mr. carper: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the period for morning business be extended until 8:30 p.m., with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

mr. carper: with that i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: i ask that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: i ask that ashley stevens and anna aesten be granted floor privileges for the rest of today's proceedings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: i'vedom to the floor on numerous occasions to discuss the distressed state of america's middle class. in our committee we've had a series of hearings look at what's happening to the middle class in america. in recent decades our nation's once secure middle class has struggled in the face of stagnant wages, rising indebtedness and disappearing pensions. not to mention sharply higher costs for health care, education, food, and energy. madam president, it wasn't also this way. in the three decades after world war ii, america's middle class grew rapidly. incomes rose steadily as the middle

mr. chairman. >> senator carper. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, mr. jaczko comment you mention the commissioners agreed to move forward on seven recommendations, maybe fewer. could you give us a timeline of when you believe those recommendations will be implemented by staff and completed by commission? >> it's not clear at this point that the staff has developed timeline for completion. the last information i received was for the orders on some of those near-term would probably be done until may or june. i indicated to the staff that was unacceptable. that was too much time or need to figure out how to accelerate the timetable. some of the letters so called referred to as 50/50 letters, which are essentially request for information would likely be done a little sooner. but i think we have taken probably too long to get to the point where we can get down and start having the staff do their work to really engage directly with licensees. i would've hoped we are further along at this point, but we are where we are. >> just to follow-up, i believe the comm

mr. chairman. >> senator carper? >> in your testimony, you mentioned that the commission has agreed to move forward on at 7 recommendations. may be fewer. maybe 5. could you give us the time line for when you think those recommendations could be implemented by staff and the commission? >> it is not clear at this point. moustapha is not fully developed a timeline for completion. the last information i received. at some of those near term could not be done until may or june. i indicated to stop that was unacceptable. that was too much time. some of the letters are so- called 4 f letters. those would likely be done all of it sooner. it will get down to the point where the staff will be working to engage with the licensees. we would hope we would be far along at this point, but we are where we are. >> just to follow up, the commission as a statement that it hopes to complete all the lessons learned from the fukushima accident within five years. that would be 2016. based on the progress so far, to you think the nrc is lik

mr. magwood coming of three minutes. >> thank you, chairman. good morning chairman boxer and carper, members for the opportunity to speak with you again on this important topic. when we last were before this committee and at the second a few weeks after it should have among others chairman boxer emphasize importance with which to viewed as infrastructure in doing so as quickly as possible. we took encouragement to hurt and used it to challenge ourselves to begin to accept a lesser income last hearing, the commission is first to task force recommendations and we agree unanimously to direct staff began its engagement with stakeholders and identify within three weeks those actions which could be implemented without delay. the approach i actually suggested to my colleagues reported. this led to a macabre at 21 day paper which the commission adopt did i minutes of air. as a result of the decision, several areas of work are well underway. nrc staff has held meetings with industry, public interest groups to formulate tools that we needed to implement several up high-priority task force rec