cantwell: i will give you this. you're not the first energy secretary to come before this committee with ideas of changing things. but most of the time i think our committee and the appropriators have probably set those administrations straight. because we have been the stewards of these concepts. and prioritizations and continually focus on them. as regional issues or as national issues. but i'm just curious, what area do you think we don't need innovation in? in the context of these lab workers, working on cybersecurity, nuclear nonproliferation, hanford cleanup, grid reliability, efficiency. are any of those areas that you don't think that we need to continue to innovate in? mr. perry: nope. ms. cantwell: ok. so none of those would be on the chopping block? mr. perry: senator, everything is going to get analyzed. and again, i'm not going to tell you publicly or privately that there is not an employee that's going to get -- lose their job in the process. i'm going to manage it and i'm going to manage it in a very

senator cantwell: this is a very big problem. women cannot be discriminated against their employer who wants to cherrypick various aspects of women's health. if this is the intent of this rule, there will be a big fight on this issue. i wanted to ask you about proposed medicare cuts because the administration said they weren't going to cut medicare. the budget includes a two-year extension sequestration that would propose a 2% cut on hospitals and rural hospitals, the mandatory would be $30 billion cut from the medicare program. does your budget include that? secretary price: i think what you are referring to is the continuation of current law and the budget acome dates or reflects current law. senator cantwell: you are saying the extension of the mandatory sequester is not a cut to medicare? secretary price: again, it's the same kind of question, depends what your baseline is. if your baseline is current law, there are no deductions. senator cantwell: you believe we should be making these deductions to rural health care faciliti

thank you, madame chair. >> thank you, senator cantwell. secretary perry, it's good to have you before the committee. i will note that allison dune is with the secretary this morning, she's the acting chief financial officer for d.o.e. i understand that you will not be providing testimony this morning, but thank you for being here with the secretary. and, mr. secretary, with that if you would like to begin your remarks so that we can turn to questions. >> senator, thank you. and it's a privilege to be in front of you and the committee again. senator cantwell, members of the committee, it's my privilege to be here, an honor to discuss president -- excuse me, president trump's fiscal year 2018 budget request. as each of you know it is a great privilege to serve as this 14th secretary of energy. as a former legislator i might add an appropriator as well, and the governor, i am very respectful of the budget writing process and know the importance of the work that you're undertaking. i look forward to working with you to finalize a budget that w

shanahan and senator cantwell. thank you. if i may also, senator shane wanted to be here, but she is delayed in this terrible weather. with that, i ask permission to submit the statement. >> i would ask the committee to consider a list of 195 pending military nominations. all of these dominations have been before the committee the required length of time. is there a motion in favor of the report for these 995 military nominations to the senate? >> yes. >> is there a second? all in favor, say aye. >> the motion carries. welcome, mr. shanahan. you are deprived of the opening statements of senator reid and myself. pardon me? oh, before we allow you to speak, senator cantwell is here and i apologize. senator cantwell, for not recognizing you to take time from your very busy schedule to introduce mr. shanahan. senator cantwell, welcome. >> thank you, chairman mccain, ranking member reid, and distinguished members, i am glad to introduce patrick shanahan to serve as the deputy secretary. i too want to welcome his family. they are h

cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor to join my colleagues. you can see there's numerous colleagues on this side of the aisle who are speaking just as my colleague from vermont just did with great passion, or my colleague from massachusetts with great passion. i'm sure my colleague from minnesota. we've all been home for the weekends talking to our constituents. we've all been back here now with the c.b.o. news. and we're here because we are very concerned about the next steps the senate might take in this health care debate. when i was at home, i heard some unbelievable positive stories about health care. i was at a hospital in our state, virginia mason, has probably been one of the leaders in reducing health care costs by new efficiencies. they've improved lab work and return time of getting lab results for patients 85%. they've increased productivity 90%. they've reduced the liability insurance charges by 76%. so they've innovated. they've innovated. they've innovated. they've innovated

. >>> joining me now, senator maria cantwell, democrat from washington. one of the lawmakers who staged that talkathon on the senate floor last night to protest gop plans t push through the health care replacementbill, senator, thanks for your time this afternoon. >> thank you. >> republicans reportedly according to kasie hunt there aiming for this vote by the july 4th recess, leaving lawmakers with maybe a week or so to review the legislation. what are you hearing from your colleagues about the timing? what are you hearing from your colleagues if anything about precisely what's in that bill? >> reporter: well, i think kasie said it best when she said there's a lot at stake here nap's what last night was about and what today is about. we don't want this to be a mystery. we want to understand the policies they're proposing. my sense of it is they want to have a war on medicaid, which would be devastating to communities and to individuals and it would end up raising everybody's rates and we don't want to see that. but our colleagues are not forthcoming yet

joining us, democratic senator maria cantwell. thanks for joining us. do you think this is dead? do you think the republican healthcare bill is dead? >> no, i don't. i think that as long as people will keep bringing up this idea of trying to get the 51st vote and people continue to talk about cutting people off medicaid as the centerpiece this is something we have to make sure that we're strongly opposed to. it's not a smart idea. it won't lower the individual market premiums. we have to get off of this concept. >> one of the things you wrote, you tweeted a lot about this, quote, now it's time to work together. give us an example where you think realistically you as a democratic senator and your peers can do that and propose a change to obamacare that the republicans would accept. what are your proposals? >> actually, there's some things in the affordable care act we should pedal to the metal, go faster on. one is the concept of getting people out of nursing homecare to community-based care. this is something we saved $2 billion doing in the state of washington. we incented in th

cantwell: do think the notice is important to reviewing the regulations? reviewing the are methane, as you know there was a cra that came close to one vote on it. sen. cantwell: does that mean you are free to do what you want because it came close? the role stands, right? sec. zinke: that is not what i said, ma'am. my position on methane, i think it is a waste. we agree that flaring is a waste. we are looking to make sure we can provide incentives to capture it, because as a steward of your public lands, i think layering it is a waste. we have to make sure we incentivize capture systems and make sure our isolated assets can connect, and make sure the taxpayer is getting a fair valuation on our look holdings. pres. reagan: my question to you is -- sen. cantwell: my question is do you have to adhere to the administrative procedures act? sec. zinke: we provided public notice, and it is now open as it sits right now, and we entered into the register the procedure to begin to change the role. that is within the law. >> so you're going to have a periodnotice and

senat senator cantwell this is. >> thank you mr. pekoske for your willingness to serve. sea-tac has been one of the fastest growing hub in the united states for the last three years. it was designated to handle about 25 million passengers but last year handled about 45 million passengers and it'll continue to grow. these issues of how we handle security and efficiency are important us to. we've had many conversations in tsa, sea-tac tours, all of this, and has committed to adding additional staffing as the season demands. and i hope would you continue to do the same thing. >> yes, senator, i would. >> thank you. we will definitely be following up with you on details. okay, my colleague from nevada brought up the k-9 units and their effectiveness. to me, post what's happened in international airports and our own facility, you mentioned deterrence, which i love the fact that these k-9 units can be in the outer perimeters of the airport, which is just a great added layer of security. and also they can help make for a more expedient line, which is one of the ways that we han

. >> thank you, senator cantwell. we are joined this morning again by the secretary of interior, the honorable ryan zinke joined at the table this morning by ms. olivia martin hair care, and the budget finance performance and acquisition and also denise flanigan, office of budget and the secretary will be offering remarks this morning. we appreciate you being here. i note that we are scheduled to have two votes commencing at 11:00. keep them committee moving to route out. and plan your timing around nine. i do intend to keep it moving because it's my understanding we will have to conclude the hearing this morning at noon. secretary zinke, if you would like to present the president's budget proposal. while cohen. >> thank you. i have to be before you testified to the president's 2018 budget department of the interior. and to request permission to submit my entire statement for the record. the president's budget is what the balance budget looks like. i want to repeat that. this is about a balanced budget looks like. the

sent tore cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, admiral pekoske, for your willingness to serve. sea tack airport has been one of the fastest growing hubs in the united states in the last three years. it was designated to handle about 25 million passengers but last year it handled 45 million passengers and it is going to continue to grow. so these issues of how we plan for security and efficiency are very critical to us. we have had many conversations in tsa, have been to sea tack, tours and all of this, and has committed to adding additional staffing as the season demantds. i hope you would continue to do the same thing. >> yes, senator, i would. >> thank you. we definitely will be following up with you on details. my kol lee from nevada brought up the canine units and their effectiveness. to me post -- you know, what has happened in international airports and our own facility, you mentioned deterrence, which i love the fact that these canine units can be deterrents out in the outer perimeters of the airport which is jus

i thank the chair. >> thank you, senator cantwell. we are joined this morning again by the secretary of the interior, the honorable ryan zinke. he's also joined at the table this morning by ms. olivia barton, the deputy assistant of the secretary of budget finance, performance, and acquisition and also denise flanagan, director of office and budget. it's my understanding that only the secretary will be offering remarks this morning. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> mr. secretary -- >> i have some great help, though. >> we appreciate you being here. i will note to colleagues that we are scheduled to have two votes commencing at 11:00. it's my intention to try to just keep the committee moving throughout that, so when the first vote is called, you might want to look around the dais and figure out when you are up next, and plan your timing to go to the floor around that, but i do intend to keep us moving, because it's my understanding that we will have to conclude the hearing this morning at noon. so, secretary zinke, if you would

. >> thank you, senator cantwell. enator blumenthal. >> thanks, mr. chairman. thank you for your service,, and appreciate your being here this morning. one troubling area of threat around the world and certainly at our transportation facilities is the use of veryday implements, vehicles in causing the kinds of mass attack we have come to ssociate with other forms of weapons. the use of bands post recently in britain and brussels. i wonder if you could share with us your insight as to how those kinds of attacks and be prevented, if they can be, what tsa is doing to research this area threat and how you are working with other gencies. >> senator, i don't know specifically how tsa is dealing with this kind of threat right now but if confirmed i would certainly take a very close look at that. i'm going to make an assumption though based on what i know about intelligence operations in my coast guard experience is there looking at threats writ large across the board and closely quart needing with federal, state and local -- coordinating -- agencies to gather informat

cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor to join my colleagues. you can see there's numerous colleagues on this side of the aisle who are speaking just as my colleague from vermont just did with great passion, or my colleague from massachusetts with great passion. i'm sure my colleague from minnesota. we've all been home for the weekends talking to our constituents. we've all been back here now with the c.b.o. news. and we're here because we are very concerned about the next steps the senate might take in this health care debate. when i was at home, i heard some unbelievable positive stories about health care. i was at a hospital in our state, virginia mason, has probably been one of the leaders in reducing health care costs by new efficiencies. they've improved lab work and return time of getting lab results for patients 85%. they've increased productivity 90%. they've reduced the liability insurance charges by 76%. so they've innovated. they've innovated. they've innovated. they've innovated

joining us now is senator maria cantwell, democrat from washington ma'am, good to have you here >> thanky chance with the result of the elections we saw last night? that we will see more coming together from democrats and republicans? >> i'm always for making things happen for our economy and certainly think we should focus on jobs and things that will create more economic opportunity for americans. my colleague susan collins and i are having a meeting today with some from the executive branch on's presentis programs. how to innocent more hiring of apprentice and skills and train on the job that's a great example to get off the start. >> do you agree with the president that being obstructionist something that works against your party >> well i think the president, you know, tweeted out he didn't want it cut medicaid so you hear a lot of discussion now about the health care deal and whether or not he is proposing doubts medicaid so you will have real policy differences and people will want to see in the light of day the concept of cutting that much medicaid money out of marketplace. what

and the president and ceo of squared communications and chief of staff for senator maria cantwell.all me crazy, i don't necessarily take at face value what politicians say to the microphones or say in printer interviews. scott, you've been there before, where do you think this thing really stands? >> i think there is momentum forgetting to a vote, we've got a lot of senators in washington who want to talk about what they might want or might not want. you can't really get this debate over with until you put people on the floor and make them vote. i think mitch mcconnell wants to have a vote before august and if he wants to have a vote they will have one and clear the deck on this issue one way or another. right now, every republican takes the blame if they don't have a vote and don't pass anything. i think the senate and a g.o.p. want to get there, it's like a rubik's cube, it's hard to solve but we will never know how close we are until we vote. >> melissa: looking at the news and the headlines today, another insurance company saying they are being forced to pull out of ohio. 20 co

. >> senator cantwell is joining me now.nk you for your time. >> thank you. >> many democrats stayed audiotape speaking on the senate floor, part protest and to stall senate business was a point in protest to the republican health care plan. it didn't stall anything. what did it accomplish? >> well, the republicans are having a war on medicaid. it serves veterans and helps the public health hospitals and dealing with the opioid population and takes people out of poverty and stabilizes them givi giving access to health care. all these things our colleagues are trying to cut. we ask they come to the floor. if these are the concepts they support, regardless of the bill, come to the floor and debate us. the american public has a right to know if their health care costs are going o to go up because of the actions of my colleagues. >> of course, we don't know what the republican bill will do to medicaid because it hasn't been put out there, yet. that's one of the things. i don't know what to say, you don't know the details because

there's senator harris of -- that's can't cantwell from washington state. president trump tweeted what he would do if this fails. blame the democrats. he tweeted republican senators are working very hard to get there with no help from the democrats. not easy. perhaps just let o care crash and burn. it's not just democrats that are in trump's cross hairs. america first is targeting the republicans who have come out against the senate health care bill. the message to all republicans get in line or else. the republican repeal remains one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation, however, in decades. in a scathing opinion piece montell williams has a dire speech. in his victory speech trump promised to lift up the forgotten men and women of this country. instead, under trumpcare they'll be left to die. montell williams, there he is. robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post." robert costa, you on the track touting here. i don't see in the world with collins already having walked and four or five other republican senators saying they'

answer that and then i'm going to go to senator cantwell. go ahead. >> that's what i'm trying to encourage us to look at is a system that works for the individuals who are suffering from this addiction. a system that focuses attention and focuses treatment on it, a system that recognizes that we need greater public health surveillance. in pain management is what so we can turn this curve in the appropriate direction which is down. we continue to tolerate a system that allows for addiction and overdose it is unacceptable to me and i won't stand for it. >> senator cantwell? >> i have a couple of questions. there have been press reports that the department is working on a rule that would deny birth control for employees. are you aware of this? >> there's a proposed rule that's out currently, and -- on conscientious objection and the contraceptive mandate. >> you are saying that employs could -- >> what is currently happening is solicitation of input and in that process i'm not able to make any further comment. >> you can't make a comment whethe

it's unacceptable and i won't stand for it. >> enter cantwell. >> thank you.ecretary parker, i have a couple of questions area there's been pressure for the department working on a rule that would deny birth control for employees. are you aware of this? >> there's a proposed rule that out currently and on on conscientious objection and contraceptive band-aids. >> you're proposing that you allow employers to discriminate against women and having birth control be part of an insurance policy provided by employers? >>was currently occurring his solicitation of input in this process . i'm not able to make any further comments. >> you can't make a comment whether you think that birth control should be part of basic health offered in insurance plans? >> for women who desire birth control, it ought to be available's are you promulgating the rule? >> there's a rule that has been put forward. >> so you think that employers should offer birth control as part of insurance programs, not be able to just say on a conscientious basis they don't believe in providing it? >> i b

last month the subcommittee chairman and ranking member cantwell held a hearing on consumer issues and i'm i interested to hear directly one what steps the department has taken to address these matters. in addition as we craft our biln we will continue to focus on certification reform committee integration of drones into the airspace from airportt infrastructure development, aviation safety and air service. there is a lot of work to be done and i look forward to working with the administration and my colleagues through the process. with that i would reiterate my thanks to the secretary for secr being here and turn to the s ranking member for his statement. >> thank you mr. chairman and the committee for the way that it is so interested in the subject and with which we dispatched the subject matter last year in an exceptionally bipartisan way and almostsecr unanimous. madame secretary, welcome. the current extension set tose expire at the end of september. i am hopeful that we are going to have a bipartisan the reauthorization bill ready to go in the coming week is. and i expressed my p

know, i have been asked to submit as part of the committee record here today a letter that senator cantwell and i received as the chairman and ranking member from the colleague of senator cortez-master, senator heller also from nevada with a request specific to the department about repository costs in previous studies and a request for new cost studies on geological disposal and repositivor i so this is included as part of the record. i believe that you may have already received it or are in the process of receiving it but he's asked for that request and i have -- i have complied with that. senator king. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. secretary, i don't envy you today because you've been sent us here to defend thein defensible. this budget is perhaps the worst budget for any agency that i've seen in 12 years in public life in terms of course ponding to national -- corresponding to national priorities. it is amazing. you made a statement in your opening statement when you first appeared in your confirmation hearing and you said when it comes to climate change i'm committed to making decision

last month, aviation subcommittee chairman blunt and rankedpa member cantwell held a hearing on recent consumer issues. and i'm interested to hear directly from the secretary on what stepsps the department has taken to address these matters. in addition, as we craft our faa bill we will continue to focus on certification treform, the integration of drones into the airport infrastructure development,o aviation safety, and rural air service. there is still a lot of work to be done. and i i look forward to working with the administration and all of myy colleagues throughout th process. with that i reiterate my thanks to secretary chao for being here and turn to ranging member nelson for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you to the committee in the way that it is so interested in this subject and with which we dispatched this subject matter last year in an exceptionallywa bipartisan way d anan almost unanimous way. madam secretary, welcome. the current extension ofte the a set to expire at the end of september, i'm hopeful that we are going to have ami bipartisa

. >> senator cantwell. >> thank you, secretary chao, for being here and thank you for etching questions about contract towers.nd you can see is a very hot topic with our colleagues. that's because or 250 contract towers in 46 states. i think just about every part of the country is interested in this, and given senator wicker question about the value, i would assume then you would be willing to say that you will protect this contract towers or matter what?t? >> i can't promise you that now because under the currenter wha? budgetary process, it's an issuh of what's available dollars. is that what you're asking? >> yes. >> so that's why, that's why the proposal of separating out air-traffic control from the regulatory safety part of faa is to address some of the budgetary issues as well so that this new entity will be self-sustaining. it will be self financing, and it will not be victim to the vagaries of year to year annual appropriations. >> are you saying -- >> that's good for the contractt towers. >> are you saying they will not get protected unless we do thatu >> under the current --

cantwell: i come to the floor tonight to raise concern about a proposed senate health care bill that might move through the united states senate, as my colleagues are pointing out, without hearing, without attention to the details -- actually, almost in secret. i guess it would be secret if we didn't know exactly what was in the house bill. it would be even more secret. people have said it will be about 80% of what was in the house bill. i can agree with president trump. that was a mean bill. if it is just 80% mean, i can guarantee that you it's still going to be mean. i say that because i have been at home listening to my constituents. they do not appreciate one bit -- if you're harbor view hospital and you are going to cut $800 million out of their budget because of the cap on medicaid and you are going to leave a hospital without resources, they are mad. if you are talking about children's hospital and children's hospital sees children who are on medicaid and they're not going to be able to see those children or get coverage, they're mad. or just like yesterday -- or actually satu

cantwell: madam president, i thank my colleague from maryland for so articulating the issues in this discussion draft that's been released this morning, as i hear him talk about these complex kids and how the cap is going to work and when people are going to be affected, it reminds me of that book "the smartest guys in the room," right? i mean, basically people cook up schemes they think other people can't understand or the broader public won't catch on to in the hopes that they can pass something. that's exactly what's going on here is a hoax and a scheme that is not cost-effective for the american people, literally will cut people off of access to health care, and literally, if the house bill was mean, this is doubling down on mean. so i thank my colleague from maryland for articulating this about the complex kid issue because these are concepts -- if this is a discussion draft, i would hope my colleagues would come to the floor and discuss it, discuss the concepts that are in this bill and debate them. but that's not what's happening. in fact, we know very little detail at this po

cantwell: mr. president? mr. president, i join my colleagues here from the finance committee, and although i don't want to admit it, it was 10 years ago that we had this discussion in the finance committee. my colleague from maryland and from delaware and from oregon. and i think what people don't realize -- even the presiding -- the president knows that we spent a lot of time talking about health care. this was not a, let's have a few meetings and let's roll how the a bill. there was a very, very long period. in fact, the president knows that in fact our side got a lot of heat for a lot of dialogue that happened with them. and our colleague from maine, at the time, a lot of heat for the dialogue with her. and there was a period of time, about six or seven months, where every single day i went to at least one thing in the discussion of the health care policy. at least one thing every day for, like, six months. that wasn't even the markup, that wasn't even the meetings. that wasn't -- that was just a time period w

cantwell: i come to the floor tonight to raise concern about a proposed senate health care bill that might move through the united states senate, as my colleagues are pointing out, without hearing, without attention to the details -- actually, almost in secret. i guess it would be secret if we didn't know exactly what was in the house bill. it would be even more secret. people have said it will be about 80% of what was in the house bill. i can agree with president trump. that was a mean bill. if it is just 80% mean, i can guarantee that you it's still going to be mean. i say that because i have been at home listening to my constituents. they do not appreciate one bit -- if you're harbor view hospital and you are going to cut $800 million out of their budget because of the cap on medicaid and you are going to leave a hospital without resources, they are mad. if you are talking about children's hospital and children's hospital sees children who are on medicaid and they're not going to be able to see those children or get coverage, they're mad. or just like yesterday -- or actually satu

cantwell: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: this side of the capitol is sending our thoughts and prayers, particularly to congressman scalise and to the other wounded law enforcement individuals and staff, certainly our hearts and prayers go out to those individuals too. these men and women who protect us every day here in the capitol do an outstanding job, and we really want to make sure that they understand how important it is and how much we appreciate their protection of us and the security they provide to everyone here in the capitol. so, mr. president, i come to the floor this afternoon with my colleague from maine to talk about an important issue as well, something that we had long planned to introduce today and did so this morning, the reauthorization -- the reintroduction of a senate bill focusing on the apprentice program. my colleague, senator collins, and i in the past congress wanted to make sure that people understood how important we thought the apprentice p

senator cantwell asked if we would consider other sources beyond the source we currently use as i understandit. that is something i'm open to exploring. provided they meet the same standard. they're effective at what they do. >> i listen your testimony, but at least my impression on certain occasions of going through the lines of airports, this isn't a universal thought, but i would imagine the challenge of the morale, a tsa agent on the frontline field elderly people, people that her through a line before. people mad because their flights are late and they've got an attitude and then everybody else and they are tired of it. i am concerned about the morale issue. how do you propose to address that and has there been a deep dive into what the job satisfaction and the tsa agent is and what improvements could be made? i learned in my appropriations committee that believe it or not, park service personnel don't like their job. we always think working at a national park would be something everybody would like to do. i think this is an important issue to be affected. >> it's one of the most import