then, the funeral service for charles mathias.ollowed by a discussion on the future of the tea party movement. >> watch "washington journal" for conversation, comments, and your calls about the public affairs, live daily from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. eastern, c-span, covering washington like no other. >> now, president obama meets with fellow democrats at the winter meeting in washington. he talks about his legislative agenda for the coming year. this is 25 minutes. it is good to see you. it is good to be among friends. i am so committed to the future of this party and the country. i am willing to brave a blizzard. snowmageddon here in d.c. somebody had "californians for -- 4 obama." i was thinking, you guys are not used to this. i have got some special thanks for the folks here. first of all, i want to thank omar norton for fighting the good fight in the district of columbia. our dmz vice chair from new hampshire. dmc secretary and treasurer, thank you for the great work that you do. i want to thank tim kane, who is an outstand

senator charles mathias who died recently at the age of 87. he served the state of maryland as a republican from 1969-1987. and prior to that four terms in the house representing the state's sixth congressional district. among those remembering him at washington national cathedral was his former senate colleague, vice president biden. this portion of the service is an hour. >> mr. vice president, distinguished guests, friends and family, thank you for being with us today. we are here to celebrate the life of a great man. the public story has been well told. statesman, the conscious of the senate, protecter of the chesapeake, friend of nations, fierce advocate for the equal rights of all men and women. ours was a heady household to grow up in, but through it all dad was still dad, fun and fallible and full of love and devotion. and through it all a life's lessons emerged. dad loved to travel, and he would take charlie or me with him whenever he could. it was part of our education and a great gift that he gave us. i remember my first trip to san

. >> former senator charles mathias died at age of 87.he served from 1969 to 1987 after four terms in the u.s. house. among those remembering him was his former senate colleague, vice president biden. this portion of the funeral service is an hour. [silence] [silence] >> mr. vice president, distinguished guest, friends and family, thank you for being with us today. we are hear to celebrate the life of a great man. the public story has been well told. statesman, the conscience of the senate, protector of the chesapeake, steward of the cno canal, friend of nation, fierce advocate for the equal rights of all men and women. ours from a heavy household to grow up in. but through it all, dad was still dad. fun and fallible, and full of love and devotion. and through it all, our life's lessons emerged. dad loved to travel. and he would take charlie or me with him whenever he could. it was part of our education. and a great gift that he gave us. i remember my first trip to san francisco. i was young, maybe 12 or so. dad was there to make a speech

it was imperative that their owner, the honorable charles mathias be called home. because all of the company of having to shout hallelujah, all luria, hallelujah. heaven is an even better place because maccabaeus -- mac mathias is there. it is not unusual for people to start reaching for examples and grand moments that illustrate the achievement of the person being honored. i need not do that. all of us have had those moments with mac mathias, moments where we saw him at his best, standing up for those too weak to stand up for themselves. we have a memory of him at all loneliest figure on the floor of the senate calling for richard nixon to tell the truth about watergate. he helped craft the civil rights act of 1964. as a senator, he passed voting rights in legislation. he defended the bill of rights by introducing a bill about wiretaps. he was the sponsor a post- watergate reforms. he ran for reelection campaign without tax money in $100 limits on campaign contributions. senator mikulski, he ran against you. he managed to do that will not be told for 50 years unti

nor any the archives of his speeches, or any of the thousands of gatherings in which charles mathias was the center of attention. there was a moment in the senate chamber, a moment that's forgettable and was obscure to quorum call. he told me so much about the man i read your. it centered around a debate in the senate, the issue is not important. at one point the senator on the losing side of the debate raise a point of order. the chair upon advice of the parliamentarian's ruled against the point of order. something unusual for that era occurred. an appeal was taken from the decision of the chair. the question before the senate was whether to sustain the chair. senate staffers as we all want to do, begin preparing guidance for the bosses on what was at stake, who made the appeal, what was the underlying issue, how was senator expo, how would senator wyden out? mac mathias, regardless of whether his party or his friends may stand on the issue, regardless of the popularity of the issue, all those things were less important. partisanship he made clear, neither would friendship, he belie

in 1994, former senator charles mathias, a republican of maryland, said -- quote -- "today filibusters are far less visible but far more frequent. the filibuster has become an epidemic. an epidemic used whenever a coalition can find 41 votes to oppose legislation. the distinction between voting against legislation and blocking a vote between opposing and obstruction has nearly disappeared." during that congress, the 103rd, right here, there were 80 filibusters when senator mathias spoke. remarkably, from 1995 through 2008, the number of filibusters in congress has increased 75%. in the last congress, 110th, there were an astonishing 139 filibusters. in the current, 111th congress, now at its midpoint right now, there have been 74. last year alone, in one year, in 2009, there were 67 filibusters. 67 filibusters in 2009. but from 1950 to 1969, over a 20-year period of time, there were 20 filibusters. in 20 years. last year, 67 in one year alone. so i think this graphically illustrates how perilous this has become for the united states senate. 20 filibusters over 20 years. 67 last year al