. >> thank you very hatch, senator shaheen, for that question. the fact of the matter is when one looks back at the exxon valdez the report that came out of to be part of the horizon that the national crisis and environmental catastrophe which caused so much damage is and one that created much change in the country. things continue much the same way without those lessons being learned. the president and his administration are committed to make sure that those same mistakes are not repeated in the way of the deepwater horizon spill and that's why there's been the robustness of the effort to move forward with the creation of the best standards and organizations to oversee in america and to help develop the same kind of calls around the world. in terms of the funding questions and what we are doing with respect to the oil spill response, we do need funding to be hilboldt to have an agency conduct responsibly the important missions that have been assigned to the bureau of ocean management so they did give additional resources to director bromwich's a

it relates to senator shaheen's question. we have not done any further r & d, disperseant use, the impacts, what their impact is, putting them on a national schedule which oil spill response can use to source those if preapproved protocols are met. when we got into the spill, that was one of the tools that was authorized under a schedule approved by e.p.a. we started using such large quantities that we moved into an area we had never been before. the well became extremely effective in mixing the dispersants. we ventured into two areas where we had never been before. by extending a regulation that had been issued after the oil occlusion act of 1990. i think we have to moving forward, given concerns raised on the amount of dispersants and the application that the well had, put a focus on the interactions of the dispersants with the oil, the implications for toxicity in the water and we'll learn more about what that means. everything was in conformance with existing law and regular layings so nothing was done that was legally wr

thank you. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman, i want to get back to the r and d question that senator murkowski has raised. i want to just clarify what i think i heard you say. when you were talking about foreign flag mobile drilling units, do i understand from your comments that right now we do not inspect those foreign flag mobile drilling units? >> we do, but included in that is an audit of paperwork that demonstrates they're in compliance with international standards or substantially in compliance with the code that we would use for a u.s. flagged vessel. it does not include a more robust inspection that we would do under the two other regimes that we discussed, the regime for tankers and crargo ships and the exam for cruise ships. mobile drilling units have moved into a risk area and requires a higher legal of due diligence to ascertain they are in compliance with international standards. that's what i would recommend. >> thank you for that clarification. i want to go back to the r and d question because i think we

i want to thank the chair for convening this hearing. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you. chair landrieu and ranking member snowe for holding the hearing today on the implementation of the small business jobs act. it's fitting that we're doing it during small business week. the jobs act was a very important effort to help small businesses that create two-thirds of the jobs in this country. we all know there's more work to do because too many small businesses are still struggling with access to credit. i unfortunately can't stay to hear your testimony, but i did want to raise two issues that i hope you will address. first of all, both senators landrieu and snowe have talked about the export provisions in the new legislation. in new hampshire, we think those are critical. we've got to give small businesses access to international markets to help them grow. and i think new hampshire is one of the 53 states that has applied for funding through the state trade and export promotion program, so clearly, there's a lot of interest, and i think the role that sba can play in coordina

. >> i will leave and turn this over to senator shaheen. >> i have one question before closing. as you all were talking about what a negotiated settlement might look like, one of the things that no one mentioned was what happens to protect the rights of afghan women as part of any kind of settlement and and what should we be doing to make sure those rights are not negotiated away. ? >> the taliban changed their position on the education of women about 12 months ago. the current position is that it is perfectly ok for women to go to school. they want women to work productively and the part of the community but what is not acceptable is for foreigners to come in and tell them how to treat women in their own community. that was probably a tactical shift. it is hard to know whether that meant that or not but it was their response to popular pressure from the afghan population. one of the things we will see if we get into the negotiation process is that there is now a fairly good body of public opinion in afghanistan in favor of increased freedoms and increased the quality for 50% of

let me recognize a few things, senator shaheen who is here for the opening statement in just a moment. i want to put a few things into the record. last congress, 111th, the committee hear compelling testimony from small business owners across the country, struggling to keep their lights on, doors open, and stretching to keep valuable employees on the payroll. many business owners could not get conventional bank loans. others saw substantial reductions in their existing lines of credit. still others had cutting edge products but did not see an opportunity to contract with the federal government. the results were alarming. since 2008, small business firms accounted for between 64 and 80% of all of the net job losses in our country. that is beginning to reverse, we are excited about that, and we'll hear more about that today. to address these issues, i'm proud to have led the senate efforts to enask the small business jobs bill of 2010. the bill was signed into law by president obama on september 27th. the jobs act provided many things. support to small business in many important ways, p

chair landrieu, forgive me, ranking member snowe and shaheen and members of the committee. as has been cited a time or two, this is national small business week, it's a week we empower small businesses that drive our economy, keep america competitive and importantly create jobs. the sba is hosting a three day conference here in washington, d.c. where we're honoring small business owners with awards. small business persons, chair landrieu of the year, and more. these small business owners and others like them have gotten a big boost from the small business jobs act. since the passage of the jobs act in september 2010, the sba has worked hard to implement the many provisions that affected our programs. the jobs act affected all of sbab's largest programs including our support for access for capital, small business contracting, counseling and training and exporting. some of these provisions were quick fixes a easy to implement. others take more time, but res assured that sba is working diligently to implement every provision as soon as possible. to begin with almost immediatel

shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i'm pleased that i could be here to hear our colleague from florida talk about the importance of ending the disibs that we're currently -- subsidies that we're currently paying to the world's largest oil companies and about the importance of continuing to preserve the gulf and make sure that the regulations that we put in place last year continue. i appreciate his leadership on both of those issues and particularly on protecting the gulf, which is really a national treasure. so, thank you very much to our colleague from florida, senator nelson. i came down to the floor today to talk about the important legislation that's before us to reduce our deficit by ending the needless subsidies for the nation's largest oil companies. at a time when americans are paying these companies $4 a a gallon for gasoline -- in some places it's more than that -- it might be surprises to some people out there that these same companies are receiving $4 billion a year in subsidies from the american

i want to thank the chair for convening this hearing. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you.chair landrieu and ranking member snowe for holding the hearing today on the implementation of the small business jobs act. it's fitting that we're doing it during small business week. the jobs act was a very important effort to help small businesses that create two-thirds of the jobs in this country. we all know there's more work to do because too many small businesses are still struggling with access to credit. i unfortunately can't stay to hear your testimony, but i did want to raise two issues that i hope you will address. first of all, both senators landrieu and snowe have talked about the export provisions in the new legislation. in new hampshire, we think those are critical. we've got to give small businesses access to international markets to help them grow. and i think new hampshire is one of the 53 states that has applied for funding through the state trade and export promotion program, so clearly, there's a lot of interest, and i think the role that sba can play in coordinat

nor this continent, we will continue to go down this road for the next 30 or 40 years. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you for calling the hearing today on what is obviously a very hot topic that people feel strongly about. thank you, secretary salazar, for being here and for your patience and in responding to all the questions and concerns that we are raising. i actually have a little bit different question, i think, than the ones i have heard any way. legislationking at to address concerns about permitting and drilling one concern i have is that we now repeat the mistakes of the past. peat the mistakes of the past. the technology for cleaning up the spill had not changed much over the decades preceding period and that after the exxon valdez spill, there was supposedly a process and people put in place to try to address oil spill research and development, it not been effective. and the funding had not been there. my concern is that as we go forward and look at how we improve the process says for permitting and the drilling in the future, that we are able to develop the technology to make su

senator shaheen as the hearing continues beyond that the witching hour for both of us, then senator shaheen wheelchair. but it may well be that we can get where we need to go if we kind of move along here and compress everything. this is the fourth ring we have had on the question of libya since the popular uprising began in february. we are delighted to welcome secretary steinberg back. he appeared last year on march 31 when we kind of, we thought had congratulated him for becoming the dean of the maxwell school and sent him off to the sunset. but we need to proceed forward here with secretary burns nomination which were going to credited as fast as we can. we now have the papers, and the minute we can't we will get that hearing done, and i'm sure we will do it expeditiously. the situation in libya, while it appears some significantly stalemated, i think is different from the way it appears, to be honest with you. yesterday we had the privilege of meeting with mahmoud jabril, producing met with him in cairo and invite him to come and meet with colleagues in the it a good meeting yesterday

as you may know, last week, legislation was introduced by senator shaheen and myself, it's s1,000. and it's basically leverages deployment of energy efficiency technologies in the home building, commercial separation, and industrial space with respect to the federal government. we would love to get your input on the legislation and hope to get your support on it. i wonder if you had any thoughts on the legislation today? >> senator portman, i have not reviewed the legislation s1,000. i would be happy along with my colleague secretary chu and the energy administration. he's a huge part of the bucket to get us to the energy future. part of the reason that we are importanting less than 50% of the oil as opposed to 60% a few years ago is because of the fact that we are becoming much more fuel efficient. the energy efficiency goes beyond cars into buildings and so forth. those are addressed in the blueprints. we would be happy to look at legislation and get back to you. >> we are working with dod on it. given the interest in the area and the relationship that it has to your responsibili

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jeanne shaheen a senator from the state of new hampshire to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will be in executive session to consider the nomination of susan carney of connecticut to be a united states circuit judge for the second circuit. there will be two hours of debate. roll call vote on confirmation of the carney nomination will begin shortly after noon today. there's a celebration going on in the rotunda, and we want to make sure it doesn't interfere with that, so we'll hold the vote open and make sure that any stragglers can vote. following the vote, the senate will recess until 2:15 to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. at 2:15, the senate will begin the motion to proceed on s. 940, the close big oil's tax loopholes act, four hours of debate. there will be a roll call vote at approximately 6:15 this evening, and a motion

blumenthal, klobuchar, whitehouse, brown of ohio, udall of colorado, durbin, carper, sanders, rockefeller, shaheen, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 61, there be three hours of debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number number 61, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further statements be in order to the nomination, these statements related to the nomination be printed in the rec

. >> you are recognized, senator shaheen. we will come back. -- before, mr. chairman. i think it is fitting as i'm sure people have said already that we are having this discussion today, two days after osama bin laden has been killed. after all, as you all point out it was his masterminding the attack on the world trade center and the united states that got us into this war so as we think about what the endgame here is is what impact would the death of osama bin laden have, in game obviously is a huge national security and military and intelligence triumph but what will the real impact be if any on the taliban we are operating in afghanistan and does it have any impact on our allies as we look ahead. >> i believe the only way it has a significant impact would be if it leads to pakistan is to seriously reconsider their continual provision of a century to the taliban. if this leads to any conversation between the united states and washington and islamabad to a material change in pakistani policy than i think it will have major repercussions but as long as pakistan is abl

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorablejeanne shaheen, a senator from the state of new hampshire, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:00 p.m. this evening. the republicans will control the first 30 minutes. the majority will control the next 30 minutes. the senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15. we expect a vote on the adoption of a resolution commending the armed forces and intelligence community regarding the death of bin laden. senators will be notified when that vote is scheduled. additionally, there is a senators-only briefing today. it's classified on the operation that killed osama bin laden. it will be at 5:00 p.m. today in the visitors' center. the c.i.a. director fan -- c.i.a. director panetta will be there. last night i filed cloture on the small business jobs bill, s. 493. senators should expect a cloture vote

the amendment i have filed and wish to offer along with senators paul, cardin, binge moon, coons, shaheen, wyden, gillibrand, and akaka makes significant improvements to current law: promotes transparency, praoeuf circumstance civil -- praoeuf circumstance civil liberties safeguard. i ask unanimous consent to place a sectional analysis in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: one of the improvements congress should make is to repair a constitutional infirmity in the current law. three years ago in doe v. mccasey, the u.s. courof appeals for the second circuit found the nondisclosure in the statute authorizing issuance of national security letters was constitutionally defective. we don't make a change, that constitutionally defective part of the national security letter provision would continue. so part of the comprehensive set of reforms in the bill reported favorably by the judiciary committee, i propose a simple statutory fix which would enable the f.b.i. to obtain the information it needs, but at the same time addressing the constitutional concerns. this prop

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jeanne shaheen, a senator from the state of new hampshire, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: madam pre the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would ask consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:00 p.m. today. the majority leader will control the first 30 minutes. the republicans will control the next 30 minutes. senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings. working to setup a debate and vote on the nomination of edward chen to be a district judge in the state of california as soon as we notify when that vote is going to be scheduled. mr. mcconnell: madam president? th

. >> you are recognized, senator shaheen. we will come back. -- before, mr. chairman. i think it is fitting as i'm sure people have said already that we are having this discussion today, two days after osama bin laden has been killed. after all, as you all point out it was his masterminding the attack on the world trade center and the united states that got us into this war so as we think about what the endgame here is is what impact would the death of osama bin laden have, in game obviously is a huge national security and military and intelligence triumph but what will the real impact be if any on the taliban we are operating in afghanistan and does it have any impact on our allies as we look ahead. >> i believe the only way it has a significant impact would be if it leads to pakistan is to seriously reconsider their continual provision of a century to the taliban. if this leads to any conversation between the united states and washington and islamabad to a material change in pakistani policy than i think it will have major repercussions but as long as pakistan is abl

leahy, conrad, kerry, whitehouse, klobuchar, cardin, bingaman, boxer, merkley, wyden, menendez, shaheen, sanders, lautenberg, reed of rhode island, murray and durbin. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent that on monday, june 6, 2011, at 4:30 p.m., the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 118, that there be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual form prior to the cloture vote. further, that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent to resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 56, h.r. 754. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h h.r. 56, h.r. 754,n act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for intelligence and intelligence related activities by the united states government and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent

. >> you are recognized, senator shaheen. we will come back. -- before, mr. chairman. i think it is fitting as i'm sure people have said already that we are having this discussion today, two days after osama bin laden has been killed. after all, as you all point out it was his masterminding the attack on the world trade center and the united states that got us into this war so as we think about what the endgame here is is what impact would the death of osama bin laden have, in game obviously is a huge national security and military and intelligence triumph but what will the real impact be if any on the taliban we are operating in afghanistan and does it have any impact on our allies as we look ahead. >> i believe the only way it has a significant impact would be if it leads to pakistan is to seriously reconsider their continual provision of a century to the taliban. if this leads to any conversation between the united states and washington and islamabad to a material change in pakistani policy than i think it will have major repercussions but as long as pakistan is abl

would like to give a quick summary of what we are seeking because it is partly in response to senator shaheen question. >> i will be quick, mr. chairman. the ocean energy safety advisory committee chairman, populated by folks from academia and other governmental agencies and industry has a task ahead of it of trying to do a survey of what research and development is going on in areas of well control, containment, and spill response, but there is no central place, center of excellence that they can turn to administratively to help the secretary and the director then implement our deepest needed and how the regulatory agency kept up to speed in terms of what is going on with advances in all of these areas. that is the genesis of the proposal that we have to respond to what secretary to has also requested to be a good regulator. having a collaborative institutes would meet that goal and helped organize the effort. >> again, thank you very much for your time and your testimony. we appreciate it very much and wish you well. >> you can watch all of the hearing we just showed on line at the c-span v

and it's that commitment to use less that led me last week to introduce legislation with senator shaheen from new hampshire called the energy savings act. it is a bipartisan bill targeted and a piece of legislation that would leverage energy efficiency investments in a number of areas, including the building and industrial sectors but also with the federal government. it will help consumers, help the federal government save money on energy bills and help industry improve the efficiency of their production processes. again, this is an example where we should be able to come together as republicans and democrats and get something done. there's widespread consensus that energy efficiency is the low-hanging fruit, a way to reduce energy use and make america's economy more competitive. as with anything, the devil's in the details. there will be some senators who may disagree with some of the specifics in this legislation, but again it's the type of bill we should be debating on the floor of this senate and with little hard work, i believe it is one we can ultimately get enacted into law. inst

shaheen: thank you. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: thank you. i want to commend my colleague, senator stabenow, for the great work that she has done over a long period of time for women and families in her state of michigan and throughout the country. i remember her telling me that she got involved in politics in order to address a nursing home issue which disproportionately affects women. just as this budget that passed the house disproportionately affects women and children. so i'm pleased to be able to join on the floor and my other colleagues, appreciate senator mikulski's leadership in bringing us together today. there's no doubt that all of us in the senate and everybody who's spoken on the floor today understands that we need to deal with this country's debt and deficits. there's no question about that. but the question is, are we going to do that man in a way ts fair to everyone? and unfortunately, the house republican plan would disproportiona

shaheen: thank you, madam chair. i took the opportunity yesterday at an armed services committee subcommittee to ask department of defense officials who have been responsible for maintaining our military technological edge what the impact would be on d.o.d.'s research if congress does not reauthorize the sbir program. assistant secretary zachary limnios said that -- and i'm quoting -- "sbir is something we absolutely need." he talked about what it's like talking to small, innovative companies that he works with through sbir, and he told me -- again, i'm quoting -- "there are small companies willing to take some risk in areas where larger companies, for whatever reason, just don't. you spend a day with a small business like that and your mind explodes with new ideas. that's the kind of innovative spirit we need to stay competitive. we need this for america's national security. as you point out, this is a program that creates jobs. we need to get this reauthorization done. we need to talk about regulatory reform, but w

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorablejeanne shaheena senator from the state of new hampshire, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: phapt? the presiding officer: -- mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 1038 which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 1038, a bill to extend expiring provisions of the u.s.a. patriot improvement and reauthorization act of 2005 and the intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act of 2004 until june 1, 2015, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will resume consideration to proceed to the patriot extension act. there will be