to south dakota. but beyond business and government efforts, they're have been thousands of private actions that have been taken by people to help their relatives, friends, neighbors and even strangers to survive these tough times. during this legislative session, we need to do what most south dakotans are doing during these tough times. they are being frugal, yet they are being optimistic. i am proud, and you should be proud, too, that today, hour to reserve fund balances combined are still greater than what they were at the start of my first budget back in 2003. the budget presented to you in december will use 3.1 -- 31.8 million of the 107 million in our two guerini de funds for the 2011 budget. in the two months since we made our revenue projections for 2010 and 2011, some of our key revenue source is have grown, but most are down, which means our structural deficit may actually still be growing. even the weather is interfering by keeping people from shopping during the holiday season. the way to

the senator from north dakota has 6 minutes. mr.gg: i would yield 5 minutes of my time to the senator from north dakota if he desires it. mr. conrad: i thank the -- the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. conrad: i thank the senator from new hampshire, my colleague senator gregg, and i thank the chair. mr. president, this debate is about the economic future of the country. this is the headline on "newsweek" magazine from december 7 of 2009: "how great powers fall: steep debt, slow growth and high spending kill empires. and america could be next." if you go to the inside of the story, it says, "this is how empires decline. it begins with a debt explosion. it ends in inexorable reduction for the army, navy and air force. if the united states doesn't come up soon with a credible plan to restore the federal budget to balance over the next five to ten years, the danger is very real that a debt crisis could lead to a major weakening of american power." mr. president, that's what this debate is about. we are on a course t

that is not the case in north dakota. byron dorgan had a special relationship with that state, congressman at lge, senator, and there is nobody there -- are a pomeroy, congressman at large, democrat, will run for reelection in the house. on balance, is not good news for democrats. >> when you consider what the democrats were a year ago, winning a smashing victory in the presidency and the house and senate, conservatives really in disarray, nowhere to go and no leadership, the turnaround over this year is remarkable. i think it is attributable to one thing -- obama over-read his mandate and when left in the direction that the country was not ready to go, and what we're seeing is the fruits of that. however, there still is a year. as long as there is a year to go, as opposed to a year which has passed, in this coming year, it could reverse as well. i don't think the republicans ought to be assuming there is going to be a smashing success in november yet. >> colby? >> all that said, i don't think there's a likelihood that de

byron dorgan, another democrat, announced that he would not run for senate re- election from north dakota. he would not seek a fourth term. in the house of representatives, ten democrats say they are bowing out this year. democrats davis, meets, abercrombie, moore, booth, gordon, tanner, baird. why are democrats opting out of the obama mid-term election? to avoid a bloodbath? well, hiss store achelely a president's first m.i.t. term election has led to major losses for his party in those elections. in 1982, republican president ronald reagan's first mid-term election, republicans lost 26 seats. more notably, in 1994, president clinton's mid-term

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s.j. res. 25 andhe s its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s.j. res. 25, joint resolution granting the consent and approval of congress to amendments made by the state of maryland, the commonwealth of virginia and the district of columbia to the washington metropolitan area transit regulation compact.e priding oft objection, so ordered, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed to the measure. according doing mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read a

if we can do it and have to do it in the dakotas, then fine. but it should not matter whether it's off the coast of massachusetts or in the dakotas, as long as we are meeting the nation's needs. we will have a huge amount of power that will be necessary to come from renewable energy if you're going to meet these objectives as outlined in the legislation. one quick point -- i have a home in south carolina. it is up on on top and we have a huge amount of land up there. but i can assure you if you try to build a wind generator on the mountain, you will have a lot of people who will be objecting to it. unlike what you'll find. >> exactly. i think the point is, using the postage stamp analogy, it does not cost 47 cents to move a letter from new jersey to new york city. april wheat costs less, but the average is 47 cents. so that someone from south dakota can mail a letter to new york city and we have communications crossbills city. -- across the nation. we accept it. that's the way should be. what he is saying is if you do the same thing for electri

nator chris dodd of connecticut announced hi desion today, hours after byron dorgan, oforth dakota, didsame. gwen ifillas the story. >> ifill: after 35 yea in washingtonsenator dodd went home tod to connecticut, to announce his decision not run again. >> there are momts for each elected public official,o step aside, andet someone else ep up this is my momt to step aside. >> ifill: 66, dodd is chaian of the senate banking committee. but 2009 w a long year for m, and his reelection prospects had recently gwn shaky. >> i lost a beloved ster in july and in gust, ted kennedy. i battled cancer over the summerand in the midstf all this, i found myself in the toughest politicalhape of my career. ne of these events or circumstances, either individually or colltively is the cae of my decision not to seek relection. yet together, these chalnges have given mpause to take stk and to ask questions that too few of us in ected public lifever do. why am i running? >> ifill: news of dd's decision camon the heels of nator dorgan's statement tha he plans to reti, too. like dodd, he was facing potentially t

cold remains in the middle of the country with negative temperatures really covering much of the dakotas, nebraska, iowa, all the way down now into areas of northern portions of illinois. so, as far as the windchill goes, still negative 3 in chicago, st. louis at minus 10. the bitter cold is all with us during the day today. high temperature only 8 in kansas city today. still a lot of snow and ice out there on the ground. very difficult to travel. we've been very cold ever since new year's eve. many locations are still waiting in the midwest to hit 32 degrees. the story tonight will be the cold in florida with freeze warnings all the way down into southern florida. we should have record lows from miami all the way down into key west. temperature tonight as low as mid-30s in florida. so, today you notice the temperatures are cold everywhere. here's your little sneak peek, alex, a nicer day come monday. i know it's back to work and school, but at least the warm-up will begin. >> yeah, sure will appreciate that. bill karins, thanks. for more on the arctic blast, head to weather.com. there y

senator chris dodd of connecticut announced his decision today, hours after byron dorgan, of north dakota the same. gwen ifill has the story. >> ifill: after 35 years in washington, senator dodd went home today to connecticut, to announce his decision not to run again. >> there are moments for each elected public official, to step aside, and let someone else step up. this is my moment to step aside. >> ifill: at 66, dodd is chairman of the senate banking committee. but 2009 was a long year for him, and his reelection prospects had recently grown shaky. >> i lost a beloved sister in july and in august, ted kennedy. i battled cancer over the summer, and in the midst of all of this, i found myself in the toughest political shape of my career. none of these events or circumstances, either individually or collectively is the cause of my decision not to seek relection. yet together, these challenges have given me pause to take stock and to ask questions that too few of us in elected public life ever do. why am i running? >> ifill: news of dodd's decision came on the heels of senator dorgan's st

and if you are in north dakota, you might not want to head out today. reynolds wolf joins us with that. >> you got that right. >>> especially more to the east, like north dakota, you might not want to go to minnesota or international falls where it's currently 35 degrees below zero outside. basically you want to stay by the fire and do the hot cocoa thing. miami beach, we're talking about an entirely different situation, highs in the 60s, and we have heavy snow to talk about. it's a full plate of weather phenomena we'll share with you in a few moments. >> all right. thank you. >> a long with that, cold water. you can tell looking at these people. a strange new year's day tradition. >> and look who's talking. rush limbaugh has a message for fans. r arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers... and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. ( laughs

the people of north dakota work consistently confident in your leadership.howing it possible tough race 3, to that is your fault in terms of how you voted? -- how much of that is your fault in terms of how you voted? guest: i decided not to seek another term. i prepared and thought about that. i served in the congress in 30 years. i have seen a lot of people say you're too long. -- stay here too long. i was trying to decide, seven more years? this year, plus six more? i have other things i want to do and i made the decision this was the intersection for me to get off. i and then an elected office for 40 years. i started when i was 27 years old. 18 years in the u.s. senate. oppressed person asked me, do you think you have betrayed your after four years, i do not think so. -- after 40 years, i do not think so. i won election to the u.s. house çof representatives in 1980 ina red states and north dakota during the reaganç landsç lide. for me, the questionç is 30 yes in united states congress and this opportunity to do some other things in my life. >> çyou w

-- i am from north dakota it is cold, but not too bad. you mentioned that the government will look to establish a change in infrastructure. what changes do you think we will be able to do? the will to go for roads and dams, what would focus on green? how will the government able to provide something that will help the employment as well as the infrastructure within the united states? >> can you address the gentleman's question? this sounds like a link between the green economy and bring jobs and the stimulus as well. >> the infrastructure side, going back to the fact that the population is moving into the cities, what we will see is that there will be a lot of i.t. and telecommunications along the value change for design and infrastructure within the built environment. i think that is where there's going to be a lot of pickup coming in the future. if we just work on -- in new york city, we haven't believe the pilot program -- we have an lled pilot program just to show that it can work. it is there to help decrease traffic accidents. you c

north dakota is a problem. i think the republican governor will wind up with that seat. john, i think the republicans will gain a little more than 26 but they won't gain the 38, 39 they need -- >> the democrats will be filibuster proof? >> no. >> 20 to 30 seat loss in the house is standard. if it goes above that, it's a problem, but it would be highly unusual if the democrats with are able to keep their 60 votes. >> the numbers are very steep for the republicans but nothing -- >> very what? >> steep for the republicans to take over both chambers, but i will say when you look at the generic polling for the congressional ballot, republican versus democrat, republicans are running an astonishing 8 points ahead. the reason is independents that broke 2-1 in the democrats last year are now breaking 2-1 for the republicans. >> i'm surprised that martin sounds so self-assured when he says the republicans will not take over in view of the fact that we're going through an anti-incull ban si rage in the country that will reach peak strength by the elections in the fall. >> i any th

last time i checked there were not scores of auto factories in north dakota. 50 or 60 years ago. so you can throw out statistics. and facts, and everything else, patricia said it factually correct but relatively meaningless to the discussion at hand. >> but, adam, some people would argue, though, that there aren't many automobile factories in michigan, now, because of the unions. >> some people would argue, the earth is flat, charles, but the fact that there are not -- that jobs are going away, in michigan, undoubtedly has something to do with obstinance at labor unions over the decade and no one says labor unions are perfect but the reason the u.s. auto industry entered a crisis also has something to do with horrible management, with building bad cars, with bad regulations, and, so on. i mean, there is so many -- >> let me just say something. the companies -- what companies are afraid of what the unions want to do with car checks, wal-mart. target. michael's stores, the greatest success stories in american history. and, the industries that are on -- flat on their backs or need a

people in south dakota know that. i think people in montana know that, but that's why they are so frustrated about this process. they see this thing dragging on and all this don't going on and all these different numbers being thrown out there, but the fact of the matter is we are creating a massive new government entitlement program under health care with all kinds of new spending. financed with tax increases and medicare cuts that are supposed to be used to finance the new health care entitlement but are also being credited to the medicare trust fund and thereby being used for two purposes. you can't do that. but that -- that point is -- is one of the reasons, i think, that most americans become so cynical about washington, d.c. they get very frustrated with what they see is all these -- this washington, d.c., talk and accounting gimmicks and budget techniques that are used to disguise this amount of spending which has led taos where we're having to raise the debt limit by $1.9 trillion. face it, that's the simple r

that's the wind chill in the dakotas right now. the cold temperatures are stretching to other parts of the country. whether or not you'll need to spend this weekend inside, coming up. plus what in the world at nbc? here is what we're going to do. we're going to take the number one late night line - up, blow it up, move it to prime time where it's going to sink like a bowling ball. and then we're going to move conan up and he's going to go from first to third. and then we're going to figure out who to blame or we're going to make big changes and they are coming and the details as we know them are coming up. >>> fox news weather alert and man, it is cold outside. hello, climate change. frigid conditions continuing across much of the country today. the pipes froze in oxford last night. it was 8 in mississippi last night. more than 30 degrees below zero in north dakota. but the wind chill factor, temperatures there reaching 50 below for a second straight night. arctic chill looking to be among the coldest in decades. you might expect t

the country star record-breaking low temperatures and, listen to this, 31 below in aberdeen, south dakota and 21 below in grand island, nebraska. >>> the freezing temps have even moved to the sunshine state, prompting a run on space heaters. >> i doubt four but i think i'm going to go in and get some more. >> business is booming for florida stores that sell space heaters but the cold snap isn't so good for tourism or orange crops. temperatures will reach into the mid-40s today across parts of central florida. but factor in the windchill and it feels more like the low 30s. >>> police in ohio are looking for two teenage girls who are on the run after they allegedly robbed a bank. police say the teen girls walked into the bank on tuesday, suggested they had a weapon and got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. authorities report that the suspects were described as two girls, one 14 to 16 years old. and the other possibly as young as 12. police are asking for your help, for help from the public to track them down. >>> authorities in new jersey say they've identified and arrested the man w

>> in north dakota. >> north dakota. >> well, you know, they look alike on the map and great places and very different. but byron dorgan was a long-term senator and congressman, he had been in congress since 1980. this was a shock that he dropped out. and look, he didn't drop out in isolation, he had an extremely tough opponent coming in the governor, john hoven of north dakota, a republican governor of north dakota in public and private polls, hoven was destroying dorgan, 20 points or more. so i think that played into his decision regardless of what he says publicly and i don't care who the democrats run now in north dakota, my crystal ball has put that seat solidly in the republican column. the governor will win that seat so long as he runs. >> brian: well, swammee sabato take a look at the crystal ball and tell me your long range predictions how it's going to play out. >> i think republicans right now are on track to pick up about 27 house seats, on track to pick up three or four senate seats and they're going to pick up some net governorships in part, brian, and this is really quite

montana, south dakota, north dakota, wyoming.the list goes on of special deals that were carved for special reasons, and the latest, of course, is the incredible, incredible action concerning unions being exempt from taxes that nonunion members will now have to pay in greater numbers. how do you justify favoring one group of americans -- this is union members -- for any reason other than you owe them political favors? and they have political influence? and so the -- so the negotiating went from the back rooms here to the back rooms in the white house. the same -- the same president that said that c-span in a completely transparent process would prevail here so the american people would know who is on the side of the pharmaceutical companies, who probably got the best sweetheart deal of anybody in this whole process. so, mr. president, i believe that the majority of the american people that said according to polling data, 48% of massachusetts voters said that health care was the single issue driving their vote, and 39% said they v

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i have an amendment at the desk, and i would ask that it be called up and be made pending. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from south dakota, mr. thune, proposes an amendment numbered 3301. at the appropriate place insert the following -- mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, we enter into this debate about the debt limit today -- and i appreciate the comments of my colleague from new hampshire with respect to the overall picture of our financial, our fiscal condition of the country right now. i think it's important to put that context out there, because we are debating now an amendment, a substitute amendment that the senator from montana is offering. the debt li

the next weather disturbance to come our way is coming out of the dakotas and canada. it will run into the north side. the air is dry, not much moisture but this, so it does not look like it will produce any snow. the jet stream is taking a note -- nosedive all the way down the east coast. temperatures are below zero from the dakotas to missouri and up through the eastern portion of the great lakes and eastern canada. it is not as extensive as had been the past couple of mornings. nonetheless, it is very chilly air. 40 would be a more typical of pie and we will be in the 28-32 range. small craft advisories out on the day with winds coming out of the northwest. we look at our seven-day forecast and we start picking up clouds tomorrow the temperature will be around freezing for the hybrid tomorrow night, maybe snow flurries. tuesday through saturday, it will be dry and we will go into the 40's by the middle of the week. we pick up clout saturday and by the end of the weekend, we will get rain or snow next week. >> still ahead, lieutenant governor at the brown will be liv

alexander, the senator from south dakota, mr. thume, and the senator from texas, mr. cornyn. the members of the committee will exit the chamber through the doors. >> madam speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps. [applause] >> madam speaker, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> madam speaker, the president's cabinet. [applause] . .

in this country, bismarck, north dakota, had wind chills of 50 below zero for a second day. the deep freeze extended as far south as florida. and schools closed in at least ten states. vice-president joe biden's mother, jean biden, died today in wilmington, delaware. she had been seriously ill in recent days. then-senator biden paid tribute to his mother at the democratic national convention in 2008 as she looked on. >> you know, my mom taught her children-- all the children who flocked to our house-- that you are defined by your sense of honor, and you are redeemed by your loyalty. she believes that bravery lives in every heart, and her expectation is that it will be summoned. >> sreenivasan: jean biden was 92 years old. the vice-president's father passed away in 2002. the university of alabama celebrated today after winning college football's national championship last night. the crimson tide beat the texas longhorns at the rose bowl in pasadena, california. the star quarterback for texas, colt mccoy, was knocked out of the game early. after that, alabama dominated the fir

listen to this. 31 below in aberdeen, south dakota, and 31 below in grand island, nebraska. >>> the freezing temps even moved to the sunshine state, prompting a run on space heaters. >> i bought four but i think i'm going to go in and get some more. >> business is booming for florida stores that sell space heaters. but the cold snap isn't so good for tourism or orange crops. temperatures will reach into the mid 40s today across parts of central florida. but factor in the windchill and it feels more like the low 30s. >>> authorities in new jersey say they've identified and arrested the man who touched off the newark airport security scare. he was taken into custody from his home last night. authorities say he ducked under a security rope on sunday to walk his girlfriend to her plane. when it was reported to security, the terminal was shut down. thousands of passengers had to be rescreened and thousands more trapped on arriving planes. last night jiang was charged with defiant trespass and released. new jersey senator frank lautenberg says his arrest sends a clear message. >> we're pleased tha

a negative 11 degree reading in fargo, north dakota.he national weather picture and what you can expect at home. gwen's five-day forecast up next.  it's so hard to choose one. you know, during the sign then drive event, you can get a cc, tiguan or fuel efficient jetta for practically just your signature. you can get scheduled maintenance at no cost. there's got to be more to it than that... i'll never doubt you again. so i make them pillsbury aster strudel. warm, flaky pastry with delicious, sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get box tops for their school. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. that, on the list of things kids love, our party pizzas have just passed toy robots. awkward. kids love totino's party pizzas. >>> a storm moving through the northeast, setting its sights on massachusetts, boston harbor. this is the boardwalk. the sand is now covered by snow. high winds creating strong waves there. 10 inches of snow is expected. they are not alone. a chilly first week of the new year from

according to all the people we work with in the dakotas that have experienced that 10-20% loss they can expect. if we take about 380 million bushels which is in the snow belt, you're look at about 60- 70 million bushels. >> how is that going to be on carryouts? >> it will drag the carryout down a little bit and with the yield increase and then you drag it back down with that and then we've got to adjust the demand around, carryover is -- >> so, carryout is probably not going to change. what's that going to do with the price? that's the next question i'm going to ask. >> we think corn will be in a big range. over the carryover for neck year, we're look at three and a half million acres. sideways market. unless get a weather problem. >> unless we have a weather problem. your comments on what he's saying, jim? >> one real critical thing will be the usda final production numbers january 12. that's a tuesday morning. they're going to have in there -- we might see a surprise on increase in corn yields. on the flip side of that, there's a real concern about test weights rand quality. so, the u

that is up in parts of minnesota, iowa, and the eastern dakotas all the way up into canada. the jet stream is dragging all that cold air down into our area. there is also that high pressure centered to the west. this pattern produces very cold air for us, but not necessarily stormy conditions. 16-20 below with gusts up to about 30 or so. the wind chills will make it feel like 0 or 1 or 2 below. a winter advisory in effect for most of our area. partly cloudy tomorrow, windy and cold. 27-31 the air temperature. the wind will make it feel more like 10 or 12 degrees. a winter storm warning is affecting garrett county. we take a look at our went -- our insta-weather plus forecast for the next seven days and we see it does not really warm up. the temperatures stay in the 30's all week long, with teens and twenties or low. some light snow possible on monday and more snow possible on friday. >> the ravens have a must win situation tomorrow. >> it really is true, the ravens have to make the raiders to make the playoffs. that is coming up next in sports. >> tonight's jackpot has an es

. >>> frigid temperatures are nothing new to people in north dakota, but some workers in fargo may have gone too far. they decided to take a break in the job by going outside yesterday when the temperature hit five below zero. it even got colder. they would not be out there today with at 20 below zero. >>> uc video of the polar plunge, there you go. we are dealing with cold weather today. outside at this hour, the skies are mostly clear on pennsylvania avenue, the wind is beginning to subside a little bit. a little bit of a wind chill factor. the weatherbug network, starting off, 41 degrees, but look where it is, florida. it feels like 33 degrees. they have a wind chill of 5 degrees in the morning, all across florida, hard freeze. the backstop, walkersville, maryland, 26 degrees, updating to 25 degrees. feels like 20 degrees. the wind chill not much of a factor. it will be really cold tonight. today at reagan national, 36, 42 the record. up and down the east coast, temperatures in the 20's and 30's. pittsburgh, 20 degrees. three degrees minneapolis. miami, fla., 43 degrees. not the best

the north dakota state goes into the republican side. retirements?ing to be other the senate there have been six republican retirements but only two democrats. >> you could argue this has been a good week for democrats. if chris dodd stood for re-election, that looked really, really tough. now, as i think, al or you said, blumenthal is a strong candidate. >> and even the headf the rnc says that to the republicans have no chance of taking over. >> he's getting a lot of hot water for that. george, a good week for democrats? >> not a great week. it's not that bad for them yet. republicans are not going to control the senate. change one vote, suppose ted stevens were still in the senate instead of being out of the senate because of a tainted case of prosecutorial abuse. in the last four cycles, because we have redistricting. used to be the voters picked the candidates. now the candidates pick the voters. we have a 95% re-election rate among incumbents. that's very hard to overcome. >> i think you're seeing clear evidence of a couple of things. at the end

many records were broken in the upper midwest this morning, including north dakota, grand forks there at 35 below zero and fargo at 33 below. that's all due to antarctic high pressure system. we have low pressure here towards the canadian maritimes. and this low is doing a backwards turn. you don't see that happen very often. it's called retrograding. this is the same thing that brought the rain in new york city on new year's eve. well, it's coming back and bringing heavy snow across parts of maine. check out the picture that's we have that we want to show you. this is just outside of portland in the wyndham area. the snow so far hasn't been all that bad but the winds are going to be picking up and we have had a lot of coastal flooding in this area as well. so that's that system's going to stick with us throughout the day for tomorrow. again, heaviest accumulations in the interior parts of the northeast. if you're trying to travel, don, still a lot of people trying to get around and about from the holidays. we've got delays over an hour at most of the major airports in the northeast,

. >>> frigid temperatures are nothing new to north dakota. some workers in fargo may have gone too far to prove the point. it decided to take a break from their jobs by going outside with temperatures of 52 -- five degrees below zero. the temperature today? 20 degrees below in fargo. >>> the windchill factor out there, and has been tough in the midwest. that has been rough for us. but let the cold temperatures to around tonight into tomorrow, only making it to freezing. the sunshine makes it look better outside, flurries monday night. it then the temperatures warm and to the low, middle 40's thursday, wednesday. >>> thank you for joini

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. johnson: madam president, i rise in support of the reconfirmation of chairman ben bernanke to serve another term as chairman of the federal reserve board of governors. as the administration and song continue to look for ways to restore our nation's financial stability for economic recovery and work on the legislation to ensure that another economic crisis like the one we faced last year never happens again, we need chairman bernanke's steady leadership. while there has certainly been criticism of the federal reserve for not doing enough to protect consumers and for unprecedented actions it took during the financial crisis, there is also consensus that mr. bernanke kept the nation out of a depression and has kept inflation in check. as our nation recovers and faces additional challenges in the months ahead, there is no doubt that having one of the world's foremost experts on the great dpletion at the helm of the fed is a benefit to our nation, but it cannot be business as usual for the

>> the byron dorgan decision in north dakota was a stomach punch because they're not going to be able hold that seat likely especially if the popular republican governor runs. chris dodd's decision was actually a blessing for the democrats. because they were going to have to write off that seat. he was running so far behind in his race. and now they could be competitive if the fairly popular veteran attorney general turns out to be as good on the stump as he has been as attorney general. but itaps into what you were talking about, there is a feeling of there was so much promise and hope only a year ago, and now because of continuing economic woes, all of the bailouts, the problems on the terror front, government is not working the way people expect itted to. >> i talked to a white house adviser who said the problem for this president with independent voters is that fling hey, i may believe in this guy but he can't solve these huge problems. the debt, government working overall, wall street, he can't prevent the little guy from getting hurt by these forces. >> and there's a snowball ef

the country which might not surprise you unless you consider that the actual temperature in north dakota was 33 below yesterday. and the cold does not end in our state. in europe ice is causing major problems at airports. airports in germany have had to close and the charles de gaulle airport in paris, 25% of the flights that were supposed to leave today were canceled. >>> we know the weather affects a lot of your plans so we have what you need to know right at your fingertips. for the latest forecast, closing, delays, or anything else related to weather, log on to myfoxdc.com. >>> there's always a danger that someone will fall into the ice. a situation like this could turn ddly within minutes. so d.c. fire and ems trained on ice today. the main message they want to send? it doesn't matter how cooled it's -- how cold it's been, frozen rivers and streams aren't safe so stay away. >>> the budget ax could soon fall on several departments in montgomery county including fire and ems recruits. also a current proposal would cause many jobs to go away. the school system would have to scratch $22

i won an election in 1980 during the reagan landslide in the state of north dakota.e. had i run again, i think i would have won again. for me, the question is 30 years in the united states congress and a chance to do some other things in my life. >> that is an interesting point. you won in 1980. the climate this year was different, and i am looking to get your opinion on why it is so tough right now. if this was -- >> if this was a year ago, we would be asking, do you think the republican party is going to survive? 12 months later, it is different. 10 months or 12 months from now, who knows? it is really tough to predict the political climate six months, let alone 10.12 months from now. i would not be so quick to say things they're going to be tough next fall, that there will be in november like they were in january. >> will a debt panel work effectively for budget issues? >> it would have been better if we had a panel commission that was legislative, but we fell short. you have to get 60 votes, but it fell short. with the president did is not as effective, but i sup

negative 35 windchills in north dakota and currently 32 degrees in orlando.s just encompassing so much of the country, but today is it. after this, we start the big warm-up. the worst of it, as i mentioned, bismarck to minneapolis. your temperature is in the negative teens. and we factor in a light wind, we are minus 35 in bismarck. windchill in oklahoma city is still 2, birmingham, it's 9. in new orleans, new orleans has a windchill of 13 this morning. forecast highs today, we're still not going to get above freezing in oklahoma, all of st. louis and chicago. it is the duration of this event which has been so incredible. we have not gone above 32 degrees, the freezing mark, in nine days now in chicago. also nine days in st. louis and indianapolis. that means that none of the snow, none of the ice is melting. we expect that in minneapolis, but not in st. louis, where the average high should be around 37 this time of year. later on tonight this will be the danger zone. 26 is the forecast low there in orlan orlando, so, a lot of the oranges and strawberries are

-- i am from north dakota it is cold, but not too bad. you mentioned that the government will look to establish a change in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @h population is moving into the cities, what we will see is that there will be a lot of i.t. and telecommunications along the value change for design and infrastructure within the built environment. i think that is where there's going to be a lot of pickup coming in the future. if we just work on -- in new york city, we haven't believe the pilot program -- we have an lled pilot program just to show that it can work. it is there to help decrease traffic accidents. you can come up with the policies necessary to drive the investments and then we can scale that kind of technology and the pace of change that we need. >> the stimulus passed by president obama included $80 billion in new energy technology. it focuses on wheeatherization, building technology that emmy was talking about, and building the smart grid. those are what we call green collar jobs. you get people other who were formally blue-collar

quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota is recognized. mr. dorgan: i askse waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, first let me say to my colleague, senator casey, his comments about the nearly unspeakable tragedy that has occurred in the country of haiti, i think strike all of us in a very poignant way. i've been to the country of haiti. it is -- it is one of the poorest regions in the world. we have people in haiti living in unbelievable poverty. near the airport is an area called cite soleil i believe it's called. it's a slum of nearly a half a million people living in desperate conditions. the entire country of haiti has suffered such immense difficulties for so long; the people of haiti are wonderful people. and to be visited now by this great, great tragedy with an unbelievable loss of life that will exceed 200,000 people just is heartbreaking to me and i know to all americans who watch this tragedy play out on television as volunteers are digging through rubble and in some cases finding

america's coldest spot, aberdeen, south dakota, minus 31. >> december noins was minus eight today and blown through all $3 million the city budgeted for snow removal, but there, people own winter can coats and gloves, not like meridian, mississippi, winter weather arrived inside the courthouse, the boiler is broken. >> we have to dress in there, but when we have to go down the hall or into the break room it is freezing. it is over our socks. >> many people are just sick of it, this cold has been biting them for more than a week and this time, there is no escaping to florida. tomorrow's low in miami will feel like 24 degrees. jeff. >> glor: well, mark strassmann, braving the cold hat less, thank you very much. north america isn't the only continucontinent shivering toni, mark phillips in london faces the temperature of an icebound europe. >> reporter: britain's fabled green and pleasant land is white and cold, the space shot confirms something everybody on the ground knows. britain and the rest of europe are enduring the longest, deepest cold small in three decades and forecasters say

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. conrad: i have come to the floor to -- the presiding officer: the senate is in quorum call. mr. conrad: i'd ask proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: madam president, i've come to the floor to discuss an amendment i am offering with senator gregg to create a bipartisan fiscal task force. the task force would be designed to develop a bipartisan legislative package to address the nation's long-term fiscal imbalances. and there would be a requirement that the package come before congress for a vote. under the rules of the senate, our amendment requires 60 votes to pass. if we do not reach the 60-vote threshold, i will continue to push for the creation of a special process to deal with our debt, and i will fight to ensure that any special process results in legislation that will get a vote in the senate and in the house. we cannot afford another commission whose recommendations sit on a dusty shelf somewhere at the libra

. >> to north dakota, byron dorgen said he'll step down, what were his reasons? >> his was more surprising. he was giving every indication that he wanted to run again for a fourth term. we had a profile of him in our magazine a few weeks ago in which he expressed, however, some frustration with the way things were going in washington, not only partisanship and the combative nature of things but also he was somewhat of a critic of the obama administration and said the focus on health care and climate change was misplaced and they should be focused on jobs. he's a young enough man he can retire from the senate and have another career. he's written some book, he likes to lecture, he would be well courted for lobby, he has a lot of options in front of him. >> is north dakota a possible republican pickup in the senate? >> it absolutely is. in a sense, the two that we're talking today, one has gone from leans republican to likely democrat and this other one from heavily favored democrat to, in north dakota to probably republican. the very, very popular governor of nort

it is cold all over the country, but bismarck, north dakota last night, 32 below.ot the wind chill, that was the straight-up temperature. the wind chill, 50 below. the good news, forecasters say, parts of the dakotas will start to warm up a bit maybe into the 30's. martha: well, police in hawthorne, california are on the hunt now for three brazen robbers who iht up an insurance business just steps away for from police headquarters. the folks in the building. the robbers bursting in, guns drawn. they tell the victims to hit the deck, and they steal from at least 30 people. police said they managed to get away with all of the stolen loot in about three minutes. nobody, thankfully, was seriously hurt. the suspect did spray a few people with mace and pepper spray. trace: breaking today, the arrest of two men who police say are linked to najibullah, the man seen here accused of trying to bomb new york city. the men arrested today are both united states citizens who are believed to have traveled with najibullah to pakistan to get training from al qaeda. judith miller, a

the senator from north dakota cited the figures. we go to 100 -- a public debt that is 100% of gross domestic product. we cross the 60% threshold, which is the tipping point. we're like a dog, we have trouble catching our tail because we have so much debt on the books. potentially this year, but certainly by next year. these numbers are staggering. they're hard to understand. trillions and trillions of debt. and, as the senator from north dakota has also pointed out, the debt is owned not by americans but by foreign nations. today china owns almost $1 trillion of our debt. the oil-exporting nations own, as a group, almost $1 trillion of our debt. we are shipping overseas our -- the dollars which we should be reinvesting in the united states to create a more productive and vibrant economy and a better lifestyle for our nation. by the year 2017 or 2018, the interest on the debt alone will exceed every other account in the federal government. it will be approximatel approximately $900 billion a year. almost $1 trillion a year. more tha

ranking, the states in the worst category having fewer than half of these 15 basic laws are south dakota with only three of the laws, arizona, north dakota, wyoming, va., vt., pennsylvania, ohio, and nebraska. as i said earlier, it does not make sense in this area we have virginia, which is a red state, bordered by the district, which is our top area in the green category and maryland with a green rating, when all the thousands of people every day across between those dates, yet there are not covered by the same important traffic safety laws. in ohio, the governor included a primarily -- a primary enforcement seat belt law this year. in a conference on the budget bill, it was stripped out. as a result, hyatt dropped to the red category. we're hopeful the government -- the governor will try again to get a high primary enforcement seat belt law. the report clearly raises the question of what can we do to accelerate adoption of traffic safety law. timing is everything in the time is right to increase pressure on states and put pressure on congress to take a leadership role. congress has suc

. >> is north dakota a possible republican pickup. >> it absolutely is. in a sense, the two we're talking about, one has gone from leans republican to likely democrat and this other one from heavily favored democrats in north dakota to probably republican. the very, very popular governor of north dakota is a little bit like richard blumenthal. he has been talked about as a senate canada for many years. he won a third term with 70% of the vote. he was reluctant to take on byron dorgan, but now he will probably be talked into doing it. >> do you expect any more surprise announcements? >> i am not, but that's what makes some surprises. it is getting a little late in the political calendar for senators to pull these surprises because it does not do your own party any favors if they have to start recruiting candidates and raising money at this relatively late stage in the calendar. >> how do the 60 votes for the democrats shape up in 2010? >> i think it is a relatively safe bet that harry reid or his successor as majority leader if he loses his own race in nev

by iran, north dakota -- he will not run again.his paper this morning again about that senator dorgan. caller: good morning i think things should be transparent. my question is to all the republicans -- when george bush and republicans made the so- called medicare bill, and they had requested that c-span be a part of it? but you were not a part of it. today everyone makes a big. i am saying to the democrats, when you go back behind closed doors and you put a public option. you need to make this for 2011. people are hurting and need. medical need for the man who called the in to say that the cameras should be all in the white house -- now how would he like to have cameras in the bedroom when he and his wife want to have sex? that is none of his concern. caller: for all of those who listen to c-span, brian lamb is a jewel. we get to express our thoughts. freedom of press is at stake. if you put the meetings behind closed doors, you give it lobbyist like planned parenthood you want to have our tax dollars used under the guise of repro

including their most recent game which was a 75-63 loss with south dakota a week ago.l go to the line. >> ron: early on maryland has done an excellent job at not settling for the long jump shot. everything is some action towards the basket as you see landon attacks >> steve: the terrapins have 12 second chance points and already 11 points off their bench. and james padgett, the freshman from brooklyn getting a terrific opportunity tonight. >> ron: james can be a huge help for maryland if he doesn't get one play run form. if he does just this. get on against new hampshire back on november 20th, is hot again here tonight. basi i's abmmet h!'. be her ug ah! - it. -'m go my b '. 'm th ugh 'm - re - a oh! - anr: an tythi -'m go ept ste iet unti max. first diet colmen. ahh, this is good. >> steve: maryland on top of longwood 44-23 with 7:10 to go in the 1st half. gary williams able to use most of his young players early in this game, as the terps got out to a quick lead. gary -- >> ron: if you're longwood that's what hurts when you get to the foul line and get an opportunity

now we saw this morning a number of record low as cross the dakotas and into minnesota. the coldest windchill reading was 54 below zero in granite falls, minnesota. we're starting to see 20s and 30s begin to develop across the region. i talked a minute about how dangerous that is and how long it will take you to get frostbite. i posted this on my facebook page if you're interested. we're looking at 15 to 30 minutes to receive frostbite with those brutally cold temperatures. we have another system bringing wintery conditions to the northeast. this is bringing in some very strong winds, and this system is actually doing what we call retrogra retrograding, it's moving backward, toward the coast. that's why the winds are going to pick up in intensity throughout the night and pick up during the day tomorrow. the worst of the snow will be here along i-95 and in land, that's where we're expecting to see a good foot of snow or so. the winds are going to be strong all over the place. we've had a lot of delays at some of the airports in the northeast, a lot of holiday travelers st

. >> reporter: bismarck, north dakota, they say enough already. yesterday's feels like temperature, minus 40. >> you don't want to be out in this kind of weather very long because you're going to freeze, yeah. >> reporter: look at the big picture. by the end of the week end, 180 million americans may shiver through record-setting cold. 60% of americans will see and feel temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below normal. from the midwest, places like iowa and michigan, where cars spun out of control, all the way to raleigh, north carolina and atlanta. icy roads and the south's in-experienced winter drivers created pileups like this one outside atlanta. >> my sister, she was just here at the bus stop and she's telling me she slid all the way to the bus stop. >> reporter: people in 38 states know the feeling. all of them places experiencing below-average temperatures. in the deep freeze of 2010. it's a freeze that will last through the weekend in many places including here in the south. and remember lots of people here don't really own significant winter cl