begich: just for a question. the way i understand this is for people who may be watching or listening, a filibuster requires 60 votes. all we're asking for is the same thing that the house of representatives did last night on their bill. ms. landrieu: a simple majority. mr. begich: simple majority. allow an up-or-down vote so we can determine what plan or action. that's all we're asking for. ms. landrieu: it would be clear if we could get 51 votes, the reid plan would pass just like the boehner plan passed. neither one can get the other side to agree, but at least we would then have the basis for a compromise. but no, the republicans have decided we can't have that vote, and so this thing is getting strung out. with every hour, with every day, businesses are hurting, maybe that's what they want because then the president can be blamed for business not doing well when they are the ones that are stepping in the way. i want to submit for the record the details from the budget summary that i stated and put this into

so i want to associate myself with senator begich. i really do believe they are trying to cover up the karzai government and other people in afghanistan are trying to cover up the extent of the fraud and manipulation in this bank. so general allen, i would ask you to report back to us about the kabul and how it affects our efforts to stop corruption. >> i will, senator. >> thank you. now let's talk about counterinsurgency. as a lawyer, i find the concept fascinating. from december of 2009, i want my point of view and the country to know general petraeus and under your command, general mcraven have done a fantastic job from defense to offense. they have been used effectively and we have really put the enemy on the run in many places. my question, general allen, if we withdraw the 33,000 by september of next year, will this still be a counterinsurgency operation? does the math work out? will there be enough people left behind next year to effectively do counterinsurgency? >> i believe it will, senator. >> okay. walk me through that. if

so i want to associate myself with senator begich. i really do believe they are trying to cover up the karzai government and other people in afghanistan are trying to cover up the extent of the fraud and manipulation in this bank. so general allen, i would ask you to report back to us abut the kabul and how it affects our efforts to stop corruption. >> i will, senator. >> thank yo now let's talk about counterinsurgency. as a lawyer, find the concept fascinating. from december of 2009, i want my point of view and the country to know general petraeus and under your command, general mcraven have done a fantastic job from defense to offense. they have been used effectively and we have really put the enemy on the rn in many places. my question, general allen, if we withdraw the 33,000 by september of next year, will this still be a counterinsurgency operation? does the math work out? will there be enough people left behind next year to effectively do counterinsurgency? >> i believe it will, senator. >> okay. walk me through that. if we nee

talk about what is going on with alaska senator mark begich.emocratic steering and outreach committee. you might have heard the interview jenna did with congressman jeb hensarling of texas. look we in the house passed one proposal here, cut, cap, and balance. it was tabled by the senate. the senate hasn't put forward its own budget in 800 days. why not? can you answer that question? >> first let me start with the basis. there are lot of proposals out there. the senate democratic majority put out a framework several weeks ago. we worked on it for months. as you recall we laid it out there. also we have on this side of equation, "gang of six", made up of three republicans, three democrats pud out another proposal. both of them around $4 trillion of reductions and getting rid of loopholes in variety of proposals. so, there is lot out there. i know a lot of people want to work on technical, this certain plan hasn't gone through this committee or that committee, there are several plans out there. what we should focus on instead of blaming everybody,

milito. >> good afternoon chairman begich, senator rubio. i am eric milito. api has more than four and 70 member companies which represent all sectors of america's oil and natural gas industry. industry supports 9.2 million american jobs including a 170,000 in the gulf of mexico related to the offshore development business and also provides most of the energy we need to power our economy and a way of life and delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to the federal government. it has been more than year since the tragic macondo well accident. we cannot forget the industry and nation lost 11 workers that day and our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families of those workers. to be certain incident provided us with a sobering reminder we must maintain a laser focus on safety as is a priority in operations. immediately after the accident industry formed task forces to examine every aspect of offshore safety systems including equipment, operating practices, subsidy will control and spill response. due to the leadership and work of the industry

senator begich just tweeted to his son i'm sorry i'm not there for your birthday, i'm here in the middleis. >> ed, great having you here. ed henry at the white house. thank you. >> the outcome of a possible debt deal involves more than huge numbers. could be a game changer politically especially as the cam papes for next year's elections heat up. who will be the political winners and the political losers? here to break it down with us, john fund, the senior editor for "the american spectator." we heard ed talking about twitter specifically. the president lost 36,000 followers on twitter as a result of this. his overall numbers about a 40% approval rate. who really is going to win or lose in the battle. begin first with the house. >> whenever washington has a big fight both sides lose in the it short term. the presidents it numbers have gone down to 40% approval. the numbers for congressional republicans have gone down. people don't like conflict and they respond negatively to that. in addition, you are probably going to add on to this a compromise deal that is going to make both conserva

begich: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. begich: before i talk on the budget, i want to commend the senator from georgia as someone who has been in the real estate business for many years. like the senator from georgia, you are absolutely right. if homeowners are stuck with a 20% minimum, the odds are it will crush the housing market. can i tell you this personally because i'm helping my mother do her paperwork now for her home, and i will tell you if she was required to put 20% down, she would not be buying that home today. we hope to close the home in the next 45 days. we are fortunate that she is able to do that, but 20% would take her right out of the market, unable to buy the home that she wants to retire in. so the senator from georgia, thank you for making those comments. i hope more people hear it in the administration, that they don't hear that as we know with the housing market, it is a critical component of the ability for us to continue to pull ourselves out of the recession. so thank you for making those comment

from alaska, begich. from colorado, senator bennett. from new mexico, senator bingaman. from connecticut, blumenthal. california, senator boxer. from ohio, senator brown. washington state, senator cantwell. senator cardin. from delaware, senator carper. from pennsylvania, senator casey. from north dakota, senator conrad. from duane, senator coons. senator durbin. senator feinstein. from minnesota, senator franken. these are the people who said we will not allow the debate on the floor of the senate that might lead to a balanced budget amendment being passed, we're not going to allow that to come to the senate floor. let me go through the remainder of the senators. senator haggan from north carolina. senator harkin from the state of iowa. senator inway from hawaii. senator johnson from south dakota. senator klobucar from minnesota. senator landrieu from louisiana. senator lautenberg from new jersey. senator leahy from vermont. senator levin from michigan. senator lieberman from connecticut. senator manchin from west virginia. senator mccaskill from missouri. senator menen

host: mark begich. thank you. in our last section, we take a look at the dodd frank bill. we'll do that after this update from c-span radio. >> unemployment numbers in this hour show that more people applied for benefits last week. applications rose by 10,000. the job market is weak. turning to the hacking investigation in britain, the prime minister says that the tabloids and phone hacking scandal has created a once in a generation chance to clean a murky relations between media, police and politicians. he also defended his private discussions with executives. meanwhile, also in britain today a group of computer hackers who call themselves anonymous claimed to have breached nato security and access to restricted material. they say it would be irresponsible to publish most of the material, but that is sitting on about 1 gigabyte of data. they have posted a document that appears to be restricted from nato. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> it takes a behind this? look says broadcast and cable. the l.a. times calls the required to be beating. it solv

harkin, cardin, schumer, durbin, leahy, warner, murray, coons, blumenthal, brown of ohio, conrad, begich, kerry, stabenow. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 590 to amendment numbered 589. mr. reid: i have a motion to refer the house message to the budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to refer the house message to the senate budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment numbered 591. mr. reid: ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the yeas and nays will be ordered. mr. reid: now, mr. president, i have an amendment to my that is also at the desk. -- to my instructions that is also at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senat

begich: mr. president, thank you very much. i'm on the floor this afternoon to talk about the issue not only of the day, the week, the month, the year, the issue of what to do about the debt ceiling. everyone around here knows what will happen if we fail to raise the debt ceiling by august 2 deadline. the united states will default on its loan payments. defaulting could have catastrophic consequences, on our economy as we attempt to recover from the worst economic recession since the great depression. failing to raise the debt limit could send our economy into a tailspin with unthinkable results for the american people. with the stakes so high, we must ask ourselves how did we get into this position? or as my constituents back home in alaska would say, how did you get into this mess? over the last decade, both sides of the aisle have played a role in this irresponsible spending that resulted in our current fiscal crisis. at the beginning of the last decade, we had a budget surplus. let me say that again. a budget surplus of of

and amy might like to say something but then that leaves mark begich so we have to figure out. >> i will allow senator klobuchar to have as much opportunity or she desires. >> what a gentleman. >> thank you mr. chairman and i would concur with what senator ayotte talked about. in fact our state has been taking this on an attorney general madigan knows not just the federal level but the state level with attorney general swanson and last january she and i join together and talked about the consumer fraud lawsuit against a company that fraudulently charged thousands of minnesotans for services that they neither authorized or used. the company which is called t. -- cheap to dial-up charged consumers in minnesota for long-distance service fees and you know how many people actually use that service mr. chairman? nine people. nine people of the 2567 that were charged. it is just one example of an process that has cost consumers and businesses millions if not aliens of dollars. i will never forget the consumers that were standing there with us and they were -- i think one was -- they were a luth

. >> thank you, chairman begich. i'm standing in for ranking member snowe.she will possibly join us for a few moments but will not be able to be here for the entirety of the hearing because of scheduling conflicts. i appreciate you holding this hearing to investigate lessons learned from the gulf oil spill. the tragic explosion of the deepwater horizon claimed the lives of four mississippians and seven others and took 77 days to control the flow of oil and longer to seal the blown out well permanently. this cost extensive damage to the gulf ecosystem and significant harm to the gulf coast economy which is still not fully recovered. i hope to hear from the witnesses on both panels today, how we can prevent spills of this magnitude in the future and a responsible and sensible manner. i would like to hear how we can mitigate the economic damages that resulted from the deepwater horizon spill. the administration's moratorium on offshore drilling added significantly to the spill's negative economic effects. 33 deep water rigs forced to suspend operations in the g

. >> thank you senator begich. if you will look into whether or not there is a connection that those national meetings i would be happy to join with you and perhaps the committee could even if it is not already the case, suggest that it would be the case. >> mr. chairman that is why it dawned on me, they have never had one and we created one because it was critical and mayors have that connection. >> it is a good idea. senator sessions. >> thank you. thank you to all of you and congratulations on your point made to nomination. i expect to support you and continue to support you after confirmation which i'm certain will happen. i truly believe we have the greatest military the world has ever known. it is large, it is mobile, it is courageous, it is well led by the finest officer corps we have ever had and i believe the finest nco cord. is a remarkable thing and is the ranking member of the budget committee, things are going to be tighter in the years to come and i would just say that we have got to tighten our belts

senator begich. >> thank you, senator murray for putting this form together today. want to thank the witnesses for being here. i will not be able to stay. i could chair cushions coast guard meeting in 12 minutes, but it went at least you know first i received all of your written testimony and i appreciate that. i have questions i will submit for the record. we'll tell you in a short time at the summit and is a member of the committee heard testimony from brave warriors and families over the last two and half years and i want to be clear that expanding the lifetime cost of supporting this new generation of veterans does not mean we will not be there for you. you've answered the call of duty and i've been there for our country and will be there for you. the cost of veterans and their families house suffered both financially and emotionally places burdens that can last a lifetime. with alaska having the highest number of veterans per capita of any state in this country come i have seen the syntax firsthand. i will tell you what i tell every time i see a veteran at home

i want to introduce senator begich. i will explain this to you on the way to a vote -- [laughter] how you have been abused. the second panel, mr. scott taylor, vice president of hewlett-packard, stuart pratt, presidency of consumer data industry association, ms. ioana rusu, consumers union, mr. tim schaaff, president of sony network entertainment international, and mr. thomas lenard, president and senior fellow of the technology policy institute. at's say it is 20 minutes the maximum. our purpose here will be with the time remaining to us, which is not yet determined. 20 minutes maximum for all five of you to give testimony. that is a challenge, but you are exceptionally bright and well educated people, so you should be able to meet it. we will start with you, mr. pratt. the questions will be submitted from the committee members to all of you. >> chairman rockefeller, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. my name is stuart pratt, -- >> we know that. get to the point. >> whet

begich: my friend from colorado is so passionate to his state and this country. he's laid out such a logical case on the debt of this nation, why we need to deal with it. but i will address that also but i came down here just like the senator from colorado to talk about the f.a.a. bill. and i wasn't planning to come down honestly, mr. president. i was in my office and, you know, as senators we have lots of meetings, lots of events, lots of activities and photo ops, meet and greets they call them, people come in and say hello and chitchat with them, they're residents from your state and i was siting -- sitting there and having great conversation, there were four or five of them, a great couple, they were here from the mens leo legion. there was another young woman who was there, a young leadership student, jocelyn from juneau. and, you know, just to be a photo op is what they call them, we tak shake hands and take some photos. it was interesting having the conversation because the first conversation they asked me was what's going to happen with the debt of this na

that leaves mark begich. >> i'll pass allowing senator klobuchar to have as much time as she deserves. >> thank you. we talked about the leadership of you and your staff it's been very helpful. our state has been taking this on not only at the federal level, but the state level. last january, she and i joined together and talked about the following of a consumer fraud lawsuit against the company that fraudulently charged thousand of minnesotaians for service they neither authorized nor used. the company which was called cheap 2 dial had charged 2,567 consumers for long distant service fees. you know how many people used the service, mr. chairman? nine people. nine people. of the 2 a 67 that were charged. it's just one example of a consumer practice that have has cost millions if not billions of dollars. i'll never forget the consumers. think one was a -- they were a lutheran minister and his wife. of course, she had checked the bill every tiny detail and she was able to discover that charge which is not something that i would do. so it was very hard for consumers to notice these charg

if there is anyone here -- we've already got senators johanns and begich. they're on as cosponsors and we have several others as cospomples i would say any staff -- i know no members are listening -- but any staff who happens to be listening right now, if your member wants to at least be sensitive to the needs of general aviation, this may be his only chance this year. and i suggest that those individuals who really care about the problems i just outlined, that they become cosponsors of this legislation before i introduce it tomorrow afternoon. with that, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator kentucky. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent to speak for ten minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. paul: madam president, i as well as many americans are concerned for the future of our country. i'm cornered that we may not be able to continue to pay our bills. i'm concerned that one day in the year future we could look like greece. i don't want to see america ri - rioting in the str

begich: mr. president, i rise to speak briefly about the progress in the nation of croatia, which i was honored to visit recently. at the invitation of the croatian minister of defense, i participated in what is known as the croatian summit, a gathering of leaders from eastern europe. the theme of this year's summit was "a new decade for southeast europe: finalizing the transition." less than 15 years ago after a terrible ethnic -- less than 15 years after a terrible ethnic war had devastated croatia, the nation is making enormous progress. it is rapidly making a transition to a market-based economy and its government leaders are committed to a strong and lasting partnership with the united states. they are a great partner of ours in afghanistan and in other trouble spots across the globe. that's personally important to me because 100 years ago this year my grandfather immigrated from crow shay to this country, john begich. then it was spelled p-e-c-g-i-c. he left his farmer and eventually settle