mr. moran: mr. president, thank you for that emfat tick recognition. in the next few minutes, the senate will vote on the sergeant first class heath robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxic act of 2022. this is a significant, i would say historic, moment. this bipartisan legislation not only is it significant and important because of the content, but it's also significant and perhaps historic because of the cooperation that has been put, that has garnered to put this act together, and presumably pass it and send it to the president of the united states. this bipartisan legislation is the most comprehensive toxic exposure package the senator has ever delivered -- the senate has ever delivered to veterans in our country's history. generation after generation, americans one by one have answered the call of duty with the promise that we, the united states of america, the citizens of this country, would take care of them and their families after their time in uniform. yet, generation after generation , veteran after veteran, these servic

mr. moran: mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: once again thank you for your attention to this matter and for your support and i'm happy to answer any questions you have. >> thank you very much. mr. dobbs and you now recognized for five minutes. >> good morning chair and clyburn ranking member scalise and the thing which members of so a subcommittee thank you for that pretend to be here before you today to discuss the ongoing efforts of the united states secret service to counter cyberenabled financial crimes in particular covid-19 fraud. my name is roy dotson and i'm assigned to the secret service office of investigation at the national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator. the operative word regarding the cares act was u.s. citizens were suffering from the effects of covid-19 and needed assistance. unfortunately that money sometimes means fast crime and fast ramp requires an equally fans respect -- fast response by law enforcement. the cares act by the first week o

mr. moran: mr. president, thank you for that emfat tick recognition. in the next few minutes, the senate will vote on the sergeant first class heath robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxic act of 2022. this is a significant, i would say historic, moment. this bipartisan legislation not only is it significant and important because of the content,

mr. moran: thank you. mr. president, i want to speak this morning really to americans' veterans and provide an update on or work to get our toxic exposure legislation across the finish line. the senate is in the midst of considering the sergeant first class heath robinson honoring or pact act. this is historic. it is bipartisan. we ought to be able to solve these problems for certainties and real little for americans -- for veterans and real little for americans in a way that pulls us together and not apart. this is an effort that those that can be done. this legislation will deliver on a promise we made to take care of our servicemen and women both when they deploy and when they come home. this act will provide millions of benefits to veterans who are sick from illnesses connected with toxic exposures. when we send our war fighters into harm's way, it is with the understanding that we will have their back. when they come home bearing physical, mental or invisible wounds of war, we care for those wounds. toxic

i'm happy to answer questions as well. >> president moran: thank you, mr. ash. >> commissioner maxwell: i want to thank you for your service. it's volunteer. thank you for all the work and the effort that you all put in. >> my pleasure. >> president moran: i have two questions. one very particular one very general. i don't know who should respond to them. on the very particular one, the cost allocation model. i'm interested in how detailed that is and very specifically, are we able to tell the cost that are allocated to our transmission lines as a group and to our transmission lines individually? >> we are able to tell the cost it takes for the process. i'm not sure if by individual transmission line, if you mean each transmission line [ indiscernible ] we have a cost aggregated for the cost of transmission. we're able to tell it from the model. >> president moran: i appreciate that. if somebody can get back to me with a level of detail that you have on that, i would appreciate that. other question is far more general. that is that we are changing the busine

furthermore, while audit rates have decreased for all income levels, it has decreased mr. moran: higher -- for more higher income taxpayers. it has decreased because higher income audits needs them to review multiple issues. i.r.s. has not been able to conduct as many of these audits compared to lower income audits which are generally less complex and involve more automated processes. in addition, the number of high-income returns has nearly doubled, meaning, more audits are needed to achieve the same audit rate. nevertheless, i.r.s. has continued to audit higher income taxpayers at a greater rate than lower income taxpayers. that said, the audit rate for taxpayers claiming the earned income tax credit is three times the average rate for all taxpayers. according to i.r.s., returns claiming the earned income tax credit have historically had high rates of improper payments and therefore require a greater enforcement presence. in terms of audit results, the majority of additional taxes i.r.s. has recommended comes from audits from taxpayers with incomes below $200,000 simply becaus

mr. moran: thank you. madam president, as you know the senate is currently considering the heath robinson honoring our pact act. this bipartisan legislation is the most comprehensive toxic exposure bill ever considered for veterans. my colleagues deserve a fair consideration of common sense and reasonable amendments to improve this bill for our veterans. the house of representatives had six votes and adopted 27 amendments. part of the agreement between the chairman, chairman tester and i, was that amendments would be considered for this legislation and specifically i have pushed for two amendments to be considered. given the magnitude and size of this legislation, there needs to be a bipartisan process, and given the magnitude of the bipartisan support of this legislation, there needs to be a bipartisan process on the senate floor and i would ask the leadership of the senate to make certain that's the case. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: men was running

mr. moran: madam president, it's an honor to be here on the senate floor tonight to talk about a topic and an honor to have you in the chair as i do so. madam president, i rise late this afternoon to discuss a piece of legislation that will be before the senate perhaps for a good portion of this week and maybe even into the next. it's the most comprehensive toxic exposure package the senate has ever considered in our nation's history. since november 11, 2001, up to 3.5 million deployed servicemembers have potentially encountered toxic exposures from burn pits. during a deployment to a war zone, military personnel are often exposed to toxic hazards, many of which have been associated with chronic health issues. not really as an aside, but unrelated to this piece of legislation, a cause i now undertake, have been pursuing since this topic arose, is to make sure that in the future there are no burn pits that our service men and women encounter in their service to our nation. while we are preparing

mr. president. i want to thank sandra moran for his commas, i didn't hear everything but one of the things you saidin from may not be the most important people in this process and you are one 100% correct. we are simply conduit utilized to get this bill put into law. there are way too many people to think on this legislation and i'm going to get to that and i'll forget a bunch of folks and i apologize right now but the truth is, we today the united states senate today has the opportunity to make history by passing the sgt. first class keith robinson honoring our promise to invest copperheadsxif path act. it's not a new issue, generations after generations of americans have gone to war backed by a promise we made to them and they signed up that we would care for them when they got home. unfortunately, that didn't happen in the case of toxic exposure. we failed them. this bill is righting a wrong it's been in court for way too long. it's about will thompson, sgt. first class robinson, every american who lost their lives to toxic exposures because of the duty they performed for this country. sadly, it

moran: thank you. any other questions for mr. richie? seeing none, mr. general manager? public comment please. >> clerk: public comment on 7a the drought condition update. if you wish to make public comment on the drought condition update, please raise your hand to speak. any members in the room wish to provide public comment? seeing none, do we have any callers with their hands raised? >> there is one caller in the queue. >> caller: this is peter drekmeier policy director from the tuolumne river trust. i appreciate mr. richie's presentation. lot of good news here. i i'm looking at a slide, it's tuolumne river water available to the city. as i mentioned before, i think that looking at the deficit reaching full storage makes people more nervous than they should be. the sfpuc has a lot of storage. the system was built for the time when demand was projected to be twice what it is today. we got lot of wiggle room there. in this slide, it shows that water available to the city this year is 201,000-acre feet. that's just water from it tuolumne. i understand that we've got abou

mr. president -- a bipartisan amendment process, particularly from senators, i'll give you one example, senator moran, ranking member on veterans affairs, been working this issue, like me, for years, particularly from senators who actually know the issue, a bipartisan amendment process would have helped ensure that this possibility would be much less. i'll give you a couple examples of what, for whatever reason, the majority leader didn't want to bring up on this important legislation. we had amendments to make sure that the v.a. didn't get ahead of the science. you need to connect the science and the exposure to the disease. that's simple, that's what expected. it's not simple. it's a complicated process. but it's just the rigor of a bill that you want to make sure those who are exposed and sick and with a disease are the ones who get the care. right now in this bill there are 23 respiratory illnesses and cancers that will be added to the list of presumptive ailments that will allow a veteran to be diagnosed with toxic exposure and qualify for benefits and any other disease the secretary of the v.a.

veterans affairs committee chair john tester and ranking member jerry moran talking about the bill before the vote. >> mrpresident, thank you for that emphatic recognition. in the next few minutes, the senatela will vote on

and i will turn it over to senator moran for his questions i'm also going to turn it the gavel over to brown and i'm going to go see a doctor. >> okay, godspeed. >> mr. secretary, by now you don't have to worry about the gavel being by senator chester and i t will take a moment to tl you in difficult town hall meetings in my time, is attempting to be an elected official i was invited my nine bus -year-old mother to come to the town whole unit with me and he called the nature of the questions and the fact that were laid against me and i could never convince our two daughters on whoever steps behind me so fortunate to have a nice hadr another here and i'm not going to down and well acted very respectful toward you this afternoon and well done. i outlined his you know, that we are considering pete robinson (pact) act in the senate, center's an amendment that i outlined and to you in my opening statement that the administration issued statements of support, promotera the house pact act and the robinson act, constantly on the senate floor can you certify but senator ernst is looking for is this indication that that you can execute this bill that includes

moran for his questions. i'm also going to turn because i don't know what his schedule is, i'm going to turn the gavel over to brown and go see a doctor. >> okay. godspeed. mr. secretary you dont have to worry about the gavel being held a center tester that a difficult townhome on —- townhall meeting my time my 90 -year-old mother came to the townhall meeting with me and it called the nature of the questions and the attacks made against me i can never convince my daughter system behind me see were fortunate. i am now calm down and was not very respectful toward you this afternoon. weldon. - - well done. with the robinson pact act in the senate the senator has now one —- what i outlined the administration issued statements for both the house passed act and the robinson act currently on the senate floor can you certified which what senator ernst is looking for is an indication that you can execute this bill that includes supporting resources and funding that you ask for and set up funding for the future. can you implement this legislation without impact on disability claims processing and healthcare delivery? >> i can. i can certify that. i understand we talk

mr. moderator, callers with their hands raised? >> we have four callers in the queue. >> caller number one, you have two minutes. >> thank you again, president moran, she and her, good to be back with you. i speak to the basics, i hope to be back in san francisco again very soon. to enjoy my beloved second home. and frame in general, what i would like to see as the primary focus of the puc. so always remember the first two words of your mission's name, is san francisco. and so when i set foot in the city and county of san francisco and experience your services firsthand, it's like having water and electricity. i want that always to be our focus. that's the focus of my conversation and how can we make sure that our water supply is adequate to make it the san francisco and serve the people and our electric supply through cleanpowersf, be adequate to serve the people of san francisco. because when i am in san francisco i am thinking about san francisco and the reason why i enjoy coming to your meetings is because i care about san francisco being my beloved second home. so i ask in the basics, always keep this in mind. first two words of your commissi

mr. tumlin. thank you for the time you've given us today. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me. >> and that's it for this episode. for sfgov tv i'm chris manors. thanks for watching. >> president moranisco public utilities commission. please call the roll. [ roll call ] >> clerk: vice president ajami is attending the meeting remotely.

mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed -- let me first take us out of the quorum call. i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: thank you. now i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to speak up to five minutes followed by the senator from montana, senator tester, for five minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you for the opportunity to address the united states senate and the american people. in a few moments the senate will vote on the tester-moran sergeant first class heath robinson honoring our pact act. far too long, way far too long our nation's veterans have been living with chronic illnesses as a result of exposures during their time in uniform. today we are continuing to take the steps necessary to right this wrong. with our legislation that will provide veterans and their families with the health care and

mr. moran: mr. president, thank you for that emfat tick recognition. in the next few minutes, the senate will vote on the sergeant first class heath robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxic act of 2022. this is a significant, i would say historic, moment. this bipartisan legislation not only is it significant and important because of the content, but it's also significant and perhaps historic because of the cooperation that has been put, that has garnered to put this act together, and presumably pass it and send it to the president of the united states. this bipartisan legislation is the most comprehensive toxic exposure package the senator has ever delivered -- the senate has ever delivered to veterans in our country's history. generation after generation, americans one by one have answered the call of duty with the promise that we, the united states of america, the citizens of this country, would take care of them and their families after their time in uniform. yet, generation after generation , veteran after veteran, these servic