since moved on to be the chief of staff for senator mark udall. we said during my campaign and after i got here that the united states desperately needs to reform its criminal justice system. we have 5% of the world's population, 25% of the world's prison population. and if you ask the average american twaorbgs-thirds of them -- two-thirds of them will tell you they feel less safe in their own community than they did a year ago. not a political issue. always been a leadership issue. i was warned when i first started raising this issue in virginia seven years ago that this could actually have killed my political campaign. it didn't. people responded. and so, since i was not on the judiciary committee, we worked on this legislation to create a national commission to examine all the aspects of the criminal justice system. we did it right out of our office with doug ireland being

which give you the senior senator from the state of colorado, mark udall.] >> i let senator bennett know he had to vote right. we will conference the defense authorization and get it to the president's desk. but we are here to celebrate the people's tree and that term was coined by one of the speakers, great predecessors, tip o'neill, he was here and lit the michigan tree and he declared that it would be an emblem of peace for the nation and the world. and that's exactly the purpose among many that this tree rements. -- represents. since 1970, every capitol christmas tree has been cut from national forests from across our great country. it is 73 feet. engel man spruce has been cut from the white river national forest in meeker, colorado. and this has been a statewide celebration when we were chosen as the state from which the tree would come this year and i'm really glad to be here with you tonight. i want to express my gratitude to the ute tribes that are represented here today. their homelands were 1,500 years, they lived in these lands. i would like to a

which give you the senior senator from the state of colorado, mark udall. [applause] had to vote right. fire already cast my vote. we will conference the defense authorization and get it to the president's desk. but we are here to celebrate the people's tree and that term was coined by one of the speakers, great predecessors, tip o'neill, he was here and lit the michigan tree and he declared that it would be an emblem of peace for the nation and the world. and that's exactly the purpose among many that this tree rements. -- represents. since 1970, every capitol christmas tree has been cut from national forests from across our great country. this year,it is 73 feet. engel man spruce has been cut from the white river national forest in meeker, colorado. and this has been a statewide celebration when we were chosen as the state from which the tree would come this year and i'm really glad to be here with you tonight. i want to express my gratitude to the ute tribes that are represented here today. their homelands were 1,500 years, they lived in these lands. i w

meaning it will be extended for another five years senate opponents include rand paul ron wyden mark udall jeff merkley and mike lee here's part of senator wyden speech from last night he argued that we simply don't know enough about what the n.s.a. and other government organizations are doing with the information they collect. the fines amendments act states that acquisitions made under section seven zero two may not quote intentionally target a specific american and may not quote intentionally acquire communications that are known at the time of acquisition to be wholly domestic but mr president the problem with that is it still leaves a lot of room for circumstances under which americans phone calls and e-mails including purely domestic phone calls and e-mails could be swept up and reviewed without a warrant. this by senator wyden vocal criticism of science and now goes to president obama for his signature critics of the law like the electronic frontier foundation say it violates americans fourth amendment rights they say the government can get ahold of e-mails and phone calls without a

which give you the senior senator from the state of colorado, mark udall.] >> i let senator bennett know he had to vote right. we will conference the defense authorization and get it to the president's desk. but we are here to celebrate the people's tree and that term was coined by one of the speakers, great predecessors, tip o'neill, he was here and lit the michigan tree and he declared that it would be an emblem of peace for the nation and the world. purpose's exactly the among many that this tree rements. since 1970, every capitol christmas tree has been cut from national forests from across our great country. it is 73 feet. engel man spruce has been cut from the white river national forest in meeker, colorado. and this has been a statewide celebration when we were chosen as the state from which the tree would come this year and i'm really glad to be here with you tonight. i want to express my gratitude to the ute tribes that are represented here today. their homelands were 1,500 years, they lived in these lands. i would like to acknowledge the utes, bec

privacy issues the bill presents to finally have the debate senators ron wyden jeff merkley rand paul mark udall and mike leave took turns discussing the dangers of the bill take a listen to senator lee i worry that in seeking to achieve temporary safety some of the authorities we have given the government under fire may compromise essential rights and liberties in particular i'm concerned about the government's ability without a warrant to search through pfizer materials for communications involving individual american citizens. some of those same senators also brought up amendments to make five a little ball more transparent and possibly a little more palatable all of which were turned down meanwhile senator dianne feinstein chair of the senate intelligence committee committee took a different approach saying that the senate didn't have enough time to argue over the bill with only four days left interesting because the bill was slated for discussion back in september so she was also disparaging about the public's right to know about the law that governs them saying quote you put all this out i

applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the united states senator from the state of colorado, the honorable mark udalld morning. let me start by thanking the speaker, leaders reid, mcconnell, and pelosi. i have to say to joe baca, i think the only time we will break 70 is when we turn 70 years old. i want to set the record clear. he is one of the best golfers in the congress. that is like saying you're one of the best surfers in nevada. i want to make a confession. my confession as i am addicted to golf. i also want to tell you i blame arnold palmer and jack nicklaus for that addiction, because i watched them in 1960 in one of the greatest u.s. open tournament of all time. you know who finished first with a marvelous bar in a still difficult hole. it was the man who finished second who went on to have a fantastic career as well, and he is here with us. but golf has taught me more than i can share. it is a game that cannot be won. but it is a game that can be played throughout your life. penaltiesrn to call on yourself. it is a game for the ages. arnold, jack, i want to thank you for helping me become

so senator mark udall, mr. president, our distinguished colleague from colorado and a great addition to the intelligence committee, he and i began the task of trying to ferret out this information some time ago. so over a year and a half ago, senator mark udall and i asked the director of national intelligence how many americans have had their communications collected under this law and in effect swept up by the government under these authorities. the response was, and i quote, it is not reasonably possible to identify the number of people located in the united states whose communications may have been reviewed under the authority of the fisa amendments act. that's how the government responded to senator udall and i. now, if you're a person who doesn't like the idea of government officials secretly reviewing your phone calls and e-mails, you probably don't find that answer particularly reassuring. but, suffice to say, the situation really got worse from there. so in july of this year, i and a tripartisan group

mark udall had one amendment and hagen had the other one, to kill our efforts, to keep them from usinge dollars for a green agenda. melissa: does anybody at the white house understand when people are upset having their taxes raised, there are a lot of people out there that want to raise everybody's taxes when you get upset about having your own taxes raised we see ridiculous spending like this going on. if you can't spend my tax dollars responsibly for things that make sense, i don't want to send you anymore. does anyone get that sentiment? >> no, they don't get that sentiment. that is the problem. the excuse they use for this. this is kind of interesting. this will wean us off middle eastern oil. we won't use petroleum-based fuels. that is not true at all. if you want to get off middle eastern oil, all he would have to do is open up the united states to exploit our own -- we're the only country in the world that doesn't exploit our own resources. and we have more recoverable reserves in coal, oil and gas in america than any other country has. we could actually be totally independent i

senator wyden together with senator mark udall and senator lee, myself have joined in an amendment which would require the director of national intelligence to provide a report to congress that includes, among other things, information on whether any intelligence agency has ever attempted to search through communications selected to find the phone calls or emails of a specific american without a warrant. isn't this the kind of information that congress and the american people should have? senator wyden is a senior member of the intelligence committee. he's offering this amount because he's bun bern frustrated in his attempts to obtain basic information about the use of surveillance powers by our government authorized by the fisa amendments act. earlier this year senator wyden, senator mark udall asked the office of the director of national intelligence a fundamental question, how many americans have been subjected to surveillance under the fisa amendments act? the office of the director of national intelligence claimed it is not possible to answer that question. at a minimum, before the

mark udall, he knows well, and i do, how important this is, and i want to commend him for his efforts here on the floor, his persistent efforts to try to get this done. i came to the chamber to discuss wind incentives earlier this year. i urged then and i urge now an immediate extension. we need this before the end of the year. we need to provide certainty for wind projects and employees. but here we are again today. we haven't got it done yet but we're going to have to keep working. as the presiding officer and the senator from colorado knows, we work on the floor, we work off the floor, we work behind the scenes to try to get this done, and we need to get this extension, this vital tax credit for wind is set to expire in 18 short days. that would be a huge mistake to let it expire. many projects would be delayed, thousands of jobs would be lost. clean energy jobs have been a bright spot in our economy. we have seen wind energy capacity in america equivalent to 75 large power plants, and it's still growing. we added the equivalent of ten large power plants' worth of wind power in 201

we must extend the production tax credit as our colleague senator mark udall of colorado has so oftenand eloquent lip pressed us to do. the american wind energy agency is pushing for a six-year extension to grow a vibe raptd wind power industry in america. a greener economy provides a safer future for americans. more americans work in the green industry than in the fossil fuels industry. a brookings institution report found the clean economy employs 2.7 million workers. that's manufacturing and exports, the kind of jobs that support a strong middle class. but, madam president, here in congress we are sleepwalking through history. we are sleepwalking through history and we must wake up. awaken to our duties, awaken to our responsibilities, awaken to the plain facts that lay all around fuss only we would open our eyes and see them. the public has every reason to want to grab us and give us a good shake. we are sleepwalking through this era, lulled as we sleepwalk by the narcotic of corporate money. corporate money out of the polluters and their allies. we are lulled by the narcotic of m

applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the united states senator from the state of colorado, the honorable mark udallg. let me start by thanking the speaker, leaders reid, mcconnell, and pelosi. i have to say to joe baca, i think the only time we will break 70 is when we turn 70 years old. i want to set the record clear. he is one of the best golfers in the congress. that is like saying you're one of the best surfers in nevada. i want to make a confession. my confession as i am addicted to golf. i also want to tell you i blame arnold palmer and jack nicklaus for that addiction, because i watched them in 1960 in one of the greatest u.s. open tournament of all time. you know who finished first with a marvelous bar in a still difficult hole. it was the man who finished second who went on to have a fantastic career as well, and he is here with us. but golf has taught me more than i can share. it is a game that cannot be won. but it is a game that can be played throughout your life. you'll learn to call penalties on yourself. it is a game for the ages. arnold, jack, i want to thank you for helping me beco

i was pleased to join a press conference a few weeks ago with senator mark udall and over 40 veterans, meaning military veterans representing operation free. they were visiting capitol hill to meet with members of congress, encouraging congress to extend the wind production tax credit. the wind energy production tax credit was created to try to level the playing field with coal fire and nuclear electricity generation. the production tax credit for wind is available only when wind energy is produced. there is no benefit for simply placing the turbine in the ground. it's a tax relief that rewards results, and that's much different than failed taxpayer-funded grants and loans made since 2009 when a lot of that money went to companies that are now bankrupt. those who want to do away with the wind energy tax incentive don't seem to mention that other forms of energy have received far more generous tax incentives for many decades longer than the wind energy industry. oil and gas and nuclear power all receive long-standing federal support. and i want to emphasize because i believe that i rea