senator cantwell. >> thank you, madam chair. chief christensen and mr. rupert, we were altogether at the department of ag to discuss the mou between the department of interior and the forest service and i saw that last week the department of interior awarded four contracts to companies who operate medium sized unmanned aerial vehicles for wildfires. so, i'm proud to say that one of those was in situ from southwest washington and northeast oregon, a company that spans the columbia and is on both sides, literally, the company is on both sides and we're so proud of that technology, but most importantly, we're proud that interior is being very aggressive about using this tool on wildland fires and that we want to make sure that there's now no barriers between the forest service and interior working together to implement this. this is so critical for information about fire size, starts, and safety and security of our firefighters. so, is there anything that is holding us up from being very aggressive about this deployment, during this fire season? do you have

cantwell:? >> thankou madam chair. thank you for that strong statement, i agree with you on the issue of sexual harassment and what the agency nes to do to bter manage and train people in responding to these issues. i appreciate your strong statement about drones. as wprchhis fire season, making sure those on the fire line have the best possible information is going to be critical. weather conditions, info about fire movement, all of that, i recently attended a breakfast where the secretary of act was entering into a mou.thes done remarkable work on our drone system. i do not want the department of act two waste one minute re-creating something that could be the same implementation that the department of interior has done. i hope that they will work on that. on -- want to get started climate scientists have telling us the fire season is getting longer and hotter and now this new forecast of the pacific northwest will have a the-august fire season on side of what we have seen in the past being potentially worse. receive

let me jump back to the conversation that senator cantwell talked about. i don't think people realize, when there are fires going on in the northwest in particular, is not just the residence that are impacted, we see the smoke and haze in southern nevada. so it has an impact on the region. for that reason, i am curious, what is it that you are looking to address from the health benefit or the health effects when it comes to that haze. and the issues affiliated with any type of wildfire. i know you haven't office of environmental health. it studies the event and their impact in particular but my understanding is that is underfunded, is that correct? >> environmental health? >> is that not true? >> i am not familiar with that. >> i can speak to a partnership that the greater wildland fire community entered into with the center for disease control. they really are helping us study both the fuel type from prescribed fire and wildfire and the time of year and not only show that the quantity of smoke is different as senator cantwell expressed in his report, but

senator cantwell. >> thank you. we were all together at the department of ag to discuss this mou between the department of interior and forest service. i saw that last week the department of interior awarded four contracts to companies operate medium sized unmanned aerial vehicles for wild fires. so i'm proud to say one of those was an instance from southwest washington and northeast oregon. a company that spans the columbia and the company is on both sides. literally. we're proud of that technology. but most importantly, we're proud that interior is being very aggressive about using this tool on wild fires.ant to make rvice a interio working together to implement this. this is so critical for information about fire size, , of our firefighters. abt bein aggressive during this fire season? do you have to do anything se to mau tools are used across agenci or implemented? >> thank you for the question. i'm pleased to say this is an example of we're coordinating together. the forest service is clearly looking to the ear

thank you madam chair. >> thank you senator cantwell. we will now proceed to five- minute statements with the chairman as well as with the commissioner, as i mentioned, you are all well known to us, so i will forgo your backgrounds, and just acknowledge the good work of each of you as commissioner, and as chairman. if you would please lead off, chairman mcintyre. and, please note that your full statements will be included as part of the record. please proceed. >> thank you chairman murkowski. madam chair, ranking member cantwell, and members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to discuss the important work of the ferc. an independent federal agency that regulates aspects of our nations electric natural gas and oil pipeline industries. as you know, those aspects include the sale of lectures at the end natural gas for state commerce. the determination of whether to build natural gas terminals and interstate pipelines as well as the hydropower project. i am honored to serve as chairman. i joined ferc as cha

with that, senator cantwell? >> thank you, madam chair. thank you for scheduling this important hearing and i, too, want to welcome all of the commissioners here. it is good to see a full and functioning ferc. your responsibilities and overseeing and a permitting the federal power act particularly as it relates to just and reasonable power rates is something the pacific northwest hold very dear. i know the past six months have been very busy time for the commission, the new energy sector that is cleaner, more sophisticated comes with many policy changes. i want to applaud the commissioner for several important unanimous decisions this year. in my view you start things off right by rejecting secretary berries radical proposal to force consumers to bear out unconverted call and i hope we can return to the topic intimate because i really do believe that'll is underlying policy wrong, i also believe that it is a threat on your independence ad oversight to be directed this way. in order it for when you directed operators to blueberries to energ

>> we're doing exactly what senator cantwell suggested.out talking to every senator, having these conversations because it is imperative that the senate rejects any candidate that opposes roe. part of the resistance has been engaging in the streets in the marches and movement. the other part is having these conversations with our senators. people like susan collins and lisa murkowski have been incredibly thoughtful on helping support women's health care. these are the kinds of voices the conversation taz we need to be having activating engaging in people across the country. >> republican senator susan collins of maine said roe versus wade is settled law when asked about abortion rights this afternoon. let's watch. >> well, first of all, i view roe versus wade as being settled law. it's clearly precedent and i always look for judges who respect precedent. >> susan collins is great and said she respects jungs accepts it as it is. do you believe that roe versus wade is safe? >> no, because when a president makes that pledge on national tv and

i think you heard similar concerns from both senator cantwell and senator wyden on this. we see that these are important assets. we want you to have the aviation assets. wewant to know that we are being smart with all of this. thus the request for the study back in 2012. actually, if mys correct, if we did put this in place in 2012, we are beyond our 12 -- 5 years.>> the first season was in 2013. a >> okay. i have no further questions at this point in time. agn, ifcolleagues have submissions, you will see them. i know it's not a policy, but maybe we just pray for rain this summer. also, we pray for the safety of the men and women who are out there on the front lines. wethat this is very dangerous. we have lost far too many, as they have been out on the front lines. hopefully it will be a safe season. with that, the committee dan's adjourned. >>> washington drama is live with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up on wednesday morning, inside elections reporter will be on to talk about the results of tuesday's primary. paul discusses provisions within the republ

. >> senator cantwell. you were next. senator enzi said he would yid. >> mr. cman. >> yes. >> if i could, i think in order of who is here, it would be enzi next and then senator kassity and then senator cantwell of the senators who are here. >> appreciate that. >> senator enzi, why don't you >>oceed. hank you, thank you. again, i appreciateal and the fact that we're having this. i come from the least populated state in the nation. our biggest city is 60,000, and all of our towns are at least 40 miles apart. we only have 19 towns where the population exceeds the elevation. i have one county that's the size of delaware, and the city, and you get to be a first class city when you hit 2,500 people and they just did, is 2,500 for the hole. we try to keep a hospital open there which means usually just having a physician's as tap the. this is a critica hearing for us, and i'll begin my question withis thompson. the way medicare pays rural hospital including critical access and sole community like we have in wyoming, it's closely related to in-patient services. as med

senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for mentioning code.org and for your work in your home state. i've always said we need to be more aggressive about our coding education. unfortunately, the federal role is so much more minimal than the states' role in that aspect, but i always referred to my own experience of having to take typing and latin and that having a mandatory language requirement that today our mandatory language requirement should be one year of coding in our schools. that would give everybody access to your point about the diversity of never being able to predict what student is going to be really good at coding. so it's something everybody should be exposed to. i invite you to come to seattle and visit code.org or any of our institutions on this subject. we're working very hard at it. mr. reed, i wanted to talk to you about the app economy, since you represent the association, and your comments about efficiency and constant mobile connectivity. i thought you hit it right on the head about this is

cantwell: is there a quorum call? the presiding officer: there is not. ms. cantwell: madam president, i come to the floor today to honor washington state's finest, spokane native and washington state university cougar steve gleason. i know my senate colleagues will be here this afternoon to do the same. my colleagues from louisiana and washington have introduced legislation to award steve the congressional gold medal, congress' highest honor. i look forward to seeing this legislation passed later today by unanimous consent. many washingtonians remember steve as a standout student athlete whose dedication in the classroom earned him repeated academic honors and whose dominance on the football field helped both in his efforts with dazzling records and showing the unbelievable determination to fans. and everybody back home is pulling for steve. for steve to go from the seahawks instead signing with the new orleans saints -- i mean, that is we wanted him to be at the seahawks and he went to the cents -- he quickly became a fan for his work, his ethic and the joy

the tv wide spaces is pioneered b by a company out of senator cantwell's home state. they've been on the front edge of this, partnering with local isps and others -- >> so the local isp is a part of this? >> exactely right. it's essentially like your wi-fi, but how do we get it to go a lot further than on the current gig hertz. we need better spectrum. >> back to the statistic you gave about mississippi, i assume you have this similar statistics about all of the other states represented -- >> why, yes, senator, for every member of your committee. >> is that in a form that you could esnter into the record? >> absolutely, senator. >> without objection, that will be entered into the record at this point. you know we're having a debate, mr. reed, with the fcc about the reliability of their maps on this very topics. are you telling me you'vee a study -r h done a study that is different and uses different information? >> we've done some combinations of studies, but you point out one of the major problems. at the root of almost all the trees is still the fcc's data. we would

cantwell: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i come up to join the debate this morning on the farm bill, making sure that we get the farm bill passed. it is so important to the state of washington and to our country. i know many of my colleagues have been down here talking about agriculture, but in the state of washington, it is responsible for about 164,000 jobs, and while we produce ourselves about $10 billion plus of economic activity, our ports are responsible for exporting about $108 billion of economic activity. so chances are, if you're growing an agricultural product in the united states, there is a good chaps that you're -- good chance that you are shipping that product through washington ports. so to say that this bill is an important economic tool is an understatement. we know in the united states of america that a trade surplus in agriculture has also existed for 50 years. so when we're talk

senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary ross, we have had many conversations about washington state and trade writ large. i guess i would say this, that we kind of look at trade wars as they 1980s retro policy because one in four jobs are related to trade, so whether it's aerospace or agriculture or now seafood that's going to be impacted, when we had trade wars it impacts the washington economy in a major way. so many of our businesses have fought these same fights that you are trying to fight, but they have tried to avoid the trade war because in the end what happens is somebody pays the price and in this case we're very, very concerned about agriculture. not only do we have $10 billion plus revenue from ag in our state, we pushed through our ports about $182 billi worth of ag products. so anything that affects ag affects our state writ large. anything obviously on the steel tariffs impacts aerospace and now we're faced with this seafood issue. so i guess what i'm really trying to understand is how do you think

so i share senator cantwell's concern that we are getting into a trade war. i don't understand -- i don't quite understand the administration's strategy. certainly as you talked to some of our key partners some of which we have trade balances, favorable trade balances with that are scratching their heads as to why we take action against one of our nato allies. it raises significant concern in the manner in which the administration is carrying out the trade policy. my quick question deals with some of the issues that have already been raised in regards to smaller companies. i'm the ranking democrat on the small business committee. i heard your exchange on this issue before but i just point out small companies do not have an army of lawyers that can help deal with exemption of products and they can't deal with the way that the original process was set up for exemptions. it just doesn't work for small companies. we need to have some sensitivity for them to be able to get the help they need in order to make an appropriate case to you for an exemption of product l

then we've got the meeting with russia, lindsey graham, maria cantwell, discuss all of that and thenst some. place to start your 1st day of july. >> comen overe'll have fire works during the entire hour. >> you must say so yourself. there youo. i'll provide the spark. >> good to have you with us as always. "meet thepress" sunday. >>> the holiday travel rush is on from the ungooddly condition on the roads for the warns about traffic before you get to the airport. >>> plus dangerous heat for our week week doug --ather r ♪ ♪whoaaa-oooaaaa ♪as long as the suns up... ♪there's no holding back.♪ ♪whoaaa-oooaaaa ♪and every moment, ♪you gotta make it last. all the thrills of summer. one amazing getaway. busch gardens williamsburg and water country usa. visit both parks for only $30 per day. >>> check that out. that's a beautiful view. what makes it even better is i'm looking atns it frome with a.c. when you see numbers like this, 91 degrees,ins out of th south, three miles per hour. nothing but sunshine. what's this feel like? 90, but feels like 95 in the strict. these fee n like arehing compar

senator peters 3164, senator shaheen 3172, senator feinstein 3177, senator cornyn 3186, senator cantwell and senator crapo 3209, senator gardner again 3218, and senator grassley. i would only note this represents 18 amendments, including the substitute. extremely bipartisan. i have read republican, democrat, democrat, republican, all through these 18 amendments. we have proceeded that way in committee. we are proceeding this way on the floor. i would urge members to bring their amendments to the floor for consideration, and hopefully the amendments will be in the nature that we can consider them without controversy. i know that people have strong concerns about whatever amendment they would introduce, but again the ultimate goal is to do this quickly and to provide farmers certainty and predictability during this difficult time that they're going through. i hope members will keep that in mind with regards to any amendment they may consider. i yield the floor. mr. roberts: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. roberts: i note the absence of a quorum. the presi

if you are senator cantwell and in your going -- boeing state, that is a pretty big company that can take care of itself and figure this out as best it can. but if you are a rhode island parks manufacturer with 30 employees were providing things to boeing, it is really hard to this unplanned or only simply plans, or partly planned cascade of tariff consequences are going to come down and hit you. i guess my question is, what does the commerce department have. and at the extent of what you know it, what does the treasury department have by way of predictions as to how these trade conflicts will cascade into the american economy? would needs to worry the most. i assumed you looked at that kind of stuff before you embarked on this. i would like to see whatever it is that you've got. 232's, we as per the have justified before that the research we have done into the direct impact of the 232's on various segments of the economy. i think you are aware that we have testified that it was a fraction of a penny on a can of campbell's soup. a fraction on a can of blood riser, a fraction on a can

senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chair. i'm sorry i had to step out for a while but i did hear your opening statement. i wanted four things, list price, negotiating tools, cost share and the foreign outlook. on plans for negotiating, one of the best negotiating tools i think that's out there is the provision of the basic health plan or essential plan that is now operating in a few states where families can have affordable -- basically the state ends up negotiating. the state negotiates on behalf of a large group of individuals. those who may not belong to a large employer or employer who doesn't have insurance. so those can see as little as a $6 for generic drugs, $15 for brand drugs. so in my mind, that's a great model. why? because it's a negotiating tool by creating market leverage by a large group of individuals who wouldn't have market power. you know, i call it the costco model. if you buy them both, you should get a discount. so that state in this case new york or minnesota buying in bulk is getting a discount. why s

. >> senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for your questions. e i think it is a good precursor to some of the things we're interested in. i don't know if either one of you know -- well, i'm assuming you do. the drug enforcement agency classifies opioids as a dangerous substance with potential for high abuse. so because of that, that's why we created a strong network of laws on distribution. we basically said that substances like this needed to be tracked and reported and suspicious orders red flagged and the distribution of these drugs communicated so that the drug enforcement agency, dea, could work through this. but despite the fact that law exists, there's been large quantities of opioids flooding our communities with manufacturers filling excessively large orders in distribution. one example, a physician in everett, washington, wrote more than 10,000 prescriptions of the highly addictive oxycontin. then there were 26 times higher than the average for everett prescriber. in another case in a legal opioid distribution ring in california allowe

senator cantwell and i have worked on same improvements to the licensing process that add accountability and transparency and coordination amongst the agencies, but the question and i'll throw it out to any of you there is what we are do to ensure that unnecessary regulatory costs and delays don't result in a loss of existing hydro power projects because when you think about it. if you're looking at a decade or more to go through the processing, millions of dollars, folks gets a little bit discouraged and they throw in the towel. we can't have that happening. so how do we work to make sure that there is an efficiency, that we are working to reduce costs and really what ferc can do administratively to improve the licensing process because this is something that we're all going to be dealing with in the not too distant future here? i throw that out to whoever wants to jump in. >> okay. i'll begin and ask my colleagues to chime in. >> we have taken steps for helpful reforms. recently last year we extended the standard license term. we also are looking at processes to streamline these stakeh

recognition of steve's work, in april i introduced legislation with senators murray, kennedy, and cantwell to honor steve gleason with the congressional gold medal. steve's story is so compelling that in less than two months over 70 of our colleagues joined to affirm steve's inspiring story and impact upon -- and impact upon his fellow americans to make him worthy of the highest honor congress can bestow. he is an example of what makes our country great. he has given hope to many. he gives hope to all those who have ever received a devastating diagnosis, and his message is simple -- your life still has meaning. your best years can still be ahead of you. steve is a role model not just for those in the disability community but for all americans. i suspect that he may appreciate -- that what you may appreciate most about this honor is the attention it brings to find solutions and cures for those with diseases such as a.l.s. i'd like to thank my colleagues, their staff, and everyone else who has helped build support thor this legislation, including microsoft, the a.l.s. association, the nfl, a

sullivan 3303, senator hirono 3321, senator cortez masto, senators brown and portman 3323, senator cantwell 3365, senator moran 3171, and senator thune 3371. i further ask that it be in order for the following amendment to be called up and reported by number, the amendment by senator lee. i further ask that there be cloture motions with respect to senator -- pardon me h.r. 2 be withdrawn and the senate now vote on the following amendments in the order listed -- senator lee number 3074, senator thune 3134, and senator roberts substitute 3224. further, that the lee amendment be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold for adoption, and that following disposition of the roberts amendment, the bill as amended, if amended, be read a third time and the senate vote on passage with no intervening action or debate and the passage be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the amendment by number. the clerk: the senator from kansas, mr. roberts, for mr. lee proposes an amendment numbered 3074. the presiding offi