merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and any statement relating to the matter be placed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate resolution 164 which was introduced earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 164, recognizing the teachers of the united states for their contributions to the development and progress of our nation. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. merkley: mr. president, i further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the record at th

merkley: mr. president, thank you. and i am deeply appreciative of the dialogue that has just taken place. it was william pitt in england who commented that the wind and the rain can enter my house, but the king cannot. it captured the spirit and understanding of the balance between personal privacy, personal freedoms and issues of the crown regarding maintenance of security. and it was this underpinning that came -- this foundation that came in for our fourth amendment of our constitution, that lays out clear standards for the protection of privacy and freedoms. so, as we have wrestled with the standards set out in the patriot act, a standard which says the government may have access to records that are relevant to an investigation -- no that term is on the face -- now, that term son the face quite broad and expansive, quite a low standard, if you will. but what happens when it's interpreted out of the sight of this chamber, out of the sight of the american people? that is the issue my colleague has raised. it's a ver

merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. i rise to speak to senate bill 940. tomorrow evening, we're going to have a vote on whether to proceed to debate this bill which closes oil and gas tax loopholes, thereby raising a significant amount of additional revenue for important projects here in the united states of america. i rise in favor of this cloture motion tomorrow, because if we have a successful vote tomorrow evening, we will finally get to debate this issue of whether or not we should continue to have massive tax giveaways to the most profitable companies in america. gas is at $4. every american is going to the pump and they're finding that once again, the total toll as they fill up their 15-gallon tank in their car is well over $50 and could hit $60. wow, that is a huge chunk out of my family budget once or twice a week and it really diminishes what's available to be spent for other core expenses to the families. indeed, that $4 at the gas pump is raiding americans' pocketbooks. now, americans don't also n

. >> cementer merkley. >> thank you mr. chair and mr. secretary for your testimony today. and i certainly echo the thoughts of my colleague from ruda island that it has been extremely disappointing to see how incredibly slow the action has been to even address the fundamental issues of process, the single point of contact with the dual track and the recent settlement was along the lines of continuing to cheerleader and say this is the right thing to do, please, please do it as opposed to anything that actually takes us down the path. we have been cheerleading for a year-and-a-half and see virtually no results on the ground. people coming in the door today are not telling you different story than they had a year ago in terms of the complete insanity of reaching a different person the may contract still having their files lost repeatedly so on and so forth. for a long time we've been hearing results around the corner. we haven't seen them. >> to turn to the qualified residential mortgage process and the proposed 20% down payment requirement, there's a lot of concern in the h

merkley left off. i still have some concerns that can you keep up with the technological challenges, co-location techniques, some of the technology aspects one of the things i find curious is some colleagues on the other side of attacked the consumer bureau because of its ability to have a funding source. i think we ought to try to get the bill in place wanted to make sure the prudential supervisors or at least parity vis-À-vis the new consumer entity in its curious one of the ways to do that, particularly the fcc would make sure they have adequate funding so they could upgrade technologies to win the deal with flash crash technology challenges, when thinking about perhaps voting on a new challenge to the fcc in terms of reported back as major publicly traded companies are subject to cyberattacks, which deeply buried challenges. if we maintain the parity to keep the supervisors appear that role, they've got to have resources to do it. that brings they now to one of the areas that i want to ask both cha

merkley left off. i still have some concerns that can you keep up with the technological challenges, co-location techniques, some of the technology aspects one of the things i find curious is some colleagues on the other side of attacked the consumer bureau because of its ability to have a funding source. i think we ought to try to get the bill in place wanted to make sure the prudential supervisors or at least parity vis-À-vis the new consumer entity in its curious one of the ways to do that, particularly the fcc would make sure they have adequate funding so they could upgrade technologies to win the deal with flash crash technology challenges, when thinking about perhaps voting on a new challenge to the fcc in terms of reported back as major publicly traded companies are subject to cyberattacks, which deeply buried challenges. if we maintain the parity to keep the supervisors appear that role, they've got to have resources to do it. that brings they now to one of the areas that i want to ask both cha

. >> cementer merkley. >> thank you mr. chair and mr. secretary for your testimony today. and i certainly echo the thoughts of my colleague from ruda island that it has been extremely disappointing to see how incredibly slow the action has been to even address the fundamental issues of process, the single point of contact with the dual track and the recent settlement was along the lines of continuing to cheerleader and say this is the right thing to do, please, please do it as opposed to anything that actually takes us down the path. we have been cheerleading for a year-and-a-half and see virtually no results on the ground. people coming in the door today are not telling you different story than they had a year ago in terms of the complete insanity of reaching a different person the may contract still having their files lost repeatedly so on and so forth. for a long time we've been hearing results around the corner. we haven't seen them. >> to turn to the qualified residential mortgage process and the proposed 20% down payment requirement, there's a lot of concern in the h

merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, the american middle class is hurting workers who are unemployed, families are losing their homes, parents are worried for good reason that their children will not have the same opportunity that they had. the american people have sent us here to do a simple agenda of creating jobs. they want a plan that will put our economy back on track and build a foundation for our working families to succeed. well, now, republicans have produced a plan, a plan that is in consideration before us today, but is it a plan that responds to the pleas of the american people to create jobs and to help those americans who are out of work and to put this economy back on track? and the short answer is, unfortunately, it is not. perhaps it's a plan to invest in education, but then we look at the details and realize that it savages the investment in education. and here we are as the first generation of american adults whose children are getting less education than we got primarily because the cost of

merkley left off. i still have some concerns that can you keep up with the technological challenges, co-location techniques, some of the technology aspects one of the things i find curious is some colleagues on the other side of attacked the consumer bureau because of its ability to have a funding source. i think we ought to try to get the bill in place wanted to make sure the prudential supervisors or at least parity vis-À-vis the new consumer entity in its curious one of the ways to do that, particularly the fcc would make sure they have adequate funding so they could upgrade technologies to win the deal with flash crash technology challenges, when thinking about perhaps voting on a new challenge to the fcc in terms of reported back as major publicly traded companies are subject to cyberattacks, which deeply buried challenges. if we maintain the parity to keep the supervisors appear that role, they've got to have resources to do it. that brings they now to one of the areas that i want to ask both cha

last week senator merkley and i appeared before the energy committee to talk about our legislation, the promoting electric vehicles act. i said to the committee, the difference between the bill this year and the one the committee reported last year by a vote of 19-4, a good bipartisan vote, is that this year the price of gasoline is higher than it was last year, and the cost of our bill this year is less than it was last year. encouraging electric vehicles is an appropriate short-term role for the federal government. our legislation establishes short-term incentives for the wide adoption of vehicles in eight to 15 pilot communities. our legislation advances battery research. the billion dollars that we save by reducing the cost of last year's bill, we save by avoiding duplication from other research programs. finally, if you believe that the solution to $4 gasoline and high energy prices is finding more american energy and using less of it, as i do, electric cars and trucks are the best way to use less. electrifying half our cars and trucks could reduce the use of our foreign oil by one

. >> cementer merkley. >> thank you mr. chair and mr. secretary for your testimony today. and i certainly echo the thoughts of my colleague from ruda island that it has been extremely disappointing to see how incredibly slow the action has been to even address the fundamental issues of process, the single point of contact with the dual track and the recent settlement was along the lines of continuing to cheerleader and say this is the right thing to do, please, please do it as opposed to anything that actually takes us down the path. we have been cheerleading for a year-and-a-half and see virtually no results on the ground. people coming in the door today are not telling you different story than they had a year ago in terms of the complete insanity of reaching a different person the may contract still having their files lost repeatedly so on and so forth. for a long time we've been hearing results around the corner. we haven't seen them. >> to turn to the qualified residential mortgage process and the proposed 20% down payment requirement, there's a lot of concern in the h

. >> cementer merkley. >> thank you mr. chair and mr. secretary for your testimony today. and i certainly echo the thoughts of my colleague from ruda island that it has been extremely disappointing to see how incredibly slow the action has been to even address the fundamental issues of process, the single point of contact with the dual track and the recent settlement was along the lines of continuing to cheerleader and say this is the right thing to do, please, please do it as opposed to anything that actually takes us down the path. we have been cheerleading for a year-and-a-half and see virtually no results on the ground. people coming in the door today are not telling you different story than they had a year ago in terms of the complete insanity of reaching a different person the may contract still having their files lost repeatedly so on and so forth. for a long time we've been hearing results around the corner. we haven't seen them. >> to turn to the qualified residential mortgage process and the proposed 20% down payment requirement, there's a lot of concern in the h

reid of nevada, leahy, schumer, blumenthal, akaka, franken, durbin, whitehouse, feinstein, merkley, coons, begich, globe cher, boxer, reed of rhode island, stabenow, and brown of ohio. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business for debate only with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. yesterday the white house announced that it will not submit three pending free trade agreements, the f.t.a.'s with south korea, colombia, and panama, until -- until congress reaches a deal on reauthorizing the trade assistance adjustments -- the trade adjustment assistance for workers program, the so-called t.a.a. i applaud president obama for putting workers first before we do these trade agreements. the trade agree

senator merkley and i have a bill that is before the energy committee tomorrow to do that. i believe electrifying our cars and trucks is the single best way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. there is legislation to jump-start natural gas for trucks, biofuels from crops we don't eat, fuel efficiency. all of these are various ways to use less. senator thune and senator barrasso performed a service by setting straight the record to show that the united states produces a lot of oil. we're actually the third largest oil producer in the world. so i ask this question. if less libyan oil helps raise gasoline prices -- which it did -- then more american oil should help lower gasoline prices. at least for every dollar of american oil we drill is one less dollar that we send overseas. so, madam president, the republican plan is to find more american oil and natural gas and to use less. and my suggestion is if we're going to be talking about tax subsidies for big oil, let's talk about tax subsidies for all energy. the senate floor seems an especially appropriate place if we're g

leahy, conrad, kerry, whitehouse, klobuchar, cardin, bingaman, boxer, merkley, wyden, menendez, shaheen, sanders, lautenberg, reed of rhode island, murray and durbin. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent that on monday, june 6, 2011, at 4:30 p.m., the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 118, that there be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual form prior to the cloture vote. further, that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent to resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 56, h.r. 754. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h h.r. 56, h.r. 754,n act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for intelligence and intelligence related activities by the united states government and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent

now, this morning, senator udall and i had the help of several colleagues, senator merkley, senator tom udall, we reached an agreement with the chair of the intelligence committee, senator feinstein. she is going to be holding hearings on this issue next month. senator udall and i as members of the committee will be in a position to go into those hearings and the subsequent deliberations, be in a position to try to amend the intelligence authorization, and if we don't get results inside the committee because of the agreement today with the distinguished chair of the intelligence committee, senator feinstein, the majority leader, senator reid, we will be in a position to come back to this floor and offer our original amendment this fall. now, we're going to keep fighting for openness and honesty. as of today, the government's official interpretation of the law is still secret, still secret, mr. president, and i believe that there is a growing gap as of this afternoon between what the public believes that law says and the secret interpretation of the justice department. so i plan to vote

merkley: thank you. mr. president, i rise to address the four-year extension of the patriot act and to oppose that extension if the bill is not modified. and i want to take us back to the principles on which our nation was founded, and indeed before our declaration of independence, before our constitution, there was a deep tradition of the right of privacy. and let's take william pitt's declaration in 1763. he said, "the poorest may in his cottage bid his defiance to all the forces of the crowd, the storm may interks the rain may enter, but the king of england may not enter." that is the philosophy embedded in william pitt's declaration of the sanctity of a man's home that underwrote the principle of the fourth amendment, and that reads as follows: "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing

merkley: mr. president, i ask that a staffer from my office be given privileges for the rest of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: i ask that the quorum call be noted. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: frank madam president? the presiding officer: the senator minnesota. mr. franken: mr. president, i ask that the quorum calling vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: and i ask to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: madam president, i rise today to talk about the house's effort last nonts repeal the federal communication commission's knelt retralt -- net neutrality rules. net neutrality is the very simple idea that all content and applications on the internet should be treated the same. regardless of who owns the content or the web site. this is not a radical concept, in large part because it is what you and i see and experience everytime we use the i