence against native american women and children is at an epidemic level. as montana's only level of the indian affairs committee, i have had several hearings on domestic and sexual violence. american indian women suffer at a rate 3.5 times greater than the national average. nearly 40% of all nairng will experience domestic violence. one in three will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. murder is the third leading cause of death among indian women. i was proud to join chairman akaka and many others on the committee in introducing the

standed against violence and empower native women, save native women act, which is now included in the bill before us today. we owe it to the women and children of montana to intervene, to provide resources to the programs which are on the ground, and to providers who are in the trenches. they offer safe havens, support, and educational services to help survivors of sexual or domestic violence break free of the cycle of violence. they help children who have lived with violence understand and make sense of what has happened so that they are less likely to get into -- to get entangled into future abusive relationships. they help survivors gain the strength and the know-how to advocate for themselves in the legal system and in their relationships. by passing this bill now, we will continue to make progress toward empowering communities to protect all citizens, particularly the most vulnerable : women and children. as i stated before, madam president, this is not just an opportunity, this is an

obligation that we have to improve our communities and i urge my colleagues to support it i want to thank you, madam president. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: ask consent the

quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, beginning next month, students from all over the united states will begin from graduating from college. families will will gather and celebrate. graduates will be filled with expectation and gratitude. but they're also going to be graduating with debt n. some cases, massive amounts of debt. 96% of for-profit college students will graduate with a debt of $33,000. 15% of them, one out of six, will default on their loans within two years. there's now more than $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. as i mentioned on the floor several times, a little over a year ago for the first time in history, student loan debt in america surpassed credit card debt. one of the reasons there's been such a huge influx is that college costs continue to rise at unsustainable rates.

tuition and fees at four-year schools have rocketed up 300% from 1990-2011. and over the same period, broad inflation was just 75%. even health care costs rose at half the rate of the cost of higher education. the average for-profit college costs $30,900 a year in tuition and fees. private nonprofit institutions aren't too far behind. average tuition and fees run about $26,600. schools with larger endowments charge even more, upwards of $50,000 to $57,000 in total fees they use their endowment to give students large financial aid packages, which is admiral, but it has consequences. the elevated sticker price for these schools provides for-profit colleges the cover to raise their prices to similar levels. and let me remind you, for-profit schools, for-profit colleges in america get more -- up to and more than 90% of their

revenue directly from the fell government. they are 10% away from being federal agencies. students graduating this year have one advantage -- if they took out federal subsidized loans, their interest rate is low. in 2007, congress sent interest rates on subsidized student loans for the last several years. current graduates have low, affordable interest rates on their federal loans from 6.8% to 3.4% fending on the year they took -- depending on the year they took out the loan. graduates next year may not be so lucky. the interest rate goes up to 6.8% for all unless congress acts. that's because these rates, set to double for 740 million students across the country on the 1st of july, will only be changed if congress acts. that's going to affect 365,000-plus borrowers in my state of illinois. each borrower in illinois will save a thousand dollars-plus over the life of their loan if current interest rates of 3.4%

continue. across the state, borrowers will save a total of $387,000. every week in my office, we hear from students who would be directly affected by interest rate increases. one of them is george jacobs, a constituent of mine and graduate of the international academy of design and technology chicago, a for-profit college owned by the career education corporation. every day of his life, george jacobs regrets that he ever attended this school. he's 29 years old. his current private student loan balance has ballooned to $107,000. the original loan was $60,000. but with a variable interest rate, george has been paying anywhere from 7% to 13.9%. you combine that with his federal loan balance and his total student loan outstanding debt is $142,000. george isn't even 30 years old. he already has the debt the size of some people's mortgages on their homes.

unlike a lot of his peers who attend for-profit colleges, george haze job in his field of of -- has a job in his field of study. but his annual salary of $45,000 -- but since his lender won't let him consolidate the loan, his monthly payment on that annual salary is $1,364 a month. half of his income goes to pay his loan. unfortunately, because of high interest rates, very little of this payment reduces the principle. he doesn't know when he'll possibly pay off this loan. when asked if he's tried to work out a plan with his lender, he says, they won't talk to him. they just don't care. george was the first in his immediate family to attend college. he didn't ask people for advice on financial matters. he trusted the school. george was subjected to high-pressure sales that some for-profit colleges use. reflecting on that experience now, george feels like the school took advantage of him. he feels the school's primary focus is to identify people they can make money off of. george owes about $29,000 in

federal loans with low interest rates, his monthly payment is $230 a month on the federal loans, an amount he says is not a real problem. he's married and although he and his wife own a car, he doesn't think they'll ever qualify for a mortgage. madam president, he's 29 years old. george is not the only one affected by the private student loans. his parents are in their 50's. to help george, they cosigned his private student loan. they cannot refinance the mortgage on their home because of george's outstanding debt. there was a story in "the washington post" about two weeks ago of a woman, a grandmother, who now has her social security check garnished because she was kind enough to cosign her granddaughter's college loan. her granddaughter has defaulted. her grandmother is watching her social security check reduced. making college affordable shouldn't be partisan. it affects everybody. just this week during a news conference in pennsylvania, governor mitt romney

acknowledged the tough job new graduates -- job market new graduates face and expected supported for keeping interest rate low. he said, i fully support low interest rates on student loans. there are extremely poor conditions in the job market. higher education isn't a luxury anymore, it's part of the american dream that many of us bought into and invested in. an educated work force will make us a stronger nation. by 2018, 63% of jobs will require postsecondary education. keeping debt levels low and manageable for college graduates is essential. george jacobs, like so many other students i have spoken about on this floor, are going to spend the rest of their young adult life paying for student loans. there has always been a lot of talk around here about mortgage crises and rightly so, but think about 17 and 18 and 19-year-old students signing away their income for the next 30 years before they can even dream of a

job or owning a home. we're going to consider legislation when we get back from the break in about ten days on making sure that student loan interest rates are manageable. there is more to this issue. we have to deal with the reality that the president raised in the state of the union address. this spiraling cost of higher education is unsustainable and unfair, fundamentally unfair. and you say to the young people get educated for your future, and they follow our advice and walk into the student loan trap. unfortunately, many for-profit schools are the worst offenders. these schools have an enrollment that's grown 225% over the past ten years. according to the "chronicle of higher education," enrollment at for-profit colleges in my state has grown 556% over the last ten years. they enrolled 1.2 million students in 2009. in the 2008-2009 academic year,

the g.a.o. found that for-profit colleges took in $24 billion in title 4 aid. four-year for-profit schools cost an average of $27,900 a year before aid as compared to $16,900 for public four-year universities. the chief executives at most of the for-profit schools make many times more than their counterparts in nonprofit schools. remember, 90%-plus of their revenue comes directly from the federal government. these aren't great entrepreneurs. these are folks who have managed to tap into one of the most generous federal subsidies in the law, and five years ago, we gave them a break. in the bankruptcy bill, we said private for-profit schools will be the only private loans in america that are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, which means you carry them to

the grave. so the for-profit schools give these private loans. the students and their parents sign up for them. and when it's all said and done, they end up saddled with this impossible debt for a lifetime. that's not even to go to the question about whether or not they are receiving any kind of valuable education in the process. for-profits, incidentally, spent 21%-plus of their expenses on instruction. 21% on instruction. 25.9% of public institutions. 32.7% at private nonprofit institutions. "usa today" reported that for-profits educate fewer than 10% of students, take in 25% of all federal aid to education and account for 44% of defaults among borrowers. remember those numbers. 10%, 25% and 44%. they are taking in 10% of the students, taking in 25% of all the federal aid to education and

44% of the defaults on the student loans are attributable to these for-profit schools. according to project on student debt, 96% of for-profit college students graduate with some debt compared to 72% of private nonprofit gradz, 62% of public school gradz. the project on student debt also reported that borrowers who graduated from for-profit four-year programs have an average debt of $33,000 compared to $27,600 at private nonprofits. last year, the department of education released a report showing that for-profit schools have a student loan default rate overall of 15% compared with 7.2% at public schools, 4.6% at private nonprofit schools. madam president, if i were to stand before you and talk about any other business in america, heavily subsidized by the federal government, beyond 90% of all the revenues they take in, that is luring students and their families into unmanageable

debt, i would hope that both sides of the aisle would stand up and say that is unacceptable. how can we subsidize an operation that is causing such hardship on students and their families, hardship that they're going to carry for a lifetime. george jacobs at age 29 writing off the possibility of ever owning a home because he signed up at one of these for-profit schools in my state. madam president, the u.s. senate "help" committee also discovered that out of $640 million in post-9/11 g.i. benefits, the bill we were all proud to vote for, out of the $640 million that flowed to for-profit schools in the last academic year, $439 million went to the largest 15 publicly traded companies. for-profit colleges are receiving one out of every two dollars in military tuition assistance, according to the department of defense, and more than 60% of education benefits available to military spouses go to for-profit schools.

this is significant. we capped federal aid to for-profit schools at 90% of their revenue, but we create an exception for the g.i. bill. so some of them are up to 95% federal subsidy and still we have these terrible results and terrible indebtedness. students at for-profit colleges have lower success rates than similar students in public and nonprofit colleges, including graduation rates, employment outcomes, debt levels and loan default rates. yet, the department of defense is paying more to for-profit schools for the g.i. bill than public and nonprofit institutions. madam president, i want to enter into the record here along with my remarks an article that appeared in "the wall street journal" on wednesday, april 18, that tells the story of jodie ramine, who between the ages of 18 and 22 took out $74,000 in student loans. she attended kent state university, a public university

in ohio. it seemed like a good investment at the time, but now it's going to delay her career, her marriage and her decision to have children. miss ramine's $900 a month loan payment eat up 60% of the earnings as a bank teller, the best job she could get after graduating from college. her fiance spends 46% of his paycheck on student loans. they each work more than 60 hours a week and volunteer when they can to help the local high school football and basketball teams. miss ramine works a second job as a waitress, majority all her loan payments on time. they can't buy a house. they can't visit their family in ohio as much as they would like or spend money to go out. plans to marry or have children are on hold. i'm just looking for some way to manage my finances. this is an indication of a debt crisis that is coming. it's different, i would agree, than the mortgage debt crisis we faced. smaller in magnitude, perhaps.

but no less insidious and no less of a problem for us when it comes to the growth of our economy. madam president, i have a couple bills pending. one of them goes to a very basic question. should any college, public, private, profit, nonprofit, be allowed to lure a student into a private student loan when they are still eligible for government loans? in other words, shouldn't that be one of the causes for a discharge in bankruptcy? it's fraud. it's fraud to say to that student you have to take out this private student loan even though the school knows that student is still eligible for low interest rates accommodating federal loans. they're luring them into a debt that is unnecessary and a debt which is crushing in some circumstances. now, at the very minimum, that should be considered fraud in a bankruptcy court, and that debt should be dischargeable in bankruptcy because of the failure of the school to disclose that the student still has eligibility for a federal

loan. secondly, i know i am probably crying in the wilderness here, but i still find it inconceivable that the only private sector business loan in america that is not dischargeable in bankruptcy goes to these heavily subsidized for-profit schools. first, we lured them with federal money, 90%-plus, and then we turn around and say we'll protect you when the student, who is likely to default, ends up defaulting, we'll make sure that they still have the debt, carrying it to the grave. what were we thinking? to give this one business this kind of fantastic federal subsidy and this kind of amazing support in the bankruptcy code? i will tell you -- i ask consent to enter into the record along with that article from the "wall street journal" a recent article from baron's -- from barron's -- thank you, mr. president -- of

april 16. so they identified those who are offering these private student loans. the major players in the private nongovernment-backed student loan market, s.l.m., let me translate, formerly known as sallie mae, discover financial services, wells for fargo and p.n.c. financial services. even with the defaults, if there are defaults, on these loans, these loans are protected because they continue forever. madam president, i don't know if my colleagues will join me in this, but all i ask them to do is go home and please talk to some of the families in your state, and you will find out that this student loan crisis is not just something manufactured by politicians. it is real. and we are complicit in it. when we allow low-performing and worthless schools to receive federal aid to education, students and their families are lured into believing these are real schools. go to the internet and put in the word college or university, click the mouse and watch what happens.

you will be inundated with ads from for-profit schools. some of them will tell you you can go to school online. one of them ran a television ad here in washington. i think they have taken it off the air now that showed this lovely young girl who was in her bedroom, in her pajamas with her computer, her laptop on the bed, and the purpose of the ad was you can graduate from college at home in your pajamas. it's a ruse, it's a farce, it's a fraud. many times, these schools offer nothing but debt for these students. the students who drop out, the worst of circumstances. they don't even get the worthless diploma from the for-profit school. all they get is the debt. that's not fair. if we have a responsibility -- and i think we do -- to families across america, for goodness sakes, on a bipartisan basis, we should step up and deal with the student debt crisis and the for-profit schools who are exploiting them. madam president, i yield the floor. excuse me, madam president.

if the senator from tennessee will allow me. i have 11 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate with the approval of the majority and minority leaders, ask consent these requests be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, madam president. i ask to speak for up to 15 minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: and could the chair please let me know when there are two minutes left? the presiding officer: yes. mr. alexander: thanks, madam president. i'm glad i had a chance to hear my distinguished friend from illinois speak about student loans and college. all of us would like to make it easier for americans to be able to afford college, and at another time, i will speak about some of the other options available. the average tuition at four-year colleges in america is $8,000. the average tuition for a three-year public college -- for four-year public colleges is $8,200. the average tuition for

community colleges, two-year colleges is $3,000. i know at the university of tennessee where tuition is about $8,000, a very good campus in knoxville, virtually all of the freshmen show up with a state scholarship. if they are low-income students, they are eligible for pell grants and other aid. so we will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to make this opportunity available to students, and if there are abuses in the for-profit sector or other sectors of our education, we should work on those together. but i'd like to talk a little bit more specifically this morning about the issue of student loans and interest rates on student loans. president obama is busy this week on campuses across america talking about student loans. it's a noble goal to talk about making it easier for students to afford college. it's a goal we all share. but i'm afraid the president is not telling the whole story,

because if he were to tell the whole story, what he would have to tell the students is that the principal reason for the rise in tuition at public colleges and universities across america and community colleges and the principal reason for the increase in student loans is president obama himself and his own health care policies. mr. inhofe: would the senator yield for a unanimous consent request? i don't want to change your line of thought here. it's beautiful. i ask unanimous consent that after the conclusion of the remarks of the senator from tennessee, that there be ten minutes given to the senator from wyoming, senator barrasso, and that i have the remainder of the republican time. the presiding officer: without objection. without objection. mr. alexander: of course. so as i was saying, president obama's speeches around the country on college campuses about student debt are

incomplete because the rest of the story, unfortunately, is that the main reason why college tuition is going up and the main reason therefore why loans are going up is president obama and his health care policies. to be fair, he didn't start many of these policies. they've been going on for a good while but he's made them worse over the last three or four years and when the new health care law geese into effect in 2014 with its new mandates on states we'll find an exaggeration of what's already been happening which is that federal health care mandates on states are soaking up the money that states otherwise would spend on the university of oklahoma and tennessee and the state universities of new york and when states don't support their public colleges and universities, which is where three-fourths of our higher education students attend, then their only choice is either to become more efficient, to decrease their quality, or to

raise tuition. and most of them are trying to do all three. so federal health care policies are the reason tuition is up and the reason tuition is up is the main reason, the main reason debt is up. now, specifically what we're talking about or what the president's been talking about is a 3.4% interest rate for some student loans. here's some facts about that. the president has proposed that for one year for new loans, rates would remain at 3.4% for this kind of loan. governor romney grease with him -- agrees with him. i agree with him. so there is substantial support from both the president and his probable republican opponent in the presidential race for this next year. up in new loans after july 1 that now are at 3.4% would stay at 3.4%. the benefit to students who get

the advantage of that lower rate, all other loans are at 6.8% by law, is about $7 a month. that's according to the congressional research service. so all this talk is about offering students the benefit of about $7 a month for new loans. it's important to notice that no student who has a 3.4% loan today will see his or her interest rate go up. let me say that again. if you've got a loan and going to the university of north carolina and paying 3.4% today, your right-rate will not go up on july 1. the law only affects new loans. and it doesn't affect 60% of loans. for 60% of those who are getting new loans after july 1, they'll continue to pay the 6.8% rate set by congress a long time ago. but, madam president, i'm glad the president's bringing this issue up because the real driver of higher tuition and higher

interest rates are the president's own policies. in two ways. the government and the congressional democrats who passed the health care law actually are overcharging students, all students, on their student loans, and using some of the money to pay for the health care law. now, this isn't just my figures. the congressional budget office said that when the new health care law passed, congress took $61 billion of so-called savings -- i'd call them profits -- on student loans, and it spent $10 billion to reduce the debt, $8.7 billion on the health care law, and the rest on pell grants. now, how does that work? how could congress be overcharging students? well, under the law, the government borrows money at 2.8%. under the law, the government loans to students at 6.8%. that produces a profit. the congressional budget office has said that the congress could

lower the interest rate from 6.8% to 5.3% and save all students $2,200 over the life of their average ten-year loan. so i'm introducing today legislation on my behalf and that of others called the student rate -- the student interest rate reduction act. and what we will propose with this law is that we will keep the interest rate at 3.4% for subsidized stafford loans beginning with the year july 1, just as president obama has proposed, just as governor romney has proposed, and we will pay for that by taking back from the health care law money that the congress overcharged students on their student loans. this one-year solution as i said, will save students about $7 a month on interest payments

on their new loans, about $83 a year. it will cost the taxpayers about $6 billion which will be paid for by reductions in savings from the health care act. now let's talk just a moment, madam president, about the real cause of tuition going up and loans going up. and that is federal health care policy. when i was governor of tennessee in the 1980's, the same thing would happen every year as i made up my state budget and it's happening today in every state capital in america. i'd work through all the things we had to fund with state tax dollars. the roads, the schools, the prisons, the various state eationz and then i'd get down to the budgeting process and have some money left. and the choice would always be between medicaid and higher education. our public colleges and universities. i spent my whole eight years

trying to keep the amount that we gave to medicaid down so i could get up the amount for colleges and universities because i thought that was the future of our state. we had a formula back then that said if you went to a public college a or university the taxpayer would pay 70% and the student would pay for 7030% and if we raised your tuition, we'd raise the state's share. we kept that 70-30. that's turned completely around today in tennessee. it's now 30-70. the students pay 70% and the taxpayers pay 30% and why is that? it's because for that 30 years, orders from washington about medicaid mandates to every state have forced governors and legislatures to take the money they would otherwise spend for colleges, public colleges and universities, and spend it instead for medicaid and as a result, the state colleges and universities have less money and to get more money they raise

tuition. so when tuition goes up at the university of california and you see students protesting, the reason is in washington. the reason is in washington. now, i said earlier president obama did not invent this problem. this is a 30-year problem. but he's made it worse. he made it worse with the laws that said when states have less money, they have to spend more on medicaid. they are told from washington to spend more on medicaid even though they have less revenues, they're going to spend less on something else so less on the university of california or the state university of new york or the university of tennessee. last year in tennessee, state funding for medicaid went up 15%. in actual dollars. as a result, state funding for the community colleges and the university of tennessee went down 15%. real cuts. that's not a cut in growth, that's real cuts. and what did the colleges and universities do?

they raised tuition 8%. and what do students do? they borrow more money. now, i've been trying to get 24 point across ever since i've been a united states senator. i even said during the health care debate that everyone month voted for it ought to be sentenced to serve as governor for eight years in his or her home state so they'd understand this problem. we can't continue to order the states to spend more for medicaid and expect our great colleges and universities to be affordable and continue to be the best in the world. that is the real reason why tuition is going up and loans are going up. so here are the facts. there are still good options for students around the country. i mentioned the average cost of a four-year public university in america is for tuition $8,200 and for a community college, $3,000. and there are many scholarships to help go there. and it is true that loans are going up to very high levels.

and it is true that there are some abuses here and there in the for-profit industry or other parts of the higher education system. but it is also true in the united states we not only have some of the best colleges and universities in the world, we have almost all of them and many. them are public colleges and universities. and they are at risk today. why? because of federal health care policies that are hamstringing states and soaking up the money that states should be using to fund the universities of this country and the community colleges of this country. so, mr. president, i'm introducing today the student loan interest rate reduction act. it addresses exactly the subject that president obama is talking about on the campaign trail these days. how do we keep the interest rate on subsidized stafford loans, the new loans that began july 1, how do we keep that at 3.4%

for one year. governor romney supports that, president obama supports that, i support that. the only difference is how we pay for it. it's a $6 billion cost. our friends on the democratic side have come up with their usual method of paying for it, they're going to put a tax on people who create jobs. we have a little better idea on this side. and that is let's take back $6 billion of the dollars that the federal government overcharges students on student loans today to help pay for the health care law and let's give it back to the students, and let's extend this for one year. that will leave about two or three billion dollars extra -- the presiding officer: the senator has two minutes. mr. alexander: thank you. we can use that 0 sho to shore up the pell grant deficit over the next few years. president obama when you visit the next college campus, tell the whole story. it is hard to attend college. it's hard to pay for colleges.

there are many options. debt is up. but in fairness, the principal reason tuition is rising and therefore debt is rising is because of president obama's own health care policies. he didn't start them, but he's made them worse. and what he's done is put in place a set of policies that is soaking up the money that states would use to fund public colleges and universities and community colleges across this country. using that money for medicaid. as a result, the colleges and community colleges have less money. they raise tuition, that's why -- that's the principal reason why we have higher tuition and higher interest rates and the way to stop that would be to repeal the health care law or repeal the medicaid mandates. it would improve the quality of american higher education and improve access to higher education. it would slow down the rising of tuition and it would slow down the rising of student debt.

madam president, i thank the chair and i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you very much, madam president. week after week i come to the senate floor to give a doctor's second opinion about the health care law. i will tell you having listened to my colleague from tennessee and his wonderful comments here i should have him on a weekly basis join me in these second opinions because he has very clearly stated a number of things in this health care law that are hurting people. and he talked about his experiences as governor, and the impact of medicaid mandates and how that impacted his ability to provide for education within a state. and just now with the bill that he has introduced and i'd like to associate myself with his remarks, because he showed that one of the tricks that was used in passing the health care law is overcharging. this is the obama health care law overcharging young people on

student loans and the democrats all voted for it, the republicans all voted against it, overcharging students for student loans. why? to pay for the president's health care law. so i appreciate the comments by my colleague, the senator from tennessee, and his incredible leadership on this and that he continues to provide every day in the senate. i come to the floor today again to give a second opinion about another component of the health care law, another one of the tricks that the administration has tried to use in terms of making the health care law in their opinion more appealing and essentially the government accountability office this week called foul. the president was caught and called out by the g.a.o. when they have uncovered another gimmick in the president's health care law. it's a gimmick that tries to cover up how the president's law dwast states seniors -- devastate seniors' ability to

get the care they need from the doctor they want at a cost they can afford. the obama administration's latest trick targets seniors on a program called medicare advantage. it's a program that one out of four seniors, people on medicare, rely on for their health care coverage. as someone who has taken care of lots of medicare patients over the years -- we know that one in four, about 12 million seniors are on this medicare advantage program, and the reason it's an advantage for them is that it helps with preventive medicine, helps with coordinating their care. they like it because of eyeglasses and eye care, they liked it because of hearing aids, and each and every one of those 12 million knows that they are on medicare advantage because it is a choice that they make to go on to the program. well, as people all around the country remember, the white house and democrats in the effort to pass the health care

law cut $500 billion from medicare, not to strengthen medicare, not to save medicare for our seniors, no, but to start a whole new government program for other people. out of that $500 billion that the president and his administration and democrats in congress cut from medicare, about $145 billion of that money came from this medicare advantage program, a program that people really, really like. these cuts would have gone into place this year, actually, october of this year. well, that's the time of the year when seniors are supposed to register for their medicare advantage plans for the next year. now, we're talking about october of 2012, the month right before the presidential election, and the cuts coming then will make those millions of american seniors who have chosen medicare

advantage, i would believe make them very, very unhappy with this administration and the democrats in congress who shove this down the throats of the american people, in spite of the american people saying no, don't pass this health care law. too bad, according to the president and the democrats. we know what's better for you, democrats believing that one-size-fits-all is best, that a government-centered program is better than a patient-centered program. so the president and his folks saw this political problem developing. it's a real political problem for the president. well, what did the administration do? well, they put in place a massive $8.3 billion, billion, with a b, billion-dollar so-called pilot program. what it would do is temporarily, temporarily reverse most of these medicare advantage cuts. not for too long. just to get the president and the democrats past the election of 2012. according to the g.a.o., 90% of

this medicare advantage enroll ees would be covered by these contracts eligible for this so-called bonus in 2012 and 2013. madam president, this is a sham program. it is seven times larger than any similar demonstration program that medicare has ever attempted. and medicare's in place now for 50 years. you know, you take a look at this, this is the largest ever, seven times larger than anything they have ever attempted. even the g.a.o. it was supposed to be and is nonpartisan. they called out the president and the secretary of health and human services. this program wasn't actually designed to improve the medicare advantage program. that's why this is a sham. the reality is that the so-called bonus program is a political stunt. all aimed at the 2012 presidential election.

the administration simply did not want to face america's seniors with the truth. the truth that his health care law gutted the popular medicare advantage program, reducing choices and raising premiums. as the "wall street journal" editorial board reported yesterday -- quote -- "the demonstration program turns into a pumpkin in 2013." they go on to say -- "the real game here is purely political. to give a program that is popular with seniors a temporary repeeve past election day. then if mr. obama is re-elected, he will go ahead and do what his intention has been all along, gut medicare advantage." "investors business daily" described it yesterday as playing politics with medicare. they go on to report the entire project is so transapparently political that the normally reserved g.a.o., general accounting office, urged the

elliott and human services department to cancel it altogether. now, isn't this the administration that claimed that accountability was their goal, that this was going to be the most accountable administration in history? then why is the government's own accountability office calling the president and the democrats on the carpet and saying cancel this program altogether? an op-ed that appeared in "forbes" magazine called it -- quote -- "the obama campaign's $8 billion taxpayer-funded medicare slush fund." the author notes that this development opens up a new expansion of executive branch power. they go on to say the ability to spend billions of dollars on politically favored constituents without the consent of congress. so, madam president, we wouldn't have known about the obama administration's $8 billion cover-up if it weren't for my colleague, senator orrin hatch, who insisted on the g.a.o.

investigation, but the american people,ible, owe a debt -- people, i believe, owe a debt of thanks to senator hatch. thanks to senator hatch's leadership, we now know what the administration is doing to try to trick american seniors and make it harder for them to get the care they need after the presidential election. once again, this administration claims to be for transparency, claims to pride itself on accountability, but this administration is not leveling with the american people. so today, madam president, i'm calling on the president of the united states to direct his secretary of health and human services to cancel, to cancel this waste of taxpayer dollars that's being used to cover up the damage that his health care law is doing to the seniors of this country on medicare advantage. it is time they cancel the program and come clean about their plan for seniors on

medicare advantage. this latest gimmick is just another reason why we must repeal the president's health care law and replace it with patient-centered reform. and so, madam president, i continue to come to the floor every week because we can never forget nancy pelosi's quote that first you have to pass it before you get to find out what's in it. week after week, we are finding out more things that are in this health care law, and now under the direction and suspicion of senator hatch, we have the government accountability coming out and saying we found something new again this week. an effort to hide from the american people by this administration the real impacts of the health care law and hide it before the election so that the american people will not go to the polls and vote the way

that they in my mind would vote had they seen the clear reality and all of the impacts of this health care law. thank you, madam president, and i yield the floor. mr. inhofe: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: first of all, madam president, let me just say that we are very fortunate to have the senator from wyoming with his background to come in and give his second opinion. the ratings are very high on his second opinion, and i'm very glad of that. i also am very pleased that we have the senator from tennessee talking about the big issue today. there is no one having been the secretary of education in a previous administration, there is no one who is qualified more to talk about student loans than the senator from tennessee. so i'm very appreciative. ironically, we have talked about two subjects, and i'm here to talk about one totally unrelated that i think is equally critical, and i have to be critical of this administration. i'm going to state something

that hasn't been stated before. i'm going to release something that hasn't been released before. i think it's very significant that people really listen. you know, this president has had a war on fossil fuels -- now, when we talk about fossil fuels, we're talking about oil, gas and coal, ever since before he was in office. he is very, very clever because what he has attempted to do was to kill oil, gas and coal when we have the huge supply of it here, and yet do it in a way that the american people won't be aware of it. how many people in america, i ask you, madam president, know what hydraulic fracturing is? i dare say, more people know about it today than knew about it a short while ago. so today i want to address for the first time several questionable actions recently taken by the obama environmental protection agency to stop domestic energy production, particularly by doing it by using hydraulic fracturing.

and today i'd like to draw attention to a little-known video from 1910 which shows a top e.p.a. official, a region six administrator armandaris using the vivid metaphor of crucifixion to explain e.p.a.'s enforcement tactics over oil and gas production. now, this is a long quote, and i'm going to ask you to bear with me because it's all a quote by armandaris. he is an administrator from district six, and how he is instructing at this time people who are working for them, what their behavior should be. so this is an actual quote i'm going to use. it's a long quote. bear with me." i was in a meeting once and i gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement "this is a quote from the e.p.a. --" and i think

it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but i will go ahead and tell you what i said. it was kind of like how the romance used to conquer little villages in the mediterranean. they would go into a little turkish town somewhere. they would find the first five guys that they would run into and they would crucify them, crucify them on crosses. and then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years, and so you make examples out of people who are in this case not compliant with the law, find people who are not compliant with the law, and you hit them as hard as you can and you make them examples out of them, and there is a deterrent effect there. and companies that are smart see that. they don't want to play that game. they decide at that point that it's time to clean up, and they won't -- that won't happen unless you have somebody out there making examples of people. so you go out, you look at the industry, you find the people

violating the law and you go aggressively after them, and we do have some pretty effective enforcement tools "still quoting now" come playance can get very high very, very quickly. that's what these companies respond to is both their public image but also their financial pressure. so you put some financial pressure on a company and you get people in that industry to clean up very quickly. so that is our general philosophy." unquote. that's the e.p.a., director of the sixth region. you know, just when you say it's kind of like the romance used to conquer little villages in the mediterranean. they would go out in a little turkish town somewhere, they would find the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them, that's how you would get their attention. i remember a few years ago when a company -- it was actually a lumber company in my state of

oklahoma called me up, and they said the -- i'm not sure what to do. the e.p.a. is putting us out of business. i said what do you mean putting you out of business? this is a lumber company in tulsa, oklahoma. millcreek lumber. the man who was calling me up was the president. he said they have now -- we have been disposing of our used case oil in the same legal licensed depository for ten years now, and they have traced some of this oil to a superfund site, and they are now going to -- they are going to fine me $5,000 a day for that violation. now, that's what the letter said. i said send the letter to me. that's a typical threat by the e.p.a. to try to make you voluntarily go out of business. he sent it to me. sure enough, that's what he said. any cautious, any concerned reader would look at that and say, you know, they're going to put us out of business. he said they can stay in business maybe another 30 days, and that's the end.

well, that was a threat. that's what they do to intimidate people. not quite to the level of a crucifixion, but nonetheless, times have changed, things have gotten worse over the past few years. so we have -- yes, they have the enforcement tools, they are able to scare people, intimidate people, and these are the very people who are working, hiring people, doing what's necessary to run this machine called america. so according to administrator armandaris, e.p.a.'s general philosophy is to crucify and make examples of domestic energy producers so that other companies will fall in line with the e.p.a.'s regulatory winds. his comments give us a rare glimpse of the obama administration's true agenda. no matter how much president obama may pretend to be a friend of oil, gas and coal, his green team constantly retains that truth that the obama administration is fully engaged in all-out war on hydraulic

fracturing. thinking people won't know if you kill hydraulic fracturing, you kill oil and gas production in america. not longer after the armandaris made his stunning admission, the e.p.a. apparently began to zero in on the first crucifixion victims. the agency targeted u.s. natural gas producers in pennsylvania, in texas, in wyoming, and in all three of these cases before these investigations were complete, e.p.a. made headline-grabbing statements, either insinuating or proclaiming that hydraulic fracturing was the cause of water contamination, but in each case -- these are three cases now -- the e.p.a.'s comments were contrived, and despite their best efforts, they have been unable to find any science to back up their accusations. of course, this administration has a propensity for making embarrassing announcements on days where they hope no one will notice, so during the