commerce. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: mr. president, there is four hours under the order previously entered. we would hope that all this time will not have to be used. we have -- i ask that there b be -- that 20 minutes remain equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, regardless of any time consumed in quorum calls or other presentations made on this matter. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i would like to congratulate my friend, the chairman of the committee, the commerce committee, and the senator from texas, kay bailey hutchison. they've both worked very, very hard in a fair, fair way to move forward on this. it's been good for the senate. when we confirm this nomination, it will be good for the country. i don't think we'll use all this time. i hope we can vote on this matter anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30 tonight. closer to 6:30. mr. rockefeller: mr. preside

the chamber of commerce in northwest. that is where matt ackland is live with the rest of the story. matt? >> reporter: when you compare this protest to other protests we have seen in the district of columbia the last few years, this is really pretty small. a couple of hundred protestors and boy that were vocal. they left freedom plaza and went behind the white house behind me and to the chamber of commerce. i want to get you video there. in front of the chamber of commerce, you can see a big sign. it says jobs. the problem is that the protestors say the chamber of commerce is not doing enough to help americans find jobs and as the protestors blocked off eighth street, they chanted where are the jobs and referred to the chamber of commerce as a commerce of corporate hires and there were several speeches from those upset about the economy and the jobs available formers. >> i work at a minimum wage job in tennessee for $7.45 an hour and i don't trust my future is secure in the middle class. this chamber does not represent s

steve falk, president of the chamber of commerce. the chamber of commerce really is not the enemy here. you turn to what is considered the most progressive chamber of commerce in the country when you need help with pension reform, when you need help designing the health care ordinance to begin with, when you need help with school bonds, when you need help with street bonds and even a sales tax increase. i can tell you there's not another chamber of commerce anywhere close to us that would be supporting all of these issues. i was on the stage with tom ammiano in labor when we introduced healthy san francisco. so i resent a little bit the implication that we're the enemy. we were part of the solution from the very start. we do have a loophole and supervisor campos, you said it very clearly, today this week, next week, are defining moments because you have to decide whether we need a sledgehammer to close the loophole and tie up tens of millions of dollars or can we sit down and find a mechanism to create a minimum balance, create the s

what is the interstate commerce clause. does that regulate the guys who sell the oranges on the off-ramp at the interstate. >> no, no, it's the part of the constitution that says the federal government can regulate anything related to interstate commerce, which the supreme court historically has interpreted very broadly. >> stephen: what has that got to do with this. >> well, the obama administration says that the health-care industry is 17% of the economy and all of the transactions lumped together have a big affect on interstate commerce. so it's appropriate to regulate about it. >> stephen: and this is going to settle it once and for all, right. >> they are final. >> stephen: now why is the obama administration not fighting getting this to the court. because they're going to have their ass handed to them, right. >> well, no, we don't know that. >> stephen: come on. >> they think they're going to win. >> stephen: can the government force you to do something like that? this isn't saying you cannot do something, this is say

that's the chamber of commerce. wait a second, is this the same chamber of commerce that on july 1, 2004, according to the associated press, said -- and here's the headline on that article: "chamber of commerce leader advocates offshoring of jobs." end of quote. here's what the article stated about the u.s. chamber of commerce, who is such a strong advocate for these trade policies. quote -- "u.s. chamber of commerce president and c.e.o. thomas donohue urged american companies to send jobs overseas as a way to boost american competitiveness. donohue said exploiting high-paid tech jobs to low-cost countries such as india, china and russia saves companies money, et cetera, et cetera, sets." chamber of commerce is leading the effort for these trade agreements, but their leadership tells us outsourcing of jobs is a good thing. maybe, maybe you might want to think twice before you accepted the advice of the chamber of commerce. mr. president, the united states department of commerce has reported -- and this is really ver

who would be against commerce? we just said we are living in a world that has been overly come modified. where everything has been turned into a commodity value. people do not have the identities. we are world full of brands and no identity. you can read your entire life -- you can do your business and go about in the world using your credit card and never really look anyone in the eye. a world in which things have been comodified, things that should never have been. you cannot put a price on love. you cannot put a price on things that make life meaningful. but this isn't a consumer culture. even though we know we cannot keep it up. if the chinese adopt our lifestyle, we are all goners, we know that. it is not the third world anymore, it is the developing world. well, they are developing and they want things, too. the 21st century will be about competing for resources. there are not enough in a consuming world when there is no limit of appetite. it is a philosophic position. it would be interesting for people to li

you don't need a great study or commerce by the department of commerce by the departmentod ofb commercethe department of commerce a department store inr. america when you buy a product you know the product is it's not in vermont. not manufactured in california. riten it's not manufactured inot china, mexico or other the that has been the whole goal of these trade agreements. hire shut down plants in america, move them abroad was low-wage workers there bring the products into this country. the idea that we would be extending this concept to korea, panama and colombia makes no sense to me at all. mr. president, since the year 2000, 2.8 million american jobs have been eliminated or displaye as a result of the increased trade deficit with china. the he after all of the type of us werf of the senate and on the soil or the house and the editorial boards of major newspapers are e leading politicians about how the china trade remit would ame create jobs in america, these ty are interesting to hear what these corporations had to say a few years after the trade agreement was passed.ore it i in ot

the commerce clause is relevant today. it is also the source of a lot of legislation that is passed right now. under the new deal, the court basically was not s expansion in its interpretation of what the commerce power could do for congress and thought often he states on autonomy was being infringed upon by congressional enactments. another ground for invalidation was liberty of contract which was read into the 14th amendment or the fifth amendment. hughes court had been striking down a lot of legislation. after his reelection, fdr basically proposed this plan whereby the court's membership would be increased if justices did not retire in a timely fashion. under his plan, there would have been up to six new justices placed upon the court. this gets into the question that was asked by the collar whether justice roberts had changed his vote before this court packing scam was promoted. one argument is that once roosevelt won the election, the court felt there would be a lot of pressure to uphold and abstained legislation and

steve falk, president of the chamber of commerce. the chamber of commerce really is not the enemy here. you turn to what is considered the most progressive chamber of commerce in the country when you need help with pension reform, when you need help designing the

so it's clearly important to be able to have the department of commerce in a position at the outset, being able to initiate this investigation on those companies that actually export goods to the united states from china at an unfair price. notably, our bill does not legislate deem a currency evaluation satisfy the requirement of finding a count available subsidy. it just requires commerce to determine on a case-by-case basis whether currency undervaluation is giving foreign companies an unfair competitive advantage over their counterparts in our country. since introducing our legislation in february we added 11 bipartisan, 7 senate cosponsors, and in the house companion to our legislation, over 200 cosponsors. furthermore, on september 23 i was proud to join as lead original cosponsor of the bipartisan legislation before us today that combines the key elements of our bill with critical provisions of the legislation authored by the senator from new york, senator schumer, and the senator from south carolina, senator graham that i also supported as an initiative when it came before the

this evolution of local commerce which is being fuelled by innovations in broadband and growth is really what living social is driving toward. not only are we a growing enterprise, but we have the capability to allow small businesses to grow in conjunction with us. much about our growth in the future relies on having a local, real-time, mobile economy common and the mobile device becomes a local interaction machine for consumers and small businesses out there. i am very excited for everything we are able to do and how the country and the technology industry can continue to push ahead to drive growth that really has impact in the real world of local businesses and local jobs. i would like to introduce warren brown to talk a little bed about k club and everything it has done for him. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. we just had a successful run at last week with 700 vouchers sold last tuesday and wednesday. cakelove is my bakery, founded in 2002. has seven locations throughout the d.c. area. we have retail store fronts that people come into and place orders. we get a lot of orders onl

themselves but all the while we've expressed our concern over the protect ip act yes chamber of commerce has been rallying behind this bill maybe rallying is an understatement it's more like fear mongering and releasing videos like this what other business would it be ok for you to lose fifty percent of your product and not receive income for what worries me is that there's a hole in the system but i think that one of the places where the system is broken is where the artist for getting paid for the work that they're doing and open it up and the check was for oh about eight hours and i just stopped for a moment i thought i learned how much the check would have been had everyone purchased the d.v.d.'s. so clearly those types of ads appeal to actors musicians writers anyone else in the entire entertainment industry i can't say i'm surprised after all this bill was basically written as a favor to hollywood and use it in history but i digress now it turns out that a lot of tech companies out there teamed up with the chamber of commerce over the years but ever since the protect ip act has bec

i digress now it turns out that a lot of tech companies out there teamed up with the chamber of commerce over the years but ever since the protect ip act has become one of the chamber of commerce's focal points they're changing their minds it's just been announced that yahoo is parting ways it with the chamber and while they did it quietly rumor has it the final straw was over the extremist videos and statements dealing with the protect ip act or yahoo joins a growing number of groups have decided to leave the chamber of commerce mostly because of their pay to play model meeting whoever throws the moan that the most money will become one of the c o c that major lobbying efforts apple exelon p.g.d. of also quit the chamber over their political positions and we should note the local chapters of chambers like the san francisco c.s.c. have broken ties as well so we have major company after major company leaving organization one can only hope the departures will encourage the government that's not listening to those glorified lobbying group as a single voice for the business of america and ra

residential and political center in the 1970's but a south of market was headquarters for sexual commercen general. by the late 1970's, south of market housed one of the most largest and most visible concentrations of gay and leather institutions in social life in the world. almost at the point when it was at its maximum expansion, gaze south of market started to collapse, particularly in the mid-1980's. more than 20 gay and other related businesses and club said closed. some of this collapse was due to aids. but it was less a result of aids mortality as policies adopted tucson's of the control the spread of the disease. one prime example was the closure of the san francisco bat houses in the mid-1980s. whether this was an effective public health information is a matter of debate. but what is not a matter of debate is that the closure effectively eviscerated the biggest enterprises in the neighborhood is the economy. the baths were among the most highly capitalized businesses, and they drew hundreds if not thousands of gay customers and to the neighborhood every night. there closure abrup

the founders had explicit ideas of what powers they should have to regulate commerce. the supreme court will have to decide what that means. two appeals courts ruled different ways on this. the question is whether requiring virtually all americans to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. does that go beyond congress's

i can tell you a secret israel is negotiating with hamas a lot of practical arrangements because commerce is controlling gaza which is in a way almost a state and we have a border with gaza so we have a sort of saw them relationship we cannot speak with hamas about political solution for the simple reason the commerce is against any political solution and they clambered the only possible solution to the israeli palestinian conflict is the elimination of the state of israel as well there's very little to discuss as long as this is the position. can you say can you predict what will be israel's reaction when the u.n. general assembly will sooner or later this will happen recognizes the state or the house. is all it is said as long as disses only a statement of the general assembly and he does not translate the two protective action in the un security council it has very little meanings and the basic approach is to try to ignore it and as long. the palestinians don't do anything provocative against real israeli vital interests we're not going to respond but but i think that the countdown has

the commerce clause is relevant today. it is also the source of a lot of legislation that is passed right now. under the new deal, the court basically was not as expansive in its interpretation of what the commerce power could do for congress and thought often the states autonomy was being infringed upon by congressional enactments. another ground for invalidation was liberty of contract which was read into the 14th amendment or the fifth amendment. hughes court had been striking down a lot of legislation. after his reelection, fdr basically proposed this plan whereby the court's membership would be increased if justices did not retire in a timely fashion. under his plan, there would have been up to six new justices placed upon the court. this gets into the question that was asked by the caller whether justice roberts had changed his vote before this court packing scheme was promoted. one argument is that once roosevelt won the election, the court felt there would be a lot of pressure to uphold and obstain legislation and

but the chairman of the athens chamber of commerce with his perspective there. i think it's worth bringing in a view we've got from the newspapers. the deal itself done after their deadline, but they all have online editions as well, so let's just have a look at what they're saying as well. "the times" saying the deal has been sealed, the subsequent surge in the markets being reached. that's the view on it. they talk of the stock exchange openly strongly following that agreement, all of which we've seen for ourselves. and the german tabloid, chancellor merkel being hailed as triumphant in brussels. and another says the big spanish banks are to outline their need for capital in the wake of this european deal. let's get back to greece for a moment. let's hope a new and better day dawns as the prime minister george papandreou says he hopes greece's debt burden will be sustainable. and we've heard some skepticism from the athens chamber of commerce in the last moment or two about that. some other stories we need to bring to you this hour -- thousands of people are f

it's the chamber of commerce. some years ago the chamber of commerce, to their credit, were pretty up front. they said outsourcing is a good idea. they recommended to american corporations, shut down in america, move abroad, it's good for your stockholders. do you really want to take the advice of people who believe that outsourcing and throwing american workers out on the street is a good idea? i don't think so. mr. president, today we're hearing all this talk about how these trade agreements are going to create new jobs. we heard it before. it's the same old movie. the american people understand that it's a bad movie. it's an unfactual movie. during the clinton administration, we were told by republicans and democrats and then president clinton that nafta would create 100,000 american jobs over a two-year period. that's what we were told about nafta. well, results are in about nafta. instead of creating 100,000 american jobs, the economic policy institute has found that nafta destroyed more than 682,000 american

i'm saying that we are doing the best job news came less than a dayy after the house energy and commercedocuments, dating back to presideet obama's inauguration. subcommittee chairman cliff sterrs wrote quote: "...documents reveal a startlingly cozy relationship between wealthy donors and the president's confidantes, espeeially in matters related apparent reference to george kaaser - n obamaacampaign bundler and one of the solyndra officials who visited the whhte house at least 20 times during the loan process. sot - blakeman says: "... "clearly the 20 meetings that were had at the white house, clearly thh access that this relationship to solyndra, and the vetting prooess would have determmned that thhy were not funds that were given." the new document request follows last weeks release of only by force of subpoena. they reveal the department of eeergy considered a second solyndra loan of $469 million last year, evee s it faced bankruptcc. an omb analyst writes - quote - "possible to close and ddfault on one before closing on a secood??? could be a record." speeking at an energy symposiu

to the chamber of commerce it really was. by that point in time eliot spitzer was on a tear. he had figured out that wall street firms were telling suckers all over the country to buy stock in certain companies. not because those companies were a good thing to buy stock in but because wall street was essentially taking money from those companies in order to say that. give us your investment banking business or whatever and yeah, we'll tell suckers all over the country running some retirement fund somewhere, something, we'll tell suckers everywhere to buy your stupid stock. the wall street firm gets whatever business that lousy company wants to kick back to wall street. the company gets people to buy its lousy stock. and the people who get stuck paying the bill is like your uncle jim, the toll taker in cleveland and his pension fund that he thought they'd invest this year with all those smart young guys on wall street. it was a total scam. and wall street was so confident they were never going to get caught for it that they would openly talk about these scams they were pulling

i would challenge the chamber of commerce one thing -- we had a summit in d.c. three years ago.one thing that came out of that was a veteran-friendly concept. come up with a branding program and stick to it and make employers responsible for hiring veterans in a standardized format that they can police themselves, thank you. >> i will take the reporters prerogative and ask the last question my question will be to the audience. as i have listened to everybody, i want to know, is there an unemployed veteran in this room? that needs a job? i don't see a single hand. that tells us, of course -- is there a military spouse in this room that is here to look for information because they need a job? i don't want to miss any hands. military member that will be transitioning out so on. that is why i came to find out what is out there and what is the. available i have no idea what the heck i'm going to do. i've not look for job and almost 11 years. >> did you learn anything today? >> almost certainly. thank you very much. i'm a u.s. marine. i am first lieutenants ke robertith and i am stage

business, and how it works in singapore and asia. >> the american chamber of commerce has been here for 38 years. we have seven members that are members of the largest american companies, as well as smaller ones that are based here. we have about 4500 members. we represent business in singapore also business in the region. so many of our members have regional responsibilities across asia pacific. >> give us a range of the businesses, some of the names we might know, some that we may not know? >> it will be the big company that you have heard of, citibank, american express, ibm, cisco systems, the biggest companies you hear about in the u.s., but it is also small companies that do a variety of things. there is a company here that imports parts from small technology companies in the u.s. to be distributed throughout asia for different technology makers. it is a whole range, as well as people -- and there are many americans that have come here to start their own companies. >> how does this help u.s. companies function here? >> our goal is to work on a couple of levels. a couple of years ag

labor leader richard trumka and chamber of commerce president tom donohue on the strategy they share for putting america back to work. >>> good morning. lots to get to today. but first some news since your morning papers. breaking news to report, a powerful 7.2 earthquake has rocked turkey with its epicenter near the city of van. a local mayor reports there are so many dead, several buildings have collapsed. there is too much destruction, he says. rescue workers are struggling to reach victims trapped under the rubble. >>> and a milestone in the middle east this morning, the first election of the arab spring. the uprising began in tunisia last december when a food vendor set himself on fire in protest of an oppressive regime. today, tunisians headed to the polls. there are 11,000 candidates from 80 political parties, and results will be announced tomorrow. >>> and in libya, a day of jubilation as leaders formally declare the nation liberated. the clock now starts for a constitutional assembly within eight months and parliamentary and presidential elections within a year. meantime, an

i am also on the commerce committee -- the first issue, aviation security. it has been my concern as a person with a hip replacement deals a lot with your tsa people, and there has been a great improvement in morrell the past few years. they appreciate the local defense that you and the director had given when questions are raised. and obviously questions should be raised, but overall theyand d be raised, but overall they are protecting the security of the people in this country doing incredibly difficult jobs. the issue i wanted to raise, the new stick image body scanner. that has been a concern of some people, with the new security that is there. i have not had a problem with it at all. i think it is great because it goes faster. but can you discuss this new software and get your assessment about how it has been working? >> we began installing software that rather than the smudge it photo-like image, it is just a stick figure, and it identifies where there may be an anomaly that requires deep they forgot to take something out of their pocket or something n

chamber of commerce. yesterday a group of senators, including john mccain, rob portman and rand paul introduced the jobs for growth act. this legislation marks a departure, from 5, quote, government knows best approach and instead empowers the private sector to rescue our economy. as the chamber pointed out in its six-points jobs plan, alleviating regulatory burdens, tax uncertainty and restoring confidence to invest and grow jobs is the best way to get the country back on track. this bill is a step in the right direction and includes a number of the same broad-based ideas for creation of the chamber's plan. it goes on to talk about comprehensive tax reform as critical to job creation. they believe reforming the regulatory process is necessary for businesses to begin hiring again and they also argue for the expanded drilling off shore. so you will hear from various liberal think tanks that we really don't create jobs, that this is not a good thing to do, etc., but the fact is that the chamber of commerce

chamber of commerce, the u.s.-china business council, the club for growth and others have all announced their opposition to the bill. so i wanted to get your view on why are they so what does this legislation? to what is the position of the afl-cio on this legislation? and three, what is the position of the obama administration on this legislation? >> well, i am sort of amazed that you are surprised. of course there are. they represent the multinationals. there's been a group that have been crying from the national association of manufacturers and the chamber of commerce. all the small employers to produce here, the small and midsize players manufacturing support that though because they know they're getting creamed. they know they are being treated improperly. and here's one thing, he pointed these to be made. when china cheats on its currency, it's not just china. there were 12 or 13 or 14 other countries do not specifically in that cheat on their says well because they have to do that to be up to compete with c

. >> they are planning a march to the chamber of commerce's this afternoon.rotests we have seen in new york turned violent. police had to use pepper spray to get the block under control. so far nothing like that has been seen in d.c. back to you. >> thank you. >>> here's your chance to own a piece of d.c. history despite. cause from the hawk and dove bar are being sold at an online auction. the capitol hill and mark closed last weekend after more than 40 years in business. everything from to signs and posters will be auctioned off today and tomorrow. >> >>> the redskins owner is generating a lot of talk around town. his new yacht is estimated to be worth $70 million. take a look added. she is believed to be among the 100 largest in the world. it includes a five-story spiral staircase, a library, a gymnasium, six state rooms. he is not confirming the price tag, but you can see more pictures of it on a special photo gallery on our website wjla.com. >> that's a happy lady. cracks apparently. >> you have to wonder how much it takes to fill up at gas tank. >> i do

week, normally does at least 70% of her shopping online--not unusual in a country where the total e-commerceket is worth over 600 billion u.s. dollars. she gives the experience a mixed verdict. >> [speaking korean] >> i've been quite bored without the internet. surfing the web's one of my hobbies. and i feel like the power of knowing things has been taken away from me. but i have been able to spend more time with the children and the neighbors. and the children have spent more time out of the house. [beeping] >> well, it teacher, has also discovered the value of a new source of knowledge in a place where water and other resources are scarce and information is limited. >> 2 elders came to me. they were asking me about how they can improve their farming activities, if i can access any information in a website to tell them about improved crops, fertilizer that they can apply to improve their crops. is this going to cost you... >> despite some connectivity problems with actually getting a service from the internet provider, nicholas and moses are keenly embracing all that their new phones have t

chamber of commerce and they promised to occupy freedom plaza until the demands are met. they want more jobs, less corporate greed, and to the end on wars and more taxes on the rich. >> reporter: yeah, they have been making a lot of noise, these protesters all day today. take a look behind me right now. we have seen a steady stream of more protesters that are joining in on the activities here at freedom plaza. about 30 minutes ago they were talking on an open mic giving people instructions on what the rest of the night is going to be, derek. they are giving people plans on how they plan on staying here, occupying freedom plaza. and we are being told they were given a permit by u.s. parks to stay here through sunday. of course, they are not allowed to sleep here. i spoke to police officers who told us off camera that the folks who decide to spend the night here will not be allowed to sleep here, but they are, in fact, allowed to stay here to occupy the area. they have been at this all day again. as you mentioned earlier today, what they are asking for is more jobs, less co

wells fargo, the san francisco chamber of commerce are honored to have him here today. please welcome mirkarimi -- mayor ed lee. [applause] mayor lee: good morning. all right. it is great to be in the city of san francisco because we are doing everything right. i know they only gave me 10 minutes this morning. i could probably talk for hours about what we're doing in our city to make sure it is economically strong, but finally have 10 minutes, it is going to be about jobs, jobs, and more jobs. [applause] that is what we have to do in this city. i want to speak on the state of our city's economic climate. in order to have a city that is, as you have heard me say time and time again, that is safe, solvent, and successful, we need to invest in our residents, in our businesses here, and in our city. that is why jobs and our business climate are the top party is that my administration will continue to push very hard. that means creating and retaining jobs and creating the conditions for businesses to start and grow and prosper in our great city. today, san francisco's unempl

chamber of commerce dinner tonight. >> this is the business solution, not a social work solution. >>ent rate could be reduced, cut a lot of the red tape that is tieing the hands of local businesses. >> we want lower regulations, for one. make it easier for businesses to be here. >> if you look at a company like living social. they had 40 or 50 employees, now they have 700. >> who could miss this scene? mayor vincent gray engaged in conversation with former campaign chairman, lorraine green. >> we were supposed to talk about the chamber event. >> both have seen their reputations battered. a former candidate for mayor himself. brown claims he was paid during the campaign. then given a job in the gray administration for helping undermine the campaign of adrian fenty. mayor gray and lorraine green said any wrong doing. >> they concluded the investigation and the conclusion was that i have no involvement. we look forward to getting the results. we realize, bruce, this is very painful process. i wish it would move along faster. >> president of the chamber of commerce early on helped convin

the head of the afl-cio and the chamber of commerce join me next. >>> quoted as saying if there's oneng that washington should be able to do, rebuilding our infrastructure should be one, i mean, when you got the afl and the chamber of commerce agreeing on anything, that's a sign that it's a good idea. >> we have the afl and the chamber of commerce here. not often that big business and big labor agree. this is one of those times. the senate is expected to take up that issue in the next few weeks. i'm now joined by two men that you seldom find in the same corne corner, richard trumka and tom donohue. build the crumbling infrastructu infrastructure, put american bass to work. >> first of all, we're living off the investments that our parents and grand parents made in this country. we have gone in the last four years from being in top five t 16, and we're falling. we can't be competitive in the global economy unless we have infrastructure that allow is us to competitive. we have a major deficit in old infrastructure. and $2 trillion deficit in new infrastructure. this is really a no-brain