senator john barrasso. >> thanks for having me.is just in, breaking news, in santiago, chile. the entire coast of chile is now under a tsunami watch, after an 8.3-magnitude earthquake hit just off the coast of chile. powerful quake shook the capital of santiago causing buildings to sway. people running into the streets. this occurred just 10 minutes ago. several strong aftershocks have fallen within moments. the tsunami alarms sounding throughout santiago. authorities issuing the tsunami alert for the country's entire coast, as you said, that tsunami alert also extends all the way north and west to hawaii. hawaii is also under now a tsunami watch. again, after that 8.3-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of santiago. the u.s. geological survey reporting the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9, then quickly upgraded the earthquake to a magnitude 8.3. we will be bringing you the latest as we learn more. again, this powerful earthquake hitting chile just a matter of about 12, 13 minutes ago. >>> turning now to the death toll r

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i'm proud of my colleague from south carolina for the remarkable speech that he just gave to this senate about the concerns about this president's deal with iran. the president's nuclear deal with iran, that's what the senate is debating right now, a deal that president obama negotiated with iran, and whether that deal should stand or fall. this agreement could affect american foreign policy in the middle east and beyond for this generation as well as the next. it will affect america's relationship with our allies as well as with our enemies. other countries are wondering, will america accept a flawed agreement that gives iran almost everything it has asked for. or will we or will we as the united states of america stand strong against outlaw nations with nuclear ambitions and dreams? as senators prepare to vote on this legislation, we should ask does this agreement do enough to stop iran's nuclear weapons program. does this agreement do enough to protect the security of the american

senator barrasso. >> morning. >> it's good to see you.later today i will be chairing the committee to better understand how they epa actions are impacting the tribes downstream from the clove king side and i anticipate that we will have a summer day because of a robust discussion. before you came in he said there is no denying that they caused this disaster. he's very thoughtful and this happened in his home state. he had a big partisan concern about what happened and my question to you and isn't it true that when a private company is accused of violating the act but the epa under your specific leadership has aggressively pursued at the civil fines against the company and individuals within the company? and is it true that if there was a 3 million-dollar toxic spill at private citizens that epa would act aggressively against those companies? how large of a fine would they be pursuing under the cases? cynically scenic we've are there to protect what would be the problem. there is no question that the actions contributed to this bill today

this is john barrasso of wyoming.e role of senator in a movie perhaps you'd cast one of those guys. now i'm going to show you a photo of a guy who wants to be a u.s. senator. this is jon fetterman. he's the 6'8" tattooed mayor of braddock, pennsylvania, a town of less than three people -- 30,000 people. 10 miles from pittsburgh. fetterman didn't grow up in braddock. he ended up there after earning a master's degree in public policy from harvard and going on to run a g.e.d. program for braddock's underprivileged youth. braddock is a struggling steel town and has been for decades. it's lost nearly 90% of its population since the middle of the last century and nearly 40% of braddock's residents live below the poverty line. fetterman has served as mayor since 2005. it's a role limited in official powers. but fetterman has been trying to build the community back up from encouraging development to starting a non-profit to save properties. his devotion to the town is literally written on his body. on one arm fetterman has ta

president obama will meet face to face with the cuban president raoul castro. 1 with me now yawn barrassogood morning to you. castro today. putin yesterday it's a different world at a time when the iranian president said the newcomers, meaning the united states, are to blame for terrorism in the middle east because of our actions in afghanistan and iraq. >> the world is a lot more dangerous than it was when president obama came into office. we see the president heading the other way. the president is in retreat. he's very passive. we see the problems the president's inaction has created. you see after more aggressive putin. you see raunch more aggressive. with regard to the middle east it was the withdrawal of the troops that left the void which isis came into being. and the president said a lot of things liking a reset with russia. like he said a red line in syria. but the facts on the ground are very different than the words coming out of the president's mouth. bill are said i have to appeal to democratic nations. how is that working out? >> not very well. we sees an axis of influence r

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. the american people have gotten used to hearing bad news about their health care ever since the democrats passed obamacare. it seems like each and every day there is another headline about another way that the health care law is hurting people. last wednesday there was a remarkable amount of bad news in just one day. this is "the wall street journal," wednesday, september 23. headline: health insurers defend their deals. you flip the page over, the bottom half of that page. cost of a family health plan tops $17,000 with a chart of rising costs. the annual cost of an employer continues to go up. one day, one page. the top article is about a wave of insurance companies mergers which we have been seeing recently. the president said that his health care law would actually increase competition among insurance companies. but just like a lot of the other predictions that president obama made, this one has not come true. back in june the insurance company aetna announced plans to buy humana.

now republican senator john barrasso who penned a good column on the entire subject, and what has gone on with this whole iran fiasco. but as you pointed out, senator, the problem was right from the get-go, if you know you have a bad deal it just gets worse, but here we be, right? and republicans don't look like they have their act together. no offense to you. am i miss reading something? >> you're absolutely right about a bad deal. the president wanted it bad, and got a bad deal. allows iran to develop a nuclear capability. it's a pathway to a weapon. gives iran lots of money i think they'll use for terror and terrorism, they've done that in the past. there's secret deals that we are trying to get to see. we met with the heads of the iaea, international atomic energy agency and couldn't tell us that any american had seen these. neil: the iaea, this is one of the more galling features, the iaea feels it does not have to share whatever it agreed to with iran with anyone, let alone any of the other countries that voted for this. >> that's why i think the democrats -- i think that's why t

outside the window the next big as senator feinstein but with preagreed order of hatch, cornyn, barrasso and gartner, it's my understanding that we only have about 15-20 minutes of time left on our side until 5:00. and i just say that for the convenience of members. i don't have the, mr. president, if you chose how much exact time we have on this side? >> the republicans have approximately 10 and one half minutes remaining. >> i say that for the convenience of the people on our site you may come and go. that's the order, and i know -- how much time does the democrats side have? >> [inaudible conversations] >> the democrats have approximate one hour 15 minutes. >> so, so just based on the process that was put forward by the minority whip, obviously will have maybe one or speaker overeager i assume you'll have democrats to vote on your side in televised. just want to make that no two people. thank you. >> mr. president? spent the senator from california. >> try to i rise today to show support for the nuclear agreement in our brain. i do so because i believe this diplomatic achievement prov

but it was a preagreed order of hatch, cornyn, barrasso and gardner. it's my understanding that we may only have about 15 to 20 minutes of time left on our side until 5:00. and i just say that for the convenience of members. i don't know if the president -- mr. president, if you could tell us how much exact time we have on this side. the presiding officer: the republicans have approximately 10 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. corker: i say that for the convenience of people on our side who may come and go. that's the order and i know that obviously -- how much time does the democrat side have? the presiding officer: the democrats have approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes. mr. corker: okay. so just based on the process that was put forth by the minority whip, obviously we'll have maybe one more speaker over here. i assume that you'll have democrats to fill the time on your side until 5:00. i just wanted to make that known to people. thank you. mrs. feinstein: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: mr. president, i rise

but it was a preagreed order of hatch, cornyn, barrasso and gardner. it's my understanding that we may only have about 15 to 20 minutes of time left on our side until 5:00. and i just say that for the convenience of members. i don't know if the president -- mr. president, if you could tell us how much exact time we have on this side. the presiding officer: the republicans have approximately 10 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. corker: i say that for the convenience of people on our side who may come and go. that's the order and i know that obviously -- how much time does the democrat side have? the presiding officer: the democrats have approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes. mr. corker: okay. so just based on the process that was put forth by the minority whip, obviously we'll have maybe one more speaker over here. i assume that you'll have democrats to fill the time on your side until 5:00. i just wanted to make that known to people. thank you. mrs. feinstein: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: mr. president, i rise

barrasso, senator from missouri mr. blunt. senator from mississippi mr.icker, senator from maine,s miss collins. senator from alaska. from tennessee mr. corker. senator from new hampshire ms. ayotte. senator from illinois mr. deserver, senator from new york, mr. schumer. senator from washington mr. murray. from ver national correspondent mr. leahy. senator from montana mr. tester. senator from michigan, mr. -- excuse me the senator from michigan, miss stabenow. senator from minnesota. senator from maryland, senator from new jersey, senat. >> the members will exit the chamber through the lobby doors h >> when the good senators made their way through that aisle, within about ten minutes the holy father, pope francis will also make his way down the aisle. and that will be very interesting. because they're going to have members of congress stationed on the aisle trying to stop other members reaching out to touch or shake hands or otherwise-- >> they've been told they can't, but you think they'll do it anyway? >> i think there may be some applause during the s

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i'm proud of my colleague from south carolina for the remarkable speech that he just gave to this senate about the concerns about this president's deal with iran. the president's nuclear deal with iran, that's what the senate is debating right now, a deal that president obama negotiated with iran, and whether that deal should stand or fall. this agreement could affect american foreign policy in the middle east and beyond for this generation as well as the next. it will affect america's relationship with our allies as well as with our enemies. other countries are wondering, will america accept a flawed agreement that gives iran almost everything it has asked for. or will we as the united states of america stand strong against outlaw nations with nuclear ambitions and dreams? as senators prepare to vote on this legislation, we should ask does this agreement do enough to stop iran's nuclear weapons program. does this agreement do enough to protect the security of the american people and

barrasso: thank you, madam president.madam president, last week, a bipartisan majority of members of this body voted to try to stop president obama's dangerous and desperate deal with iran. that's right, dangerous and desperate. the president wants to give iran relief from economic sanctions that the world had imposed. i believe that president obama traded away these sanctions, he traded away them too readily and he got too little in return. these sanctions included limits on the sale of iranian oil. now, according to one estimate, iran could soon begin to export as much as a million additional barrels of oil each and every day. the money iran makes from these sales will go, as i know, to shoring up its economy and it will go to building up iran's military. some of it will undoubtedly go to supporting global terrorists. that's what president obama traded away. iran will be allowed to sell its oil anywhere in the world and american oil producers are largely prohibited from selling american oil anywhere in the world. appare

barrasso: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. i want to speak today about a tragedy that hit american people, the american west last month. it's something that really didn't get nearly as much attention as it should have. i'm talking about what's been called the gold king mine spill. it happened on august 5. that's when the environmental protection agency spilled three million gallons of toxic wastewater into a tributary of the animas river in colorado. three million gallons. this is water that contained toxic substances like arsenic and lead. the agency was doing some work on an old mine when water under high pressure started rushing out. this disturbing incident raises serious questions about how the e.p.a., the so-called environmental protection agency, how it does business. first of all, it raises significant questions about this agency's responsiveness. after the e.p.a. had this accide