senator cantwell is on her way back. what i would like to do with your forbearance is to recess this for a couple minutes and she'll be back to ask her question and we'll adjourn. we need to go vote. thank you very much. >> thank you, sir. >> as you may have heard, they are taking a recess. there are a series of votes on the senate floor amendments to the farm bill they are expected to wrap up work on that but the hearing here on the faa nomination will continue and we'll have live coverage here on c-span3 when it resumes. by the way, commerce secretary john bryson this morning has informed the department employees that he's given the president a letter of resignation. politico reporting his quote to employees saying i've come to the conclusion that i need to step down to prevent distractions from this critical mission. that's from politico this morning. we'll have live coverage once this resumes here on c-span3. when they gavel back in. in the meantime, from yesterday the house oversight committee by a vote of 23-17 --

senator maria cantwell of washington state has called on the federal trade commission to investigate. >> we want them to use their subpoena power to protect consumers. we're glad they're in this fight to investigate and police the oil markets. >> reporter: this began in february. there was a fire at bp's cherrypoint refinery in washington state. it was offline for three months. instead of increasing production, cantwell says six other refineries reduce the operations shortly thereafter. >> the question is was this because they didn't notice the enormous shortage or were they taking advantage of the consumer because of the fire in washington state? >> reporter: the results were a huge spike in west coast gas prices. right now, the national average is $3.56 a gallon. in san francisco, it's almost $0.73 higher. and researchers say that's been a wind fall for the oil companies. >> calculations indicate that the increase in profits is $50 million a day. >> reporter: a spokesman for the worse than state petroleum association says there's no saegz of any in-- indication of any inappropriate

. >> thank you, voting has started, senator cantwell has probably already voted and racing back here because she has a couple more questions that she'd like to ask, but in the meantime, senator blount wants to finish his questioning. >> i was failing to watch the clock and no, you were not rude at all and i was taking time that should have gone to others and did. what i was going to ask you about, was on -- we talked about the columbia, missouri airport the other day, on the airports like that, that have moved off essential air service, the things that the faa can do to encourage their ability to stay off of essential air service, do you have ideas thereof ways that those kinds of airports that need to be planning for more travelers and more service could get some assistance in doing that? >> senator blount, as we talked about, columbia is to be congratulated to being able to get themselves off the essential air service program and how do we ensure they stay there. sat down with their staff to see what we knew about columbia and encouraged them to meet with the leadership at the colu

senator cantwell says that's's -- says there's no reason for these prices.efinery in washington in february caused a supply shortage and that caused high prices at the pump but she questions why other refineries shut down at the same time. he are asking for them to look in to this. according to the are the that analyzes the energy policies, about 42 million prosecutor day. three of the refineries that would po length i -- potentially be investigated are right here in the bay area to soro and martinez and the chevron refinery in richmond cut production for recent repairs. back to you. >> thank you. >>> still costing a pretty penny to fill the truck up. let's see how people are moving on the root roads. >> there is a lot of idling going on which unfortunately, kills your gas mileage. it's backed up to the maze. 880 is slow. this morning, the commute started off -- started off doing pretty well and then in the last hour or so, it's really slowed down, we haven't had any major problems on the bridge but that's what's going on right -- moving along right now. tod

instead of increasing production, cantwell says six other west coast refineries or reduced affirmations' shortly thereafter. >> we should have seen other france stepped in and instead what we saw was a pattern of refineries mainly in california saying that they have scheduled maintenance of rain problems. gasoline fell to historic low levels. these were at levels without precedents compared to the rest of the u.s.. >> to give you some idea of how out of what california gas prices are compared to the national average, less to the national average for regular at this time is $3.76. >>pam: that is a huge difference. what does the oil industry have to say? >> they say there's absolutely no indication that anything has been done inadvertently. they say that the bottom line is, this investigation, like others will show it is market forces that determine gas prices. hoss >>pam: there are new term senator reward offer for a missing south bay teenager. sierra lamar disappeared in march from morgan hill. antolin garcia torres has been arrested for murder but nobody has been found. rob fladeboe br

senator maria cantwell says she believes refineries are to blame. >> we think there's a problem if youhave a concentrated market and everybody reduces supply and consumers get gouged. >> reporter: west coast states saw gas prices spike when several refineries closed down if what they called scheduled maintenance. >>> around the bay area you see a lot of people with light sweaters and jackets. everyone though it's june it's still cool out there. >> tomorrow it's going to cool down a couple of degrees. we had temperatures in the low 80s today. temperatures up a few degrees from what we saw yesterday. along the coast we have patchy coastal fog. right now outside toward daly city, pacifica. you see that fog pushing inland. out in the avenues, out in the richmond district, fog moving back in. we've had a couple of days without it. it's back now and as we head toward tomorrow. temperatures are going to trend down. we're going to see numbers warm down. the bay area weekend i'll have those details coming up in a little bit. 78 in concord, 79 in santa rosa, 79 in san jose. daytime high -- highs

cantwell: mr. president, i call up amendment number 2370. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: ms. can we will proposes amendment numbered 2370. ms. cantwell: i ask that further reading be dispensed with. officer without objection. ms. cantwell: thank you, madam president. thank you, madam president. i rise in support of this amendment with my colleague, senator murray, and others to include in the school lunch program a pilot program dealing with dry beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas. my amendment works to improve the nutritional value of school meals across america at a very economical price, with a level of school obesity for children between 2 and 19, this is very important that we have this program included. and i'd like to yield 30 seconds to my colleague from south dakota. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from south dakota. a senator: north dakota? mr. hoeven: i cosponsored the legislation. it would provide that peas, beans, and lentils are used in the school program they are a high source of

democratic senator cantwell from washington state says they may be contributing to the high cost of gasarea of the country. the average gas price not united states is right now according to aaa $3.54 but on the west coast, drivers on average pay $4.12 a gallon. what is going on? senior business corporate and anchor of "bulls and bears organization joins us with a little bit of insight. so, is this investigation warranted? is this a case of private fixing on behalf of the oil refineries? >>guest: there are fewer oil refiners in the west coast than in other parts of the country. so that is one thing to remember. and, one of the oil refineries went down. so, now, the accusation is that the rest of the oil refiners took this as an opportunity to do some maintenance. and shut down, as well. so that would bring the rice of gas higher. now we also know that the gas prices always are higher in this part of the country because there are so many codes and regulations that they follow, many more than in other states especially in california. so, that is something to keep in mind, as well. did they

and that would be paul 2182, shaheen 2160, coburn 2353, cantwell, 2370, and lee motion to recommit. that there be 60 minutes of debate divided equally between the two leaders or their designees on each of these amendments and the lee motion, that upon the use or yielding back of that time, all four amendments and the lee motion, the senate proceed to votes in relation to the amendments and motion in the order listed, that there be no amendments or motions in order to the amendments or the lee motion which is a motion to recommit prior to the votes other than a motion to waive, points of order and motions to table that. upon disposition of these amendments and the lee motion, i be recognized. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. paul: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: reserving the right to object, i'm concerned about dr. shakil afridi, a doctor in pakistan who helped us and led to the capture of bin laden. he's been held in prison. he's been put in prison in pakistan for 33 years. i don't think we should continue to send taxpayer

and i've introduced it with cosponsors: senators kirk, cantwell, brown of massachusetts, wyden, and landrieu. and i ask unanimous consent that senator kerry be added as a cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. commonly, in advocating or introducing bills, senators will have photographs or visual aids, and i thought about doing that today and then realized that the photographs appropriate for this bill are of mangled, cruelly torn animals, animals that died in the midst of torture, a blood sport that really has no place in any of our american towns or cities or countrysides. a blood sport that involves animal fighting. this activity is not only cruel and inhumane, it is also a sport that fosters and promotes and encourages illegal activity, including drug dealing, gangs, gambling, and it is a source of really the worst instincts. it encourages the worst in the human condition and the worst in the individuals who participate and who come to watch it. and so the congress has recognized this fact in the past, as recently as 2007, but upgr

akaka 2440, akaka 2396, baucus 2499, bingaman 2364, brown of ohio 2445, cantwell 2370, casey 2238, coons 2436, feinstein 24 2, feinstein 2309, gillibrand 2156, hagan 2166, kerry 2187, landrieu 2321, manchin 2345, merkley 2382, schumer 2427, stabenow 2453, udall of colorado 2295, warner numbered 2475, wyden 2457, warner 2457, wyden 2442, wyden 2388, leahy 2204, nelson of nebraska 2242, klobuchar 2299, carper 2287, sanders 2254, thune 2437, durbin-colorado burn 2239, ayotte 2192, collins 2444, grassley 2167, sessions 2174, nelson of nebraska 2243, sessions 2172, paul 2181, alexander 2191, mccain 2199, toomey 2217, demint 2263, demint 2262, demint 2268, demint 2276, demint 2273, coburn 2289, coburn 2293, kerry 2454, kyl 2354 -- let me read those again. kerry 2454, kyl 2354, lee 2313, lee 2314, boozman 2355, boozman 2360, toomey 2026, toomey 2433, lee motion to recommit, johnson of wisconsin motion to recommit, chambliss 2438, chambliss 2340, chambliss 2432, ayotte 2195, blunt 2246, moran 2403, moran 2443, vitter 2363, toomey 2247, sanders 2310, coburn 2214, boxer 2456, johanns 2372, murray