boozman: we appreciate your leadership. perhaps we could the three of us get some others to write a no note to the secretary of commerce and ask him to make a much-needed trip to africa and really look at this bill and then not only do this but other ways that we can use as a strategy to implement so we can get our small businesses trading more with the continent. again, keeping up with the likes of china, india, all of the places that we mentioned. and i think that once it you all over we'll be very proud of our efforts just like i'm very proud as you all have mentioned of the efforts we made in feeding the hungry, helping with those with h.i.v., those with malaria and things like that. it is interesting that it is the place in the world where we have the highest, you know, acceptability. people are very pleased with the american -- what the americans have done there. and the state department has done a great job, we're teaching people how to fish rather than just feeding them, and that's been very, very successful. so i j

boozman: thank you. for the office and were elected because we need people like yourself, people that were successful businessmen that understand the unintended consequences of much of what we do up here. i like you also have firsthand understanding of the issue from an employer's perspective and maybe a little bit unique perspective. before i came to congress, i practiced optometry and helped run an eye care clinic with my partners, nine other partners, for 24 years. so when president obama's health care bill came before us when i was in the house, i fully skwrupbd stood from both the -- understood from both the medical provider and from the business aspect that from both accounts it was the wrong approach to the problem of rising health care kofpts and with -- costs and wie doctor's caucus in the house worked very hard to highlight the problems and also to highlight the alternative options working through the free-market approach. there's no doubt about it, we're facing a serious crisis. health care co

boozman: thank you. as february came to a close, it left behind an unfortunate new record. $3.73 per gallon, the national average for unleaded gasoline was the highest ever recorded during this month. prior to this morning's drop of .03 cents, gas prices had been on the rise for 27 straight days. just three years, gas prices have dawnldz they are not stopping there. back home in arkansas, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is up over 25 cents from a month ago many analysts are predicting we will hit $4 a gallon by summer. think about what that does to the economy. for small businesses and owners, it means much higher overhead. those costs ultimately get passed on to the consumers. in very dire cases, which many of our small businesses are facing today, due to reduced profit margins, threats of higher taxes and increased regulations, high gas prices could be the final straw. it puts extra pressure on the budgets of ardent, cash-strapped local governments. just the other day i was reading a

and senator boozman. >> thank you, madam chair. and again, very quickly, i just want to thank the secretary for being here. and the team that he's assembled for your hard work. senator brown mentioned that there's a lot of individuals in the va that are there because they want to be and could have other opportunities. and certainly you're in that category. and you know, you've led soldiers and now you're serving veterans. so we really do appreciate it very, very much. the other thing i would say is senator isakson mentioned, i do appreciate the fact that you're very willing to work in congress and very approachable, you and your staff. so that's something that is appreciated. so we appreciate all that you guys have done in the past and are looking forward to you doing a bunch in the future. and i yield back, madam chair. >> all right. thank you very much. with that i want to welcome again secretary shinseki. thank you for coming here today to give your perspective on the department's fiscal year 2013 budget and the fiscal year 2014

boozman: thank you, madam president. in a moment i'm going to speak about energy but first of all, as i was waiting to have the opportunity do this, i want to thank senator mcconnell for giving us an update on what's going on in kentucky. we do a lot of very, very important things here, one of the things i'm going to talk about, you know, talking about energy is one of the most important, and yet it is good to hear the stories of ordinary americans doing extraordinary things. and this truly is what our country is all about, and i know that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of kentucky, but it is so refreshing. we talk a lot about our problems, but that's the strength of america. is people like the folks in kentucky and all throughout america that rise to the occasion as they need to. the increasing price of gas is a costly reminder of how dependent our country is on foreign oil. this is one of the most pressing issues that we face today because the price at the pump directly impacts our everyday lives and arkan

i'm glad senator boozman came down to discuss this issue. mr. boozman: thank you. mr.resident, i want to thank the senator from missouri and appreciate his hard work in bringing his leadership and bringing this amendment forward. president obama's accommodation of religious liberty, his resraoeusd health care mandate covering contraceptives, sterilizations, medicines covering abortions raising more questions than it answers. perhaps the more troublesome part is even with this revision, the president's mandate refuses to acknowledge that the constitution guarantees conscience protections. he instead tries to run around them. you don't accommodate religious liberty. you respect them. that's why they are enshrined in the constitution. those constitutional protections should prevent the president from trampling the conscience rights of americans and religious institutions who hold a strong belief that contraceptives, sterilizations, drugs causing abortion are wrong. clearly however these constitutional protections are not enough. president obama's accommodation shows that

secretary, senator boozman. the savings -- let's just go through a little bit of what went on in 2011. we saved a large amount of money. the g.a.o. reviewed that, and we're still actually negotiating with them about what they actually found. the essence is going to be that we indeed can validate the savings that we've claimed from the various operational efficiencies. they do have a legitimate criticism about the way we measured things and the gran layer tee of the measurement -- granular tee of the measurement, which we're going to be improving. in 2013, we are going to save a large amount of money in dialysis. we've got contracts now for blanket purchase agreements with virtually every dialysis center that we use that are going to save us hundreds of millions of dollars over what we would have expended had we not been able to do that. the medicare rate payment changes that occurred with the regulations, allowing us to charge medicare rates for both the professional fee and the facility fee is going to save us

senator boozman david standpoint of what happened in regard to rationing. tax return which i assume it will be in terms of what kind of coverage you have, it is the irs. the irs will be the enforcement entity. oozing forcing this? your friendly internal revenue service reenforced it. so i have a lot of feeling about this. i took from florida the day to discuss promises made and promises not kept. i would tell the distinguished senator from wisconsin all the words that come back to bite you. president's promise that you can keep your health care plan. he might have believed it then as senator johnson -- that is just not the case. i didn't believe it then and i said so. you two are taking a good look and you don't believe it either. employers and health-care providers told me when the majority of the provisions of the health care reform law would take effect it would be more affordable for an employer to simply stop offering their employees' coverage and pay a penalty rather than face the increase in premiums and continue to offer any coverage. now these pred

senator boozman, the savings -- let's just go through a little bit of what went on in '11. we saved a large amount of money. the gao reviewed that and we're still actually negotiating with them about what they actually found. the essence is going to be that we indeed can validate the savings that we claimed from the various operational efficiencies. they do have a legitimate criticism about the way we measured things and the granularity of the measurement in which we're going to be improving. for 2013, as the secretary mentioned we are going to save a large amount of money in dialysis. we've got contracts now or blanket purchase agreements with virtually every dialysis center that we used that are going to save us hundreds of millions of dollars over what would have expended had we not been able to do that. the medicare rate payment change occurred with the regulations allowing us to charge -- to collect -- charge medicare rates for both medical fee and facility fee is going to save us $100 million. that's absolute money we know we would have spent otherwise had we not been

boozman: thank you, mr. president. we are reading in the news about the violence all around the world and remember about the tremendous bein sacrifice of amn troops as they protect and preserve the interests of our nation. these men and women serve with courage and honor, and it is our duty to honor and standard with those who have stood for us. today i'm here to pay my respects to staff sergeant jerry reed ii, an arkansas soldier who isacrificed his life while in support of operation enduring freedom. he graduated from rugs h russele high school. he served three years and then reenlisted in 2008 and served in iraq, germany, korea, and afghanistan. staff sergeant reed served as a tank driver and gunner with the army's 28th infantry brigade, 2nd battalion "a" company in germany. his sister katherine spoke of how he loved the military and planned to make it a career, as he was interviewed with the russellville courier. his family and friends describe him as a man who would have had no trouble fitting into the military, f

a key recommendation offered at the hearing came from boozman, montana. he said we ought to look at updating s.e.c. regulation a to better 2345eub8 small businesses to raise capital through public offerings. the regulation a exemption was created in the securities act of 1933 to provide small companies with an opportunity to raise capital without being subject to full registration with the s.e.c. legasite is developing a norovirus vaccine which will save significant health care costs. to create jobs, those are jobs of the future. working through the f.d.a. approval process is not an easy one. it requires years of hard work, tens of millions of dollars and can be tough for any company to stick it out for that long for that much money. but for a 1345u8 firm in boozman, moment, it can, especially difficult. access to capital will be the determining factor in their ability to gain f.d.a. approval. in september senator toomey and i introduced the small company capital formation act to update the regulation by increasing the total amount of capital that can be

senator boozman. >> thank you, madame chair. and again, i want to thank the secretary for being here, and the team has assembled for your hard work. senator brown mentioned that, you know, there's a lot of individuals in the va that are there because they want to be and could have other opportunities and certainly you are in that category. and, you know, you've let the soldiers and now you are serving veterans, so we do appreciate that very much. the other thing i would say is senator isaacson mentioned i do appreciate the fact that you are very willing to work with congress, and very approachable, and you and your staff, and so that's something that is appreciated. we appreciate all that you have done in the past and are looking forward to you doing a bunch in the future and i yield back madame chair. >> with that i want to welcome again, secretary shinseki. thank you for coming today to get your perspective on the department's fiscal year 2013 budget and fiscal 2014 advanced appropriation request. secretaries shinseki is accom

reid: i ask unanimous consent a boozman-pryor amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill be read a third time, passed and a motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be no intervening action or debate and any statements relating to this matter be placed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to s. res. 398. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 398 recognizing the 191st anniversary of the independence of greece and grating greek and american democracy. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection the senate will proceed. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be no intervening action or debate, any statements relating to this matter be printed in the record at the appropriate place. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent question when the senate completes its busine

senator boozman. >> thank you, madam chair. i have a couple concerns. the budget request includes operational efficiencies that estimated to save $1.2 billion that is being done in the past by various administrations. last year's budget request also included operational efficiencies of just over a billion. the, in the past gao really questioned whether or not those savings have come about. i guess if they don't come about, how are you planning for the risk? what's your contingency plan if we don't see a billion dollars in savings? >> i'm going to call on dr. petzel to respond to, since this is, they looked at his budget for the savings, anticipated savings but i can tell you ha right off the top $362 million saved because of dialysis using a medicare standard pay rate instead of paying the rates we were being charged previously. $200 million in improper payments because we reduced those. through the program management accountability program office in i-t, about 200 dal million in savings because we terminated projects that were not going to deliver. and