and then senator hoeven can ask his questions when he's ready. i wanted to ask about the department's plans at los alamos national lab now that the chemistry and metal you are gy nuclear facility has been put on hold. for many years we've been total the replacement nuclear facility was necessary. now we are told there may be alternatives that the department wants to pursue. could you describe what changes in operations and staffing you anticipate at los alamos now that the cmrr has been delayed? >> well, much of the staffing, i don't think is directly -- so what we plan to do is go ahead and complete substantially the design of that building. so what we have been putting in previously was mostly engineering design. we're going to get to perhaps 90% of the engineering design part of it. that's very prudent for a number of reasons, because before you start construction, it's best that you have most of it designed. but you're correct. we are now putting that on hold while -- because of the budget constraints through the nnsa, we have to look at all

good ahead, senator hoeven. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and again mr. secretary, thank you for being here. you've been out to our state i think several times. we appreciate it. we would like to have you back. but i really am looking for help on this vitally important issue of energy infrastructure. in our last question and answer period here, we went through pipelines. and you said well, we're trying to build all these pipelines. and you talked -- if i could finish -- you talk about all these pipelines that we're trying to build around the united states. so my question to you -- and you'll acknowledge that there is thousands of pipelines under the entire country. so why are we unwilling to build a pipeline that will bring crude in from canada and will help us move our crude in the country? why is that? >> well, first, we're not unwilling. the president's position and the state department's position, not the doe's, but we're not in decision-making loop. we're asked to give technical advice on certain things. but is that they wanted an evaluation of the e

hoeven: exactly. i'd like to thank the esteemed senator from texas, both for organizing this colloquy with the esteemed senator from missouri and the senator from ohio on this very, very important issue. we have our american consumers paying more than $3.70 at the purposat thepump today. today i think the price is exactly $3.72. that's exactly the right question, because that hits every single american, every single one. and as you and the other senators have pointed out, when the administration took office, the price of gasoline, the price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump was about $1.85. today it's $3.70. actually, this chart we made yesterday, it's already old. today the average price in the united states is $3.72. and, of course, in some places, it's already well over $4. the projection is that by memorial day, gasoline will be $4 a gallon. $4 a gallon. and by later this summer, it could be as much as $5 a gallon. so let's put that into perspective for just a minute. following up on the questio

hoeven: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to thank the senator from south dakota for organizing this colloquy. i'd like to thank the good senator from nebraska for skwroeupbgs as well. i appreciate -- for joining us as well. i appreciate working with them on this project which is not only vital to our state, but vital to our country. as the senator from south dakota said, this project is critically important to our country for a number of reasons. first, it will create tens of thousands of jobs. a $7 billion investment. not one penny of federal government spending. all private-sector investment. more than $7 billion. the perry man group projected when they did a study on job creation, it would create 20,000 construction jobs right away. and it would create upwards of 100,000 spinoff jobs as you expand refineries and with the other economic activity created. some want to dispute those job numbers. but any way you look at it, you're talking tens of thousands of jobs created by the private sector, which is why it has so

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. >> senator john hoeven. he's a republican from north dakota. it's nice to have you, sir. time. >>> ahead, santorum sweeps, but what about gingrich? can he stay in the race until the convention as he's been promising? we're going to talk to someone from his campaign at the top of the hour. plus, the first lady is on jimmy fallen. this is so funny. we'll talk about that straight ahead. you're watching "starting point." ♪ a refrigerator has never been hacked. an online virus has never attacked a corkboard. ♪ give your customers the added feeling of security a printed statement or receipt provides... ...with mail. it's good for your business. ♪ and even better for your customers. ♪ for safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit usps.com/mail today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of ameri

hoeven: i will. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m. >> right now house and senate conferees are meeting on the payroll tax cut extension, long-term unemployment and medicare payments to doctors. those tax cut extension payments expire at the end of this month. we join the meeting in progress. >> 7,000 of those millionaires last year paid not a single cent in terms of income tax. if we're asking who contributed, the workers at million workers being asked to pay for that, they alreadied that had their pay frozen. they have contributed. seniors, some mentioned they didn't get a social security cost of living increase. they contributed. americans who have without decent health insurance, they have been paying for a long time. what many of us are saying is if you did a simple surcharge on the wealthiest in this country, the 1/5 of 1% wealthiest, you could avoid putting this on the backs of seniors, avoid putting this on backs of middle class fam is

hoeven: i rise to speak on the issue of energy security for our nation. i filed the legislation -- or legislation which would approve the keystone x.l. pipeline, i filed our bill as an amendment to the highway bill. that bill is the hoeven-lugar-vitter-mcconnell- johanns-hatch bill, but it actually includes 45 senators as sponsors of the legislation, as i said filed now as an amendment to the highway bill. the fact is that congress needs to act. the administration after more than three years has decided not to act, evidently won't act on this important issue, so we in congress need to. this highway bill provides a tremendous opportunity. the highway bill is about infrastructure, vital infrastructure for our country, and that's exactly what the keystone x.l. pipeline is. it's vital infrastructure that's very much needed by our country. look at gas prices today. according to the lundberg survey or triple a, gas prices are now more than $3.50 a gallon, that's the highest they've been at this time of year ever. more than $3.50 a gallon. since president obama

senators tester, mccaskill, baucus, blunt, grassley, hoeven, enzi, and scott brown, senator scott brown already have joined senator thune and me as original cosponsors. i want to thank them for their support. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from alaska for his explanation of what's been going on as far as executive comp with fhfa. thank you very much for that. mr. president, i would ask consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up amendment number 1492. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report. the clerk: -- mr. tester: 1492. the clerk: the senator from montana, mr. tester, proposes amendment numbered 1492. mr. tester: i ask unanimous consent that the reading be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator from montana is recognized. mr. tester: i ask this amendment be set aside and ask consent to call up amendment 1503. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report. th

mccaul hoeven yes, ma'am. on ho the air marshal service, we have a lot of people coming home from the military will come a lot of the more air force security police or what they call weapons system security forces, which are no faced with nuclear weapons and some of the more secret sites. i myself would was an active duty army and i joined the air national guard into the security police will. we were well trained to take care of any of that system. >> host: so you are saying that you recommend veterans could fill these jobs and serve as air marshal's? >> caller: they could fill these jobs very easily and have a respire because they do now in the military. >> host: let's look at the "washington post" that touches on something bill was talking about. they claim a job by is in the united states. this is a "washington post" stories. positions were lost or withheld and the laws in the book have to teeth. national guard reserve and active duty troops coming back from iraq, afghanistan or other military duty complain

senator hogan -- hoeven supports it. south dakota, senator johnson voted no. senator thune supports. senator nelson votes in support of yucca mountain. senator johnson votes in support of yucca mountain. ♪ has two sites, three reactors, two of them are right in this location. so, as i've been coming down to the floor, if you add these new senators to the total tally, right now we have 40 senators who have expressed support for moving high level nuclear waste. we have 12 who are curiously silent on nuclear waste in their state or in their region. and we have 10 who have stated a position of no. it's in the best interests of our country for the safety and security of this country that we consolidate in seanlized location, underneath a mountain in a desert, in the defined spot by law, which is yucca mountain and again i want to thank my colleagues and friends from pennsylvania for allowing me to intrude upon their hour and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced