>> yes, i have spoken with senator murkowski on that and we do have plans. >> do you have any news on consistency? >> first is the question, what is going on to make the prices go up so dramatically now? the tradition has always been that the prices go up in the spring. looking at the history unless, this is the biggest increase in like the last month that people have seen in quite some time. i can see your expression. there are lots of gas price increases and no reasonable explanation for this right now. the iranians are not rattling on right now. we have yet to see any kind of unusual developments. that is why i want to look at a whole host of issues that have not been on the table at all. >> senator melendez introduced a bill the other day citing high gasoline prices, he wants to prevent the country from exporting refined petroleum products. in 2011 they exported $90 billion in gasoline and diesel. given your focus on exports in general, do you think that that could be a cause of high gasoline prices? >> senator menendez has been a strong advocate for consumers. we are certainly go

senator murkowski. >> thank you, mr. chairman.r testimony and again the conversations many of us had this past week. there's been a lot of focus on the news as the nomination has come forward. the focus has been on your interest as it relates to the conservation side, your involvement with organizations. obviously your leadership. there's been a great deal of coverage. the question what comfort or assurance can you give for the people of the state of alaska focused on the research side when it comes to the department of the interior's responsibility, those concerned with the federal nsu could be better sharing but i can take it to alaskans, can you tell the committee anything that might surprise their concern some of your friends within the conservation community. >> there's no question a balance on the use of our lands. many people as you enjoy the outdoors jump in a car to get there. it requires fuel. many products are produced in some way or another with materials that derive from fossil fuels. so it's important we take a balan

so that may yield to my ranking minority or in friend senator murkowski.ing at your challenges and about your vision for the future of the department. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome to the committee. thank you for your willingness to serve. i echo the chairman's comments. my appreciation for the time you spend visiting with so many of us, not only talking, but listening. we recognize that is so key, so important. i know there's many questions. we've got a good round up this morning and committee. so we'll get right to the point in my opening comments here. for the past several weeks, much of my time is focused on a decision that came out of the department of fish and wildlife service, a decision that's rattled me to the court to put it very simply. that agency somehow found cause to oppose a gravel road noncommercial use to connect king cove, alaska to deal with their airport of cold day and the reason we need this simple road is equally simple and it is for the safe he of human life, which is at risk. that road would give anyone injured or ill get be

. >> and then there's a problem, people like senator murkowski, they says her opinion on gay marriages still evolving. i never get the evolving. i'm always the reinvention. i don't know where you cut the difference because that's another segment. let me play senator murkowski's statement. >> i think you are seeing a change in attitude, a change in tolerance, i guess, and an acceptance that what marriage should truly be about is a lasting, loving, committed relationship with respect to the individual. >> being very cautious, going there but not really getting there. senator bob portman is still the only republican in the senate who is actually endorsed gay marriage. >> yeah. >> compared to 46 democrats, isn't it clear who is on the right side here? >> oh, yeah. the partisan lines here could not be clearer. we know as of this moment there are two coalitions in american political life. one is increasingly uniformly in favor of marriage equality and one is mostly against marriage equality. so this does breakdown among partisan lines. again, it's very interesting to me that she is being as

murkowski: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i came to the floor when senator isakson from georgia and senator shaheen from new hampshire were speaking about the biennial budget amendment and the effort that they have undertaken. i just want to acknowledge their leadership on this issue. i think it is smart, i think it is wise, and i think it is something that we as a senate should surely consider, and wanted to just make that brief comment. mr. president, as the ranking member of the energy and natural resources committee, i know that bipartisan progress on energy is possible in this congress, and while it may take our committee some time to develop to consider and complete legislation within this area, we have great opportunity to take the first step forward today through the adoption of a number of energy-related amendments that i have offered. i filed three amendments that would help us seize on the historic opportunities within our reach, i hope the senate would agree to adjust the resolution before us to reflect

now republican lisa murkowski of alaska tells a local paper that her views are, quote, evolving. echoing language president obama used during his first term, if you remember. >>> now for some business headlines. the s&p set a new record yesterday, recovering all of its losses from the financial crisis. while the dow logged its strongest quarter in 15 years. however, the big story on wall street, netflix, which was the s&p's best performing stock. up more than 104% on the year. overseas, banks in cyprus have reopened, but with new restrictions limiting financial transactions. officials say the rules will remain in place for at least the next month. >>> and both blackberry and facebook are betting their futures on the smartphone market. blackberry reported a surprise fourth quarter profit. how'd they do that? and revealed it sold 1 million of its new z10 smartphones. facebook, meanwhile, is teasing a, quote, new home for android coming april 4th. suggesting a facebook phone may be on the way. a lot of money, a lot of players. >>> and finally, pope francis has angered some conservat

. >> thank you senator murkowsky. >> senator? >>> i have one last question. want to take moment and thank for the a ting lation of what multiple use means because i think it showed a real understanding of our public lands that is all too rare. it does not mean every use on every acre. i understanded if there are lands on our public lands with the highest and the best use may be solar energy production and may be oil and gas development, it may be mining, and i will not get to use those places to effectively hike or camp with my family for probably the rest of my life. but there are also places where the highest and best use is myself or someone else getting to walk around during muzzleloader season and that you cannot do everything on every single acre. think that understanding really gives me a great deal of confidence in your ability to balance these competing interest. i want to ask you one last question, and you know, you will have no shortage of controversial issues to weigh in to over the next few years. endangered species management, energy production,

[applause] lisa murkowski, who is not here, but my friend who i do not want to get in trouble, senator collins. seriously, it was republicans coming and standing up and saying this has to be done in the senate, so we owe you. we owe you big. [applause] and by the way, if you ever want a partner to get anything done, call nancy pelosi. [laughter] [applause] and steny hoyer and congressman moore, and i hope i do not leave anybody out, but my old buddy john conyers. [applause] i am sure i am leaving someone out, for which i apologize, but we have a lot more to do, but we will continue to make progress, and one of the reasons we will continue to make progress is we will have for 3 more years the president of the united states, my friend barack obama. [applause] [applause] thank you. [cheers] [applause] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. please, everybody, have a seat. have a seat. i want to thank all of you for being here. i want to thank secretary salazar, my great friend, for letting us into the building. [laughter] make sure everybody picks up their stray soda cans and stuff

>> not for lisa murkowski. she's very independent.eat a tea party guy and one is an independent. she votes with the democrats a decent percentage of the time from a very conservative red state. other republicans, look for them to start moving this way. i think the republican party has seen the ground shift underneath them and it startled them to a large degree. senator portman is a great example of this. you'll find others in the house as well. it's going to take a little more time because of their evangelical base. they just doesnn't want to give on this issue. >> jimmy williams, as always, nice to have you with us. >> this we we saw advocates and opponents voice their opinions on equality loud and proud. it was the 1967 landmark supreme court case brought by mildred and richard loving that set the precedence for who could marry, specifically interracial couples. when it comes to the case of two men and two women marrying, will the supreme court replicate the progress they made 40 years ago? joining me is the co-editor of your book "

and we have three late responses of no from landreau, murkowski and murray. those are the 35 senators so far who have told us, no, they oppose senator feinstein's proposed bill to ban assault weapons. 28 senators said yes, they agree with and support it. 34, no responses so far. and three said they had no position. we're going to chase the 34 no responses, and the three who say no position. and we'll come back on friday, give them enough time to think about their response so quick get a very firm idea of why this assault weapons ban has apparently got no chance of getting passed in the senate. you as the american people have a right to know what these senators believe, and i intend to get it out of them. let's turn now to the police chiefs. i can't think of five better people to talk to about what happened. ever since just over three months ago now. let me start with you if i may, chief. because you had the -- i don't even think there are the words to describe the experience of what you must have gone through that day. you had to walk into that school and fin

and lisa murkowski is not here but my friend who i don't want to -- i don't want to get her in troubleut i know she really likes me because i like hear lot, senator collins. you know? seriously. it was -- you know, it was republicans coming and standing up and saying this has to be done. in the senate. so we owe you. we owe you big. [ applause ] and by the way, if you ever want a partner to get anything important done, call nancy pelosi. call nancy pelosi. [ applause ] and steny hoyer and congressman moore and my old buddy -- i hope i'm not leaving anybody out here. but, you know, you know, my old buddy john conyers. [ applause ] i'm sure i'm leaving someone out for which i apologize. we all know we have a lot more to do but we'll continue to make progress and one of the reasons to continue to make progress is we're going to have for at least three more years the president of the united states, my friend, barack obama. [ applause ] >> thank you! thank you, everybody! thank you. well, please, everybody, have have a seat. have a seat. i want to thank all of you for being here. i want to

willing to learn more about the are president's proposal and among those republican senator lisa murkowskind batteries for electric cars and things that will ultimately make the united states energy independent. we will say that the president will be greeted by protesters and those who are protesting the controversial keystone xl pipeline and recently the state department conducted a study and said that the pipeline would not have a negative impact on the environment, and so these climate advocates are going to be basically protesting saying that they believe that the keystone xl pipeline runs counter to the president's larger message of energy independence, and so a lot going on there when president obama lands in chicago, and of course, he is taking off heading there right now. richard. >> and kristen welker can will be watching that story for us when he speaks at 2:00 p.m. at the white house. thank you, kristen. >> sure, richard. >>> and today, a fun tweet leading up to the st. patrick's day weekend from foodatarium. we have caffeine, sugar and fat, and alcohol. happy st. patrick's day.

every republican senator, except for one, lisa murkowski voted to block her nomination. president obama made his displeasure known. quote, "i am deeply disappointed that despite support from a majority of the u.s. senate, minority of senators continues to block the nomination of katilyn halligan. today's vote continues. the white house also released statistics showing the difference in average wait times between president obama's district court nominees and those of his predecessor. the obstruction pushed democrats, including dick durbin to rethink the decision to not overhaul the filibuster process at the start of this term zoosh i feel sorry for her. i hate to suggest this, but if this is an indication of where we're headed, we need to revisit the reforms. i'm sorry to say it because i was hopeful that a bipart sflan approach to dealing with these issues would work. >> um, richard, who is going to get their paperwork handled first? the 11 million undocumented workers in this -- or political nominees. >> 28 of president obama's 219 judicial nominees have been confirmed.

are you -- lisa murkowski called it evolving on the issue. a colleague of yours. are you evolving, to use her word, on this issue? >> i believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. i still hold to the traditional definition of marriage. >> is this something that you thought -- are you thinking about? could you imagine changing your position before you left the u.s. senate? >> i can't. i tell you, in the past i supported repealing don't ask/don't tell. i supported the nondiscrimination act as well. but i hold to the traditional definition of marriage. >> all right. senator jeff flake, i will leave it there. thank you, senator, for coming on. coming up, reaction to what you >>> coming up, to what you just heard from the two senators on immigration and guns in the particular plus sorting out the politics of all the issues on guns. is time running out for the president? could he see his democratic majority, by the way, in the senate slip away in 2014 meaning he can't get anything done after that. >>> and later, a special discussion on a historic week at

[video clip] >> i have talked with senator murkowski on that and we will hold a hearing on gas pricesst: any more details on what the hearing would consist of? >> he asked a question of what is making the prices go up so dramatically now? the custom has always been that prices go up in the spring. we are still in the winter. trying to look at the history on this, this is the biggest increase in the last month that people of seen in quite some time and maybe the biggest increase ever. there are lots of gas price increases. there's no reasonable explanation for this right now. the iranians are not rattling around this week in the strait of hormuz. we have not seen any kind of unusual developments. that's why i want to look at a host of issues. one that has not been on the table is refineries. host: your reaction? that the new chairman of the energy and natural resources committee. guest: it's great for. the cost of crude oil has gone up. you after understanding is 42 gallons to the barrel. just calculate how much the price increases in terms of since per gallon predellas about 29 cents.

lisa murkowski, who was not here, but my friend, who i do not want to get in trouble, but senator collinsy, it was republicans coming and standing up and saying this has to be done in the senate, so we owe you. we owe you big. [applause] ad by the way, if you ever want a partner to get anything done, called nancy pelosi. -- call nancy pelosi. and steny hoyer and congressman moore, and i hope i do not let anybody out, but my old buddy, john conyers. [applause] i am sure i am leaving someone out for which i apologize, but we have a lot more to do, but we will continue to make progress, and one of the reasons we will continue to make progress is we will have 43 more years the president of the united states, my friend, barack obama. [applause] thank you. [cheers] [applause] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. please, everybody, have a seat. have a seat. i want to thank all of you for being here. i want to thank secretary salazar, my great friend, for letting us into the building. [laughter] make sure everybody picks up their straight soda cans and stuff. i want to thank attorney ge

bill back in july of last year, senator inouye who was chairman at that time promised senator murkowski that the final fy 2013 spending bill would include $10 million for suicide prevention among alaska natives and native americans. i didn't make that promise, but it was made by the chairman of the committee. i'm honoring that promise, and i honored it when we negotiated this in december. and we included that $10 million, and that's in my amendment also. and, again, a small increase for suicide prevention just isn't possible in a c.r. but it's in my amendment. and if we approve it, that funding will become law. trio. the trio program, it is a program important to many members on both sides of the aisle. it has had broad support. the trio program makes the dream of a college education possible for low-income students. basically the students who are the first in their family to go to college. so if their parents haven't gone to college, they would be eligible for a trio, and again, based upon income levels. the bill that we negotiated in december included an increase for the trio program.

murkowski: join my colleague in urging members to support this amendment which all it does is require labeling of this genetically engineered fish, this fake fish. if you're going to be serving your family a good quality product, i want to know it's good and it's quality. allow us to label it. with that i ask my colleagues to support this amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i believe we can do this on a voice vote unless there is an objection. seeing none, i suggest bee wee do this by voice. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate on this amendment, all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mrs. murray: movement reconsider. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i believe -- i believe that senator alexander's amendment is up. mr. president -- the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: senator alexander is off the floo

murkowski: thank you, mr. president. today is the second anniversary of a very tragic event in japan, an earthquake, a tsunami that claimed nearly 16,000 lives, it destroyed community infrastructure, homes, livelihoods, years now after the fact our prayers remain with the people of jean for the lives that were lost -- japan for the lives that were lost and really for the devastation that occurred within that country. i had an opportunity to be in japan in january, and had a chance to see for myself some of the devastation that japan still faces two years after the 3/11 tsunami and earthquake. the pictures that so many of us recall of the nuclear reactor we all watched with great concern as the accident in front of us unfolded, truly a sense of helplessness that was brought about by an act of nature, a massive earthquake delivering a massive wave and truly bringing about massive destruction. i also had an opportunity after viewing the fukashimi diu chi reactor to visit a small community in the north, a community of about

618, leaf un4 poo as modified, manchin 499, coats 195, hoeven 319, ayotte 161, kirk number 67 is, murkowski 672, rubio 623, alexander 348, boozman 389, heller 477, hoeven 217, enzi 48, hoeven 655. this is a package that's been agreed to by both managers and i urge senators to accept it. mr. inhofe: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. inhofe: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i understand we're having a side-by side that was on there and i didn't hear you -- oh, okay. no objection. a senator: reserving the right to object, and i'd like to ask the chairlady, do you have foreign affairs amendments there? mrs. murray: no, that's din. a senator: all right. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mrs. murray: madam president, i am going to now ask for unanimous consent for a number of amendments and -- to get to final passage. i would just ask all senators that we are going to have a number of votes. we would like -- tell everyone to sit in your seat. we will get

this amendment from both senator wyden who is here, the chairman of the committee, and also senator murkowski who has been working with me on this amendment, and i would yield back any time unless the gentleman from oregon would wish to speak or -- yield back time. the presiding officer: is all time yielded back? the question is on the amendment. mrs. murray: mr. president, if there is no opposition, i would suggest a voice vote unless someone objects. mr. sessions: mr. president, i understand there have been discussions about this. it's on an agreed list for a voice vote. i would have no objection unless others do. the presiding officer: all in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. there are now two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on -- in relation to amendment 689 offered by the senator from louisiana, mr. vitter. mr. vitter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: mr. president, i call up amendment 689. the presiding officer: the amendment is pending. mr. vitter: