mr. cassidy. >> no by proxy. >> ms. hyde-smith. >> yes. >> mr. marshall. >> no. >> on this vote, the ayes 11 and the nays are 9. >>>> the nomination is favorably reported. announcer: congresswoman deb haaland's confirmation goes to the senate for confirmation. lawmakers could hold a vote as early as next week. announcer: c-span's washington journal, every day, we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discussing policy issues that impact you. coming up friday morning, george mason university law school professor jamil jaffer talks about the recent russian cyber attack on u.s. networks. then kate hawn of the washington center for equitable growth on efforts to raise the federal minimum wage. in the economic impact it could have. c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern friday morning. be sure to watch washington journal on saturday at 9:00 a.m. eastern as we mark the 75th anniversary of winston churchill's iron curtain speech regarded as one of the cold war's most iconic speeches. we will take your calls and tweet

mr. cassidy? >> no. >> mr. cassidy, no. miss collins? no. mr. koontz -- >> aye. >> mr. koontz, aye. mr. corn cornyn? >> no. >> miss cortez masto? >> it aye. >> mr. crapo? mr. crapo, no. mr. cruz? >> no. >> mr. cruz, no. mr. danes? >> mr. danes, no. miss duckworth? miss duckworth aye. mr. durbin? >> aye. >> mr. durbin, aye. >> miss ernest? miss ernest? no. mrs. feinstein aye. mrs. fisher? no. mrs. gillibrand? >> aye. >> mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. graham? >> no. mr. graham, no. mr. grassley? mr. grassley, no. mr. haggardy? >> no. >> mr. haggerty, no. miss hassan? >> aye. >> mr. hawley? >> know. >> mr. hawley, no. mr. heinrich? >>aye. >> mr. heinrich, aye. mr. lick enhooper? aye. mr. hovan? >> no. >> mr. hovan, no. >> mrs. hyde-smith? no. mr. innoff? >> no. >> mr. johnson. >> no. >> mr. johnson, no. >> mr. kane? mr. kane, aye. mr. kelly? >> aye. >> mr. kelly, aye. >> mr. kennedy? >> no. >> mr. kennedy, no. mr. king? >> aye. >> mr. king, aye. miss kwloeb klobuchar? >> aye. >> mr. langford? >> no. >> mr. langford, no. mr. leahy? >> aye. >> mr. leahy, aye. mr. lee? no. miss lummage? >> no. >>

mr. cassidy, what is the edge of that goldman sachs and morgan stanley have.imes it's information or outright courage where somebody says to pull the trigger and take the loss instead of a larger loss later. that is courage on a trading desk. jon: that's what we will ask nomura and credit suisse this morning. tom: this is critical. this is so sensitive and jon and i have dealt with this over the years. is it geography? is it that morgan stanley and goldman sachs are in new york off of 7th avenue where this hedge fund is located, and the others are just psychologically distant? jon: i don't know. i think you make a good point. the other issue is the competition for this particular client. and our colleagues have done some great reporting on why at goldman sachs this client was rejected by compliance repeatedly. tom: it's just the revenue coming in, this guy is a hitter, i don't mean the specific hedge fund, but the idea in prime brokerage that you want to get it. watch billions. jon: people are discussing how much leverage is being used out there. tom: the brit

mr. cassidy. >> aye by proxy. >> mrs. hyde-smith. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. marshall. >> aye. >> on this vote, the aye are 20s and the noes are zero. >> the nomination is favorably reported. this concludes the business meeting and will now turn to our hearing this morning. let me just finish up by welcoming our panel and then senator barrasso will give his opening statement. i want to thank all of you for taking the time to be here and bringing your expertise to our panel. we'll have mr. jim robb president of north american electric reliability corporation. and mr. gabriel and pat wood iii ceo of hunt energy network and mr. michael shellenberger founder of environmental progress and mr. manu athana and president and ceo of pjm interconnection. i want to thank you for being in person and i look forward to your expert analysis. i will now turn to senator barrasso for his statement. >> thank you for calling this important hearing. we all agree that affordable, reliable and resilient electric service is essential for every american. electricity is needed for virt

mr. cassidy, senator cassidy, which he be available? if he is not available we will go to senator heinrich. >> thank you, chairman. ms. speakes-backman, i wanted to ask you a little bit about electrolyzer spirit we heard a lot of different chessmen today and on hydrogen and one of the things that are think it's clear whether you are commons or anybody who starting to invest in that space, that we need to bring down the cost of electrolyzer is. that's one of the key goals here. can you talk a little bit about how we move electrolyzer cost down deployment cost curve are quickly? from your d.o.e. perspective, then we should be doing as a policymaking body to support that? >> thank you for your question and thank you for your leadership on so many aspects of energy storage, either stationary or vehicle and on climate, , addressing the climae crisis. so really appreciate the time and the question. we at d.o.e. while we're looking to demonstrate and apply the technologies that are already at hand, we don't stop a we don't slow down the work t

mr. chair. sen. sanders: thank. senator cassidy. sen. cassidy: hello, folks. mr. brill. sen. cassidy: the orphan drug act was supposed -- sorry, i have a glare behind me. the development of drugs for people for conditions at or below prevalence. we have some drugs that will start off for those that are below prevalence -- [laughter] you're getting a tour of my kitchen. they end up, for other conditions, but the same high price and exclusivity for the orphan drug, then translates over to the more common condition, what thoughts do you have on how we can address that, we don't want this kind of arbitrage where it introduces a higher price than it should be. mr. brill: thank you, senator cassidy. as you may know, i think, seven out of the top 10 drugs being sold in the united states today were granted orphan drug exclusivity's, and as you mentioned, the underlying principle here is desirable. there are rare diseases for which there may be underinvestment in r&d for products to treat those conditions. some existing medicines may help in those smaller patient populations. however t

mr. cassidy aye by proxy. mrs. hyde-smith? aye by proxy. mister marshall? aye. >> on this vote see ayes our 20 and the noes are zero. the nomination is favourably reported. this concludes the business meeting and will now return to our hearing. if you will just let me finish up by welcoming our panel and senator barrasso will give his opening statement. i want to thank all of you for taking the time to be here and bringing your expertise to our panel. we will have mr. jim the president of ceo of electric liability corporation. we have administrator ceo of power administration, we have the honorable path ceo of hunt energy network and former texas public utility commission chairman mr. michael shulem berger, founder president of environmental progress and mr. manu astona. i want to thank you for being with us in person and i look for to your expert analysis and discussion today and i will not turn to senator barrasso for his statement. >> thank you very much, mister chairman, and thank you for following and supporting the hearing. we all agree that affordabl

mr. cassidy: mr. president, we have an issue in this country related to the pandemic. more specifically related to children not going back to school. and, mr. president, one thing that is of incredible concern is it appears that the biden administration which campaigned saying that they were going to follow science alleging that the previous administration was not seems not to be following science but to prejudice their recommendations to fit a political agenda. with that, mr. president, let me develop my case. the harms of prolonged closure to school children are remarkable. they are well known. it's been up to a year since the schools have been closed, and in mr. president's home state of california, there are some school systems which have still not reopened. now, think about this. a place where children go not just to learn but to have social workers make sure they aren't being abused at home, a dietary staff to make sure they have adequate nutrition, but also to learn have been closed for a year. now, we can say wait a second, don't worry about that because the ch

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator brown senator cassidy is next. and then senator sasse will close for the day. senatorlo crapo perhaps you know about the whereabouts of senators cassidy and sasse? you are on mute. >> oh -- my understanding is that senator sasse won't be able to make it back and sense senator cassidy is not here now, i'm assuming same is true for him -- assembly can wrap up. >> i'll wrap up just with a quick statement because i want you all to know what i'm taking away from this because i think it has been a very productive session. a lot of constructive thoughts offered by senators of a variety of different philosophies and to me the take away is that it is urgent business for elected officials to create the conditions for a home grown semiconductor industry that implies high skill, high wage workers for a decade not just for a year. and that's my take away -- and i will jus tell you as a chair of this committee, i have seen too many short term tax policy mistakes. one year i voted against the tax extender package because i said i

cassidy: what's my legislation going to read, how do we thread that needle? mr. brill: we want to think about the standards for which those exclusivity's are granted. for meaningful progress, meaningful treatment, and we can think about engaging with the fda and helping to make those determinations. sen. cassidy: dr. kesselheim, you had mentioned the federal government negotiating with manufacturers, but this would basically be in some cases the united states government would be a purchaser of 99% of the drug produced. think a perspective alzheimer's drug. this so-called monopoly power for a single purchaser -- the federal government buying no one else. it seems to me that could have a chilling effect upon a company's willingness to invest in a drug if they thought the federal government was going to be able to unilaterally set the price. if a president bernie sanders decided we are going to go to negotiating drugs, who would invest in developing an alzheimer's drug, who knew that the return then investment for medicare would be so poor. dr. kesselheim: there are

mr. chairman i yield the floor to whomever is next. >> thank you very much. senator cassidyenator portman. >> thank you mr. chairman thank you for making this possible with all of our schedules. i want to thank you for the hear to go. you and ranking member crapo this is a important one i appreciate it that you're used this morning and your work more generally on this issue. and v you clarified that forced labor involves a lot of different sectors of our economy. ms. hughes i appreciate what you said about how success sob shown by forced labor and we appreciate your companies work in that regards. i have to tell you i was surprisedded by when i saw this investigation i by "the new york times." on what's happening during pandemic in the region of china. this, of course, is where the uighurs areeg spreading human right abuses. and one is, of course, forced labor. and prksppe four companies prior to the pandemic that were producing ppe yet by june that is increased and 17 xangs were known to utilize uighur forced labor. for export and principle still stands instead of a demandi

cassidy: thank you, mr. chairman -- sen. kelly: thank you, mr. chairman. star roscoe, your testimony, you stated that drought can overwhelm clean energy. in last year's heat wave in california, electricity destined for arizona customers was called upon to help keep the california from completely crashing -- california grid from completely crashing. do you think you are prepared for a scenario where water levels get so little in the colorado river that hydropower would not be able to sustain california, arizona or other western states during extreme and prolonged heat waves? sen. kelly: i think do we and ferc have work to do on this for sure. ferc have come to no conclusions, but they are opening a new docket in light of the recent events in texas. they really do need to understand that the system will be stressed going forward, and they will have to figure out how to regulate and improve that. senator kelly: how important are hydropower and nuclear in situations where the electrical grade needs an external power source to recover from the total shutdown? m

mr. bier. from the cato institute. host: plenty off discussion on the sunday shows yesterday starting was senator cassidy republican from louisiana saying the biden administration is responsible for the crisis that is happening right now. >> you cannot help but notice administration changes and there is a surge. one advisor said in spanish. [speaking spanish] which means the border is not closed. and then she said she most on - - misspoken said it is. the spanish version is being heard not english that is being reported in national newspapers as well. so when people think they can get in they began to send the unaccompanied child on aff train right across mexico where she may bein kidnapped and trafficked on the hope they will be waived throughout the border. this policy is leading to this surge. >> republican senator cassidy yesterday and also the response on fox news yesterday from chris murphy. >> it is bad it is getting worse. as we just reported fema will go down therep to try to help. and we are not even in the peak migration. of april and may. >> listen. this is a challenge. the point i am making is you have the

mr. bier. from the cato institute. host: plenty off discussion on the sunday shows yesterday starting was senator cassidy republican from louisiana saying the biden administration is responsible for the crisis that is happening right

mr. langford is able to get on the call right now. senator cassidy, would he be able? if he's not available we're going to senator -- >> i want to ask you a bit about electrolyzers. we heard a lot of different testimony about hydrogen. and i think one of the things i think it's clear anybody starting to invest in that space that we need to bring down the cost of electrolyzers. that's one of the key goals here. so can you talk a bit about how we move electrolyzer cost down and curb the employment cost more quickly from your d.o.e. perspective and what we should be doing as a policymaking body to support that. >> thank you for your question and your leadership on so many aspects of storage either station or vehicle and addressing the climate crisis. so really appreciate the time and question. we at d.o.e. while we're looking to demonstrate and deploy the technology that are already at hand, we don't stop or we don't slow down the work that we have to do on the research and development of lowering the cost of electrolyzers and the entirety of the process of production for

mr. hoyer: i hav >> the covid relief bill recently signed by president biden was the topic on the sunday news programs. we hear first from house speaker nancy pelosi, followed by senators barrasso, cassidy, and murphy. speaker pelosi: the fact is it is strongly bipartisan across the country. it is only in the congress of the united states that republicans refused to meet the needs of the people. they didn't vote, as i said of them, vote no and get the dough.

mr. chairman. >> all right. i'm not sure if we have any senators who remain back yet. there's a vote going on and we expect some to cam back but let me go there senator cassidy ?raibl available how about senator brown? all right well i have questions an while we wait for a couple of those senators to come back, or the chairman to come back, let me go on with the questioning that i started out with. i think many of you very capably pointed out importance of protecting our tax credits for investment research and development. and having a stable system as which we don't go through this annual process for the tax extenders or even longer process we got out of the reconciliation for tax credit policies and i agree very much with that. i'm very concerned, however, about some of the reports that we're getting from the white house in terms of its intended proposals for tax policy that would increase the broad base what i consider to be the very important base of the corporate income tax rate reductions that we achieved in the tcgaa we reduced it from 35.to 21% which still left us when you look at the averages that michelle hamlin pointed out still left us with one of

cassidy. next, i'm pleased to welcome my friend and a colleague from michigan, congresswoman haley stevens, who will introduce mr. miller today. ms. stevens: i'm congresswoman haley stevens, proudly representing michigan's 11th district. chairman peters, ranking member portman, and distinguished members of the committee, it's my great honor and privilege to introduce to you my former colleague and dear friend, jason miller. as you consider him to fill the important role of deputy director for management at the office of management and budget in the white house. my friendship and collaboration with jason goes back to our days working together in the administration of president barack obama where he served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the national economic council. as jason often likes to remind me, i was the very first face he saw when he walked into government on his first day. in the roles where jason served, he continuously found new ways to help government work for people. as his biography will tell you, he played critical controls, if it was working to help puerto rico address

mr. chairman. thank you for the opportunity to testify today as president biden's nominee for this deputy director of the office of management and budget.no one thanked chairman leahy in my home state senator cassidy for introducing me to the any today. one of the joint of the appropriations committee staff member has been the amazing relationships and results that come from chairman leahy and others.re i still vividly remember those four people as you heard that chairman leahy talk about the meeting to avert another government shutdown in february of 2019. even those tense moments, senator leahy still took the time to show me pictures of his beloved family before announcing to the prosthetic compromise had been reached. i will forever be grateful to the tidiness that senator leahy has shown even in the most stressful environments. and senator cassidy, has been a delight to get to know you during this a process. have been any people like to discuss since i moved to dcco certainly appreciate the louisiana hospitality you and your staff have shown. and coming today but my partner, william mckay parents avert your earlier this become a grandmother watching from louisiana. want to thank william, my fa

mr. cassidy, proposes an amendment numbered 1161 to amendment number 891. mr. cassidy: i ask unanimous consent for two minutes of debate equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cassidy: on a bipartisan basis, the december covid relief bill included emergency assistance to private and parochial schools, reimpiousing for things such as disinfectants, technology, and p.p.e. guidelines prioritized schools serving low-income students. the current bill has money for private and par parochial schools but incredibly does not allow reimbursement for covid-related expenses. in a covid relief bill. it does allow arbitrary guidelines restricting which schools are eligible. my amendment goes back to the bipartisan language agreed to in december, prioritizing schools with low-income students and addressing covid expenses. i urge colleagues to support these schools serving 10% of america's children, 7% of children in poverty, to support their families. please support this amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. mrs. murray: mr. president? the presid

mr. cassidy for himself and mr. cotton proposes amendment 1162 to amendment numbered 891. mr. cassidy: i ask unanimous consent for two minutes of debate equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cassidy: i rise on behalf of myself, senators cotton and cruz, our amendment prevents $1,400 stimulus checks from going to inmates. you heard that right. this bill sends $1,400 stimulus checks to people incarcerated for heinous crimes. prisoners have all their living and medical expenses paid for by the taxpayer. they don't pay taxes. they don't contribute to the tax base. they can't be unemployed. in other words, inmates are not economically impacted by covid and inmates cannot stimulate the economy. but under this bill, democrats are giving prisoners again sometimes incarcerated for heinous crimes a $1,400 stimulus check. if we eliminate these, we save taxpayers $1.9 billion. now i know my democratic colleagues aren't going to agree but this spending should be on real needs. stimulus checks for inmates is nontargeted, inappropriate. it is a total waste of money. i

mr. hoyer: i hav >> the covid relief bill recently signed by president biden was the topic on the sunday news programs. we hear first from house speaker nancy pelosi, followed by senators barrasso, cassidy, and murphy. speaker pelosi: the fact is it is strongly bipartisan across the country. it is only in the congress of the united states that republicans refused to meet the needs of the people. they didn't vote, as i said of them, vote no and get the dough. you can be sure all their states and communities will be benefiting from this and they won't be complaining about it back home. let's be on the positive side of it, this is pretty exciting. it is a momentous day. this is transformative. we have 50% of children in poverty will be taken off of poverty. and by the way, this bill is 90% coronavirus centric. this is similar to the bill we wrote in may, the heroes act. some of which was implemented in december, but much of it now. but