mr. merkley. >> no. >> ms. warren. >> no. >> ms. highcamp. >> no. >> mr. donnelly. >> no. >> 10 in favor, 12 opposed. >> the amendment is not agreed to. any further and he saidmendments? if not, the question is on ordering the bill nuclear weapon act 2015 as amended be reported as an original bill. senator schumer, thank you. >> i appreciate it. i just want to say a brief few words. first, thanks to senators men ma then dez and kirk for introducing a strong bill take has bipartisan support and i would stress to this committee the need to maintain bipartisan support which has been long a tradition as vital. we ought to be working and taking the extra mile to do that and i appreciate senator corker even though he might have believed in a few of these amendments keeping our bipartisan coalition together. sanctions are what got iran to the table. not unilateral sanctions frankly. as good a job asthma menendez, kirk and all of us did, it was having the family of nations impose those sanctions. so easy for say we should just go off on our own, but the sanctions

mr. merkley: thank you madam president. this amendment recognizes the construction jobs can play a key role in strengthening our economy and not just strengthening our economy with current jobs but rebuilding the infrastructure or building new infrastructure that will facilitate a very successful economy in the future. so this particular amendment notes or proposes that we not create 4,000 construction jobs in the pipeline but that we create 400,000 jobs rebuilding key infrastructure in a variety of ways across our nation. i think as we wrestle with both the current economy and the strength of the future economy this is an idea well worth considering. thank you madam president and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: madam president i ask consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up my amendment numbered 131. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection. the clerk shall report. ms. cantwell: the senator from washington ms. cantwell, for herself and

mr. merkley of oregon. mr. perdue of georgia. mr. peters of michigan. mr. reed of rhode island. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you takthis obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations. the vice president: the clerk will read the names of the next group. order in the senate, please. the clerk: mr. are issue of idaho. mr. roberts of kansas. mr. rounds of south dakota. mr. sasse of nebraska. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without a

mr. merkley: i rise to recognize jean atkins, my oregon state director who is retiring from team merkley h this month. she is a long serving member of my team and she is an outstanding public servant. an individual who has dedicated her life to making the world a better place. jean atkins and i first began working together a decade ago after i took up the post of democratic leader in the oregon statehouse. it was a challenging but exciting time as my leadership team worked to build our policy agenda and get our caucus operations up to speed. a key component of that effort, of course, was to hire a superb caucus director. thus it came to pass that four members of my leadership team were seated in old wife's tale restaurant brainstorming over candidates for the position. that group consisted of diane rosenbaum, dave hunt who became majority leader of the house and then speaker of the oregon house; and brad ovakian oregon's labor commissioner. as we were brainstorming diane spoke up seined i know someone who would be tremendous but i am sure she would never take the position. dave hunt enco

mr. merkley: i rise today to address senate bill 1, which would approve construction of the keystone x.l. pipeline to transport tar sand heavy oil from canada to the gulf coast. the key consideration is whether this bill, by authorizing the pipeline would contribute significantly to global warming which is already damaging our rural resources and our future economic prospects the profound consequences for families in america and around the world. also are there better ways to create jobs that would enhance rather than damage our economy? in the words of president theodore roosevelt of all the questions that can come before this nation short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our de-seine dafntses than it is for us -- for our decendants than it is for us. let's start by examining the impact of the keystone pipeline on atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution and global warming. this chart displays the variations in carbon dioxide that have occurred over ti

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to withdraw the following amendment sullivan 67 murkowski 98, flake 103 merkley 174 tillis 102 peters 55. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered mr. alexander: mr. president the senator from north carolina, senator burr, and i are here to speak about an important and exciting development that's about to occur in our committee of health, education labor and pensions. what we're talking about and will describe in our remarks today is a report entitled "innovation for healthier americans" which will launch a bipartisan effort to look at how congress can help to get cutting-edge treatments, drugs and devices to america's patients more quickly while still preserving this nation's gold standard for safety and quality. this report and the actions that we hope to take will affect virtually every american. and i'm especially glad today to be here with the senator from north carolina. while there are a number of senators in this body on both sides of the aisle who've worked hard on these issues, which in our government are -- are usually dealt with by the foo

mr. merkley. can't can't mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: i dishawbt the merkley amendment be -- i ask unanimous consent that the merkley amendment be withdrawn number 125. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection the amendment is withdrawn. under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to amendment number 73 offered by the senator from kansas, mr. moran. the senator from kansas. the senate will come to order. the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president the u.s. fish and wildlife service has determined that the lesser prairie chicken should be listed in a number of states, including kansas as a threatened species. the lesser prairie chicken has had significant history in our state and a significant population of birds. but as a result of a drought the habitat for the lesser prairie chicken and other wildlife has been did i minute ieshed and the number of birds has decreased. but the consequences of listing the lesser prairie chick than results