>> thank you for the question, senator murkowski. this is really a great example of the many challenges that economic regulators face across the country insuring reliability. this, so your question is, how acceptable is it? for the economic regulators it is not acceptable. >> right. >> we for that reason have been very engaged with the epa, with the personnel, even with administrator mccarthy about this very important topic of reliability. we are charged with insuring reliability. it is our main core focus in addition to insuring safety and affordable utility service. the utilities on the front line must insure reliability. when there's a disruption to the grid or an outage for any the utilities on the front line to make sure that the lights come back on, that the generation is moving, no matter the source. we at naruc certainly don't pick winners and losers. we embrace all of the above energy approach, and senator, i know you do too. i heard you say that very thing. we believe coal is a low-cost option and that it should be a part o

let me turn it over to the senator murkowski. i generally am very strongly supportive of the public-private partnerships. i find that in many areas and of course we all do to be very effective and unique in some ways in the united states. they don't operate that way in other parts of the world and i think that is generally what our constituents believe is a very effective way to handle some government responsible for these asked to do it with the public-private. so, nerc and ferc kind of representatives of that which ferthat whichferc been very gooe commission and nerc being the private sector. how would each of you, starting with you, and is lafleur, say how this is working and maybe really quickly give an example of an improvement that you can think of. i think it is working quite we well. we have a somewhat unique hybrid system where the old voluntary system guidelines have superimposed this compliance system. the work we've done together too set up a separate priorities because the hybrid system we have had the same reliabili

turn it over to senator murkowski for hers, and then senator baldwin. i recognize you because you have to preside at 12 and then we will follow-up with portman and mention and close out this hearing. let me just submit for the record though the price of electricity, currently, today. from a high of, well, the high is new york, 16 cents per kilowatt hour. new jersey, 14, to the lowest in the country which are in louisiana, arkansas, wyoming, all states here it i would like to submit that for the record. i'd also like to submit the epa proposed utility air toxic rule managing compliance and reliability, eia. this graph is a little frightening to me because it doesn't show a mix of rules which i think we need although it does show the potential of natural gas which i'm excited about. i'd like to submit that for the record. mr. hill, let me ask you, senator manchin and i have had many discussions about the role of nuclear, coal and gas. could you just reiterate what your thoughts are about gas as a base load? you know, fuel for electricity production. and w

>> good morning senator landrieu and senator murkowski and members. i am president of the national association of regulatory utility commissioners. figure for the opportunity to testify about the security of our nation's electricity grid. there are three main fox i wish to share with you this morning. state utility regulators share your concern about the resilience as job number one. second, it expects not only security from physical and cyberattacks but also the ability to bounce back from severe storms and accommodate the impact of market and regulatory changes. finally lazore day taken steps to a more resilience period and we welcome this conversation about what more could be done. the seriousness of the metcalf incident was not be discounted but one of the challenges utility face each day the phone abilities could take the shape of a metcalf attack for massive storm such as hurricane sandy we have extremists consecutive 100 your ice storms along with vandalism to infrastructure last august allegedly several attacks were attempted on the infrastruc

murkowski: mr. president, i'd like to thank my friend and my colleague from rhode island and the -- the cochair here on the senate oceans caucus. as he's noted, this was an issue as we speak of i.u.u. fishing, illegal, underreported fishing and really that's too polite a term for it. it's really piracy of our fisheries. and senator whitehouse has been a very -- has been very engaged in working on so many of these key issues. i think that this is quite important, what we are discussing today, the positive step forward, not only for fishermen in my state but for fishermen around the nation. i would like to thank those who have been involved in this effort not only senator whitehouse but senator wicker as well as senator begich for their efforts to help advance these treaties. and i would also like to recognize senator menendez and senator corker for their support through the foreign relations committee process. it should come as no surprise to any of my colleagues here in terms of alaska's role with f

generation technologies and i know that senator murkowski has a wad of stage wins in her state as well. and it's very important that we understand the appropriateness of this matter. [inaudible] >> the growth of the distributed generation is to make sure that our market rules and that two thirds of the citizens that are served by the competitive market, that these distributed facilities can compete fairly and get paid for their electricity. we have put out a rule in 2013 on small solar installation, we have done this on my wheels and some of the storage applications and the response often relies on backup generation in hospitals and so forth and others and we are trying to make sure that there is fair compensation for them in the market that helps those grits thrive. >> figure. because i just believe that resiliency of the grid is important. and we saw in superstorm sandy, we saw this in places where they were operating in this mode, that it was a good thing for data storage in those kinds of things. >> might on on the matter, princeton, supported law enforcement, as much as new jersey

senator collins, senator portman, senator murkowski, senator kirk have all contributed valuable thoughts, along with senator coats and ayotte. this has been an effort that has truly been bipartisan. and it' it, i think rs represena coming together of proposals on both sides. but ultimately to serve the best interests of our constituents who again are looking for work and are very difficult to market. we've been working together since literally last year, december 28, when the benefits expired, and we know how important it is to provide this assistance to families throughout this nation. we also understand that we have to go ahead and not only provide support for the families but also to support the economies locally. and this will do it. it'll provide resources that will immediately go back into the economy to stimulate demand and growth. i want to also thank my colleagues, particularly my republican clerks fo colleaguese way they've approached the issues. they've helped to build on this important reform to provide initiatives that we hope will get people to work sooner. we've incorporat

murkowski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: madam president, i come to the floor just about an hour or so after a motion to proceed to take up the paycheck fairness act. and i struggled with my decision as to whether to move to a measure that i feel was flawed in terms of its approach to a solution, or to recognize that perhaps this was more an exercise in political messaging than an effort to try to resolve what i believe is an issue. and in sorting through all aspects, not only the merits of the legislation, the facts as they exist back home, the facts as they exist around this country where we see pay disparity between men and women. i had a lot on my mind. i had a lot to weigh. i did not come to the floor yesterday to speak with the many who rose to either offer amendments, proposed amendments to the paycheck fairness act, or those who wrote to speak to defend the act. and skwropbt my silence yesterday to be construed that t think this is an issue here, that i don't think this is something that needs to be addres

murkowski: i'd like to thank my colleague from north dakota. i had an opportunity to go to north dakota and see firsthand how in senator hoeven's state they are embracing this energy renaissance that we are seeing in this country, a renaissance that is truly allowing to us move forward with jobs and economic opportunity not only for the good of this country, but really for the good of so many others. when we're talking about our neighbors to the north in canada, or if you're from alaska, our neighbors over to the east there, there is a recognition that the united states and canada are really joined at the well, if you will. and that's a term that i have used quite frequently. but when it comes to energy issues, there are 17 operating oil pipelines between the u.s. and kaepbt. there are another 30 electric transmission lines. there's 29 natural gas pipelines. and these are all energy infrastructure that cross the border with canada, whether it's into montana, whether it's to washington, whether it's north dakota, michigan, minnesota, new york, v

this is not the issue here today, senator murkowski talked case.the stevens i totally agree with her. . applaud your decision it never should have been brought. it should not of been handled the way it was. i agree with that. note, when the justice department arrested , osama bin laden's son-in-law, you receive a huge amount of criticism because you had received a grant warning. that america is strong enough, we can use our courts, the best in the world. and brought him to new york and he was convicted. in fact, i would much rather be prosecuted in that case -- the prosecutor in that case then the defense attorney. i think we have had three or four convictions in a military tribunal. we have had several hundred in our federal courts, so thank you for doing that. you prove to the rest of the world that we use our system and it works. you got a good conviction there. i commend you on that. vermont, we have used law enforcement to deal with traffickers and attics. i urge you in the department to continue helping both local and state governments in these kind of programs. >> that is certa

murkowski: mr. president, i want to commend my colleague, the senator from north dakota here not only for his leadership on so many energy initiatives, but for the proposal that he has put forth here this afternoon. i'm pleased to be able to join him in support of those various measures, measures that as he has outlined will not only as a nation allow us to move forward, take that leadership role which we so rightly, so rightly have, and really should use as something to benefit not only ourselves and our economy, jobs within the nation, but really to benefit other nations. and so the proposal that he has advanced, again, that i am pleased to join him on, one that allows for incredible jobs and opportunities with the construction of the keystone x.l. pipeline, provisions that will allow for expedited prosing of our l. -- processing of our l.n.g. exports, recognizing again that when we produce more in this country, when we produce more of a resource that not only allows us to be more energy secure, b

senator murkowski. >> thank you, madam chairman. madam chairman, you have raised as well as centers justine the issue of heroin and what we need to do as we move forward, use the terminology, we need to be on the edge of our chair when it comes to issues like heroin. i would suggest also, and i present this to you, mr. attorney general, that we are seeing an increasing level of synthetics drugs that are coming into our communities and doing great damage. of course, the problem is is that at the state level you can say based on this formulary bob's this is a drug under the schedule, but all of these individuals have to do is change that formulary and day of a door avoid those laws. we are seeing some really devastating impact in some of our very, very remote communities where the only way to get these drugs and is by mail. and the drugs are coming into the community through the mail. >> through the post office? >> through the united states post office, madam chairman, and it is something that we have been trying to work on, issues of

what i saw was senator mary landrieu and murkowski.hey were so upset that we heard about the san jose event and they weren't questioning the witnesses who were there based on what will we do about this but instead, how did this get out. what's going on with these lawmakers? >> well, there was some concern on the part of even the furc people as to the small number of sub stations could have such a large effect on our entire grid. and i understand that concern. the bottom line is that if we would be more concerned about a solution rather than we are about terrorists finding out things that they already know. i think we would be serving the people much better. >> you know, congressman, what i thought was amazing is that all of the outrage regarding this attack in san jose was after it was made public to us by the "wall street journal." so if these senators and these congress people were so concerned, they would have gotten involved immediately after. instead they waited until a year later to say i am outraged. and i'm concerned that you a

he said, senators murkowski and stevens do not like your forrester policy. i am thinking, i do not even have a tree in kansas. -- forestry policy? my policy was not consistent with the views of senators murkowski and stevens. so i went to see them. one of them said to me, how would you like it if my policy was to eliminate all the planting of wheat in the state of kansas? would you feel like supporting me for secretary of agriculture? i said, i get the point. i went to see bob dole and said, what do i do? he said, just tell them you will be fair, and i will take care of t. he took care of it. the point there is they tried to block me because they had a substantive reason. but the primary thing that got it through was trust. and you had a senate majority leader who supported me. he was able to persuade them what to do. resident clinton also had close relations on the hill. he should be allowed to block if they want to. in most cases, good judgment will prevail unless you burn bridges beforehand. >> there is a lot of talk about the process. it takes time to ge

he said, senators murkowski and stevens do not like your forrester policy. i am thinking, i do not even have a tree in kansas. for history policy? -- forestry policy? i went to see them. one of them said to me, how would you like it if my policy was to eliminate all the planting of wheat in the state of kansas? would you feel like supporting me for secretary of agriculture? i said, i get the point. i went to see bob dole and said, what do i do? he said, just tell them you will be fair, and i will take care of it. he took care of it will stop the point was, they try to block me because they had a reason. but the primary thing that got it through was trust. and you had a senate majority leader who supported me. he was able to persuade them what to do. resident clinton also had close relations on the hill. he should be allowed to block if they want to. in most cases, good judgment will prevail unless you burn bridges beforehand. >> there is a lot of talk about the process. it takes time to get confirmed. there is a lot of information you have to give up on back

the policy of the clinton-gore administration was not consistent with the view of senators murkowski and stevens. i want to see them, and one of them said to me if how would you like it if my policy was to eliminate all the planting of wheat in the state of kansas? would you support me? i said, i get the point. i went to see bob dole and said, what do i do? tell them you will take care of it. and he took care of it. the point there was they tried to block me because they had a substantive reason. trustrimary thing, it was and he was able to persuade them what to do. president clinton had close relations on the hill. they should be allowed to block if they want to, but in most aces, good judgment will prevail unless you burned bridges before and. >> there is a lot of talk about the appointment rosses. it takes a long time to get confirm. there is a lot of information you have to give up on background checks will stop it disturbs people. joshua, in the bush administration, you went through it to become omb director. chief of staff, you did not get confirmed for that. that is kind of ni

we went back and looked at the letter that senator murkowski room in 2011, and my response to my house testimony that year in which i call for a more formal process to analyze the potential liability implications of particularly environmental rules to my knowledge. that process has not yet occurred, but i continue to advocate for it. the reasons are as follows. a couple of unusually warm winters before this one and the system was stressed. in 53 weeks who will lose all those plants that now slated for closure. plans to retrofit generally have a fourth year, sometimes with your. the fifth year is full of uncertainty. some of the other panelists will relate to that. so as referenced earlier our region has different show mixes depending upon where you come from. some areas more dependent on natural gas. we are seeing a lot of stress, particularly with prices, not only the cold plants, but also the nuclear. it should be kept in mind. specifically the midwest is looking and some challenges in the summer 2016 where they project a reserve margin that will be a deficit. now where the reserve m

months ago, working first with senator heller, then with other colleagues, senator collins, senator murkowski, senator portman, senator kirk, to listen to their suggestions, to incorporate those suggestions and to move forward as we hoped this senate would do on so many different bills, to reach a bipartisan consensus, reach a vote, get it to the house and then put all our efforts in getting the house to pass it and signed by the president. and getting the relief, the support, the assistance to these americans, who, again, i have to emphasize, only qualify for this program because they lost their job through no fault of their own and they're continuing to look for work in a very, very difficult economy. but the one other inning i wanted to mention, and it is very important, is that we are building on significant changes to the unemploymentcompensation law that we passed in 2012. at that time, the chairman of the ways and means committee in the house of representatives, chairman david camp of michigan, that said we passed historic reforms in 2012. now, our goal -- many times over the last few

senator murkowski tills with this issue very well for what she calls the even stevens proposal. the same rules apply to the sierra club ought to apply for the nra it be put in the bill to do that. we will keep working with you senator roberts and let's go now to senator stabenow. >> thank you. i have two amendments. the first would extend stabenow number nine extend the rule in section 451 for the sale of electric transmission assets from utilities to independent transmission companies. the rule expired last year and i would just indicate that when the system works well people can turn their lights on that in order to do that you have to have a robust transmission grid to make sure electricity is available and affordable. over the last decade regulators at the federal and state level have required or encouraged utility companies to sell or transfer control of their transmission assets to independent transmission organizations. they have done this to promote new investment however when the utility considers selling its transmission property they could likely face a huge tax bill

and that's why i've worked with senator collins, senator ayotte, senator murkowski to file an amendment to modernize key portions of that 51-year-old equal pay act. our proposal prevents retaliation against employees who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their salaries. it reinforces current law which prohibits pay discrimination based on gender, and it requires employers to notify the employees of their rights. but we don't stop there. because i believe we need a solution that addresses both discrimination and the opportunity gap or the need to provide both men and women with good-paying jobs. our amendment consolidates duplicative job-training programs and it provides federal grants to states for the creation of industry-led partnerships. this program is meant to provide women and men who are underrepresented in industries that report worker shortages with the skills that they need to compete. such industries include manufacturing, energy, transportation, information technology, and health care. importantly, no new spending is appropriated. unfortunately, my colleagues on the other

i also want to thank senator collins, portman, murkowski and kirk for their continued willingness to come to the table to craft a bill that would garner enough support to pass here in this senate. i also, as i just mentioned, want to acknowledge the contributions of both senator coats and senator ayotte, who though not cosponsors of this particular version of the bill, they've been essential in these negotiations, as well as senator isakson and senator hoeven, who've also been engaged in this matter in recent months. mr. president, last december federal unemployment insurance benefits were allowed to expire, leaving millions of job-seeking americans wondering how they would recover -- how they would cover their mortgage, pay their utilities, fill up their car with gas, put food on the table for their families. my constituents who write to me, who call my office and the people i speak with when i'm home in nevada have shared many heartbreaking stories with me. i've heard from individuals all across the spectrum, from every sector, from every industry. and i'd like to share one of thos

. >> thank you, madam chairman, and to ranking member murkowski, she will be back, she is in voting now, as you know my colleague, senator portman, who just spoke and i wrote to you both last month urging the, having a hearing on the group reliability and stability. i want you to thank you diane, did it in expedited manner. that is important considering what we came through this winter. there are two fuels to keep the lights on, just two right now, keep lights on 24/7, 365, nuke and coal. gas will get in that position but not in the position yet but they will get there. these two base load fuels provide almost 60% of the power this country demand. and without these baseload fuels our grid can't function. we know that and you all said that and we can not keep the lights on. here's, i'm having a difficult situation. you can imagine in my side of the aisle with the administration's attitude towards what we're dealing with. i just want the facts to come out. that's why i asked for this today. i want you all on the frond line, people relying on their life basically depending on can we have e

you can call -- senator lisa murkowski of alaska's vote on the senate floor and said that she believest the democrat efforts was flawed. perhaps you can explain to our viewers exactly what that bill is. host:guest: the paycheck fairness act is an important piece of legislation to make it easier for folks to bring equal pay cases. right now, there are challenges with the current law and the paychecks fairness act would make it clear that employers can't use just any reason for justifying a pay difference but make sure that it is related to the business necessities of the business. it would make sure that the federal government can collect pay data from employers. it would make sure that employers can't retaliate. it checks very similarly to what the president was able to do with federal contractors. so it was a very important measure. it is important that it has been bogged down through partisan lines. [video clip] >> when you have an initial presumption that the umpire has unlawfully discriminated against an employee, if there is a difference in play, if you start off with the presumpt

merkley, senator sherrod brown, senator durbin, senator sue so susan co, senator portman, senator murkowski, and senator kirk, republicans appeared democrats alike who have hammered out a compromise, done the difficult work and are pushing to move this forward. i also want to thank people from new jersey who've shared their stories with me, who've been active and engaging from online posts, letters, phone calls, all of them fighting to find work. i've heard from republican new jerseyans and democratic new jerseyans. i've heard from military veterans and single moms. i've heard from folks who are so hungry to work. while they're working or looking to this body, to all of congress, to help them meet the basic minimum needs so that they can continue to have some stability, not swallowed up by the quicksand of economic crisis, to be able to continue to find a job. they are living examples, each and every one of these millions of americans are examples of what's at stake if we do not act. i've heard painful stories of people facing real crises from homelessness to skipping medications, doing eve

so i want to truly thank, heartfelt thrafrpbg -- thanks to senator landrieu and murkowski and all the members of the senate who have been helpful in the process of getting this bill to the floor today. they know what it means when communities who are large and communities who are small are impacted by disasters and both knew the federal government needs to be there quickly to provide support. madam president, the people of oso and darrington have a long road to recovery ahead so i was pleased the president granted a major disaster declaration last night which will be vital in meeting many of the immediate human needs we're going to be facing but it's also important that these communities know we are in it for the long term as well and even a small step like this one that supports the region's tourist economy and brings that little bit of hope is really critical to showing them that all of us and the federal government will be there for them. so, as they mourn their loved ones and work hard to recover and ultimately rebuild, i want all of them to know we will not forget them. with that

murkowski: thank you, mr. president. i've come to the floor today to discuss the opportunity we have as a nation to truly take a leadership role when it comes to responsible development of the arctic region. and as we discuss about the great opportunities and the challenges that face us, i think it is fair to say that i will also be expressing some disappointment with the general lack of resources that our federal government has invested in this important issue, including just mote most recently through the president's annual budget request. back in may of 2013, the obama administration released its national strategy for the arctic region, and the national strategy was really designed to set forth this government's strategic priorities for the arctic. pretty important to recognize what our priorities are going forward. and while that might sound impressive, an arctic -- a national strategy for the arctic region, what we ended up seeing was just an 11-page document, really hard to describe it as strategic, are perhaps a m