mr. merkley: mr. president, i rise to share my deep concern that we are careening towards a shutdown of the u.s. government. just a little more than 24 hours from now, tomorrow night, our government will shut down if this chamber and the house chamber cannot come together and put a simple continuing resolution on the president's defnlgpresident'sdesk. you know, ther there are a lot f things that we should be and should be proud of. one is to be a nation that has been a light for the world, presenting the ideals of democracy in action and advocating for and defending human rights. we should be deeply pleased that we have fought for fair working conditions and economic opportunity for americans across this great land. we should be proud of a tradition of public education that gives children an opportunity to fulfill their full potential. we should be deeply pleased of our history advocating for freedom of leave, and freedom of association, and freedom of liberty. all of these things are part of a legacy

mr. merkley: thank you. ms. ayotte: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: thank you, madam president. with humility and a deep sense of reverence for this body, i rise today to address my colleagues in the senate. serving in this historic chamber is truly an honor. on this floor, men and women of strong character gather together to work on the unfinished work of building a more perfect union. it is an even greater privilege to stand here representing the people of new hampshire, a place of distinct beauty that places a premium on self-governance and informed public discourse. new hampshire reflects the very best of our nation. as america faces enormous challenges, i am reminded of the words of wisdom from one of new hampshire's revered statesmen, general john stark. after fighting bravely and heroically in the revolutionary war, general stark gave new hampshire its treasured state motto: live free or die. this famous quote perfectly captures the spirit and character of the people of the gran

mr. chairman. >> sunder merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr.neslin, to listen to your testimony so that there's never been any problem in colorado and we found no verified incident of hydraulic fracting, harming groundwater. how do we square that with the documentary are referred to earlier where mike marcum takes and pours water out of his kitchen phosphate, holds a cigarette lighter to it and after a few seconds, i quote, a ball of fire erupts out of the sink, almost enveloping marcum's head. the source for flammable water in a process called hydraulic fracting. how is escorted no incentive fracting or water. >> we investigated that very well. the fact that the willis completed in a cold beer information that contains what is called biogenic methane, unrelated to oil and gas development. there are published papers that the u.s. geological survey in colorado geological survey dating back within 30 years, verifying that fact that many foreign nations there is naturally occurring biogenic methane, not attributable to oil and gas development, not

mr. merkley: mr. president, we've heard a lot of rhetoric on the floor of this chamber today defending why air pollution is just fine, explaining why dismantling air pollution regulations is really in the interest of our economy and of our families. indeed, my colleague from south dakota has listed kind -- it's like a little shop of horrors, that the status quo creates economic uncertainty, that the air pollution regulations increase the risk rate of capital, that they destroy jobs, that they even hurt the editorial earl, that they are an abuse of power unauthorized by congress. i -- i -- i'm wondering, what else is left on the list of reasons to defend the dismantling of air pollution regulations that protect american people? that are popular in the eyes of american citizens because they want to live in a world where they can enjoy breathing the air throughout our nation. let's start by recognizing that the truth about the mcconnell amendment is it increases our dependence on foreign oil. we've heard

mr. merkley from connecticut. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and both governors, thank you for your attendance today and for sticking with us throughout this process. i guess i just had a simple statement in question for you, governor walker. i guess for those of us watching this debate played out and i think this has been covered by several of my colleagues it's hard to square the concession have been made by the unions and their willingness to come to the table and the continued drive to strip them of collective bargaining rights and there's been a lot of conversations among the country have to leave to how this plays into the much broader debate that's happening around the nation. when we looked at the amount of outside money that's been spent in wisconsin with respect to doherty election, to the site over the legislation and then most recently in fell last few weeks with respect to this election for the court. it's hard to make the argument that this debate only plays out in the context of wisconsin's budget, and in fact some of t

mr. merkley from connecticut. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and both governors, thank you for your attendance today and for sticking with us throughout this process. i guess i just had a simple statement in question for you, governor walker. i guess for those of us watching this debate played out and i think this has been covered by several of my colleagues it's hard to square the concession have been made by the unions and their willingness to come to the table and the continued drive to strip them of collective bargaining rights and there's been a lot of conversations among the country have to leave to how this plays into the much broader debate that's happening around the nation. when we looked at the amount of outside money that's been spent in wisconsin with respect to doherty election, to the site over the legislation and then most recently in fell last few weeks with respect to this election for the court. it's hard to make the argument that this debate only plays out in the context of wisconsin's budget, and in fact some of t

mr. chairman. >> senator merkley? >> thank you, mr. chair. mr. neslin, as i listen in the testimony it sounds like there has never been any problem and, rather -- "no verify incident of hydraulic fracturing harming ground water." how do we square that with the documentary i referred to earlier where mike markum takes and pours water out of his kitchen faucet, holds a cigarette lighter up to it and after a few seconds, i quote -- "a ball of fire erupts out of the sink, almost and belting his head -- and the galloping his head." how does this square with no verified incidents of hydraulic fracturing harming ground water? >> we investigated that allegation and investigated that well. the facts are that that water well was completed and a coal bearing formation that contains biogenic methane, not related to oil and gas development. there are published papers by the u.s. geological survey and the color of the geological survey dating back more than 30 years verifying that fact, that in these formations there is naturally occurring biogenic methane not

mr. chairman. >> sunder merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. neslin, to listen to your testimony so that there's never been any problem in colorado and we found no verified incident of hydraulic fracting, harming groundwater. how do we square that with the documentary are referred to earlier where mike marcum takes and pours water out of his kitchen phosphate, holds a cigarette lighter to it and after a few seconds, i quote, a ball of fire erupts out of the sink, almost enveloping marcum's head. the source for flammable water in a process called hydraulic fracting. how is escorted no incentive fracting or water. >> we investigated that very well. the fact that the willis completed in a cold beer information that contains what is called biogenic methane, unrelated to oil and gas development. there are published papers that the u.s. geological survey in colorado geological survey dating back within 30 years, verifying that fact that many foreign nations there is naturally occurring biogenic methane, not attributable to oil and gas development, no

mr. chairman. >> sunder merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr.neslin, to listen to your testimony so that there's never been any problem in colorado and we found no verified incident of hydraulic fracting, harming groundwater. how do we square that with the documentary are referred to earlier where mike marcum takes and pours water out of his kitchen phosphate, holds a cigarette lighter to it and after a few seconds, i quote, a ball of fire erupts out of the sink, almost enveloping marcum's head. the source for flammable water in a process called hydraulic fracting. how is escorted no incentive fracting or water. >> we investigated that very well. the fact that the willis mpleted in a cold beer information that contains what is called biogenic methane, unrelated to oil and gas development. there are published papers that the u.s. geological survey in colorado geological survey dating back within 30 years, verifying that fact that many foreign nations there is naturally occurring biogenic methane, not attributable to oil and gas development, not r

merkley? >> thank you, mr. chair, and i want to ask you about the article the cornell university researchers cannot with recently that try to taha will get the impact of the trucking and the fugitive methane and carbon dioxide and other initial finding was that natural-gas is worse than cold in terms of its greenhouse gas footprint over a 20 year period roughly equal to call over 100 footprints which is a real surprise to many of us and is this an issue that epa are analyzing and looking at? >> we've had a voluntary program working with companies to tighten up their system to reduce fugitive emissions of methane which is the natural gas. however this study which i don't think has actually been published yet although it's been discussed in the newspapers and the basic outlines of it are available is an important piece of information we need to bring into the discussion. if it indeed is some leakage out of the system these are generally problems that can be addressed through proper controls or through collection

natural gas so that being in the coming shortly balance that out in the long term merkley plants >> senator udall? >> thank you mr. chairman and for holding this hearing. i would ask unanimous consent to put my opening statement in the record. >> without objection. >> thank you. >> the energy policy act concluded an exemption for hydrauli fracturing from underground injections. control permits, however there was also an exemption from the exemption as you are well aware for the hydraulic fracturing with diesel fuel. meaning if you in a install the exemption did not apply recently found millions of diesel fuel had been injected into thousand five including hundreds of dolphins of the ones in mexico. what is the epa position on this? do you need a federal permit to inject diesel fuel underground in a hydraulic fracturing operation, and if not, please explain the court rulings that came out in 1997 and the 2005 exemption for an exemption for diesel. >> hydraulic fracking is subject to the safe drinking water act requirements in -- >> that's under the court ruling, correct? >> what's under almost of the plane reading

mr. merkley from connecticut. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and both governors, thank you for your attendance today and for sticking with us throughout this process. i guess i just had a simple statement in question for you, governor walker. i guess for those of us watching this debate played out and i think this has been covered by several of my colleagues it's hard to square the concession have been made by the unions and their willingness to come to the table and the continued drive to strip them of collective bargaining rights and there's been a lot of conversations among the country have to leave to how this plays into the much broader debate that's happening around the nation. when we looked at the amount of outside money that's been spent in wisconsin with respect to doherty election, to the site over the legislation and then most recently in fell last few weeks with respect to this election for the court. it's hard to make the argument that this debate only plays out in the context of wisconsin's budget, and in fact some of t

mr. president, i do unanimous consent to add senators leahy, america lirgs and boxer to -- merkley and boxer to senate bill 724. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, this brings to 77 out of 100 senators who are now sponsoring this bill. our bill, senate bill 724, is very simple. it just says that if there is a government shutdown, our military will be paid on time their full pay. and this bill is what i think is the very least that we can do to assure every military family that they do not have to worry for one minute that their mortgage is going to be paid, that their car payments will be paid, that they will be able to get over this hump just without thinking that there might be a haling of their pay or it -- a haling of their pay or it might be -- a having of their pay or it might be delayed. i am concerned about those who are overseas and their families are at home because if the mom or dad is overseas and there is a glitch somewhere they're not here to help. and i think it would be unthinkable that we would go to midnight and not have taken care of t