Again, we were fortunate in this regard. It is a very special place, the Columbia Gorge, but as this narrow channel through the Cascade Mountains occurs, these trains run through the middle of virtually every community along the way. They represent a rolling time bomb and citizens are right to have grave concerns. I dont think the citizens along the Columbia Gorge are mull identified by think mullified by thinking it could have been worse, we were fortunate this time. Instead what the citizens of mosier are thinking and citizens along the gorge are thinking, our concerns about these rolling explosions hazards are confirmed and we need to take serious measures so that one of these trains does not blow up in our community in the future. Now, there are inspections that take place. The track was reportedly inspected on may 31. A track detector vehicle used lasers and other technology to inspect the track within the last 30 days. But what happened . Why did this occur along this stretch of track . It is reported that a bolt or multiple bolts sheared. Why did they shear . Was it temperature differentials between day and night in our unusually warm spring . Was it because of the weight of these trains rolling through . Was it the volume of the traffic . Was it the speed they were traveling . We have to understand every detail so that we respond and make sure this does not happen again. Thats why its so disturbing that the National Transportation safety board declined to investigate. In its mission, the ntsb is supposed to investigate accidents that result in the release of hazardous materials. Well, that certainly was the case. That involve problems of recurring nature. There have been recurring derailments. That involve significant property damage. And there was significant damage here. This derailment sent oil into mosiers Wastewater Treatment plant. The plant has been closed down, amajor challenge for the city to cope a major challenge for the city to cope with. There has even been a pause on ink drg water because the modest oil sheen was uncertain where it was coming from and whether it would get into the intake for the drinking water. So lets heretofore not have a situation where theres a significant crash and we dont have the investigation to learn everything about it so we can apply those lessons into the future. Now, senator wyden has been leading this charge to make sure that we understand accidents, that we have the right set of precautions in place breaking standards braking standards on the brakes and speed standards on the tracks and upgraded railroad tanker cars that are far less likely to rupture. And i thank him for his leadership on this and im full square partner in this effort. The tank car that ruptured was not one that met the new standards. It was what was referred to by the president of Union Pacific as kind of a medium safety, not the worst car, not the oldest car. It did have some upgrades on it but certainly not the new car that weve been setting and aspiring to have, that is a stronger car with more protections, minimizing the chance of a rupture. This is an issue we must take on seriously and urgently. Lets recognize that its one accident after another. In july 2013, a runaway montreal train spilled oil and catched fire inside the town of lakhani in quebec. 30 buildings burned in the town center. In december of that year, a tank car on a santa fe train caught fire after a collision. 2000 residents were evacuated as Emergency Responders struggled with the intense fire. In january, 122car Canadian NationalRailway Train collided in brunswick, canada. Three cars containing propane, one car containing crude exploded after derailment creating intense fires that earn abouted for days. That burned for days. 15 cars of a crudeoil train derailed in lynchburg, pennsylvania near an eatery and pedestrian water front sending flames and black smoke into the air and oil spilled into the james river. The list goes on. In february of 2015, in mr. Mccain if i could be recognized for unanimous consent and he will regain the floor. Mr. Merkley i would be honored to yield to your unanimous consent proposal. Mr. Mccain mr. President , i understand i ask unanimous consent the senator from oregon can yield to to me for a unanimous consent agreement without lose his right to the floor. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mccain i ask unanimous consent the following amendments be in order to be offered. Durbin 4369 inhofe 4204. I further ask the time until 4 00 p. M. Be equally divided between the managers or their designees and that the senate then proceed to vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed with no seconddegree amendments to these amendments in order prior to the votes and that there be two minutes equally divided prior to each vote. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Mccain i ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up en bloc. 4138 peters, 4293 baldwin, 4112 jill brand, 4354 leahy, 4079 heitkamp, 4317 hirono, 4031 cardin, 4169 coats, 4236 portman, 4119 roberts, 4095 ernst, 4086 mu murkowski, 4247 danes, 4344 sullivan. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. The clerk will report the amendments by number. The clerk the senator from arizona mr. Mccain reports amendments en bloc mr. Mccain i ask that further reading be dispensed with. The clerk 4138, 4293, 4112, 4177, 4354, 4079, 4317, 4031, 4169, 4236, 4119, 4095, 4086, 4071, 4247, and 4344. Mr. Mccain i ask unanimous consent that the senate now vote on these amendments en bloc. The presiding officer is there any further debate on these amendments . Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. All opposed say no . The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. Mr. Mccain mr. President , i would we would have these two votes later this afternoon depending on agreement between the majority leader and the democratic leader. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation and we look forward to those two votes. And i thank my colleague from oregon for allowing me to make this unanimous consent request. The presiding officer the presiding officer president amendments are agreed to. For the information of all senators, the senate is under order to recess at 12 30 p. M. A senator mr. President . I would ask unanimous consent that senator merkley, my colleague from oregon be allowed to finish his remarks prior to the recess. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator mr. President . I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of this i be recognized for my remarks before we recess. Eight minutes. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. The senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley thank you, mr. President. In february of 2015, valentines day, a hundred car Canadian Railroad train hauling crude derailed in ontario, canada. The blaze burned for days. Two days later, is 09 car csx train derailed in West Virginia leaking oil in the river tributary and burning a house to its foundation. The blaze burned for a week. In november of last year, a dozen cars loaded with crude oil derailed from a Canadian PacificRailway Train causing the evacuation of dozens of homes near wisconsin. Lets take a look at this chart. In all, there have been 32 crashes involving oil trains since 2013. So unless so in less than your years, four years, 32 crashes. I highlighted a few of them. Weve seen a massive increase of crude oil by rail and, therefore, theres a corresponding concern because of the explosive nature of this product and the derailments resulting in explosions and infernos. So senator wyden and i have been calling for reform and were going to keep pressing. We need better information for First Responders on the scheduling of these trains. We need better knowledge of where the foam is stored that can be used to respond. We need more foam stored in more places. We need faster implementation of the brake standards and faster implementation of the speed standards and faster implementation of the rail car tanker standards. But we have to understand in every one of these wrecks what happened. Lets take the same diligence to this that we take to aviation. We study every plane crash to understand what went wrong. So we can take those lessons and diminish the odds of it happening again and the result is we have incredibly safe aviation. Shouldnt we have the same standards when it applies to transportation across america with trains full of explosive oil running through the middle of our towns, not just in oregon but all across this country . Havent we learned in crash after crash after crash that this is not a one time isolated incident but something that happens with considerable regular regularity . Cant we do more . Yes, we can. Yesterday when i talked to the president of Union Pacific, i told him we were going to call for a moratorium. Senator wyden and Governor Brown representing plumrepresenting bd bonamici joined in this effort and he heard our voice. He understood the challenge to these communities, the concerns that until the mess is cleaned up and until we understand and address the fundamental problems that contributed to this crash, no more oil should roll through the Columbia Gorge. That is what we have called for and that is what were going to keeper cysting in. Let us stop this process of having oil train crash after oil train crash, explosion after explosion, inferno after inferno. The damage gone up dramatically as the transportation 6 this of this oil has gone up dramaticallily. Incidents up from the previous year. So lets act. Lets act aggressively. Lets act quickly. Senator wydens act would take us a powerful stride in the right direction. Let us not look to our citizens in towns with rail tracks across this country and simply shrug our shoulders. Lets instead say we know we have a major problem and we are going to be diligent and aggressive in solving it. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. Inhofe mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment in order to call up amendment number 4204. The presiding officer without objection, the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk the senator from oklahoma, mr. Inhofe, proposes an amendment numbered 4204. Mr. Inhofe mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Inhofe mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the following senators be added to the inhofemurkowski amendment numbered 4204 sessions, rubio , shelby, moran, warren, peters and menendez. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Be mr. President. Mr. Inhofe mr. President , we have been here before. The same language that is in the base bill right now was in a year ago. Last year on the floor, we passed the inhofemikulski amendment requiring a report by the secretary of defense on commissary benefits. It passed by unanimous consent with 25 bipartisan sponsors and cosponsors, supported by 41 outside organizations and by the administration. It required a study on the impact of privatization on commissaries on military families before a Pilot Program on privatizing could be implemented and was to look at modifications to the commissary system. Now, it also required and im sending actually for the language right now. I will get it in a minute. It required a comptroller general assessment of the plan no longer than 120 days after submittal of the report. Now, here is the situation. The house passed the f. Y. 2017 ndaa. It doesnt include privatization language. The Senate Version has the same language as last year that would authorize a Pilot Program to privatize five commissaries on five Major Military bases, but only yesterday we received the report from the secretary of defense that we have not yet received the comptrollers review. Now, Congress Asked for this study because of concerns about the impact that privatization could have on our Service Members and the commissary benefit. It seems like we are taking away benefits, we are working these guys and gals harder than we ever have before, and this is one very significant benefit that is there. Senator mikulski and i along with its now 38 cosponsors. Lets see. Last year, it was 25. And with the support of 42 outside organizations are offering a simple amendment that strikes the privatization Pilot Program allowing congress to receive and vet the secretary of defense report and the report of the valuation of the comptroller. Its not the first time this was done. In 1915, in january, there was a report by that directed the military compensation retirement modernization commission, that they determined that commissaries were worth preserving and they did not recommend privatization. There report that report took place almost two years ago. Then when we surveyed in 2014, 95 of the military members were using commissaries and 91 gave them a satisfaction rate. According to the military Officers Association of america, the average family of four who shops exclusively at commissaries sees a savings of somewhere between 30 and 40 . Now, i have a number im not going to go ahead because of the limited time and read these that i was going to read before, but i have six testimonials of military members about using commissaries, and i ask unanimous consent that in my remarks right now these be listed verbatim. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Inhofe and our commissaries are required to operate in areas, and a lot of these objections are from remote commissaries that are in remote areas where people are not they dont have any other place to to actually make their purchases. At a time when thousands of junior Service Members and their families use food stamps, we should not be making changes that could increase costs at the checkout line. The commissary benefit encourages people to reenlist, preserving a welltrained, dedicated military. It ensures training investments are well spent, saving them the expense of retraining the majority of the force every few years. The commissary savings proximity and consistency of the commissaries also encourage spouses whose opinions may be decided, a factor in the reenlistment decisions. I know this is true. In fact, just last friday i was at the altis air force base. I went into the commissary and talked to someone who was reconsidering he was the wife of a flyer. Up there right now, one of the biggest problems we have in the air force is the pilot shortage. They said that would be a major determining factor. So its the right thing to do. It also provides jobs to families of servicemen, 60 of the commissary employees are military related. The greatest benefit is that their jobs are transferable. If they are transferred from one place to another, they are already trained and ready to go. The department of defense delivered their report, as i said, only yesterday. No one has had a chance to really go over it. The mandated g. A. O. Review of this plan is already under way. Of course it will be up to 120 days after this for the next step to become completed. The report supports section 661 of the senate bill regarding optimization of operation consistent with business practices, but it doesnt affect 662, and thats the section of where we have the Pilot Program. We have addressed this before, but the report also acknowledges that privatization would not be able to replicate the range of benefits, level of savings and Geographic Reach provided by thg budget neutrality. It states the department of defense and im talking about the report from the department of defense is continuing its Due Diligence on privatization by assessing the privatization of all sorgz, and they are already doing that right now. In fact, some things have already been privatized, such as the delis, bakeries. They have been privatized already in those areas where that is actually working. So the privatizing military commissaries before having the full assessment of the costs and the benefits i think is not the responsible thing to do. So we owe that to the to our members, and i would like to include after my remarks the 40 members that are cosponsors and the 42 organizations that are supporting the inhofemikulski amendment number 4204. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Inhofe with that, i suggest the absence no. I will just yield back. I think we have already made that u. C. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Previous order, the senate the senate has recess for their weekly party lunches. Back at 2 15 p. M. Eastern, then more work on Defense Programs with votes possible thismr. Afternoon. Heres some of the debate from earlier in the day. Spoke the National Defense authorization act is important for our troops. Important for Wounded Warriors and veterans and to simple earned for National Security. One way to help keep america safe is by renewing clear prohibitions on presiden obamas ability to mov dangerous guantanamo terrorists into our country. Or release them to unstable regions like libya and yemen anx somalia. Our country faces the most diverse and complex array of crises since world war ii since Henry Kissinger thats a bummer nonetheless states focusg on pursuing a stale Campaign Pledge from 2008. The president would spend his remaining months in Office Working to defeat isil. He should work with us to prepare the next administration for the threats that is going to leave behind. He should dont waste another minute on his myopic, guantanamo crusade. Just about every detainee that could reasonably be released from the secured detention facility has already been the released. Some of our returned to the fight, just as we feared