mr. barrasso: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i come to the floor today as the senate returns to help the country recover from coronavirus. this global pandemic is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-century shot, but it has been an earthquake that continues to shake the world to its core. tragically we have lost tens of thousands of americans to the disease, and our hearts go out as well as our prayers to each of those impacted, and all of their loved ones. madam president, more than 30 million americans have lost their jobs in the last six weeks due to the virus and due to the state lockdowns that have been put in place as a result of the virus. people want and they need to get back to work as soon as possible. it's vital that we reopen america smartly and safely and we do it as soon as we can.

mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we just voted on an amendment by senator lee which passed overwhelmingly. as we in the senate are working to defeat this invisible enemy, the coronavirus, we are also mindful that there are other real threats around the globe. and that's why the amendment that we just passed was so important to be debated and discussed, and dealt with the bill that is on the floor. because the senate is debating a bill to provide national security tools to our intelligence communities, the right tools that work, that provide national security but also freedom for american citizens. now this is unfinished business, mr. president, because these tools under the foreign intelligence surveillance act have been left on the shelf, expired now for nearly two months. before congress departed the capitol due to the coronavirus, the senate passed a bipartisan bill to temporarily keep these authorities in place. the house democrats left without acting on what the senate had passed. speaker pelosi left

mr. barrasso: thank you mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to discuss the house democrats $3 trillion spending spree. the american people are at a point in our lives where the american people need a life preserver, instead speaker pelosi has just thrown them an anchor. it's absurd. her covid-19 proposal is pricey, it's a pipe dream. it's a bloated bonanza of her left-wing socialist projects. it weighs in at over 1,800 pages, but there's one glaring omission house democrats forgot to fight the coronavirus. this is nancy pelosi's socialist democrat dream, but it is a nightmare for the merchl. nancy pelosi needs a very -- american people. nancy pelosi needs a very serious reality check. it will not pass the senate. the country is trying to recover from the coronavirus. people are stressed, they are struggling, they are sacrificing, they are suffering. they need help to survive the crisis. people have been living through two months of lockdowns to throw the spread of the disease. while the infection rate has s

mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. before my friend and colleague, senator carper from delaware, leaves the floor, i will tell you what a privilege it is to work with him. and we work together as partners on the environment and public works committee. as know, madam president, every chair works with a ranking member. and i couldn't have a better partner than i have in tom carper. he has been magnificent in time, always trying to find a right solution that is a bipartisan solution. and we've done it again today in the environment and public works committee as we passed two major pieces of water infrastructure legislation. last year we passed highway legislation and he is focused, as am i, on rebuilding -- rebuilding for america the highways, the bridges, repairing as well the tunnels, all of the areas, roads, bridges, ports, riverways, reservoirs -- could not find a better partner. it's interesting he mentioned matthew 25. and if you research matthew 25, it was ben franklin's favorit

mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. before my friend and colleague, senator carper from delaware, leaves the floor, i will tell you what a privilege it is to work with him. and we work together as partners on the environment and public works committee. as know, madam president, every chair works with a ranking member. and i couldn't have a better partner than i have in tom carper. he has been magnificent in time, always trying to find a right solution that is a bipartisan solution. and we've done it again today in the environment and public works committee as we passed two major pieces of water infrastructure legislation. last year we passed highway legislation and he is focused, as am i, on rebuilding -- rebuilding for america the highways, the bridges, repairing as well the tunnels, all of the areas, roads, bridges, ports, riverways, reservoirs -- could not find a better partner. it's interesting he mentioned matthew 25. and if you research matthew 25, it was ben franklin's favorit

barrasso: the senator's time is expired. mr. wheeler: that is offensive, sir. we were following the supreme court decision. sen. barrasso: the senators time is expired. senator braun. good to see you again, administrator wheeler. the first time we met i told you how dear the environment is to me. i spent many years involved in agriculture, still due to the extent i can and i have been a tree farmer. we have also gotten now a senate climate caucus, the first across the threshold as a republican. have six others on it come along with seven democrats. i think the position you are in now more than ever has such importance, and i view that because i've got four kids. younger generations really believe that we need to do a really protective job of taking care of mother earth, and i think you cited the progress we have made over time. also, i heard senator wicker ask you about forest biomass and the ruling will be fleshed out in june. that is great to hear. agriculture, according to the letter from the 21 experts said -- scientists and so forth, said it probably even h

wyoming senator, john barrasso, joins us now. mr.nator, what happened to your pause on spending you were favor on this program a couple weeks ago? >> i'm still in favor for the pause, stuart. we have 38 million americans out of work. we need to get them back to work. we need to make sure the economy reopens. that is the most important thing we need to do for our country and we need to do it smartly, safely and we need to do it soon. that is what i'm talking about. if we need another piece of legislation, it needs to include liability protection for our small businesses so they can in wyoming, all across the country, safely reopen sooner without the threat of the lawsuits that are already being filed around the country by the sue and settle lawyers who are sharpening their knives and are right now advertising broadly, essentially saying, if you have had coronavirus, call us for a free consult, there is likely someone you can sue. stuart, that puts a heavy wet blanket on the opportunity for some of these mom-and-pop operations to reope

senator barrasso: thank you, senator cardin. senator capito. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, administrator and er, for your hard work your testimony today. i appreciate a year ago we were down in mendon, west virginia, site and i know you continued to do soil sampling there. put on tand it's been hold because of the covid response. an you just give me a quick update on that, where you are? administrator wheeler: certainly. continuing to work on all of our superfund sites around the country. there are some sampling that we right now.do as far as having employees go out physically in the field. that doesn't mean we're not cleaning up the site. a high n, that's priority. i intend to visit the mendon community again. t's a community that was forgotten for years and it's forgotten no more. senator capito: thank you. that.eciate i know that will be welcome to mendon.s in quickly, on the pfos, it's i am very interested in. you and i talked a lot about years.e last several i'm pleased that e.p.a. has moved forward on the language hat senator cardin -- senator carper and i

mr. menezes. chair murkowski: thank you. what's go to some other barrasso. barrasso: thank you for holding this meeting. thank you, ranking member manchin. i appreciate and congratulate you on the nomination to this high and important position. thanks to senator cassidy for introducing you and for your background, the current secretary is from louisiana as well, and we appreciate the fine job he is doing. we look forward to having you confirmed for this position as well. in april, the department of energy released the administration's plan to reinvigorate the nuclear fuel supply chain. the report clearly states russia has weaponized its energy supplies to advance their strategic interests. this includes the uranium we use to power our homes and businesses through nuclear power plants, 20% of the electricity in the united states. as a result of market manipulation, american uranium production is at its lowest levels in 70 years, and i believe we cannot tolerate russia's behavior in this. the commerce department is currently negotiating uranium import limits w

senator from wyoming, john barrasso, joins us now. mr.ow that we want to hold china accountable but there's something that really troubles me in all of this. one of your colleagues in the senate, along with newt gingrich, they are saying that we, america, should not repay the trillion dollars that we owe china. they are seriously talking about abrogating the debt. we have never done that before. i think it would be a terrible thing. what do you say? >> first, two words with regard to china. never again. stuart, we should never again be dependent upon china for medicine or materials or products, anything that is in the vital interest of the united states, and we need to take a magnifying glass to reexamine our supply chain, because we know that china eats alive all of those things and now they are trying to rewrite history with regard to the coronavirus. with relation to the debt, larry kudlow has talked clearly about the fact that that's not going to happen. the president is going to continue to hold china accountable. he's done it more t

mr. barrasso: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i come to the floor today as the senate returns to help the country recover from coronavirus. this global pandemic is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-century shot, but it has been an earthquake that continues to shake the world to its core. tragically we have lost tens of thousands of americans to the disease, and our hearts go out as well as our prayers to each of those impacted, and all of their loved ones. madam president, more than 30 million americans have lost their jobs in the last six weeks due to the virus and due to the state lockdowns that have been put in place as a result of the virus. people want and they need to get back to work as soon as possible. it's vital that we reopen america smartly and safely and we do it as soon as we can. many states are starting to open. wyoming did this past friday. i will tell you we must all be prepared and alert for any likely aftershocks that will occur from the virus. the

mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum call. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, americans have come together in this moment. we've come together to defeat the coronavirus. we've come together to ramp up testing, to ramp up health care, and to reopen our communities and our country. the coronavirus has brought out the best in so many ways in america and in the american people. from our frontline health care workers taking care of patients to scientists and researchers working on testing, on treatment, and on vaccines, to those in public service keeping essential parts of the government running day in and day out, to those working on supply chains to deliver goods 24 hours a day, and to those who are staying at home to keep themselves and keep others safe. americans are in this together. madam president, it's interesting because all we're seeing from the other side of the political aisle is more of the same old politics and name calling. president obama is

mr. feitel is well qualified and prepared i think somebody certainly our committee, the public works committee, prepared to take on this responsibility. i hope my colleagues will join senator barrasso, our chairman, and myself and the members of our committee to vote yes on this nomination. with that, mr. chairman -- mr. president, i don't see anybody waiting to speak after me, so i will note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ipcc. mr. young: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. young: can we lift the quorum call? the presiding officer: the quorum is lifted. mr. braun: thank you. i come to the floor to note jim cummings. jim was a giant? indiana, his long and rich life left many indelible marks on our state. we look to people like jim cummings as an example of a life well-lived through service to others. his role in founding the indiana black expo in 1970 made him a leader to all hoosiers during a time of great change in our state, in our nation. his lifelong servant to those in his state and his community, his dedication to conservative pri