hoeven, proposes amendment numbered 1537. mr. hoeven: thank you, madam president. this is an amendment that would provide for approval of the keystone pipeline project. congress has under the commerce clause of the constitution express authority to regulate commerce with foreign countries. that provides the very clear constitutional authority for congress to approve the keystone pipeline project, and that is something that we absolutely need to do. today there will be a very clear choice, there will be a very clear choice for the members of the senate. and make no mistake, i don't want to leave any doubt here. this is a clear choice. my amendment provides that the keystone pipeline project will move forward, authorized by congress. it is very clear that all of the protections, all the environmental protections are incorporated, as has been provided over three and a half years, three and a half years this project has been under review by the e.p.a., by the department of state, by this administration. they have gone through not one but two environmental impact statem

hoeven: mr. president, i rues to speak on the hoeven-blumenthal resolution and in addition to asking ten minutes request that my colead sponsor on the resolution, senator blumenthal, be allowed to engage with me in this discussion. we have introduced a resolution calling for free and fair elections in iran. those elections will be held tomorrow, march 2, and it is the first time with the republic of iran -- that the republic of iran has had nationwide parliamentary elections since june 12, 2009. i'd like to thank senator blumenthal for joining me in this resolution, also senator lindsey graham, senator joe lieberman, joe kelly ayotte and as i say, we're now 60 cosponsors on this resolution in, wooing to see that it is -- in working to so that it passes the senate here. it expresses a sense of the senate, clearly calling for open, free, and fair elections in the republic of iran. the problem is that the elections that they will be holding tomorrow are neither fair, neither free nor fair. and they

senator hoeven, i appreciate your time very much. >> thank you. >> folks, coming up, stocks do swing higher today on greek optimism. i'm still a short-term bull, and i've got a list of worries i'm going to share with you in the next segment. please don't forget, free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. the future of that free market capitalism kind of worries me. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receiv

hoeven: thank you senator johanns. it's good to be but and -- with you and also lamar alexander from the great state of tennessee. we share the common experience of serving as governors and bring that perspective to our work here in the senate. and as senator alexander just said, there's no question that obamacare is making the health care challenge in the united states worse. he's making it worse. and we've got to find a way to empower our people, and really in our roles as governors before serving in the united states senate, that's what we tried to do. when it came to medicaid, when it came to health care, how do we empower our people whether it's health care or anything else, in a way that not only makes their lives better but that makes sure that we are fulfilling our responsibility as good stewards of the state's treasury on behalf of the citizens of our respective states. you know, last week was the second anniversary of the obama health care legislation, the second anniversary, and the fact is thins that law wa

hoeven: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: request the opportunity to speak for up to ten minutes on the pending energy legislation. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: i'm here today to introduce a substitute amendment to the menendez act which is currently under consideration on the senate floor. that is senate bill 2204. the amendment that i would like to -- the substitute amendment by like to introduce today is legislation that i've authored along with senators lugar and also senator vitter. it's legislation that would approve construction of the keystone x.l. pipeline and authorize that that construction proceed. that authority is provided to congress under the commerce clause of the constitution, and with gas prices now close to $4 and going higher, congress needs to act. president obama has turned down the pipeline, he continues to block the keystone x.l. pipeline and it is time for congress to act on behalf of the american consumer. every single american, every hard-working american, is feelin

again that measure that was put forth by senator hoeven of north dakota failing to get the necessary votes today. the senate has voted to use most of the water pollution fines from the gulf oil spill to pay for restoration in five gulf states. bp could be fined as much as $5.5 billion to as high as $21 billion under the clean water act. it depends on whether it's found grossly negligent. the states will then receive those funds. let's begin with a debate over the transportation bill. the hill newspaper again reporting the senate democratic leaders praszing the republican speaker of the house, john boehner. democratic leads in the senate believe any do have the upper hand when it comes to negotiations on the bill because the house is unable to come some sort of a final agreement on the measure. you heard just part of that from the speaker of the house, john boehner. let's show you how it unfolded first from the democratic side of the aisle, chuck schumer, democrat from the new york at a news conference earlier today. >> by tuesday, the senate will the have passed this bipartisan two-y

pipeline amendment offered by senator hoeven. the president has previously said there's not a single morning he wakes up when he does not think about creating jobs. but apparently he woke up today thinking about how to lobby against jobs, because the keystone pipeline, in addition to providing an additional supply of crude oil from the tar sands in canada that would be transported to the united states and turned into gasoline in places like port arthur, texas, apparently the president got up and thought about how can i, how can i obstruct additional supply? how can i destroy the jobs that would be created, which is directly contrary to what he professes he does when he wakes up each morning thinking about how to create new jobs. the keystone x.l. pipeline is a $7 billion private investment that will create 20,000 jobs in construction and manufacturing alone. it will add tens of thousands of additional jobs throughout the economy and other sectors that will support the pipeline construction. now this is kind of personal for me and

hoeven: thank you senator johanns. it's good to be but and -- with you and also lamar alexander from the great state of tennessee. we share the common experience of serving as governors and bring that perspective to our work here in the senate. and as senator alexander just said, there's no question that obamacare is making the health care challenge in the united states worse. he's making it worse. and we've got to find a way to empower our people, and really in our roles as governors before serving in the united states senate, that's what we tried to do. when it came to medicaid, when it came to health care, how do we empower our people whether it's health care or anything else, in a way that not only makes their lives better but that makes sure that we are fulfilling our responsibility as good stewards of the state's treasury on behalf of the citizens of our respective states. you know, last week was the second anniversary of the obama health care legislation, the second anniversary, and the fact is thins that law wa

hoeven: i ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: madam president, i rise today to introduce bipartisan energy legislation, the domestic fuels act. this legislation is designed to help hard-working americans with the high fuel prices, the high gas prices they are paying at the pump. this is legislation to truly help us do all of the above when it comes to producing and providing lower cost energy for american consumers, for american businesses and to fuel our economy, to help create jobs and also to create greater national energy security. it is part of what i believe that we need to do to truly have an energy security plan for our country, so i'd like to take just a few minutes to talk about the domestic fuels act. i'm going to start with a quick review of gas prices. as we all very well know, gas prices are high and they continue to go higher. aaa this week indicated that the national average price of gallon -- for a gallon of gasoline is $3.91 a gallon, national average, $3.91. now, gasoline prices over the last three year

number -- senator hoeven number 1537, hoeven 1537 related to the keystone pipeline. levin amendment on offshore tax havens. a mcconnell or designee relevant to the levin amendment. a cantwell amendment on energy tax extenders. and mcconnell or designee relevant to the cantwell amendment. a menendez amendment on natural gas. and a coburn amendment number 1738 on duplication. i further ask consent that the following highway-related amendments also be in order. demint number 1756. coats number 1517. blunt number 1517. paul, 1556. portman, 1736. portman, 1742. corker, 1785. corker on highway trust fund number 1786. hutchison number 1568. and mccain number 1669. ten highway-related amendments to be offered by the majority leader or his designee. i further ask consent that following the disposition of the above-listed amendments and the managers' package of amendments to be cleared by both managers of the bill, the bill be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, as amended. finally, i ask consent that following passage of s. 1813, the bill

vitter 1335, baucus or designee relative to rural sexuals, collins, coburn 1738, 1822, wyden 1817, hoeven 1837, levin 1818, mcconnell or designee with a side by side to stabenow 181 demint number 1589, menendez-burr, 1782. coats 1517, brown 1819, 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 m

it includes the hoeven language that we defeated earlier last week. we be building a pipeline from canada to china. if we build a pipeline, we should use the oil to lower gas prices for american families. it also includes dangerous requirements for drilling in the arctic and in offshore locations without any safeguards. worst of all, it ends tax cuts for wind and clean energy manufacturing at a time when families are paying so much at the pump. it just doesn't make sense to raise taxes on the businesses that are trying to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and it pays for it for all of these changes by adding red tape to working families when they file their taxes, adding more burdens to middle-class families. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. ms. stabenow: i urge my colleagues to vote no. mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i would ask consent for an additional minute. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from maryland is recognized. mr. cardin: thank you,