that's what the mccain-barrasso amendment does. it removes that thorn. it removes that issue, that potential conflict between russia and the united states if we intend -- or if we do go forward with the missile defenses that most of us would hope that we intend to do. now, two final points, i think. senator chirr made the point that -- senator kerry made the point that it is merely a statement of fact that there's a relationship between offense and defense. and in one sense, it is true. it is a statement of fact that there is a relationship between the two. the point, however, is in a diplomatic agreement here between two countries, i it is t always appropriate to acknowledge a particular fact if the purpose of that by one of the parties is to build a foundation for later withdrawal from the pact. we have never conceded in an offensive weapon treaty a relationship that could infer a quid pro quo between missile defense and strategic offensive weapons. and president reagan explicitly rejected it at reykjavik. my colleague points out that at least in his v

barrasso: i come to talk about the mccain-barrasso amendment to the new start treaty. and i appreciate hearing all of the strong and passionate support for this amendment from my colleagues on the issue of missile defense. we have debated this yesterday well into the evening, and we are going to be voting on this a little after 3:00 this afternoon. i think it's important, mr. president, that the american people are given the opportunity to hear the implications of the new start treaty. the new start treaty significantly, significantly impacts america's national security and our nuclear deterrent. i believe this treaty places limitations on the ability of our nation tpo defend ourselves -- to defend ourselves, limitations that i believe should not be placed. the preamble to the new start treaty provides an explicit link between strategic nuclear offensive weapons and strategic nuclear defensive weapons. it also implies the right of russia to withdraw from the treaty based on u.s. missile defense that is beyond -- and this is in a quote -- in current strategic capabiliti

and, john barrasso of wyoming, the vice chairman of the senate republican conference. welcome to you gentlemen. i want to ask you both to prioritize the list i have for you, starting with you, senator durbin. the start treaty, the budget resolution, don't ask, don't tell, jobless benefits, tax cuts. what order would you put them in for your priority? >> i would tell you, i think the top three are going to be the tax cuts which expire at the end of the year, the funding of our government which has to be done so that it doesn't shut down over the next 10 months and the start treaty. there are other items. don't ask, don't tell is one i feel very strongly about but i would say that would be the fourth on the list. we can do all of them. the point which we're trying to make to our republican colleagues is the senate chamber is virtually empty. we're doing nothing. we should be able to have negotiations about taxes, about paying for our government and at the same time be working on critical legislation on the floor. we should be engaged in the negotiations -- pardon me, the

barrasso: it's astonishing. i know the people of wyoming as well as the people of mississippi always oppose washington wasteful spending, but when i read that the -- the health care officials are leasing more than 70,000 square feet of space on three floors of this office building in bethesda for 230 employees rushing to rule making, the -- and to see that the government, washington, agreed to pay over $51 for usable square foot, compared with the average of less than than $30 a square foot in bethesda. why? because it wanted to get the operation running in july. they were rushing to get to this, but yet also it says that this may only be the beginning. this may only be the beginning. a recent report, not by my colleague from mississippi and not by me, but by the congressional research service, said that the publications of rules under the health care law could stretch out for decades to come. and that's why i'm going to cosponsor this legislation. i have great concerns about states' rights, individual rights be

barrasso. mr. durbin: reserving the right to object. senator sessions, how long do you expect to speak in. mr. sessions: i think about 10-12 minutes. mr. durbin: thank you very much. no objection. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. consider kir thank the chair. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama is recognized. mr. sessions: it's been a very, very fine discussion between senator kerry and senator kyl, two of our most able members, and senator kerry is an able advocate for the treaty, but i do agree with senator kyl's view that there's really more than a misunderstanding concerning missile defense in this treaty. there's really a conflict of views about it. it's not an ambiguity. it's more of a misunderstanding or a conflict of views, and in a serious contract, agreement, treaty that has a misunderstanding among the parties about a serious matter shouldn't go forward until it's clarified. that would be my view of that. if it goes back to the dum

barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president, could you let me know when i've used four of the five misseens that i'm going to have here. i rise today to support the amendment by my friend and colleague and next-door neighbor on the foreign relations committee as well as my next-door neighbor of state, senator risch. i want to discuss the issue of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons. while the united states and russia have a rough equivalence in their strategic nuclear weapons, there is a significant imbalance in tactical nuclear weapons, and it favors russia. russia currently has a 10:1 advantage in tactical nuclear weapons, and it is expected that the number of tactical nuclear weapons in russia will continue to grow. well, this imbalance directly impacts our security commitments to nato and to our other european allies. mr. president, i've been to the hearings in the foreign relations committee as a member of the committee. we hear that there were statements by former secretaries of

mccain: i would like to thank my friend and colleague from wyoming, senator barrasso, dr. barrasso. it's been a great privilege for me since he has been a member of the united states senate to be with him side by side in a number of battles. i am particularly proud of the work that senator barrasso continues to do on the issue of obamacare. if anyone wants to really be brought up to date, i would commend his website, second opinion, that dr. barrasso has, and he continues to be credibly knowledgeable and effective, not only here in this body but with the american people. as a member of the foreign relations committee, dr. barrasso has taken on this issue as well, and i'm pleased to be joined with him, and i'd say to my colleague from massachusetts, the distinguished chairman of the foreign relations committee, i know there are a number of senators who want to speak. i will try to get those lined up and time agreements so that we don't take an inordinate amount of time on this issue, and i think we can do that, say, within the next hour or so. but this is an important amendment. this

. >> senator barrasso, always good to have you on. thank you. >>> lawmakers could leave for their holiday vacation sunday, so my big question today, is it time for new year's resolutions for the america's leaders? i'd like your thought. >>> senator ron widen will miss those key votes this weekend. the democrat from oregon will undergo surgery for prostate cancer on monday. nor lieberman told me yesterday he had 61 votes to repeal the don't ask don't tell policy leaving him one vote to spare. ron wyden is expected back to work. he should be recovered as early refuge at his friend's estate in london. he's planning his legal defense in sweden where he's accused of sex crimes. he addressed those allegations this morning on the "today" show. >> this has been a very successful smear campaign so far. but i think it's -- its days are numbered and people are starting to wonder is what is claimed really true and, if it is true, where is the evidence, why has no evidence been provided, even to me and my defense attorneys. >> u.s. investigators a

barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, reserving the right to object. would the senator agree to include an amendment that would offset the cost of the bill with unspent federal funds, the text of which i have at the desk? mr. whitehouse: at the moment, the unanimous consent that i have propounded is the one that has been cleared with the floor managers on both sides and i would stick to what has been cleared. i am happy to discuss with colleagues on the other side how this can be paid for, but i cannot help but note that colleagues on the other side do not share their concern for the payment and paygo side of the equation when it comes to the tax cuts for people making many, many millions of dollars a year that we are trying to get exempted as we try to get tax relief to the middle class. it would be hard for me to hold seniors getting a $250 one-time benefit in a time when the cola has misfired and they're getting no cola benefit despite their costs going up and at the same time be asked to agree to hund

mccain: i would like to thank my friend and colleague from wyoming, senator barrasso, dr. barrasso. it's been a great privilege for me since he has been a member of the united states senate to be with him side by side in a number of battles. i am particularly proud of the work that senator barrasso continues to do on the issue of obamacare. if anyone wants to really be brought up to date, i would commend his website, second opinion, that dr. barrasso has, and he continues to be credibly knowledgeable and effective, not only here in this body but with the american people. as a member of the foreign relations committee, dr. barrasso has taken on this issue as well, and i'm pleased to be joined with him, and i'd say to my colleague from massachusetts, the distinguished chairman of the foreign relations committee, i know there are a number of senators who want to speak. i will try to get those lined up and time agreements so that we don't take an inordinate amount of time on this issue, and i think we can do that, say, within the next hour or so. but this is an important amendment. this

barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president, could you l me know when i've used four of the five misseens that i'm going to have here. i rise today to support the amendment by my friend and colleague and next-door neighbor onhe foreign relations committee as well as my next-door neighbor of state, senator risch. i want to discuss the issue of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons. while the united states and russia have a rough equivalence in their strategic nuclear weapons, there is a significant imbalance in tactical nuclear weapons, and it favors russia. russia currently has a 10:1 advantage in tactical nuclear weapons, and it is expected that e number of tactical nuclear weapons in russia will continue to grow. well, this imbalance directly impacts our security commitments to nato and to our other european alls. mr. president, i've been to the hearings in the foreign relations committee as a member of the committee. we hear that there were statements by former secretaries of state of

what exactly is the mccain-barrasso amendment? with all of the to and fro coming to the start treaty and then to the don't ask, don't tell. i thought it would be good to recapitulate what the mccain-barrasso amendment is and why it's important. what the amendment does is to remove from the preamble language that relates to missle defense. this treaty was supposed to be about offensive stratigic weapons, not about missle defense. in fact, we were told by administration spokesman that it wouldn't relate to missle defense. sure enough, there the words are. why are they there? they're there because the russians insisted that they be there. why did they insist they be there? because for decades the russians have been fixiated on u.s. missle defense. trying to find ways to reduce the effect of our missle defense on riewrch stratigic capabilities. they it with president reagan, he said no. they tried it again in the treaty -- the first start treaty. they tried it again in the moscow treaty of 2002 and they tried it again here. the differ

barrasso: mr. president, my statement was what i do know is 42 republicans have signed a letter to say that what we ought to do and what we need to do is to find a way to fund the government and prevent a tax hike on every american come january 1. thank you, mr. president. mr. schumer: would my colleague yield for another question? a follow-up? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. barrasso: i would be happy, mr. president, to read the entire letter that was sent to senator reid if there is some question as to exactly what was in that letter. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: my question is very simple. you said you wanted to prevent a tax hike on every american. hypothetically, if we prevented a tax hike on every american except the small number whose income was over a million dollars last year, would my colleague and his colleagues continue to block efforts to do any other piece of legislation? mr. barrasso: mr. president, i'm not going to answer a hypothetical. what

there's a couple of speakers, including the cosponsor, senator barrasso. mr. reid: mr. president, i say through the chair to my friend, the senator from arizona, i agree with you, so tell me what time you think would be appropriate, it doesn't matter. mr. kyl: mr. president, might i join in this colloquy? i don't think there needs to be any reference to time for deba debate. if i could just make a brief state. i think the purpose for this unanimous consent agreement was to allow members by unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business on the don't ask, don't tell bill prior to a vote on that at 3:00. mr. reid: 3:00. mr. kyl: but that we would be on the treaty and if people did not want to talk about the don't ask, don't tell, then we would be on the mccain-risch amendment and that that debate would conclude before 3:00 and then the mccain-risch amendment would follow the vot vote -- the vote on that would follow the vote on the don't ask, don't tell. mr. reid: i think that's totally appropriate. i would just add to my friend, while the chair is considering the co

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i do object to the motion by the distinguished senator from california. as i was say, there are two ways to help those who are looking for work, one of which is to improve the economy. and we can do that by giving some certainty -- certainty -- to people who provide jobs whorbgs build businesses -- provide jobs, who build businesses, who create job opportunities, and we can do that by giving them certainty regarding what their tax rates will be come january 1. right now there is an incredible amount of uncertainty. the second way is to deal with the unemployment benefits, those who have been out of work now 99 weeks. this is about people who have been collecting unemployment benefits for 99 weeks. and i will tell you that there are people across the nation having a tough time due to this poor economy. i want to see the economy improve. the national unemployment rate in october was 9.6%. and today's front page of the "usa today" says jobless data could break 1980's record. november wil

treaty process let me sort of play master ceremonies but since senator barrasso is going to have to leave in just a moment let me ask you to make some opening comments. >> thank you to read just a couple quick things. the confirmation of the treaty requires a two-thirds vote of the senate and that's something the was decided by the founding fathers that woman to make sure that the president, the administration actually got a right. so, we need some time to make decisions and discussions. but when russia is reported yesterday warned the u.s. not to change the nuclear pact with that says to me is the role of the senate to advise and consent has been removed from us, the effort here is to say you can offer some advice but we are asking you to be a rubber stamp. the senate is not a rubber stamp, not the administration, not to russia and as one senator i am not ready to stand this treaty. i give great concerns and we have raised the concern about verification and we have raised concerns about missile defense. there was significant eagerness on the part of the seven fenestration to get a treaty

we'll talk about that, with senator and surgeon john barrasso, coming up after the break, why we mayg straight to the supreme court. >> score is 2-1 and two courts affirmed the law and one is that it is unconstitutional. i have asthma. and en my symptoms came back i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler startifor sudden symptoms.. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort not for people whosasthma is well controlled wi a long-term asthma control medicine like haled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, andrescribe a long

barrasso: thank you, 34r-7. reserving the right to object, as the chairman knows, senator johanns that is proposed a republican alternative on this issue. would the senator amend his request to substitute the johanns amendment? mr. baucus: mr. president, i appreciate my good friend from wyoming, but i cannot agree to amend my request in that way because of the cuts in the spending in the johanns amendment. the johanns amendment is way beyond the repile of 1099. it is a totally different animal. therefore, i cannot agree to that amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i have two unanimous requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding offic

barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise today to express my views on the new strategic arms reduction treaty, also known as new start. this treaty is an extremely important and serious matter. new start significantly impacts america's national security and nuclear deterrent. as a result, i believe that this treaty deserves adequate time in the senate, time to examine the issues, time to debate the many flawed provisions and time to vote on all of the amendments offered for consideration. the majority leader should not be piecemealing together segments of time for debate on an issue as important as nuclear arms control. the treaty should not be shortchanged and rushed through the senate. the treaty should not be jammed together with consideration of a 1,924-page omnibus federal spending bill. the treaty should not be considered during a lame-duck session. consideration of the treaty will require a substantial amount of time in order to sufficiently address its many flaws. like many of my colleagues, i

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, reserving the right to object, and i will object. i understand that senator brown of massachusetts objected to this request yesterday, and he offered a fully offset alternative. therefore, on his behalf, i do object and ask consent that his proposal be inserted into the record. the presiding officer: objection is heard. is there objection to the -- ms. stabenow: mr. president, i will not object -- i would reserve the right to object. i will not. but i just simply want to say this is a sad day for -- for millions of families in this country, and a message that we should all be embarrassed to have sent, that millionaires and billionaires should be the ones that are being fought for on the floor of the united states senate and millions of people who are out of work don't count, and i regret that. the presiding officer: without objection, the materials will be printed within the record. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr.

kerry: senator barrasso will be added 10 minutes to the overall list. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the senator from michigan. mr. levin: our missle defense program is not covered or limited by the new start treaty. it's about as simple statement as i can make. there's been an awful lot of debate about the missle defense program and allegations that it's limited by this treaty. so let's listen to the experts. secretary of defense, first, testimony before the armed services committee on june 17 said the -- quote -- "the treaty will not constrain the united states from deploying the most effective missle defenses possible 0 nor have additional costs on those barriers. i remain confident that the missle defense program which has made considerable advancement including the sm-3 missle, which we will deploy in europe. secretary clinton on june 17 -- quote -- "the treaty does not constrain our missle defense efforts. i want to underscore this she said because i know there have been a lot of concerns about this and i

please welcome senator john barrasso. [applause] >> well, it is the first time ever for wyoming and it was worth the wait. it is an absolutely -- it is absolutely gorgeous. [applause] bobby and i are are so thrilled that you could join us, that you could be here and mike and cynthia and i travel around the state and the former governor is here. all of us said, you know, we need more wyoming in washington. wyoming values. independence. determination. honesty. hard work. and the work that went into getting this here wasn't done by the congressional delegation. it was done by all of you. you're the ones that made the ornaments. mike and cynthia and i were concerned. could we actually get 5,000 ornaments. well, we were concerned but it turned out to be five then 10 then 15, almost 20,000 ornaments made by the people of wyoming. [applause] the people said it might be cold. the all-city children's choir of cheyenne, they don't worry about the cold, do you? [applause] well, i just want to thank thousands and thousands of people

yesterday the senate rejected an amendment by senators mccain and barrasso. what they said was that there's some language in the preamble of this treaty that states the interrelationship between strategic defensive and offensive weapons, and that's not a good idea based upon how the russians intend to use that language. the argument against it was it's just a statement of fact. it's nothing more than that. there is an interrelationship between defense and offense. in effect, what's the big deal? mr. president, the risch amendment is also just a statement of fact. in fact, the language of the risch amendment is virtually identical to the preamble language dealing with missile defenses except it in a sense substitutes tactical or nonstrategic nuclear weapons for missile defense. it states the interrelationship, and i can't imagine anyone would deny that interrelationship. the perry schlesinger commission cited by senator risch confirms that interrelationship. as i said, i can't imagine anyone denying it. and i can't imagine anyone denying the fact that as we re

hugely consequential issue and which the date we have on the amendment offered by senators mccain and barrasso i thought shed an important light on the linkages that exist in the treaty between the strategic arms in defense of strategic arms and how that limits our options and forward with regard to missile defense if we want to keep the russians in the treaty and we fought for the evidence and certifications on the tactical weapons and they have all been addressing the substance of this bill one of which as a senator kyl pointed out a single democrat has voted for coming and the important role the senate please in this isn't just the consent, not to rubber-stamp. it's to take these important issues on which there are substantial disagreements to try to improve and strengthen and make this treaty better and so far it seems to me at least the democrats have sort of decided they want to get this through, they don't want to consider any amendments and they certainly aren't making democrats available to vote for any of the amendments we are offering. so, it is unfortunate we would have been better

please welcome senator john barrasso.rs and applause] >> well, it's the first time ever for wyoming, and it was worth the wait. isn't this absolutely gorgeous? [applause] bobbie are so thrilled you could join us and be here. as mike, cindy and i travel around the state, and the former governor is here. all of us said we need more wyoming in washington. wyoming values, independence, determination, honesty, hard work. and the work that went into getting this here wasn't done by the congressional delegation. it was done by all of you. you are the ones that made the ornaments. mike, cynthia and i were concerned. could we actually get 5,000 ornaments? we were concerned. but it didn't turn out to be 5,000, then it was 10,000, then it was 15,000, almost 20,000 ornaments made by the people of wyoming. [applause] people said it might be cold. the all-city children's choir of cheyenne, they don't worry about the cold, do you? [cheers and applause] i just want to thank the thousands and thousands of people from wyoming who turned ou

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, reserving the right to object, and i will object. i understand that senator brown of massachusetts objected to this request yesterday, and he offered a fully offset alternative. therefore, on his behalf, i do object and ask consent that his proposal be inserted into the record. the presiding officer: objection is heard. is there objection to the -- ms. stabenow: mr. president, i will not object -- i would reserve the right to object. i will not. but i just simply want to say this is a sad day for -- for millions of families in this country, and a message that we should all be embarrassed to have sent, that millionaires and billionaires should be the ones that are being fought for on the floor of the united states senate and millions of people who are out of work don't count, and i regret >> we have a very good panel. we have discussed these issues before publicly. we discussed these issues with you this morning. i am delighted to see everybody here is struggling back after

resolution 458, senators mccaskill, hatch, klobuchar, whitehouse, udall of new mexico, shaheen, kaufman, barrasso, demint, johanns, risch and wicker to perform the duties provided for by rule xi of the senate's impeachment rules. under the leadership of its chairman, the senator from missour, mrs. mccaskill, and its vice chairman, the senator from utah, mr. hatch, the committee heard five days of testimony between september 13 and september 21. during that time the committee heard from 26 witnesses, 14 who were called by the house of representatives and 12 witnesses who were called by judge porteous. the committee also conducted pretrial depositions of four witnesses and admitted into evidence the testimony of a number of witnesses, including judge porteous, who had testified in prior proceedings, more than 300 factual stipulations, and hundreds of exhibits. mr. president, the senate is indebted to all of the members of this committee, who so conscientiously discharged their responsibility in this important constitutional matter. in addition to the committee's leadership, i would like to take par

i would ask unanimous consent and senator barrasso be recognized next. >> the senate devils into marlo >>> test the carnegie endowment for international peace, the president's adviser on terrorism says that u.s. homeland security officials are on heightened alert this christmas season. this is part of a speech on counterterrorism efforts in yemen where an american embassy vehicle was attacked this week. this is an hour. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, all. i am just come matthews, president of the carnegie endowment and it's a pleasure to welcome you this morning. we are privileged to have with us today the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism john brennan. as we reflect on the end of 2010 and look towards 2011, it's difficult to overstate the effect weeks states have had on global politics and security and are having and near the top of the list of the countries of concern is yemen, and we are therefore particularly keen to hear mr. brennan's insight today. you have in front of you a brief biography. i want to emphasize this has been a impre

oh, no, senator barrasso, i object. i don't want these benefits going to the people who have been on unemployment benefits for more than 99 weeks. i said, wait a minute, my friend -- he is my friend -- we're not doing anything for people longer than 99 weeks. we're just trying to make sure that up to 99 weeks you have help. he still objected. they want to pay for it. but they don't want to pay for the benefits to the millionaires. it's going to lose us hundreds of billions of dollars and add to our debt. this is a time to show the difference between the parties. this is post election. there's no election. -- there's no election until a couple of years from now let's show the difference. this is nothing to do with voting. this is the true colors of the parties. it's important that people understand that we cannot do the business of this country -- we have a significant number of clean water bills to help the chesapeake bay, to help san francisco bay, to clean the waterways, to help the great lakes. we voted them out of t

barrasso: mr. president, placing constraints on future u.s. defense -- the presiding officer: the senate will please come to order, out of courtesy to the senator from wyoming. the senate will please be in order. the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president, placing constraints on future u.s. defense capabilities should not be up for debate and should not be placed in a treaty on strategic offensive nuclear weapons. russia is trying to force the united states to choose between missile defense and the treaty. if that's the case, i choose missile defense. we cannot tie our hands behind our backs and risk the national security of our nation and our allies. this treaty is a bilateral agreement between priewsh and the united states. it is clear that there is a disagreement about the actual agreement made. russia continues to claim the treaty successful limits our ability to defend ourselves. supporters of the treaty claim the limitation on missile defense in the preamble is not binding and that it's legally insignificant and a throwaway pr

barrasso: thank you, 34r-7. reserving the right to object, as the chairman knows, senator johanns that is proposed a republican alternative on this issue. would the senator amend his request to substitute the johanns amendment? mr. baucus: mr. president, i appreciate my good friend from wyoming, but i cannot agree to amend my request in that way because of the cuts in the spending in the johanns amendment. the johanns amendment is way beyond the repile of 1099. it is a totally different animal. therefore, i cannot agree to that amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i have two unanimous requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding offic