i want to thank you as well as senator vitter. inppreciate your interest hearing the wyoming perspective. i would like to welcome a friend who is chairman of the converse county commission. he has been a commissioner since 2007, but a friend of 30 years. he has a great understanding of the importance of transportation at the county level great as that chairman, jim is foronsibility for budgeting a large county, while trying to meet the demands of energy production in converse county. converse county is experiencing increased production in oil, gas, uranium, and continues to produce coal. these industries revive jobs that produce the energy driving our national economy. if we do not have the local road heavytructure to support equipment traffic, these resources will never get to market. he will testify today about wyoming counties where road to bring oil, gas, and cattle to markets, to america, and around the world. these are roads that bring tourists to wyoming's spectacular arts. these are roads that people travel for hours just

i want to thank senator vitter for holding this. he has been a commissioner since 2007, a friend of 30 years, he has a great understanding of the importance of transportation at the county level we have oil, gas, uranium, and continues to produce coal. if we don't have the local road infrastructure to support heavy equipment traffic, these resources will never get to market. he will testify today about where roads bring oil and gas and cattle to markets in america and around the world. and folks will hear about it in these key economic and tourist routes are a mix of paved and gravel roads. the ability to maintain these routes are central to the economy and to other western states. i believe that we need to keep the highway program simple and flexible building roads and bridges and highways. we have numerous agencies and this adds uncertainty and increased delays and increased costs to states and the taxpayer. we have a strong partnership and i know that jim can provide the committee with its unique perspective thank you, senator fo

vitter: mr. president, on behalf of 43 members of the senate -- 43 -- i object based on substantive disagreements about this very broad-based bill. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. vitter: mr. president, reclaiming the floor and my time. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: i think this is really regrettable. the senator from vermont and i can talk about the substance. i'll be happy to talk about the substance of his big bill. but the bottom line is 43 members of the senate disagree with him about serious substantive issues. so there is major disagreement, almost half of the senate, 43 members of the senate, he's going to block moving forward with 27 clinics to serve country about which there is no disagreement. on my bill, as amended, there is zero disagreement because of the supstanyce. and because he can't get his way, he's going to take the bad and go first base, second base, third base and go home. i don't think that's the spirit the american people wa

and with that, i would call on our ranking member, senator vitter. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you all for being with us. this is a very important oversight hearing about epa's budget and overall what's going on at epa, its management practices, how it's being run. this committee, obviously, has that fundamental oversight responsibility. the starkest example of concerns about how epa is being run, what i would characterize as a long-term culture at epa, is the case of the former senior epa official, john biel. of course, he's turned out to be a manipulator and charlatan of renowned proportions. we now know that epa dithered for years rather than take action against a fake cia agent who stole over a million dollars of taxpayer money. this and other failings are detailed in a series of memoranda issued by my committee staff which i would like to enter into the record. >> without objection to, so ordered. >> thank you. this memorandum exposes an indisputable timeline that raises questions not just about john biel, about epa. in january 2011 ms. mccarthy was informed that bie

senator booker. >> thank you chairman boxer and ranking member vitter. i do know what the parish is because my granddaddy is from louisiana but all the folks here to hear your important testimony and in what is a critically urgent issue in the united states of america. or for structure simply crumbling. as new jersey's most densely populated state in the country new jersey is also among the heavily trafficked roads and extensive public transportation systems. we are critical transportation superstructure in new jersey. unfortunately new jersey is home to 624 structurally deficient bridges as of 2013 meaning that bridges are in deteriorating conditions and urgently need to be repaired. it's unacceptable. across the united states a staggerinstaggerin g 65,000 bridges are classified as structurally deficient and 65,000 bridges in our country are structurally deficient posing safety threats to our communities across the country. another 1700 new jersey bridges did not meet current standards with regards to lane size efficient shoulder lanes and are described

senator david vitter joins us on that.n control of the house this year is in full swing. this is important. your money is at stake and so is the kind of america that we live in. here is my take. wednesday president obama appeared before a very friendly audience pushing his plan to raise the minimum wage. he said the economic summit were simple. pay people more, they spend more, the economy improved. someone in the crowd shouted out it is common sense. right, said the president, it is common sense. paid more and you get a virtuous cycle in the economy. he said this as russia was solidifying its grip in crimea. tuesday as the crisis in ukraine was unfolding the president made a pitch for a massive increase in government spending. same logic, spend more, dues the economy and get into that exclusive virtuous cycle. i think president obama is desperately trying to change the subject. you wants to shift attention from his foreign policy problems and shift attention away from the chaos of obamacare and when we get poor job number

senators joe manchin, david vitter and chuck schumer in addition to attorneys general from 28 states, asked the fda to reconsider its approval decision. so why did the fda approve it? experts say the agency was simply following its own rules. and zohydro met all of its current standards for painkillers. for now, zohydro is likely here to stay. analysts we spoke to said it's incredibly rare for the fda to reverse a decision in the absence of new evidence or clinical studies. for "nightly business report," i'm sheila damarajin. >> the company behind that powerful new painkiller is zogenics,a small cap company whose shares have risen 30% this year. >>> enrollment in new health care insurance plans through the affordable care act, the results are far short of expectations. the health and human services administration says that as of march 1st, 4.2 million americans have enrolled in a new insurance plan versus the 5.6 million originally projected. the deadline to sign up for a plan at the federal health care.gov marketplace is at the end of this month. >>> those disappointing numbers may b

david vitters, senator -- in fact it is a big land grab.ue tepa often goes beyond, it even requires dairy farmers to prepare themselves for what is it called, milk catastrophes. >> i like how they send s.w.a.t. teams into milk farms. if i crack a rotten egg is it going to show up. kidding. i kind of agree with rick unger, this is clearing up rules about water pollution. i don't want big corporations polluting the streams and rivers. >> mike, these are the -- the epa has such power. these are the geniuses that promoted that guy john beale who turned out to be a fake and he's now serving time in prison. he was a big shot at the epa. >> what this regulation is about the supreme court has overturned over the past several years, two big rulings by the sixth circuit court. the court wanted to rule that waterways didn't have to be navigatable. the supreme court said no, you're wrong. this is about expanding that so the epa has more power. >> should we abolish it? >> we should, david. and the agricultural department in fact is trying to get the hea

vitter: thank you, mr. president.i rise to talk about two very important issues for the country, and particularly for the people -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. vitter: excuse me, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to end the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. i now rise to talk about two really important issues for the country and for louisiana. flood insurance, fixing the national flood insurance program, getting it right. and the good news is i think we're well on a path to doing that effectively. and veterans medical clinics, including several clinics, two of which are in louisiana that have been held up for completely bureaucratic reasons, aren't moving forward as they need to to serve the veterans in lafayette, in lake charles in louisiana and in about 25 other locations around the country. first of all, flood insurance. mr. president, just a couple of days ago the house passed by a huge margin, over 300 votes, a strong bill to

. >> senator vitter? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, madame chair for being here and for your work. as you know, many of us, certainly including senator brand and i, are concerned about capital requirements at the biggest banks. can you confirm u.s. regulators are close to finalizing the supplement ratio that will impact that and if so when will that take place? >> this is high on the agenda for this coming year. we have out an initial proposal on this. and while i can't give you an exact time, we -- we will certainly be working with the other agencies to finalize this. >> kp you give us a general time frame when you would expect the fed to act? >> in the not too distant future, i would say. >> according to the wall street journal, vice chairman kokoenig said the regulators are unlikely to trade the draft proposal against all large bank assets and a similar 6% buffer at their ensured deposit taking subsidiaries. in contrast to that, there has been concern that you might follow europe's lead in watering down some other provisi

david vitters, senator -- in fact it is a big land grab.ten goes beyond, it even requires dairy farmers to prepare themselves for what is it called, milk catastrophes. >> i like how they send s.w.a.t. teams into milk farms. if i crack a rotten egg is it going to show up. kidding. i kind of agree with rick unger, this is clearing up rules about water pollution. i don't want big corporations polluting the streams and rivers. >> mike, these are the -- the epa has such power. these are the geniuses that promoted that guy john beale who turned out to be a fake and he's now serving time in prison. he was a big shot at the epa. >> what this regulation is about the supreme court has overturned over the past several years, two big rulings by the sixth circuit court. the court wanted to rule that waterways didn't have to be navigatable. the supreme court said no, you're wrong. this is about expanding that so the epa has more power. >> should we abolish it? >> we should, david. and the agricultural department in fact is trying to get the head of the e

there is a way for you to get a few mayors on a letter, as many as possible, to me and to senator vitter, and i know you have just a few here who i think will sign it, it would mean a lot. frankly, i do not want to see this thing go into another meltdown. that, could help us with it would be hugely important. i know there are some people in the audience who are going to be advising on it. know, this is a must-have for a lot of us. we want to make sure it happens. sure thatted to make you know -- i think you do. we took many steps to streamline the last though. i have them all listed. i will not go into all of them. states the to all previously enacted pilot program allowing states to assume the responsibilities of the secretary of transportation under the environmental review process. in my state, there is no federal environmental process. is that right? it, and thens shows it to the feds and says, it is a -- an equivalent process. you could do it, and as long as it is done well, it should be ok. let me say to all of you, this has been so important. we have already heard from the very la

on the screen if you would like to talk to kristina lindborg "christian science monitor" venture vitter. her article is on heroin use in the united states. 202-58-5380 in eastern central timezones 585-3881 and he can send a tweet. estimated number of u.s. heroin users a year up to 66,902,012. lynn holly hansen asks via twitter kristina lindborg where does most of the heroin come from? >> the drug enforcement agent that i spoke with said they mostly look to mexico and colombia. again the thrust of my story of my inquiry i really wanted to look at the people most directly affected. i think there's a great story to follow the trail but that wasn't what i wanted to pursue with this. i really wanted to talk to the people who are most affected. >> host: who were one of the people you talked with? >> guest: i talked to several. the interesting thing is i spoke with several kids at a recovery high school and there were probably seven or eight kids that i talked to. the kids are very forthcoming. there are really to share their experiences. not so much with adults but the kids that i spoke with

i would note that the resolution has not come out of the judiciary committee and that senator vitter, who has filed an amendment to the resolution, asks that that amendment be accepted or voted on, which has been not agreed to. the amendment would say a couple of things. one, whereas cesar estrada chavez strongly believed in enforcing immigration laws, thereby reducing the deleterious effects of inexpensive labor on the wages of farm workers in the united states and which was recognized by the congressional budget office in june of 2013 in their report entitled "economic impact of s. 744, the border security and economic opportunity and modernization act." and he offers this "whereas," a second one. "whereas, cesar estrada chavez recognized the importance of a secure southern border with mexico through citizen participation in the enforcement of immigration laws by encouraging members of the united farm workers of america to contact the immigration and naturalization service to report instances of illegal labor." so those were -- that not having been accepted, i guess i would ask that

bidder -- vitter, if there are no other senators, i will ask senator kaine and has ahofnhofe -- who different plan. >> thank you for your service and for being here. admiral rogers, do you think the necessary support and policies and authority, and relationships and act, are all of those in place, and would you supplement any of those, what additional allah sees would you like to set? and what additional policies would you like to see set? --

bidder -- vitter, if there are no other senators, i will ask senator kaine and has ahofnhofe -- who different plan. >> thank you for your service and for being here. admiral rogers, do you think the necessary support and policies and authority, and relationships and act, are all of those in place, and would you supplement any of those, what additional allah sees would you like to set? and what additional policies would you like to see set? and what additional policies would you like to see set? >> i would like to see those in the cyber arena, those are going to be much more broad than the u.s. cyber command, that would be part of it. command,thin the cyber do you have the authorities and the policies to do all of that effectively. >> my confirmed need to be otherwise -- >> the level of expertise is required for potentially damaging operations, this is definitely lowered allowing achieve somes to level of success. how does this impact the allies and the foreign partners and our ability to work with them. >> i think it increases the level of risk for all of our rs. >> i think it increases the l

his is an issue that senator vitter raise with us. >> ok. meeting.oing to be this will be on the ozone standard. it is my understanding that they recommend a do this as low as 60 parts per billion. and then we went down 60 parts. ifind me you will see a map these were lowered to that level. we talked about 60 parts per billion. never the every county would be out. notice, even the grand canyon area. it did result in millions of job losses. notou think this was acceptable? >> we are in the middle of the process. i would rather not speak of any outcome. >> i will give you a happy medical. 60, i dould come to not think you can refute the efficacy of these charts, would you find it to be an acceptable? established. >> this is the problem. i've lived with this for several years. about the cost of these things. people out there are hurting. wassenator from new jersey saying where i disagreed with him. i think all of these regulations are going to cost the poor more than the more affluent people. percentage ofgher their income on heating their home

bidder -- vitter, if there are no other senators, i will ask senator kaine and has ahofnhofe -- who different plan. >> thank you for your service and for being here. admiral rogers, do you think the necessary support and policies and authority, and relationships and act, are all of those in place, and would you supplement any of those, what additional allah sees would you like to set? and what additional policies would you like to see set? and what additional policies would you like to see set? >> i would like to see those in the cyber arena, those are going to be much more broad than the u.s. cyber command, that would be part of it. command,thin the cyber do you have the authorities and the policies to do all of that effectively. >> my confirmed need to be otherwise -- >> the level of expertise is required for potentially damaging operations, this is definitely lowered allowing achieve somes to level of success. how does this impact the allies and the foreign partners and our ability to work with them. >> i think it increases the level of risk for all of our partners. >> is this in particula

so, i will be -- after senator vitter i think that senator cain is coming back and if there are no other senators, then i'm going to ask the senator that is coming back to close off unless senator inhofe has a different plan. >> thank you mr. cherry and into the witnesses for all of your service and for being here. admiral rogers, do you think that cyber com has the most necessary policies and authorities in relationships in the will to act or are all of those in place and if you would supplement any of those with additional authorities were policies would you like to see? >> in general, my immediate answer would be yes. i think as i have already indicated the things i think that we need to continue to work on for this idea of deterrence, this idea of developing the norms in the cyber arena, that is going to be much broader than just the u.s. cyber command, i believe it is a part of the dialogue. >> dot within the cyber command, do you have the authority and the policies that you need to do all of that defectively? >> yes, sir. >> if i am confirmed in actually executing the mission i did

vitter, proposes amendment -- mr. vitter: i ask unanimous consent to waive reading of the whole. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: i'll briefly summarize this amendment and i first want to thank the chair and the ranking member of the committee for working through this amendment and agreeing to what i think will be quick consideration and adoption by voice vote. this amendment is very simple, straightforward, but important. present law with regard to child care development block grants, present federal law, says that states should and must prioritize for two categories of children. low-income kids and children with special needs. i think we all agree with that priortyization. the problem is as recent reports have indicated, about half of all the states, 23, to be exact, don't do that. they just basically ignore that federal law. and so this simple, straightforward amendment would bring accountability to the system and make sure that all states follow present federal law and give that appropriate priority treatment to children with special needs as well as low-

vitter: yes, mr. president. i object on behalf of 43 senators, including myself, and so reclaiming the floor and reclaiming my time, mr. president, you see we all want to work very hard to help veterans. we all acknowledge that these health care and claim backlog issues are extremely important. that's why i am very involved in all of those issues across the board. that's why, for instance, i'm an active member of the claim backlogs working group that's working with the v.a. to improve that situation and proposing focused legislation. we all care very much about that. but right now, senator sanders' comprehensive bill has significant concerns and opposition. 43 u.s. senators, over 40% of the whole body. i do object on behalf of myself and the rest of those folks. i do commit to continue to working on those issues, but i also stress real regret that when this body is very divided on the important details of that bill -- and the details do matter, that we don't come together on something we agree on. we can't accom

vitter: mr. president, reclaiming the floor and my time -- the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. vit vumr. vitter: i find that vy regrettable. of course i'll continue towork with the senator from vermont. of course i will continue to work on that larger package, which i have been actively involved in for sometime. and i'll continue that. but basically the senator from vermont is holding a very tiny piece of it hostage, a tiny piece that will have no impact, whether it is in or out in terms of passage of that broader bill. what is happening is we have a piece that, on its substance, on the substance of the clinics themselves, no one objects to, a piece that passed the house by a huge, overwhelming bipartisan majority. and yet it's not going to pass here today or perhaps anytime soon because it's held hostage over larger fights. i'll continue to work on that broader veterans piece. i support a broader veterans bill, if it's styled the right way and if it's fiscally responsible. i suppo

four months is a vitter eternity of news cycles and other parts of the world demand our attention but we should not forget the immense human suffering caused by the typhoon. this legislation, s. 1421, would allow people who make donations after the date of enactment to deduct those donations from last year's taxes. in other words, they can reduce their 2013 tax bill by contributing now. it is a modest step but it is one we should take. this is bipartisan legislation cosponsored by senator heller. this legislation is also cosponsored by senator menendez and the majority leader, senator reid. i thank them for their support. identical bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the house of representatives by representative smallwell and thompson. that bill has 35 cosponsors including nine the republicans, representatives calvert, franks, grimm, hick, issa, royce, and young. i thank them for their support. after the earthquake in haiti in 2010, congress passed nearly identical legislation to encourage donations to that country. that legislation passed by unanimous consent in the senate

michael and i know senators vitter shares this goal is to move smoothly to pass a reauthorization bill in the epw committee that provides we hope vi years of hunting certainty. i have begun discussions with chairman wyden and ranking member hatch on funding this bill and addressing the sharp fall in the highway trust fund. this committee has a responsibility to reauthorize map-21. the finance committee has the responsibility to fund it but we are not going to let them just hang out there by themselves. we are going to work closely with them an