rockefeller, for mr. wyden, proposes amendment numbered 27. mr. rockefeller: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. harkin: mr. president, i'd like to discuss an alarming trespassed that seems to be developing on this, the first substantive legislation that we're considering on the senate floor of this new congress. at least three amendments have been filed, one of which has already been offered. it is expected to be offered shortly that make unnecessary and misplaced attacks on basic rights and protections for american workers. i find it deeply disturbing that in this difficult economy, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to be chomping at the bit to bring american workers down a notch or two more. i don't think that the safety of our skies has to come at the expense of fair wages,

mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. let me also thank the chairman of the commerce committee who's dealing with an essentially important bill, and i appreciate his courtesy at this time. mr. president, later in the evening the senate will confirm judge marco hernandez who has been nominated to serve as a u.s. district court judge for the district of oregon. the vacancy that judge hernandez will fill is one that chief justice roberts has designated a judicial emergency. given that, i want to thank chairman leahy, ranking member grassley, majority leader reid, and minority leader mcconnell, for bringing this nomination to the floor today. i would also note that oregon has another opening and another outstanding nominee, mr. michael simon, who i expect to be reported out of committee this week, and i hope that he too will be brought to the floor quickly. mr. president, and colleagues, it is no surprise that judge marco hernandez was nominated for the federal bench. because his life could serve as a billboard for the americ

mr. chairman. >> senator wyden? >> mr. burkhard, went to continue the line of questioning that i began with the whole question of financial markets and what is coming on in the middle east. this time turn to the question of oil that is now in storage. if you take a look at ian ta -- eia figures on inventories, with the show is there are people out there who have been holding a lot of barrels of oil in storage significantly above the normal inventory level, sometimes tens of millions of barrels. now through the summer as the price has climbed, petroleum and storage also claims. when the oil was sold off at the end of the year the prices dipped. now we have this whole array of challenges obviously in the middle east. mr. diwan said that that is unlikely to actually impact oil supply, but the oil and storage is rising again at levels well above normal inventory level. so my question to you is breakdown for us what all of this bonding and holding in storage is all about because it suggests to me to double the theme that you to

mr. chairman. >> senator wyden? >> mr. burkhard, went to continue the line of questioning that i began with the whole question of financial markets and what is coming on in the middle east. this time turn to the question of oil that is now in storage. if you take a look at ian ta -- eia figures on inventories, with the show is there are people out there who have been holding a lot of barrels of oil in storage significantly above the normal inventory level, sometimes tens of millions of barrels. now through the summer as the price has climbed, petroleum and storage also claims. when the oil was sold off at the end of the year the prices dipped. now we have this whole array of challenges obviously in the middle east. mr. diwan said that that is unlikely to actually impact oil supply, but the oil and storage is rising again at levels well above normal inventory level. so my question to you is breakdown for us what all of this bonding and holding in storage is all about because it suggests to me to double the theme that you to

mr. vice chairman. senator wyden? >> thank you, madame chair, and thanks to all of you for the service that you are rendering our country. gentlemen, i don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to protecting intelligence sources, operations and methods. that is absolutely crucial to the security and well-being of our country. but i will tell you i am increasingly troubled about the intelligence community's reliance on secret law. and this is the legal interpretations of the key laws, instances where government agencies are relying on a secret interpretation of what the law says without telling the public what the interpretations are. and to me, if there is a gap between what the public believes the law is and what the government secretly thinks the law is, i think we've got a problem on our hands. so let me start with you, director clapper, with a question that gets into the patriot act, because that's obviously a key one we're going to have to deal with in the days ahead. director clapper, do you believe that me

mr. chairman. >> senator wyden, thank you for the question. the answer is perseverance, education, education, education. helping people understand that the current income tax is broken and that we -- that the vat is an efficient tax and it is not necessarily a money machine. this is what people are afraid of. there's this idea that it's a hidden tax. it absolutely does not have to be a hidden tax. we put it on the receip like canada did, speak about the canada experience. they're just north of us. they adopted a federal vat. it's not a perfect vat. but if you talk to canadian policymakers, they will say it works very well for them. i think education. the problem is that when you support a vat, it's politically very difficult. >> my time is up. but dr. lindsey, the people of my state have voted against a vat something like 850 times which is barely an exaggeration. you should know your education challenge will be great. mr. chairman, you've given me lots of time. can dr. lindsey respond quickly? >> go ahead. >> thank you. rst of all, if it were

mr. chairman. >> senator wyden, thank you for the question. the answer is perseverance, education, education, education. helping people understand that the current income tax is broken and that we -- that the vat is an efficient tax and it is not necessarily a money machine. this is what people are afraid of. there's this idea that it's a hidden tax. it absolutely does not have to be a hidden tax. we put it on the receipt like canada did, speak about the canada experience. they're just north of us. they adopted a federal vat. 's not a perfect vat. but if you talk to canadian policymakers, they will say it works very well for them. i think education. the problem is that when you support a vat, it's politically very difficult. >> my time is up. but dr. lindsey, the people of my state have voted against a vat something like 850 times which is barely an exaggeration. you should know your education challenge will be great. mr. chairman, you've given me lots of time. can dr. lindsey respond quickly? >> go ahead. >> thank you. first of all, if it wer

mr. chairman. >> senator wyden, thank you for the question. the answer is perseverance, education, education, education. helping people understand that the current income tax is broken and that we -- that the vat is an efficient tax and it is not necessarily a money machine. this is what people are afraid of. there's this idea that it's a hidden tax. it absolutely does not have to be a hidden tax. we put it on the receipt like canada did, speak about the canada experience. they're just north of us. they adopted a federal vat. it's not a perfect vat. but if you talk to canadian policymakers, they will say it works very well for them. i think education. the problem is that when you support a vat, it's politically very difficult. >> my time is up. but dr. lindsey, the people of my state have voted against a vat something like 850 times which is barely an exaggeration. you should know your education challenge will be great. mr. chairman, you've given me lots of time. can dr. lindsey respond quickly? >> go ahead. >> thank you. first of all, if it w

senator wyden. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and welcome to you, secretary sebeilus. as you know, one area where there is significant bipartisan support is payment reform. and what i'm concerned about is the department seems to be moving ahead now with a rule for coding. the billing process which looks to me like it's moving in exactly the opposite direction that it's moving in effect to prop up fee for service. and i've heard from providers and a whole host of people that they are up in arms about it. their estimates, that this could cost 30 to $40 billion, and their argument is essentially that's it's like using world war ii military hardware for today's threat. now there are 150,000 of these codes that something called icd10, and i don't want to get in the all of the root-canal type discussions you are going to have to have. my question to you is why not junk this process that has generated so much hostility, save the money, and i gather from experts, it could be like 30 to $40 billion and move on to payment reform. which you are for and there are strong bipartisan

mr. vice chairman. senator wyden. >> thank you, madam chairman. thank you two of you for the service you are rendering. gentlemen, i don't take a backseat to anyone when it comes to detecting intelligent source is, up rations and not this. that is absolutely crucial to the security and well-being of our country. i will tell you, i am increasingly troubled about the intelligence community's reliance on secret law. and this is the legal interpretation of key laws in instances where government agencies are relying on this secret interpretation of what the law says without telling the public what the interpretations are. if there is a gap between what the public believes the law is and what the government secretly thinks the law is, i think we've got a problem on our hands. i will start with you, direct or clapper because that's obviously what we will have to deal with in the days ahead. dr., do you believe that members of the american public now have enough access and key information to figure out how our government is interpreting the patriot act? >

mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. i and senator merkley and many of the senators spent a great deal of time working on the question of slots, which literally in plain english is about the right to land a plane. i'm very pleased that we were able to work out our bipartisan agreement. i outlined why it was so important earlier in the morning. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order, please. the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. given all the attention that that discussion received, i just wanted to make sure that the senate didn't lose sight of another important aviation issue. chairman rockefeller has been very, very supportive of our efforts to try to expand and improve the unmanned aerial systems, what are known as the u.a.s. programs that are so essential for the future of the aviation sector. in this part of the aviation sector, we have seen enormous growth in the last few years. a lot of folks know that these systems are critical to military operations. they have been

wyden? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and welcome to you, secretary sebeli sebelius. as you know, one area where there is significant bipartisan support is basement reform. and what i'm concerned about is the department seems to be moving ahead now with a rule for coding the billing process which looks to me like it's moving in exactly the opposite direction. that's it's movmoving, in effec to prop up fee for service. and aye heai've heard providers people that they're up in arms about it, their estimates that this could cost $30 billion to $40 billion. and their argument is essentially that it's like using world war ii military hardware for today's threat. now, there are 150,000 of these codes. it's something called icd-10. i don't want to get into all root canal-type discussion you're going to have to have for billing codes. but my question to you is, why not junk this process that has generated so much hostility, save the money, and i gather from experts could bd, like, $30 billion to $40 billion, and move on to payment reform which you're for and there's strong bi