blanche lincoln. [applause] >> thank you. i, too, want to thank the speaker of the house and the republican leader of the house, our majority leader in the senate and a republican leader, as well for being here today and join all of us in this very incredible opportunity to pay respect and to really elevate this monumental task that was a part of our great history in this country. i want to say a very, very special thanks to my friend congressman john lewis for those remarks, for his passion, for his steadfast determination in his lifetime to do so many good things on behalf of some many people. most of all, his leadership here with a slave labor task force. i had the privilege of working with him, serving with congressman louis when i served in the house, but i have please -- been pleased to work with him on this initiative. my former colleague jc watts has worked hard on this and i want to extend my thanks to the price family for joining us here today. i want to remember mr. curtis sykes who is no longer with us but he was

as blanche lincoln pointed out, he worked in a foundry. there is the statue of andrew jackson in lafayette park. and as senator lenkinli -- lincoln pointed out, it was supposed to be displayed in the old house chamber. cast into a statute. it was put up over the dome, but there was a problem. a big problem. the italian sculptor, as blanche pointed out, he was the only person around who knew how to take it apart. well, philip was apparently the sharpest guy at the capitol at the time. he was literally the only one who could figure out how to take a thing apart wwthout the help of the sculptor. they got smart enough to figure of how to take it apart. as the historians point out, the underscores onep of the greatest ironies of the construction of this building. constructing this in freedom for someone who was not freed. this was a terrible injustice, but that is part of the story, and we must continue to tell it, as congressman lewis said. the history of the capital, like the history of our nation, should be complete. and so, we are grateful t

>> the key is how you vote parent blanche lincoln of arkansas has talked a tough game about taking on the big banks. she is still down terribly in the polls. it is wanted to beat up on business but the fact is that democrats and republicans made financial contributions from the business community. if they don't have it, that is very tough for them. >> the democrats are way down with business contributions. >> wall street has lashed out against the democratic party. when charles schumer was chairman of the campaign committee, he raked in millions from wall street. that is way down now because they are dismayed over their treatment. >> if you doubt this, you can by legislation. that is the way we built our campaign system. >> bp has finally stopped the leak temporarily. >> what a beautiful picture. we have been looking at that gushing oil for 87 days. bp is causing it may lack -- may not last. >> how to the politics of this payout -- play out? does this get the president off the hook? >> yes, does that -- because that picture has been devastating. it happened on his watch. he did not re

blanche lincoln. [applause] i too want to thank the speaker of the house and the republican leader of the house. i want to thank them for being here today enjoining all of us in this very incredible opportunity to pay respect and to really elevate this monumental task that is a part of our great history in this country. i just want to say a very special thank you to my friend congressman john lewis for those remarks, for his passion, for his steadfast determination in his lifetime to do so many good things on behalf of so many people. most of all, his leadershhp here with the slave labor task force. i had the privilege of working with them and serving with congressman louis when i served in the house, but had been so pleased and honored to work with them on this initiative. certainly might former colleague also worked hard on this. i want to extend my sincere thanks to be sykes family for being here today. i want to remember mr. curtis sites to is no longer with us. he was a original member of the sla

blanche lincoln from arkansas that the best. after she gets thrown into a runoff against a challenger, her closing ad, which i thought was really smart, she says, " blanche lincoln. i know you are mad at washington. believe me, i heard you. for washington, that is up but as close to admitting that we are not doing so well as you're going to get. she is not going to say, you're right, our pizza sucks." if it is easier when you are an independent candidate. maine now has a tradition of electing independence. but i thought his dad was very smart. "-- i thought his ad was very smart. "i am not quick to tell you it is clear to be easy and that you can have tax cuts and increased spending, no. if you look for me, i am going to make the tough things happen ." that is very impressive. candidates are talking directly to camera. there is no flashy stuff going on. it is just me, you, whatever state you are in. i do not know what they grow in arkansas, wheat or soybeans or whatever, but it was in the background for blanche lincoln. in north

. >> well, tellhat to blanche lincoln, how incumbents are protect the. in this case, the speech in which citizens united. blanche lincoln isne of the nicer people around here who had $10 million spent against her by t e u. the unions just because they disagreed with her on one or two votes. let me keep going now. i'm enjoying our colloquy together. >> me, too. >> i hope so. in this case, the speech in which citizens united wanted to engage was in the fo of a movie about a presidential candidate, hillary clinton at the time. the deputy solicitor general first argued the case. that the deputy solicitor general from your office. he told several justices that if a corporation of any size, a u.n. or even a nonprofit group did not have a separate pac, the constitution allows congress to ban publishing, advertising or selling not only a traditional print book but criticized the political candidate but electronic books on devices such as the kindle. even a 500-page book that had only a single mention of a candidate not only print or electronic books or a news le

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, honorable senate men nevemember, blanche lincoln. >> i want to thankveryone for the opportunity to pay respect and really elevate have this monumental task, that was a part of our history and great country. i want to say a very special thanks to john lewis for those remarks, his passion, for his steadfast determination in his lifetime to do so many good things on behalf on so many people. most of all of his leadership with the slave labor task force. i had the privilege of working with him, but have been so pleased and work with him on this initiative. certainly my former colleagues, jacey watts has worked hard on this. i wanted to take of all the i's and remember -- i wanted to take a moment and remember mr. sykes.. i am so very grateful to his contribution to this effort, but more importantly his lifetime of contribution to our state of arkansas. i would also like to think sara davidson who knew him and has joined us today thinking her for her contribution to the task force following his untimely passing. a very special welcome to our distinguished g

we've already seen unions spending heavily in races such as the primary in arkansas between blanche lincoln and bill halter. lincoln prevailed in that. the service employees international union, for instance, just told me that they plan to spend $44 million in races this year, up from i think $33 million in the last election. so we are going to see a lot of union activity. and some of the uneyps also have capitalized on citizens united to be more explessity in their advertising, the way they talk about candidates when they are running ads. so i think that we will -- there is the potential for both sides to capitalize on it. host: let me ask about these self--funded candidates, because you talked about the situation in florida where mr. green has spent about $6 million of his own money. meg wittman last report close to $80 million of her own money. she has said that she would spend up to $120 million. and the man running for the senate seat in connecticut has spent $17 million of her own money. guest: we certainly have seen an uptick in self--funded candidates. there are 42 house and senate

they spent $10 million on the race against senator blanche lincoln of arkansas.t has opened the door to more money from both sides, both liberals and conservatives, as opposed to democrats and republicans. the party structures themselves have less money to deal with. if you are a big donor is can write a big check to either party. the money goes to feeding the building, repairing the elevator, paying the security guards. it means not much of your money is going to political advertisement. if you write a $1 million check to one of these outside organizations, all but $1 is going to advertising, straight out the door. host: gail russell chaddock, will the deregulation of campaign financing make it easier for speaker policy and democrats to raise money they need to hold onto power in congress? guest: it is a wild card at this point. i have heard arguments that corporations will be reluctant to spend money, especially if they have become identified with issues. it can hurt them in difficult economic times. the fact is, we do not know. members are very concerned about

now, you have said that there is one, thuff letter from chairman dodd and blanch lincoln saying there is one. that's half of it. you'd vote for that because you're saying it's in there. secondly, there's the federal audit. and we need, the taxpayers and voters are demanding, and mr. hoyer, transparency at the fed. they're spending trillions of dollars, committing trillions of dollars let's have this audit of the fed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. frank: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 7 3/4 minutes. mr. frank: mr. speaker, to begin, i want to address the members who are concerned that the interchange amendments will unduly affect smaller financial institutions. the interchange amendment wasn't part of the bill here. it was put in by a heavy vote in the senate and the conference process means a compromise there is in that amendment, as senator durbin put it in, an exemption for any fee set big the federal reserve for small institutions. they, then, feared they would be discriminated against so we

guest: so i think that one example of the kind of race that we are going to lose is blanche lincoln in arkansas. if you look at the polling against her opponent. it's not great. she's not met what the people want and that's a different choice this round. and specifically on patty murray, i am not too familiar with the race. but i would hope she does well in the election. host: did senator reid talk about his own race? guest: he did address it a little bit. and it seems fairly close but there is a big contrast between reid and sharon angle, and i would think for the people of nevada, it's in their interest to continue with harry reid's leadership. it's better to have someone with a high level seniority in the senate taking things back for your state. and he's doing his part to try to create jobs. and i don't think that's what sharon angle is trying to do, she's more what is going in the senate. wanting to obstruct things and appeal things and made a bunch of fantastic comments that are unbelievable. i hope that the voters make the right choice in the fall. host: do you think that the wh

they spent $10 million on the race against senator blanche lincoln of arkansas. it has opened the door to more money from both sides, both liberals and conservatives, as opposed to democrats and republicans. the party structures themselves have less money to deal with. if you are a big donor is can write a big check to either party. the money goes to feeding the building, repairing the elevator, paying the security guards. it means not much of your money is going to political advertisement. if you write a $1 million check to one of these outside organizations, all but $1 is going to advertising, straight out the door. host: gail russell chaddock, will the deregulation of campaign financing make it easier for speaker policy and democrats to raise money they need to hold onto power in congress? guest: it is a wild card at this point. i have heard arguments that corporations will be reluctant to spend money, especially if they have become identified with issues. it can hurt them in difficult economic times. the fact is, we do not know. members are very concerned abo

now, you have said that there is one, thuff letter from chairman dodd and blanch lincoln saying there is one. that's half of it. you'd vote for that because you're saying it's in there. secondly, there's the federal audit. and we need, the taxpayers and voters are demanding, and mr. hoyer, transparency at the fed. they're spending trillions of dollars, committing trillions of dollars let's have this audit of the fed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. frank: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 7 3/4 minutes. mr. frank: mr. speaker, to begin, i want to address the members who are concerned that the interchange amendments will unduly affect smaller financial institutions. the interchange amendment wasn't part of the bill here. it was put in by a heavy vote in the senate and the conference process means a compromise there is in that amendment, as senator durbin put it in, an exemption for any fee set big the federal reserve for small institutions. they, then, feared they would be discriminated against so we

we also have blanche lincoln from arkansas, a democrat, a fine senator. she is having an uphill battle because she is from the state of walmart. she is not liberal enough. bart stew pack -- bart stupak announced his retirement today, another moderate democrat, a pro-life democrat. he has been much in the news in the health-care debate. the center is diminishing. but our parties can do is to harness the forces of the tea parties, the michael more's, the wings that want to fly in different directions and tear this country apart. they need to be harnessed to come back to a more reasonable thoughtful middle ground. the extremes are really winning. depends the numbers you look at, with 39% of the country is it considering themselves independent. why are we letting the wings tear us apart. there has to be a way to bring us back home. i think the parties are the best way to do it. do not ask me how when we get to the question and answers section, because i do not know. it has to happen. now coming to the extent that the parties are a little light in the seed in