that's what we're here to do. >> let me turn, if i can to senator murkowski and let's take time on so we can reach an agreement on. do you have the minutes? by the way, we have a quorum of 12 here and we have nominees. so our committee -- let us go into executive session if i can for a few moments with my colleagues here to return to the affordable health choices act in a moment. kathy martinez is the nominee for the assistant secretary for disability employment, pol southeast department of labor. kathy greenlee is the nominee for assistant secretary of the department of aging. i want to thank chairman kennedy and ranking member mike enzi for their work on the nominations. i recognize mr. enzi. >> i have comments and it's been cleared on our side. >> all those in favor of the nominee say ayes. the nominees are confirmed by the committee and we report it accordingly. let me go back to senator murkowski until the amendments have been cleared. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to just say to the committee we had a good day yesterday. we accepted 17 amendments, and very few from their si

he said let me think about it. and the next call i got was from hank paulson. and he told me that first of all, if they gave us any kind of agreement it would be so watered down that the board would not find it satisfactory and secondly that they did not want disclosure. he was talking about the government not wanting to create a discloseable event and have to disclose, not bank of america. >> sure didn't make that clear with my colleague from virginia. let me move on. >> i apologize. >> congresswoman from ohio. >> mr. lewis, i've been here since this morning and find your testimony a bit disquieting today for some of the following reasons. bank of america owns 49.9% of black rock. but you seem not to know anything of its activities. number two, you are the person who was in charge when bank of america acquired countrywide over a year ago, but you apparently weren't aware of its books and the losses inher ent in the purchase. number three, you are the ceo of the largest bank in the country and you seem to present yourself as having a rather hands off relationshi

let me say this again. i believe this is one of the most important votes members in the united states senate will cast this year. now, let me try to say. why this is a debate about the regulation of tobacco. and to start with members need to be reminded that this is not an industry without regulation today. this is the current chart of federal regulation of the tobacco industry before we do anything. and i might point out that included in that regulation -- regulatory structure is the department of transportation, department of treasury, department of commerce, the department of justice, the office of the president, the department of health and human services, the department of education, the department of labor, general services administration, the department of veterans' affairs, the federal trade commission, the department of agriculture, the environmental protection agency, the u.s. postal service, the department of defense. one, no member can come to the floor and claim that this is not a regulated pro

let me try to help you. one is from chairman bernanke to a selection of the board of reserve governors. and this is december 21st, 2008, around the time that your thinking about this material adverse change being existent or not. this is from chairman bernanke, i think the threat to use the mac, the material adverse change, is a bargaining chip and we do not see it as a likely scenario at all. nevertheless, we need analyses of that scenario so we can explain to bank of america with some confidence why we think it would be a foolish move and why regulators will not condone it. the other e-mail is actually sort of reinforces that and that is from jeffrey lacker, who was a president, i believe, of the federal reserve bank of richmond at that time and i think he's a voting member now. this e-mail was also cc to the chairman, i believe. just had a long talk with ben, ben bernanke, i presume, says they think the mac threat is irrelevant because it's not credible and tends to make it more clear that if they, meanin

let me quote him: "f.d.a. commissioner kessler called this a pediatric disease with onset of adolescence and most adult smokers began to smoke before 18 and it makes sense for congress to discourage young people from starting to smoke during these critical years. youth smoking in america has reached an epidemic proportion according to a report by the centers for disease control. smoking rates among high school students soared by nearly a third between 1991 and 1997. among african-americans the rates soared by 80%, more than 36% of high school students smoke by 1991 year high with youth smoking at crisis levels and still increasing we cannot rely on half-way measures. congress must use the strongest legislative tool available to reduce youth smoking as rapidly as we can." well, the senate told the american public that the passage of a massive f.d.a. tobacco regulation back in 1998 contained the strongest legislative tools available to address youth smoking issues. by the way, mr. president, they have decreased

let me also talk about the importance of this bill. we talked about the investments in clean energy. we talked about the money allocated for that. but i did not mention yet that this bill will promote deployment of smart grid technology and enhanced transmission planning. this is an important part of the bill. this smart grid technology and the promotion of the use of it will help cut carbon emissions, will help have a more reliable grid and will improve our energy useage, which is an important part of our bill. i mentioned energy efficiency measures, which include building standards. one of the questions that we already had, our initiatives for future government buildings to be built green. if not, why not? the bill establishes new standards for building efficiency requiring new buildings to be 30% more efficient by 2012, 50% more efficient by 2016. states are offering allowances they can sell to support adoption and enforcement of the new standards. department of energy must enforce stands in states that do not incorporate building s

but let me move on now to the hard work of the day. the first thing i'd like to do is offer two technical amendments and i seek unanimous consent to adopt the mikulski technical amendment and the dodd technical amendment. my understanding, it's been reviewed by the staff. these incorporate technical -- limited technical clarifications to title 1, they don't affect substantive policy. they are like editing typos. there is noticeable clarification, includes includes corrections to the definitions of a patient-centered medical home. it includes senator dodd's clarification regarding evidence informed information rarned evidence behaved information. as i understand, senator dodd, that comes from the national academy of pediatrics? >> that's correct. >> we also included senator hatch's clarify amendment to include chiropractors as part of the community health teams, which is more than agreeable to us. it adds the standard of i.o.m. to define what is primary care and it provides authorization for such sums as may be necessary to carry out th

i said well, just give me that number, let me call them. and she calls me back in five minutes, says well, the nine will do. and i wasn't going to let her put me out of business, just like the gentleman beside me. i have employees that i care about, they have been with me from the beginning and it's just -- it's unbelievable how we have been treated. there is no rhyme or reason. in west virginia, there's a dealership that sold 19 cars last year and he has his franchise in his front yard, and he takes -- they take spencer auto group. there's no rhyme or reason. >> mr. press, were you an auto dealer like mr. lopez, would you know how to close down a dealership in 26 days? can you tell me how you do it? >> well, we are nae the process of working through a bankruptcy of chrysler corporation and not too many more days. it's very difficult, it's strenuous. the fact of the matter is that in our situation, we did not plan or have in our minds the desire to have a bankruptcy. >> i wish you would answer my question. >> okay. >> would you know how to d

knows what the products will be. >> let's get to work on quality, that is what we are here to do. >> let me turn if i can't senator mikulski. why don't we take care of those and reach some agreement. >> by the way we have got a quorum of 12th so let us go into the executive session if i can for a few moments with my colleagues to return to the affordable health choices act in a moment. kathy martinez is the assistant secretary for the disability, kathy is the nominee for the administration for aging department of health and human services. i want to thank chairman kennedy and remember mike enzi for their work on the nominations. >> i have comments i will put in the record it's been clear on our side. >> all of those in favor say aye, the ayes appear to have it and the nominees are confirmed by the committee. they will be reported. let me go back if i can to senator mikulski about amendments that have been cleared. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to say to the committee we had a good day yesterday. we accepted 17 amendments, and very few from our side, but as the other side of the aisle o

let me get to page 70. in particular, where mass layoffs have resulted in precipitous increase in unemployment. we have a provision in here that recognizes that millions of american jobs will be lost, but don't worry, we'll extend your unemployment. most of my constituents who are unemployed don't want unemployment they want a job. and this is going to kill them. i hate to do this to all of you, i do. i hate to do this. but when you file 300-page amendment at 3:09 in the morning somebody needs to work on it. i worked on it today. and i want to make sure everybody understands what's in this 300-page amendment. page 76, certification by hollings manufacturing extension center. a hollings manufacturing extension center or other entity designated by the secretary for purposes of providing certifications under clause so and so, and so and so. so now why are we singling out one, one company, one company, where did this company come from? further down the page, page 76. repayment upon relocation outside the united

let me ask you this. did mr. bernanke have any influence with regard -- i understand you just answered the question. did he ever say that you should not disclose certain information and do the deal? did that ever come to you in any kind of way from bernanke? >> no sir. well, the -- he never said we should not disclose anything that was discloseable, that would be our decision and i never heard from him on the issue of us not disclosing something. >> anything else -- look like you're trying to go somewhere. >> the second piece i thought you asked me, sir, was the issue of him not wanting us to call the mac and he did express that to us. >> when did he do that? >> he expressed it on more than one occasion. i don't remember which dates but several dates. if you are an experienced man, i understand you have great judgment, apparently when you thought about this mac thing, it was based upon your own experiences, was it not? yes, sir. >> what were you thinking? >> i was thinking that the losses had accelerated to a poi

let me just do this. i'm going to submit for the record a question 'cause i know you can't answer it just sitting here to find out who they are, what kind of categories of folks that they are, if there are any that are really comparable to the high value detainees that are at guantanamo today. that would be very helpful to us. second, if you'd like to comment on right now, fine, to get a sense of what kind of capacity we have. my understanding is that we're way overcrowded in the super max facilities today. by the way, can you just tell us do you know whether that's true or not right now or do you want to respond on the record? >> whether they're overcrowded? >> yes. my understanding there's a capacity of like 13,000-something and there are like 20,000 being held. >> senator, i'd have to get you those statistics. i just don't know offhand. >> all right. i appreciate. two other follow-up questions on that same matter. one has to do with the recruitment of terrorists in jail. we know that's a big problem wi

>> let me see if i can't deal with both of the agreements. in the case of the wind-down agreement, as i said, we had done a similar exercise in canada just recently and our early returns from our dealers who are going to be wound down and with the appeal process, we think we have a workable approach for those dealers. >> if i can interrupt, it's kind of a no choice deal. >> it is, but in our judgment, the benefits that are provided in this agreement are vastly superior to the alternatives. >> which is death versus life support? >> the alternative is -- well, no, sir. in this case, what we're going to provide them is the ability to wind down their franchise through october of next year. so they have plenty of ability to take care of customers and we provide compensation to them. >> let me ask you that on october of next year, is that still the same status in the bankruptcy process you are going through today, you will continue to uphold that to 2010, october? >> in the case of a dealer that chooses not to sign the wind-down agreement, they won

and let me -- let me put this out. you know, when we talk about state secrets underlining that is the power to classified and i think what we have failed to do as a committee is to examine the process of classification. because what i see again and again is the classification of material that is later in declassified or comes as you suggest or as the gentleman from iowa indicated goes into the public domain and every one is perplexed simply because it appears to be no rational basis for classifying that information so, you know, mr. grossman was seems to have great confidence in the executive. his testimony is there are seven separate requirements including department of justice review and personal consideration by higher ranking federal officials insuring that the state secrets privilege is used only when necessary to protect the state secrets. and i respect the sincerity of his belief yet at the same time that's in my judgment is not what the founders designed when they created the constitution and that there were me

>> let me clarify that we do not post claims under light.we ask information of every single applicant of the company and 88% of the time we receive additional the information from them and we ask them to fully disclose all the information. it is only when we are aware subsequently that there was information that was omitted or inaccurate that we would investigate whether a recession would be made. >> but that would be the trigger an act. and you wouldn't know about that unless something in bye way of a pharmaceutical being prescribed or an office visit in the doctor's office or hospitalization -- >> that is correct. >> when asking is as you give the policyholder ten days to figure out if it is correct should there be a comparable, maybe longer -- obviously i think longer -- period of time and which the company, without some triggering act, should be required to review the applications and say hey, we think there's something wrong or ask for additional information, rather than waiting until people get in a posture where they probably are on i

let me also welcome all my fellow gm shareholders.ll this event together. and i want to thank him for the pivotal role that he's playing on our house republican team. i also want to thank pete sessions for the outstanding work that he's doing to build a stronger and more aggressive nrcc. you know, raising moin, recruiting great candidates and really going after the vulnerable democrats around the country and let me tell you, they're doing great work. now, i wasn't really going to talk about my senate colleagues because you know, this is a house-senate dinner. they do our thing, we do ours. let me tell you what, i could not have a greater partner in this town than senator mitch mcconnell. you know, there are an awful lot of those senators now who were former house members and friends of ours. let me tell you what, working together on behalf of our party, i think we're showing the american people the best of the republican party and the best that we can do on their baffle. behalf. i also want to thank newt for being here tonight, as wel

. >> let me pursue this further. maybe i should complement you over justice scalia who thinks that nothing we say makes a difference. even if you accept number 2 legislative history, employer request, it seems to me the type of material usually requested in foia is much less sensitive than a material where an allocation of a state secret is asserted by the government. doesn't it concern you that we would be having different standards if we have different types of weight to be accorded to government assertions or administration assertions when records or information are attempted to be sold from the government? >> i am not sure, i simply don't have the experience although i have encountered both kinds of cases, foia exemption i and a former state secrets but i don't have the experience to validate what you say, that somehow state secrets are likely to involve much more sensitive material. my chief experience with foia, there were sensitive materials race in some of those cases including the helicopter rescue of the pe

but let me quote it. "we believe the absence of effective harm reduction strategies for smokers is perverse, unjust, and acts against the rights and the best interests of smokers and public health." a reputable health publication that basically says the absence of effective harm reduction strategies acts against the rights and public health. but the base bill 1256 has no effective harm reduction strategy, no pathway to harm reduction products. but they claim to be a public health bill. a health care publication says that can't happen. it's perverse. it's unjust. well, they said it. i didn't. but i think what they mean is that to consider passing h.r. 1256 with the knowledge that's been given would be perverse, unjust, i'm not going to have an opportunity to talk fully at this time because i've got a colleague that will take the floor. but, mr. president, let me say i talked earlier about camel orbs and the way that cnn portrayed this product as candy and staged a news event -- well, news would be -- let's

let me explain why. first, a government listen run plan will take away the health insurance that people have right now. last year, president obama campaigned on the promise if you like what you have, you'll be able to keep it. i agree with him, that ought to be our goal. but with a so-called government plan, that will not happen. we all know that government is not just the regulator but it's also the one paying the bills. ultimately the government cannot be calling the balls and strikes as it takes to the field to be a so-called competitor. let me put a finer point on it. one group of analysts, the louen group, said the government plan would take away, ultimately, current health benefits from 119 million americans and force 130 million american into a washington-run health care plan. now how does that happen? well, ostensibly, you have the government competing with the private sector to provide health care but we know the government ultimately would provide a more generous package and could do so, of cou

let me get to page 157. the appraisal subcommittee, another new part of the bureaucracy, shall establish requirements for state certification of state certified real estate appraisers and for state licensing. of state licensed real estate appraisers to ensure that the appraisers are qualified to consider in determining the value of a property any renewable energy sources or energy efficiency or energy conserving improvements or features of the property. interesting. and the secretary on page 158, shall require the housing assistance council to encourage each organization that receives assistance from the council with any amounts made available from the secretary to provide that any structures and buildings developed or assisted under projects, programs and activitied funded with such amounts complies with the energy efficiency standards under section 284-a of this subtitle. more power for a lot of unelected bureaucrats. then on page 160, the middle of the page is it says, in general, the secretary shall use

let me begin the question. let me ask unanimous consent that we have ten minutes on each side initially. then after that five minutes for each member. of course, if we need a second or third round, we will do that as well. without objections, so move. >> one of the key questions is when you discovered the massive losses at merrill lynch, mr. lewis. you said you learned of them late and they came as a big sur prize. but the e-mails from the fed tell a different story. tim clark from this fed said that you're claim to be surprised seemed somewhat suspect. the federal government wrote this claim is not credible. and there are more like this. it's clear the fed think that you either knew or you should have known about these losses sooner. i have to say, everything that was happen manager the financial market last fall, your claim that you had no idea about merrill's losses until september is remarkable. the fed either seem to think you are not being forthcoming about that, or you were completely clueless about the

let me ask about the process. let us be clear about what the prime minister seems to be considering. we are in the fifth and final year of the parliament. there have been reports that a referendum on electoral reform is being considered for before the general election. can the prime minister confirm those reports? is that something he's considering? >> no plans for that. and let me just say, when he hears the statements later, he will hear that there is an interest throughout the country in what happens to electoral reform. we published a review -- i'm sorry, we published a review on the issue of electoral reform only a few months ago. that has led to a serious debate in the country. but we are not putting proposals forward today. and if i may say so, i said he'd moved on to policy but there seems to be an element of self-interest in the way he's approaching policy. is it not strange -- is it not strange -- is it not strange, mr. speaker? >> order. order. i'm not getting much help from the chief. but i tell the chi

this -- let me tell you something. we took the money out in our subcommittee, we said, look, you've got to have a plan before you do anything. reprogram the money after you have a plan. that's what we said. we believe that. we don't think other language is even necessary. i oppose the amendment and would ask for a no vote. >> any other comments? >> no reason to beat this to death, i'd like to have a vote. >> let me just say before we do vote, i want to point out that the money to pay for any resettlement of these prisoners or movement of these prisoners or closing gitmo has already been removed and with respect to the gentleman that moved -- that was moved to new york, let me point out that is a very special case. there were four previous people whomp involved in the kenyan bombing who were already tried. this case goes back to 2001 and the reason they had to bring him up for trial is because the clock was ticking on the -- they didn't want to lose their opportunity to prosecute him on speedy trial grounds. they had no

let me ask two questions. you touched on this some. you touched a little bit on the sectors that have improved. but let me go back to that on the credit markets, which ones are improving, what are the areas that are still lacking that need attention to improve to get there, and specifically thinking more about how long will it take to -- for additional credit to be available for consumers of small businesses. because i was home this past week, and i talked to a lot of folks. they still tight in the business sector. car dealers are having a difficult time and a lot of places in getting people qualified to buy the vehicles

let me also say -- let me address and a legitimate concern being put forward by those who are claiming that a public option is somehow a trojan horse for a single payer system. i will be honest -- there are countries racing appear system works pretty well. but i believe, and i have taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief, that it is important for our reform efforts to build on our traditions here in the united states. so when you hear naysayers' claims i am trying to bring about a government-run health care, know this -- they are not telling the truth. [applause] what i am trying to do and what a public auction will help do is put affordable health care within reach for millions of americans. and to help insure everyone can afford the cost of health care option in our exchange, we need to provide assistance to families who need it. that way there will be no reason at all for anyone to remain uninsured. [applause] indeed, it is because i am confident in our ability to give people the ability to get insurance at an affordable rate that i am open to a system where eve

let me take his minister. she said this as the budget made clear the only way to clear a huge debt overhuge in the medium term will be to cut pounds for spending. why does he find it difficult to give a straight answer and be straight with the british people? >> mr. speaker, i'm giving the house the figure. he has given not one figure to back up his proposition. the only figure -- the only figure we have had is the admission by the shadow health secretary that he would cut public expenditure in vital departments by 10% and what we will not be doing is cutting expenditure by 10%. let me tell you what the real terms rise in current expenditure is. and at some point maybe the leader of the opposition will listen action 60 theto 629, to 633 to 638 to 642. these are rises in expenditure after inflation has been taken into account. once again, he's trying to hide the fact that he has got 10% cuts. he is the party of cuts. we are the party of investment. and because he wants to use the cuts to pay for inheritance cut

let me share a quick story. my sister in-law, she did her thesis on a woman that needed a kidney transplant. the insurance company did not want to pay it. she had to go to court and fight it. she finally won and then they rejected her needing the medication that would keep her body from rejecting the kidney. she lost that battle and she died. i'm really disgusted when i hear people saying single payer and we'll have to pay it. this is about people's lives. not about money. our system does not work. i'm tired of the greed. i'm going to attend one of those meetings obama is having on saturday. i'm disgusted. our insurance companies are not going to win w. he need the good insurance companies to stick around. we need the one that's don't care about the people, they are not helping america. >> we'll be talking about the jobless rate. in an interview, hilda solis was asked how high the ray could get. here is her response. my message to you, in hard times unprecedented, we always see the lagging of workers. that's goi

let me start with judge eckels and just ask that -- well, let me first state that i hope there will be funding tore projects other than those that may be further along than the texas t-bone, and if you could apply right now for federal funding in part of this stimulus, what would you ask for it to do? >> today, our biggest need is the market and environmental engineering studies. before we go on the ground with a system we want to make sure that it's a system that will be viable, will have the market that will support the system. unlike the east coast, we don't have regular service between houston and dallas today. so to develop one we need to make sure that we are building a system which can be priced so we can compete with the automobiles, with the aircraft and also to keep an operational system. i do think bringing the discipline of the marketplace to the system can help set a fair schedule and construction, you know, of the technology that will make sense and would be viable for the long term for the state. >> let me ask mr. szabo, i'm looking at a map, basically the amtrak system

i had some hoosiers in the office who didn't want to let me go. if this question has been discussed just let me know and i'll move on to something else. could you talk, admiral, a little bit about some of the interoperability between the agencies. if things are being done in the most efficient manner between the interagency cooperation, some of the challenges you might have faced, what's the best practice and, you know, what are our successes and what challenges are you facing in the meld there? >> yes, sir, we did address that at some level and what i said very quickly is it's better than it will ever been. it will get better. and we are now at the point where the structures that have evolved to provide the venues for these kinds of interactions to occur. now it's a matter of the people getting the knowledge of each each other's organizations and

and let me offer to the women a happy father's day. because we now want to step up to the plate and take some burden off of your plate. and the responsible fatherhood field doesn't have the infrastructure associated with maternal health. and we build these partnerships including the ladies, and we will figure out how to put these in every community of the -- community. and this will happen to those associations and reach out to the national fatherhood's group. >> thank you. juan, the program where the president visited, this sounds outstanding and tell us a little more about it. >> i was saying like when i came to this country, they gave me the opportunity to be successful in the united states. so basically the program is between the ages of 18-24, they train you computer skills, they give you social skills, how to write an e-mail and how to communicate and how to deal with difficult people. so this program basically work with the students, not just give a training but also encourage them to become something in life. like if they have

let me first, i might, talk about predatory lending. the civil rights movement was responsible for the passage of significant legislation that was intended to end discrimination in housing. the fair housing act, the equal credit opportunity act, the home mortgage act, to name a few. and i think it did a great job in ending redlining. the problem now is we have reverse redlining. let me give you some of the statistics from 2006 leading up to the current housing crisis. we find that the high-cost loans -- 37% that were placed in these high-cost mortgages could have been placed in traditional fixed -rate loans. the disturbing fact is that of those placed in high-cost loans it was 53.3% for black bororers, 46% for latino, and 17.7% for white bowo -- borrowers. the percentage is much higher in the traditional fixed-rate homes. it was noted a case brought by the region reverberates throughout the region. the broad-based injunkive relief cannot be -- injunctive relief cannot be matched by individuals. my point being, we have not seen a case br

>> let me talk about the president's admonition.he has been very clear that the policy directives regarding things like the environment for health and safety-not within our purview. you do not expect to have any authority. whenever the congress passes and the president signs, we would expect would apply to all companies to do business similarly. there are no special accommodations in those areas. a passive shareholder is trying to get money back to give back to the american people. we will leave to others to determine what the proper policies are regarding other matters. >> thank you, senator shelby. i am senator bennet of colorado. >> thank you, mr. bloom, for being here. i want to say congratulations on the speed in which the chrysler situation, someone who used to make his living restructuring companies in bankruptcy, nothing this complicated. this has been lightning quick. lot of people say it couldn't be done. you are not going to come in in 30 days, you came pretty close to a. in my view that is a major step forward to try to

as ellen mentioned i just returned from a trip to pakistan and afghanistan so let me report on some of the developments that are going on there. in pakistan, the primary security event is this offensive in the swat valley that is being pursued by the pakistan army. we have seen these operations in recent years, but i think there is some interesting and important changes to what is going on this year. in the first place, for the first time, the pakistan army operations in that part of the world have support of the government and of the public. there was a parliamentary solution, which occurs. defences takes place. there been statements of support by the government, and more public support and this is really different from the past when the army went up and there was little backing from the public come a little backing from the government. as we all know who served in the armed forces, when you are up there making sacrifices and nobody back, seems to be caring or supporting you, it is not something that you push hard. it is not something that maintains that intensity. another difference

let me say, mr. president, our bill goes farther than the kennedy-waxman legislation by banning -- banning -- the use of terms like "light," "ultra light" or "medium," and bans the use of candy, fruit, or alcohol descript terse, on cigarettes even if not characterizing player. in addition, the risk reduction center is required to establish a relative risk ranking for tobacco and nicotine products annually and disseminate that information to the public. this preempts any unsubstantiated lower or reduced risk consumer communications by a tobacco manufacturer. in other words, we will require under 1256 the f.d.a. does not have to inform the public about the relative risk of the products that they regulate. so they're not going to share with the american people that if you smoke unfiltered cigarettes it is 100% rifnlg if you smoke filtered cigarettes, it is 90% rifnlgt but if in the substitute that's being offered, we actually require the harm reduction center annually to print a list of what the risk of

. >> let me explore that with you. i am still hung up on this c-1013. let me put it this way. is it your contention that all you need to show is that there is a ballot that doesn't have a signature on it to prove up that it was -- that it was improperly accepted by an election official? or do you concede that you have to show that it was otherwise improperly accepted? what i am getting at, there could be other explanations. as al franken's lawyer argues, every ballot tell the story. we don't have the story so how do we judge? >> first of all, that might be the biggest non sequitur in anglo-american jurisprudence. every ballot doesn't tell a story. whether a ballot should be opened and counted, you do that from the face of the ballot. that is how the judges made the decision on election night. that is how they made the decision in trial court. >> beyond that -- there are other reasons that a ballot doesn't have the signature on it, was properly accepted? >> there might be an explanation for that. neither of us know. there might be. >> the counselor gave one explanation. the oth

now let me explain. we are going to adjourn the full committee, and then the subcommittee reconvenes, the health sub committee reconvenes at 1:00. and we have three panels for the rest of the day. mr. chairman -- >> mr. diehl. >> mr. chairman, with all do respect to the secretary. this was billed as a legislative hearing on a draft. >> yes. >> we have heard the secretary say she did not participate in the draft preparation, nor has she apparently as she said had the opportunity to read it. one of the situations we all labor on in this time frame. i would simply urge you to urge our full chairman of the full committee that it would be mandated that she return to answer questions when we move to a legislative proposal. we're talking about a draft. hear we be allowed the opportunity to answer -- to ask and to have answered questions. you made the statement she was speaking on behalf oaf the obama administration as it relates to the draft. i think there are specifics that we should have the opportunity to as

so let me turn -- let me turn -- let me turn to the issue of the economy, and let us take -- let's take just one key individual, the person responsible for steering us through the recession, the chancellor of the exchequer. now, the prime minister refuses to talk about him in anything other than the past tense. now, we know that the home secretary is going. we know that the community's secretary is going, so can the prime minister tell us, will the chancellor, sitting there in front of us, still be in his post in one week's time? >> it has nothing to do with politics. he is incapable of dealing with the big issues that face this country. and let me say what this chancellor is achieving. this chancellor is leading the rest of the world and taking us out of recession. this chancellor has taken action about the conservative party's refusal to support. what has happened? what have they done? nothing. what has been done when they were helping mortgage holders? nothing. what is their policy? is to do nothing. that is not the basis on which to ask for an election. if the chancellor -- >> if th

-- let me -- and i appreciate that. and you're right. it's been very successful and very useful and also in alaska because our lands are different with the alaskan native people their tribal lands incorporate tribal lands. it's different than reservation lands. sometimes we have to continue to point that out because our land claim settlement was much different than the traditional reservation settlements. so as you have an opportunity -- and i know i said in my statement i didn't give you a a chance but i am looking forward to you coming to alaska and i want to echo that because this will give you the chance to see the value of that program. >> good, i'd like that. >> let me also point out in alaska the issue of how we provide broadband -- we have some concerns by satellite providers and currently they are concerned they'll be excluded from the national broadband plan because in alaska the cost of the satellite is part of the equation. how do you see that and will you in the broadband plan keep that all in consideration

well, let me come back to the point that i was making. we tried very hard thursday and friday to reach an agreement on amendments on both sides. we were -- we said, absolutely. you want -- you want all five amendments on tarp programs? it has nothing to do with the bill, by all means, feel free. start offering. we're ready. and the other side said, well, yeah, you give us all that we want, but we don't intend to agree to much of anything that you want. and so a one-way agreement that was destined to fail. again, i do not understand how we have gotten to a point on a piece of legislation that should be so noncontroversial, sufficient so with a 90-3 vote on a motion to proceed, it is stopped by the united states senate. a bill that had over 50 cosponsors in the united states senate, a bill that deals with travel and promotion of travel an tourism. that we now have this unbelievable impasse. we had to do two days on a cloture petition on a motion to proceed, then a motion to proceed that passed 90-3, then 30 hours postcloture. now we -- we g

host: let me ask you about a couple of states.our home state of virginia, the primary a bailout a week or so ago -- one gain the democratic nomination there. guest: it was exciting four years ago when the two faced off for attorney general. host: only 350 votes' difference. guest: yes, deeds was popular, especially concerning hunting and fishing. bob macdonald has tackled several different issues. it is an interesting race. the dynamics will be much different than four years ago. four years ago deeds got the nra endorsement. bob macdonald ran better than other republicans. he has been the incumbent. virginia is a counter-cyclical stick. -- state for. eight straight times we have elected a governor the opposite from the presidential party. deeds got a bump in the primary. it was sort of an upset win. now i think that bob macdonald has moved back into the lead. but it is a close race. campaigns matter. the history of this is on the republican side. host: we will take your messages. tom davis is with us for a half hour. you alluded t

let me offer you an observation. trickle-down bureaucracy works even less than trickle-down capitalism. pouring $787 billion in in washington and somehow create jobs is a fantasy of the first order. not that the people that voted for care. their goal was power and paying off their allies. the [applause] you can tell how badly the stimulus has failed, and let's be clear, this is not something president obama inherited from president bush. he got his stimulus delivered by his robots in congress that did exactly what they were told without reading the bill. he can't turn around now and said that george w. bush made him have. they promised we would peak at 8% unemployment. at friday, we were at 9.4%. their budget is correct because we will have higher unemployment, greater expenses, and less revenue than projected because their plan has already failed. [applause] let me be clear as a matter of first principle. bureaucrats micromanaging companies does not work. politicians dominating the economy does not work. barney fran

>> let me not get ahead of a speech that hasn't been written. >> thanks, 13 questions. [laughter] i will settle for two. on the visitor login -- >> i am leaving. >> on the visitor's log issue, while the policy is under review you have denied to requests from msnbc and then was quoted by nbc -- and as nbc say that in essence there should be the right to hold secret meetings in the white house and give a few examples when that might be needed. is it the position of the white house that you need to hold secret meetings on occasions here, and us -- >> i think there are obviously occasions in which to the president is going to meet privately with advisers on topics that are of great national importance, yes. >> so then how does that square with a policy that we reached that might end up in a visitor logs? >> again, let me not concluded their review that is under way. >> secondly, -- >> i don't have one. i will see if they have one. >> cnn is reporting -- >> is this two or three? >> just want. [laughter] can i just want big microphone or one big question? >> both. cnn reporte