mr. merkley. mrs. boxer: madam president, may we have order, please? we are moving along but it just takes extra time. if we could just give our colleagues the respect they deserve. every one of them deserves it. madam president, i support the merkley amendment. i hope we'll have an overwhelming vote on it. and i would ask my colleague to take the remaining time. mr. merkley: thank you. i call up amendment 866. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from oregon mr. merkley proposes an amendment numbered 866. mr. merkley: thank you, madam president. we have long recognized the principle that when taxpayers are paying for public infrastructure projects, it makes sense for american business, for the american economy, for our workers to do as much of the work as possible, create that supply chain here in america. the buy america rules we already have on the books that provided the foundation for millions of miles of roads, bridges, light rails and subways and millions of good-paying jobs. this amendment extends t

mr. merkley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i rise to speak to the nomination of michael mcshane to serve on the u.s. district court of eugene. skwr-pblg mcshane -- judge mcshane will make a terrific addition to the bench in oregon. he has demonstrated commitment to the law, to public service and to our state. he came to oregon 30 years ago to serve communities through the jesuit volunteer corps. the jesuit volunteer corps, known as j.v.c.. j.v.c., folks often graduating from college dedicate a year to direct service to the poor, simple living and spiritual community. and they work in locations like food banks, local church programs to work with at-risk youths and things of this nature. they work directly to help make the world a better place and do so in an exceptional manner. anyone who comes out of college and dedicates a year or two to such an effort certainly starts in a very sound place. since that time judge mcshane has remained deeply dedicated to oregon and to serving those in our society most in need. after gr

mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and my amendment number 978 be called up. a senator: i object to the request. the presiding officer: an objection is heard. mr. merkley: mr. president, i regret that we've heard an objection on pulling up this amendment. many may not understand that to pull up an amendment to be considered here in the senate, it takes unanimous consent. all 100 senators have to agree. my colleague has just objected, making it impossible to consider an amendment that should be debated here on the floor of the house, because this amendment is about good policy and good process. not so long ago in the continuing resolution a provision was slipped in by the house of representatives, and because this was a must-pass bill under tight time constraints, it also slipped through the u.s. senate with no debate. and what did this legislation do? this legislation, the monsanto protection act, this legislation does something that i think mos

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: thank you, mr.president. i rise today to talk about one particular aspect of this bill, which is wifia, but before i explain what wifia is, i want to thank the chair for managing this bill in a very bipartisan discussion in committee that has come to the floor with full committee examination, thorough debate, amendment process, and here we are having a very thorough, visible, accountable process for considering this bill on the floor of the senate, and that's just a very good example of the senate working well. thank you, madam chair. the -- the heart of the wifia program is about jobs. it's about infrastructure. five years after the greatest economic crisis in 80 years, we still face a serious jobs crisis. too many are out of work and too many are unemployed. a good living wage job is the most important pillar of the american dream. there is no public program that can compare to the importance of a living wage job for the stability and success of a family. and so we have to do more to create those

mr. chairman. >> senator merkley. >> thank you all very much. i wanted to start by a going senator udall's comments in regard to the proposed reduction of funding for hazardous fuels reduction. we had this last summer in oregon, the last -- largest forest fires we've had in 100 years. including one the size of rhode island and largely probably the forest was dry, but the other big factor was the accumulation of fuels from fire suppression in the past combined with the absence of forest management. and it's kind of a very hazardous combination, those factors. and in page 106 on the conversation of this, it notes the president's budget proposes reducing the program and 96 million, reduction of 89 million, i'm rounding it off, the 2012. and it presents a silver lining. the program presents an opportunity to reunite with and recalibrate the focus of hazardous fuels reduction to align support the national cohesive wildland firemen the strategy. i am doubtful that there's anything in that strategy which says that the accumulation of fuels is not a pro

franken, gillibrand, hearken, hen heinrich, leahy, menendez, merkley schatz, stabenow, tester, tom udall, senator warren and senator b wyden. and, mr. president, i would ask that senator cardin be added as a cosponsor to s. 316. i would ask permission that he be added as a cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, i am delighted that we are making progress on real postal reform not only here in the senate but in the house as well and i want to thank congressman peter defazio from oregon for his leadership efforts in cosponsoring the exact same bill in the house as we have in the senate and that now has 139 cosponsors. so we have 24 cosponsors now in the senate and in the house that bill has 139 cosponsors, which tells me that the american people and their representatives here in washington understand how terribly important it is that we pass serious postal reform. and let me just very briefly talk about what is in that legislation, what the legislation, if passed, would accomplish. that bill would reestablish strong overnight delivery standards to ensure the timely delivery of mail. when peopl