cantwell ask the about the tieds. calmed for three u.s. heavy icebreak end and one called for four and six. i can't keep track of the numbers. what i told senator cantwell we get up a wrapped up talking about how many we should have. it would seem to me we could at least come to agreement on we need at least one and start building it. i would be happy just to see us get a first icebreaker much less all the other things. so in the absence of that there are people coming forward. some commercial activities that would say, we'll build you an icebreaker and lease it back to the government. there are other countries that might volunteer. part of the arctic council, what we might work at -- and i think as we work forward in search and rescue, for instance we want to take that search and rescue agreement and exercise it now because no one country can provide all the resources that are necessary to take care of a major maritime disaster. so let's inventory what we have and see how we might work together better to be able to s

cantwell i wonder, ms. gilligan, a couple things that we had done, congress and partnership with the faa, within the faa to create centers of excellence on things we do not quite yet understand. whether it is composite lightweight manufacturing materials and approval on products like the 787, to keep the faa up to date they created a center of excellence. the same center of excellence in existence on biofuels. do we need one of these centers of excellence to help the faa and the technical side get answers in advance so as the market continues to develop those questions are being addressed and the research is being done? ms. gilligan: yes, senator. we have gotten good support from congress and the last appropriations bill. we were given additional appropriations for the purposes of establishing a center of excellence. that process is underway, the applications are under review. we expect to name the center of excellence before the end of this fiscal year and the administrator has challenges us to do it soone

senator cantwell and then senator wicker. >> thank you. one of the issues that this strikes me in this discussion is how fast you can go and whether there is more the private sector can do but i think the key phrase here is interoperability. my understanding is that some of those pilots were turned down because they weren't ensuring interoperability. i mean the private sector can get it done in a minute that i guarantee you'll be a closed loop system based on a technology that they build and build and build off of their technology so you want to give somebody the grand prize i guess you can do that but the issue is making sure we have interoperability. is that correct in that is why some of the pilots were delayed because they weren't conquering that? >> let me respond to that and i can respond pretty specifically. as a board member in the beginning days of first firstnet negotiated releases. the projects were in existence prior to firstnet becoming a reality. they were put on hold because they were focused on broadband and to make sure th

senator cantwell: anybody else have any thoughts about this? we need to do something better than to have these taxpayers affected this way. mr. valentine: i agree. we work with taxpayers who have had their identities compromised and to make sure there return has been properly reflected in their account and is properly accounted for. we need to do the same thing at all levels. senator cantwell: every committee has been out to address the ideas of cyber security and to move forward. i think our committee should look at this particular aspect making sure that our tax filers are also secure as well. so thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. senator wyden: i did not want to wrap up without giving a chance to talk about seniors. i think we know how outrageous it is that seniors get ripped off this way. we've got millions of older people in this country who are walking an economic tight walk every single day. their fuel building and housing costs. they get ripped off this way and it is not some ash action. they really suffer. as we wrap up -- i just want

thank you, madam chair, ranking member cantwell, and members of the subcommittee. that completes my oral statement. >> thank you dr. dillingham. i want to welcome professor turn 11. professor villasenor is a nonresident senior fellow at the brookings institution. thank you, professor, for being here today. >> thank you very much. good afternoon, i appreciated the opportunity to testify today on this very important topic. i'm a nonresident senior fellow at the brookings institution brookings institution am also a national fellow at the hoover institution at stanford and am on the faculty at ucla. it is i'm expressing here are my own and are not necessary those of the brookings institution, stanford or ucla. on going to devote my marks to the importation of privacy. it's importance of acknowledging the privacy is a very legitimate concern for the first time ever on that aircraft systems are making it easy and inexpensive to think overhead imagery. the '01 majority u.s. operators in both the public and private sectors will be michael need to respect privacy. but thous

importantly to alaskans as recently as last week, senator less a mccull company and senator maria cantwell held aing her on the day the government was shut down, before the energy committee in the senate. i think senator mccull ski couldn't bear the possibility of shutting down a hearing on the arctic on a day that is was snowing in washington, dc. so we're getting attention to it and there were alaskans on the panel with me, and they brought up those same concerns. and i guess what i would say is, part of our challenge i raising raising the visibility of the arctic. as we sit here right in this spot we're 3,500 mimes from barrow alaska, the northern most point of the united states, right there in the center of the arctic. 3,500 miles and a lot of canada in between. so there's not a connection between the american people and the arctic. we only have 50,000 americans who live above the arctic circle in northern alaska. 'i think most alaskans in the state have a connection to the arctic. they understand it but it's not a large population and someone mentioned earlier this morning, in fact i

cantwell i wonder, ms. gilligan a couple things that we had done, congress and partnership with the faa within the faa to create centers of excellence on things we do not quite yet understand. whether it is composite lightweight manufacturing materials and approval on products like the 787, to keep the faa up to date they created a center of excellence. the same center of excellence in existence on biofuels. do we need one of these centers of excellence to help the faa and the technical side get answers in advance so as the market continues to develop those questions are being addressed and the research is being done? ms. gilligan: yes senator. we have gotten good support from congress and the last appropriations bill. we were given additional appropriations for the purposes of establishing a center of excellence. that process is underway, the applications are under review. we expect to name the center of excellence before the end of this fiscal year and the administrator has challenges us to do it sooner.

>> thank you, senator cantwell. you're absolutely right. in developing a plan of action to deal with the long-term imbalance between water supply demand and the basin. i think the bureau of reclamations is based on studies program, which helped fund a lot of the planning activity can with respect to the developed an overall strategy that, when implemented, i think, will benefit environment, tribes, as well as the large-scale agriculture that exists in the basin itself. as you highlight and hint at, it's a very expensive plan. i think overall it is a $3 billion to $5 billion over a 30-year period. but over that time frame, hopefully, and we know the state has stepped up to the plate very significantly in the yakima basin with over $100 million that it appropriated to the effort reclamation is increasingly incrementally investing more of its resources in addition to i think a couple of years ago long-standing yakima enhancement program now funding studies and activity related to a couple of the storage and fish patches projects. but the botto

i want us to thank the ranking members, senator cantwell and turn it over to her. >> thank you, madam chair. i would like to start by offering my condolences to the loved ones of passengers and crew from flight 95. our thoughts and our thoughts and prayers are with them in this incredible tragedy. i would like to welcome our witnesses today and thank them for testifying on such an important subject as unmanned aircraft systems and certainly appreciate the depth and breadth of the expertise that is represented on this panel today. i would forward to hearing what each of you have to say about this area and am reminded that to faa bill discussions ago we had similar discussions about defense and other applications related to the faa and unmanned aerial vehicles. at that time a small company in my state was trying to figure out how to move forward in cooperation with the faa, and today that company has more than 800 people. 800 people. this industry has continued to grow, and we are here to talk about the integration of unmanned systems that require a balance between the safety of our ski

. >> thank you, senator cantwell. with that let's turn to the secretary for your comments. >> good morning. thank you ranking member cantwell and members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the department of interior's fiscal 2016 budget request. joining me is deputy secretary mike connor who is certainly no stranger to the senate. i submit add detailed statement for the record that discuss as number of important investments we are proposing so i'll be relatively brief in these opening remarks. this is a forward-looking budget to grow our domestic energy portfolio, creating jobs here at home, to build climate resilience, and revitalize our national parks as they approach their 100th anniversary. it invests in science to help us understand natural resources on a landscape level and to apply that understanding to better manage america's assets for the long term. importantly, the budget also helps fulfill our nation's commitments to american indians and alaska natives. including a much nee

senator cantwell and then senator wicker. >> thank you. one of the issues that this strikes me in this discussion is how fast you can go and whether there is more the private sector can do but i think the key phrase here is interoperability. my understanding is that some of those pilots were turned down because they weren't ensuring interoperability. i mean the private sector can get it done in a minute that i guarantee you'll be a closed loop system based on a technology that they build and build and build off of their technology so you want to give somebody the grand prize i guess you can do that but the issue is making sure we have interoperability. is that correct in that is why some of the pilots were delayed because they weren't conquering that? >> let me respond to that and i can respond pretty specifically. as a board member in the beginning days of first firstnet negotiated releases. the projects were in existence prior to firstnet becoming a reality. they were put on hold because they were focused on broadband and to make sure th

i would yield the floor to my friend senator cantwell. >> thank you mr. president. >> the senator from washington. >> i rise to urge my colleagues not to override the president's veto of the special interest piece of legislation and i want to thank my colleague from california for her leadership on this issue and for her constant involvement in making sure that national environmental and safety standards are adhered to. she has been a great advocate through out this process and very much appreciate her voice in this debate as we close hopefully the debate about the keystone pipeline legislation. this bill to approve the keystone pipeline undermines a well-established process in determining what is in the national interest and if we overrode the president's veto we would be subverting safety and environmental standards that are important to the american people. i'm glad the president veto this legislation and i urge my colleagues not to override the decision. i think the president's veto message said it best. quote in a spill the united states congress att

i want to thank my ranking member senator cantwell and turn it over to her. cantwell: i too would like to offer my condolences to the loved ones, passengers and crew to the flight 925. our thoughts and prayers are with them. i would like to welcome our witnesses today and thank them for testifying on such a important subject. certainly appreciate the breath of the expert case -- expertise represented. i am reminded of two discussions ago, where we had discussions of defense and other applications as it related to faa and unmanned vehicles at that point in time a small company was trying to figure out how to move forward. today that company is more than 800 people. this industry has continued to grow. today we are here to talk about integration of unmanned systems that in acts the safety of our skies and the possibilities enabled by unmanned systems such as finding wildfires, aiding farmers, monitoring our borders or delivering something as important as a seattle jersey. we have heard of innovative solutions to problems. unfortunately many of us have heard fro

senator cantwell? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i am reminiscing of the time that we had a major discussion about use of just and reasonable and the end run of energy markets. and even though just and reasonable was in place the majority of commissioners still had a long time struggled with a long time about whether manipulated rates could before just and reasonable. so i would suggest that that interpretation of just and reasonable is probably going to be left up to the determination of whoever's in the majority of the commission. so hopefully people will get some common ground on that and a framework. but thank you for your work. i'd like to follow up on senator fisher's question, as it related to the auction of spectrum, since, you know, people are saying, well, we want to get it right, but we also want to get it done. and when we're talking about a delay for a third time, i just want to make sure that we have all the tools and all the information we need now, resources to get us there, given that i think this is for our rur

thank you, madam chair. 7 >> thank you, senator cantwell. i believe we have some more time and i know members have more questions so we're going to do a second round. take a big sigh here. but i'm interested, mr. bessac and ms. farmer, when we look at freight transportation systems and we look at the midwest and some of the challenges that we have with containers. how would you address those challenges? where we have that lack of containers to move our product. and other members of the panel if you would like to jump in on that as well. . >> certainly. i'll go ahead and start, chairman fischer. i think that what you'll see is that we've proven in normal times that we have sufficient containers to be able to move the product that wants to move export. in fact, last year we moved 236,000 units of grain in a box back to the west coast. we worked very closely with the ocean carriers and the trucking companies and they are able to scale relatively quickly to be able to meet the demands. what bnsf has been very focused on is improving our velocity

senator cantwell. >> thank you madam chair. and thanks for having this important hearing on movement of freight. when i think of this issue i think so much of washington state and all the products that come through on their way to asia. and we have in a short period of time seen something like a doubling in the size of the ships over the last five years. so yes, we have a lot more capacity. and we obviously have a rising middle class in asia. they want more u.s. product. the question is what are we going to do to meet that demand as relates to improving our infrastructure? one of the things that has occurred is the recommendations of the freight mobility board which was chaired by mort downey. i think somebody you're familiar with, mr. greuling. and i think miss farmer, somebody from the railroad association at least participated in that. the question is how do we move forward on those recommendations? and would you support a dedicated funding source to freight so that we could raise the importance of why moving this product is

senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am reminiscing of the time that we had a major discussion about the use of just and reasonable and ronin manipulation of energy markets. even though just and reasonable was in place, a lot of commissioners still struggled for a long time about whether manipulated rates could be ever be just and reasonable. so i would suggest that that interpretation of just and reasonable is probably going to be left up to the determination of whoever is in the majority of the commission. so hopefully hopefully people will get some common ground on that and a framework. but thank you for your work. i'd like to follow up on senator fisher's question as it related to the auction spectrum. people are saying we want to get it right but we also want to get it done. when we're talking about a delay for a third time i just want to make sure that we have all the tools and all the information we need now, resources, to get us there given that i think this is for our rural communities something that we really

i would yield the floor to my friend, senator cantwell. ms. cantwell: thank you mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: thank you mr. president. i rise to urge my colleagues not to override the president's veto of this special interest piece of legislation and i want to thank my colleague from california for her leadership on this issue and for her constant involvement in making sure that national environmental and safety standards are adhered to. she's been a great advocate throughout this process and very much appreciate her voice in this debate as we close hopefully debate about the keystone pipeline legislation. this bill to approve the keystone pipeline undermines a well-established process for determining what is in the national interest and go we overrode the president's veto, we would be subverting safety and environmental standards that are important to the american people. i'm glad i'm glad the president vetoed this legislation and i urge my colleagues not to override the decision and i think the president's veto message said i

last week's hearing, senator cantwell asked about the various studies that are out there.re's one study that calls for three u.s. heavy icebreakers and three medium. there's another one that calls for four and six. i can't keep track what have the numbers are and what i told senator cantwell was, we got all wrapped up talking about how many we should have, it would seem to me we could at least come to agreement on, we need at least one. and we should start building it. we haven't put money toward building that first icebreaker. i would be happy seeing just a first icebreaker, much less all those other things. in the absence of that, there are people coming forward. there are some commercial activities that would say, we'll build you an icebreaker and lease it back to the government. there are other countries that might volunteer. part of the arctic council, what we might work at, search and rescue, for instance. we want to take that search and rescue agreement and exercise it now. because no one country can provide all the resources that are necessary to take care of a maj

with that, i appreciate, you've given the committee a lot of time and senator cantwell, if you want toive the final word. >> i just want to thank you for this hearing and a lot of members showed up and we had a lot of input across the board. i get your point about federal lands and yes, i'm sure there is a higher percentage in alaska than in warshington state, but in washington state we get revenue from those public lands and that's been a big benefit to us and we definitely want to move forward on trying to think about an energy package and what we can do together to bolster our economies and to work together on policies that can move us forward. we've had a broad range of things broad forward and certainly appreciate the witnesses in this particular budget proposal. >> thank you. >>> the supreme court yesterday heard oral argument in a lawsuit challenging government subsidies for people who buy insurance on the federal health exchange. on friday the court is releasing audio from the oral argument and you can listen to it friday evening on our companion network c-span at 8:00 p.m. eas

. >> thank you, senator cantwell. >> thank you mr. chairman. one of the issues that strikes me in this discussion is this -- on how fast you can go and whether there's more of the private sector can do, but i think the key phrase here is interoperability, my understanding senate of those pilots were turned down because they really weren't ensuring interoperability. the private sector can get it done in a second but i guarantee you it ill be a closed loop system based on somebody's technology they build and build off their technology. so i you want to give somebody the grand prize, we can do that. the issue is making sure we have interoperability and is that what the pilots were delayed for? >> met respond to that. i can respond pretty specifically because as a board member, in the beginning days when firstnet negotiated the leases -- the projectwards in existence prior to firstnet becoming a reality. they were put on hold because they were focused on broadband and to make sure they were consistent with what we were trying to do with firstnet. w

i would like to turn it over to ranking member cantwell. >> with this new interim rule out this afternoon, does that put us on par with the europeans on are we still behind? ms. gilligan? >> i think we're in a different place than the europeans. there are a number of locations where it's -- they're able to authorize different types of operations because they have much less complexity in their air system, they have much less aviation that tends to operate at those lower altitudes so we're faced with additional challenges that our aviation partners around the world just don't face. what we have authorized today, as we're issuing our exemptions under section 333 from reauthorization, we will -- the operator will be able to immediately operate as long as the operation is below 200 feet. if they want to go above 200 feet, they must still go to the air traffic organization and identify the air space where they want to operate so that we can assure safe separation of the unmanned system from whatever general aviation or other operations there may be in that air space. but we believe this is incr

speaking and listening to alaskans as recently as last week, our senator lisa murkowski and maria cantwelld a hearing last week on the day that the government was shut down, before the energy committee in the senate, i think senator murkowski couldn't there the possibility of shutting down a hearing on the arctic on the day that it was snowing in washington. [laughter] we are getting attention to it. there were alaskans on the panel with me, and they brought up the same concerns. i guess what i would say is that part of our challenge is raising the visibility of the arctic. as we sit here right in the spot, we are 3500 miles from the northern most point of the united states and alaska, right there in the center of the arctic. 3500 miles, and a lot of candidate in between. so, there is not a connection between the american people and the arctic. we only have 50,000 americans who live above the arctic circle in northern alaska. now, i think most alaskans, the rest of the state also have a connection to the arctic. they understand it. but it is not a large population. someone mentioned earlie

cantwell: i'd ucialg my colleagues to oppose this amendment. while there are many of us who support full if i understand funding for -- full funding for pilt this amendment is impractical. the congressional research service report indicates that attempts to set up a tax equivalency for pilt would be wrought with error and gamesmanship. that's because counties routinely tax land differently and use different rates and second my colleagues should note that this may increase pilt payments by more than 350% of today's authorized level and that would raise the cost of this program from $4 billion to $5 billion to $ed 15 billion to $ed 20 billion. and because the amendment created a spending neutral reserve fund, only cuts to other mandatory spending could be used to fund the $ed 350% rise in payments. so mr. president i can't support this amendment. it is unsustainable and unworkable. i urge my colleagues to oppose it. the presiding officer: question is on the amendment. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the amendment is agreed t

cantwell: mr. president the gardner amendment would radically change the way water is handled on public lands. there are real concerns of how federal land management agencies deal with water particularly in the drought-afflicted west, but this amendment is so broad that it is trying to address these problems in a way that it will have numerous unintended consequences. it would make even worse some of the water shortages in the areas of the west, particularly in the lower colorado basin. it would also create havoc in our national parks and our federal properties in both the east and the west. the amendment would call into question the status of water contracts actually signed by the bureau of reclamation throughout the west. and uncertainty is the last thing we need. it would damage locations for settlements like the yakima basin where people have come to agreement. so i agree we need to continue to work on the drought issues of the west, but saying that federal management agencies don't have their

thank you, madam chair. >> thank you, senator cantwell. i'd like to call on the senator. >> thank you miss chairwoman. miss gilligan faa guidelines for recreational drones i'd like to go through them and ask for your comment. my understanding is that a drone must weigh less than 55 pounds, be flying below 400 feet visual line of sight, must not be flying carelessly or recklessly not interfere with manned aircraft operations and not fly near an airport. importantly there appears to be no speed limit for recreational drones and no prohibition on flying over people. so my question for you is, although the notice of proposed rule making i think is progress, what are we doing at the 400 foot and down level and who has jurisdiction? >> the notice, sir, is directed toward operators in commercial recreation. hobby and recreational are in accordance with recreation bill jeefr seen by a community standard. we're working with american modelers association for them to serve in that function. so they actually have a set of operating expectations for th

i rise to ask the -- support for the stabenow-cantwell amendment. this addresses the cuts in the budget to medicare. medicare is a universal health care program as we know, and it's really a great american success story. everybody believes that. it protects americans from having their life savings wiped out by a single illness. it guarantees important medical care and quality of life for literally tens of millions of people across our country. i was very disappointed that yesterday our republican colleagues voted against providing a point of order that would allow us to object to efforts to privatize medicare or cut benefits or raise out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs or preventative services, but as a result of that, we now have in front of us a budget that calls for $435 billion in cuts to medicare. we all know there's ways to work together to create savings through efficiencies and quality measures and other things, but we should not be telling a generation of seniors and those coming beyond them to work hard their whole lives and paid in