The presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, on this vote, the ayes are 71, the nays are 26. Under the previous order, requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to. Order. Order in the senate. Order. There are now two minutes of debate prior to a vote in relation to the carper amendment. Mr. Carper madam president . Madam president . Madam president . The presiding officer the senator mr. Carper may we have order . The presiding officer order. Senators, please take your conversations out of the chamber. The senator from delaware. Mr. Carper madam president , let me say to our republican colleagues, this bill is going back to the house. This bill is going back to the house. We can send it back to the house correcting what i think is a misguided approach on pension smoothing. We can knot knock out that 3 billion pension smoothing. We can set a dynamic that will ensthiewr we do our jobs this year and get it done. Across the country, aaa, bicycles, all kinds goafns, senators want us to do our job. Lets vote yes on the carpercorkerboxer amendment and do our job this year. Mr. Corker to my colleagues the presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Corker we are now on the Senate Finance committee bill. There is one major flaw in this bill. It has 2. 8 billion worth of pension smoothing. This amendment does away with that, and what it means is, it would be a better bill but we would also have to solve this problem. Weve had 11 shortterm reauthorizations of the highway bill. Its unbelievable. Weve had five general transfers like this, which is nothing but generational theft. So what this amendment would do would cause us to do our job by yearend. I think urge a yes. I thaipg our cosponsors and hope this amendment will pass. I ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer any senator wishing to vote or to change a vote . If not, on this vote the yeas are 66, the nays are 31. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to. There are now two minutes of debate, equally divided on the lee amendment. Order. The senator from utah. Mr. Lee madam president , the amendment were about to consider would empower states and localities to collect and spend the transportation infrastructure that they need. We have a desperate need within our trappings infrastructure system. That need is not being satisfied by our current federal system. One that has been bloated over the years and has centralized too much power within washington, d. C. The presiding officer order in the senate. Senators, please take your conversation outside. The senator from utah. Mr. Lee madam president , over the years weve centralized far too much revenue and far too much power in washington, d. C. This has resulted in gridlock within our transportation infrastructure projects. We increased the federal gasoline tax by 460 between 1982 and 1994. Instead of using that to back up and secure the federal Highway Trust Fund we instead overreached, we instead expanded dramatically the power of the federal government and the expenses that we incur. I urge my colleagues to support this measure which would reempower states and move us into the 21st century. Thank you. The presiding officer order. The senator from california. Mrs. Boxer madam president , can we have order. The presiding officer order. Please, senators, please take your conversations out of the chamber. Mrs. Boxer senators, i want to speak to you for a minute and i want to tell you thatthis amendment is the end of the federal highway system. The states oppose it. My friend from utah gave a very impassioned speech earlier in which he said essentially free the states, let them be free. But the states oppose his amendment. The American Association of state highway and transportation officials strongly opposes, so does the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the American Trucking association, civil engineers, the national stone, sand and gravel association. The fact is, it would result in an immediate 80 cut to our states at a time when we still have 700,000 unemployed construction workers and thousands of businesses who are just waiting, just waiting to rebuild the infrastructure. I hope you will vote no on this radical amendment. Thank you. The presiding officer the question is on the amendment. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote the presiding officer on this vote the yeas are 28, the nays are 69. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. There will now be two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the toomey amendment. Order in the senate. Order in the senate. Order. The senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Toomey madam president , in 2011, the federal Highway Administration estimated that the average transportation project in america takes 79 months to go through the National Environmental policy act review process. Six and a half years to get permission to build a road or a bridge. Ben nelson, democrat from nebraska, recognized the problem and suggested an amendment. The presiding officer order in the senate. Senators, please take your conversations out of the senate. Mr. Toomey and the amendment simply says if a bridge or a road is damaged or destroyed by a declared Natural Disaster or emergency, then you and you rebuild the bridge or road in the exact same place, the same footprint, the same dimensions, everythings the same, then you dont have to go through the entire environmental permitting process all over again. This would save a lot of time and money and allow us to maintain our roads and bridges. I know, madam president , my friends on the other side think this problem was solved. It was not solved. The department of transportation can, can exclude certain projects but can choose not to and does not have the discretion to provide an exclusion from the army corps of engineers or the fish and Wildlife Service the very reviews that take the most time and cost the most money, so i urge my colleagues to vote yes. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Cardin madam president , this this issue was dealt with in map21 in the committee. My friend from pennsylvania talks about using regular order. We did. And we had a very serious debate and we had many different views and we compromised and there is an expedited process to deal with replacement facilities. Its in map21. It deals with a way to get this done. The problem with the amendment from the gentleman from pennsylvania is that it totally eliminates all of the protections that are in the law. It eliminates all the protections under the clean water act under the nepa process. We handled this in the committee, it was bipartisan, it was done. There is no need for this amendment. I urge my colleagues to reject the amendment. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not, the yeas are 47, the nays are 50. Under the previous order requiring 60 vote for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. Under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on passage of h. R. 5021, as amended. [inaudible] the presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. The clerk will read the title of the bill. The clerk calendar number calendar number 468, h. R. 5021, an act to provide an extension of federal aid highway and so forth and for other purposes. A senator nays and nays. The presiding officer a senator yeas and nays. The pre a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any other senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not, the ayes are 79, the nays are 18. The 60vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of h. Con. Res. 108, which the clerk will report. The clerk h. Con. Res. 108, concurrent resolution providing for the correction of the enrollment of h. R. 5021. The presiding officer under the previous order, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. Mr. Reid mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to s. Res. 526. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk Senate Resolution 526, snoring israels right to defend itself against hamas, and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. Mr. Reid mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid this resolution has been passed, is that right . The presiding officer the resolution is pending. Mr. Reid okay. Im sorry. Mr. President , i ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there okay . Without objection. Mr. Reid sorry. I was distracted, mr. President. This resolution is sponsored by me and the republican leader and senators menendez and corker and others. I want the record to reflect here that senator mcconnell and i have talked about this personally and we agreed without any hesitation what this legislation did. Mr. President , i have always been a supporter of the United Nations. My whole career. Mr. President , what i saw last week disgusted me. As a u. N. Human Rights Council in geneva voted to adopt a resolution accusing israel of Human Rights Violations on the ongoing gaza conflict, the resolution was so incredibly onesided in its antiisrael bias that it makes zero, none mention of hamas and the atrocities hamas has committed by indiscriminately barraging israel with rockets and using Palestinian Civilians as human shields. Hamas perpetrated this conflict, mr. President. They wantonly fired rockets, and they dont care where the rockets go. Hamas has fired almost 3,000 missiles during a threeweek conflict. In fact, the very day that the United Nations human Rights Council exonerated hamas, they fired dozens of rockets into israel the same day. Now, mr. President , these arent firecrackers. These are very violent, powerful weapons. They have a number of rockets. Its estimated they have 10,000 of them. They have something called ws ws18. Its a chinese rocket, but they got the blueprints, iran did, from the chinese, and of course they shipped these surreptitious ly in to gaza. They will travel some 30 miles. They carry about 40 pounds of explosives. They have another one called a fajr5. This is an iranian rocket. Its their most prestigious weapon. Of hamas. The Iranian Revolutionary guard gave hamas the technology to manufacture those. They carry a warhead of 400 pounds. 400 pounds. They will travel about 55 miles. Mr. President , i repeat these arent firecrackers. They have another missile in their arsenal. Its called a khaibarm302. Its a syrianmade missile. A range of some 12 miles. They carry a 300pound warhead. And, of course, it goes far enough that they believe that with the fajr and this one, tel aviv is within their within their sights. The one they have most of is called a kasam number one manufactured in gaza. No guidance system. About a threemile distance, 10mile warhead. Kasam two, ninemile distance. Something called grads. They have lots of weaponry, lots of them, and they indiscriminately fire into israel, and they have been doing this for some time. These arent grenade launchers. These are missiles, huge weapons. These rockets are professionally engineered from iran, syria, other countries. They are smuggled into gaza. They manufacture few of their arms, as i have indicated. These are serious weapons of war. Hamas also continues to try to construct and use its sophisticated tunnels into israel, which as one member of hamas recently bragged allows hamas fighters to invade israel and kill israelis. Hamas responsibility in the gaza clash is a fact, but the United States human Rights Council didnt make a single mention of this terrorist organization. How many of these nations like venezuela, china, vietnam, other nations, what if they i wonder how this organization feels about their human rights. How many of these nations who condemned israel would allow their own citizens to suffer through endless rocket fire, endless rocket fire . I talked to one american who went to israel, as he does often, and all night long, one air raid siren after another. Its been going on there for weeks. This resolution that was passed does not mention a single word, nothing. What is israel supposed to do . We all lament the loss of life. Its heart wrenching. But what else is israel to do as rocket after rocket after rocket plunges into its territory . Mr. President , i met with a man today who owns an oil company, oil exploration. They are doing some exploration in nevada now. Its called noble energy. They are the ones that helped develop gas and oil fields in israel. Its relatively new. But they say there are rockets dropping all over. As i mentioned this morning earlier, iron dome doesnt protect all of israel. They need more iron domes. Everyone in israel, whether they are no matter what theyre doing. They can be out in gaza working in the oil fields, missiles are flying all over from hamas. Mr. President , i condemn hamas terrorism. We should. This is not only their terrorism is not only against israel, its against their own people. As i heard the republican conservative columnist in the new york times, david brooks, say on the news hour, he said this is the first im paraphrasing but this is what he said, its the conflict i have ever known where the enemy says kill more of us. I join my friend, the republican leader, in doing what other nations refuse to do condemning the United Nations human Rights Councils biased resolution, and we in this resolution condemn hamas. Countries that voted for this, venezuela, cuba, china. I repeat, how would they like to look at their Human Rights Violations . This resolution we as a country support in this con afflict alaskan peace which can only be realized for the demilitarization of gaza. They talk about tunnels. Mr. President , these are not tunnels. These are major operations costing millions of dollars to dig a hole in the ground. Why . Going to israeli settlements, kill innocent people. Now, offering the resolution before the senate, we stand with israel and its right to defend itself, its security and most importantly its people. I, mr. President , said earlier i was disgusted with someone who has been a supporter of the United Nations forever since i have been in government, but the United Nations better take a look at this organization. This is disgusting, i use for the third time, because i mean it. Mr. Merkley mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that my intern be granted privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Merkley thank you, mr. President. I rise today to address a topic that is vital to seniors in oregon and to seniors across our nation, and that is our Medicare Program. I know how important medicare is because i grew up in a bluecollar working family. My dad was a millright and a mechanic. A millwright is the individual that does all the mechanical work to keep the mill running. He said if he did his job right, the mill was open. Workers had a payday, and the company made money and everyone was happy. Meanwhile, my mother managed the finances, and she stretched a dollar as far as anyone possibly could. She shopped for bargains. She used coupons. She collected green stamps. And they were able to save and to buy a home and have a foundation for raising their children. And i benefited from that enormously. But despite that foundation, they that foundation they had, their prospects in retirement were dependent upon two critical programs Social Security and medicare. Social security and medicare, basic pension and Affordable Health care, are simply essential for millions of working families in retirement. Theyre the difference between poverty and stability. Now, the way i see it, medicare is a covenant with our seniors. Its a covenant with the 650,000 oregonians who are on medicare now. Its a covenant with the hundreds of thousands who will utilize medicare in the years to come. Its certainly a covenant with the millions across america who depend on this essential working family. Those families across america are families like my parents who worked hard their whole lives, they paid in to medicare and they expect medicare to be there for them when they retire. We cannot break that covenant. And the first step in keeping faith with our seniors is thi this protecting what works. Pretty simple. You would think that that is a nobrainer but, in fact, in washington, a simple proposition like this, a nobrainer, is sometimes enormously controversial. For several years now, many in oregon excuse me, many in washington here and including this chamber, they have been pushing to privatize, to voucherrize or to just plain weaken medicare. They dont understand how important this program is for the secure retirement of our seniors. They dont understand how important this covenant is between each working generation and our retirees. In fact, the house of representatives has repeatedly voted to effectively end the Medicare Program that americans know and love and to stick our seniors with an enormous financial burden in their retirement years. Theres just a simple way to describe that and that is to say it is simply wrong. Now, others have said, lets raise the medicare retirem