tv Key Capitol Hill Hearings CSPAN July 29, 2014 2:00pm-4:01pm EDT
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immigrants, or do you think we'd rather have the money spent on refugees in egypt, iraq, ukraine, you all send money over there for welfare, spend that money here on the people of the united states so we can take care of the immigrants that come here. they think they're going to vote democrat. that's the main reason. we've got money to spend for all the other countries. >> host: senator wicker, what's your response? >> guest: well, okay, there's a balancing act that we have to do, and i do think that there has to be a substantial amount of money spent on defense and foreign policy, and a lot of our security funds do go to support our troops and our security overseas. that doesn't mean that we can't take care of veterans, that we can't invest money in programs that provide jobs domestically
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also. so i think we -- i don't think it's an either/or situation. the first point that you were making, frank, is exactly what this legislation is talking about. and, actually, i live in north in a lot of -- and a lot of my neighbors go to the v.a. hospital in memphis, tennessee. so thank you. a recurring theme we're hearing compliments about the service they're getting. but this legislation provides more doctors, more nurses and more facilities to address just what you're talking about. >> host: and the last caller in this segment is tony from north providence, rhode island, on our line for independents. tony, we've got about a minute here. >> caller: good morning, how are you? >> host: good. >> caller: thank you for c-span. took me about six months to get through. i've got a claim in with the, an injury that i got during my service time. and i've been going through heck with them. i finally got a meeting with a
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judge. i told the judge exactly what was going on, how they were treating me and i had to keep telling them, no, no, no and prove everything from a to z. i even had to prove that i -- [inaudible] that's how bad it got. how do i go around and try to get ahold of these people? this is going on six years. >> guest: oh, okay. you have a right to an attorney, but i would suggest this is a casework matter. if i were you, i would call my local congressman and get them involved. i dare say at the district office of either your senator or your representative, there is a person there who can help you work through this particular issue and get you an adjudication a lot more promptly than you're being treated right now. >> host: senator wicker, that's all the time we have in this segment. appreciate you joining us this morning on "washington journal." >> guest: thank you. >> senate's in recess for another 15 minutes for weekly party lunches.
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coming up at 2:45 eastern time this afternoon, robert mcdonald set to be confirmed along with three other nominations. also this afternoon temporary funding for highway and transportation projects. until the senate returns here on c-span2, some of the floor debate from earlier on the mcdonald nomination to head the v.a. beginning with veterans affairs committee chair bernie sanders. >> chairman of the senate committee on veterans affairs, i rise today in strong support of the nomination of robert mcdonald to serve as secretary of the veterans affairs administration. madam president, i also want to thank b majority leader reid for moving this important nomination forward as quickly as it has, and i hope very much that later this afternoon with a very strong vote the u.s. senate will vote to confirm robert mcdonald as secretary of the v.a.
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madam president, before i talk about mr. mcdonald's qualifications, i did want to take a moment to express my sincere thanks to general eric shinseki for his dedicated service to the our nation first as a soldier and then as head of the v.a. working tirelessly to provide for those injured during war and the families of those who perished on the battlefield. he set very ambitious goals, and under his leadership v.a. made significant strides in reducing veteran homelessness and transforming a paper-based claims system to one fit for the 21st century, and i thank him and his family very much for his service. madam president, it is my strong belief that mr. mcdonald, robert mcdonald, will bring two very important qualities to the position of secretary of veterans affairs. first, he is the familiar with the military -- he is familiar with the military as well as the needs of veterans and their
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families. mr. mcdonald and his family have a history of service to our nation. mr. mcdonald began his service as a cadet at the united states military academy at west point. he graduated in 1975 in the top 2% of his class with a degree in engineering and went on to serve as an infantry officer in the army's 82nd airborne earning airborne and ranger qualifications during his military service. his father served in the army air corps after world war ii. additionally, his wife's father was held as a p.o.w. after being shot down over europe. her uncle served in vietnam and still receives care at the v.a. also mr. mcdonald's nephew is currently serving and deployed with the u.s. air force. in other words, mr. mcdonald and his family have a deep understanding and service with the united states military, and upon hearing mr. mcdonald at
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the hearing that we held in our committee for the confirmation process, i am convinced that he has a deep passion to do everything that he can to protect our veterans. madam president, the other quality that mr. mcdonald brings to this job is that he has been the ceo of one of america's leading corporations which, a company which has tens and tens of thousands of employees. his more than 33 years with procter & gamble gives him the tools to create a well-run and accountable v.a. in other words, he will bring the tools of a ceo at a private corporation to the v.a., a huge bureaucracy which needs a significant improvement in accountability and in management. as we begin debate on mr. mcdonald's nomination, i believe it is important that my colleagues understand the
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realities that he will face in leading the v.a. madam president, the v.a. operates the large integrated health care system in the united states with over 1700 points of care which include 150 hospitals, 820 community-based outreach clinics and 300 vet centers. in fiscal year 2013, the v.a. provided 89.7 million outpatient visits each day; today, tomorrow, yesterday. the v.a. conducts approximately 236,000 health care appointments. in other words, it is a huge, huge system. v.a.'s problems, which mr. mcdonald will have to address immediately, have been widely reported in recent months. acting secretary sloan gibson, in my view, has done an excellent job in taking a number of critical steps to address the
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problems confronting the v.a. but clearly, there is much, much more to be done. we now know among other issues that there is a senate shortage of doctors, nurses and mental health providers within v.a. as well as the physical space necessary to provide timely access to quality care. this is a major problem because at the end of the day no matter how well run the v.a. is or any health care system is, we are not going to be able to provide quality, timely care unless there are the doctors, the nurses, the other medical personnel available to do that work. as a result of the shortages, we know that we have tens of thousands of veterans today to in parts of this country on lists that are much too long in order to gain access into the v.a. we also know that hundreds of thousands of veterans that have appointments scheduled are
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waiting too long to be seen and receive care. madam president, i think it's important that everybody recognize that as a result of the wars in iraq and afghanistan in the last five years, two million more veterans have come into the v.a., and this is on top of an aging population hofstra patients who served in world war -- of v.a. patients who served in world war ii, vietnam, korea, patients who often need a whole lot of care as they age. so you're combining new people coming into the v.a. often with very serious problems including some 500,000 veterans coming home there iraq and afghanistan with ptsd, tbi and an aging population with difficult problems, that is where we are at, and those are some of the issues that the v.a. is going to have to address. madam president, let me just say while i'm on the subject that
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most people understand, and that includes many of the veterans that i talk to every day in vermont, veterans around the country and the national veterans organizations that represent millions of veterans, that once people get into the v.a. system in general, the quality of care is good. and that is not just what veterans and their organizations say, that is what a number of independent studies show. our problem right now is to figure out a way that when people apply for v.a. health care, they get into the system quickly, and once they're into the system, they get the appointments that they need in a timely manner. that is our job. it's not going to be an easy job, but that is the job that we face. madam president, my hope is that tomorrow or on thursday the
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united states house and the senate will be voting on a comprehensive piece of legislation authored by congressman jeff miller, chairman of the house veterans affairs committee, and myself. and i think it's terribly important that we pass that legislation, that we pass that bipartisan legislation with a strong vote in both houses. because that legislation will give the new secretary the tools that he needs to go forward aggressively in addressing many of the problems facing the v.a. i would hope that every member of the house and senate understands that it is unacceptable that veterans of this country are on terribly long waiting lines and cannot get the health care that they need in a timely manner. this legislation that i hope will be passed this week by the house and the senate provides $10 billion for emergency health
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care so that if a veteran can't get into the v.a., that veteran will be able to go to a private physician, a community-based outreach, a community-based -- a community health center, a military base or whatever. but that veteran will be able to get timely care. in addition, that legislation puts $5 billion into the v.a. so that they will be able to hire the doctors, the mental health counselors, the nurses, the other medical personnel that they need so that as soon as possible when veterans apply for v.a. health care, they will get not only quality care, but timely care. in addition to that, this legislation addresses an issue that many veterans around the country, especially in rural areas, are worried about. if they live long distances away from from the v.a., they will not have to travel a hundred miles to get the health care
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that they need. if they're living 40 mile or more away from the v.a. facility, they will be able to go to a doctor of their choice in that a community. that's an important step forward. and this legislation also will do somermere terribly important things in making sure that widows, women who have lost their husbands in battle, will be able to take care of, will be able to get the education that they should be entitled to under the post-9/11 g.i. bill. this legislation deals with an issue passed by the house, and that is in-state tuition for veterans who today may not be able to take advantage of the post-9/11 g.i. bill, and this legislation also addresses a very serious crisis within the military today, and that is the issue of sexual abuse and providing women and men who have been abused sexually in the military with care at the v.a.
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so, madam president, we are at a very important moment in terms of the veterans administration. we have new leadership at the v.a., we will have new leadership at the v.a. after mr. mcdonald is confirmed. we have a piece of legislation, a significant piece of legislation that will be, i hope and expect, passed this week to give the new leadership the tools that it needs to start addressing the problems facing our veterans. mr. president -- madam president, it seems to me that if this nation stands for anything, it must protect and defend those who have protected and defended us. and when people put their lives on the line and they come back wounded from war either in body
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or in spirit, it seems to me absolutely immoral if we turn our backs on those men and women. and this legislation that we will pass this week begins to address those concerns, and i hope we will do so under the new leadership that mr. mcdonald will provide. and with that, madam president, i yield my remaining time to senator brown to hear his comments on the, this nomination. >> we leave this recorded portion of today's senate debate as the senate is now returning to session. a confirmation vote for robert mcdonald to head the v.a. is scheduled for 2:45. live senate coverage on c-span2. d gives the v.a. the tools they need to address immediate challenges. more importantly, i really applaud their work to build and strengthen the v.a. system in order to continue to deliver the best care for our nation's
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heroes over the long term. the deal that they announced yesterday is a very important step towards addressing a lot of issues that we know exist within the v.a. system, but it cannot be the final step. as transparency and accountability increase at the v.a., so will the investigations and reports of additional concerns requiring even more action from the v.a., from the administration and from this congress. however, as chairman miller said yesterday, we can't legislate good character here in congress. it's going to be up to the leadership at the department of veterans' affairs to truly enact these reforms. so, madam president, i have come to the floor today in support of the nomination of robert mcdonald, someone i believe has the skills necessary to make these necessary changes as the next v.a. secretary. as i told mr. mcdonald last week, he is faced with a truly monumental task. even as we pass comprehensive
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legislation to bring significant reforms at the v.a., to reduce wait times and improve accountability, there are still many serious challenges the v.a. must address. 22 veterans still take their own lives each day. thousands of veterans are alone coping with sexual assault. and while the department has made commendable progress, it will be an uphill battle as we work to eliminate veterans' homelessness and the claims backlog. mr. mcdonald will have to grapple with these and many more issues all on day one. when i met with mr. mcdonald in my office a few weeks ago, he told me he was one of the veterans that was lost in the system during his transition from military life to civilian life, so i trust, i trust he understands what a critical moment this is for the v.a. and why we must finally fix many of these systemic and cultural challenges. madam president, we have all
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made a promise to those who signed up to serve, so i encourage my colleagues to support this nomination, and i am hopeful the steps we are taking here this week on behalf of our nation's heroes will finally ignite the much-delayed reforms our veterans have been demanding and that they deserve. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. burr: madam president, i stand today not to rehash with my colleagues the crisis that exists at the veterans administration or to share it with the american people. they know the story, and especially to our nation's veterans who have been given the runaround. i'm here to highlight a success in the senate. see, my colleagues on july 7 of
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2014, not even a month ago, we received the nomination for the new v.a. secretary from the president. on july 22 of this month, we had a confirmation hearing on that nomination, and on july 23, the next day, robert mcdonald was passed unanimously out of the committee. and today, before the end of july, we're on the senate floor to confirm robert mcdonald as the next v.a. secretary. now, madam president, i rise to urge my colleagues to support this nomination. the v.a. needs a confirmed secretary in place to begin a long, arduous process of reform and cultural change. by now, our colleagues probably know that bob mcdonald is a veteran himself.
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he is a graduate of west point. he served five years in active duty. he served most of that time at fort bragg, north carolina, so i consider him one of ours. he spent more than 30 years working for procter and gamble, i think the most competitive manufacturing company in the world. his work led him across the globe, but he also had prominent roles at a number of other organizations -- xerox, united steel corporation and the business roundtable. mr. mcdonald has frequently lectured the groups on leadership skills, and his leadership philosophy was highlighted in the book "the leader's compass." madam president, this is the type of leader we need at the v.a. at this very crucial time. bob mcdonald clearly has the experience to run an organization as large and as diverse as the department of veterans' affairs.
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perhaps more importantly, he has selflessly agreed to take the challenge of leading v.a. at its most critical time, something many people might have passed on. i hope this week, in addition to this nomination, we will pass legislation to help the v.a. and its next leader address the systemic problems with access to v.a. health care and a corrosive culture that led to this crisis, but that legislation would be just one step. an enormous amount of work must be done from within the v.a. to rebuild its reputation and to turn it into the agency that will live up to the expectations of our veterans and a nation grateful to them for their service. we need a strong leader to do that, and i'm glad that robert mcdonald has agreed to serve his country once again in this important role. madam president, the nomination
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received the unanimous support of the veterans' affairs committee. i urge my colleagues, confirm ronald mcdonald as the next secretary of the v.a. and let's get on with the important work of the reform of that agency. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: madam president, my colleague from north carolina has just spoken on behalf of the nomination of robert mcdonald to be secretary of the department of veterans' affairs, and i would do likewise. he has also spoken of his background as a graduate of west point, as an army officer and as c.e.o. of one of the largest companies in the world. i had the occasion to meet with mr. mcdonald. he could be the man of the hour. i hope that he will be. he looks that way now. madam president, with that in mind, i rise today in support of robert mcmcdonald's nomination for secretary of the department
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of veterans' affairs. it's my hope that robert mcdonald will bring a renewed commitment, energy to address the problems at the department of veterans' affairs that we all know exists. the obligations of the department of veterans' affairs are incredibly serious. therefore, madam president, i rise in defense of our nation's veterans. our veterans have put themselves in harm's way to defend us, and i think it is only right that we do everything in our power to defend them and their interests when they return home. allegations that veterans were not only denied timely access to care but that scheduling delays, secret waiting lists and lost records may have led to veterans' deaths are totally unacceptable. these allegations of mismanagement and cover-up at the veterans administration are beyond disturbing. they are sickening, and they
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need to be corrected. madam president, they need to be corrected immediately. madam president, our veterans deserve better. our veterans have earned these benefits through their dedicated service and sacrifice for our nation, and the v.a. must correct these problems, not just study them. it's my hope that robert mcdonald will actively work to address these tremendous challenges. but according to the v.a.'s recent nationwide audit, new patients using the central alabama veterans health care system waited an average of over 74 days to see a primary care doctor. that's totally unacceptable. that is nearly three times greater than the national average of 27 days for new patient wait times. i look forward to working with the new v.a. secretary to review the department's plan to
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initiate corrective action, both in alabama and across the nation. madam president, while the v.a.'s wait time statistics are certainly disturbing to all of us, the problem just does not end there. allegations that the v.a. employees may have submitted false records to justify their own receipt of performance bonuses suggests the possibility that the deceit and mistreatment i have described may also have been compounded by a lot of fraud. in may, appropriation committee chairwoman barbara mikulski and i wrote a letter to the attorney general eric holder and called on the department of justice to begin appropriate criminal and civil investigation into the allegation of misconduct at the veterans administration. we've also recommended that the commerce, justice and science appropriation bill that we serve as chairman and ranking provide
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the resources for these investigations. the veterans' affairs and military construction appropriation bill provides an additional $5 million to investigate v.a. scheduling practices alone. madam president, legislation introduced this week requests an additional $17 billion to improve the v.a. over the next three years. and while i commend these efforts to initiate corrective action, i believe that it's only a starting point. a lack of funding is not the main spring of the v.a.'s troubled past. i look forward to working with you and others, with the new v.a. secretary to ensure that these problems at the v.a. are rectified as soon as possible before any more veterans are virtually -- are adversely affected. solving issues at the v.a. have never been more imperative than it is today, as american service
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members continue to risk their lives every day for our nation. support for our armed forces must never waiver and it must be just as strong when they return home. who will fight our wars in the future if we do not prove that we respect our veterans today? veterans have risked their lives for the freedoms that we all enjoy and thus should receive the care that they most assuredly deserve and have earned. defending veterans' access to timely medical care today is the very least, i believe, that we can do because they defended us first. i yield the floor. mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, a part of the appropriation supplemental bill that we will consider tomorrow is approximately $245 million -- i
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think i have that figure right -- for the additional assistance to the israeli government for the iron dome system. now, the u.s. has been assisting israel in order to be able to buy this system. to the credit of the scientists and the military planners in israel, they developed this system and it is a very sophisticateed system. as a matter of fact, when you watch the rockets go off, you will see and incoming round coming -- in this case from gaza gaza -- often without any precision guidance. that's an interesting thing,
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that they are shooting at urbanized areas where the general civilian population is, and they have got incoming rounds that are going that who knows where it's going to go? thus, the need for a sophisticated radar that can track it and distinguish first if it is going to fall in an area where there is nobody, where there is nothing in the way of equipment that would be harmed and therefore save the ordnance that otherwise would be shot. but the radar is so sophisticated that within seconds and fractions of seconds, it can determine that, and then shoot off the round that will intercept the incoming
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round. and it is a sight to behold to see this iron dome rocket go upwards and then change its trajectory almost at a 90-degree angle to home in on the incoming warhead, and they have a 90% success rate. now, when this system was first produced, it was so successful that the israeli people who had been bombed from outside their territory, had been accustomed to running to bunkers, to shelters, to places where they could be safe, with the
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institution of iron dome, often what people would do is come outside and see this aerial fireworks display because it had such a tremendous success rate. now things have changed. because in the latest conflict with hamas, -- and this is just in the course of the last three or so weeks -- over 2,300 rockets have been fired in israel and hamas continues to fire more rockets, and each night if you turn on your television news shows, you see another display of all of this going on over on that side of the planet. and thus the need to supply more
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of the iron dome system and the ordnance that goes with it. and thus there will be this item that will be part of the supplemental appropriations request, and i commend it to our colleagues to vote for it. it is a system that consistently the u.s. has helped to fund, and it has saved a lot of lives. remember, the ordnance that is being shot into israel is usually not a guided system, and that is part of the terror that is being aimed at israel, because it is to inflict casualties upon a civilian population. and yet with this sophisticated
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system,th 90% effective, it is saving a lot of lives. madam president, that's what i wanted to share with the senate. i yield the floor. madam president, i ask that the time during the quorum call be charged against both sides. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i ask to call off the quorum call and speak up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. booker: i rise today filled with anguish and heartbreak that is shared by so many americans who are watching over the past weeks as countless innocent children and innocent civilians have been killed and live in
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states of great fear or even terror. millions who are running from bomb shelters time and time again. seeing people in gaza killed, maimed, seeing people in israel live under the terror in the skies and terror coming from below. i want to stand resolute and clear about the true cause of this crisis, and that lies squarely with hamas, a terrorist organization whose ends do not start and finish with the well-being of the palestinian people. their primary focus, their clear agenda, is not peace for their people written into their very charter is the first
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determination to eliminate the state of israel. they have proven this evil determination to do everything necessary to achieve their goals. they are willing to kill israelis, they are willing to kill americans. they have killed them both, and even worse, they're willing to put innocent palestinians in harm's way, causing death and destruction within their own communities, to their own children, to their hospitals, and to their schools. they are in the interest of racking up casualties to add what they consider in a warped way moral force for their terroristic aims. i believe clearly on the evidence that these -- this
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terrorist organization is willing to stop at no ends in order to build their tunnels and to advocate and advance their ends. they're willing to deny their people food, they're willing to deny their people construction materials that could be building schools and building infrastructure. they're willing to deny medical supplies. they're willing to deny a higher standard of living in order to support clearly terrorist activities. this is unacceptable, this is unacceptable, and this is unacceptable. we as americans cannot advocate for or in any way accept a false peace that will allow hamas, a terrorist organization, to continue their efforts to
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destroy the state of israel. hamas is not seeking peace. hamas is not seeking the peaceful coexistence between two states. what they are simply doing is willing to cause death and destruction, to destroy israel. hamas is not a democratically elected organization. they are a terrorist organization. they do not speak for the palestinian people. hamas speaks for hamas, and their history of killing americans and israelis and putting countless of their own people in harm's way, causing their destruction and their denial of the basics, must be stopped. and for the sake of the palestinian people and for the
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sake of the israeli people, we as a nation cannot support any measures or any agenda that gives this terrorist organization harbor or support, that gives this terrorist organization any advantage in trying to achieve their ends. we cannot in this nation advocate for that kind of false peace that allows hamas to go back to tunneling, to firing rockets, to hiding missiles in schools and in hospitals and putting more innocent children at harm's risk. we as americans must advocate for a true peace where two sides clearly recognize the right for peaceful coexistence, and where both sides pledge to a true
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cessation of adepression, not a pause that allows one side to go back to its evil ends, to tunneling, to plotting, to preparing just for the next attack. we have seen this before in recent history, and we cannot allow it again. right now, we are in a state of crisis, and america's voice must be resolute. we stand with our ally. we stand with the democratic straight of israel. we stand against terrorism. and this is why today i come before you to support the $225 million in additional funding requested by the department of defense to assure that the iron dome in israel remains equipped to protect civilians from hamas-fired rockets. i request 30 more seconds from the president. the presiding officer: without
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objection. mr. booker: hamas has fired over 200,000 missiles in the past week putting palestinians at risk to protect their stockpiles and their evil ends. yesterday alone, 51 rocket and mortar shells were fired at israel. now in this time of crisis, america must stand for a true peace for the palestinian people and the israeli people, and now as a terrorist organization has evil ends to destroy the state of israel, we must stand with our ally. we must stand with the state of israel. we must stand for peace. and therefore i support this expenditure and continue a resolute, unwavering and unequivocal support of the continuance of the state of israel. thank you very much, mr. president.
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vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this vote, the yeas are 97, the nays are zero. the confirmation is -- the nomination is qualified. -- the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the clerk will -- the senate will proceed to the nominations, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nominations, department of state, harry edward andrei jr. of virginia to be ambassador to the islamic republic of march tanya.
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-- of march tangia. michael steven hoza to be ambassador to the republic of cameroon. joan a.polasch i want k of virginia to be ambassador to the people's democratic republic of algeria. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the andre nomination. without objection, all time is yielded back. question occurs on the nomination. all those in favor signify by saying aye. opposed? the ayes have it. the ayes appear to have it. the nomination is approved.
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under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the hoza nomination. without objection, all time is yielded back. the question occurs on the hoza nomination. all those in favor signif signiy saying aye. opposed? the nominee nation approved. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate on the polaschik nomination. without objection, all time is yielded back. the question occurs on the polaschik nomination. all those in favor signify by saying aye. opposed? the ayes appear to have it. thite do have it. the polaschik nomination is
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approved. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. the president will be notified of the snas senate's action and the senate will resume legislative afnlings the senate will proceed to the consideration of h.r. 5021 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 468, h.r. 5021, an act to provide an extension of federal-aid highway and so forth and for other purposes. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: is not sphrr oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to shuren pen
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uh anda and rye an, research associates in my office for the remainder of the 113th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: i call up an amendment 3582 from the desk appeared ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: mr. wyden proposes an amendment numbered 3528. -- 3582. strike title 2 and insert the following. mr. wyden: mr. president, i would ask to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, the amendment that has just been offered is an amendment that the distinguished senior senator from utah, senator hatch, and i have worked on for many weeks. it is a bipartisan agreement on emergency transportation funding that the senate finance committee reported virtually
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unanimously two weeks ago. i urge our colleagues to support this amendment as a replacement for title 2 of the house legislation, and i'll briefly describe why. as the senate debates transportation funding, it's abundantly clear that all sides agree on the need for a long-term plan to rebuild the nation's infrastructure. and a number of our colleagues, led by chair boxer, a number of republicans, senator corker, senator carper, have made that point repeatedly, and it's one that i share. you cannot have, mr. president, a big league economy with little league transportation. and the chair of the public works committee, senator boxer, has consistently been on target calling for a long-term plan to
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rebuild the nation's infrastructure. the reality is, every member of this body has constituents who are driving on highways full of potholes and ruts, and our citizens end up having to write out a big check for car repairs because of it. so the best way to fix america's transportation system is with a long-term plan. the reality, however, is to get to the long-term plan, what's needed first is a short-term path so that you do not have the transportation equivalent of a government shutdown. where you just don't have the contracts being let and thousands of our people put out of work and a big set of economic dominoes start to fall. so that is what the senate has before us today under a bipartisan proposal from the
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senate finance committee that senator hatch and i developed in a bipartisan fashion where we work under the regular order, mr. president. this bill is before the senate under regular order, with democratic proposals, republican proposals, and senator hatch and i worked with every member of the committee to draft our bill. now, the house has offered its own plan, and senator hatch and i agreed to incorporate to the greatest extent possible house ideas in drafting our alternative, including adopting a measure of custom user fees and some pension smoothing as revenue sources. i would like to take a moment early on to highlight three major differences between what the senate has done and what the house has done because i think
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they're at the heart of the bipartisan case for passion this amendment -- for passing this amendment. first, mr. speaker, i think that the other body simply overuses pension smoothing, and i was struck, senator hatch, in conversations with colleagues, one of our colleagues said, what's really striking about what the house is talking about today is instead of having one problem, we'd have two. we already know that we've got a huge challenge in paying for transportation long term, as senator boxer has noted and done such good work on. but if you go with the house approach, it overuses pension smoothing, you're going to have two challenges: one to pay for transportation and, second, what are you going to do about the hopessance aspirations of all those workers who are depending on their pensions? the second is the house ignores the whole concept of tax compliance, something else which
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has had a strong bipartisan tradition here in the congress. tax compliance is not increasing taxes. it's not tax hikes. it's not somebody jacking up people's taxes in the dead of night. this is, mr. president, about collecting taxes owed under current law. let me emphasize that. it's taxes owed under current law. grover norquist, somebody who's not exactly soft on taxes, and i probably wouldn't quote him on everything, he makes that point as well, that what's in the senate finance bill involves collecting taxes that are owed. and finally, the house bill again ignores some of the important bipartisan legislation that senator hatch understand i
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have included. a matter that's of great interest to the distinguished president of the senate, our bill promotes natural-gas vehicles. natural gatt gas, 50% cleaner tn the other fossil fuels. senator bennet and senator burr came together with some very good ideas on that. senator isakson, senator nelson also came up with an approach to strengthen pensions and how they are accounted for. and i was very pleased that senator crapo was very involved with senator bennet in improving water transportation, something hugely important for the west, particularly right now when it is so dry back home and in all of the western states. so these are major differences between the house and the senate effort, and again each of those ideas that i describe is a
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sensible bipartisan approach that comes about because we use a regular order. for example, the bennet-burr amendment adjusts tax laws to treat liquid natural gas and diesel fuel on an energy energy-equivalent basis. that's going to reduce the tax on liquefied natural gas. that's going to help us encourage more use. what senator isakson and senator nelson did clarifies pension rules and ensures that workers receive their earned benefits. many of these individuals took their jobs in their teens and put in three decades of work by their late-40's. mr. president, when i look at what the house did in terms of pension smoothing, this raises real questions in my mind about whether the congress, without really thinking through an alternative set of pairvetion is going to cause those young workers additional problems. and finally, as i've tupped on,
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senator crapo and senator bennet have done very good work. as we all know,th,chair of the environment and public works committee, it is dry, dry, dry in the west. what senator crapo and senator bennet have done is going to deliver water to farmers across the west. with those bipartisan initiatives, mr. president, we were able to pick up such important groups as america's natural gas alliance, the national rural electric cooperatives association and the western agriculture and conservation association. they're not out there saying that they want to have the bipartisan hatch-wyden legislation, but they do know that the only way to advance these important ideas is by adopting the amendment that the distinguished senator from utah and i have offered.
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now, we've had some talk about how there's just not enough ti time. mr. president, i heard that statement made earlier today. i've made it clear to all concerned, and i'll state it again, this work is going to be done this week. this is nonnegotiable. the congress is going to get this resolved this week, and in no way, shape, or form are we going to have the transportation equivalent of a government shutdown. but the idea that the other body says, hey, it's our way or no highway, i don't think is a way to advance the kind of bipartisan/bicameral approach that is going to help us deal with the big challenges. i've already indicated, as senator boxer, the chairman of the environment and public works
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committee has said so eloquently, we're going to have to deal with the long term. there are a lot of good ideas for the long term, mr. president. i think senator paul from kentucky deserves to have his ideas on repatriation looked at. we've got a number of colleagues who are interested in the innovative approach used in virginia. so we're going to have a variety of ideas to look at for the long term, but you've got to get the short-term patch resolved in order to get to the lon long te. and that's why i think for the house to just say, "our way or no highway," i think for us to accept it and accept it today would simply be to abdicate our responsibilities. i don't think we're sent here, mr. president, to just wring our hands and say, oh, my goodness, we can't do anything; there's no time. we're going to get this done this week. but i believe that the approach
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that we built in the finance committee is a more responsible approach. and there certainly is time to compromise. reality is, our staff has -- and senator hatch and i have had a number of conversations with chairman camp on this, as i indicated earlier. senator hatch and i have agreed to adopt many of the house proposals. there's no reason why this body and the other body can't quickly come to agreement with the house. the reality is, the congress has addressed much bigger pieces of legislation and differences between the senate and the house on tight time frames in the past. but the reality is, the senate has to act first or we're sending a message, mr. president -- i'll close with this because my colleague from utah has been very patient and the distinguished chair of the environment committee has been very patient.
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if we simply say, all we're going to do here today is accept this house approach, this "our way or no highway" kind of approach, we are going to advance a bill that overuses pension smoothing. we are going to move away from something both political parties have felt very strongly about which is tax compliance should be an ongoing part of our work. it should be a part of our work today and it should be part of the bipartisan efforts, the tax reform that senator hatch and i are pursuing. but it's not in the house bill, it's in the senate bill, so we'd be walking away from that, and we would, as i've indicated, be walking away from bipartisan efforts that are going to promote cleaner natural gas vehicles, bipartisan efforts that will promote water use, the good work done by senator isakson and senator nelson on pensions at a time when we're
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very concerned about their future. we are shouldn't do that today -- we shouldn't do that today, mr. president. i'm going to yield to my colleagues who have been doing very good work on this issue. i think our plan is now senator hatch will make remarks on behalf of the bipartisan efforts in the finance committee. senator boxer, the chair of the environment and public works committee will speak after senator hatch. it's my intention to stay here throughout the afternoon. i think both sides would like to get this done expeditiously and i hope we can. mr. hatch: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i'd be happy to allow senator boxer to go first if she'd like. mrs. boxer: no, go ahead, please. mr. hatch: all right. mr. president, i appreciate the comments of my distinguished colleague, who's the chairman of the senate finance committee. today the senate will vote on a short-term extension of funding for the highway trust fund.
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while it remains to be seen what shape that extension will take, congress appears to be poised to pass legislation that will ensure that the trust fund will not face a shortfall and that states will be able to continue to plan and implement their transportation projects. this is important. as many have noted, passing this extension will preserve thousands of jobs and prevent disruption of a number of different highway projects that are currently in existence. it's taken a lot of work to get to this point and has required the collective goodwill of members of both parties and it has meant compromise on both sides. in the senate finance committee, both chairman wyden and i worked together for weeks on a bipartisan federal highway funding extension. at the outset of these negotiations, i stated that i hoped any agreement to extend the solvency of the highway trust fund would contain spending cuts and reforms to go along with any revenues. i fought hard on that point but
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in the end that particular goal of mine, with one exception, had to be set aside in order for an agreement to be reached. of course, mr. president, that is how we pass legislation. if everyone got everything they wanted out of a deal, it would not be a compromise. and while i maintain that a deal to extend funding for the highway bill should include reductions in spending, i am willing to continue that particular fight on another day. after weeks of negotiations, some of which were very hard-fought, we were able to come to an agreement on a funding bill that i believe both parties can support. that, in my view, is more important than any individual demand i may have had going into the discussions. i'd like to take just a few minutes to talk about the specifics of our proposal. overall, our bill would provide nearly $11 billion in funding for the highway trust fund, which is enough to extend its life into the middle of next year.
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of that total, $2.7 billion would be provided by pension smoothing. i do have to say that i'm not a fan of using pension smoothing as a pay-for on the highway bill or o in any other context, for that matter. we stated as much on the record numerous times. however, we do face a funding emergency with regard to the highway trust fund. that being the case, i was willing to compromise on that point. next, the bill provides an additional $2.9 billion by extending customs user fees. once again, in other contexts, i have been spent cal of using this tactic as a pay-for, mostly because it diverts funding away from national trade priorities. however, we've drafted the bill to ensure that enough money was left in the future extensions to pay for things like the generalized system of preferences, the african growth and opportunity act, the agoa bill, and the miscellaneous tariff bill, all of which are
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important to our nation's trade agenda. our compromise bill also transfers $1 billion from the leaking underground storage tank trust fund called lust to the highway trust fund. the remaining funds would be raised through a variety of tax compliance measures all disiepped nodesignednot to raiso realize revenues already toad the treasury. the finance committee bill does include a provision designed to claw back orphan earmarks. the provision deals with earmarks included in previous highway bills. i want to thank senator coburn for the idea that was the basis of this provision. though in the end we didn't go as far as he or i would have liked. like i said, all told, our bill would provide nearly $11 billion in funding for the highway trust fund and prevent the funding crisis that is on the horizon if congress does not act.
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once again, this legislation represents a bipartisan agreement between chairman wyden and myself and it was reported out of the finance committee by a voice vote. so it's an agreement by both sides. i want to thank chairman wyden for his willingness to reach across the aisle in this effort. he's been a particularly good partner to work with. a finance committee has a long tradition of working on a bipartisan basis to provide funding for the highway trust fund and i'm glad that we've been able to continue that tradition with this legislation. my only regret is that we were not able to reach an agreement with chairman camp of the house ways and means committee, who we both -- both the chairman and i highly respect. he has a tough job over there and we have nothing but great respect for him. the two committees met on this over the july 4th recess and i believe both chairman camp and chairman wyden acted in good faith to try reach an agreement.
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but in the end, it did not end up happening. in my view, this is unfortunate. had we been able to reach a bipartisan/bicameral solution on this issue at the outset, it would have helped us speed this process along. still, if you take a look at the bill the house passed earlier this month, you'll find that it is similar in many respects to the legislation chairman wyden and i have put together. they provide virtually the same level of funding so there's not a substantive difference in the amount of time that they would extend the trust fund. the major funding pieces, pension smoothing, customs user fees and the lust transfer are all the same. the primary difference is that the house bill does not include the tax compliance provisions. neither the house bill nor our bill is perfect, in my opinion, but they both accomplish the same goal and they do so in a way that under the circumstances i think both democrats and republicans can and should support.
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so while some would say that we failed to reach an agreement on the highway bill, i think it's pretty clear to say that there's a lot of agreement on thoat matters and that one -- those matters and that one way or another we're going to get a solution soon. in the end, chairman camp produced what i think is a good bill. i think chairman wyden and i have done the same. i'd vote in favor of either approach because, like i say, they aren't all that different from one another. i just want to reiterate that the funding levels in the house bill and the finance committee bill and, therefore, the length of the two extensions are virtually the same. that point is important, as there is an effort as evidenced by pleasure to amendment we'll be voting on today, to put an artificial deadline on the extension. i gather on the statements made by proponents of this approach that they hope this amendment will somehow force congress to reach an agreement on a long-term extension before the end of this year. this effort is, in my view, misguided and i would hope that
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given the fact that both the house of representatives and the senate finance committee have reached virtually the same conclusion on the length of the extension, senators will think twice before voting to shorten it. ultimately, we all want to get to a long-term deal when it comes to the highway trust fund. that desire is shares across both chambers and in both parties. i think we can get there. i just don't think we need to impose an artificial time line or deadline, one that would create a similar crisis to the one we're facing now just a few months down the road in order to do it. there are other efforts out there that would seriously alter the trajectory of this bill. i just want to stress that what we're working on is a short-term extension. once the highway trust fund has been funded by this bill, we will need to start working on a long-term bill that will give the transportation community stability and predictability. and i believe both the chairman of the committee and myself
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really mean that we will do so. we will need to be thoughtful in our approach and must consider every option to ensure that our nation's infrastructure will be safe, efficient, and reliable well into the future. but before we discuss any fundamental changes to the structure of the highway trust fund, we need to get this step out of the way first. as i conclude, mr. president, i'd like to just take a moment to once again commend our chairman, chairman wyden, for his efforts on this legislation. from the outset, he was willing to reach across the aisle on this bill and as a result, the finance committee produced a viable bipartisan product. his leadership in getting us to this point has been essential. we're very close to solving this problem and avoiding a crisis. mr. president, we just need to get a bill over the finish line and i hope we can do that in short order. mr. president, i yield the floor. mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california.
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mrs. boxer: i would like to take my time off the general debate time. is that appropriate, mr. chairman? the presiding officer: the senator may proceed. mrs. boxer: thank you. well, i'm so pleased to be here on the floor today because the senate just has to be heard on this issue of the highway trust fund and our whole transportation system, for that matter. and i really do want to praise senators wyden and hatch for coming together across party lines and making some real improvements in the pay-fors that are associated with this extension. i'm very much in favor of the way you handled this and i'm also very much in favor of the way the pension smoothing is handled in the carper-corker-boxer amendment because that does away with it altogether. because we shorten the time frame so we don't need any pension smoothing in there. but i just wanted to give -- before i talk specifically about the wisdom of what the finance
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committee did and hope that we can get that over the finish line today, i want to give kind of an overview of where we are in general. for two years we have known that our transportation bill expired september 30. we've known this for two years. and yet and still here we are at the 11th hour with an extension. this is probably the 12th extension in a few years. and i think that is so unfair to the people of this great country who rely on their bridges and their highways and their transportation systems. it's so unfair to the thousands of businesses who work to rebuild our infrastructure. and it's very unfair to the millions of workers who work in construction. mr. president, we still have
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700,000 unemployed construction workers, and when we do a piecemeal bill like this of course it's better than doing nothing, there's no doubt about that, i wouldn't argue that, but it still sends a message of indecision, and, frankly, i think of incompetence on our part. and i step up to the plate on that. but i am very proud to say that my committee, 100% bipartisan, we didn't have a dissenting vote , passed the six-year transportation bill. and when we did that i went to my colleagues and said i know you've got the hard job. you've got to figure out the long-term funding. i want to help you and i came forward and i said why don't we look at several proposals. one is what they're doing in virginia. this was a republican idea to do away with the gas tax completely and replace it with a fee at the
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refinery level. that would be a more broad-based tax. we would do away with the gas tax. no more federal gas tax at the pump and that would solve our problems, you set it at a rate where it floats and we'd have 100% certainty. senator wyden was quite open to it. he took a look at it. i know he floated it. clearly we didn't have the type of support we would need. but then the chamber of commerce and the afl-cio said you know what, we haven't raised the gas tax in 21 years. we haven't raised the gas tax in 21 years. mr. president, i did a little reading and found out the first president to initiate the gas tax and senator hatch, you might be interested in this, the first president to formulate a gas tax and it came in at a penny, was herbert hoover. and the next president who raised it was president
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eisenhower, who had that great vision to then put it into a trust fund for highways and he raised it a couple of cents. so it was about three cents. and the next president to raise it was president reagan. and the next president to raise it was george herbert walker bush. all republican presidents. and then president clinton raised it. clearly the congress supported it each and every time. because it's a useer fee. so that's an alternative. and there are many other ideas. i know senator wyden and senator hatch have a number of ideas and i know senator hatch prefers a user fee. it makes sense. but because of the time crunch, because of, because of, because of -- you know. we didn't get it done. i am proud -- senator vitter is proud, we got it out of our
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committee, a six-year bill, it's very -- it's not a great, massive bill. it just takes the current program, adds inflation, and extends it for six years. now, i could tell you if senator vitter and i could agree, if senator carper and senator barrasso dan agree, if senator cardin can agree with senator sessions, and senator sanders with senator fischer -- i mean i could go on. our committee goes from left to right, and everybody agreed we should have a six-year bill. so as i stand here today, i'm distressed that we don't have that before us but i am still grateful to my friends for doing what they could politically do. but i feel it is a sad day for us, and i know and i hope we pass this wyden-hatch substitute here. it's a much improved way to pay
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for the extension. but we're extending all the way to may right up against the next construction season. now, if you're a state whether it's utah or california or west virginia or maryland or oregon, it doesn't matter. you're not going to enter into any agreement. no businessperson is going to take this on where you don't know what the future holds so we're putting it off again. and it's sad that we're doing it. and we have 60, 70, 80 groups out there which i will list them later who are supporting us shortening the time frame. my friend says artificial deadlines are bad, but let's face it -- your bill raises i think it's $11 billion, am i right on that? so we know it takes it to may 31. that's your deadline. our bill in the
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carper-corker-boxer rewrite, we take it to december. we cut it back, we totally eliminate pension smooth,, totally eliminate it and take it back to $8 billion and that forces us to do the job in december. look, this congress has to do its work. the trust fund expires during this congress. now we're kicking it down the road to the next congress. whatever the senate wishes, i will go along with. if the senate says no, we're going to go with that longer term extension, so be it, i'll fight just as hard to move forward with a six-year bill, i say to my colleagues, when we get back, or in a lame duck. i want to just close by talking a little bit about pension smoothing for just a minute. because i so agree with senator match when he says this isn't his favorite thing. it is not my favorite thing, either. and we come from different sides
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of the aisle. so just to be clear, what we're saying to companies is, you can set aside less money for your pension requirements, for your employees. now, i have to admit in the light of day i voted for that the last time when senator baucus brought that forward, i did, but it also was accompanied by an increase in the amount of money companies had to pay into the pension guarantee corporation because if a company goes broke and they can't pay their pensions because they haven't set aside enough and with our help they're not having to set aside enough, what happens then? the pension guaranty corps kicks in and that is funded by the companies. but if that doesn't have enough and my information is it's short $34 billion as we speak, taxpayers will have to bail out. so this pension smoothing is really, really dangerous. it's an offset that's not a good
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one. now, the wyden-hatch proposal is much, much better than the house proposal because it cuts it basically in half. the corps-corker bill -- the carper-corker bill cuts it out completely. so we just have to step up to the plate. i think senator wyden is right. here we are bailing out, if i can use those terms, the highway trust fund till may while we set up another potential weakness in our pension system. it's not smart. it shouldn't be done. we had two years to figure this out. but no question, no question, the wyden-hatch proposal is a far better proposal. i mean, just making sure people pay their taxes, that's something we should all believe in. and for the first time, the two of you brought that issue forward to a successful conclusion.
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i'm very, very, very grateful to you for that. so i very strongly support this. i hope that we'll see a lot of support for the amendment that senators carper, corker, and i brought forward because we do away with pension smoothing. so if you don't like pension smoothing, vote for that one and we cut back the money so that we can take this whole thing up in december and give some certainty to all the groups out there, whether it's the chamber of commerce or the general contractors or the smelt people or the gravel people or the afl-cio or the laborers, all these folks want to make sure that we're not just doing a little cut and paste and get us up against the next thing. i keep saying in closing, but i really mean it now. what you're dealing with here if you want to use an analogy, is you find a house that you really like. so you go to the bank, and the bank looks at you and says,
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well, you're a good risk, yes we will definitely give you a mortgage but it's only for nine months. nobody's going to take that mortgage. our states are not going to enter into three-year contracts when they only know they're going to get the funding for nine months. and we have an amendment by senator lee which would cut federal government's ability to help the states and wind up with 80% cut in funding. so it's very risky, moving out with all these things hanging over our head. but i'm still pleased with what the finance committee did. i want to thank senators reid and mcconnell for allowing us to have this time on the floor and for all of my colleagues for agreeing, because this is a debate that has to start somewhere so it's starting today , we know whatever happens, we're just doing a patch and we're going to have to
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sit down together with goodwill and good ideas and solve this problem for the good of our country. and i thank you very much and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: i ask unanimous consent to temporarily set aside the pending amendment so i may call up my amendment 3585 which is at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from pennsylvania, mr. toomey, proposes an amendment number 3585 -- mr. toomey: i ask unanimous consent we dispense with any reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. toomey: thank you. let me start by complimenting my colleagues, the chairman and ranking member of this committee for a genuine, sincere effort at a bipartisan solution to a
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difficult problem. there are things that i like in this legislation, there are things i don't like, but i do like the fact that at least with respect to this legislation, at the moment the senate is functioning, the committee was functioning, and had a vigorous debate and discussion, came up with a reasonable approach, and i want to thank chairman wyden and ranking member hatch for their cooperative effort to do this. i want to address this particular amendment, senate amendment 3585. i want to thank my cosponsor on this amendment, senator mcconnell. what this amendment does in short, mr. president, it allows communities recovering from a natural disaster to rebuild damaged infrastructure without having to acquire or maybe i should say reacquire federal environmental permits. now, there's no question we all agree it's vitally important we protect our environment. i should point out there is
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nothing in my amendment that would change federal environmental permitting requirements for any new construction, nothing at all. we should also recognize that states have their own very substantial standards in place to protect their environments, including during the construction of transportation infrastructure projects. there is nothing in my amendment that would weak then any way or change in any way any state environmental laws or regulation. the fact is, mr. president, our federal environmental permitting process for infrastructure is broken. it's too cumbersome, it takes too long, it's too costly. it's a huge problem. i think the most damming stick -- damning statistic i can think of is from the federal highway administration itself which in fiscal year 2011 estimated that on average transportation projects require
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79 months to complete the national environmental policy act review process, the nepa review process. 79 months, mr. president. that's six and a half years to get permission from the federal government to build a road or a bridge, or to rebuild an existing road or bridge that's been damaged. six and a half years. that's often longer, sometimes a lot longer than it takes to actually do the construction. and that's a problem. it's a problem because it just drives the cost up dramatically and unnecessarily. two weeks ago, constituents of mine in north hampton county, pennsylvania reported to my office that just one environmental survey for a small bridge repair -- we're not talking some massive new golden gate bridge here, we're talking a little bridge that's just going to be repaired. one of the environmental surveys was $21,000 a loan.
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-- alone. rob portman reports in ohio federal and environmental permitting alone increases project costs on average by 20%. the reasons that these delays are so expensive is, you know, all of these delays, all of these permitting requirements, they all require consultants to carry it out. all kinds of engineering and consulting fees that get paid, often on retainer over time. it also means that while waiting for a road or bridge to be rebuilt or restored, there is longer commutes, there is a big detour, there is more consumption of gas. that's all a waste of time and money. the bottom line is that projects cost more the longer they take. that's the reality. the fact is recovering communities don't need to have to incur these extra costs. i'll give you an example. again in pennsylvania. since 2010, federal environmental permitting
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