cantwell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 406 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 406, designating april 4, 2014, as national association of junior auxiliaries day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 407, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 407, honoring former senator and rear admiral jeremiah andrew denton jr. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. ms. cantwell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed tosh the preamble be agreed torque the motion to reconsider be laid upo

our next speaker would be senator cantwell. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you for holding this hearing and for talking about these important issues for individuals in our state. bipartisan effort today here is to ensure predictability and certainty that will help grow our economy. before i start i would like to say something about the communities in arlington washington. these communities have been through a very painful process facing one of the worst disasters our state has seen and i want to thank all my colleagues for their comments and support on this issue. in the future we would like to join our colleagues who are on this committee who have also dealt with natural disasters in the discussion of how natural disasters impact as this is in some of the things we can do to help provide for relief. my neighbor one priority here is to make sure that we are continuing to support economic growth in the united states of america and job creation and many of these provisions which expired in 2013 are important to just that. the majority of the

cantwell: thank you, madam president. i'd like to join my colleagues and thank the senator from missouri for her statement as somebody who has been involved in basically making sure the law is implemented and upheld, too. i appreciate her views on this. and i want to thank senator mikulski for her leadership in advocating for equal pay for equal work. she has been a champion in this for many years and she is insistent now that we pass this legislation, and that's why we're here, because we want to make sure that our colleagues understand how important it is to pass the paycheck fairness act. i encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation and end the discrimination that many women face in america. this is a critical issue, not just to women but to men because obviously the households of america deserve to have both people making equal pay, and the message from the american people is clear. they want congress to focus on the most important economic issues of the day. that is, jobs and certa

these talented artists are breaking new cantwell real music. this is our job to recreate and to bring new life into this or that the old tradition others like violinists gabrielle think i'm rocking out with her all female band has come to see in the ensemble. the play a lot of sixteenth century spain like tina music and elsa take on jewish renaissance music in the mediocrity make our own with the boston of its plans. the concert and did a pretty accomplished use of southern florida. the show will certainly go on. what need to link is here in miami and los angeles in your. we hope you enjoyed our special series on jewish life in america. it's no wonder why jewish immigrants called america the book in the medina which he knew this is the kind of promised land there were up for an unprecedented freedoms and opportunities here in just a hundred years later we see how tedious and contributed to every single facet of american life from miami beach and george miller purporting fridge and one the lee. ukraine's presidential candidates the truth but i s

cantwell: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is. the question occurs on the felton nomination. the yeas and nays have been ordered. the clerk will call the roll. the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? seeing none, on the matter of the felton confirmation, the votes are 75 yeas, 21 nays. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the mcsweeny nomination, which the clerk will now report. the clerk: federal trade commission, terrell mcsweeny of the district of columbia to be a federal trade commissioner. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debatey queel divided in the usual -- debate equally divided in the usual form. without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the

cantwell: thank you, madam president. i'd like to join my colleagues and thank the senator from missouri for her statement as somebody who has been involved in basically making sure the law is implemented and upheld, too. i appreciate her views on this. and i want to thank senator mikulski for her leadership in advocating for equal pay for equal work. she has been a champion in this for many years and she is insistent now that we pass this legislation, and that's why we're here, because we want to make sure that our colleagues understand how important it is to pass the paycheck fairness act. i encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation and end the discrimination that many women face in america. this is a critical issue, not just to women but to men because obviously the households of america deserve to have both people making equal pay, and the message from the american people is clear. they want congress to focus on the most important economic issues of the day. that is, jobs and certa

senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. following on that note, one of the options i believe is continuing to make things simpler from a technology perspective. some of my colleagues have brought up free file program which is a public-private partnership between the irs and commercial tax software companies that offer free federal tax preparation. since this inception, it has saved over 30 million taxpayers in helping them with their filings and is also saved the federal government something like $91 million by making it easier on the processing cost. so one of the things, i kind of disagree with you a little bit, ms. olson, in the context i'm sure there are a lot of people to make less than $50,000 who know how to use word or excel, you know, software programs. this is about continuing to make the complexity of the tax code simple so that the administration of it is simpler, too. so i wanted to talk to you about what else we can do to continue to advance the use of technology and helping taxpayers file efficiently. i've he

one of the things senator cantwell mentioned. but we'll look at some other rules and give a complete answer for the record. >> thank you. let me follow up on that question. i didn't catch all of it but i'm putting two and two together about what it might be about. it is an issue that has come up several times in conversations with the industry about federal and state requirements for distributive generation or distributive generation. and how that can both postively and sometimes negatively affect the price of electricity, for the ability and requirement for utility companies to buy back power at a certain price. could some of you comment about the current status of some of that out west, particularly but also perhaps maybe, chairman honorable, you should start. i like you to comment. as members come back we'll finish line of questioning to this panel and start the next panel in about 10 minutes. take that, if would. >> madam chairman, thank you for that question. there is wide array of stakeholders in this issue of generation. w

cantwell: i rise today to express my support for the nomination of stanley bastian to be district judge for the eastern district of washington. stanley bastian is the kind of highly qualified federal judge that washington needs. the eastern district of washington represents a swath of washington that is over 20 counties and over 63% of our state, yet the court has been operating with two vacancies, so it is time for the senate to move forward on fulfilling this position, and i hope we confirm mr. bastian today and i hope we can move forward on a vote for mr. salvador mendoza in the coming weeks as well. mr. bastian has been an outstanding choice for the eastern district bench, and we want to make sure that we understand why. he was born in washington and is well versed in pacific northwest issues, as my colleagues mr. wyden and mr. merkley will note. he is a graduate of the university of oregon, but he also went to law school at the university of washington. he has handled a diverse portfolio of legal matters including representing counties, public utility districts, fruit growers, medi

committee on indian affairs, and i want to thank chairman tester, the former chairwoman senator cantwell, and all the members of the committee for this action. these six indian tribes, the chickahominy, the eastern division, upper madapani, rappahannock, ronnick and nadsomin are among the best known tribes in history but they have never received federal recognition. 566 federal tribes have received federal recognition. the vast majority by congressional action, but these tribes have not been recognized. madam president, the story of these tribes and why they've never been recognized is why i take the floor. it's an amazing story, but it is also a deeply tragic story. but the tragedy can be redeemed if congress acts to correct a gross historical injustice that has deprived these tribes of their rightful place. this is about a full accounting of our past but it's also about a fair and truthful recognition of living people who have maintained their own tribal identity and customs and traditions against unbelievable odds for hundreds of years. madam president, the english settlers who arrive

. >> excuse me a minute i will locofocos and leave senator cantwell in charge. >> we need state flexibility to address with the rules the epa will make on existing coal-fired plants chris security is us a kit -- serious issue with the attack on the substation in california could have happened anywhere at any number of substation's across the country. as chairman of energy subcommittee i want to make sure be do everything we can to secure hour electric grid. . . >> the order requiring security standards, one of the things it requires is that after the critical facilities listed done, each asset owner identifies the mobilities and it contemplates the day will involve government agencies such as law enforcement assessing the threat and

reid of nevada, leahy, tester, boxer, schumer, durbin, casey, coons, rockefeller, levin, cantwell, nelson, whitehouse, murphy, murray, udall of new mexico and king. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. without objection. mr. reid: might have to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in faye say aye. all -- all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the motion carries. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 587. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to and the the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: manish s. s. shah of illinois to be united states district judge. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nom

jay hensley and patty murray and maria cantwell dragon for an aerial tour at the sight of the mudslide. the president is also meeting with first response is that the victim families. our live coverage of president obama's remarks from oso and about an hour and 20 minutes from now at 650 eastern here on c-span2. >> tonight in eastern on c-span from a conversation with prominent whistleblowers including dana osberg is that the pentagon papers to the near times during the vietnam war. here on c-span2, both tv and private chat with folks about the presidencies of john adams, abraham lincoln and harry truman. >> now, conversation of gridlock in washington potential risk to any. the bipartisan policy center commission on political reform posted a discussion at the jfk library in boston. [inaudible conversations] >> welcome back. i'm susan page of "usa today." u.s.a. today's been so honored over the past year to participate in this project at the bipartisan policy center and its commission reform. we cannot claim to have solved the issue of congressional dysfunction in logical polarization, b

i will go vote and leave senator cantwell in charge of the committee and i'll be back. please continue. >> sure. i agree we need state flexibility in addressing those kind of issues especially new rules epa will make on existing coal-fired plants. we're talking about grid security. it is a serious issue. the attack on the metcalf power substation in california is one that could have happened anywhere in any number of substations across our country. as chairman of the energy subcommittee i want to make sure we're doing everything we can to secure our electric grid. that's why i sent a letter along with senators wyden and reed and feinstein to our regulators advocating for stronger security measures and pleased an order has been issued to strengthen grid security. thank you for that. as we take steps to secure the grid i think it is really important we engage the law enforcement community, both at the federal level and at the state and local level. they are critical partners in the effort to secure the grid. chairman lafleur, mr. cauley, can you explain what you're doing

i'm going to go vote and leave senator cantwell in charge of the committee. please continue. >> okay. i agree that we need a state flexibility in addressing those kind of issues especially on the new rules that the epa would make on the existing plant. we are talking about the greatest security. a serious issue and an attack on the power substation in california is one that is going to happen anywhere in any number of substations across the country. and as the chairman of the energy subcommittee, i want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to secure the electric grid. that's why i sent a letter over with the senators and to the regulators advocating for stronger security measures and i'm pleased that an order has been issued to strengthen the greatest security. thank you for that. as we take steps to secure the grade, i think it's important that we gauge in the law-enforcement community both of the federal level and at the state and local level. they are a critical partner in the effort to secure the grid. chairman lafleur, mr. coffee, can yo

one in the senate senatorh savvy than cantwell. we will follow up on the issues of trying to protect people from tax get debt with they relief. at this point, i think we completed the first round. like to introduce our second panel and we will have introduce dr. john barrett. associate professor at brigham young university. thank you both very much. you spent a lot of time at the thank youble and we for your expertise and patience. i would like to introduce mr. james mcteague. director of tax issues from the government accountability office. and wayne mcelrath. he will answer any questions members have after mr. mcteague. i know this topic generates a passion, but i think we right. mcelll have mr. wayne rath answer questions that members may have after providesgue testimony. the next witness, mr. william the president and c.e.o. of h and r block and ms. salisbury have tax clients waiting for you at home in oregon. we thank you for coming. and dr. john barrick momentarily. and the attorney at the consumer aah bin,r and mr. dan attor

senator murray and i, along with senator cantwell, from washington state also, had been discussing anumber of other bills of interest to our particular state. i hope and believe these will be among those that can be accomplished later on this year. it takes one step at a time, so i urge my colleagues to support this bill and send it to the president for his signature. and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from arizona. mr. grijalva: thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. grijalva: thank you, mr. speaker. the green mountain lookout tower is perched on a bluff overlooking washington state's cascade mountains in what is now the glacier peak wilderness. built in the 1930's by the civilian conservation corps, it is a popular destination for hikers and a testament to our long tradition of public lands based on service and training programs. a lawsuit challenged th

for years with senator cantwell i have fought to pass this bill through procedural and political hurdles because i know what it means to snohomish county and that region in my county. it is more than a hiking destination. it is a cherished, historical landmark. it is a place where parents brought their kids for generations to appreciate the splendor of the great outdoors in the northwest and it is a great that has been a vital source of tourism-related income for the people who have been impacted by this deadly landslide that has struck this region. i was just up in darrington last weekend and had the opportunity to sit down with the mayor and many of the small-town officials. we're talking about a town of about 1,200 people and they told me tremendous stories about the families that have been lost, about people that had driven to the store on a saturday morning and now only have what they wore when they left their home a few hours later. i heard about the needs that this community is going to have for a long time, the emotional impact. and after we finished sort of our official meeting,