senator markey? >> thank you, madam chair.and thank you for calling this very important hearing today. fukushima reminded us of the devastating effects of a nuclear reactor meltdown, radiation of the accident was detected over 1,000 miles away, land contamination continues to keep tens of thousands of people from returning to their homes and cleanup cost estimates continue to rise, and industry admitted it will cost well over $100 billion. meanwhile, in the united states, we have packed so much radioactive waste into spent fuel pools that even n.r.c. studies conclude that spent fuel fires could spread as much contamination as a meltdown of a operating reactor. throughout the united states, many pools, including the one at the pilgrim nuclear power plant are dangerously overcrowded. the solution to this is simple, take the waste out of the pools and put it into safer, dry cast storage. that is why i recently introduced the dry cast storage act which gives plants seven years to remove all the waste that can be removed from the p

senator markey? >> thank you, madam chair. and thank you for calling this very important hearing today. fukushima reminded us of the devastating forget of a nuclear reactor meltdown, radiation of the accident was detected over 1,000 miles away, land contamination continues to keep tens of thousands of people from returning to their homes and cleanup cost estimates continue to rise, and industry admitted it will cost well over $100 billion. meanwhile, in the united states, we have packed so much radioactive waste into spent fuel pools that even n.r.c. studies conclude that spent fuel fires could spread as much contamination as a meltdown of a operating reactor. throughout the united states, many pools, including the one at the pilgrim nuclear power plant are dangerously overcrowded. the solution to this is simple, take the waste out of the pools and put it into safer, dry cast storage. that is why i recently introduced the die cast storage act which gives plants seven years to remove all the waste that can be removed from the p

i want to thank senator edward markey for pointing that out. it is easy for five grownups to be collegial. we go at it. we certainly do not agree, but i like them personally. good for you for that. but we need to take that spirit and infuse it so that whistleblowers are not fearful. we look forward to your response . you said you had no concerns with safety at any of our plants is that correct? >> i said i don't have concerns about safety at u.s. nuclear power plants. >> that's what i just said. >> i certainly am not saying that there are no issues. >> but you don't have -- you said, i don't have any concerns. let me ask you this question of why does san onofre shut down, crystal rivers, the close of the end of 2019. if they are also hunky dory. >> i think you'd find that for each of those plans their is a different reason. i can go through each if you like, but some were financial, others were for -- >> well, what don't you talk about the ones that have safety problems. you said you had no concern. >> i don't think any of those plans were shut

markey: thank you, mr. president. we're at a very important historical juncture where the science is now conclusive that the planet is dangerously warming. the months of --. a senator: would the senator yield for a u.c.? mr. markey: i would yield to the gentleman. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. yoof: i ask unanimous consent at the conclusion of the remarks by senator massachusetts and senator whitehouse i be recognized as if in morning business for as much time as i may consume. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. whitehouse: it's not an objection at this point but it's our understanding that the senator from oklahoma will speak for 20 to 30 minutes but that the time would revert to me at the conclusion of his remarks after 20 to 30 minutes. if that's an acceptable amendment to the unanimous consent, i agree to it. mr. yoof: let's let's amendment your amendment to 20 to 35 minutes. -- mr. inhofe: let's amend your amendment to 20 to 35 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection.

i want senator markey to see this, of how close a fire in california came to that decommissioned plant. now, do any of you know how many hot fuel, spent fuel rods are in -- in that plant? >> i do not have an exact number. i can take that for the record. >> anybody else know how many? just for the record, 2,600. do you know what it was designed for? >> the original design? >> yeah. >> or after the re-racking had been done. if it was the original design and the open racks, probably about a quarter of that. >> 1,300. so this doesn't even go into other decommissioned plants, so anyone who says that a shutdown plant is not as dangerous has to just read what the chairman herself said, read what the nrc said. the consequences of an event could be significantly worse than those from chernobyl, and i've got to tell you i represent those people, just like senator vitter represents his people and worries night and day about their safety from hurricanes and the rest. i worry about my people, and i'm not going to stop because i can't get any one of you to commit to me that you will turn down this r

it's kind of interesting -- markey.t's kind of interesting to see you at the bottom of a queue in committee. this is new for me. >> a little bit of humility is a good thing. >> your very humble now. >> i'm proud of my humility. >> you and i worked closely on energy efficiency, and so did all of our colleagues on the house commerce committee, and i think we did pretty well. and you mentioned lightbulbs which were a bipartisan initiative and passed on a bipartisan basis. and official lightbulbs seems like a little thing, saves a huge amount of energy. we also did building standards, and we did fuel efficiency, and we did a number of other things. i can't vote here anymore, but i certainly support your initiative to help countries help themselves. it's a point we have all made about tough love for ukraine. they have to take these steps, but we could give them tools that would help them take these steps. so i think others may want to comment, but i think this is a very good angle. finally, i said something, i'm not sure you

markey: madam president, i was the first in my family to go to college. i drive an ice cream truck to work my way through boston college as a commuter. i did the same thing to go to law school. i lived at home all the way through college and law school in order to be able to afford to go to college. and as a result, i had to take out federal loans, like so many millions of american students have to do today. but here's the thing. if the owner of the ice cream truck company that i worked for wanted to refinance the loan that he had for the trucking fleet, he could do that. if my parents wanted to refinance the mortgage on their house, they could do that. but if i wanted to refinance my student loans, like every single student today, i was out of luck. and that's not right, that's not fair, and that needs to change. in massachusetts, as the presiding officer knows better than anyone, we recognize that education is a ladder of opportunity that allows every child to maximize their god-given abilities. it is the best path to middle-class success and economic o

markey: thank you, madam president. since 1973, when the supreme court decided that a woman's right to choose was constitutionally protected, women's health clinics across the country have been targeted by violence and other criminal activities by extremists. the crimes are alarming. harassment, arson, acid attacks, obstruction, violent threats and even murder. women's safety has been repeatedly put at risk simply for exercising a constitutional right. in the past ten years there have been approximately 75,000 incidents of violence against abortion providers in the united states. and that is unacceptable. we should always remember that each of these victims of violence has a name, a family, a story. in 1994, a gunman killed two people and wounded five others at a clinic in massachusetts. one of these victims was 25-year-old shannon lowny, daughter of a public school teacher, beloved sister and volunteer who worked domestically and internationally with poor families and children. shannon worked as a receptionist and span

you really do know this issue cold. >> thank you, senator markey. it is interesting to see you at the bottom of the queue of the committee. this is new for me. >> humility is a good thing to have. >> you're very humble now. >> i am proud of my humid lity. >> you mentioned lightbulbs, which were a bipartisan initiative and pass on a bipartisan basis, and efficient lightbulbs seems like a little thing. it saves a huge amount of energy. we also did building standards and fuel efficiency and a number of other things. i cannot vote here any more, but i certainly support your initiative to help countries help themselves. it is a point we have made about tough love for ukraine. to take these steps, but we could give them tools to help them take these steps. others may want to comment, but i think this is a very good angle. i said something about using our asymmetric strength to take the, but we could give them tools to help them against russia. our asymmetric strength is our economy, some of our good ideas, like these. and the aid we give ukraine could hel

we should do >> senator markey, thank you for the question. thelieve and certainly national association of regulatory utility commissioners has been very engaged with the on this issue and i believe that a very broad processder involvement is critical, it's critical to make sure that we leave no consumers on the side of the road, particularly where so many have substantial rural areas, significant senior significant minority populations. all-hands-on-deck is part ofd naruc the process going forward. >> some people say that because we're moving towards mobile, we of't have to keep a lot protections on the books from act for the land based wire line services. what are the potential unintended consequences of removing protections that were 1996 act? the >> well, i think first of all, call or a's a mobile land line call, when someone places a phone call, they expect and a lot of times they're expecting the exact same theantees they had on traditional copper network even if they're making the call via wireless network. networks rely on wire-line ne

>> senator markey, i thank you for the question. i believe and certainly neruc, the national association of regulatory utility commissioners has been very engaged with the fcc on this issue. i believe that a very broad stakeholder involvement process is critical. it's critical to make sure that we leave no consumers on the side of the road. particularly where so many of our states have substantial rural areas, significant senior populations, significant minority populations. it takes an all hands on deck approach. neruc is certainly part of this process going forward. >> and, ms. griffin, some people say that because we're moving towards mobile, we really don't have to keep a lot of the protections on the books from the '96 act, or the land-based, you know, wire line services. what are the potential unintended consequences of removing protections that were built into the 1996 act? >> well, i think, first of all, whether it's a mobile call or a land line call, when someone places a phone call, they expect it to work. and a lot of tim

you had waxman/markey pass in the house.t probably cost a few democrats their seats or helped cost them their seats. but something where you had an actual just full-out partisan brawl of this issue, i personally think would be good in clarifying for the issue in terms of raising it in the public's consciousness. >> yes, and i think it will really allow democrats to kind of test those polls that you mentioned. >> exactly. >> to kind of talk about the epa as a good function in people's lives, not this arbitrary arcane notion of climate science but actual people making sure your air and water is clean is a political concept that hasn't been tested on this level. i agree, it could end up being a net positive for them. >> republicans are shutting down the government because they don't want the epa to regulate pollution. that doesn't sound like a great thing if you're on the other side. elana schor from "greenwire." >> thank you. >>> coming up, another offensive move by the offensive white house. offensive, not offensive. an execu

amendment is cosponsored by senators rockefeller, feinstein, menendez, schumer, blumenthal, gillibrand, markey, warren and brown. i also ask unanimous consent to add as cosponsors, senator durbin, senator boxer, senator hirono, senator murphy and senator schatzment. the presiding officer: without schatz -- senator schatz. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boomer: ow amendment woulerd enhance rules that reduce driver fatigue. this bill rolls back enforcement of these rules, rules that are based on years of scientific evidence. it's doing so without further study. it's rolling back these safety rules without public input. it's rolling back these safety rules without even a hearing. at a time when truck crashes are actually on a rise in the united states of america, it is paramount that congress do more to improve transportation safety, to improve the protection of lives, not remove an evidence-based element of reform. keep in mind that the rule the bill is currently considering suspends enforcement of what was the result of feedback from more than 20,000 formal comments submitted by

markey are right, it would the fifth straight month of more than 200,000 payroll gains.nemployment rate shouldst 6.2%ould stay. steady at it culminates in one big birthday. rt on friday when bond and equity markets close. america turns 238 this year. we will have more right here on bloomberg television. yang yang giving us a head start on the week ahead in the u.s. lotsroddy is turning 100 -- turning 100. angus bennett reports the next four years might prove to be the most challenging yet. ago, a family of italian brothers set out to build cars that were both beautiful and fast, cars designed for motor racing as well as the road. 100 years later, maserati's plans are even more ambitious. they are aiming to lift sales nearly fivefold by 2018, a tough task, but they are on track to do so. erati doubled mas sales last year, and they are set to do it again. good news for the theater group -- fiat group. growing is eyeing the u.s. and asian markets, introducing six new models, including this one. is stillited states our biggest market. i expect the united states to account, a

markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: 384, the hagueen sportsmen's act. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting and for other purposes. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in morning business until 1:00. the republicans will control the first 30, the majority the final 30. at 11:00, the senate proceed to executive session to begin a series of up to four roll call votes. the first three will be confirmation on district court judges. the last vote will be a cloture vote on the nomination of sylvia burwell. there wi

senator markey i'm going to turn over because they need me on another committee. >> thank you mr. chairman. it was just 18 years ago when the congress passed the token indication that of 1996. i was the host and not one home in america have broadband in february of 1996. , said today a 12-year-old belief that broadband and a 50-inch hd screen is a constitutional right. that's how quickly it moves. and simultaneously, i know out of my committee we move the spectrum for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth license. it was all just bottled up so that a couple of companies control everything and you couldn't have facebook or ebay or amazon or all these other issues because they were all left by the companies and competitors that did not want to see that kind of competition. and we had to do as a part of that to ensure the reliability, competition, economic growth for all a part of this into trillion dollars for the private sector investment with that went into the marketplace investment because of those trillions of dollars of investment because there was more opportunity for people to

person was the mccain-lieberman bill and 03 and 05 the same thing and then it went on up to senator markey when he was -- that bill. all of them are talking about regulating the omissions of entities that emitted 25,000 tons or more. now the clean air act regulates 250 tons or more. i would ask you this if it's true that it's between three and $400 billion a year before the 25,000 tons or more do you have any idea what it would cost the american people if they were able to successfully regulate this under the clean air act? >> orders of magnitude more. >> i think that's a good answer. thank you. >> senator boozman. >> thank you mr. chairman. professor mason and your testimony you address the goals of states in arkansas is one of the most difficult targets in the country. he said there would be impact that would affect job growth. we explain how these impacts could impact opportunities in states like arkansas and what that will mean for consumers? see very simply to the extent that consumers in the states derive energy from plants in those states again those consumers will pay more for thei

markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair.signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will resume consideration of the appropriation bill brought forward by senator mikulski. we hope to begin consideration of the bill today. we are now postcloture 30 hours. we had to file cloture to get on the bill, as usual. i think we have wasted the 30 hours, but that's where we are. so, mr. president, we hope to begin consideration of the bill today, work through amendments. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. mr. president, over the last several days, the world has looked in horror as a terrorist organization isis, islamic state of iraq and syria, has swept across iraq. as we speak, they are sweeping even closer to baghdad. they are murdering, they are pillageing. their group is now positioned outside baghdad and threats violent extremism on the capital of iraq. isis poses a threat to iraq and the

cosponsored by senators levin, nelson, blumenthal, mccaskill, franken, brown, cardin, whitehouse, markeybuchar, merkley and hirono, congresswoman delauro is introducing the congres companil in the house. this act is virtually identical to bipartisan legislation that overwhelmingly passed the house of representatives by a vote of 402-19 during a similar crisis in june of 2008. specifically, our bill directs the cftc to do the following within 14 days of enactment. one, immediately curb the role of excessive speculation in any contract market within the jurisdiction and control of the commodity futures trading commission on or through which energy futures or swaps are traded. two, eliminate excessive speculation, price distortion or unwarranted changes in price or other unlawful activity that is causing major market disturbances that prevent gasoline and oil prices

markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 384, hagan sportsmen's legislation. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 384, s. 2363 a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in a period of morning business until noon. the time will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. the republicans will control the first 30 minutes, the majority the next 30 minutes. at noon the senate will proceed to the consideration of h.r. 803, the workforce innovation opportunity act. at 2:30 there will be three roll call votes on amendments and passage of the bill. mr. president, this afternoon the senate will consider and pass the bipa

>> senator markey, i thank you for the question. i believe and certainly neruc, the national association of regulatory utility commissioners has been very engaged with the fcc on this issue. i believe that a very broad sta stakeholder involvement process is critical. it's critical to make sure that we leave no consumers on the side of the road. particularly where so many of our states have substantial rural areas, significant senior populations, significant minority populations. it takes an all hands on deck approach. neruc is certainly part of this process going forward. >> and, ms. griffin, some people say that because we're moving towards mobile, we really don't have to keep a lot of the protections on the books from the '96 act, or the land-based, you know, wire line services. what are the potential unintended consequences of removing protections that were built into the 1996 act? >> well, i think, first of all, whether it's a mobile call or a land line call, when someone places a phone call, they expect it to work. and a lot of

markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massaschusetts , to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader if any, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2432. the time until 10:00 a.m. this morning will be divided as follows. there is an order that dictates this. senator alexander will control 15 minutes and the remaining time will be equally divided two the two leaders or their designees. at 10:00 a.m. there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to college affordability. mr. president, all over america today there are newspaper articles of hope. for example, in "the washington post" today, there are headlines like this all over the country, "veterans affairs bills progressing quickly in congress." it quotes me as saying it's something that needs to be done. it's urgent that we get this done to resolve some outstanding issues within the v.a. my friend, the republican le

i'm glad the chairman mentioned, waxman-markey, earlier in his opening remarks because i was one of a group of ten or 12 or so representatives from states that were heavily dependent on carbon, on coal-based energy who went to our leadership at the time, rick baulcher led that effort and we basically said to our leadership and mr. waxman that we couldn't support the bill as it was originally drafted it would have been devastating for our consumers and our businesses. and they made changes in that bill. and before i voted for that bill, i talked to all of the major consumers of energy in my district. general electric being one. ford motor company has two major manufacturing facilities, the university of louisville, the jefferson county public school system, louisville metro government, u.p.s., the global hub of u.p.s., and not one of those users of electricity objected to that law, proposed law. and said they were either for it or neutral on it, saying we can live with it. i talked to our utility company and asked what the impact of that law would be on residential customers and they s

i am glad the chairman mentioned waxman markey earlier in his opening remarks. are was one of a group of ten or 12 or so representatives from states that were heavily dependent upon carbon, coal-based energy who went to our effort in virginia. we basically send our leaders. we could not support the bill as originally drafted because it would have been devastating for our consumers and businesses. and they made changes to the bill. before i voted for that bill, i talked to all of the major consumers of energy in my district, general electric being one, ford motor company has two major manufacturing facilities, the university of louisville, the jefferson county public school system permalloy the metro, ups with a global hub, and not one of those users of electricity injected to that law , proposed law. i talked to our utility company and asked what the impact of the law would be on residential customers. they said, we think that after ten years the average residents will have their rates go up 15% if they do nothing else. they don't adjust the thermostat , change

host: i'm not sure if you follow this part of the story, senator ed markey from massachusetts, his officed a statement saying he met with pope francis to talk about this issue, and to engage the catholic church. meeting, iw that thought it was. justin. the pope that said something about climate change being a moral issue shortly after him taking that position. i think that is part of the job to makearty's this a bigger issue than politics. in 2009, with the whole climate , climateil scandal change got very political. the democratic party is trying to extract it from the political debate. i think these relations will not help do that, i think he will make it more political, at least in the short term. i think his move on that is really trying to bring in someone who is very popular around the world, the pope, to talk about how important this issue is. host: this issue has also been key for al gore, behind-the-scenes. are you familiar with what he is trying to do? is he working with the administration to lobby congress? guest: i think there is still a little bit of hope that congress will a

ed markey says this is the beginning of the end for america's long, dirty power plant era.these proposed rules will go a long way toward keeping our air clean and protecting the health of seniors, children and families. ." "the president and the epa are sending a clear message that liday from ho responsibility is over. go the front page of the new story insides a the politics of all of this. democrats in coal country run from the epa plan to cut emissions. democrats andack incumbents and for energy rich states with recorded phone calls yesterday and today in alaska, colorado, louisiana and virginia. -- in four energy rich states. liberals were telling the president on monday. next is one the from hayward, california. -- wanda from hayward, california. caller: i just want to say that i do believe in climate change. the climate has changed. over many years -- i can remember when it was hot during the summer and cold during the winter. understand -- i've wondered for so many years why individuals in these red states were always voting against their best interests. the corporat

know this top spender for 2014 for the house you've got, as -- excuse me, this is the senate, ed markeyection. so that makes sense. corey booker and mitch mcconnell and john cornyn who is one of the top fundraisers in texas with $9.1 million. >> also one of the things that's been different this cycle is that republicans in particular, where they were challenged by surprise in some ways in 2010, 2011. primary and nusual professionals in the party felt like they weren't getting the best nominees for the general election. so they have been much more aggressive in terms of spending money and paying attention to races early on so they could get the kind of nominees that they thought would be the most viable in the fall. groups like chamber of commerce for example have been very involved in spending money. certainly pro business candidates, but not necessarily the tea party kind of very ideological candidates that you see sometimes succeed. >> host: the top spender, the speaker of the house, john boehner happens to list with $11.6 million and then the second lieutenant eric cantor, the majori

i've participated with my colleague, senator whitehouse, and markey, and cardin and many others, in all-night speeches, in hearings, i'm so proud to be the chairman of the environment committee, and it was many years ago when i took the gavel to become the chairman that i started to really get involved in the details and in the science and in the predictions of scientists as to what could happen. and we came very close to doing something important here in the senate but we faced a filibuster and although the house passed a very important bill years ago, we couldn't get it done, we fell six votes short. at the time, the press said to me, well, what are you going to do? what, are you going to do nothing about this? i said, actually, the most popular law that's ever been passed -- i believe it, i haven't pane a pole but i could tell you i know from -- a poll but i know from looking at studies that the clean air act covers all kinds of pollution, including carbon pollution, and i said even though we weren't able to have a cap-and-trade system which would put a price on carbon and let people get p

jungle in the past so they see everyone talking next express is not radical anyway it's basically markey against him and yet you know they're not sticking it to all be sure to start shit which is media. stream and parties you know i still can't stand i mean can i just tell one b.b.c. reporter even used a nonstick frying pan to illustrate nigel farage his ability to deflect bad press even as the party has made a series of pretty catastrophic mistakes in terms of candidates making derogatory remarks about wimmin and migrants and so on so the point is you get support is more resilient than we often think it is according to the guardian newspaper labor and conservative polling this week has revealed that ukip supporters see the party is negative press as a sign that members of the political establishment and going up to undermine the party that's three or four months ago nobody leveled the charges of racism against us i mean literally nobody no one saw was a racist policy and now the establishment and their friends in the media have done their very best to make sure that everybody thinks tha

markey,ing for senator which i have done for many years, his point is that crane is the least efficient user of energy of any of the countries in that region. windows are open in the wintertime because it gets so hot. >> if we could help with efficiency, we could reduce their dependence on russia. there are steps like that we should be taking. >> i agree with most of your comments. i think there is value in sanctions because -- >> do you honestly think they are going to be imposed where -- we could impose them. it might affect his catalyst at a cost to the west. because that cost of the west, do you think they can be imposed? vladimir putin has crossed the line. .e has done what we said we have not impose them yet. thatcan see sanctions would have a serious impact on russia. i cannot tell you politically that i am sure we can bring the europeans to do that. >> that is a real problem. what is achievable, what is possible. towe should still be trying push, because otherwise the egregious nature of what has happened, the first time since 1945 where a big country has used military force to

charlotte markey is a mom and child psychology professor and says it's okay, savannah, listen up, toisten up. >> but they're listening. she says it can actually be healthy. why? because being too strict can actually make them crave the food, and once they're out on their own, they're not going to know how to handle that, so it's best to teach them the meaning of the phrase all things in moderation. >> that happened to me in college. once i finally got to college and i could eat anything i wanted, i went nuts. >> yeah. >> that happened with foods and other things for some kids i remember at college once they got there. >> it makes sense. so it's not the forbidden food and once they're out of the house they want to either eat or drink too much. >>> time for "throwback thursday." there is a particular tv show that's coming back briefly. it was once hosted by one of our own. >> he's a young man who's on top of all of his game. >> oh, my god. >> he's got the number one song in the country, number one album in the country. >> who do you think you are? >> i love that look! >> number one mov