lee: senator hickenlooper. sen. hickenlooper: thank you, mr. chair.k you, governor, for being here. appreciate this. it's always good to have other governors in the room, or former governors, i guess, at this point. i've got three questions, so i'm going to be pretty quick in the questions, and i try to be unfailingly polite, but if i override you, it's just because i want to get to all three questions. obviously, i worked on methane regulations back when i was governor. we were the first state or province anywhere in the world to actually regulate methane, but we did it by working with the industry. they came and helped create the regulations that were going to guide them. senator cassidy was just talking about abandoned wells. it's all part of that same problem. as secretary of the interior, how do you think you can use your authority to advance rules that boost innovation in the energy sector? let's reduce methane is one thing, but i'll broaden the question and say, and getting to better, cleaner energy, that's at the same time reliable and a low c

hickenlooper, aye. the clerk: mr. coons, aye. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. vote: the presiding officer: the yeaers 67. the nays are 23. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of the treasury, scott bessent of south carolina to be secretary. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 12:00 noon on monday, january 27, following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed and the senate proceed to executive session and resume executive calendar number 5, scott bessent postcloture. if any nomination is confirmed during monday's session, the motions to

chair cassidy: senator hickenlooper. sen. hickenlooper: thank you, bobby. we share a mutual oldest best friend and i respect that affection you have for him very much. you did talk longer in your introduction so i will try to urge concision. i thought i would start with the ability of medicare to negotiate drug prices which was finally okayed in 2022. one hundred billion dollars in the next 10 years, 1.5 billion dollars out of consumers' pockets, medicare patients, in 2026 alone. yesterday you said that the trump administration issued a statement to lowering the cost of prescription drugs, continuing the negotiation program. i went back and i looked at that. it was a statement that mentioned increasing transparency and then said that they would solicit feedback on the medicare drug price. nowhere did it say in the statement that the administration was actually going to commit to lowering prices. is that something that you still feel that that negotiation program, lowering those prices is important? mr. kennedy: i've spoken to president trump about negotiati

lee: senator hickenlooper. senator hickenlooper: i ran down the hall to get here, i didn't want to miss my chance for a second question, second round of questions. and again, thank you for your service as a governor, all the way through your career. you've shown a real inclination, both through your government service, but through your philanthropy, to engage in the community and to go to the community. i think the letters from the tribes, and what i've heard from our tribes in colorado, that you are held in very, very high esteem, i think, across this country, and i think that's going to be a powerful thing. i have one curious question. i think they're still doing it with the western governors associated, do they still meet with the secretary of the interior in december, or did they stop doing that? gov. doug burgum: there's been a tradition to meet with the secretary of interior when they have their annual meeting in washington d.c., which is usually in late january, early february. and i would look forward t

hickenlooper: great. another short question with mifepristone, which has been described and discussed a lot already, and i understand your your commitment to issue to follow the policy of the president. but he has other tools at his behest. if there needs to be another study or looking at the other existing studies, will you make sure that there's no bias to the best of your of our human ability to twist those results in any way to support that policy? and i'm speaking now just about the defense of science to make sure that those -- mr. kennedy: i will commit to you here today, a review prior to approving any study at nih to allow you to approve the protocols and the researchers and help us choose the researchers. all i want is good science, and i would love input from this committee on any study that we do. there's many ways that studies are flawed, and you can correct those at the outset in a lot of ways. so absolutely i will work with you to make sure that it's science that you're satisfied with and i'

hickenlooper. mr. rowe no. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king cop. ms. klobuchar mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. alumnus. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. marino. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of souths. carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. she he. miss slotkin. mrs. smith. mr. thune mr. tillis. mr. turberville. mr. vane. hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is a president present. how to preserve the leadership time is reserve the senate will be in the period of morning businesspe with the senators permitted to speak and they're in for up to 10 minutes each. the majority leader will then calling up. i'm not going to read. [laughter

hickenlooper: got it. i won't go through the tech hubs things because i know senator curtis was adamant they had perhaps the best tech hub in the mountain west but elevate quantum includes several rocky mountains states and we want to make sure you come out. don't just visit to utah. it's lovely, but the skiing isn't quite the same as colorado's. >> i spent a lot of work on critical minerals. obviously, they are a fundamental building block for aerospace and clean energy, semiconductors, ai, go down the list. when you are talking about the extraction of minerals or the processing of those minerals, we are falling way behind. the trade administration has responsibility for kind of growing our exports, overseeing trade and really helping to secure supply chains, central supply chains for these critical minerals. how would you work to ensure that we have sufficient sourcing and processing capabilities in this country? >> we have to reduce the regulatory burdens so that they can mine those critical materials f

hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- banks, barasso, blackburn, budd, daines, ernst, fischer, graham, hagerty, hyde-smith, johnson, justice, kennedy, lee, lummis, marshall, mccormick, moreno, mullin, ricketts, rounds, scott of florida, sullivan, thune, tuberville, wicker, and young. ms. hassan,

this is relevant to what senator hickenlooper was asking. we tried a system where government lies to americans or where the tell them, with the level of assurance they don't feel themselves. it isn't working. initial covid vaccine americas fought to get it. 90, 95% of americans went and got it. cdc has now recommended a booster in only 23% of% of americans that most are taking it. it's because 77% of americans of americans the longer trust cdc. that's not a good thing. if you want uptake of vaccines we need a trustworthy government. other nations when you don't have mandates like japan and if years ago in germany, they had the same uptake as we did. but that any mandates because people trust their government. that's what i want to restore to the american people and the vaccine program. i want people to know if the government says something it's true. it's not manipulative. it's not a noble truth which is what a certain doctor called his lies. >> i don't have a lot of time but i'd like to bring attention to a grand jury investigation we did i

hickenlooper, no. the clerk: mr. fetterman, no. the clerk: mr. moran, aye. the clerk: mr.illis, aye. mrs. gillibrand, no. the clerk: mrs. shaheen, no. vote: in the confirmation we finished yesterday with intelligence agency john ratcliffe, mark kelly of arizona, democrat on the senate intelligence committee gave director ratcliffe a ringing endorsement director ratcliffe is qualified for the job, serious guy he has the background, he's got confidence will do a good job senator schumer held up confirmation with two solid days. despite the delay the senate overwhelming the confirmed the highly qualified director by 74-2521 democrats voted in favor of the confirmation the two day delay i want every american to know what's happening in the senate the format to left members of the democratic caucus are intentionally delaying the confirmation of president trump national security team is not advice and consent to visit democrats playbook trying to deny president trump his cabinet sentence preparing to vote this weekend on more i qualified nominees one is south dakota governor kri

secretary hickenlooper said this. he said, mr. write is quote, a scientist who has invested his life around energy. senator mark kelly said lee zeldin is a, quote, qualified candidate to lead the environmental protection agency. senator martin heinrich said doug burgum is, quote, a talented nominee to lead the department of interior. i think we should pay attention to those comments. democrats know that president trump's nominees are ready to get on the job and are qualified to do the work. yeah, the senate should give advice and consent. that's an obligation we have. but disgruntled democrats should not use the senate's constitutional power as an excuse to delay and deny. americans want results. that's what they voted for in november. they did not vote for resistance. they want to get this country back on track. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, yesterday i met with kash patel, president biden's nominee to serve as directo

hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. the presiding officer: mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. the clerk: mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: mr. young. the presiding officer: a quorum is present. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of pete peter hegseth of tennessee to be secretary of defense shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandat

quick senator hickenlooper? >> thank you mr. chair pre-thank you governor for being here. we appreciate the spirit always could have other governors in the room. former governors i would guess at this point. i have three questions i'm going to quicken the questions i'll try to be unfailing polite if i override you is just because i want to get all three questions. obvious i worked on methane it regulations back when i was governor. where the first estate or the providence anywhere in the world to regulate methane. we did it by working with industry. they came helped create the regulations that were going to guide them but senator cassidy talked about abandoned wells as part of the same problem as secretary of the interior how do you think you can use your authority to advance rules that boost innovation to reduce methane is one thing. getting to cleaner energy at the same time reliable and a low cost. >> mayor, governor, senator i love this question. focus on innovation, we've seen in north dakota federal regulation comes in. a ghost of the rule changing it takes years to

hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. every time i went to church with him was packed. started before sunrise and i was thankful that it got to walk in with my grandmother. esses we sat down, sunday school would start. my grandpa always been asking if he wanted into his church before. my grandma and i raise our hands. and then my grandfather would pull the congregation and we quickly found out that the church was full of people from all over the country to alter the backgrounds and beliefs. my grandfather address the most diverse sunday school class ever assembled, again. before he would deliver his bible lesson, my grandpa talked about his week, and election he would talk about. if you stop the conflict, he talked about it. if he eliminated disease from a village or a country, he would talk about it. when my brother jeremy died, he announced the news at sunday school. in fact, i i remember my brotr died on a sunday because only time my grandfather was late to teach. my grandfather won the nobel peace prize. the sunday school class learned first. at the end of his nobel

hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr.kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. it's an honor to be serving as the 55th secretary of the interior. this is a tiny town of 40 people. the streets were not paper maker of all gravel. my father was a world war ii navy. officer who served in the pacific. my dad died when i was a freshman high school and my mom went back. to work in higher education. i was blessed to have learned from them about service and about leadership and sacrifice and certainly from both of them the love of the outdoors. growing up i worked in her family's grain elevator. every job i had all the way through junior high to the end of college is one that required showering at the end of the day and not the beginning of the day and i worked my way through undergrad at north dakota state as a chimney sweep which i loved that job because it was one that you could move up fast and stay in the. i thought it was the perfect career. after grad school as john mentioned i have been opportunity to go from under

senator hickenlooper. >> great. i appreciate senator curtis referring to the last three as the best. i bumped you out of the bottom three. i apologize for that. thank you for your time, thank you for all that you've done. i think some of the stories of how you responded to not just the questions of 9/11 but many questions in your life is illuminating of the kind of person that you are and i respect that. i've got a couple questions. earlier, you talked about allowing alien government. the russians used it to avoid sanctions. one of the main financiers for the brand. $100 million, moving it around using tether. using a lot of scams with americans. if we try to limit and be efficiently government regulation, how duly try to crack down on these illicit uses of something like tether? what's your perspective? i'm not trying to say that you should be held accountable. how would you suggest congress approach that? mr. lutnick: we only know that illicit activity is done on block chain because it's done on the block chain. m