merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my intern be granted privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to address a topic that is vital to seniors in oregon and to seniors across our nation, and that is our medicare program. i know how important medicare is because i grew up in a blue-collar working family. my dad was a millright and a mechanic. a millwright is the individual that does all the mechanical work to keep the mill running. he said if he did his job right, the mill was open. workers had a payday, and the company made money and everyone was happy. meanwhile, my mother managed the finances, and she stretched a dollar as far as anyone possibly could. she shopped for bargains. she used coupons. she collected green stamps. and they were able to save and to buy a home and have a foundation for raising their children. and i benefited from that enormously. but despite that founda

cemetery you are welcome to -- is there a senator merkley? is that correct? i'm sorry. i wondered if it was a misprint. senator merkley you are next. senator markey you'll be next recognizing my home state. senator good to see you. governor. >> thank you very much. thank you for the opportunity to testify and importance of the clean power plant in particular you want to thank epa for taking this historic step to tackle carbon pollution. we have all heard the argument from skeptics that the clean power plant is just another job-killing regulation. but let's get the facts straight. carbon pollution is waging a direct assault on rural america. it is a direct assault on jobs in america and if we sit back and do nothing there will be severe economic disruption. in that context the clean power plant most significant action to combat pollution united states is indispensable to our economic future. this is an issue that affects every state in our country but today i will speak specifically about the impacts we are seeing in my home state of oregon where farming fishing and fore

and i also wanted to follow-up on senator merkley's question concerning the new global standards forhe insurance entities. i believe it's important that the insurance companies be protected and that the state model for regulating the insurance be respected and as a member of the board and participant in these meetings, can you explain a little bit more detail what the federal reserve is doing to ensure that any international regulations do not harm these companies and respect the state-based model of the insurance regulation? >> well, we're working very closely, and the state regulators are participating in these international discussions as well. nothing that's under consideration would affect the way in which legal entity insurance companies are regulated with respect to capital by the states. so we're looking at a separate set of capital requirements that would apply to the consolidated organization, and, again, nothing that happens in this international forum takes has any affect on american firms until we have incorporated them into regulations, which go out for comment and are

last but not least, senator merkley. then we turn to the administrator. >> thank you, administrator mccarthy, for coming and addressing the clean power plan today. there is no question that carbon dioxide is a terrible pollutant, having profound impacts. we see it on the ground in oregon in multitude nous ways. we see it in terms of the expansion of the bark beetle or pine beetle destroying vast swaths of our forests because it's not cold enough in winter to kill them off. we see it in terms of our oyster industry that's having great difficulty with the reproduction of the oysters because the water is 30% more acidic in the ocean than it was before the industrial revolution. we certainly see it in the basin where the three worst ever droughts have occurred in less than a decade and a half. thus, carbon dioxide is waging an assault on our rural resources, on our fishing, on our farming, on our forests. it's absolutely right that under the clean air act, we seek to control and reduce this pollutant having such vicious cons

hoping to unseat jeff merkley. her campaign message, stress me and killed the affordable care act.ikes it is not brain surgery, obamacare is bad for oregon. as a pediatric neurosurgeon, i know firsthand how devastating obamacare is for oregon family and patience. that is why i am the only candidate for senator less fought to stop it. >> she is not alone either in profession or ideology. almost all of the candidates counting the background are republicans all running on a platform of repealing and replacing the health care law. to make that happen, republicans need to snag a net gain of six feet and senate to control congress. 53% of americans oppose the affordable care act. only 32% say the law should be repealed. 56% say they want to keep it with only small modifications. you see an urgency on part of the republican party to do something about it before americans become even more accepting of the law. strategists are hoping the messaging works and the number were -- the numbers seem to support that. nurses and doctors among the highest rank in the profession of honesty standards.

merkley: thank you, mr. president. i ask that rachel king, my intern, have privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. americale: -- mr. merkley: i'm rising to address the bring jobs home act, but before i do i want to note how much i appreciate the leadership of the senator from vermont in fighting for quality care, quality programs for our u.s. veterans. this is incredibly important, our sons and daughters and husbands and wives are coming home from iraq and now from afghanistan, and they have stood up for us and we need to stand up for them. bernie sanders is leading that effort and i appreciate him for doing so. mr. president, i rise to address the legislation that we are officially debating, the bring jobs home act. earlier today the senate voted on whether to debate this legislation to help bring manufacturing jobs back to america to onshore these jobs, and i was very heartened to see a 93-7 overwhelming bipartisan majority saying yes, let's turn to this bill

chairman and senator merkley. i want to ask from a different direction, that is the economic impact of our transportation infrastructure and the state of our transportation infrastructure. the economy turns on it. this is how people get to work. this is how businesses get their goods to market. without transportation infrastructure or a decaying transportation infrastructure, the whole economy is in trouble. dr. scott, you mentioned the green line extension. i would like, for a minute to talk about that. this is an extension of the tee that would go to one of the most densely populated areas in the country, principally to summerville, massachusetts. i was very pleased to see that the president included $100 million in his fy '15 budget to get this expansion of the tee. what i would like to do is start with this question. can you talk about the lack of basic infrastructure has done to the economy of summerville, then we'll talk about the others. >> i will tell you what it's done is stymied it. from one standpoint,

i was joined by senators cruz, ayotte, tester, merkley, and paul. we believe that the internet should be tax-free, and that we should pass this noncontroversial legislation as soon as possible. we also think it's wrong to use a critical must-pass extension of this law to keep the internet tax-free as a vehicle to pass a fundamental shift in how e-commerce operates. combining these two very different issues into one bill does nothing to protect new hampshire small businesses from the flawed so-called marketplace fairness act. we should keep this internet sales tax legislation from moving forward. the so-called marketplace fairness act. we should do that because it's bad for new hampshire and the other states that have no sales taxes who are in the same position that new hampshire's in. it's bad for small businesses, and it's bad for our economy. thank you very much, madam president. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshir

merkley: madam president, i rise today to talk about the assault on women's health that has come from the majority on our supreme court in recent weeks. it's unfortunate and, frankly, shocking that in the year 2014, we are still debating the issue of access to birth control. but here we are. and millions of americans are looking to the senate today and counting on us to stand up for women's rights. they're counting on us to put health care back between a woman and her doctor. they're counting on us to stand up for millions of americans' access to affordable preventive health care of every kind. they are counting on us to say that birth control is not your boss' business. in short, they're counting on us to right this huge wrong from the supreme court. and we have that ability to right this wrong. we have that ability here in this room. the court in its decision lays out a structure in which congress does have the power to overturn this misguided decision. the court based its decision on an act of congress, the religious freedom restoration act, and now congress can respond. congress c

that sort of experience, and i want to thank the cosigners on that letter, senators tester, moran, merkley, coburn, and johanns, on the committee, and noncommittee members hirono, king, frank in, baldwin, begich, landrieu, heinrich and udall. we seem to be making progress in that regard. there's widespread recording that the white house is considering a list of candidates for the federal reserve with community banking experience, but this specific mandate, just one member, very modest mandate, would help ensure that that happens and would help ensure that that regularly happens into the future, to reverse this trend, to get more balance on the federal reserve board. and this is very important in the context of the too-big-to-fail debate. too-big-to-fail helped lead to the crisis several years ago in the banking industry. it helped lead to the massive bailouts of mega institutions. and unfortunately, i am one who believes -- and there are many, many others -- that too-big-to-fail is alive and well today. that in some ways dodd-frank institutionalized too-big-to-fail. it did not end too-big-

and i also wanted to follow up on senator merkley's question concerning the new global standards for the insurance entities. i believe it's important that the insurance companies be protected and the state model for regulating the insurance also be respected. and as a member of the financial stability board and a participant in these meetings, can you explain in a little bit more detail what the federal reserve is doing to ensure that any international regulations do not harm these companies and respect the state-based model of the insurance regulation. >> well, we're working very closely, and the state regulators are participating in these international discussions as well. nothing that's under consideration would affect the way in which legal entity insurance companies are regulated with respect to capital by the states. so we're looking at a separate set of capital requirements that would apply to the consolidated organization. again nothing that happens in this international forum has any affect on american firms until we have incorporated them into regulations which go out for c

and i also wanted to follow up on senator merkley's question concerning the new global standards for the insurance entities. i believe it's important that the insurance companies be protected and the state model for regulating the insurance also be respected. and as a member of the financial stability board and a participant in these meetings, can you explain in a little bit more detail what the federal reserve is doing to ensure that any international regulations do not harm these companies and respect the state-based model of the insurance regulation. >> well, we're working very closely, and the state regulators are participating in these international discussions as well. nothing that's under consideration would affect the way in which legal entity insurance companies are regulated with respect to capital by the states. so we're looking at a separate set of capital requirements that would apply to the consolidated organization. again nothing that happens in this international forum has any affect on american firms until we have incorporated them into regulations which go out for c

. >> senator sessions followed by senator merkley and then administrator we're going to turn to you. >> thank you, madam chair. economy is important. i know you know that. we have 55,000 to 50,000. we have unemployment rate among working age population as low as the 1970. it's been declining steadily. and the energy has been a declining prices. we're in the finest things that helped the american economy in recent years. so lower cost energy creates jobs, creates wealth, and every $10 a family has to pay for an electric bill or more for their gasoline bill does weaken the economy. if it is for no benefit or little benefit. so we have to ask that we can reach an accord on a lot of these issues. ms. mccarthy, i don't think there's any doubt about it. hings that are cost effective. i think they do need to make america a stronger economy. one of the common grounds is nuclear pow we were and we need to consider that more. last month, you talked about our regulatory group. the supreme court said this -- when an agency claims to statue an un long heralded power in an american economy, we usu

senators terry baldwin and jeff merkley are here. they have been champions of this issue for a long, long time. we are very proud of them. i know they will not stop fighting until fair treatment for all workers is the federal law of the land. everyone thank them for that. [ applause ] but i'm going to do what i can with the authority i have to act. the rest of you, of course, need to keep putting pressure on congress to pass federal legislation that solved this problem once and for all. amen. amen! got the amen corner here. well -- you don't want to get me preaching now. for more than two centuries, we have strived, often at great cost, to form a more perfect place. make sure we the people applies to all the people. many of us are only here because others fought to secure rights and opportunities for us. we have a responsibility to do the same for future generations. we've got an obligation to make sure the country we love remains a place where no matter who you are or what you look from or where you come from or how you started out

. >> senator merkley. >> thank you for your testimony today.to -- i'll try to be crisp in the questions given the time. but insurance advocates expressed concerns that new regulations might be forth coming based on an international standard, influenced by nations that do not have our state guarantee system, and they believe that this may result in new capital requirements that are unnecessary and inappropriate for the structure of the industry in our nation. is there any thoughts you might have to share on that particular topic? >> so, i would simply say that the federal reserve is participating now in an international association of insurance supervisors, discussing for internationally active insurance firms what might be appropriate capital standards for groups, for essentially consolidated capital requirements for not legal entity insurance, firms that are regulated by the states but the consolidated holding companies. nothing that happens in that context is similar to our participation in the committee '. we're looking to put appropriate un

he and i have been at this with senator risch and senator merkley and senator cantwell and senator murray, senator bennet. all of the western senators, senator udall has been doing important work on this on the energy and natural resources committee. all of the western senators are of like mind here. and chair mikulski recognizing what we're looking at. and the prospect that we would be leaving this week without this change to make better use of our resources i think is just -- i call it legislative malpractice. because we have an opportunity in a bipartisan way to make a real difference here, and given what our colleagues are seeing if they are outside the west, i'd say it's a chance to spend scarce dollars more effectively and for us in the west it's nothing short of survival. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico is recognized. mr. heinrich: let me begin by just thanking my colleague from oregon for his leadership along with senator crapo on this wildland firefighter budgeting and fire borrowing issue i

and i also wanted to follow up on senator merkley's question concerning the new global standards for the insurance entities. i believe it's important that the insurance companies be protected and the state model for regulating the insurance also be respected. and as a member of the financial stability board and a participant in these meetings, can you explain in a little bit more detail what the federal reserve is doing to ensure that any international regulations do not harm these companies and respect the state-based model of the insurance regulation. >> well, we're working very closely, and the state regulators are participating in these international discussions as well. nothing that's under consideration would affect the way in which legal entity insurance companies are regulated with respect to capital by the states. so we're looking at a separate set of capital requirements that would apply to the consolidated organization. again nothing that happens in this international forum has any affect on american firms until we have incorporated them into regulations which go out for c

and senator shelby followed by senators tester and alexander, udall and moran, murray and collins, merkley and johanns. that's the first hour. and i can go to the second hour, but we're going to move right along here. i would like to go to the testimony of the written testimony of secretary johnson. and i really asked my colleagues on the committee to turn to page 2, the second paragraph. what this says is, without the supplemental funding in august, and then mr. secretary, you elaborate on what will happen if we do not pass the supplemental. so i'd ask my colleagues to look at it, but i'm going to go to you secretary burwell. if you are the -- of the $3.7 billion, $1.8 billion is at hhs. now if we don't pass this supplemental by august, what will happen, and you gave a compelling narrative about this situation of the children. but what is it that you need $1.8 billion to buy? and that's what america's middle class are asking. we are worried about these children, but back home, they are worried about their children. could you tell us why this is urgent, what you need 1.8 and what happens i

of the senate proposal which is identical to the legislation i introduced, along with senator jeff merkley from oregon, just last year. h.r. 3441, the spouses of heroes education act. our importance pornt legislation amends the by making .i. bill surviving spouses of armed services eligible for this education benefit program. the scholarship provides full in-state tuition, fees, a monthly stipended and a book allowance to children of service members who've died in the line of duty. our change would allow spouses to receive those same benefits. when a service member tragically loses his or her life on the field of battle, we owe it to their spouses to do all we can to support them and their families, not just in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy but going forward. we can ensure they have all the educational opportunities they need, because this will enable them to further their careers and increase the financial stability of that family. i was pleased that the senate included this bicameral bipartisan legislation in the mccain-sanders agreement that passed 93-3, and it's critical that