The impetus for the fiscal year 2012 National Defense Authorization's request for this National Academies of Science study was concerned about safety issues.

Ranking Member Sanchez and I have agreed to take a hard look at these issues over the next few months.

Let me say that we all need to recognize that, alone, simply moving boxes on an organizational chart isn't going to resolve these problems.

It is going to take leadership, both within the Administration and up here on Capitol Hill--as well as a consensus on why NNSA's mission is so important.

Has the privatization of the labs contributed to the loss of senior personnel?

What pressures, if any, result from a fee-based incentive system?

A number of employees including the unions who provided testimony to the NAS panel, and at least one former lab director, have expressed concern that the private for-profit model is harming the labs in that many senior scientists have…

Mr. Langevin. Mr. Secretary, do you feel confident that the command relationships between 10th Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command, U.S. Cyber Command, and other Service cyber organizations are now adequately clarified?

I would like to say that, alone, simply moving boxes on an organizational chart isn't going to solve these problems.

Governance, oversight, and management of the nuclear security enterprise to ensure high quality science, engineering, and mission effectiveness in an age of austerity.

What level of planning have you undertaken?

Special interests would be my answer. We have seen it before. We saw the science mocked that tobacco was injurious to human health. We saw the science mocked that the lead in paint was injurious to children. And now we have seen mockery of…

I note the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.

And the results are really profound. I will close with this point in this discussion. For as long essentially as mankind has been on this Earth, for 800,000 years--to put 800,000 years in scale, we have probably been engaged in agriculture…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so…

I am glad to have a chance to join with you today. I appreciate very much Senator Sanders convening us on this day when we have agreed, it appears, to extend the payroll tax; we have agreed, it appears, to extend unemployment insurance…

The transitional government in Libya is on schedule and is moving towards elections and reforming the government.

I do not know of anyone who has come up with a reason, why any company should allow a kind of general freedom for executives to hedge in an engaging derivative transactions.