in 2011, chairman lieberman, senator carper and i introduced our cyber bill. reported by this committee later that same year. since y working with chairman rockefeller to merge our bill with legislation that he championed. which was reporte commerce committee. ground breaking work on information stharg which she has been kind enough to share with this committeewe cnges based on the feedback from the private sector, our colleagues and the administration, we have produced a refined version which is the subject of today's hearing. and it is significant that three senate chairmen with jurisdiction over cyber security have come together on these issues. we fail to act the threat increases to our national and economic security. now, others of our colleagues have urged us narrowly on the federal information security management act. asl r & d and improved information sharing. we do need to address those issues -- and our bill does just that. with 85% of our nation's critical infrastructure owned by the private sector, the ensuring that has the critical the most vital

next is senator carper. >> could i have his 14 seconds? >> you've got it. >> madam secretary, good to see you. good to see a former secretary out there and a former congressman out there, tom ridge, nice to see all of our witnesses. thank you for being here. one of the things i and my colleagues know i like to do is. can never have too much of that in the senate or in the house and my hope is that when we adjourn here today we'll identify not just differences but we'll have identified where we can find some common ground and so i ask a coupleat in mind. i want to return to the comment of my colleague from arizona, mentioned regulation and sort of a cautionary e.at t chairman said, regulation can be a problem. it can be problematic if we don't us don't look cost/benefit analysis. it could be a bad thing. having said that, i always remember meeting with a bunch of utility ceos about six, seven years ago. it m meeting with me about clean air issues. mercury, co2, and trying to decide what the path should be. finally came to this meeting, fr s

senator carper just mentioned that.the other future was one where 20 years from now we would see an industry dominated by the process of continuous decommissioning and embarking on a process of long-term trend of continuously decommissioning. the first option to me is the only way forward for america's energy future. is the only responsible course of action where this committee to follow if we are serious about providing affordable domestic energy for seniors, working families and small business owners. the president is called for an all-out all of the above energy strategy at this this here state of the union address. the president if he is serious, will join those of us who seek to strengthen the support of energy source and staff the mission was qualified and experienced people. i thank you madam chairman and i look forward to the testimony. >> thank you so much. senator sanders. >> thank you madam chair. thanks to the members of the commission for being here. clearly we must focus continue to focus on the need for s

you're recognized. >> senator carper, thank you very much. thank you to the commission for being here. i first wanted to ask about several of the priority recommendations for the nrc task force may not be implemented until 2016, four years should not buy theirs after the fukushima disaster. the average american it seems to make six the government to keep them safe from disasters of nuclear power plants. why does it take five years to implement the short-term safety recommendations following the worst nuclear disaster in the generation? >> well, i think one area right now but we know there will be some challenges in the area of seismic, and i've been risk of powerplants and i think the simple answer to that is that the industry does not have the experts to do this. and i think that is indicative of the fact that this is not an issue that we probably paid enough attention to in terms to outdated our requirements for matt janning standards, updating skills in our knowledge base. and that is clearly exposes a weakness and that is why it's going t

we talk with heather carper. in tonight's "you're hired": she tells us how retraining provided by a city run program took her from administrative assistant to social media specialist. >> my name is heather carper and i'm a communications associate at akrete communications p.r. my specialty is in social media. social media strategy teaching businesses how we can take things that we think of as typically with personal communications facebook, twitter that sort of thing and leverage it in the business world. i became unemployed as of august 2010. i'd been an executive administrative assistant for about ten years. i knew that when i got laid off the last time, i knew i really didn't just want to go get another job, but what i really wanted to do was find a career where i could have more determination of what my future would be i've been working for akrete communications for the last two months now. well, i'm not the girl who just brings the coffee and water to the table i actually have a place at the table now. and c

as senator carper mentioned. the other future was one where 20 years from now we would see an industry dominated by the process of continuous decommissioning and embarking on a process of long-term trend of continuous decommissioning. the first option to me is the only way forward for america's energy future. it is the only responsible course of action for this committee to follow if we are serious about providing affordable, domestic energy for seniors, working families, and small business owners. the president has called for an all out, all of the above energy strategy at this year's state of the union address. the president if he's serious he will join those of us who seek to strengthen this important energy source and staff the commission with qualified and experienced people. i thank you, madam chairman. i look forward to the testimony. >> thank you so much. senator sanders. >> thank you, madam chair. thanks for the members of the commission for being here. clearly we must focus, continue to focus on the nee

the presiding officer: first amendment is corker number 1810, next carper number 1670. hutchison 1568, mccain 1669, alexander 1779, boxer 1816, paul 1556, and shaheen 1678. mrs. boxer: i just want to thank the president for this because i wanted members to know. now, it's very likely that several of these will not require votes. but i think we will expect at least -- between i'd say three and five votes. i think that's a fair indication of where we're going. so i will be back to discuss those amendments at the appropriate time. i thank you, i yield the floor. mr. merkley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent that my intern andy heckbirth bein be allowed privis of the floor. the presiding officer: without objection. perk america you rise tmr. merkk about the senate's constitutional responsibility to advice and consent. senators on both sides of the aisle have taken that duty very seriously, because if they do not honor that, the judiciary does not function. we talk about the three branches of government, bu

in a first look at the man accused of shooting trayvon martin he is seen exiting 8 scott carper was not seen as any visible signs of blood. zimmerman claims and martin attacked him banging his head on the ground and breaking his nose. >> trayvon martin said something to the effect of "you are going to die now" or "you are going to die tonight," something to that effect. he continued to beat george, and at some point, george pulled his pistol and did what he did. >> trayvon martin's girlfriend on the phone with the teenager at the time, tells a different story. >> there is no word about why charges have not been filed. the lead investigator in the shooting recommended that zimmerman should face charges. the state's attorney's office determined there was not enough evidence. martin's parents say this is another clue to their son was unjustly killed. >> this is the icing on the cake. >> it is becoming a conversation among many influential celebrities, including oprah. >> it is a tragedy and it is ashamed. > -- a shame. >> zimmerman has not been arrested or charged in the case, and investig

carper: thank you. i feel compelled to say a word or two on the heels of our colleague from alabama, who i is salute as he heads off into the setting sun. i wish you a good break. but i want to say -- when i was in the navy back during the vietnam war when we weren't flying a lot of missions off the coast of cambodia and vietnam, we flew a the love missions in and out of other countries, including japan, and i've always had an interest in japan in terms of the way they provide health care. and one of the things that's intriguing to me about japan and the way they provide health care is, they spend half as much money for health care as we do. they spend 8% of gross domestic product. we spend 16% of gross domestic product. they get better outcomes, everything from longer life expectancy to lower lives of infant mortality, and they cover everybody. they cover everybody. it is not socialized medicine. they have private health care delivery system and private health insurance companies, as well as we dovment

chairman carper, ranking member barrasso, members of the committee. just over one year since an earthquake and tsunami devastated japan, led to severe accidents at fukushima daiichi. last july the fukushima task force at the n.r.c. concluded that the sequence of events, the united states similar to that in japan is unlikely. the task force also concluded there is no imminent risk for continued operation of u.s. nuclear power plants. i believe those conclusions remain true today. no less i continue to support the n.r.c.'s actions to make our plants even safer. the n.r.c. has taken positive, concrete steps to strengthen the n.r.c.'s regulatory framework in response to fukushima. i join my colleagues here at this table and also commending the men and women of the n.r.c. for their hard work. i also appreciate the chance to engage with my four colleagues to the right. since i last appeared before this committee in december i voted to approve of three orders submitted to the commission in february. as mentioned by others, those orders were issued earlier th

i want to thank all of you for coming on carper date. -- on arbor day. ♪ >> 131,000 trees, many of whiche planted well over 100 years ago. so one of the reasons you all are out here today is to celebrate this, right? >> yeah. ♪ >> we're adding square footage for more programming, redoing the playgrounds, redoing the fields. there will be solar panels. it is going to give this community the space it very much needs and deserves. ♪ >> as always, want to thank jamie and mark for the great work. that concludes the general managers' report. >> is there anyone who would like to make public comment? richard, come on up. >> good morning, commissioner and general manager. i kind of like seeing all this activity and of this kind of show in the general managers' report. it gives us more insight on what is going on in our parks. i just want to say keep up the good work. commissioner buell: could you say that again? [laughter] >> is there anyone else would like to make public comment? public comment is closed. we're now on item number four which is general public comment, of the 15 minutes. members o

i want to thank all of you for coming on carper date. -- on arbor day. ♪ >> 131,000 trees, many of whiche planted well over 100 years ago. so one of the reasons you all are out here today is to celebrate this, right? >> yeah. ♪ >> we're adding square footage for more programming, redoing the playgrounds, redoing the fields. there will be solar panels. it is going to

i appreciate senator carper's support for this legislation. this is a bill that has a companion measure in the house that was raised at the house financial services committee. they voted on it. they voted by voice vote and approved it. and by voice vote, that means generally speaking there's no opposition and nobody cared to bother with a roll call because everybody supported it. that's a big, broad committee that represents, really, virtually every constituency in the house of representatives. passed it by voice vote. this has very, very strong and broad support. the third bill i want to mention is senate bill 1933, the schumer-toomey bill. this -- the technical name sheer "reopening american capital markets to emerging growth companies act." we call this more colloquially the onramp bill. and the reason we call it that is we think it as a on-ramp to becoming a publicly traded company, a path to launching an i.p.o. that will facilitate this. you know, there's been' big reduction in the number of i.p.o.'s that have occurred in the united state

i suggest after senator sessions, it would be senator carper, then senator cantwell, correct? i ask unanimous consent that the senators be recognized in the order that i have just noted. the presiding officer: without objection. would the senator like to request that the nontribute-related portion of his discussion be put at a separate place in the record so that he proceeds unimpeded? mr. durbin: just what i was about to ask the chair to have permission that my statement not related to senator mikulski be placed at a separate place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, it will be so. mr. durbin: by this time next week, the supreme court will have finished hearing oral arguments in the case charging the constitutionality of the patient protection and affordable care act. how important is this supreme court case on health care reform? well, health care is such an important issue that congress spent one year drafting and debating a bill that the court is going to consider next week. health care has been a critical issue for so long in our country that in the l

and so i think it is important that the things that senator carper, who's just leaving, voted for, and others, to pass the payroll tax cut, is a cushion and a buffer for families who are dealing with higher gas prices and provides some cushion and buffer for the economy. we also had a situation now where, while that's discouraging for families, you also have more positive things happening at the same time. the strengthening of the job market. some families starting to see their pensions value going back to where it was prior to the crisis. so it is a headwind that we face but it's a headwind we face in the mix with other things that seem to be clearly in the right direction. in terms what was we're going to do, as the president says, all of the above. one, you have to seize moments like this to make people realize how just economically insane it is for our economy to be so dependent on the global -- on global crude oil prices. when those global crude oil prices are themselves so dependent on so many different security issues in some of the most fragile parts of the world. so this is a

her son died after being left inside the carper hours. she will serve six years' probation and 400 hours community service. >> abc7 viewers helped by an accused child predator all the way out in california. a man posted a video of himself sexually abusing a child. tips from our web site and others helepdped find him. barbara mikulski is days away from becoming the longest serving female member. it will be 12,000 days of service. she held title after serving in congress from 1925-1950. she holds the title of the one best female in the senate. >> time for a check of the traffic situation. we have the details. hello, mike. >> problem in the gw parkway. delays from memorial to 40 the street where we have an incident shutting down the left lane. 395 aslope from washington and from seminary to duke. traffic on south down 95 and here is the springfield camera take a look there. a bit of delays there. slow traffic from dale city all the way to 610. here's a look at the beltway. innerloop very heavy from 70. slow traffic from college park to annap

the second piece that i introduced with senator carper and for which i'm very grateful to senator carper for his work is to lift the permissible number of shareholders that a small, privately held business can have without triggering the full very expensive and onerous s.e.c. compliance regime. our bill would take that from a current level of 500 up to 2,000, and there are many, many companies throughout pennsylvania, across the country that are successful, they're thriving, they're growing but they've got a number of shareholders that's bumping up against that limit. they're close to 500, they need to raise capital, they don't want to go public and they've got plenty of people who would like to invest in their business so that they can grow but they can't do it because they're so close to the threshold. we would live the threshold to 2,000 so they can raids money in the private markets. finally what is in some ways the centerpiece of this legislation in my mind, a bill i sliewfd with senator schumer and i thank him for his work on this. this is a bill that facilitates going public. when

as senator carper mentioned. the other future was one where 20 years from now we would see an industry dominated by the process of continuous decommissioning and embarking on a process of long-term trend of continuous decommissioning. the first option to me is the only way forward for america's energy future. it is the only responsible course of action for this committee to follow if we are serious about providing affordable, domestic energy for seniors, working families, and small business owners. the president has called for an all out, all of the above energy strategy at this year's state of the union address. the president if he's serious he will join those of us who seek to strengthen this important energy source and staff the commission with qualified and experienced people. i thank you, madam chairman. i look forward to the testimony. >> thank you so much. senator sanders. >> thank you, madam chair. thanks for the members of the commission for being here. clearly we must focus, continue to focus on the nee

to talk jobs with the democratic leadership council vice chair and senator from delaware, thomas carperending and reforms the tax code. does it have a chance in the democratically controlled senate? that and more when "squawk box" returns. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. it saves us so much time and money. postage meters are a lot more expensive. can you print only stamps? no. first class. priority mail. certified. international. and the mailman picks it up. i don't leave the shop anymore. now it's all under my control. and i like that. [ male announcer ] learn more at stamps.com/tv and get a 4-week trial plus $100 in extras including a scale and free postage to use during your trial. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. >>> we're back on this tuesday morning, the first day of

outer loop of carper towards the harrisburg expressway, tracking speed at -- on the j.f.x., around 32f.x. once you get into town, still running smoothly. live view of traffic. here is what it looks like at the accident scene. 95 and route 24, everything running smoothly. live view of traffic at harford, we're seeing intermittent delays going away from us from harford towards dulaney valley. >> we had rain around last night. most of that is pushed off of the coast. cloud cover will be breaking up as we head throughout the morning big change from yesterday's temperatures. no. isn't 15, gusting to 21. it will feel like the 30's. down to 39 in taneytown. same thing in westminster. 42 in mount airy. it should state dry no around baltimore. as we head into the afternoon, it will become mostly sunny. breezy and obviously cooler than yesterday. high temperatures between 5459. sunshine on both saturday and sunday. a little chilly on saturday. we will make it up to 60 on sunday. sunday. daylight savings time begi i'm drinkin' dunkin'. definitely dunkin'. you know, i need to get that jolt in the

. >> ok, senator carper. >> thank you. general shinseki, as you know, we often face challenges in treating our veterans who live in many rural and remote areas. this is especially true in places like alaska and hawaii, where you just cannot get to some places by jumping in a car and driving there. i know that you're working on an mour with the indian -- mou to find solutions to help provide services to our native american veterans, and i commend you and all your involvement in these efforts. mr. secretary, can i get your commitment to look into possible ways of working with the native hawaii in health care systems and the native american veteran systems to provide services for native and hawaiian veterans whom -- who live in many of the rural parts of the state of hawaii? >> senator, you have my assurance that we will do our utmost to provide for any of our veterans wherever they live, the most rural and remote areas. the same access and quality to health care and services has we provide to someone living in a more urban a

. >> and major carper, how did you hear, or how did you feel hearing the remarks from the president ander speakers? >> i was proud to have served in iraq. and i felt appreciated as a iraq war veteran. >> we know there were only 200 veterans invited to the dinnerment how did you get your invitation? >> well, we heard that there was -- they needed some people. so my husband actually put me on the list. he is also an active duty major. they also said we'll let you know if you were selected. i literally got up on saturday morning, went out to the mail box and saw i had an invitation. >> how about you, jason? >> i actually had an invitation of my executive director. i work with iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. >> there's still about 90,000 troops still in afghanistan. many more around the world as you very well know. was it very difficult to celebrate last night major parker? >> well, although we still have friends and family in afghanistan, i think it was good to go ahead and at least acknowledge those who had served in iraq. and i think it was even more about acknowledging the ser

now, what i want to say is that senators lieberman, carper, senator collins, scott brown, the ranking members of the committee, came together and made -- put together a bill which was significantly better than what the postmaster general had proposed. no question about it. some of us felt that the lieberman-carper-collins-brown bill did not go far enough, and we have been working with the chairmen of the committees to try to improve that bill, and i think we have made some success. and i think if you look at the manager's amendment, you'll see stronger guarantees to make sure that we are not shutting down rural post offices all over america, that if we shut down processing plants, they will be a significantly smaller number that was -- than was originally proposed, and that also we would maintain strong mail delivery standards, if not as strong as i would like, at least stronger than what the postmaster general originally proposed. now, if -- here is my fear, mr. president: the postmaster general is raring to go. now, if he proceeds and the board of postal commissioners perceive that

carper? >> thank you, mr. chairman. administrator fugate, i have a letter here. i asked to be made a part of this record, from the governors of five states, texas, mississippi, florida, louisiana and alabama, expressing grave concern about the decision of the united states air force to move the texas air national guards 136 airlift wing of c-130s currently located in fort worth to the state of montana. this airlift wing understand is the only domestic emergency airlift capability in the gulf region. according to this letter, the texas air national guard's 130 have flown 423 storm response sorties, and texas, louisiana and mississippi getting 3001 and 43 passengers and delivering 939 tons of emergency supplies. under current arrangement the texas governor can mobilize the c-130s them in a matter of hours. however, it's my understanding that requesting support in emergencies like these can take days due to federal bureaucracy. how then does this relocation of these c-130s from fort worth, texas, to montana affect the ability to provide for disaster relief to the gu

what most people are paying an extra gas prices one, so i think it is important that things senator carper who is just leaving said before and others to pass the payroll tax cut is a cushion and a buffer for families who are dealing with your gas prices and provide some cushion and a buffer for the economy. we also have a situation now while that is discouraging for families you also have more positive things happening at the same time, the strengthening of the job market, some families starting to see their pensions and going back to where it was prior to the crisis, so it is a headwind that we face but it's a headwind that we face in the mix with other things that seem to be clearly in the right direction. in terms of what we are going to do as the president says all of the above. you have to seize moments like this to make people realize how just economically in seen in this for our economy to be so dependent on the global crude oil prices. when the global who crude oil prices are themselves so dependent on so many different security issues and some of the most fragile parts of the worl

and senator carper from delaware who is a very moderate member of this body has stood up in front of our caucus, madam president, and made a passionate plea. we don't need any more delays. we need action, and we need wise action, and e.p.a. has said they will work with our states, state by state. they will work with the polluters polluter by polluter. because of the leadership of the senator from oregon, they have written letters to many of us who are concerned, saying that they will work on this. well, i'm not going to talk too long because i want to leave time for my friend, but i must put in the record the following facts. if we vote for the collins amendment and if it were to become the law, a, it doesn't belong on a transportation bill, we should be debating the clean air act for weeks on end if we're going to start repealing standards for these pollutants, so just on that issue alone, we should vote against it. but if it were to pass, which i don't believe it will, 300,000 newborns each year may well have increased risk of learning disabilities from toxic mercury exposures in t

in just one year to have carper since you've -- your homeless veterans, 18 percent you're sitting on the streets, that is a huge accomplishment, and your personal lead. >> cross is the coordination has been huge. so we are concerned about the ending of hprp and we are concerned because it has been so effective. we thought originally it would reach about 500,000 people. it is already reaching more than 1 million still counting. while the best things about it to miss 74 percent of the folks is reached on homeless families who have often been the hardest. why have we been able to? because we have realized through doing this, the data has shown us is that for far less money than we expected we have been able to us stabilize or rapidly rehouse families. might be one month's rent, a security deposit, just a couple months of utility bills. but that has allowed us to serve far more people. really the most exciting thing about it is we have started to reorient many local responses to homelessness where for the first time they see that rapid rehousing in particular is a very beneficial step. i

that will save the average family eight belles and dollars over the lifetime of carper -- $8,000 over the lifetime of a car. that will pay some bills. those are the cars we needed to keep building here in the united states. yes, we can do that. [applause] all right, so -- now, to fuel these cars and trucks, obviously, if you are using less gas, that is great. but we also want to invest in clean advanced biofuels that can replace some of the oil that we are currently using. that is important. already we are using these biofuels to power everything from city buses to ups trucks to navy ships. i want to see more of these fuels in american cars, home grown fuels, because that means we are buying less oil from foreign countries and we are creating jobs here in the united states, including big parts of rural america, rural maryland, where the economy oftentimes is struggling. you have an opportunity to create entire new industries and put people to work. and it is happening all across the country. all of these steps have put us on a path of greater energy independence. here is a statistic i

my colleagues, senator lieberman, senator carper, senator brown, and i have worked extremely hard duringlation to update the postal service's business model and give to the tools it needs to survive and succeed. we've introduced a bill that will help the postal service reduce its operating costs, modernize its business model and innovate to generate new revenue. however, mr. president, the postmaster general and i fundamentally disagree on how to save the u.s. postal service. and i am concerned, indeed deeply worried, that he continues to make decisions that will severely did he go grade the service and drive -- severely degrade the service and drive wa*e away customers -- drive away customers. it is clear that we have two very different visions on how best to help the postal service. while each of us wants to ensure that the postal service is set on a sustainable path, i fear that the postmaster general's approach would shrink the postal service to a level that will ultimately hasten its insolvency. mr. president, i cannot think of another business that would respond to a loss of custom

carper, yell, and princeton is not for everybody. there is a great piece in the "wall street journal" 9 was comparing going to harvard university with joining the corrections department of the state of california. it turns out the state of california's corrections department is much more selective than harford. [laughter] and you almost never catch up. because instead of spending $50,000 for the first four years each year, you make money, and you had the benefits and vacation and everything else. [laughter] the issue is really we need people at all different levels. community colleges, vocational schools, college graduates. when we say college graduates, yes, that is a very desirable thing. but being a plumber, you have pricing power. being a plumber is something that society needs. it is a profession that people will pay for and you can be in a charge of your own destiny and a start your own company. let's not forget those. we have started new york opening a lot more but i would call vocational schools. we call them what? career tec

blunt 1540, merkley 161563, portman 1763, kobe char 1718, shaheen 1678, portman 174 , corker 1810, carper 1670, hutchison 1658, alexander 1779, boxer 1816 and paul 1556. on thursday, march 8 at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the republican leader the senate proceed to vote on the amendments in the order listed, following amendments be subject to a 60 affirmative throat threshold, vitter 1535, collins 1660, coburn 1738, knell bi-landrieu 1822, wyden 1815, mcconnell or designee side by side to stabenow 1812, stabenow 1812, demint 1589, menendez-burr 1782, that there be no other amendments in order to the bill other than the manager's package, no points of order or motions in order to any of these amendments other than the budget points of order and the applicable motions to waive. that it be in order for a manager's package considered and if approved by the energies and the two leaders, that the two managers are senators boxer and inhofe. and that be in order for a meergs package considered and if approved by the managers, and the two leaders the man

numbered 296, s. 1789, the 21st century postal service act, signed by 16 senators as follows -- reid, carper, brown of ohio, begich, nelson of florida, lautenberg, shaheen, blumenthal, coons, feinstein, leahy, durbin, lieberman, murray, schumer and pryor. mr. reid: mr. president, this is an extremely important bill. that's the postal reform legislation. we have been waiting to get to it for a long time. we're going to move to that next week. i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask we proceed to a period of morning business, with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i rise to speak about a disturbing made recently about the national football league. the national football league investigation revealed that the new orleans saints had allegedly been operating an illegal bounty program. under this bounty program, players were reportedly given si