mr. merkley is the co-sponsor of the amendment we just passed. mr. enzi: i have two more here that we could do by voice, if that would be ok. ms. murray: i just want to add in merkley as a co-sponsor. mr. enzi: without objection, sure. we have the baldwin amendment for n.i.h. any further discussion? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. that one's passed. and then baldwin on american manufacturing. any further comments? seeing none, those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. that one passes. we did the nuclear waste one already. yes, senator wyden. mr. wyden: i had to be out of the room and i'm the lead sponsor of this effort to audit the pentagon. i'm very pleased that we're doing it. i would just like to ask unanimous consent to be recorded as voting in favor of it. is that acceptable, mr. chairman? mr. enzi: certainly. mr. wyden: thank you. mr. enzi: since it wouldn't change the outcome of the vote, that would be pretty acceptable. ok. since we weren't able to give advance warning on when the time -- on what time the vote would be, i have a co

mr. merkley. ms. baldwin. mr. kaine. mr. king. mr. chairman. mr. chairman, the yeas are 13, the nays are nine. mr. enzi: the amendment has been passed. next is senator whitehouse on disaster funding. mr. whitehouse: this is the climate change related deficit neutral reserve fund rather like senator kain's we voted on. instead of related to military bases this is related to fema disaster money and i've already described it so i won't burden everybody's time further. i hope that this can get strong support. >> mr. chairman, his amendment says may include problems or disasters caused by human induced climate change. mr. sessions: but doesn't limit it to that, so i won't object we can do it by voice vote, i would just note again that according to expert testimony, environment and public works committee, droughts are not up. floods are not up. hurricanes are down substantially. tornadoes are down. and so we're looking forward to more evidence that will come out from the environmental protection agency. mr. enzi: the clerk will poll the committee. the cl

mr. merkley. >> aye. >> mr. chairman. >> no. >> mr. chairman, the a'syuees are 10. >> this is the budget point of order relating to the victims of crime fund. this creates a budget point of order to stop congress from mugging the victims of crime act and allowing the most vulnerable in our society to be protected instead of continuing to be victimized in their own homes and having congress rob the fund does designed to protect them. i think we can go on a voice vote. >> all those in favor say syaye. that has been adopted. >> we have a problem we know is coming. sequestered. based on the ryan marriott agreement, a sickly it makes defense and nondefense equally. this keeps us out of a giant nightmare this fall that i know is coming at us if we don't deal with it. irish support. senator enzi: we take seriously modifications to budget control act. we will take a look at that after april 15 when we get the budget done. there is a highly flexible deficit neutral matter in the resolution. this amendment, the tax-and-spend amendment 150 7 bill

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. perfect merkley: mr. president i ask unanimous consent that my -- mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my intern colin offenberg be allowed privileges of the floor throughout the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent that i can utilize a felt pen during my presentation. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you very much mr. president. today i rise to discuss the budget blueprint that we're debating here in this chamber and that we'll be voting on here on the floor of the senate shortly. in evaluating this budget, this budget produced by my republican colleagues i'm asking the question -- is this a budget designed to work for working americans? that's just a simple core question. if your vision of america is that you want families to thrive thrive then you're going to design a budget designed for those working families to thrive. so that i

mr. merkley aye. mr. king aye. mr. chairman, the yeas are 11 and the nays are 11. senator enzi: repeat those numbers. the clerk: the yeas are 11 and the nays are 11. senator: this amendment simply creates a spending night tral reserve fund aimed at subbing the regular appropriation process. the last thing we need right now is a rogue regulator out there without any oversight of congress and that's the intent of this amendment. thank you. senator enzi: opposition? senator: the c.f.p.b. are funded to insulate from the type of influence that would deeply damage its regulatory role but independent audit monitored by the inspector general and rulemaking requirements, required testimony before the banking committee and indeed the ability of the oversight council to overturn the regulations. we need to protect this group that has done a fabulous job of defending consumers. senator enzi: i urge my colleagues to vote yes. ask for a roll call vote. . the clerk: mr. grassley aye. mr. sessions. mr. graham. mr. toomey, mr. johnson, ms. ayotte. mr. wicker. mr. perdue, mr. sander

mr. merkley. ms. balled win. mr. cain. mr. king. mr. chairman. >> host: no. >> theist are 10, nays are 12. >> defeated. the next amendment is the stabenow amendment on oil spills. >> thank you mr. chairman. this is a taxpayer amendment to say if you have an oil spill from tar sands, that the oil companies should be paying for that. the cleanup. the oil spill liability trust fund should have those types of spills covered by companies paying into it. we permanently extend the tax and eliminate tax benefits that apply when there's a settlement or judgment because of oil spills and there's punitive damages, if somebody is found to be reckless, the taxpayers should not pick up the tab. i would ask for a yes vote. >> i would ask for a no vote. this is overly prescriptive and an issue that needs to be deliberated. they blinked in finance committee, and i know that senator wyden has been here to hear the discussion so i'm sure it will be and i don't think it's the intent of anybody to give people a special tax break on fines or penalties. so i'

mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my intern, jack manwilson be allowed priz of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. merkley: thank you. the presiding officer: who yields time? if no one yields time, the time will be divided equally. mrs. boxer: mr. president could i ask what's the parliamentary order at this time? the presiding officer: the senate sf onthesenate is on the veto message to accompany s. 1. mrs. boxer: if we could get order in the senate, i would really very much like to open debated on this. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator from california. mrs. boxer: thank you so much, mr. president. i really appreciate it. i know that senator cantwell will be doing the comanaging of this -- of this bill and i want to thank her very much for her strong leadership. this is a very important vote that's going to occur at 2:20 this afternoon and i rise today to oppose the attempt to over

mr. merkley. senator brockman would be next but he's graciously agreed to let mr. bozeman go ahead. >> thank you i appreciate it. following up on senator mark lee's questionlee markley's question, you're out of ozone. the cost to california alone would be 800 million to $2.2 billion per year. do you feel like individuals should be able to sue for noncompliance? >> under the clean air act, citizens have the ability to sue epa or, indirectly, the state for noncompliance with any element of a sip. california has issued a state implementation plan and we are in compliance with our plan. we are moving forward steadily every year bringing down our levels of ozone, and we've actually come into compliance in many counties. >> so your argument, then, is the same as ms. nowak's, in the sense that if you're doing things as required by law then you shouldn't be sued? >> one of the reasons why we are here to defend the carbon plan the epa plan is that it helps us with our ozone standard as well. we need all the help we can get. >> but in regard to the question, do you agree wit

merkley: thank you. that was diplomatic and well stated. mr. affleck, you've been traveling to east congo since 2007 how much did you get engaged in the challenges of central africa? mr. affleck: you know -- i've done plays, i should be able to project. back then there was a lot of activity going on, and i didn't want to be a dilettante, i started doing a lot of reading and studying and meeting with folks and then i was shocked to see the degree to which the scale of which wars in central africa, particularly in congo, the great war of africa, was dwarfing what was going on in sudan. not to diminish that, obviously but that it was -- i figured a if i had never heard of it and b, it was as big a tragedy as was being described, you know that ought to be a place i should get involved. so i started, whitney williams and i started this organization, started traveling there and we went around to about 11 countries around congo and started looking at it and thinking without the assumption that, well, i'm a celebrity i must be able to help, i thought,

merkley: thank you. that was diplomatic and well stated. mr.eck you've been traveling to east congo since 2007 how much did you get engaged in the challenges of central africa? mr. afleck: you know -- i've done plays, i should be able to project. back then there was a lot of activity going on, and i didn't want to be a dilettante, i started doing a lot of reading and studying and meeting with folks and then i was shocked to see the degree to which the scale of which wars in central africa, particularly in congo, the great war of africa, was dwarfing what was going on in sudan. not to diminish that obviously but that it was -- i figured a if i had never heard of it and b, it was as big a tragedy as was being described, you know that ought to be a place i should get involve sosmed i started, whitney williams and i started this organization, started traveling there and we went around to about 11 countries around congo and started looking at it and thinking without the assumption that well, i'm a celebrity i must be able to help, i thought, well wh

seeing none we can move on to senator merkley. >> thank you very much mr. chair. earlier we had senator kaine's proposal regarding career technical education and deficit-neutral reserve funds. i would like an opportunity to address that. i have a companion legislation that addresses science technology engineering and mathematics. it did include cte but i'm proposing i strike that out because this addresses the portion i was not addressed previously. s.t.e.m. education science technology engineering mathematics is incredibly important to many of our high-growth areas of the economy and these programs are generally offered as after-school programs which provide a tremendous opportunity for kids who would otherwise be latch key kids coming home to an empty house to engage in something and these are for example robotic programs where they learn teamwork. they learn leadership. they learn journalistic skills and they learn engineering skills and that has been a tremendously successful program in many parts of my state. but it's so small and investment right now that ma

next one is merkley student loans. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we can all recognize student debt is having a huge impact on the sense of opportunity among our children, american families and that this prescribes no particular solution the weather is lower interest rates, and enhancing the grants under the pell grants or other program improving stafford loans. whatever a bipartisan group can come together for, this provides deficit mutual reserve fund to help accommodate and recognize this is a significant problem facing america that we should work to try to address. >> i think we are all concerned about the cost of college and student loan debt. i note dirty three -- the average graduating senior is $33,000 in student loan debt and that is eclipsed credit card debt at the time. the reason that contains a reserve fund for the higher education act just because it is due for reauthorization and that should be an appropriate vehicle for any specific reforms that want to reduce the cost of college and mini for student borrowing. i look forward to work

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president the consumer protection bureau has returned $ed 5 billion to american citizens victimized by predatory scams and unscrupulous practices. if you support ending the victimization of our citizens, support this bill. if you support predators then vote against it. and i yield to my colleague from delaware. coons kienls amr. coons: i'm proud to join with senator merkley. it is important that we continue to have a strong cfpb to ensure fairness and security in our marketplace and i urge an aye vote by my colleagues. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president i urge my colleagues to vote "no" on this amendment. the consumer fng financial protection bureau is an agency with excessive independence today. it's had excessive independence since it was started. it actually steals funding from the federal reserve before it goes to the federal government, which takesway from our general fund -- which takes away from our general fund. th

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president i rise today -- first i'd like to ask the quorum call to be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you mr. president. i rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of the selma marches and to call on congress to come together and protect all americans' sacred right to vote. in march 1965 thousands of americans came together in alabama to march the 54-mile highway from selma to the state capital of montgomery. they marched in defiance of segregationist repression in the jim crowe south. they marched to demand that black american citizens be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to vote. on march 7 1965, 50 years ago this week, some 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of selma on u.s. route 80. that day march 7 would go down in history as bloody sunday. they only got as part of the edmond pettis bridge where state and law enforcement attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back into selma. this reflects the scene o