i'm appreciative of senator carper and barrasso. i thank senator feinstein and murkowski for their leadership. we know fuel is safely stored. it can be stored there for a long time. maybe 100 years. that's not where it's supposed to be stored. we need to solve that problem. the second thing that's happening, senator binghamton, senator murkowski are creating a proposal to implement their recommendations your commission has made. senator feinstein and i hope to be co-sponsors of that. we've been meeting on it regularly. we hope that that bill can be introduced within the next two, three weeks. senator binghamton hopes to have a hearing on it soon. in other words, we want to get moving. this is an area in washington where we've had a stalemate for 25 years. senators on both sides are taking advantage of an excellent report by the commission. whether or not you favor yucca mountain, we need to move ahead with consolidation sites, finding a second repository. we can argue about yucca mountain. along the way. >> thank you for the experti

senator barrasso? all right. he's going to yield to you. take it away. >> he already did that once. i'm getting in his debt. this has been very helpful and very interesting. mr. howes, let me ask you about yankee companies. you've got three sites, right? how many reactors? [ inaudible ] >> the sites are fully decommissioned. >> so all you've got stranded fuel. >> we have stranded nuclear fuel at three of our sites. the reactor, you know, all of the buildings have been removed. they're fully decommissioned. >> and so you've got the fuel that we're supposed to be taking care of? >> our fuel is licensed by the nrc for both storage and transport and it's ready to go when the federal government comes to pick it up. >> well, the suggestion, and you mentioned the language in the appropriations bill, which comes from an impulse to -- these things take a while. i mean, the stalemate's been 25 years. it takes congress a little while to pass any kind of legislation. so our thought with the appropriations bill was can we take a step or two while we work out the comprehensive piece or legislatio

john barrasso, republican from wyoming.ewers at home, hemmer@foxnews.com or twitter @billhemmer. we can continue the discussion throughout the week. what's next? martha: we have new details coming up in the outrage simmering over america's olympic uniforms. a lot of people were upset those were made in china. now the company behind that call doing a bit of a an about-face. we'll explain the berets and all of that. bill: frightening reports out of syria. why defecting military general says the syrian government is ready and willing to use chemical weapons. ♪ what can i get you ? cheeseburger. you know what, got any salads ? b-ball, anyone ? and then take your leg wide out to the side. you can do it, dad thanks, girl i'm really proud of you, dad. make the most of your network with verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined. bill: it was usa's olympic gash made in china. ralph lauren says the uniforms will be made here in the united states. this year's outfits were made in china. did you know that 2010 and

then, wyoming senator john barrasso has the republican response. he discussed the supreme court's decision to uphold the health care law. >> hello, everybody. i'm here in colorado springs, visiting some of the devastating fires that have taken place over the last several days. as many of you have been watching on television, entire communities are under threat, and we have a chance to tour some of the devastation that has been taking place in some of these subdivisions here. firefighters are working 18 hours a day around the clock, trying to make sure that they get this blaze under control. we have volunteers out here making sure that these firefighters have the food and the water and all the resources that they need. we have been engaging in some unprecedented coordination between federal, state, and local communities to try to bring this fire under control. one of the things i have done here in addition to saying thank you to these firefighters is to let them know that all of america has their backs. one of the things that happens, whether it is

. >> to my panel, i ask senator barrasso if he feels prepared to bring us home and be our last questioner. he's up to it. take me home. do you want some music? >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> the guy from nashville, from tennessee. >> thanks, mr. chairman. mr. howes, i'm concerned about how long it's taken to address the long-term storage of nuclear waste. its process began three decades ago. we're no closer to a solution. with regard to interim storage, you talk about wanting to see that timely implementation of the blue ribbon commission's recommendation -- i keep saying blue river which is where people go skiing in the -- it's a great place to do a number of digit thi different things. blue ribbon's recommendations. what would be timely? you talk about time lly to see these recommendations itch letted. >> we recognize nothing proceeds quickly when we're talking about nuclear waste. i think the brc, the blue ribbon commission, recognize there are long lead times for developing any of the consolidated storage options including looking at transportation and other issues. the blue ribbon co

kar.es gmoghmar, anmember barrasso, senator alexander, senator udall.i am eric howes director of vernnt plic faird annk atomic in western massachusetts. we and our fellow sites that comprise of decommissioning plant coalition work closely with the blue rbonoss ee ndooe iqmptoure ted sth rmtlut ror sf the yankee companies and others and the dpc especially endorsed those drc recommendations concerning permanently shut wn tst moiry th mpstist a liin a consolidated interim storage facility or facilities. the establishment of airst in be rrenr ri rthemoem ut ac st se ce clid ag sites. and the prompt initiation of programs to coordinate federal, state and local efforts to pl for the transportation of this anspfateor e rmsiot sus t woit cinsisy panels at the yankee companies that help demonstrate how a community-based process works to address issues in meingful discsionthatield s. mmthbri is as ike s tep is er fr tote scattered aroundhe nation. we believe that fy13 efforts should even more aggressively vance the resolution of issues we pedeeh rt hcotto its beg

. >> senator barrasso's comments lead me to believe he lives in an alternate universe. >> an alternateniverse. that's what my neighbors in new york say when i say this stuff. >> barbara is the chair of the environment public works committee, which is why i am working so hard to have the republicans take over the senate i. she's not -- >> she will not -- >> she's above you. >> she will not be the chairman. and the democrat and it is environmental agenda won't be in charge and calling the shots on this. i worry about this unemployment rate which continues to be so high. so many americans out of work. i want to get a healthy economy and a healthy environment. i think we can do absolutely both of them. but when we follow this extreme environmental agenda, which is very, very costly. and the benefits are really unknown, i don't think we are helping our country. >> thank you, senator. coming up, more examples of how what you think you know may not be so. for example, do you steal? ever? you say, no. but my cameras caught people in the act. ps >> we all have biases. but i grew up believing th

. >> senator barrasso's comments lead me to believe he lives in an alternate universe. >> an alternate universe. that's what my neighbors in new york say when i say this stuff. >> barbara is the chair of the environment public works committee, which is why i am working so hard to have the republicans take over the senate i. she's not -- >> she will not -- >> she's above you. >> she will not be the chairman. and the democrat and it is environmental agenda won't be in charge and calling the shots on this. i worry about this unemployment rate which continues to be so high. so many americans out of work. i want to get a healthy economy and a healthy environment. i think we can do absolutely both of them. but when we follow this extreme environmental agenda, which is very, very costly. and the benefits are really unknown, i don't think we are helping our country. >> thank you, senator. coming up, more examples of how what you think you know may not be so. for example, do you steal? ever? you say, no. but my cameras caught people in the act. >> we all have biases. but i grew up believing tha

wyoming senator john barrasso, chairman of the senate republican policy committee. doug holtz-eakin, former director of the nonpartisan congressional budget office and president of the american action forum. gentlemen, good morning to you. senator, what do you think about this? 84 billion less over about 11 years. >> well, bill, it still shows there is over a trillion dollars of new taxes on the american people. it still shows it cuts $700 billion from our seniors, on medicare, and yet today the democrats in congress want to vote again to raise taxes on the american people. folks in wyoming, folks across the country realize that this cost to this health care law continues to hurt our economy. they are linked together. bill: let me bri in doug into this. you crunched numbers for a living, doug. keep it in english for me if you can. >> sure. bill: 84 billion in savings over 11 years. it sounds good as a headline. do you believe it? >> well here's the how the cbo analysis works. suppose someone is on medicaid and end up being uninsured, the taxpayers save $6,000. if in

in today's weekly gop address wyoming senator barrasso lashing out at president obama -- at presidentfor introducing what he calls a new tax to pay for it. >> the president and his allies in congress are going to try to convince the public the supreme court just gave the health care law a seal of approval. the fact is this is the same failed policy that won't lower the cost of health care in america. thursday i was in the courtroom as the supreme court ruled the health care law was what the president claimed was not, a new tax. >> harris: congressman engall defending the law earlier saying the mandate that forces people to buy insurance is not a tax. >> bottom line is, we currently have 50 million americans who are uninsureed. you want to know what a tax is? when they go into the emergency and you and i have to pay for it. what this health care act is going to eliminate that because everyone is going to have insurance. and the so-called tax is only going to affect those people who don't buy insurance who can afford to buy insurance and don't. the average person that has insurance this

. >> wyoming senator john barrasso, thank you for joining us this morning. take care. >> thank you, luke. >>> up next, a worldwide birthday celebration for an iconic statesman. that's just one of the stories on our radar this morning. >>> plus new twist on the fight over voting rights. team obama fires up the lawyers. but first today's trivia question, whose the first republican woman to secure a full-time seat on the senate finance committee? tweet us the answer at daily rundown. the first correct answer will get -- i'm going to guess feinstein in the 80s. that might be wrong. we'll see. it's a guess. don't get angry, just a guess. >>> ohio-based interior designer pamela bear was doing well, passing on smaller clients. when the work stopped coming she had to rethink her business plan, diversifying by thinking both big and small. she made sure every customer knew they were valuable to her. for more watch your business sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. [ male announcer ] we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be

second chance, trying to persuade voters they will like obamacare while republican senator john barrassohaving none of it and it is time for our sunday group, brit hume, fox news senior political analyst. liz marlantes of the christian science monitor and shannon bream who covers the supreme court for us and charles lane from the "washington post" and, chief justice roberts closes the legal avenue to overturn obamacare. how secure is obamacare as a big government program that will go forward. >> as a political, legislative earth matter it is more vulnerable to repeal than before for the reasons you discussed with senator mcconnell. this being a tax, opens the possibility that it can be dealt with, acted on, repealed using budget reconciliation, no filibuster allowed, a simple majority of 51 is enough to undo the law, so furthermore, in terms of the popularity of the law, in jack lew's interview with you, as classic illustration of this. this is going to do nothing for the law's popularity, already unpopular it turns out it will involve a sizable tax increase and the administration is ter

barrasso: mr. president, just to follow up on that because clearly in the great state of wyoming, lots of farmers, lots of ranchers, it is our heritage, it is our economy, it is our future, and many people -- and we talk add little bit about that, just to keep these operations going, actually some of them have a job in town, so they can make enough money to help pay the mortgage, keep things going, but the price of land continues to go up and on paper they may have quite a bit of resources. so to think that we are in the next hour going to vote on a proposal by the democrats to bring back the death tax is something that should be a surprise to all americans, and it's farmers, it's ranchers, it's also small business owners. i think of the movie theater owner in casper who, known for over 20 years, operated on him, fixed his angle when he broke it. then he started with one small theater. sold the tickets, made the popcorn, other people helped him out, made it all work, expanded to a second movie thea

barrasso who was head of the hbmx anti-money laundering program was leaving the bank. he had an exit meeting with you, mr. bagley, i believe. and according to the a meeting summary, mr. barrasso told you there were allegations that, quote, 60-70% of money laundering in mexico went through hbmxx he did not think senior management had any commitment to robust anti-money laundering controls. that memo, i believe exhibit 30, was written to you, mr. thurston, if i've got that -- >> that's correct, chairman. >> -- correct. what, what was your reaction when you got that memo? >> mr. chairman, i was incredibly distressed. [laughter] i don't think anybody wants to hear those sorts of things coming through, so we made sure that we investigated. we made sure that we took the points that were there. we'd recently had discussion with the regulators in mexico. and we made sure that we took account of those points within the remediation program that we were looking at in mexico to make sure there was nothing new that we had missed. it also caused us to question whether our head of co

barrasso: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: swoubgs. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i come to the floor today as i do week after week since the health care law was passed to give a doctor's second opinion about the health care law that i believe is bad for patients, bad for the providers, the nurses and the doctors who take care of those patients. and terrible for the american taxpayers. and i come to the floor today reminding myself and the senate of some promises the president made during the health care debate. the president had a couple of key promises. the first was he stated that health insurance premiums would go down. the second promise he made is he said if you like your insurance plan, you can keep your insurance plan. now, the president actually reiterated this second point after the supreme court issued its decision regarding the health care law a few weeks ago. from the east room of the white house, the pr

barrasso: thank you. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. barrasso: thank you. i come to the floor today to do as i do week after week as a doctor pro practiced medicine in wyoming taking care of families from across our state for a quarter of a century, to give a doctor's second opinion about the health care law. one of the central claims of president obama and democrats from washington who voted here in this senate chamber was that the health care law would extend insurance coverage for millions of americans. that was their goal. they claim that is what has happened. the president claimed repeatedly that 30 million more americans would receive health coverage because of the health care law. well, after practicing for 25 years, i understand that there is a huge difference between health coverage and health care. when people have a health insurance card, then they have coverage. when people have access to a doctor or a nurse

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator is recognized. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor as i do each week as a physician who practiced medicine in wyoming for a quarter of a century taking care of so many families there to give a doctor's second opinion about the health care law that has now been found constitutional by the supreme court, although it may not be unconstitutional, it is still unworkable, it is unaffordable and it is very unpopular. and today i want to talk about one of the specific components of the health care law and that is the issue of medicaid expansion. most of the discussion of the supreme court's health care decision has been focused on the individual mandate, that incredibly unpopular portion of the law that forces every american who buy a government-approved product. government-approved health insurance. the supreme court has ruled it a tax. it is a tax. still,

joining us now, wyoming senator, john barrasso, nice to have you on set. >> good to be with you. jenna: everyone is talking about the economy being the number one issue. why spend so much time on foreign policy right now when so many people are out of work and just don't have any prospects to find jobs? >> i'm focused significantly on the economy. was there this weekend in wyoming. that is what people are talking about, jobs, the economy, the debt and amount of spending this president continues to do. we need to get people back to work. we're at 8.2% unemployment. it has been that way for 40 months. the president's made a lot of promises. they have all been broken. people want to get back to work. foreign policy is important because it talks to a level of leadership that we see and mitt romney has that leadership. we've seen it in israel. jenna: let's talk a little bit about the specifics of about leadership. some have suggested when they heard mitt romney speak specifically about the issue when it comes to iran and israel he sound very similar to the president. the president's s

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. it has been more than 30 years since i was in medical school, but i still remember the day that my classmates and i stood to recite the hippocratic oath. that is an oath that has guided doctors for centuries. at its simplest, it can be boiled down a single phrase: "first do no harm." i was reminded of that last week when the federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke, testified to the senate banking committee, speaking about the approach that washington should take toward healing our sick economy, he said, "do no harassment" well, that's good -- "do no harm." well, that's good advice. the problem is that we have a president in the white house and democrats in congress who don't believe it and don't act that way. day after day, as the president makes one policy decision after another, his policies do harm to the american economy and to the american p

barrasso: mr. president, i come to the floor today as i do week after week ever since the president's health care law has been passed, to offer a doctor's second opinion about this health care law, which i believe is bad for patients. it's bad for providers, the nurses and the doctors who take care of those patients. and it's terrible for taxpayers. what we saw, mr. president, is that the supreme court issued its historic decision on the president's health care law. the court confirmed -- the court confirmed, mr. president, that the individual mandate in the president's health care law is a tax. the president said it wasn't a tax, but i will just tell you the supreme court confirmed that it is in fact a tax. and the decision makes it clear that the internal revenue service, the i.r.s., will now play an unprecedented role in america's health care system. that is not something that the american citizens have asked for or want. but it is something many american citizens fear. recently the associated p

with that, let me turn to my partner in crime, senator barrasso. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to thank you in joining the witnesses who agreed to be here to testify, including the two blue ribbon commissioners. most especially, i want to welcome lieutenant general brent scowcroft, the co-chair of the blue ribbon commission. so thank you for your service to our country and for agreeing to testify today. thank you, both. mr. chairman, the issue of the storage of nuclear waste is vital to maintaining and expanding affordable nuclear power in the united states. all of us here know that congress took action 30 years ago to begin addressing the problem of the buildup of nuclear waste stored in nuclear plants throughout the united states. the nuclear waste policy act passed by congress laid out a process that looked at three possible long term storage sites. yucca mountain was deemed the best by the department of energy after a thorough technical analysis.