as i said, monroe didn't cross the delaware in the same boat. he crossed earlier with a small squad that landed on the jersey shore to the north of trenton and circled behind the town washington landed with his troops on the riverside below the town. now what makes trenton so important is that the british had almost won the war by christmas of 1776. their troops had overarm long island, new york, westchester and most of new jersey. thousands of american troops had deserted and the british chased the remnants of washington's army across new jersey over the delaware and into pennsylvania. redcoats were in sight of the american capital philadelphia. congress fled to baltimore and began debating terms of capitulation to the british. the war was over. unless washington could come up with a miracle, and he chose a young college student, lieutenant general james monroe, to help make a miracle happened. they all crossed the delaware during a blinding snowstorm on christmas night only six months after we had declared independence. in trenton 3,000 haitia

out of delaware.hat station, whyy tv, did this even though the community that is supposed to serve first, that should be its primary focus is wilmington, delaware. this is offensive and it's wrong. these and other actions led the city of wilmington last week to challenge the license renewal of yy. i understand the city --'s complaint. frankly, i think whyy was emboldened to make these changes by the weak end oversight of the regulatory agencies charged with making sure that broadcasts serve the public interests, the federal communication commission. if this sort of snub proceeds with no repercussions, we could be seeing less and less local service from stations all across the country. if the requirement to serve the public interest has no meaning, if the broadcast station provides its community license with nothing more than what we can get from a national cable, satellite or internet channel, the public is getting a bad deal for giving away spectrum at no charge. at the core of the f.c.c.'s licensing

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware is recognized. mr. kaufman: i thank the manager for making this bill a possibility. it is a historic transformational. it is -- and to is a large degree because of his hard work. i appreciate that. i yield him 30 minutes my postcloture time. thank you, mr. president. i rise today once again to express my support for historic health care legislation that we have before us. after more than a year of debate and months and months of negotiation, i welcome the extraordinary opportunity to enact meaningful health care reform. and, yes, i mean years and months. since this reform effort has been a long and deliberative process. not the rush job that opponents of this -- job have been claiming. i must admit, however, there were times during this debate when i wasn't sure we would reach this point. in fact, i was convinced we would not. i found in my life when you think things are never going to happen, every important thing that i've ever done, you will reach a point where you think this will never happen. for

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware is recognized. mr.fman: i want to start by agreeing as to how we got to where we are and why it's important we do something about it. he's right. the chairman of the finance committee is right too. the freshman senators who come from all over this country got together and, frankly, with the leadership of senator warner from virginia, put together a package which i think is a very constructive package for the health care reform act that we have to pass. and i really appreciate the opportunity to join with the other freshmen, including the senator in the chair, to discuss the unique opportunity we have to finally enact meaningful health care reform. and make no mistake, we need health care reform now. when you look out there and you see the rising premiums, everything from rising premiums to insurers denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, the health care system is failing individual americans. there is no doubt about that. not only is it doing that, it's threatening the fiscal solvency of

we have a bunch of good groceries in delaware. one of the places i shop is safeway in dover and a guy named steve byrd, b-u-r-d, have helped to form the decision making in this debate in ways that remarkable by the way that they provide coverage for their employees, it is not just safeway and pitney bowes, there are a number of companies trying to figure out better results for their companies and we're borrowing from some of tire ideas. one of the ways is how does safeway provide health care coverage for their employees? they haven't reduced the benefits. one of the things they've done is incentivize their employees, get employees if they're overweight to bring the weight down, if they do, that the payments reduced, if they're smokers, they get rewarded for stopping smoking, high cholesterol or blood pressure, they get rewarded for reducing their blood pressure and cholesterol. i thank the chairman for his support, an amendment by senator ensign and myself, to have a discount for employees who do the right thing for their own heal

delaware, 6,661. the district of columbia even has 7,976. how about florida? 946,836.almost a million people on medicare advantage. good reason -- it works. georgia, 176,090. hawaii, 79,386. idaho, 60,676. illinois, 176,395. indiana, 148,174. iowa, 63,902. people enrolled in medicare advantage. let's proceed further. kansas, 43,867 people enrolled in medicare advantage. kentucky, 110,814. louisiana, 151,954. maine, 26,984. maryland, 56,812. massachusetts, 199,727. michigan, 406,124. minnesota, 284,101. mississippi, 44,772. missouri, 195,036. montana, 27,592. nebraska, 30,571. nevada, 104,043. new hampshire, 13,200. new jersey, 156,607. new mexico, 73,567. look at new york, 853,387. north carolina, 251,738. people enrolled in medicare advantage, who love the program. north dakota, 7,633. ohio, 499,819. goo geewhiz, that's a lot of people who are satisfied with medicare advantage. oklahoma, 84,980. oregon, one of the most liberal states in the union, 249,993. pennsylvania, 864,040. puerto rico even, 400,991. rhode island, 65,108. south carolina, 110,949. these are senior

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. kaufman: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate now stand in -- i ask we rescind the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaufman: thank you. i ask the unanimous consent the senate stand in recess until 12:00 noon. that upon convening at noon and any leader time the senate resume consideration of h.r. 3590, with the time until 12:30 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. that from 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. there will be one hour alternating blocks of time with the majority controlling the first block and all post cloture time continue to run during any recess, adjournment or period of morning business until 6:30 monday. the presiding officer: before the chair announces the unanimous consent agreement, the chair announces that because cloture has been invoked, the motion to refer falls. without objection, the request is agreed to. the senate stands in recess until 12:00 today. >> overcoming republican delaying ta

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. kaufman: i rise to speak today about my great federal employee of the week who works at the department of education. mr. president, whenever i enthey are hallowed chamber, i never fail to notice the inspirational words written on each wall above the doors. above the east door is inscribed the latin phrase "fortune favors us from our beginnings." this refers to our founders' believe that providence looks kindly upon our republic during its earliest days. in that time, ours was mostly an agrarian society, town life centered on planting seeds and harvesting crops. children worked alongside their parents in the field and when it dime their education, homeschooling or learning to read and add in a one-room schoolhouse was the norm. thomas jefferson wrote some years after his presidency that -- quote -- "science is more important in a republic than in any other government." it was this belief in the importance of knowledge and reason, including political and historical literacy, that led ed

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. kaufman: the senator from minnesota and i will engage in a colloquy. we rise today to talk about health care fraud enforcement. fraud is one of the most costly crimes in america today. in no small part our current economic crisis can be linked to financial fraud. starting with the unchecked mortgage fraud by loan originators through security fraud that hastened the market crash and maximizes impact on main street and the average investor. in response this body passed the fraud recovery act. which directed critical resources and tools. i was proud to work with my friend from minnesota, a foam prosecutor, who understands very he'll well the harm that financial fraud causes on americans and the importance of deterring criminal behavior before it happens. senator klobuchar? ms. klobuchar: thank you very much, senator kaufman. i'd like to acknowledge the amendment by senato senator dorn drug importation, something that i support, and i know that senator kaufman supports as well and we look

our taxes went up in delaware county. like mine, i was affected by the taxes. kate went back -- he was a car salesman for like 20, 20 years and he went back to doing that. luckily he was able to get a nap but that's low because of your credit score has to be 730 to get anything. like a used honda. so -- it is like, you know, he's -- he's kind of struggling but he's getting there and -- and you know he's older now and more relaxed than before. >> and cheryl, your family has just been -- did he say mated -- decimated. >> yeah, i'm concerned about my dad. he got laid off, it has been almost 14 months now and -- >> and how old is he roughly? >> 15, going to be 59 this month. and you could hire someone who is 25 or 30 to work for a little less and he's in a very specialized position, where, it is not, your run of the mill, engineer whatever. so that's a strike against him. his age is a strike against him and he's -- i'm worried that what is going to happen when, when -- his unemployment runs out, if he doesn't find a job soon. my mom works, but it is not enough to -

middletown, delaware, you oppose the bill? caller: yes, i do.eel that if you're going to vote on health care issues, go to the heart of the matter. that is the extent -- spent expanding price of health care. it is way out of control in every state in this country. there is no reason for these high health care bills. the cost is more than anyone can absorb. the co-pays are off the wall. i know people who have copays of $50-$100. they need to look at best, not this foolishness they have been doing in washington. they don't care. they have their own health care and pay nothing. this is not right. the taxpayer should have a say on this, not the government, not the legislature, not the house, not the senate, not the president. nothing is being done correctly. we need to bring down the cost of the medical pricing on this thing. prescriptions are just out of reach for most people in this country. if they do not have the money, they forgo the medications. they forgo health care because they cannot afford it. no matter what they do, even people that have

this last one i'll read, madam president, is from kelly from delaware county north of columbus. i'm a 39 kwroefld mother of two young sons. my husband and i decided it would be better for me to leave my job and stay home to take care of our children. this meant we'd lose our health insurance through my employer. she had the insurance in the family. my husband works for a business that can't provide benefits. we ended up purchasing what we thought was a reasonable policy but it tripled in price within a year. in 2008 i found out i was pregnant. i inquired about the maternity coverage we added despite the high cost. i was shocked to learn there was a nine-month waiting period before the coverage took effect. that meant obviously the pregnancy and birth wouldn't be covered because it's a preexisting condition. that's $15,000 to $20,000 that would not be covered. my husband and i talked about that that if i needed critical medical care could we end up bankrupt? $15,000 to $20,000 is obviously without major complications. by the grace of god my husband's company decided to offer heal

here's new work, delaware and carry on our democrat line. >> caller: thanks fircrest do not. my favorite book this year just happened to come out this year. it's called obstinate and blood and period ended the battle of guilford cornell. it's written by lawrence e. babbitt and joshua b. howard. and i would love to see them on booktv. this book is about one of the titles of the american revolution and it is a wonderful read in history. >> host: why was it a critical battle? >> caller: well, the independent had reached an point where the americans were pretty much down to their last straw and a wonderful general by the name of nathaniel greene went south and develop a strategy that lured the british away from charleston in their supply and when he finally brought them far enough away he turned on them and delivered a series of blues in which guilford courthouse was one. and the end result was the british wound up at yorktown and the americans were free. >> host: hey, thank you for that call. this is james on our independent line. >> caller: good morning. >> host: good morning.

here is your delaware, and gary on the democratic slate. go ahead. >> caller: yeah, thanks for correcting that newark. we don't get that very often. >> host: that's all right. >> caller: my favorite book of this year happened to come out this year to be it's called long, obstinate and bloody and it is the battle of the guilford courthouse written by laurence babich and joshua how word and i'd love to see them on book tv. i haven't. if they've been on i haven't watched them. this book is about one of the critical battles of the american revolution and it is a wonderful read in narrative history. >> host: why was a critical battle? >> caller: while, the war for independence had reached the point where the americans were pretty much down to their last draw and a wonderful general by the name of nathaniel greene went south and developed a strategy that lord the british away from charleston and other supplies and when he finally had brought them far enough away he turned and delivered to a series of blows by which the guilford courthouse was one

finding 16 college kids or 150,000 college kids don't go to school in new jersey but go to school in delaware, new york, pennsylvania and washington, d.c.? that may not be worth your energy. it may be the kind of thing, may be worth your energy, more cost efficient than you think if you get a list of them. look at state law, figure out if it trace additional absentee got to be sick or infirmed or living out of state or military something like that you want to though from the secretary of state when is last date they can get that stuff in so you can get a big file. you get biggest possible bang your buck. then maybe you phone calls and direct mail to them in way they get it. now you can do e-mail pens, get someone's actual information and send it out to vendor and get bunch of e-mail addresses to send them an e-mail. think of ways to contact them. maybe something specific. maybe a candidate is veteran, there are bunch of people and bunch of people, military people are voting absent tee. that can be really important voting bloc for you. so you will have to do, all this is resource allocation qu

she and her -- barbara and her husband ben live in delaware county, pennsylvania, brumal. we -- she says -- and i quote -- "we are a one-income family with two sons ages 6 and 8. due to the high price of health insurance, my children are currently covered under the free pennsylvania children's health insurance program. program." that's the good news. here's the part where she's worried. "we qualify for free children's hushehealth insurance coverage n pennsylvania but my husband's income is greater than 150% of the federal poverty level, which means our children won't qualify for the coverage under the house's proposed plan." and then she says probably the most important part of this whole letter, she says, "this has us terrorized -- or tear fierksd he shoulterrifies, i sh. i'm reading it wrong. "this has us terrified." and so it would. any parent who has a peace of mind when they fall asleep at night they don't have to worry about whether their children have health insurance. but if -- if we don't do the right thing here, she will have that sense of terror. she says this a

employ people that not only live in maryland but live in virginia, live in pennsylvania, live in delaware, live in west virginia. that will certainly help us. this legislation also reduces our federal budget deficit. now are that's a challenge. -- now, that's a challenge. let me tell you why it's a challenge, mr. president. because there's two different issues here: reducing health care cost growth and reducing federal spending are two different issues. because to get everybody insured, which will help us bring down health care costs, we need to provide subsidies so people can afford their health insurance, provide businesses some help. as more and more people become insured, they can use our -- our tax advantages and pay less income taxes by paying using before-tax dollars rather than after-tax dollars. all that costs revenue to the federal treasury. so it's a challenge to bring this in without adding to the deficit, but we -- we knew we had to do that. and the congressional budget office, again, our objective score keeper, tells us that in the ten-year budget window, it will reduce the

host: caller from delaware, good morning.rning, of the terrorism where we had the single acts in london or embassies in africa. but these terror organizations, and since we suffer from short-term memory after these attacks, is it a better strategy than spending $500 billion and just bankrupt in such an insidious way. guest: i never thought on that but i will touch on these short memories, that's right. after a terrorist incident or financial bubble, we don't make the changes we need to prevent this happening again. when you think of the problems here in the united states, i think there is a need and obviously in washington there is a big discussion about possible financial reform. unfortunately we have not gotten in that reform yet. there are a couple of proposals we will hear about this week. in terms of preventing the next crisis, there has to be serious change on wall street and coming from washington. host: how does dubai revisit $26 billion in payments? guest: you tell your bond holders we will not pay until x date. and

security bill came to the senate floor, not including health insurance, a republican senator from delaware, daniel hastings, said on this floor about social security i fear it may end the progress of a great country. a congressman from the state of new york, james wadsworth, in the same debate over social security said that the package of social security opens the door and invites the entrants into the political field of a power so vast, so powerful as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and to pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendants, end of quote. we know that when former senator from ohio robert taft was addressing the effort by president harry truman to have universal health care in america, he said, and i quiet -- "i consider it socialism." it was used against lyndon johnson, that same charge was used against bill clinton. it's virtually being used today. when we hear the republicans who are opposing this bill come to the floor, i have a basic question to ask them -- we have been at this debate for a year. where's your bill? what do you want to d

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. kaufman: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaufman: i ask to speak in morning business for up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaufman: mr. president, i rise again to recognize one of america's great federal employees. last week in stockholm and oslo, the 2009 noble laureates accepted their prizes. we awd all be aproud that -- we should all be proud that 11 of the 13 prizes were won by americans. this is -- as a -- my honoree today holds the distinction of having been the first federal employee to win a noble prize in physics for work performed while serving the public. our federal workplace compose of citizens who are highly educated an incredibly motivated. dr. william philips is the perfect example. a native pennsylvanian, william learned the importance of public service and hard work from a young age. his hour, an immigrant from italy, and his father, a descendant of the american revolu

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. kaufman: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. kaufman: i ask to speak in morning business for ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. kaufman: mr. president, i rise today to discuss health care fraud. earlier this month i introduced along with senators leahy, specter, kohl, schumer and klobuchar an amendment that would protect our increased national investment in the health of americans by improving fraud enforcement. everyone believes in fraud enforcement, and this amendment does that. it's no secret that fraud represents one of the fastest-growing and most costly forms of crime in america today. in no small part our current economic crisis can be linked to financial fraud starting with unchecked mortgage fraud generated by loan originators, through securities fraud that hastened the eventual market crash and maximized its impact on main street and average american in

senator carper of delaware is so far one of the lynch pins on trying to find a compromise on the public option. we've been hearing a lot about it and, of course, the democratic caucus agreed to let this bill get on the senate floor but several of those moderate or conservative documents like nelson or landrieu said they won't support the bill coming off the floor if the public option remains. so carper has taken it upon himself in cooperation with chuck schumer, who's sort of a bridge into the leadership for carper to find a compromised version of something called the public option or something that functions like the public option. we're really -- the function is one of policy that democrats believe that private insurance needs some competition here to hold prices down. but it's also a political one. the democratic base strongly favors the public option but there aren't 60 votes for it. so carper is trying to find a way to preserve the spirit and maybe even the name "public option" in a way that lets democrats deliver for their base but also delivers these four or five democratic votes

security bill came to the senate floor, not including health insurance, a republican senator from delaware, daniel hastings, said on this floor about social security i fear it may end the progress of a great country. a congressman from the state of new york, james wadsworth, in the same debate over social security said that the package of social security opens the door and invites the entrants into the political field of a power so vast, so powerful as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and to pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendants, end of quote. we know that when former senator from ohio robert taft was addressing the effort by president harry truman to have universal health care in america, he said, and i quiet -- "i consider it socialism." it was used against lyndon johnson, that same charge was used against bill clinton. it's virtually being used today. when we hear the republicans who are opposing this bill come to the floor, i have a basic question to ask them -- we have been at this debate for a year. where's your bill? what do you want to d

terrific high school player back in the new jersey/delaware area. four-time all state. >> barry: green for three. halfway over the top and a foul. >> marques: that second fould on fields. we talked about his ability to stay out of foul trouble. this is a blow right here with the two fouls. he has played some long minutes. that's the one thing johnny dawkins has to keep an eye on as the pac-10 season continues. >> barry: anderson now with fields driving him. he pulls the trigger from three. fields there for the rebound again. >> marques: you have key fouls on landry fields. anderson had the basketball in his hand. maybe you allow him the freedom to take it to the hole, pick up that third foul before he leaves the basketball game. >> barry: which he does right now with 1:22 remaining in the half. i suspect he will stay seated for the remander of the half. >> marques: nice, nice offensive execution again for stanford on the inbound play. >> barry: zimmermann with eight points, his team stays in the fray here. >> marques: a little maneuver. >> barry: no

my son is at the university of delaware, and he could not navigate through the university without a laptop was eight teacher -- a teacher for years. why would you go back to an older style, instead of linking it to a more dynamic process on the internet? guest: there is a lot of discussion out there that textbooks are acting of the past. garbage in, garbage out. a lot of the same people are lining up to put things on disk. it is only better if it is better. it is not the issue to me. the issue is ideas. putting them on a screen does not necessarily make it better. host: how many of your books are in bookstores, how many school systems? >> i do not know, i had no idea was breaking ground with this, but the idea of textbooks that do not sell in stores is appalling. they do not have to be reviewed. we just get these things that nobody has really looked out. if a book is not good enough to sell at a bookstore, they say, it should not be in a cluster. we should just do away with this distinction between trade and text, and that is a real problem. even houses with both trade and text did not com

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware's recognized. mr. kaufman: mr. president, i ask to speak in morning business for up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. kaufman: madam president, i rise to honor the service of a great federal employee. human ingenuity is boundless. this is especially true in america, which has always been driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and belief that nothing is ip possible. -- impossible. from the electric telegraph to the refridge rated railcar, our forebearers helped to build a nation. such invention closed the western frontier in the 19th century. in the century that followed americans continued to be pioneers on that frontier which has no end, the frontier of spbs. -- science. 67 years ago this week, a team of physicalists led by fredericko ferni, they huddled under the stands of a football stadium in the university of chicago, they initiated the first ever controlled nuclear reaction. that experiment called the chicago pile one, marked the beginning of the nuclear age. madam presid

host: delaware, good morning. caller: good morning. i think it is sad but we do not all have rights to health insurance. i do not see what the bickering is about. why can we not all have health care? host: all right. bob cusack, you have been listening to the phone calls for the last five to 10 minutes on what people want from health care bill, what is your reaction? guest: a lot of wants and needs out there. callers mentioned the costs going down, many people are frustrated with their insurance company. they want pre-existing conditions covered. also some interesting calls about the individual mandates in some of these bills that would require individuals to purchase health care insurance, just like car insurance now. there are some people that say that that is unconstitutional. one of them is senator orrin hatch, who says that you cannot put this mandate on the american people. the interesting thing about that mandate is that some people in news articles do not have health insurance and they say that they would rather pay the fee of

tax deduction and did you happen to be watching in a state that does not have a sales tax -- like delawarethe way you will claim that on your tax return is by and get to the state and local income tax deduction on schedule a assuming you itemize. host: our guest is with us for the next 45 minutes or so. if you want to get involved and get some year-end tax preparation advice, the number is on your screen our first caller is from long island, new york. caller: on calling about the estate tax that was repealed until 2010. there was a bill that was passed by the house at the end of november that is now sitting on the senate floor. it looks like the senate is very busy with the health care. bill and it looks like they will not get to the estate tax bill sometime this year. if they do it in 2010, can it be retroactively applied to january 1, 2010 or will the window. be exempt from the estate tax? guest: when the senate gets around to doing this, it will more than likely be retroactive to january 1. even in the way congress operates, i don't think they would create the untenable position of havi

minnick: i yield the gentleman from delaware, mr. castle, 1 1/2 minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. castle: thank you very much, madam speaker. i rise in very strong support of this bipartisan amendment that creates the consumer financial protection council which of course i'm pleased to co-sponsor. this amendment checks the right balance in strong consumer protections while ensuring the safety and soundness of our nation's financial system. i am convinced that the current language in the bill threatens to ex panled the reach of the public government, limit innovation, restrict choices of financial products and interfere with day to day activities of small bills. utilizing a council of existing regulaters are a cost effective and responsible approach to achieve the same goals as intended by the consumer financial protection agency. our amendment establishes a council of existing regulators which we know is treasury, fed, fdic, etc., instead of an entirely new agency and bureaucracy with all the costs and intended bureaucr

republican side, 12 house members are returning -- retiring or running for another office, such as delaware's, who has announced his bid for the senate seat long held by vice president biden. analysts are saying seven of the democratic open seats as potentially changing parties as opposed to three republican open seats. florida city, john on the independent line. the most impressive political figure of the year. caller: dennis kucinich and frank are the ones that really speak to the people. personally i think all of our representatives on the hill, if you have a price tag instead of the flag depends, in the unlikely event i will win the lottery i will much i have to pay to get my voice heard in the capital. host: shelton, conn., dave on the independent mind. -- on the independent line. caller: the lakeland. she worked very hard for barack obama. she showed great leadership -- hillary clinton. host: we are listening. caller: she is a team player and she campaign very, very hard for the presidency and i see her running for president in 2012. host: the front page of "the chicago tribune." illino

again, california is little bit more expensive than delaware, you might guess. the functions of processing data are charged at a per 1,000 basis. so delaware that has 600,000 voters, 500,000, compared to california with 22 million. there's obviously, it's hard to tell you what the cost are. now ohio, pennsylvania, and missouri are probably comparable. they probably are not that different. the first cost of buying the data. if you are -- if you are buying it from a vendor like us, it may be easier. it's going to be one flat price first state. if you are working with the state party, it may be free. if your republican, i don't know what the deal is. because i don't know how that works. but if you are building yourself, i assume that's the best way to answer your question. if you are bidding it yourself, you have to buy the data which can be anything from free, which many states are, or florida is $10, california is $30. alabama is $27,500. it varies enormously from very cheap to not so cheap. arizona is free to the parties from the state from the counties. but a d

host: 1 viewer writes -- guest: well, it is cheaper, i am sure, because the state of delaware pays thecost. that is a separate sort of issue. but actually, opm does a great job of providing benefits and holding costs down. the main issue of the costs with fehbp is consumer choice. over time, as i said, it outperforms medicare and cost control, and it does a performer and has over time the private- sector generally. -- does outperform and has over time the private sector generally. this could work but it depends on how it is set up. host: here is jeffersonville, vt., republican color. -- republican caller. caller: good morning. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i'm retired military person and i am covered right now i try care. i pay 90-something a month for try care. when i'm 68 -- i pay 19 at that something a month for tricare. this does not make sense to me. guest: first of all, that is another big government insurance program and it has its own set of rules and procedures. it is for active duty and retired. what he is referring to is that he mentions that it requires that when you

it passes the single achievement and i am glad to say senator kaufman from delaware because his predecessorwho now has another job in government, joe biden, was of course instrumental in passing of vawa. the landmark walk filled a void. to many victims -- too many victims. it had strong bipartisan support. i would compliment senator biden and senator orrin hatch, who were chairman and ranking member respectively who works so hard to get this passed. of a fort to working with members of the committee and -- i look forward to working with members of the committee. the victim of service providers. most importantly,ht the women ad families who were threatened with violence. we have an extraordinary panel with us. first will be catherine pierce. see is the acting director at the justice department. of course karen tronsgrard- scott, who i've known for many years. she is the leader in for montan vermont. i mention karen because people think of for mvermont with low e rate and everything else. we have domestic violence in every state. every state, every situation. ççsometimes in more ruralt( a,

of ballgames from the colonials as old dominion takes on george mason and then drexel will battle delaware, action from the sunbelt at 4:00 eastern as florida international and isiah thomas play new orleans and then join me along with another for sec action at 8:00 eastern as the running utes of utah take on the l.s.u. tigers. l.s.u. trent johnson coming off a bad loss against xavier last night in cincinnati. bill: florida will play xavier here in gainesville. i believe it's in january, late january or early february. but that's another nonconference game that florida will have in the middle of the conference schedule. matt: of course, the gators have another nonconference game before kicking off their sec schedule against vanderbilt next saturday. they're going to play at n.c. state. boynton the steal and the push. mcclanahan could not hold on to it. bill: well, there's a look at the gators at 9-3 at n.c. state and then at vanderbilt to start the sec schedule and then their first home sec game, what a doozy that should be. number three kentucky here on january 12th. bill: that's a 9:00 ga

host: delaware, good morning. caller: good morning. i think it is sad but we do not all have rights to health insurance. i do not see what the bickering is about. why can we not all have health care? host: all right. bob cusack, you have been listening to the phone calls for the last five to 10 minutes on what people want from health care bill, what is your reaction? guest: a lot of wants and needs out there. callers mentioned the costs going down, many people are frustrated with their insurance company. they want pre-existing conditions covered. also some interesting calls about the individual mandates in some of these bills that would require individuals to purchase health care insurance, just like car insurance now. there are some people that say that that is unconstitutional. one of them is senator orrin hatch, who says that you cannot put this mandate on the american people. the interesting thing about that mandate is that some people in news articles do not have health insurance and they say that they would rather pay the fee of

and while we've got the suburbs of philadelphia and also from new jersey and delaware, we are not talking about what we consider to be a purple area or purple states or whatever. so some of this -- but gee, i was remarkably struck by how we get, mark, so wrapped up in the numbers. and when you step back from these numbers, and you get people's voices, boy, they came out a lot differently from the numbers or whatever. >> yeah, the -- the thing that hit me over and over again and the value of these is it really put a human face on unemployment. i mean, statistics don't bleed. but these people, you could feel the pain, the hurt, not just patricia. even bill. i thought cheryl was just phenomenal. but when bill talked about until he's walked a mile in cheryl's shoes and patricia's shoes -- i mean it was -- it was incredibly human. and you understand what people are going through. and the fact that he still is in good shape, the president at this point, i think is all the more remarkable. i mean, really -- >> with his base. >> with his base -- >> but they were willing to give him the benefit of

delaware, which began issuing its federal mail in rebates for $25 to $200 on december 1, allows anyone of the program are listed in the "usa today" story today. next caller. caller: hello, pedro. you had a good guess on your show and you are always fair in your -- your -- good guests on your show and you are always there in your topics. i oppose it. people in the construction work -- even if they are employees at the airport, they are risking the life and they need proper health care, affordable health care to take care of themselves. unfortunately, for my job, it was mentally and physically stressful. i could not get any type of union or anything like that. i thank god that president obama had put the package, because my health went bad, and when they found uppethat out, im not working. my insurance was close to $2,000 for me and my son's prepare i hope that at least -- for me and my sons. i hope that at least i will be able to get my older son health care. he is 26, and he cannot even get medicaid. he had to go through a lot of problems to get that. the public? if you put the risk an

delaware act saying it minister for medicare and medicaid services "we right to express our concerns is regarding the services proposed changes to medicare advantage rates for calendar year 2010. the advanced notices raised two important issues implemented that will result in a highly problematic increase in benefit reductions for medicare advantage enrollees across the country. i again, a short time ago, there was concern on the other side about cuts of medicare advantage program. >> is a senator where there's 181,000 people in an alabama that would get it cut and in arizona it is 1,606,000 people. seniors that will have benefits cut. colorado, 190,000 to have benefits cut. georgia :1 hundred 76,000. illinois:176,000. indiana when it 48 kentucky 151. massachusetts 200,000. michigan 406,000. that is what michigan reads right now. is annette? to have have seniors' benefit cutbacks minnesota 284. missouri 200. 104,000 a bad. state of new york 853,000. ohio 499,000. pennsylvania and baby are maybe not because they may have got the deal 865,000. tennessee 2,223,000 according to members.

host: carlton calling us on the republican line from wilmington, delaware.usan. thank you for c-span. host: do you mind hitting the mute button on your tv? caller: ok. i'm a union sheet metal worker who has been unemployed for a little while. i was just wondering, when it is the president and congress are really going to focus on job creation? not saying the government is a good start of paying jobs, but we need tax breaks so we can get the economy moving. that is what i believe. thank you. host: another new jersey caller. lil -- that all is lost. louisville, kentucky, sid. caller: thank you. i would like to say what i heard, i congressmen and senators, stating they don't have time to read bills, for me as a 54 year old man, is malfeasance of office. down here in the ninth congressional district we have a congressman, baron held, who seems to think that town hall meetings are for him and they are his -- baron hill. he would not allow any audio or video to come out of the meetings. the whole thing is backwards. host: in the u.s. new section of "the wall stree

i grew up when i saw the pictures of george washington crossing the delaware, i was on the boat with him. when i saw lewis and clark, i was with them. it was my story. we are inhibiting that story from being the dominant narrative when we are in a situation where we encourage dual citizenship and people voting in other elections and then ethiopia invaded my country. i will go and defend my country. when our department of state funded the elections in iraq in this country and the cochair of the republican party of san diego is quoting the l.a. times saying at last for the first time in my life i get to vote, i said what the heck is going on. you just voted in the presidential election in this country. that's your country here. make a choice. we have to look at that. i'm not going to be popular with both parties and even people in my own community, but if we do not take the issue of becoming american and take it seriously and make it work with all that it means, we are running down a road that will get us in trouble everywhere, not just in the mideast, but as conflicts emerge everywher

calls palaces of learning and the third thing i would like to say is my son is at the university of delaware and he could not navigate through the university without a laptop. he happens to be a math major by the way, and i was a schoolteacher for 14 years. what i would like to say, my question to you is why would you refer back to an older style of presentation making this will textbook series and history instead of linking it to a more dynamic process like the internet? >> guest: interesting question. there is a lot of discussion out there that the textbooks are a thing of the past and everything will be delivered via technology garbage gin and garbage out. if you and a whole lot of the same people are lining up to put things on disks with the idea this is better it's only better if it is better. i would be happy to have my books on the kindle or whatever, technology. but for me it is content, ideas, giving it -- putting it on the screen does not necessarily make it better. >> host: how many of your books have sold in bookstores and how many are sold to school systems? >> guest: i don't kn

i got a call today from someone in delaware concerned about legislative prayer or council prior.i get calls regarding holiday displays where atheists or free thought groups are not being treated the same as others. what can your department or your section do to try and obtain neutrality or faithfulness to the first amendment? >> well, we have a robust docket of cases involving discrimination against religious minorities. cases in the employment context again, in new york city for instance against transit workers who were discriminated against because they were a head scarf. other cases and the employment context were cases in housing context we have mazel embrum law is one of my staff people in the front office along with eric treen working on issues of discrimination so we have a rather robust docket and continue to have a very aggressive investigation enforcement and if you have specific cases that you want to bring to our attention on invite you to do so and we will take a careful can't apply to the law and in short the received the treatment they deserve. >> [inaudible] >> we

just let it but my counterpart the democratic governors' association of delaware told the "new york times" earlier this month. the senate bill represents a 25 billion-dollar cost to state governments. at the federal government puts an enormous an unfunded mandate on state taxpayers so that the senators can pretend that they health care bill does not increase the federal deficit. this is fraud and deceit against the taxpayers. my state will get hit for $1.3 billion over the first six year period from 2014 to 2019. nebraskans taxpayers will have the e $450 million. the out of taxpayers will pay some $1 billion a year by the end of the decade according to governor mitch daniels. as governor paterson of new york, a democrat, wrote to and we all agree, states don't have this money. in fact we are already cutting our budget. i have already cut mississippi's budget by nearly 5% this year with more cuts to come. state after state, every state is cutting its current budget and recognizing there will be more cuts in next year's budget. in my case, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars

finding 16 college kids or 150,000 college kids don't go to school in new jersey but go to school in delawarenew york, pennsylvania and washington, d.c.? that may not be worth your energy. it may be the kind of thing, may be worth your energy, more cost efficient than you think if you get a list of them. look at state law, figure out if it trace additional absentee got to be sick or infirmed or living out of state or military something like that you want to though from the secretary of state when is last date they can get that stuff in so you can get a big file. you get biggest possible bang your buck. then maybe you phone calls and direct mail to them in way they get it. now you can do e-mail pens, get someone's actual information and send it out to vendor and get bunch of e-mail addresses to send them an e-mail. think of ways to contact them. maybe something specific. maybe a candidate is veteran, there are bunch of people and bunch of people, military people are voting absent tee. that can be really important voting bloc for you. so you will have to do, all this is resource allocation ques

christmas eve 1776, he gathered his officers at mcconaughey's ferry to plan the crossing of the delaware. this body has been in session on christmas eve only once since 1963, and we will tomorrow when in the wake of president kennedy's assassination, the united states senate met to consider a bill to fund our operations in vietnam. we'll be in session tomorrow morning, madam president, embroiled again in times that certainly try men's souls. and like general george washington, we have an opportunity to meet history's gaze, to steel ourselves for the difficult work of making our union more perfect. the journey we complete tomorrow has been a long and difficult one, but i for one would not trade it for anything. we who will have the privilege to cast our votes at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for health care reform will never cast a more important vote in our senate careers. history will judge harshly those who have chosen to shrink from this moment, but those of us who stand up to make this country more secure, to make our union more perfect we will never forget this christmas eve, for this

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. kaufman: mr.president, i ask unanimous consent to speak under the control of the -- a senator: let me followup on some of the comments of our colleague from illinois. i'm always struck when back home i addressed the homebuilders in our state. mr. carper: i'm always amazed at the extent of the misinformation, confusion and we talked about to people about what's in the underlying legislation before us as our deputy leader has done here again today. there's a lot to like about the legislation. a lot to like about the legislation. one of the pieces that hasn't been focused on a whole lot, but i want to mention deals with how do we better ensure that people who are sick get well and people who are not sick don't become sick? and as it applies to the use of pharmaceutical medicines? our legislation calls for doing a number of things. one, if people could actually be healthier or stay healthy by or get well by taking certain pharmaceuticals, we'd all save money in the end. but as the -- under the current

minnick: i yield the gentleman from delaware, mr. castle, 1 1/2 minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. castle: thank you very much, madam speaker. i rise in very strong support of this bipartisan amendment that creates the consumer financial protection council which of course i'm pleased to co-sponsor. this amendment checks the right balance in strong consumer protections while ensuring the safety and soundness of our nation's financial system. i am convinced that the current language in the bill threatens to ex panled the reach of the public government, limit innovation, restrict choices of financial products and interfere with day to day activities of small bills. utilizing a council of existing regulaters are a cost effective and responsible approach to achieve the same goals as intended by the consumer financial protection agency. our amendment establishes a council of existing regulators which we know is treasury, fed, fdic, etc., instead of an entirely new agency and bureaucracy with all the costs and intended bureaucr

i grew up when i saw the pictures of george washington crossing the delaware, i was on the boat withim. when i saw lewis voted in the presidential election in this country. that's your country here. make a choice. we have to look at that. i'm not going to be popular with both parties and even people in my own community, but if we do not take the issue of becoming american and take it seriously and make it work with all that it means, we are running down a road that will get us in trouble everywhere, not just in the mideast, but as conflicts emerge everywhere around the world, people say that's my fight. that's my fight. arabs, that's my fight. pakistan, that's my fight. that's not a good situation to be in as a nation. >> what do you suggest? >> public diplomacy, we have to tell the american story there and here. and we have to work with the full gambit of institutions that policies that worked to make these kids fully participate. the fact that if we hire more americans in government and open to their rank and do more, the overseas will pass by them completely and make sure they are

[inaudible] >> i'm from delaware. i have a strong interest in campaigns and i heard nothing but excellent things at cmi. i worked in the few campaigns in 2006, and i helped out in 2008 for mccain. >> brooks keefre a senior here in ohio and i have no campaign experience and i'm hopefully to change that and get a paid job when may rolls around and i'm here representing the rs as well. >> okay. >> i'm dave. i live in a lot of places but i lived in tennessee for 10 years. i guess i canvassed for the obama campaign once so there's my campaign experience. i'm a d when it's convenient and i heard it was a great class so i decided to take it. >> oak. okay. great. >> i'm aaron and i'm from new jersey. i'm taking cmi because i've heard it's a great experience and also looking forward to taking four classes in the spring as opposed to five. and i'm a democrat and have interned for rush holt and bob menendez in new jersey. >> okay. >> i'm michelle lockwood and i'm from new york. i'm a first -- now second-term graduate student. an