udall: thank you, mr. president. let me, first of all, just thank senator whitehouse for heading up this campaign finance task force. i think this has been a real solid effort by a number of senators, and senator whitehouse, whether it's at netroots or here on the senate floor, has been participating this evening, and we really appreciate all of his help. the presiding officer, senator merkley, has also been a key member of the task force. senator bennet, who is going to be speaking after me, another member of the task force. and we so appreciate all of us getting together. and one of the things we need to be reminded of this evening is where we are. we just took a vote to try to get on to the disclose act bill. 51 democrats said let's get on to the bill, and 44 republicans, not a single republican voted to allow us to get on the bill. basically what we're in in the senate, as senator bennet and senator whitehouse and senator merkley know, we're in the mode of a full filibuster now. we're on a motion to proceed. we'r

senator thune and udall. >> thank you. i appreciate the hearing. i hope we can find 21st century solutions to 21st century challenges. i think the one thing about the television marketplace is we've seen remarkable improvements over time. it really is an area in which with technology and all of the changes occurred out there it's been good for most americans. obviously there are issues that come up across the way that need to be addressed. i think the committee needs to be informed by all of your input as we try to address that. and senator smith, welcome back. nice to have you with us again here today. one the things that i hear is that television blackouts due to disputes is on the rise. everybody has talked about the various statistics that bare that out today. and are likely to increase if we retain the current regulatory regime. i ask the question to someone that believes in the free market and instincts that deregulation is a good approach. with regard to the types of blackouts when is your assessment as to whether we're going to see fewer tv

senator udall? >> thank you, senator carper. this question is to mr. orrell and mr. fettus. i'm trying to drill down a little bit because the brc on this issue of parallel versus what we have in the law now, as you know d.o.e. can't enter an interim site unless a permanent site is already open. so the brc talks about parallel. how far along, in your opinion, do we need to be toward a permanent site before you start opening an interim site or a consolidated site? >> i'm very happy to begin. a lot farther along than we are now. i'll start with that. i think, and as i outlined extensively in my written testimony, there's a long and, i think it's safe to say, torturous history of the repository program as well as sputtering attempts at an interim storage program. and as dr. metlay, i think, effectively outlined today, it's the countries that are having any progress are countries that have resolved the allocations of power. and if we don't do that, and i have a set of suggestions in my testimony as to how we begin to do that in a more thoughtful way that avoids the mistakes of th

udall: mr. president, i rise once again to discuss the production tax credit for wind energy and i want to urge all of my colleagues to extend it as soon as possible. i've been coming to the senate floor on an ongoing basis to highlight the tremendous growth of the wind energy industry from colorado to texas to pennsylvania. and today i want to talk about the future of clean energy jobs in the great state of rhode island. if you look around our country, mr. president, we find success stories everywhere. and wind energy is a bright spod spot for communities across america. which supports good manufacturing jobs in places like the united states and rhode island, and this despite the great recession. rhode island has dedicated itself to building a clean energy future, a key part of which is offshore wind energy. the entire eastern seaboard has massive offshore wind potential, and rhode island is one of the first states to begin construction on a project off of its coast. and if you look at the char

so if you're looking for a five-star beach to come to, senator udall, come to -- feel free to visit us in delaware. that's beneath here nor there. i had to -- we're especially happy to welcome you given the great work that the rdc did on that. david wright president of the national association of regulatory utility commissioners. vice chairman public service commission of south carolina. nice to see you, welcome. sir eric house. eric howes. and the senior professional staff. dr. metly great to see you. is it mr. or doctor? mr. it is. mr. andrew is it oral. with the emphasis on the first or second syllable. like oral surgery? we'll alternate then. doctor andrew oral director of nuclear energy and fuel cycle programs. again, hold your statements to about five minutes. we're glad you're here. appreciate your participation and preparation. there you go. turn that mic on. >> i thank the chairman and the ranking member for inviting nrdc to share the crews on the potential outcomes of the president's blue ribbon commission. i submitted written testimony for the record and i'll focus briefly o

let me yield to senator udall. a jr. senator for now but not for long. soon to be senior senator from new mexico. i sad that sadly. we love our jeff bingham. >> we sure do. we're going to miss him very much and miss that ability as professor peterson has pointed out how he was serving on several committees that were really key. >> we also know the interest of new mexico will be very well served. >> you're very kind. let me say to professor peterson you pulled out some good lessons on the waste isolation pilot project. i wanted to explore more of that with both of you. should the state as a whole have the right to accept or reject a nuclear waste site in its borders and how should that authority work? that's a very hard question for us to answer. >> that's why i ask it. you were given a lot of time to think about that one. >> well, we looked a lot at the differences between new mexico and the upper mountain. and i think you put your finger on the principal difference. in new mexico, there's a general ak question acqu ichiesce that is good for the state, g

the senate can count on a very small number of civil libertarians amongst its ranks colorado's mark udall is one example he joined wyden on other surveillance related increase including one that led to an infamous response from the office of the director of national intelligence and inspector general said the oversight would violate the privacy of americans i know is pretty confused by that too we cover the story and then of course the two expressed other privacy concerns like section two fifteen of the patriot act a provision that allows faiza courts to obtain almost any kind of record from americans without a warrant and speaking of warrants rand paul has been a fierce opponent of the patriot act he's pointed out that the wide that there are wide gaps in the fourth amendment where anybody can be treated as a criminal by the feds. it gives you the right to say the government must have probable cause there must be at least some suspicion that you are committing a crime before they come into your house or before they go into your records where every your records are. now whether that be ni

udall said announce you're running and it is like in the old westerns when you walk in the saloon and elected you like you're the new gun in town. who are you to say you're the fastest gun in the west? and you claim that. if you are a senator, all the other senators, who does he think he is. if you've been around senators and the president's speech they all say, i would have been better. [laughter] >> you know. and it's like that every minute with the governors, to. now, how do you plan that you are ready to run the world and keep learning all the same about things you don't really know. that's not easy. you have to be able to the edge of. you can't be at desiccated if you don't know which stand for. you also can't be edge out without a team because you're going to be asked by -- president carter got some very difficult situations when he was asked what he thought was very simple questions. one was, do you think your human rights stand applies to northern ireland to mcentee said, of course, not knowing that at that point he accepted the ira proposal against a proposal of moynihan and

udall: mr.sident, for several weeks now i've spoken here on the senate floor urging my colleagues of both parties to extend the wind production tax credit or as it's known, the p.t.c. and the presiding officer has had the opportunity to listen to me on a number of occasions. i thank you for your attention and interest and support. i'm here again this morning to continue my work because i don't want to lose one more american job because of our failure, congress' failure, to act. i want to assure as i know the presiding officer does, that we, the united states, remains competitive in the global clean energy economy. today, i want to talk specifically about the p.t.c.'s impact on the state of utah, one of america's fastest growing wind energy plowers. like other western states, including my home state of colorado, utah's geography and climate makes it's an ideal location for wind production. it's estimated that a -- if fully utilized utah's indian resources could provide up to 1 % of the state's --

boxer: madam president, was there any time remaining on senator udall's? the presiding officer: he used six minutes. mrs. boxer: all right. madam president, i rise today to talk a little bit about health care and what it would mean if the republicans get their way and take away so many benefits for millions of people, but before i do, i want to respond to senator hutchison's remarks on taxes. president obama has called on us to pass a tax cut for 98% of the american people. that would be the millionaires -- not the millionaires, but the middle class. not the billionaires, but the middle class. 98%. he said anyone earning up to $250,000 gets a tax break. as a matter of fact, he said all income over $250,000 will get a tax cut. only income $250,000 will go back to the tax rates of bill clinton. now, let me remind everyone that in those years, we had 23 million new jobs created and a balanced budget, and we never had more millionaires created in one period of time as we did then because it was a fair tax system. president obama has asked us to give a tax brea

udall: i rise today as i have been every day to urge my colleagues to work with me, to work with you, to extend the production tax credit for wind. the p.t.c. as it's known has broad economic effects, positive effects all across our great country. and i'm going to talk today as i have about a state, an individual state i talk about every day that is known for its wind resources and that's the great state of kansas. kansas is already known as a national leader in both wind manufacturing and production. in fact, kansas has the most wind projects under construction as we sit here today, and is on track to almost double their installed wind energy capacity. you can see from the map here of kansas that there's a lot of activity. for example, there is construction currently underway in what will be the largest wind farm in kansas located just southwest of wichita which is in south central kansas. the flat rigid two wind farm will cover about 66,000 acres and it should be up and running by tend of the year. the two companies running the project, b.p. energy and semper u.s. gas and power, hav

led by senator udall from new mexico and senator merkley from oregon. they had been here a while and they thought that the senate was dysfunctional. well, they hadn't been here a long time and i was willing to go along with the traditional view, let's not rock the vote here. that was under the hope and i thought the assurance of my republican colleagues that they would not have these continue wal con sensical motions to proceed, filibuster, taking -- through that finally on a piece of legislation and i said in the senate a few months ago that i was wrong. it's hard to acknowledge that you're wrong. it's difficult for any of us to do. especially in front of so many people. but i said that i think they were right and i was wrong. and i stick by that. i think what has happened the last few years of changing the basic rules of this senate where we have not 50 votes to pass something but takes 60 on everything, i think that's wrong. i think that where -- where we waste weeks and weeks on motions to proceed and i had a conversation with a real traditionalist

udall: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. udall: i ask consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: mr. president, like you i come to the floor this evening with a heavy heart. i know as senators and leaders we're expected to have words for every occasion, and what happened last friday morning makes it very difficult to put words that are appropriate. however, as i think of the coloradans that were there that we're so lucky to represent, their actions spoke louder than words. their actions spoke very loudly on a friday morning in the city of aurora and i want to focus on the actions of all those brave, decent coloradans who were victims in a variety of ways at the horrific movie theater shooting that took place there in aurora. and it cut short the lives of 12 people, injured approximately 58 others. and i'm rising to pay tribute to all of those people as well as to their families and their loved ones. but i think -- and i know the presiding officer, my colleague and my fellow senato

i'll make a note that senator udal has joined us. we appreciate the support from the community leaders behind me. with that i will take a modest number of questions. >> any idea the motive of this? >> we are not speculating on motive. >> chief, can you walk us through the timeline of this -- >> one at a time. >> how did he get inside the theater. >> that's under investigation. his car was parked right outside the back door. >> can you walk us through the timeline of when it began point by point and how much time elapsed? >> again, we were on scene within a minute or a minute and a half and immediately arrested the suspect in the back of the theater. from our first call to his apprehension was a minute to a minute and a half. >> you have people inside the theater, police officers working in the theater. >> we often have off duty police officers working at this theater. they were not working there that night. the response was rapid. >> did he make an attempt to get away? >> he surrendered without significant incident to our officer. >>

think i'm hearing general consensus from the panel that when our chairmen and then colleague mark udall put together this scheme and actually has resulted in a good thing, and it's been helpful, nidis, and i guess the question before us is can we make it even more useful to the country? dr. bamiglieti. the chart in your testimony about the trends and fresh water availability, what is the brightest spot on the map in the polls, massive loss of i sat both, which brings to the forefront the question so many americans have which is what is the rule on the climate change to the weather that we are experiencing. if we are going to move beyond a coordinating role for nidis as you suggest, how would we integrate the climate change status as it is being collected throughout the world into this mission that is nidis? that is a huge challenge. >> that's right. we are actually blessed in this country to have a great set of observations and so you are supporting continuing those and increasing some of those would be greatly appreciated. but i think the key thing is the satellite mengin deily commiss

udall: let me commend my colleague from maryland with his single-minded and crucial focus on jobs here in america. and i rise to speak about another opportunity to make stuff in america, and that has to do with the harvesting of the weu7bd that -- wind that we can do here in america and keep jobs here in america. i have been rising every day the senate has been in session, mr. president, to talk about the necessity of extending the production tax credit for wind power. and every day i come to the floor of the senate to talk about a different state and how important wind energy is to supporting economic growth and job creation in those individual states. today marks the 11th time i've come to the floor to urge all of us, all my colleagues, to act by extending the p.t.c. for wind, and today i'm going to talk about my ninth state out of 50. and i want to say in case anybody's wondering, i'm not tired yet. i'm committed to coming to the floor until congress does what our constituents expect us to do, and that's to extend the production tax credit. it's simply that important. if we fail to

17 senators as follows: reid of nevada, landrieu, gillibrand, mikulski, levin, lautenberg, boxer, udall of colorado, begich, whitehouse, blumenthal, franken, leahy, udall of new mexico, baucus, cardin, durbin. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i have an amendment at the desk to the language proposed to be stricken. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 2524 to the language proposed to be stricken by amendment number 2521. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 2525 to amendment number 2524. mr. reid: i have a motion to commit the bill with instructions. the clerk has that, mr. president. mr. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: mr. reid moves

hear the remarks by mark udall and michael bennet. mr. udall: mr. president like you i come to the floor this evening with a heavy heart. i know as senators and leaders we're expected to have words for every occasion, and what happened last friday morning makes it very difficult to put words that are appropriate. however, as i think of the coloradans that were there that we're so lucky to represent their actions spoke louder than words. their actions spoke very loudly on a friday morning in the city of aurora and i want to focus on the actions of all those brave decent coloradans who were victims in a variety of ways at the horrific movie theater shooting that took place there in aurora. and it cut short the lives of 12 people injured approximately 58 others. and i'm rising to pay tribute to all of those people as well as to their families and their loved ones. but i think -- and i know the presiding officer my colleague and my fellow senator from colorado knows that most importantly we're going to be here to state emphatically that aurora will triu

senator udall, od oing e mn sor er 'sd b ere h sorra aha u hog g.t, lietn our blue ribbon commission is are coming from and would also like mes, ast olly welcome to membe geeytrewth me during the wipp signing process. is expertise is now very much broader and he is very knowledgeable expert with a grt spit opubl e. ,lc s w y isurd,s t k sorr, do that. and doctor andrew orrell is one of our nation's besteprtsn e ncd leuecl anufmteog ipemlbrqo drreas worked on wipp come yucca mountain and the science behind numerous international and tential nuclear waste solutio. ia r anis llesadlms e r -o huar su as we consider nuclear issues, i encourage all of my colleues to reach out to both sandia and los alamos for objective thnappiasresia. committee is aleady approved legislation on the inrim nuclear waste storage. prio wn ndndng hthat thlubbconme recommendations. we are trying to start over with a clean slat for think we should proceed with the regar order, whenever possible. i nowteeneeny mme hss te, i ev th craly eastpicchsa poor history in congress, as evi

udall: mr. president, like you i come to the floor this evening with a heavy heart. i know as senators and leaders we're expected to have words for every occasion, and what happened last friday morning makes it very difficult to put words that are appropriate. however, as i think of the coloradans that were there that we're so lucky to represent, their actions spoke louder than words. their actions spoke very loudly on a friday morning in the city of aurora and i want to focus on the actions of all those brave, decent coloradans who were victims in a variety of ways at the horrific movie theater shooting that took place there in aurora. and it cut short the lives of 12 people, injured approximately 58 others. and i'm rising to pay tribute to all of those people as well as to their families and their loved ones. but i think -- and i know the presiding officer, my colleague and my fellow senator from colorado knows that most importantly we're going to be here to state emphatically that aurora will triumph over adversely in our state and colorado will emerge stronger th

well, senator tom udall's amendment would give us the power to do that, overturning the citizens united case. i would hope we can come together to let us have the power we should. it seems to me that's something that both democrats and republicans in this body should agree on, that those decisions should be made in the congress of the united states, not in the supreme court or the courts of our land. the bill that we are, have before us, and i urge my colleagues to let us move forward -- the disclose act -- brings transparency into the campaign finance system. many of us talk about transparency frequently. transparency is the most important part of integrity in our system. we talk about a lot of other countries adding transparency to the way they do business. we should have transparency in one of the most fundamental parts of our system, and that's how we conduct our elections. it's key to a democracy. it was justice brandeis who said sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant. i don't understand why we would resist the public knowing who's contributing money to influence our politica

udall: mr. president, like you i come to the floor this evening with a heavy heart. i know as senators and leaders we're expected to have words for every occasion, and what happened last friday morning makes it very difficult to put words that are appropriate. however, as i think of the coloradans that we there that we're so lucky to represent, theirctions spoke louder than words. their actions spoke very louy on a friday morning in the city of aurora and i want to focus on the actions of all those brave, decent coloradans who were victims in a variety of ways at the horrific movie theater shooting that took place there in aurora. and it cut short the lives of 12 people, injured approximately 58 others. and i'm rising to pay tribute to all of those people as well as to their familiesnd their loved ones. but i think -- and i know the presiding officer, my colleague and my fellow senator from colorado knows that most importantly we're going to be here to state emphatically that aurora will triumph over adversely in our state and colorado will emerge stronger than ever.

and colorado senator mark udall said, quote, i am deeply saddened and outraged by these senseless andsay, i am praying for a speedy recovery for those who were wounded. other members of the colorado delegation are using words this morning like stunned, furious, and horrific. >> nancy, will the congress expressly do anything differently than it would have done different today or have any kind of special expression of the nation's grief? >> reporter: well, the senate actually went out yesterday, so i would assume actually that the two colorado senators like many and are on their way to their n home districts. normally after a shooting like this, there are remembrances on the house and senate floors, and expressions of condolences. in the past, we also used to see some discussions about gun violence. we haven't seen that as much recently. >> nancy, thank you so much. >>> we're going to take a break. some of you will have a local news date. others, stay with us for continuing coverage of the colorado mass shooting in aurora. good morning, we want to do, but bay area headlines. the biggest

i'll make a note that the senator udall has joined us. i will take a modest number of questions. >> a motive of this? >> we are not speculating on motive. >> can you walk us through the time line? >> let's do one at a time. >> how did he get inside? >> that's under investigation. his car was parked right outside the back door. >> can you walk us through the timeline and how much time elapsed? >> again, we were on scene within a minute or a minute and a half and we immediately arrested the suspect in the back of the theater. from our first call to his apprehension was about a minute to a minute and a half. >> inside the theater police officers working with you, were they on scene? >> we often have off duty police officers on this theater. they were not working there that night. the response was very rapid. he surrendered without any significant incident to our officers. i'm not going to get into why he did what he did. that's not something to discuss. yes, sir. [ inaudible question ] >> he was dressed as i described. >> did he say anything

udall: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. udall: i want to acknowledge the powerful words of my colleague, the senator from colorado. i have to tell the viewers and all of my colleagues, i couldn't agree more. the time is now to act on cybersecurity. i just came to the floor from an intelligence committee briefing. general alexander was there. as the senator from delaware knows, he's forthright. he's well versed. he's passionate. he's as nonpartisan as they come. and general alexander is urging us to act now. so i want to thank my colleague from delaware for his compelling and important words. the matter that brought me to the floor has a link to cybersecurity, and that is, if you will, energy security. and i want to talk about one of the new exciting technologies that's resulting in the production of many, many homegrown electrons, and that's wind power. madam president, i've come to the floor on a daily basis to urge my colleagues to work with me to extend the production tax credit for wind. the p.t.c. has created literally

is interning in senator you call's office -- udall's office. got an inside track. we thank you for your service and we thank your families for their service. senator lugar. >> thank you. i join you in welcoming our distinguished nominees and their families this morning. the foreign relations committee is taking up these nominations at a critical time. we look forward to hearing the administration's assessment of the situation and the plans for moving forward. american policy in afghanistan has been evolving on the margins. troop levels are anticipated to be reduced in the coming months. the united states continues to spend enormous sums that country that may contribute little to the united states vital interest. we need a clear measure of what must be satisfied to achieve the original intent of the mission. it is in central afghanistan is viewed the broader context. if we reapportioned our worldwide military assets without reference to where they are now, it is doubtful that a rational review it would commit so many resources to afghanistan. the country is importan

senator udall as well. and so did so many of our colleagues. the fact that we have been on the floor now for close to five hours and there hasn't been a moment's pause says something. it says -- it talks about the broad support that this modest but powerful act has on our side of the aisle. the fact that no one unfortunately on the other side of the aisle has come to debate this issue says something as well. the only debate, in fact, we heard was the republican leader in a brief speech in an argument that was sort of almost 1984-ish, that the reason we shouldn't disclose that people who give would be harassed. well, by that, we should probably have everything be in secret, because of course in an open democracy when you do things in the political arena, you're subject to criticism. that is what freedom is about. and now to come up with this inside-out argument that we shouldn't disclose because people might be criticized for the contributions they make or the ads they fund, that is the most antidemocratic, anti-u.s. constitution argument that i

reid of nevada, baucus, udall of new mexico, stabenow, begich, whitehouse, levin, casey, harkin, carper, coons, mikulski, merkley, gillibrand, inouye, blumenthal, warner. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

udall: mr. president, i rise to speak on the floor of the senate again this morning to urge my colleagues to vote to extend the production tax credit for wind energy. it's also known as the production tax credit. i know the presiding officer's home state of west virginia has a robust wind energy sector as well. i look forward to coming to the floor and talking about your state in the future. the reason i'm talking about the production tax credit is it's set to expire at the end of this year, and it will cost citizens in my state and the rest of the nation their jobs. we cannot let this happen. tens of thousands of vital jobs are dependent on the wind industry all across our great country. as i've earnings inned, mr. president, i come to the floor on a daily basis and i highlight a state and talk about what the production tax credit has done to encourage growth in that state. today i want to talk about the great state of illinois, the land lincoln, where the wind industry is thriving. it is an ex

he was part of a group that senator schumer organized himself, senator michael bennet, senator tom udall, senator al franken, senator jeanne shaheen, senator jeff merkley and myself, who worked together to redraft this legislation, trim it down, and to organize today's vote and events and tomorrow's vote, and i want to thank all of them for their enormously hard work. i want to thank the pages who've had to stay very late and the floor staff who've had to stay very late, and i appreciate the fact that we have put a burden on them and on their families and we would not be doing that if we did not consider this to be a very, very important issue, and i want to thank the entire democratic caucus for their support of this. our colleague bill nelson has had a unique experience. he has actually ridden a rocket up into space. he has been up with the nasa program as an astronaut. in some respects, i feel that i and others who were leading this were only riding a rocket of the enthusiasm of our caucus to get it done for the sake of our country. i want to thank the american people, who went out of

think i'm hearing general consensus from the panel that when our chairman and then-colleague mark udallput together this scheme, it actually has resulted in a good thing, and it's been helpful, nidis has. and the question, i guess, before us is can we make it even more useful to the country. dr. famiglietti, i was struck by your chart that you showed and is also in your testimony about trends in freshwater availability. what is the reddest spot on that map are the poles. massive loss of ice at both poles which is, brings to the forefront the question that so many americans have which is what is the role on the changing climate to the weather that we're experiencing. if we are going to move beyond a mere coordinating role for ni dix -- nidis as you suggest, how would we inte integrate the climate change data that is being collected throughout the world into this mission that is nidis'? i mean, that's a huge challenge. >> that's right. and so we're actually blessed in this country to have a great set of observations on the ground, and so your support in continuing those and increasing som

led by senator udall from new mexico and senator merkley from oregon.they had been here a while and they thought that the senate was dysfunctional. well, they hadn't been here a long time and i was willing to go along with the traditional view, let's not rock the vote here. that was under the hope and i thought the assurance of my republican colleagues that they would not have these continue wal con sensical motions to proceed, filibuster, taking -- through that finally on a piece of legislation and i said in the senate a few months ago that i was wrong. it's hard to acknowledge that you're wrong. it's difficult for any of us to do. especially in front of so many people. but i said that i think they were right and i was wrong. and i stick by that. i think what has happened the last few years of changing the basic rules of this senate where we have not 50 votes to pass something but takes 60 on everything, i think that's wrong. i think that where -- where we waste weeks and weeks on motions to proceed and i had a conversation with a real traditionalist l

think i'm hearing general consensus from the panel that when our chairman and then-colleague mark udallput together this scheme, it actually has resulted in a good thing, and it's been helpful, nidis has. and the question, i guess, before us is, can we make it even more useful to the country. dr. famiglietti, i was struck by your chart that you showed and is also in your testimony about trends in freshwater availability. what is the reddest spot on that map are the poles, massive loss of ice at both poles which brings to the forefront the question that so many americans have, which is what is the role on the changing climate to the weather that we're experiencing? if we are going to move beyond a mere coordinating role for nidis as you suggest, how would we integrate the climate change data that is being collected throughout the world into this mission that is nidis'? i mean, that's a huge challenge. >> that's right. and so we're actually blessed in this country to have a great set of observations on the ground, and so your support in continuing those and increasing some of those will b

as the presiding officer, senator udall of new mexico, knows all too well, and to quote from a "new york times" story, explosive wildfires have burned across much of the west in recent weeks. in southwestern new mexico, your home state, the largest wildfire in state history has burned nearly 300,000 acres. and it describes other fires on the loose in colorado, in utah. the high park fire burning near fort collins is one of the largest and most destructive blazes in the state's history. also, colorado had more than half a dozen fires burning and it said conditions have not been this bad in a decade. so we are seeing exactly the kind of extreme weather conditions that the climate scientists who the deniers have always mocked and made fun of actually predicted. they predicted that this would happen, and it is, in fact, happening. now, it's clear that you can't take a particular storm and say this storm, this fire, this drought was the product of climate change. the example that people used to describe what's going on is it's like loading dice, and the more you load the dice, the more the nu

led by senator udall from new mexico and senator merkley from oregon. they had been here a while and they thought that the senate was dysfunctional. well, they hadn't been here a long time and i was willing to go along with the traditional view, let's not rock the vote here. that was under the hope and i thought the assurance of my republican colleagues that they would not have these continue wal con sensical motions to proceed, filibuster, taking -- through that finally on a piece of legislation and i said in the senate a few months ago that i was wrong. it's hard to acknowledge that you're wrong. it's difficult for any of us to do. especially in front of so many people. but i said that i think they were right and i was wrong. and i stick by that. i think what has happened the last few years of changing the basic rules of this senate where we have not 50 votes to pass something but takes 60 on everything, i think that's wrong. i think that where -- where we waste weeks and weeks on motions to proceed and i had a conversation with a real traditionalist

thanks to senators chuck schumer, michael bennet, al franken, jeff merkley, jeanne shaheen and tom udall for their hard work on developing the legislation, and i look forward to joining them as this debate goes forward. the majority leader this morning moved to proceed to this vital piece of legislation. i thank him. i and many of my colleagues are looking forward to the opportunity to make the case in this chamber for this important piece of legislation. but in a sense, that case has already been made. as anyone who watches television knows, our airwaves are filled with negative political attack ads. the organizations that pay for these negative political attack ads all have patriotic sounding names dotted with words like "prosperity," and "freedom" and "future." the names sound harmless but they're phony. all too often the ads are paid for by secret special interest interests -- billionaires and wealthy corporations seeking special secret influence in our democracy and drowning out the voices of middle-class american families. as "usa today" put it just last week in an editorial suppor