mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this week president obama has been holding what to me appear to be made-for-tv events to talk about the economy. he's talked about the policies that he wants congress to enact, policies that he says will finally get america's economy going again. well, president obama has been in the white house now for more than five years, so i think it's fair to ask, what has this administration, the obama administration, been doing for the economy for the past five years? we know that the recession actually ended almost five years ago. since then, our economy has not bounced back the way it should have or the way it typically does after a deep recession. the obama administration has spent a lot of money on failed ideas like the so-called stimulus package. since the recession ended, washington has racked up more than $6 trillion worth of additional debt -- additional debt -- and it's not gotten us nearly the kind of growth that we should have added as a result of this spending. now the p

mr. barrasso: thank you very much, mr. president. i appreciate very much the comments from my friend and colleague from north dakota, a state in which he served as governor, a business leader in the community and knows -- knows the state very well and knows the importance of energy, not just to his state's economy but to the economy of the country and to the importance for people who want work, who want jobs, and i think just bringing together the issues of the keystone x.l. pipeline as well as the exploitation of -- exploration of liquefied natural gas are things that will bring america back to work. since 2010, the obama administration approved only seven applications to export liquefied natural gas. the administration is sitting on 24 pending applications. now, 13 of those applications have been pending for more than a year. some of these appear occasions have been -- applications have been pending for more than two years. to put this in context, the united states has approved less than half of the l.n.g. export capacity that cana

mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent to be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i come to the floor today as i have repeatedly since the health care law has been passed with concerns i have and to share some information with the senate because my concern is that in order to help some people that didn't have insurance, i'm just afraid that we have hurt many people that did have insurance, did have care that they liked, and the president continued to focus on coverage, and i have more concerns as a doctor about people actually getting care, getting health care, the care they need from a doctor that they choose at lower costs. and so i come to the floor today to -- to talk about a new story out this morning, actually in the huffington post, calle

mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president i ask unanimous consent to be able to speak for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you mr. president. mr. president, first i'd like to commend my friend and colleague from tennessee for his leadership on foreign affairs his efforts on these areas and i fully support all of his efforts to bring forth a united position on behalf of our country. i come today to the floor mr. president, because the american people have just received more horrible news about our economy. the commerce department reported this morning that our economy grew at the smallest rate in three years. the expected -- the exact number is 0.1%, much, much worse than expected. to be specific, investment in business equipment declined, residential home construction declined u.s. exports fell sharply, and companies increased inventories at a much slower rate. i'd like to read what some of the economists have said about this. dan north a chief economist said "we've be

mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the sno senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with a umn of my colleagues for -- with a number of my colleagues for up to 45 minutes. officer sphe without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you. i noted that the senator from connecticut came to the floor in an attempt to debun de debunk ao me from one of my constituents. it is seems that the senator is make the same argument that the majority leader, senator reid, has made time and time again, that these letters are made up. that's what seems to be the case here. is that what the senator from connecticut is saying? you know, these are letters -- these are e-mails, news articles that are coming from our constituents, coming from our home states. this was all supposed to be about affordable care. care and affordability were the key stonekeystones of this entie of lels. i hear the senator talking about people being denied care. it is happening now because of the health care law. because of the health care

mr. barrasso: yesterday president obama held an event at the white house to talk about his health care law. the president said -- quote -- "the debate over repealing this law is over. he said the affordable care act is here to stay. that's what president obama said yesterday. of course, last october president obama said that his health care law was -- quote -- "the law of the land." then he went ahead and changed or delayed the law more than 20 times after that. on his own, without coming to congress. if it's the law of the land, how does he get to change the law of the land 20 times? back on march 6, president obama said that the democrats' health care law he said -- quote -- "is working the way it should." if the law is working the way it should, why do people in wyoming keep telling me how bad the law is for them personally? just the other day i heard from a woman in rollins, wyoming, she wrote "my husband has been self-employed as a small truck driving company sevicing the oil and gas fields in wyoming for over 13 years. she said we have always purchased individual health care coverage

mr. barrasso: it seems that the president's decision is absurd to delay the keystone x.l. pipeline, and that's not just me, that's "the washington post," thursday morning, april 24. "keystone's absurd delay. president obama should approve the pipeline project now." they say, "if foot-dragging were a competitive sport, president obama and his administration would be world champions for their performance in delaying the approval of the keystone x.l. pipeline." they go on to say, "the administration's latest decision is not responsible, it's embarrassing. the united states continues to insult its canadian allies by holding up what should have been a routine permitting decision amid a funhouse mirror environmental debate that got way out of hand." they conclude, saying, "the president should end his national psychodrama now, bow to reason." think about that -- "boy to -- o reason, approve the pipeline and go do something more productive for the climate." that's not just "the washington post." we see all the "wall street journal" wednesday, "keystone uncensored" and they talk a

mr. president, i think you know that in the country of moldova, where i recently just returned -- senator barrasso on another trip just recently returned -- there and in georgia and in ukraine, would you know there are a number of things that we need to do to help them harden their country. this bill lays those things out. let me give you one example. in the russian speaking of -- in the russian-speaking area of eastern ukraine, the only information that the people who are russian-speaking in that part of the world are receiving is coming from russia. it's propaganda. it's talking about things that the united states is doing, which we aren't, and the great lives that they will have if russia is able to annex that part of the world. so at a minimum, we need to make sure that the information that these people are receiving is very different. but there's so many things that we as a nation can be doing to ensure that ukraine is not destablized, that moldova is not destieblesdestablized, that geot destablized. mr. president, this bill that we'll be introducing today is a serious piece of information. a