mrs. boxer: thank you. now, mr. president, i have my fingers crossed that at 8:00, the majority leader will say that we have overcome our problems, that he will say that we go back to agreeing on the number that was agreed to last night, it's well above $70 billion. remember, cutting that out in just the next five months or so. it's a big bite but we all know we have to reduce the deficit, but i hope our republican friends have backed off of this, backed off of them completely shutting down, eliminating a women's health care program used by their families and them, 5 million of them, cost-effective, $4 of benefit for every $1 invested, 4,500 clinics, 75% of them non-planned parenthood, 25% of them planned parenthood, none used for abortion, all used for health care. and i hope they will back off and say, you know what, we've reelectricity on this. we've read this. we know the health care our people are getting at home. we checked it out. we called our district. we called our state. and we decided to come off of this

mrs. boxer: mr. president, i'm here because i want to urge a "no" vote on all these amendments that essentially stop the environmental protection agency from doing their work, as it relates to air pollution. and i'm here to do that because never before have we ever interfered in a enforcement of the clean air act and it's worked because we have seen tremendous, tremendous advances in our clean air. pollutants cause or contribute to asthma, emphysema, heart disease and other potentially lethal respiratory ailments and we know from the work of the bush administration and that of the obama administration that the endangerment finding that said that greenhouse gases were danger us for our health predicted that ground-level ozone would increase if we did nothing and we'd have more cases of asthma and coughing and people staying home from school and staying home from work. the e.p.a.'s endangerment finding is key, and here's what they told us. "severe heat waives are projected to intense fishings which can

mrs. boxeresident? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: i'm so proud to be here with my colleague, senator mikulski and kay bailey hutchison, because of a woman who brought us all togetr, despite any differences we might have. geraldine ferraro. and so i rise to pay tribute to geri and iant to thank senator mikulski because i felt that her remarks just touched on every single point that i think needs to be made about our friend. geraldine was a trailblazer. we all remember the first female vice-presidential nominee of a major peat, the first in u.s. history. she cracked open that glass ceiling for women seeking higher office. and it was a long time ago, and i just looked at the associated press, mr. president, had a photo of when geri arrived in san francisco to prepare for her speech at the convention. and i was there waiting for her to arrive, a much version of myself, i might say. and i -- i don't remember what i said or did, but this picture tells a story. you know

mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california is recognized. mrs. boxer: thank you. i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. boxer: i am so amazed that the lives that have been stated about planned parenthood on this floor -- that the lies that have been stated about planned parenthood on this floor have been repeated again and again. it gets pretty bad that steven cobert and jon stewart start to look at what you're saying on the senate floor. that's a rarity. it all startd when senator kyl took to the senate floor and said 90% of what planned parenthood does is abortions. well, that was a little bit wrong. 90% of what planned parenthood does is health care. no abortions. as a matter of fact, it's 97%. and every dollar of federal funds goes to health care and may not since the 1970's, not one slim dime can go toward abortion. now, senator vitter upped this now and now says 98% of what planned parentho

mrs. boxer: is there any time limit on senators? the presiding officer: ten minutes. mrs. boxer: okay. i would ask that i be given aen an additional 10 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank you, madam president. i come to the floor to automatic about the possibility of a government shutdown and to say that such an alternative would be very hurtful for the people of this country. i was here when the government was shut down before by another republican speaker, and i can tell you that my small business people, for example, who count on tourism aren't yosemite national park, still remember the sting of losing over $200 million because people had to cancel their trips. that's one example. i know that superfund site cleanups were halted in their tracks. we had issues at the border. we had a whole series of problems, and it seems to me it is a reckless way to go. but it also seems to me that the house republicans want us to have a government shutdown. why would i say that? i say that because republicans "gave the speaker of the house an ovation whe

mrs. boxer: i want to thank, mr. president, senators mikulski and murray, senator cantwell and shaheen and stabenow and landrieu. i'm going to really name every single democratic woman. they - have been unbelievable. our republican friends in the house have insisted this debate is about spending. well, i've got to tell you, we went all the way to them about 70% plus on spending cuts. we understand we have to cut, but we're not going to cut foolishly. we're not going to cut into the heart and soul of our country, and that includes women's health programs. women's health programs, mr. president, title 10, planned parenthood funding. for every dollar of taxpayer funds they yield $4, that's how great the prevention is. and, yet, still what do they want to do? you see these two riders. these two votes we have to have until they would allow us to have a vote on keeping the government open. they pounded the table and say we have to have two riders. what was it? was it some big budgetary item that maybe we joaferred looked?

mrs. boxer: i want to thank, mr.president, senators mikulski and murray, senator cantwell and shaheen and stabenow and landrieu. i'm going to really name every single democratic woman. they - have been unbelievable. our republican friends in the house have insisted this debate is about spending. well, i've got to tell you, we went all the way to them about 70% plus on spending cuts. we understand we have to cut, but we're not going to cut foolishly. we're not going to cut into the heart and soul of our country, and that includes women's health programs. women's health programs, mr. president, title 10, planned parenthood funding. for every dollar of taxpayer funds they yield $4, that's how great the prevention is. and, yet, still what do they want to do? you see these two riders. these two votes we have to have until they would allow us to have a vote on keeping the government open. they pounded the table and say we have to have two riders. what was it? was it some big budgetary item that maybe we joaferred looked? w

mr. chairman. i want to thank you for hearing, chairman boxer, thank you as well for your testimony and ranking member inhofe, and joined by latenberg and barrasso, i want to thank senator cornyn for his testimony. let me first ask if i can place my whole statement in the record. thank you, i'll be belief. i'll start with history. in our state, we went through most of the 19th century and roughly about half of the 20th century not getting it right as it relates to the extraction of a natural resource, and in this case, coal and balancing that with environmental regulation to make sure we're protecting public health and the environment. after 1950, we began to get it right in our state. our state passed legislation by the clean streams law in the 1960s, and as time went on, we started to do a much better job of regulating and making sure we've getting the balance right. today we have to get it right. we have to be able to at the same time create jobs, and this will be a tremendous increase in jobs in pennsylvania as a result of natural gas extraction, we also have, of course, the availability of a dome

mr. president. senator boxer, i don't read toou htten because you already standg up and fight for everything i believe in.g about i heard you talking aboutepubliw women's health and the cost the republicans want to make to 42-e planned i am a 42 year old married professional. highest bracket but the combined income puts us in $170,000 a year range. frankly, we are happy. $1,000-a more than happy to pay our fair share of taxes for the thingse e the will help our society. f we areai appalled by the budgets discussions. if you really want to cut realln spending, dto so where it's really outrageous. look at defense, with thet the military. there's 60% right there.that but, what has me out rage right willing to shut down the over af government over a few dollarspln for plannedne parenthood. if you really care aboutrtion, limiting abortion, fundinglann family-planning isin the first step.as se says we're talking to schooa i was a sophomore in collegencom with limited income, no parental support, no health insurance one

mr. ubinger? >> thank you, chairman boxer, jarman carvin, ranking member in half and ranking member sessions for the opportunity to present testimony on behalf of the pennsylvania environmental panel concerning work related to the shale gas development in pennsylvania. it goes without saying a number of the members have already spoken to this that there are enormous economic and strategic energy implications to the development of the gas resource but as you have all been quick to add it must be done right. pennsylvania participation in the nation's gas is relatively recent and has occurred over the past five years the development of the marcella formation and the development of the marcella gas pennsylvania has increased at an ever quickening pace and is expected to continue to do so we appreciate positive attributes of the shale gas development we are also cognizant that throughout its history it has paid an enormous price for the exploitation of its bountiful natural resources. in today's political discourse in many contexts, much is said about the burden that the current actions will impose of th

mr. sal land. >> i wanted to thank chairman boxer, ranking member inhoff, chairman carper, ranking member burr ras sew and the distinguished -- i'm curtis summer half. the community i serve spans nearly 2,000 square miles, includes 35 municipalities and has a population of more than 2.5 million. we're a coastal community vulnerable to a number of natural and man-made disasters. including the threat of hurricanes, flooding, fires, mass migration, oil spills and radiological events. miami-dade county's response to emergencies and disasters is guided by a comprehensive emergency management plan and all hazards approach which supports the county's ability to respond to any type of emergency. within our comprehensive plan, we have a number of hazards specific annexes including a radiological emergency preparedness plan. our plan to regularly assess and assumptions analyzed revised and ultimately certified by the

mr. sal land. >> i wanted to thank chairman boxer, ranking member inhoff, chairman carper, ranking memberurr ras sew and the distinguished -- i'm curtis summer half. the community i serve spans nearly 2,000 square miles, includes 35 municipalities and has a population of more than 2.5 million. we're a coastal community vulnerable to a number of natural and man-made disasters. including the threat of hurricanes, flooding, fires, mass migration, oil spills and radiological events. miami-dade county's response to emergencies and disasters is guided by a comprehensive emergency management plan and all hazards approach which supports the county's ability to respond to any type of emergency. within our comprehensive plan, we have a number of hazards specific annexes including a radiological emergency preparedness plan. our plan to regularly assess and assumptions analyzed revised and ultimately certified by the federal emergency management agency. site visits, evaluated exercises bring together local, state and federal agencies as well as members of the utility to enhance collaboration and prog

mr. ubinger? >> thank you, chairwoman boxer, cardin, ranking member inhofe and senator sessions to provide testimony from the pens of an environmental council concerning work related to shale gas development in pennsylvania. it goes without saying, and a number of members have already spoken about this, there are enormous economic and strategic energy and the patience to the development of shale gas resource but as you have been quick to add, it must be done right. pennsylvania's bridge is a patient and the shale gas boom is relatively recent. over the last five years with the development of the marcellus shale formation. as our written testimony suggest, the development of the shale gas formation of pennsylvania increased at an ever quickening pace and is expected to go so. while we and pennsylvania and appreciate the economic at a beach of shell gas development we are cognizant that the route its history, penn's woods paid an enormous price of -- for the exploitation of resources. in today's political discourse, and many context, much is said the burden our current actions will impose on future ge

mr. ubinger? >> thank you, chairman boxer, jarman carvin, ranking member in half and ranking member sessions for the opportunity to present testimony on behalf of the pennsylvania environmental panel concerning work related to the shale gas development in pennsylvania. it goes without saying a number of the members have already spoken to this that there are enorus economic and strategic energy implications to the development of the gas resource but as you have all been quick to add it must be done right. pennsylvania participation in the nation's gas is relatively recent and has occurred over the past five years the development of the marcella formation and the development of the marcella gas pennsylvania has increased at an ever quickening pace and is expected to continue to do so we appreciate positive attributes of the shale gas development we are also cognizant that throughout its history it has paid an enormous price for the exploitation of its bountiful natural resources. in today's political discourse in many contexts, much is said about the burden that the current actions will impose of the

mr. chairman. i want to thank you and senator boxer -- >> thanks, senator brasso. i thank everybody. i thank senator boxer and senator carper. i think nuclear power is something we ought to have more oversight of. and that's because it is complex science, complex engineering and important to the future of our country. i remember when i was governor of tennessee in the 19 0's, we had a question that was presented to me when t.v.a. was building one of its nuclear power plants and about to distribute i dine tablets to people. and people said don't do that because you'll scare people to death. and other argument was, well, if people understand what they're for and they are only to be used in the event of an emergency, then it's better to go ahead and talk about the process that we're using and let people know what we're dealing with. i made the decision, let's go ahead and people who live near the nuclear power plants to get access to tablets. and what happened in japan, i can't imagine a future for the united states that doesn't include nuclear power to create electricity. i mean it's o

mr. chairman. i want to thank you for hearing, chairman boxer, thank you as well for your testimony and ranking member inhofe, and joined by latenberg and barrasso, i want to thank senator cornyn for his testimony. let me firs ask if i can place my whole statement in the record. thank you, i'll be belief. i'll start with history. in our state, we went through most of the 19th century and roughly about half of the 20th century not geting it right as it relates to te extraction of a natural resource, and in this case, coal and balancing that with environmental regulation to make sure we're protecting public health and the environment. after 1950, we began to get it right in our state. our state passed legislation by the clean streams law in the 1960s, and as time went on, we started to do a much better job of regulating and making sure we've getting the balance right. today we have to get it right. we have to be able to at the same time crate jobs, and this will be a tremendous increase in jobs in pennsylvania as a result of natural gas extraction, we also have, of course, the availability of a domestic

mr. president, i'm going to ask the environment, our committee on the environment chaired by senator boxer -- i've already talked to senator boxer and her staff director. i'm going to ask them to hold hearings on the questionable response, the cleanup, the environmental and the financial practices not only of transocean, but its contractor, b.p., what in the world is going on? now, why do i bring b.p. into this? well not only they held the lease, but it was interesting. last week the head of the washington office of b.p. came in to give me an update. we had a very am i can't believe chat -- a very amiable chat and i asked a series of questions. and one of the questions i asked was: with all of our people down there, many of them losing their businesses, losing their homes to foreclosure because they don't have income coming in as a result of the tourism trade that was acted by the b.p. spill, what was all this about? the first full payment off was a $10 million payment paid in full from the gulf coast claims facility, $10 million to a b.p. partner. the head of the office in washington of b

of the senate.the clers rockefeller, boxer, nelson of florida, cantwell, hutchison, ensign, demint, and from the committee on finance, senators baucus and hatch. mr. durbin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate resolution 136 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 136, to authorize document production in united states v. douglas d. hampton. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the mairchlt. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, that any statements related to the resolution be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if revmentd. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the senate noid proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 137 which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 137, supporting the goals and ideals

mr. pardee, thank you so much for joining us today. >>> dr. thomas cochran. we have a senator named cochran. >> not related. >> uncle thad? >> not related. >> okay. >> chairman carper and also chairman boxer and members of the committee, i want to thank you for providing nrdc and me the opportunity to present our views on the japanese nuclear disast disaster. i've submitted my complete statement for the record. i will briefly highlight a few things here. you requested that i offer my views regarding the implications the disaster has for reactor safety in the united states. first, i think we all are in agreement that the first priority is to provide assistance to our friends in japan. but eventually and even today we're turning to the issue of the implication negligencs in t. before turning to that issue, twoish make two observations. first, my colleague, dr. matthew mckenzie, with my colleague dr. matthew mckenzie we made a rough preliminary estimate of the radiation dose of the external monitoring data from japan. we should be mindful the uncertainties at the exposures in this stage are quite large. there's much we simply do not know. with this caution we find the collective dose from th

mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california is recognized. mrs. boxer: thank you. i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. boxer: i am so amazed that the lives that have been stated about planned parenthood on this floor -- that the lies that have been stated about planned parenthood on this floor have been repeated again and again. it gets pretty bad that steven cobert and jon stewart start to look at what you're saying on the senate floor. that's a rarity. it all startd when senator kyl took to the senate floor and said 90% of what planned parenthood does is abortions. well, that was a little bit wrong. 90% of what planned parenthood does is health care. no abortions. as a matter of fact, it's 97%. and every dollar of federal funds goes to health care and may not since the 1970's, not one slim dime can go toward abortion. now, senator vitter upped this now and now says 98% of what planned parentho

mrs. boxer: madam president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: may the senate be in order. the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: thank you, madam president. i think we learned something just in the last half-hour, and that is that 90% of the members of this body, of the united states senate, do not think that the e.p.a. is qualified to regulate greenhouse gases. they voted against the baucus amendment, the stabenow amendment, the rockefeller amendment. i refer to those as cover amendments. you don't get much cover when they get less than 10% of the vote. now is the chance to do something. if you really want to do something that is going to stop the overregulation that is so offensive to the majority of people in this, we can do it with the inhofe-mcconnell amendment. first of all, the cost of this we know what it is going to be. the cost is going to be in the neighborhood of $300 billion a year, the largest tax increase in the history of this country. secondly, what do you get? i've often said, people have said, inhofe, wha

mr. president, i do unanimous consent to add senators leahy, america lirgs and boxer to -- merkley and boxer to senate bill 724. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, this brings to 77 out of 100 senators who are now sponsoring this bill. our bill, senate bill 724, is very simple. it just says that if there is a government shutdown, our military will be paid on time their full pay. and this bill is what i think is the very least that we can do to assure every military family that they do not have to worry for one minute that their mortgage is going to be paid, that their car payments will be paid, that they will be able to get over this hump just without thinking that there might be a haling of their pay or it -- a haling of their pay or it might be -- a having of their pay or it might be delayed. i am concerned about those who are overseas and their families are at home because if the mom or dad is overseas and there is a glitch somewhere they're not here to help. and i think it would be unthinkable that we would go to midnight and not have taken care of t