ms. murkowski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, request that proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, before i begin my remarks, i want to welcome the new pages to the united states senate. we said goodbye to a great group of young men and young women from around the country, their last day was friday, and here we are monday and we have a whole new batch. so to you all -- through the chair, of course, welcome and know that you are here at a most exciting and interesting time. we rely on our pages a great deal. it's always nice to see the young ambassadors come to us from around the country and serve us here in the united states senate. so welcome. mr. president, i want to give kind of an update here as to where we are on the status of our broad bipartisan energy bill. last week, we started out a little rough because of the blizzard, the snow days, but once we be

ms. murkowski: mr.resident? the presiding officer: the senatorú suz -- the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i have appreciated the comments from my colleagues raising attention to the issue in flint, michigan. i think we have had good, constructive discussions not only very intensely yesterday, but working with the two senators from michigan on this issue for several months right now. and as the senator says, the discussions are still ongoing, and i want to speak to kind of where we are in that process. but i'd like to start out my comments this morning recognizing that we are very close to the time that has been set for this first cloture vote on this broad bipartisan bill, and as we approach it i want to follow on the majority leader's comments in terms of reminding members of what we have incorporated within this measure to reiterate the strong bipartisan support that our bill has drawn and really to lay out what i believe is our best path to final passage. th

ms. murkowski: yes. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the chairman of the energy committee has done tremendous work with the ranking member, senator cantwell, to try to find some way to address the concerns, the legitimate concerns that we all share and have with what's happened in flint. but it's my -- i just want to clarify some basic facts. it's my understanding -- and i just ask for a comment or an answer from the distinguished senator from alaska -- isn't it true that there is not yet a comprehensive assessment and plan in place by the state of michigan or flint as to how they might even spend this money at this point to address the concerns about lead in the water supply in flint? ms. murkowski: it is my understanding that there is an assessment and analysis that is due out, i believe, towards the end of next week, if not the end of next week, that the state has aggressively been working to do to determine the cost as well ad move forward with an action plan. that's my understanding. mr. cornyn: so, mr. presi

ms. murkowski: certainly. ms. heitkamp: thank you. there is no better partner for me in this quest than the great senator from the state of alaska. we have spent so much time relaying and recounting our experiences and visiting with native alaskans or in my case american indians talking about the challenges and talking about what needs to happen and how we need to shed a light on not only the despair so that we all are motivated for change, but how we need to shed a light on the grateful and the great spirit that is happening. and i know that my great friend has had the experiences where you just wonder how resilient can a young girl be who has experienced these kinds of challenges and this kind of abuse to come back and say i'm going to be great or this is going to be my future. and so i just wanted to -- i guess i was supposed to ask a question, but i wanted to thank the senator from alaska for her strong and abiding and great commitment to the people, all the people of alaska, and i want to thank her for her partnership. ms. murko

ms. murkowski: madam president, i request the proceedings under the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: we're making good progress here in the intervening hours since we came to the floor this morning and began business working with the ranking member on the energy and natural resources committee. we have come to you to announce a series of amendments that will be voted on, asking unanimous consent for that. i want to acknowledge that the effort that has gone back and forth on both sides to make sure that folks have an opportunity to weigh in and vote on amendments that are important to them. i think we've got a good series here that we will announce. it is our hope that as we move to vote on these amendments that we will also continue the good work that we have made to try to advance some other measures that will be able to go by voice and will be working on those throughout the day. at this time i would ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the following amendments: number 3182 rounds as modified. number 3030 barr

ms. murkowski: mr. president, i request that proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i was in the cloakroom listening to my colleague from rhode island talk about the issue he's clearly very passionate about relating to our climate and recognizing that in that space as we think about energy and our energy needs as a nation, our economic security, our energy security, our national security, how that's all tangled and intertwined, i can't help but think we have colleagues from very different perspectives that have stood on this floor over the course of the past couple of weeks. and it seems that one thing that we have really found some level of consensus on is that it's time to update our energy policies. it is time. it's been over eight years now since we have seen any energy policies that really do anything to move us forward as a nation, that work to help us be more energy efficient, be more energy independent, move to

ms. murkowski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, before i begin my remarks this morning about where we are with the energy policy modernization act, i want to acknowledge my colleague from massachusetts. i come from a very large, very remote state. 80% of the communities in alaska are not connected by road. one would think that our isolation might also insulate us from some of the scourges that we see when it comes to drugs and drug addiction. unfortunately, that is not the case. we are seeing in my state this same level of epidemic. while the numbers might not be as eye popping as we're seeing in massachusetts and new hampshire and other parts of the country, that's because we have fewer people. but on a per capita basis, our numbers are staggering. they are very worrying, and it is something that as my colleague from massachusetts notes, this is not something that should be a republican or a democrat problem or a republican or democrat solution. this is all of us working together because what is happening, what we are s

ms. murkowski. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your appearance this morning and thank you for your leadership. i have one priority this morning and that is with regards to the proposed reductions to the 425th brigade combat team at jay bear. general milley, i thank you for visiting alaska last week, or about ten days or so ago to observe the fourth infantry brigade combat team there. in to your military judgment, do you think that the fourth infantry brigade combat team should be retained as a strategic deterrent to russia and to support our military objectives in the pacific? >> i do, senator. and if i could take a minute to -- >> if you would, please. >> so when i first was nominated and then confirmed for chief, senator sullivan asked me to take a look at it. i've done that. i've gone to school on the situation i think reasonably well relative to russia in the arctic, in the northern pacific. and i've concluded after about four, five, six months here, a pretty intensive study, that russia is not only acting aggres

ms. murkowski: through the chair, i am aware that what you have required as well as what we have been workingn jointly does require a -- an action plan that describes the spend-down and how that would be allocated. and it's my understanding that it will be very helpful to have it will be very helpful to have it is my understanding it will be very helpful to have that analysis from the state that will be forthcoming hopefully soon. >> we need to continue the discussion. thank you. >> tonight on c-span two, a hearing on the cost of prescription drugs. world leaders at a conference in london pledge $10 billion in humanitarian aid for syria. president obama speaks at the annual prayer request at washington d.c. >> at a house hearing on the cost of record entrance prescription drugs, we will learn how they set drug prices. when members question ceo about the company raisg

ms. murkowski: mr. president? ms. murkowski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: after a little bit after delay, we're now ready to process some amendments. the presiding officer: the sna is the in a quorum call. ms. murkowski: i request the proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. murkowski: we have been working hard this afternoon, and i think we had a very productive day, processed eight amendments, which was very good for the process that we are in, and i have appreciated members' cooperation with that. we've been working through the back-and-forth to come up with a package of amendments that we can process by voice vote, and it has -- it has been good. it's been a little lengthier than we had anticipated, but i think we're in a good place now, and i'm pleased with that. again, tomorrow we will look to set up a series of additional votes so members can expect that beginning probably in the afternoon. but also looking to a

ms. murkowski: mr. president? the presiding officer: senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: i do think that at some point in time it is if a irto discuss the closure when it comes to campaign finance and campaign finance sure. but what this amendment does is requires campaign finance disclosures from individuals receiving over $is million from fossil fuel activities. no other activities. well, what activities are we talking about here? it defines it as those included extraction production, refine, transportation, or combustion of oil, natural garks or coal. that's pretty broad. we're talking about refiners,perhaps even automotive industry, power plants and much else. we can have a discussion with campaign finance disclosure and what may or may not be appropriate. we defeated a similar amendment to this when we had the keystone debate last year. we tabled another. the time and the place to debate this issue is not in this energy policy modernization act, and, therefore, i will be opposing the amendment and encourage my colleagues to do the same. the presiding office

ms. murkowski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: madam president, i have five unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have got the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and the requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: i would also ask, mr. president, for unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to karen dillday effective day through march 1 of 2016. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, madam president. and i would just note for members, we have just concluded the first cloture votes on the energy policy modernization act. there was some interesting discussion about where we are in the process and how we might find a path forward towards completion of this very important bipartisan measure, a measure that has, i think, reflected good, strong work throughout the committee process, good, strong work throughout t