frankening, proposes an -- mr. franken proposes an amendment numbered 3115. mr. franken: mr. president, i ask for order that my colleagues might hear my wise -- the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. mr. franken: mr. president, i call on my colleagues to support my amendment number 3115 that i offer with senators heinrich, warren and sanders. this amendment establishes a national energy efficiency standard that requires electric and natural gas utilities to help their customers use energy more efficiently. our amendment is modeled on the experience of minnesota and 24 other states that have already adopted energy efficiency standards, including states like texas, arizona, and arkansas. the state programs are working great, helping to reduce energy usage, saving customers, consumers and businesses money on their electricity bills, creating well-paying jobs and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. according to the american council for an energy efficiency economy, our amendment will generate more than three times the energy savings of the entire portman-shaheen e

this was an effort that was championed by senators collins, klobuchar, ayotte, king, franken, daines, crapo and risch. you don't often see, mr. president, these large groups of senators coming together in a way that we have seen on this bill. some would look at the names that i just read off and say i didn't know they had anything to work on. but these issues have brought them together. this has truly been a team effort with members reaching out to one another, lining up behind each other's ideas, working with senator cantwell and i to ensure their adoption. and the best proof of that is simple review of our bill. right now the energy policy modernization act includes priorities sponsored or cosponsored by at least 62 members of the senate. when was the last time we saw that level of cooperation and collaboration? 62 members. think about it. more than three-fifths of the senate has contributed something to this energy bill. and we're not done processing the amendments yet. we're not done with that. my staff, and the staff of senator cantwell have been comparing notes about the feedbac

that recognize carbon neutrality of forest biomass, an effort championed by senators collins, king, franken, crapo and rich. you don't often see these large groups of senators coming together in a way that we have seen under this bill. some would look at the names and that i read, that they had anything to work on but these issues broadened together. this has truly been a team effort with members reaching out to one another, lining up behind each other's ideas. working to ensure their adoption. the best proof of that is a simple review of our bill. energy policy modernization acting clouds priorities sponsored or co-sponsored by 62 members of the senate. when was the last time we saw that level of cooperation and collaboration. 62 members. more in three fifth of the senate contributed something to this energy bill and when done processing the amendments we are not done with that. my staff and the staff of senator can well have been comparing notes about feedback we have been getting outside the chamber and what we found from the very time we started working through the committee process to

franken: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i request to speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk about the importance of updating our nation's energy policy. i want to thank chairwoman murkowski and ranking member cantwell and their staffs for their hard work in crafting a bipartisan energy bill. congress hasn't passed a comprehensive energy bill since 2007, and a lot has changed in the energy sector since then. we've seen a transformation in renewable energy. electricity generation from wind power has grown by more than 400%. wind energy now provides electricity for 20 million americans. the growth of solar energy is equally impressive. in it's early days, solar power was known for powering satellites and space stations. now we're seeing residential and utility-scale solar power becoming important components of the grid. since the passage of the last energy bill in 2007, our solar generation capacity has inc

cantwell: madam president, i request unanimous consent that senator franken's energy fellow, michael blotter, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: madam president, i'm hoping that before we go to the caucus lunches, we'll be able to move forward on a few more scheduling of votes. but hopefully we'll be able to do that in a few minutes, so i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ms. cantwell: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: madam president, i request the proceedings under the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: we're making good progress here in the intervening hours since we came to the floor this morning and began business working with the ranking member on the energy and natural resources committee. we have come to you to announce a series of amendments that will be voted on, asking unanimous consent for that. i want to acknowledge that the effort

amendment number 3023 by lee and amendment number 3115 from franken. and that on tuesday, february 2, at 2:30 p.m., the senate proceed to vote in relation to the above amendments in the order listed, vote with -- with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the votes and a 60-vote affirmative threshold required for adoption. further, that the time between 2:15 and 2:30 be equally divided in the usual form and there be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, we are now ready to process a handful of amendments with a series of voice votes. i would ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up and reported by numb number. number 2970, gardner. number 2989, reed. number 2991, inhofe. number 3119, daines. number 3019, murphy. number 3066, hirono. number 3137, udall. and number 305, flake, with modifications. the clerk: the senator from alaska, ms. murkowski, proposes for other senators, amendments numbered 2970, 2989, 2991, 3

senator burr, republican, senator franken, a democrat, offered the f.d.a. device accountability act of 2015. this would help move ahead innovative medical devices, items like artificial knees, insulin pumps for people with diabetes, stents for people who have suffered a heart attack, new surgical tools that can get bogged down in the f.d.a. in other words, we want to keep the safe and effective gold standard, but we want to get these devices through the system as rapidly as we can at the lowest cost we can so people can offered them and so people can use them. senator baldwin and senator collins, democrat and republican, offered a bill called the next generation researchers act. we know that biomedical research is our best weapon against diseases, illness and death and we can't afford to lose young scientists to other countries, so this bill helped attract young scientists by promoting opportunities at the national institutes of health. this is what senator collins had to say about that. if you ask dr. collins whether the bill that senator baldwin and i hav