mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, scott pruitt is the administrator of the environmental protection agency. he is charged with running the agency and ensuring its mission. there are serious questions about mr. pruitt's leadership, but we'll get to that later. today the senate is preparing to vote on the nominee to be the second-highest ranking official at the environmental protection agency, andrew wheeler. and as the number two at the environmental protection agency, andrew wheeler deserves the kind of scrutiny that reflects a position one step away from being the administrator. andrew wheeler has spent years protecting the coal industry. first, from here in the senate where he worked to prevent passage of climate legislation.

mr. markey: thank you, mr. president, very much. borrowing from a phrase from senator whitehouse of rhode island, it is time to wake up to the threat of climate change. we must open our eyes to the insidious web of deceit that the koch brothers, in alliance with the trump administration, are weaving to promote an antiscience, anti-consumer, anti-renewable energy agenda. this web of deceit is something which the koch brothers are proud of. just last week they bragged to donors in a report that they were responsible for president trump's policy. repealing the clean power plan, check. attacking public lands, check. attempting to gut bedrock environmental laws for infrastructure projects, check. leaving the paris climate accord, check. tax giveaways to big oil and other fossil fuel corporations, check. -- check plus. the first year of the trump administration has been a koch brothers' wish list and they are popping their champagne bottles all the way to the bank. in fact, the various front groups and trade organizations that pushed pres

mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. as with many of my colleagues here today, i stand before you to voice my deep concern over the nomination of mike pompeo to be our next secretary of state. president trump has tweeted about senate democrats that it is, quote, hard to believe obstructionists may vote against mike pompeo for secretary of state. others have accused democrats of playing politics, pointing to past secretary of state confirmation votes that have faced less opposition in the foreign relations committee and on the senate floor. but this inference that we simply should rubber stamp secretary of state nominees is misplaced. like all of my colleagues, i take my article 2 advise and consent responsibilities very seriously. so i would like to tell you why i oppose mr. pompeo's nomination to be secretary of state. my opposition is not about politics. it isn't really about policy either. while i disagree vehemently with many of mr. pompeo's positions on issues such as human rights and climate change and the iran nuc

mr. chairman. >> senator markey. >> thank you mr. chairman. secretary karem general votel the commander of the u.s. central command recently called iran's army yemeni rebels with ballistic rebels that quote growing threat which i think poses a significant danger not just to saudis in emirates but poses a risk to us. can you explain why we should accept the dod's circular logic that once the administration at the political level inserts itself into it, plex american servicemembers are exposed to risks which then justifies continued u.s. participation in the conflict. it's a never ending circle. >> senator i think even if the united states was not involved in helping our partners in yemen even if we weren't involved in conducting efforts in aqap in yemen iran's elements of ballistic metal -- ballistic missile capabilities transferring these ballistic missile capabilities for transfer to the united states not just a threat to our partners in the region be dead aqap or saudi arabia or israel because there are hundreds of thousands of americans in

mr. president, for the recognition. i'm going to focus, as senator markey has, and several of my colleagues before me on this web of deceit that we have been talking about here today. the koch brothers' web of dark money, lobbyists and infiltration into the trump administration that truly, truly threatens our democracy. the influence of their hundreds of millions of dollars is pervasive, pernicious, and hidden. i applaud senator whitehouse's work to focus public attention on this threat. and thank you to my colleagues for shining a spotlight on the murky tentacles of the koch influence empire here in washington, especially their influence on the swamp that is the trump administration. and we must keep fighting for comprehensive campaign finance and electoral reform to get dark money like the koch brothers out of our politics.

senator markey: thank you, mr. chairman. secretary care yem -- karem, the commander of the u.s. central command recently called iran's army of the yemeni rebels with ballistic missiles a, quote, growing threat, which i think poses a significant danger not just to saudis and emirateys, but poses a risk to us. can you explain why we should accept d.o.d.'s circular logic that once the administration at the political level inserts itself into a conflict, american service members are exposed to risks which then justifies continued u.s. participation in the conflict. it's a never-ending circle. secretary karem: senator, i think even if the united states was not involved in helping our partners in yemen even if we were involved in conducting efforts against aqap in yemen, iran's development of ballistic missile capabilities transfeerns of these capability -- transferns would podse a threat to the united states. not because it poses a threat to our partners in the region, be that the u.a.e. or saudi arabia or israel, but because there are hundreds of thousands of americans who live in t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator markey. >> we had talked with senator perry and i couldn't agree more that we need to stress a gold standard. at the same time, i understand that when you have given iran the right to enrich, everybody in the region is going to want the right to enrich. so you've got your work cut out for you over the next period of time, and it is quite -- it's very difficult to tell an arab nation that they cannot, when we said that the shia can. senator isaacs. >> thank you, mr. chairman. congratulations on your nomination. >> we'll have another break and resume or senate coverage after this. >>> let's get back to our special coverage. senator johnny isaacson of georgia is asking questions of mike pompeo, the secretary of state nominee. >> -- on big issues we need in the united nations. i hope you'll focus on africa when you have the chance and realize what the state government has done. lastly, this is kind of an editorial statement. my experience of the state department is that it has been in a blue funk for about a year and a half. and one of the things i told you when yo

markey? senator: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. pompeo, i'd like to look at your record on human rights a little closer. next monday is the fifth anniversary of the patriots day marathon bombing in boston, and it, of course, was a horrific day in our history. it was something that proved once again that we are boston strong. but following those attacks, you falsely alleged that american muslim leaders were, quote, potentially complicit in violent acts for failing to speak out, even though the american muslim community and its leaders had already condemned that attack. because words matter, mr. pompeo, i have to ask you, do you believe that your statements falsely accusing american muslim leaders of being complicit in the boston marathon attacks exemplifies the kind of moral leadership that our country should have in the post of secretary of state? director pompeo: senator, i think i answered this for you yesterday. i'm happy to do it here again. i'll answer the same way. i felt then and feel now that everyone has a responsibility t

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. senator markey. >> thank you. will you work to have our president be a vocal advocate against the genocide in burma. >> was that a question. will i work? yes. >> thank you. we would love to hear president trump speak out on that topic. transparency in resource extraction payments is a principle design for situations like that in guinea where the oil payments go directly to the family rather than to the treasury of the company. it has vast wealth that most people live under $2 a day. should we work to increase transparency? >> senator, it sounds right but i don't know much about the situation there in that country in terms of where the resources are going. so if i might take that question and get you and answer. as a general matter i think that's appropriate. >> it is an issue and in many, many countries where the countries are more or less robbed where the people live in abject poverty. >> war powers act and we talked about it in the context of libya. the president can send u.s. armed forces into action abroad onl

mr. pompeo: with senator markey. sen. gardner: we had the opportunity to sit next to each other. i can tell my colleagues on the committee that there is no one who came better prepared and more understanding of the issues and always looking for a creative answer, i think, is something that i always admired about his work in the house. and i know that continued as director of the cia and will continue upon his confirmation at the state department. i have one request, director pompeo, that is very important to me. as secretary of state, kansas will have no greater authority over water than they do right now. [laughter] so anyway, we won't get into water fights in colorado and kansas right now. i would like to submit for the record if i could a letter written by former senior government officials with national security experience in administrations of different parties or on capitol hill, people including general alexander, michael allen, jeremy bash, michael casey. sen. corker: without objection. sen. gardner: thank you, mr. chairman. director you and i have had a , number of oppor

markey. >> thank you very much. mr. rodriguez, welcome.cott pruitt is now attacking the fuel economy standards which is in agreement with california and all the waiver states along with the epa and nhtsa in 2010 and 2011. that would reduce our imports of oil by 3.5 million barrels of oil a day which is roughly these quibble and of opec. it seems like a pretty important thing to do. it also is still the largest single production and a country is ever put on the books to reduce greenhouse gases. it is huge. i was a house author of that legislation in the same i senator feinstein and stephens were on that bill. it was the bill reformed by d.o.t.. what do you think about scott pruitt statement that the standards are too hard to reach that in there's an unfair and position on the auto industry? do you agree with that? >> no. it's a very thorough technical assessment of the standards and the progress that the auto industry has made and complying with those standards and 2016 and 2017. our air resisters board found there's no reason to deviate fr

markey? >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. pompeo, i'd like to look at your record on human rights a little closer. next monday is the fifth anniversary of the patriots day marathon bombing in boston, and it, of course, was a horrific day in our history. it was something that proved once again that we are boston strong. but following those attacks, you falsely alleged that american muslim leaders were, quote, potentially complicit in violent acts for failing to speak out, even though the american muslim community and its leaders had already condemned that attack. because words matter, mr. pompeo, i have to ask you, do you believe that your statements falsely accusing american muslim leaders of being complicit in the boston marathon attacks exemplifies the kind of moral leadership that our country should have in the post of secretary of state? >> senator, i think i answered this for you yesterday. i'm happy to do it here again. i'll answer the same way. i felt then and feel now that everyone has a responsibility to speak out ab

markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. in response to senator blumenthal's questions, you refuse to answer if facebook should allowed to obtain permission before sharing their personal information, so i'm going to ask it one more time. yes or no. should facebook get clear permission from users before selling or sharing sensitive information about your health, your finances, your relationships? should you have to get their permission. that's a consent degree. that you signed in 20 11. should you have to get permission? should help to opt in? >> senator, we do require permission to use the system and to put information in there for the uses of it. we don't sell information. so hardless of whether we get permission to do that, that's just not a thing we're going to do. >> i have a bill, senator blumenthal referred to it. the consent act that would put on the books a law that said facebook and any other company that gathered information about americans has to get their permission. before it can be reused. would you support tha

mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i am here to join ranking member nelson and my colleagues to voice my opposition to james bridenstine who has been nominated to be the next administrator of the national aeronautics and space administration. but first i would ask unanimous consent that floor privileges be granted to mary schultz and william goldsmith, both fellows on my staff for the remainder of this session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. nasa is an agency that has been at the center of our nation's modern history and impacts the daily lives of millions of americans. the world watched in awe as neil armstrong took that first step on to the surface of the moon in july of 1969 wearing a nasa patch on his spacesuit. today we marvel at photos of pluto's surface captured by nasa's new horizons mission in july 2015. from the closest to the further reaches of our own solar system, nasa is always there. now nasa is at a critical point in its history. and that i