why don't you go ahead and give your views and then senator begich. >> thank you mr. reimputed i want to thank you and the ranking member senator murkowski and members of the committee for pushing legislation that will hopefully open up our ability to get our energy resources from our own country to alleviate the high prices of gasoline at the pump right now. thank you for having this hearing. i'm here today to speak on behalf of my bill with senator landrieu, sent a bill 516. we call it the least act because it extends the leases that have really had the deily of the moratorium while they have maintained their expenses, and senator landrieu and alladi drew up this bill because we know the financial commitments made and how expensive it is. the police act fairly restores the time of loss as a result of the offshore moratorium by expending the impact of leases by one year. so everyone who has had a police approved has gone through all the effort to do that would have their lease extended for the period of the moratorium so that they would be able to come back and conti

begich: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska is recognized. mr. begich: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. begich: i ask to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. begich: i'd like to, mr. president, be able to speak and get consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: the senator has that right until 2:00 and then the senate proceeds into executive session. mr. begich: thank you, mr. president. and to my friend who just spoke a little bit ago from oklahoma, absolutely i'm aware of the quantity and the value of alaska oil and gas. and today i rise to discuss this issue as well as a few others related to the issues of oil and gas. i rise today to discuss an issue foremost on the minds of my constituents and the concern to all americans, the rising cost of energy. i want to outline the proposals aimed at providing short-term relief for high prices at the pump and to assure -- ensure americ

begich: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for up to seven additional minutes, that the time be counted against the democratic side and my speech in the "congressional record" nolt be split. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. begich: and, even worse, families now the price is coming down. it is continuing to rise. it is not just affecting families. it is affecting businesses. they feel the stickershot shock as we will. we're seeinthese families and businesses expect toss act now. no more excuses. energy is one place where we should be able to find bipartisan common ground. i have been calling for a comprehensive energy bill from day one in the senate. our lack of progress on this is frustrating. we were real close last spring but now here we're again. we need to provide americans reliable and affordable energy in three ways: short-term relief for consumers, new, renewable energy sources for reliable electricity prices, and keep strong invest

senator begich is on his way i'm advised and will give us his views when he arrives. i have introduced the other two bills, those are s. 916 and s. 917, and i'll take just a minute to describe them. they are intended to separately address two aspects of the issue of responsible domestic production based on bipartisan consensus based work. s. 916, the oil and gas facilitation act is intended to enhance sufficient and appropriate production, domestic production of oil and gas. the last two years have been a time of real success in increasing domestic production and reducing our relines -- reliance on imported oil. we are currently the largest producer of natural gas and the third largest producer of oil in the world. the percentage of the oil that we use that is imported has declined from 60% in 2008 to 51% in 2009 to 49% in 2010. unfortunately this is not the cure for high gas prices, or we would have seen gas prices decline consistently over these years instead of increasing. but this progress is important for many other reasons and we want to be sure that it continue

our first witness is supposed master general -- senator begich, and he slipped on me. it's good to see you. they can, we spend most of our day together. our first witness today's the post general master pat donahue or this is mr. donohue's first time testifying the subcommittee this is your first time? first time this postmaster general. for assuming the position mr. donnie is served as deputy postmaster general and chief operating officer at the postal service. mr. donahue spent his entire career at the postal service as a clerk in his hometown of pittsburgh. next we have the lip herr at the government accountability office. mr. herr has been the gao since 1980 and has a broad range of issues including postal issues. we look forward to your testimony here today. both of your statements will be admitted in their entirety for the record. if you exceed five minutes, i will say much. if you exceed seven or eight minutes, i'll say something. so please proceed. mr. postmaster general. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. chairman, members of the subcommittee. i app

our first witness is supposed master general -- senator begich, and he slipped on me. it's good to see you. they can, we spend most of our day together. our first witness today's the post general master pat donahue or this is mr. donohue's first time testifying the subcommittee this is your first time? first time this postmaster general. for assuming the position mr. donnie is served as deputy postmaster general and chief operating officer at the postal service. mr. donahue spent his entire career at the postal service as a clerk in his hometown of pittsburgh. next we have the lip herr at the government accountability office. mr. herr has been the gao since 1980 and has a broad range of issues including postal issues. we look forward to your testimony here today. both of your statements will be admitted in their entirety for the record. if you exceed five minutes, i will say much. if you exceed seven or eight minutes, i'll say something. so please proceed. mr. postmaster general. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. chairman, members of the subcommittee. i app

days i mean the two democratic senators who have seen being sort of opposite on this issue are mark begich. also mary landrieu both encumber major oil producing states alaska and louisiana and i think there's a lot of legitimate fears among these companies was take off and jobs but i think the way that we kind of that is this you know we can't be held hostage to appropriations if you want to be american you know stay here and pay your fair share if you want to leave here will someone else will step in the market's a big market well i hope the pres or at least work for them that thanks so much for joining us tonight thank you. now so to come on tonight's show we have a show and tell and then if you want senator compares health care to slavery and a mom is under fire for giving her eight year old post talks sit around for happy hour in just a few minutes. we've been apart. i think. either one well. we haven't got the says he heard him say so get ready because you can freedom. i guys welcome michel ancel on the ellen show part of our guests have to say on the topic now i want to hear the audi

days i mean the two democratic senators who have seen being sort of absent on this issue are mark begich. also mary landrieu both men come from asia or prison states alaska and louisiana and i think there's a lot of legitimate fears among these companies it was take off and ship away jobs but i think the way that we can do that is you know we can't be held hostage here corporations if you want to be american you know stay here and pay your fair share if you want to leave someone else's stuff in the markets a big market well i hope that those kinds of threats at least work for those that thank so much for joining us tonight thank you. now still to come on tonight's show we have a show and tell and then if you want some of that compares health care to slavery and of on is under fire for giving her eight year old post talks sit around for happy hour in just a few minutes. and. then we head to the heart of hearts. i think a lot of the one. who doesn't love the show's nuclear safety get ready because of the freedom. hey guys welcome to show itself on the obama show we've heard our guests have

it also assures we make the right decisions and senator begich we were talking of the importance of what we do in alaska, and i appreciate in the missouri and arkansas we have gotten a lot of the rural areas, too said you have my assurance we will make it a very fair process, people will have plenty of input and makes the decisions and make sure we reach out and send anybody the screen to be effective post cards will go out to customers and we will have a hearing and discuss and take their input. >> i want to compliment you on so many pieces, so many parts of your legislation i think a lot of it is very, very strong and i know how hard you worked on this and i do want to compliment mr. donahoe i think you're trying hard and difficult circumstances to figure out how to put the puzzle together. i do feel very strongly if we can say six days it is important to the integrity of the product that we have which is the united states postal service six days a week is going to happen and i worry that we are going to diminish the ability of the business model to survive if we start cannibalizing it

i know the begich/hutchinson bill would help. i think senator bingaman's legislation two bills that we are looking at today would help. i would hope that you would work with us on that. let me just switch if i could another comment that you made in your opening statement up. indicated that there were three buckets that the administration was looking at oil, gas, renewables and alternative and efficiency. as you may know, last week, legislation was introduced by senator shaheen and myself, it's s1,000. and it's basically leverages deployment of energy efficiency technologies in the home building, commercial separation, and industrial space with respect to the federal government. we would love to get your input on the legislation and hope to get your support on it. i wonder if you had any thoughts on the legislation today? >> senator portman, i have not reviewed the legislation s1,000. i would be happy along with my colleague secretary chu and the energy administration. he's a huge part of the bucket to get us to the energy future.

i know that the begich and the hutchison bill would help in transparency that you're talking about. senator bingaman has a bill that would help. i hope that you would work with us on that. let me switch if i could for a second to another comment you made in the opening statement, you indicated there were three buckets the administration was looking at, oil, gas, renewables and alternative energy and efficiency as you may know, last week, legislation was introduced by senator shaheen and myself, energy savings and industrial competitives act, s. 1000 and it leverages deployment of energy technologies. also with regard to the federal government. we would love to get your input on that legislation and we hope to get your support on it. do you have any thoughts on that legislation today? >> i have not reviewed the legislation but i would be happy to do it along with my colleague secretary chu and the administration. it is a huge part of that bucket to get us to that energy future. in fact, part of the reason that we are using -- importing less than 50% of our oil from foreign countries

. >> i understand my time is up, but i think that is where senator begich's legislation is trying to go. i understand there are other issues to bring up. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator frank anden? -- senator franken? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary. the house passed a bill for processing offshore drilling permit approvals. after that, the permit would be deemed automatically approved. so, it seems like this is a bad policy on a number of rounds. first and foremost, i think the number-one lesson from the gulf oil spill, that you cannot assume there are adequate safety measures are in place. can you also -- if you cannot get it done in 60 days, i guess i instead of being automatically approved, you just say no. that is probably also a bad idea. can you talk about your agency's ability to ensure safety in offshore drilling operations? >> i think it would pull up the rug from what we're trying to do here, which is to have safe oil and gas drilling in america's oceans. we are in the position where it would not work. i think it would be good for direct

i can see now why senator landrieu of louisiana and senator begich of alaska called this tax increase proposal a -- quote -- "gimmick" and -- quote -- "laughable." these are two democrats who have been honest about what's going on here. raising taxes will do nothing to lower the cost of fuel. for what it's worth, this bill won't help pay down the deficit either. nothing in this bill man tkhaeuts these new rev -- mandates these new revenues will be dedicated to deficit reduction. any new increase in this bill will be set aside and added to what we call savings on o.m.b.'s savings score card, revenue that could be used to pay for future legislation. we all know that when we increase taxes, our colleagues on the other side are going to spend every dime of it. that's been -- that's just been a matter of fact. so let's be clear about what's going on here. democrats want to increase taxes to pay for more government spending. they have been refreshingly open about their intentions. one of my colleagues state that had this bill will allow us to spend money on cops and pins. another said it wi

our first witness is supposed master general -- senator begich, and he slipped on me. it's good to see you. they can, we spend most of our day together. our first witness today's the post general master pat donahue or this is mr. donohue's first time testifying the subcommittee this is your first time? first time this postmaster general. for assuming the position mr. donnie is served as deputy postmaster general and chief operating officer at the postal service. mr. donahue spent his entire career at the postal service as a clerk in his hometown of pittsburgh. next we have the lip herr at the government accountability office. mr. herr has been the gao since 1980 and has a broad range of issues including postal issues. we look forward to your testimony here today. both of your statements will be admitted in their entirety for the record. if you exceed five minutes, i will say much. if you exceed seven or eight minutes, i'll say something. so please proceed. mr. postmaster general. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. chairman, members of the subcommittee. i app

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mark begich, a senator from the state of alaska, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. nelson: mr. president, i would like to rise today to thank father stevens boes for delivering the opening prayer this morning. father boes has been a priest of the arch diocese of omaha since 1985, he has more than 20 years of experience as a counselor and youth advocate in nebraska. he served eight years in the saint augustine school. he established programs to help winnow children -- preparing thr higher education. in 2005 father boes was named the executive director of boys town, one of the largest child care organizations in america. boys town provides compassionate research-proven treatment for children with behavioral, emotional, and physical problems. father boes is the fourth priest to succeed father edward flanagan, the founder of boys town. father flanagan had grown discouraged in his work with transie

senator begich from alaska said -- quote -- "the president's proposal would cost thousands of jobs in alaska and across the country. energy companies are among the -- the businesses investing and creating jobs at a time when our country needs them both and i will fight any major entities, et cetera. well, i think it should be pretty obvious without the democrats coming in, these two, and i appreciate the fact that they did, that you're not going to be able to reduce the price of oil at the pumps by further taxing the oil an gas industry -- and gas industry. it's ludicrous to even think that anyone would suggest that you could increase taxes on the oil industry and the gas industry and somehow you're going to have energy more available and you're going to reduce the cost of gas at the pumps. you know, it's -- there is a way of doing this that i -- i think is -- is -- is so simple. there's not a person in this country and certainly no one who serves in this body who back during his his or her elementary education didn't learn about supply and demand. here we are in the united states of

senator reid agreed, senator baucus agreed, senator landrieu agreed, senator begich agreed. why aren't we talking about trying to find a way to lower gasoline prices when they are $4 a gallon and going up? the republican plan is very specific. find more american oil and more american natural gas, you find that offshore where 30% of our oil and 25% of our natural gas is produced. you find it on federal lands and you find it in alaska. and then the other part of our equation is use less. we have some agreement with the obama administration on some of these ideas. there are a number of them. jump-start electric cars. senator merkley and i have a bill that is before the energy committee tomorrow to do that. i believe electrifying our cars and trucks is the single best way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. there is legislation to jump-start natural gas for trucks, biofuels from crops we don't eat, fuel efficiency. all of these are various ways to use less. senator thune and senator barrasso performed a service by setting straight the record to show that the united states p

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mark begich, a senator from the state of alaska, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until stands adjourned until that's the essays work for the week. they're not in session next week allowing members to spend time in the home districts. ???? >> over the three-day memorial day weekend commencement addresses from across the country. leaders in politics, business and entertainment, all offering their advice and insights to the graduating class of 2011 at 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. eastern, more the weekend on c-span. >> the senate judiciary committee met on wednesday to consider legislation that would expand the ability to prosecute government contractors and employees for crimes committed overseas. witnesses include lanny breuer, assistant attorney general for the justice department's criminal division as well as a former white house national security council legal adviser an

one of them from myself and senator vitter, senator coburn and senator mccaskill and senator begich and a bunch of other people that said it's not related to small business but it's certainly related to the deficit. what it does, it says -- the president mentioned this in his state of the union address -- we have thousands, maybe tens of thousands of pieces of surplus property that the federal government owns that we're not using. we pay money to keep them secure, we pay money for the utilities, for the upkeep. we're not using them. we ought to sell them. we can't give them away -- if we can't give them away to the state governments and homeless groups, we ought to sell them. that's going to be offered as an amendment to the small business bill. my hope is my colleagues will support it. senator landrieu who chairs the small business committee and senator snowe who is the ranking republican, previously the chair, have worked on the underlying bill for something like six years, six years. it passed -- again, i'll say, pretty year by unanimous consent. we need to get it done. we need to ge

recognized for up to five minutes off the democratic time: senator menendez, senator lautenberg, senator begich and senator whitehouse. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: madam president, i just briefly want to address this question of why we on our side have not laid down our budget proposal. and let me just repeat, we are in an unusual year. this is not going to be a circumstance in which there's a republican budget, a democratic budget, you go to conference committee and they're resolved, because we have a new process underway at the leadership level involving the white house. this is what the republican leader himself said about that process. the discussions that can lead to a result between now and august are the talks being led by vice president biden. that's a process that could lead to a result, a measurable result. and in that meeting is the only democrat who can sign a bill into law; in fact, the only american out of 307 million of us who can sign a bill into law. he is in those discussions. that will lead to a result. madam president, we don't need a democratic bud

begich: mr. president, i rise today to speak about the ongoing budget negotiations. as a member of the senate budget committee, i have jumped into this debate head on, but we are -- we are all here together. this is why i have asked the alaskans in my state, in my communities all across the state to share their ideas with me on how to cut the budget and to put forward a series of cuts and spending management programs. from ideas of my colleagues and members throughout the state but also ideas i have picked up in my budget hearings. we know we're all going to feel the pinch if we're serious about getting our budget and spending under control. but i have made it crystal clear. i absolutely will not balance the budget on the backs of seniors. for me, the budget is a moral document. it reflects our values as a nation and it demonstrates our commitment to supporting our elders and protecting our children. it is the future pathway of our great country. but the republican house budget that has passed the house and is proposed for us today to vote on does not reflect these v