>> the short answer senator cochran is no. the truth of the matter is the election trajectory in iraq is basically going pretty much as had been predicted. we figured it would take several months for them to form a government after the election. an important hurdle in terms of general general odierno's confidence was the certification of the election last week. the council constable of representatives convened this last monday and that against the process of the formation of the government, so the violence we have seen it has really been al qaeda in iraq violence aimed at promoting or provoking sectarian conflict and sectarian violence and one of the good news stories out of iraq is that that effort on their part has completely failed. these guys are doing politics and i would just say, coming out of the nato summit and i probably shouldn't say this but i was intrigued with the fact that we have a new dutch government information and they anticipate it is going to take about four months to put the dutch government together so

thad cochran. harry reid. congressman kennedy is leaving office. on and on. did you get any sense as you saw all these names come by you that thhs scandal had the impact of chasing people out of congress? >> i think it did have the impact of chasing people out of congress. that was probably a positive development. so i don't want to minimize or overdue the idda that jack abramoff was scapegoated in the sense that there was no other impact. i think the abramoff scandal so called really did have an impact and people left. on the other hand, what's interesting about washington is you see them coming bark and j.d. hayworth would be a good example of that. he may unseat john mccain, who was the guy that went after abramoff, in a kind of bitter irony. j.d. hayworth now touts the fact that mccain's committee didn't find anything wrong with what he was doing during this influence pedaling scandal. maybe john mccain wishes he had dug a little deeper and released a few more e-mails that might have revealed more about j.d. hayworth's role. but anyway, there's no doubt,

from 40 commander marines, mari anonfrom first baalion, lce corpora allen cochran and cporal try websterand a ldier royal horse artillery who died yesterday. they were all extremelyalented and professial servicemen who gaveir les for the safety and security opeople in our untry. we owe them auge debt o gratitude d ourhoughts should be withhe familie and with tir frien mr. speaker, this moing i had meetings with misterial colleagues and othersnd in addition toy duties in this use i shall have furth sh meetingsater. >> may i associate mith the wordsf therime minter d cle to the famili and the scemen who died serving our country. the reportsthe newspap at the prime minister wants a positiveelatnship with tassembl orthn eland d inde he wants to work with themn partnership, in that theme, will the prime minister put forward a msureore the hoe that allows a referendum is autn freat pow for e welsh assembly and wl weelean with this hou and the people of wal a say whether he's in favor of additional powers himself? >> tha you, mr. speake first ofll, l me be as frank anas cle as i can be. we had

>> senator cochran, i appreciate the question and your leadership on these issues in mississippi. we are -- let me maybe take a w minutes and do a little broader explanation here. it was -- there is a very huge distinction between the safety recommendations that we received, that i delivered to the president and then my decision to issue the moratorium. they're separate and apart. i received the safety recommendations, the president and i made the decision on moving forward with the pause button. secondly, it was our decision to move forward with allowing shallow water drilling to continue, because at the 500-foot level they can still be anchored to the bottom. it's still a place where the wellhead can be reached by divers, and those involved in the industry have told us that that was an important part that could move forward. so we have allowed that part to move forward with the requirement that some safety recommendations, some safety requirements we put in a notice to lessees be followed. and third, what i would say, senator cochran, is that it's important for all of us to reme

>> the short answer senator cochran is no. the truth of the matter is the election trajectory in iraq is basically going pretty much as had been predicted. we figured it would take several months for them to form a government after the election. an important hurdle in terms of general general odierno's confidence was the certification of the election last week. the council cotable of representatives convened this la monday and that against the process of the formation of the government, so the violencwe have seen it has really been al qaeda in iraq violence aimed at promoting or proki sectarian conflict and sectarian violence and one of the good news stories out of iraq is that that effort on their part has completely failed. these guys are doing politics and i would just say, comg out of the nato summit and i probably shouldn't say this but i was intrigued with the ct that we hve a new dutch government information and they anticipate it is going to take about four months to put the dutch government together so these coalition

young, a former chief of staff of bob nacars, former tom delay aide, a former aide to senator thad cochran. former aid to us took. most of those are gone from the congress. were those the people you indicted? any of those? >> not really. to me i'm surprised that onll the minnows showed up in court, that the really big fish got away. now, you know, i can't be the judde of whether or not there were indictable offenses for people like former congressman for former senator onrad burns. but some of these people i think were at the heart of jack abramoff's dealings, and it's a little surprising to me that more of the big fish didn't get netted by the federal investigation. >> from your documentary "casino jack and the united states of money," here's a one-minute clip. you're introducing us to neil volets. >> this is truly a wildly historic night. >> i was a college student, and i was a true believer in the whole republican revolution. >> neil volets came to washington with bob nay from ohio. >> the move was electric. 40-some years, of democrat control which i and others at one point in time said

thank you. >> chairman inouye, senator cochran, distinguished members of the committee, thanks for the chance to discuss the scale of the military as well as the president's fiscal year 11 defense budget submission. as always, i greatly appreciate your eckert and our support of the men and women of the united states armed forces, their families and the communities that do so much to help them. in particular, thank you for your passing the fiscal year ten supplement request. our men and women in uniform are well equipped, well-trained, well paid and received the finest medical care in the world due in no small part to your dedication and stewardship. i'm here today to continue support. secateurs gates walked you through the major components of the budget submission and i will not repeat them. let me leave you rather with three thoughts considering as you prepare to debate the details. first there is a sense of urgency here as we work to win the war we fight. we have more than 200,000 troops deployed in harm's way right now and another 150,000 or so deployed in support of other security

senators, including senators isakson of georgia, senators corker and alexander from tennessee, senator cochran of mississippi, just to name a few. just last week this bill was unanimously approved by the senate. i, along with representative vern ehlers, introduced the house companion, h.r. 4804. i want to thank chairman waxman and rush for their leadership in guiding h.r. 4805 through the energy and commerce committee which is reported out in a bipartisan manner pi a vote of 27--- by a vote of 27-10 on may 26. during committee debate on this legislation, we worked collaboratively with the minority to address the vast majority of the concerns initially raised by the ranking member and representatives gingrey and scalise. and i thank them for their support during full committee's consideration. those changes are included in this legislation that we are considering today. on the issue of labor, we expect there e.p.a. will take the steps to ensure that consumers will make informed purchases. at the same time it is not our intention to require what is more burdensome than what is required in califo