mr. inhofe: that's good. i can't think of anything more difficult than to speak after the last two speakers. of course, i have known them for a long time. they are two totally different, opposite people. you have susan collins who is a well-recognized moderate. she is one who understands and has a great appreciation for the environment. not the kind of person that you would associate with a tough guy like john mccain that's gone out there and has done things that other people haven't done that we have just talked about. and then you hear the statement from the senator from georgia. it just -- you know, i was thinking about that. i'm a few years older than he is. we have a lot of things in common. i was -- we were just talking about being drafted. i was drafted. i always remember, i was -- actually, i was enrolled -- this is many, many years ago. i was going to be at the university of mexico in mexico city in an international program. and so i was at that time at the university of colorado. i did all of my --

mr. inhofe: that's good. i can't think of anything more difficult than to speak after the last two speakers. of course, i have known them for a long time. they are two totally different, opposite people. you have susan collins who is a well-recognized moderate. she is one who understands and has a great appreciation for the environment. not the kind of person that you would associate with a tough guy like john mccain that's gone out there and has done things that other people haven't done that we have just talked about. and then you hear the statement from the senator from georgia. it just -- you know, i was thinking about that. i'm a few years older than he is. we have a lot of things in common. i was -- we were just talking about being drafted. i was drafted. i always remember, i was -- actually, i was enrolled -- this is many, many years ago. i was going to be at the university of mexico in mexico city in an international program. and so i was at that time at the university of colorado. i did all of my --

mr. inhofe: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i ask unanimous consent that the -- are we in a quorum call right now? the presiding officer: we are. mr. inhofe: i ask that it be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: i think it's appropriate after what happened with the announcement this morning -- it's a great announcement. long awaited, that we talk a little bit about it. when president trump withdrew from the paris agreement and pulled back the clean power plan, we heard from the environmental extremists and the liberals declaring that the administration's actions, quoting now, is that endangered public health, endangered our environment and economic prosperity. that was governors brown and cuomo. he further declared if we don't decarbonize our future, people are going to die. people are always going to die. that's what the extremists always say. i guess there must be a population out there that actually believes that. however, the opposite is happening without a one-sided international agreement

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator inhofe. senator capito. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank all of you for being here today. i would like to see at the onset that the department of homeland security is in new york today announcing i think a really great move on the part which is a new cyber have to protect our clinical u.s. infrastructure conservatives a little bit into what we're saying or a lot of what we're saying today. but to be that nexus point of the nation's banks, energy compass and other industries to help protect them from major cyber attacks, some want to say thank you to the secretary. i know that you probably asked for your advice as they are moving forts i think it's a very good thing. on the come all of you talk about the gdpr and the regulations that come from the eu. some of you interested in a problematic way. i think mr. bladel, you talk about how it's causing you to divert assets into figure out how to do this. i think dr. layton, you said interestingly in yours, popular misconception is that it protects privacy piggies that it does not, it is abou

mr. wheeler: i look forward to those. sen. inhofe: taking the prerogative of the chairman, i want to recognize myself for a unanimous consent. last week, a story -- the article was from sandra dunphy, an independent analyst who testified before the energy and commerce committee. i ask unanimous consent to enter this article into the record at this point. without objection, so ordered. senator whitehouse. senator whitehouse: i viewed your predecessor's tenure as one characterized by a tawdry behavior in office, a desire to do damage to the agency that he led a , flagrant absence of transactional integrity and horrible environmental policies. i see you as a remedy to three of those four. so, in that sense i welcome you. appreciate itu i very much your courtesy and having the in. i very much hope that you follow through on putting teddy roosevelt's picture on your wall. i think that would be a good reminder and signal. a lot of what needed to be repaired at epa had to do with process stuff rather than the substantive disagreement you an

mr. wheeler: yes, senator, i do. that is what we have done. sen. inhofe: lastly, i had the honor of attending your opening statement. it was a very good statement. you had all the employees come i don't know how many were there, but you got a very fine response. you mentioned the fact that the united states is the gold standard worldwide for the environmental protection, and pollution regulated as drop 73%. you mentioned this again in your opening statement. nobody ever talks about this, the success we have, that we are riding on. meanwhile our economy has , expanded over three times over and pollutions have dropped 73%. the problem we have had in the eight years of the obama administration is the use of regulations to punish industries and states to reshape our economy with little to no benefit to the environment. can you elaborate on how you have both a clean environment without handcuffing our in our economy? mr. wheeler: if we provide more certainty to the american people, so everyone understands the decisions we are making and why we are making them,

mr. president, by thanking senator inhofe, chairman thornberry, and ranking member smith and all the conferees for their bipartisanship throughout the process. this process has been collegial and is an example of strong piece of legislation that addresses concerns of members on both sides of the aisle. i'd also like to thank the staffs of the senate armed services committee and the house armed services committee for all their hard work in drafting a thoughtful and comprehensive bill. their extraordinary work is a tribute to us all. i would be remiss if i didn't single out these extraordinary individuals. senator mccain's staff director chris did a superb job. senator inhofe's staff director, lou and tony. on my staff, jodi bennet and john clark and gary, creighton, guzelzu, john, irene, carolyn, megan, mike, jerry, bill and my staff director elizabeth. i also want to thank jen and paul. they are the staff directors respectively for chairman thornberry and ranking member smith. they did a superb job. with their work and with the inspiration of senator mccain, we were able to pass an extraordina

inhofe: thank you, mr. chairman. first of all, i like your opening statement. ,t is certainty that we want that we deserve and have not been historically given. i want to elaborate a little bit with the question and ask it a little bit differently than the comments by the ranking member. last year the epa from all along with the department of energy, granite 33 of 34 hardship exemptions to refineries due to high costs. the epa was sued on one petition. it ended up losing in court. opponents of these exceptions and say that the refiners are not under hardship can even though they are paying more than their payroll to comply with the mandates that are out there. if you look at the fact that the courts now lost twice in for not approving exemptions to the epa simply applying the law when it does grant them come and it should be approving more of how does the epa threatened this needle? -- thread this needle? mr. wheeler: it is a difficult needle to thread. we are the statute, and we have cases that have ruled against th

mr. chairman. >> that's a pretty glowing say right. i would senator inhofe. i want to invite the nominees to forward. and i look forward to hearing your opening statements. if you can, confine them as to five minutes as possible. make sure your entire statement as part of the written record and i'll give you an opportunity to ask some questions. and your t on my left droegemeier.dr. proceed. >> thank you very much, senator inhofe and members of the committee. i'm truly honored absolutely to appear before you. i'm also pleased that my wife of behind , lisa, is just me, that she could join me along with lots of wonderful friends my life truly blessed throughout the years. i was born in kansas, and at age 39 i went storm chasing in the panhandle and saw my first tornado up close and personal. it was a pretty big experience majesty ofer and the that awesome power really fueled my interest in meteorologist, focus of my undergraduate studies at the university of oklahoma. on and earned masters and doctoral degrees at the university of illinois, urbana, in atmospher

mr. inhofe: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: yesterday i had an opportunity to go through and thank all the appropriate people. this is significantly and arguably the most significant bill that we'll have this year, as we've had every year. this is the 58th consecutive year we had a defense authorization bill. this is dedicated, this one is named after senator mccain, john s. mccain defense authorization bill. we're very proud of the input that we had from his staff and from him, and it went through in record time. so i thank all -- i certainly thank my counterpart here, senator reed. he and i worked very, very close together for many, many years. and with that, i will yield back the balance of my time and ask for the yeas and nays. mr. reed: madam president, i would also yield back the balance of my time and urge passage of the john mccain national defense authorization act. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the question is on adoption of the conference report. the clerk will call