[applause] mr. president, mr. speaker, mr. president, mr. speaker, madam chief justice, distinguished justices of the court, honored officials, members of the washington state legislature, tribal leaders, local government officials, members of the consular corps and my fellow washingtonians. good afternoon. i want to begin today by thanking oso chaplain joel johnson; the members of the marysville pilchuck high school choir; my family members - especially trudi; the 13 newest members of the legislature who have stepped up to serve this state; and the people and communities of washington that over the past 125 years have given us the great state we celebrate today. i also want to mention a member i also want to mention a member of our legislative family, the late representative roger freeman. he was proud to represent his community. but most of all, roger was proud to be a father to his two children and a devoted husband to his wife, sonya. our thoughts are with them today.
pass-through entity and so the president and the argument is that the americans gave the benefits. well, if we didn t get any of the benefits, i think that we should be confident about that. and it s important to know that this is not the first time had this discussion in front of us and it was defeated 33 to 65 and we have many of our democratic colleagues join with all the republicans to reject a statutory ban on exports. and this amendment that is pending, a they will see the same thing. and i say that because it continues to be unnecessary and i believe that it takes a pause in the wrong direction. and the department of energy has looked critically at this issue at the keystone xl oil being exported. whether or not that makes sense. so they have sent it pretty physically that without a surplus of heavy oil in the gulf coast area, there would be no economic incentive to ship canadian oil to asia where it is coming out of. the department of energy s conclusion was pretty
the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. mr. menendez: [inaudible] and after having had the benefit of having a hearing on the pipeline i ve decided to oppose this bill for four basic reasons. first, on the bill i am deeply concerned that if approved, this pipe lynn will be the first of many pipelines opening one of the largest sources of carbon on earth to exploitation. second contrary to what many believe, i m convinced this pipeline will simply not enhance, help, or in any positive way improve our energy profile. third, in my view, it is completely absurd for congress to take the role of permitting pipelines. it is a role we have never assumed and should not assume now. and, fourth, i believe it s ridiculous that our republican colleagues insist on language banning eminent domain for national parks legislation but oppose it when it comes to foreign or private projects like keystone. furthermore, mr. president we cannot underestimate the environmental impacts
mr. president, mr. speaker, mr. majority leader, distinguished justices of the court, honored officials members of the washington state legislature, tribal leaders, local government officials members of the conflict core, and my fellow washingtonians good afternoon. i want to begin today by thanking also chaplain joy johnson for a wonderful four-part harmony with the members of the school choir. my family members, especially trudy. the newest third team members of the legislature who have stepped up to the plate to serve our state. and the people and the communities of washington that over the past 125 years have given us the great state that we do celebrate today. i also want to mention a member of our legislative family, the late representative roger freeman. roger was proud to represent his community. the most of all, he was a proud father to his two children and a devoted husband to his wife sonja. i know all of our thoughts are with them today. the new representatives
two years we ve also launched a program to integrate employment services with treatment, so that we can help those with drug addiction not only get clean but get back to work. i am proud that together we enacted an overdose protection law to provide legal protection to people and especially to health care professionals who are trying to help. i am proud that we are trying to help non-violent offenders get access to college through the nj-step program. and today, i would like to announce our next steps in helping those battling the disease of drug addiction by improving the way we deliver these services. right now there are numerous federal, state, and county government programs, providers and nonprofit partners, who fund and deliver some form of adult addiction services. how to access those services can be difficult and overwhelming when confronted with the unintended bureaucracy of options. contacting multiple agencies and trying to identify the right treatment is challengin