wyden: mr. president, i'm going to talk for just a couple of minutes about the issue of secret law that senator udall and i were both members of the intelligence committee have been working on for quite some time, and then i'm going to yield to our friend, the distinguished chairman of the intelligence committee, senator feinstein for a colloquy. mr. president, what this issue is all about is i believe there are two patriot acts in america. the first is the text of the law itself, and the second is the government's secret interpretation of what they believe the law means. and, as an example, several years ago americans woke up to learn that the bush administration had been secretly claiming for years that warrantless wiretapping was legal. this disclosure greatly undermined the public's trust in the department of justice and our national intelligence agencies, and it took congress and the executive branch years to sort the situation out. i believe, mr. president, that the american people will al

wyden: mr. president, the united states senate is preparing to passion another four-year extension of the u.s.a. patriot act. i served on the intelligence committee for over a decade and i want to deliver a warning this afternoon. when the american people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the pa patt act, they are going to be stunned and they are going to be angry. they're going to ask senators, "did you know what this law actually permits?" "why didn't you know before you voted on it?" the fact is, anyone can read the plain text of the patriot act,

senator wyden has been making that case, and i want to make it as well. and i can't support the extension of the provisions we're considering today without amendments to ensure that there's a check on executive branch authority. and i don't believe that the coloradoans who sent me here to

senator ron wyden, an oregon democrat and member of the budget committee and seth stern will take your questions about congressional debate on extending some of the expiring provisions of the anti-terrorism law known as the patriot act. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: the supreme court in a 5-4 decision monday said that conditions and california's prison system are so bad that they constitute a cruel and unusual punishment they ordered the state to reduce the prison population by more than 30,000 in may. justice scalia's defense says that it is the most radical in junction in our nation's history. we would get your take on a course decision this morning. you can start dialing in now. democrats, republicans, and independents. we want to get your thoughts this morning. we begin with of of los angeles times" front-page story. the supreme court called a crowded prisons in humane and governor brown plans for county jail transfers. it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to be paid for by tax hikes. that is the "los angeles times." the "washington -- wall street journal" has this

say please call your member of congress and tell them to vote with rand paul and with you know ron wyden and mark udall and the others who were trying to stop the paycheck bernie sanders are saying. but now it's a done deal nonetheless i would still urge you to contact your two senators your member of the house of representatives and call the white house comment line and just express your disappointment. that our constitution has been shattered or at least a whole has been ripped out of it by the patriot act in the hopes that maybe some change in legislation can come down the road over the next year to something like that or that if further unconstitutional legislation comes forward that they will think twice before that but just blow up our rights like this this is just fundamentally wrong and and we all need to be citizen lobbyists on behalf of the constitution what you know what happened after nine eleven basically it was that it you know and after the anthrax attacks and before the anthrax attacks the two senators that this thing had to go through tom daschle and pat leahy pat leahy

time senators pushing other amendments they caved quick most importantly and then brought up by ron wyden he says of the business records provision which allows the f.b.i. to get businesses medical offices banks and other organizations to turn over any tangible things that seems relevant to investigation isn't being used how most americans believe in fact he claims the obama administration has their own secret interpretation so what do we know about it or discuss this with me is julian sanchez a research fellow at the cato institute joining thanks so much for joining us tonight so we just found out minutes ago that in fact it did pass the senate despite all of rand paul's efforts he really did become the lone man here at the end of the day but we'll get back to some of the wrangling amongst the politicians first let's talk about this this provision that apparently the government is secretly applying their own their own use to it the only one of the more disturbing things about the free market size and one of the reasons oversight and limits are so important because unlike most other forms

wyden: i thank my colleague. i just think it's critically important that the senate know that we're going to keep the heat on on this issue. senator cantwell and i have tried to point out that the agency is dragging its feet. they could use existing authority. we don't think with the kind of shellacking the american consumer and our small businesses are taking, that's not right. and we are going to continue this fight until they get the consumer protections they deserve. mr. president, i have ten unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. and i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer:

a much broader thing but what senator wyden is there something else there even more evidence that the government is doing whatever they wore. the thing the key thing here isn't there americans understand this what stands between us and the ordinary state is because. i don't recall weeks or during government that that's the choice i was gine john whitehead he is president of the rutherford institute we'll have much more from him later it's an interesting things to say about what this says ideologically about the united states meanwhile the gap is growing steadily in this country between the rich and the poor widening as study after study shows the wealthiest are controlling more and more of the wealth and the poor are hanging on to less and less of it and whether this surprises you or not it is most likely not compelling you to do anything about it at least if you're like the majority of the population and in our tease christine for that i found out there is a reason for this most people in the upper and lower classes aren't even aware of it. you could say it's a typical afternoon the

wyden go back to item no. 4? we had asked for more information. do we have that? >> we have a new spreadsheet many of the prices are less than a penny. several in the 1 cent or 2 cent range. the out lyres are 6 cents. the award all of these papers, everybody that is here, you will get a circulation of 300,000. for better outreach to the neighborhood papers, we will make better use of the newspaper association. and there is an organization called new american media that i understand we will make use of them as well. supervisor chiu: is their recommendation on if we should move forward at this time or wait for additional conversations? >> i would recommend that you go forward now. we have the information they need unless there is more you want. >> go forward in which direction? as you recommended? >> i am a prisoner of the administrative code on what we can recommend. but based on what the committee and the board have done in the past, i would think you'd want to awarded to all of the vendors that submitted. the number of responses is small. less than half, probably

newly released white house video shows president obama congratulating his team and a vice president wyden calling bimembers of congress. >> the reason i'm calling is to tell you that we have killed osama bin laden. >> al-qaida now confirming that bin laden has been killed and releasing a new threat that the american happiness will turn to sadness. these are referred to an outside of playbook including plans for water treatment plants, trains, shopping centers. >> al qaeda is still alive. any place where an alerted citizen is important. >> today, a new look at a now dead mastermind still upset for striking terror in the u.s. involved in tactical planning than previously thought. the defense department is stripped away all of the audio for security reasons. and in one part he appears to stumble over some words which is at a reception at of a carefully tended public image. live in the satellite center, abc7 news. >> richard thank you for that report. >>> the material found during the raid at the compound is being called the largest collection of materials ever seized. emerging reports at al-

in terms of having delays ultimately to oil and gas production in the nation's oceans. >> senator wyden. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's good to have my old seat mates in the committee here. and i'm going to ask you a couple of questions about offshore practices. but i want to start with a matter that involves energy production onshore because as you know, mr. secretary, there is enormous interest today in more natural gas production and certainly the events in japan and a whole host of issues that generated tremendous interest there. and clearly what we always face in these kinds of issues is how you go about striking a balance. a balance between natural gas production and there is enormous and growing concern about the environmental practice of fracking. my question to you is you would have a real opportunity using the bom leasing and development process to work through these kind of issues and help us come up with some very sensible models, models that can allow us to strike the balance between producing more natural gas and dealing with the legitimate environmental concerns. and i'

wyden: mr. president, the united states senate is preparing to passion another four-year extension of the u.s.a. patriot act. i served on the intelligence committee for over a decade and i want to deliver a warning this afternoon. when the american people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the pa patt act, they are going to be stunned and they are going to be angry. they're going to ask senators, "did you know what this law actually permits?" "why didn't you know before you voted on it?" the fact is, anyone can read the plain text of the patriot act, and yet many members of congress have no idea how the law is being secretly interpreted by the executive branch because that interpretation is classified. it's almost as if there were two patriot acts, and many members of congress have not read the one that matters. our constituents, of course, are totally in the dark. members of the public have no access to the secret legal interpretations so they have no idea what their governm

when these companies testified together before congress in 2005, oregon's ron wyden asked if the industry needed incentives to drill and the companies answered no. today, he repeated the question. >> if your company didn't need incentives to drill for oil at $55 a barrel, how in the world can you possibly need incentives when oil is at $100 a barrel? >> reporter: conoco-phillips' c.e.o. james mulva said the world has changed. >> we look at the past, and the easy-to-find oil has been found. our costs go up, our taxes have gone up. oil is more difficult to find, our costs have changed. >> reporter: the oil executives argued prices at the pump would rise and jobs would be lost if congress makes it more expensive for them to do business. but max baucus, the chairman of the senate finance committee, says oil company financial statements tell a different story. companies' 2010 profits went to >> nearly 60% of these companies' 2010 profits went to stock buybacks and to dividends, not to job creation. we can put this money to better use, i believe, and we should. we should use this money to reduc

i thank senator casey and senator stabenow, senator baucus and senator wyden for their leadership on trade adjustment assistance language, in getting this legislation put forward. mr. president, just the fairness of this -- again, put yourself -- something we don't do enough of here -- put yourself in the shoes of a worker in champagne, illinois, or in boulder, colorado, or in mansfield, ohio, a worker who showed up for work 15 years, helped his company make money, paid a middle-class, decent wage, then all of a sudden their plant shuts down because it's the -- the jobs are outsourced to chiefnlt they didn't do anything wrong. are we going to do nothing to help them? are we going to do nothing to help their communities? it is pretty clear to me, the overwhelming consensus of the american people say give them the opportunity to get training for another job if we can't save their jobs. give them the health insurance, some assistance and health insurance so they can reach into their pocket with some assistance through a significant tax credit to continue the insurance for their families

imitation tactic so that's what we're seeing and i think what they really want to point out here with ron wyden the senator from oregon recently he's on the senate intelligence committee he just announced that there is a class there is a class or that it's much broader than what we see happening the government's doing much more invasive things that we thought he would say what. and yet you mentioned that americans don't really opposed the ideology has changed so my question to you bigger picture is have that communist ideology some of that this united states with so fiercely fighting against decades ago really ten traded american laws and the psyche of this country as witnessed by the patriot act if you use common as much they were more like china today then china is like. and if it was what we're seeing in terms of swat team or a f.b.i. raids of people who of who are free speech activists in their homes seizing their laptops what we're seeing is we're moving into a police state in fact i would say we're we are in a police state the fourth minute which is the key provision here all this require

week let's just say that hollywood and the recording industry are big fans but for now senator ron wyden has placed a hold on this bill barring it from going to the full senate so let's look into what we should know about it before it moves on join me to discuss this is mike masnick c.e.o. and founder of tech mike thanks so much for coming on the show it's been a while sure thanks for having me now let's start with this definition of dedicated to infringing activities how broad is that. it's really broad you know they tried to do a few things to try to make it a little more specific in this bill compared to the bill they had last year which i recall quite well but it's still really really broad and somewhat begun and going to allow those sorts of sites potentially to be cleared. to be without much group or without. trial were. i'm happy that you mention quite that because that died last year and a lot of people have just called this a redux or redone and they try to put a friendlier name on it to protect. and a friendlier face and you know now they like to give the impression that there'

members of congress that are introducing bills that might be protecting our privacy senator senator ron wyden is actually already in for do. i think it's called the location privacy act which we establish uniform standards and this is again not covering why private entities key but rather what law enforcement must do to get it law is actually phenomenally unclear about exactly what the standard is supposed to be to get location information from a telecom provider or another kind of electronic communication service provider and so that's actually given enormous discretion to with law enforcement and the department of justice to essentially make up interesting new theories about what the legal standard might be and essentially shop around until they find and i just that judge who is willing to buy your theory i also this is something that i found interesting to you is that. some of the schumer requested that apple and google remove all of those apps that they have to tell people where police checkpoints might be because that might actually hurt i don't know that that makes the streets more dang

center ron wyden is an oregon democrat and member of the budget committee.legal affairs reporter with "congressional quarterly." he will talk about some of the expiring provisions of the patriot act. "washington journal" is live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> not available, c-span's congressional directory -- now available, c-span fifth congressional directory. new house and senate members with compact information including contact information and committee assignments. order online apple -- at c- span.org/shop. >> over the memorial day weekend, commencement addresses from across the country. leaders offer insights to the graduating can -- the graduate and class of 2011. memorial day weekend, on c-span. >> president obama's first stop on his week-long trip to europe was in dublin, ireland monday. this includes a state visit to the united kingdom, the g-8 summit in france, and elsewhere. he spoke on dublin's college green before a crowd estimated at 20,000 people. this is a little less than an hour. >> if there is anyone who doubts our capacity to restore

. >> senator wyden. >> thank you. i have one question. i want to know where we are at this point two and a half hours into the hearing. gentlemen, you have done as major oil companies, a dramatic about faith this morning. in 2005, all of you -- you were there, all of you said you did not need tax incentives to drill for oil, and today you've come to say you've got to have them when oil is at $100 a barrel. i think that position defies common sense and certainly even adjusted for inflation and you're doing better now than you were in 2005. this debate's going to go forward. i just want to make sure that folks are picking up on that as we wrap up. one question to ask of you mr. mckay because of the comments you made, and that's the tax credits given for blending ethanol. you are required by law to have the fuel standard and blend billions of gallons of ethanol into the gasoline that you sell your testimony says, "bp is already one of the largest blunders of ethanol in the nation." my question, mr. mckay, is why should oil companies, not jus

i'm joining senators cantwell and wyden in sending a letter calling on the commission to impose the position limits on oil trading that were required by the dodd-frank wall street reform bill. this deadline has passed and the commission should act swiftly to protect consumers. i'm glad that president obama has directed an investigation into the role of speculation in our current gas prices. in the long run, we must invest in electric vehicles. alternative fuels, public transit, high-speed rail, and freight rail. each of these transportation methods can significantly reduce our reliance our oil in the transportation sector. indeed, moving freight by rail is three times more fuel efficient than by truck. if we don't take long-term action, these price spike that's we're seeing now are going to keep on coming. we've seen them before and we will see them again. as president obama said, the u.s. keeps going -- quote -- "from shock to trance on the issue of energy security. rushing to propose action when gas prices rise, then hitting the snooze button when they fall again. let's not hit the snooze

have a situation which costs senator bennett in utah because he dared to have a conversation with ron wyden about health care refor in other words the situation is the problem, and so i think it's different from district to district and from state to state but there may be enough votes for a bipartisan consensus. i think it's going to be ironically easier to get the democrats to vote for the word is in consensus than republicans if they come from districts where the antitax theology school can to clear them heretics and banish them to the electoral hell. and if you think democrats are at a better position? why would you think that? i can't imagine. you think they are in a better position to agree to a cnsensus -- >> because we proved that we will do things that are controversial and a lot of us -- the only thing i think that is working on the democrats fitful in taking on controversy decision is how many got the last election for doing ings right on health care and the stimulus. but that is partly our fault because what i said, we didn't have a natiol campaign. for the first time since 1998

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 proposal ha

have a situation which costs senator bennett in utah because he dared to have a conversation with ron wyden about health care reform in other words the situation is the problem, and so i think it's different from district to district and from state to state but there may be enough votes for a bipartisan consensus. i think it's going to be ironically easier to get the democrats to vote for the word is in consensus than republicans if they come from districts where the antitax theology school can to clear them heretics and banish them to the electoral hell. and if you think democrats are at a better position? why would you think that? i can't imagine. you think they are in a better position to agree to a consensus -- >> because we proved that we will do things that are controversial and a lot of us -- the only thing i think that is working on the democrats fitful in taking on controversy decision is how many got the last election for doing things right on health care and the stimulus. but that is partly our fault because what i said, we didn't have a national campaign. for the first time sinc

legislation by the united states congress for this agency, senator widen and others have spoken -- wyden and others have spoken about. an agency that has this herculean mission on behalf of the united states of america should not have existed just by virtue of secretary of order. but having organic legislation essentially codifies the important missions of this particular agency is something we are very much in support of. in addition tools we need include the creation of an institute for ocean energy safety. we have created an ocean energy safety advisory committee led by dr. tom hunter, former director of sand view labs. we have a good effort under way, but it exists by virtue of a committee not by virtue of legislation. we request the congress also to act in the creation of that institute for ocean energy safety. and finally, i know there has been debate here about the timelines for the exploration plans and requirements now the bomre has. frankly 30 days is too short. it does not give the agency the time to develop the environmental information and analysis and assessment to make sou

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

senator wyden and i have cosponsored a bipartisan bill for that very effort. we're not saying it's the perfect bill, but we're saying it's something in place with which we could start on and address comprehensive tax reform to broaden the base and bring in more revenue and, more importantly, to stimulate economic growth, which has to be a very important part of our solution. entitlements is a must. that's what these people have said. you cannot get from here -- from where we are now to where we need to be unless we include medicare and medicaid and social security reforms. we all know there are structural problems, given the massive move into retirement age of the baby boom population of this country. we all know that these programs are teetering on the edge. there was just a report from the trustees of medicare last week saying that they're moving up five years before medicare runs out of money in order to pay for benefits that are promised under that program. we all know that there are some relatively painless solutions the earlier we start in terms of of ad

have a situation which costs senator bennett in utah because he dared to have a conversation with ron wyden about health care reform in other words the situation is the problem, and so i think it's different from district to district and from state to state but there may be enough votes for a bipartisan consensus. i think it's going to be ironically easier to get the democrats to vote for the word is in consensus than republicans if they come from districts where the antitax theology school can to clear them heretics and banish them to the electoral hell. and if you think democrats are at a better position? why would you think that? i can't imagine. you think they are in a better position to agree to a consensus -- >> because we proved that we will do things that are controversial and a lot of us -- the only thing i think that is working on the democrats fitful in taking on controversy decision is how many got the last election for doing things right on health care and the stimulus. but that is partly our fault because what i said, we didn't have a national campaign. for the first time sinc

and third, that senator wyden's work, senator stabenow and senator mccaskill will work on trade enforcement, making sure these trade rules and trade laws that are in effect will actually be in force so that we can protect american jobs. when we pass these trade agreements, it's always cost us jobs. it's about time we take care of communities and workers that suffer from it. i thank senator webb and i yield back my time. mr. webb: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. webb: i would like to speak today on the pending nomination of professor goodwin liu for a seat on the ninth circuit court of appeals. i would like to begin by saying regretfully i will be voting against this nomination, for reasons that i will explain, but at the same time i want to emphasize my profound respect for this institution and for my fellow senators from both parties, and i believe it would be wrong to vote against a cloture motion whose intent is to proceed forward with debate on the merits of someone who has been nominated to be a judge. i made this point loudly and clearly when

wyden: this morning we talked some about natural gas, where there's enormous potential. i just want to assure my friend and colleague, i will be working very closely with her. mr. president, let me start by discussing briefly what happened in 2005. then-president george w. bush went and spoke to the american society of newspaper editors. it was at their convention in 2005. mr. president, then, as now, energy was a very important issue, obviously central to our economy, and president george w. bush made some very important remarks, in my view, at that convention. i'd like to just read briefly what president bush said to the convention that he spoke at, because on energy he said -- and i quote -- "one of the initiatives that i will push again is to get an energy bill out. i will tell you with $55 oil, we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. there are plenty of incentives. what we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent. it's really important. it's an important part of our economic security and it'

wyden: mr. president, before my colleague leaves the chairnlings i just want to tell him what a welcome addition he has been to the intelligence committee. i have served on a committee for ten years. we've had excellent chairs, first senator roberts, then senator rockefeller, senator feinstein, so we continue to try to look for bipartisan support in trying to strike that balance between collective security and individual liberty, and i'm struck both by the clarity of your statement and the fact that those who are going to vote on these amendments and the american people who are listening in tonight really ought to be able to get in a straightforward, easy-to-access fashion how the executive branch is currently interpreting the patriot act. i mean, the fact of the matter is, law professors give assignments to their students to write analyses of the patriot act, the congressional research service actually has an analysis out, but it's not possible to get the official interpretation of how the u.s.

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. court of 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 proposal

wyden: i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: madam president, i come to the floor today to honor a man who touched every corner of my home state of oregon. harold schnitzer left his mark on our business community, the arts, health care, education and practically every nook and cranny of my home state. he died last week of complications relating to cancer and diabetes. he learned of his impending death earlier this year and faced it with extraordinary style and grace and the wit that marked his 87 years of life. those who knew shairld schnitzer described him in one of two ways. many knew him as a powerful and philanthropic force in our state. others knew him as approachable, easygoing, and especially a person who never took himself all that seriously. i knew him in both ways, and i knew him as a friend, and like many in oregon, i'm saddened by his passing. harold was a successful real estate developer, and he and his wife of 62 years, arlene, gave generously to my alma mater, t