demint: reserving right to object, mr. president, i have no problem to going to this bill, but we have been working with members on our side of a finite list of amendments that we would like considered on this bill. i'm happy to work with the distinguished leader to obtain an agreement. if he would like me to cover some of those amendments today, i will. at this point i will object to the motion to proceed and hope that we can work out an agreement. mr. reid: if i could ask my friend? the presiding officer: objection heard. mr. reid: you can offer an amends you want. we don't care. we just want to get on the bill. and if -- we'd be happy to work with the senator from south carolina at that time to come up with a list of amendments. the amendments are all governed under rule 16. i have a letter here. i've all day held off reading it. a letter signed by every republican senator, including the senator from south carolina. let me read this letter. the letter is written to me. "dear majority leader: as you develop the legislati

may, i will go with you. >> senator demint, i think i made seven very specific recommendations. i will recap them for you today. i think there needs to be a requirement that regional carriers implement foqa programs and asap programs, both of which captain prater i think would agree are all fully in use at mainline levels, and would make a market difference if required at the regional levels. i think number three, we need to put in a new training standard, if you will. there's along open npr and on training at the faa. i think probably it would be wise for the faa to implement a rulemaking committee and take a hard look at aqp programs, advanced qualification programs, if you will, that have been developed by mainline carriers. could be mentors and transported to regional carriers to improve safety in terms of training. number four, i think you need to take or have the direct the faa to take a hard look at how they better enforce a sterile cockpit rule. we recognize that there are privacy issues involved here, but i think there needs to be some kind of monitoring of cockpit tape

so, senator dorgan, senator demint and members of the committee this concludes my prepared remarks and i would be happy to answer any questions you have as a follow-on. thank you. >> administrator babbitt thank you for being with us. next we will hear from the honorable calvin scovel. mr. scovel you may proceed. >> chairman dorgan, ranking member demint, members of the subcommittee we appreciate the opportunity to testify regarding the faa's roehl. safety is a responsibility shared among faa aircraft manufacturers, airlines and airports for the together all for it for me series of overlapping controls to keep the system safe. the past several years have been one of the sake its periods in history for the aviation industry. however the tragic accident in february of colgan flight 407 underscores the need for constant vigilance over aviation safety on the part of all stakeholders. last month, ntsb held a preliminary hearing into the cause of the cold in the accident in which some evidence suggests a pilot training in fatigue may have contributed to the crash. as a result mr. chairman, yo

i would echo the sentiments of senator demint. clearly, the government running anything, crowds, private sector out of the market, as i mentioned the public option in health care and other kinds of things, for example, the housing market, secondary market for mortgages looks like fanny and freddy. it is a public option. it is a disaster. that's what happens when the government gets involved in these kinds of things. i want to opponent out one thing that the president said yesterday and i would again echo the senator's comments. up to this point the president simply has not been telling truth about his proposal. yesterday, though, he began to march down a road that bore a little more resemblens to the truth. when he was press on this notion when he says if you like your plan, you may keep it. in fact, that is not what the bill said that was introduced in the house and not what the president has supported. what he clarified yesterday before the press if you like what you have, the government will not force you out into another plan.

i'm sure senator demint has. the senator is a fabulous senator, a constitutional scholar a man who has been through confirmations time and again. and i know he made a very eloquent speech just earlier today and i would recognize senator hatch. >> well, thank you, senator. i'm grateful to have your leadership on the senate judiciary committee. it's a very important issue and i think it's important for us to raise them in advance so that sotomayor at least has some idea what some of the questions will be. this is a very important question for us, the second amendment means a great deal to us. it took a long, long time to get the heller case that finally decided that the second amendment is a personal right. and i think the distinguished from alabama has explained it quite adequately. the senate has to look at judge sotomayor's entire record to looking at hir philosophy and her speeches as well as her cases. now, her second amendment decisions appear to have unnecessarily minimized and confined the scope and vitalit

senator demint? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i too thank you for expediting this hearing my only reservation in endorsing inez is that that endorsement might hurt her with this committee. [laughter] >> i hope that you'll overlook that. we are very proud that she is representing south carolina. and she has been an advocate for children. she's practiced environmental law and public interest law. she is a serious nominee for this position and she has dealt with all of the issues and a large controversial public agency in south carolina. and did that with a lot of professionalism and style. and as some of you know, that she and i were in a hard fought race for the senate in 2004. and i was very excited to hear about the nomination and my support means that i hope she won't run against me again. [laughter] >> but we are delighted and i know this committee has had a chance to meet her. there's absolutely no reason that we can't move her through in a hurry and put her at the helm of this agency as the chairman has pointed out. has

first of all i want to say thank you to mighty senators, jim demint and lindsay graham. it is an honor to have both of the senators from myte sta support me and i want to say that i appreciate so much your being willing to step forward in endorse me to this committee so thank you. i am honored by president barack obama's nomination of me to serve as the consumer product safety commission. i thanked the president for this tremendous opportunity and if confirmed by the senate i will do my utmost to ensure the safety and the well-being of america's children and families. i want to introduce my husband, samuel. he and i just celebrated our 20 that he wedding anniversary and i thank him for his support in his encouragement during this nomination process. samuel and i were raised in georgia. he is from savannah and i from a small town called pined you. my mother was an elementary schoolteacher and my father had a career in the united states navy. consistent with preston obama's approach to governance if confirmed as chairman i will ensure that the commission is operated in an

kent: senators mccaskill, klobuchar, whitehouse, udall, shaheen, kaufman, martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns and risch. the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the resolution on will meet at a time to be determined. the presiding officer: the senate will take proper order and notify the house of representatives and counsel for judge kent. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask in an orderly fashion that senators approach the desk for signing of the resolution. of the impeachment before they leave the chamber. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call : quorum call:

. >> to demint from indiana is recognized for tenements. >> thank you. and thank the distinguished ranking member. there rights and opposition to the bill is underway today. i joined my democratic colleagues in supporting the bipartisan military supplemental bill which passed this house earlier in congress. when it comes to providing our sodas with the resources they need to get the job done in return and say, we must set aside politics as usual. we did that. i cannot support this military supplemental bill today. it is a disservice to the taxpayers of this country and to the brave men and women who depend as every day. people forget we are a nation at war. with american soldiers in harm's way, we have to make sure the soldiers have everything they need to get the job done. emergency war funding bills should be about a-a war funding. this legislation includes zero hundred $8 billion in loans. i believe we do a disservice to taxpayers and those who support us. this is not right. i urge my colleagues to oppose this conference report. stanley governor troop

senator dorgan, a senator demint and members of the committee this concludes my repaired days prepared remarks of a happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much for being with us will now hear from calvin scovel and you may proceed. >> chairman dorgan ranking member demand and members of the subcommittee we appreciate the opportunity to testify safety is a responsibility shared among faa aircraft manufacturers airports and together all four for a series of overlapping controls to keep the system safe. the past several years have said what of the safest periods however the tragic action and teach accident of 3407 underscores the need for constant diligence is among the part of all stakeholders last month and tsb held a preliminary hearing into the accident in which some evidence suggested pilot fatigue may have contributed. as a result you along with chairman rockefeller and ranking member how to since requested our office began an extensive investigation into some of the issues brought to light during that hearing perk we have already begun work on this review. to

senator demint. >> we need to get a little more specific. mr. may, i appreciate you mentioning specifics about what we can do with training, but what i am not hearing today are specific ideas about what do we need to change to prevent something like this from happening again. there have got to be things that come to mind that we need to change. we obviously have some situations of violating current rules. in a sterile cockpit in this particular crash, did the pilots themselves violate rules? we need to make sure that that doesn't happen again. but what do we need to do? wood to the carriers need to do? what do we need to do from a regulatory perspective, do we need legislation that the regulators cannot carry out? what we are looking for here is what we can do? mr. may, starting with you because you mentioned training. we need specifics of things that can be done to improve safety, perhaps that this crash brings to light, that we are not doing or not requiring or not auditing, we have gone a lot of assurances that safety is the main concern, but

orfigure that anyone who has earned the admiration and respect of senator gramm and senator jim demint is a person o wgreat ability. hhe ability to bring people together and win their respect means so much in the role you goigoing to play. miley have one question. i will preface it with some remarks that will show where my ayss is in protecting children. it always has been, i know you come from that place as well. i just want to make sure you regu that in the 80s when i came to congress, all of our regulations were based on protecting and 155 pound man. that was -- everything that was est., including all of the tests, there were no women in the tests, there were no pildren in the tests, we worked together, all of us across party lines, to change that. the beauty of our work is very simple. when you protect the children you protect everyone. if you protect 155 pound healthy man, it is good for all the guys in that category but the venerable folks, the pregnant women, those with disabilities are not protected. it is such a win/win to protect the children. that was our goal when we wrote

i note the president -- senator demint and in the absence of the chair i recognize him for his round of questions. >> thank you. senator lugar. ambassador bosworth, thank you for being here peridot and would like to have some questions specifically about the designation as states sponsor of terrorism for it north korea and with that designation might do to leverage some american goals. as you know, the new administration has not hesitated to point have a sense of the last administration yet when asked about reinstating the designation of a terrorist nation in the administration has appealed to the decision and that this made it last year about this time. as you know the bush administration in an attempt to entice north korea the back to the negotiating table took north korea off the list of state sponsors of terrorism and i am sure as you know that that designation allows us to freeze assets and pressure them another way is. since then it has been very obvious the north koreans have not honored that in any way. in fact, they have it expedited, expanded their development of nuclear we

secondly, cosponsored senator demint legislation dealing with the consumer product safety improvement act which i voted for an chairman pryor spent a lot of time on, but it did have a lot of unintended consequences won by way of example i have eight, soon-to-be nine grandchildren. one of my daughters-in-law the mother of three all under five sheers the largest secondhand clothing sale and second heart book swap in the history of mankind, i think. but it raises a ton of money for the church. when that law passed within weeks they were called by their attorneys and told to cancel both those sales because of the potential effect and legal liability that was put on them as a secondhand seller of a product they neither manufactured nor took any responsibility for. so that does -- we need to look at the unintended consequence of that legislation. i know there's a stay right now and implementation, but i hope you will apply the same due diligence you did in south carolina to that particular subject and try to get it where the unattended consequences are not so onerous for people for whom it

. >> senator demint. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you have really covered a lot of my concerns with the current law in words like common sense and courage me. i know the agency has done some things to delay implementation it seems perhaps not beneficial, and as you and i have talked a fair amount about this law and whether or not we need legislation and we will just wait to hear from you on that. but just one comment that i guess goes under the umbrella of common sense is the goal more safety, not more regulation. and the problem we often have is we develop a comprehensive regulatory scheme that it tends to favor large companies who have contingents of lawyers and people who can deal with them. and in this country there are a lot of small manufacturers, a lot of products, a lot of small toy manufacturers, handmade toys. and some of the law has been interpreted in a way that would make it very difficult for these companies to do the type of testing that would be necessary to comply in any way that they could afford to do it. and i wou

senator demint is the ranking member and i know he wishes to make a comment and i think also introduce mr. mauer who is a member of your state. >> thank you mr. chairman and i thank you again for conducting these hearings. i would just add my comments to yours. i agree with everything you said about the concerns about this flight. a lot of us get on regional flights ourselves every week going back and forth to our home states that we assume a lot when we get on a plane and i know all americans do, and we do need to make sure that there is a standard of safety for every american in. i know i am looking for to looking -- working on the language with the chairman that would reveal all the pilot records and just as we have at them for an airplane and something seemed to make common sense right now, but i do have the pleasure of introducing mr. scott mauer this morning. he is the father of a 30 year-old flight -- 30 year-old who was on a the flight 3407 crash, laurin. he was born and raised in the red ink, pennsylvania or he and his wife raised their daughter, lauren. he currently lives in

demint: i withhold. no quorum. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: thank you, mr. president. i thank my colleague. mr. president, i rise to speak on the nomination of harold koh whom the president nominated to be legal adviser at the state department. this is a relatively obscure, but very important position at state department and the legal adviser operates frequently behind-the-scenes but on such important issues as international relation, national security, and in other areas. one area that's very important is that the real leel adviser is the -- the legal adviser is often the last word of state department on questions regarding treaty interpretation, that is, international agreements between countries. a legal adviser often gives legal advice to the secretary of state and the president of the united states during important negotiations with other nations. we also know that from experience the legal adviser can be a very important voice in diplomatic circles especially if he or she views a

and i would echo the sentiments of senator demint. clearly a government running anything crowds private sector out of the market. as i mentioned the health care looks like medicare part d and other things for example the housing market looks like fannie and freddie. it is a public auction. it is a disaster. that is what happens when the government gets involved in these kind of things that the private market can run better. i want to point out one thing the president said yesterday and again i would echo the senator's comments and that is at this point president hasn't been telling the truth about his proposal. yesterday he began to march down a road that more represents the truth. when he was pressed on the notion that he says if you like your plan, you may keep it. in fact that isn't what the bill says that was introduced in the house and frankly that is and what the president ordered. what he clarified yesterday before the press was if you like what you have the government that will not move you out or force you into another plan.

i did not raise that with her, but i am sure some senators have and i think senator demint did it. it senator hatch is senior republican, a fabulous senator, a constitutional scholar, a man who has been to conformations time and again and i know he made a very eloquent speech just earlier today and i was recognizing senator hatch. >> thank you, senator, good two have your leadership on the senate judiciary committee. i think it is impressed to raise the questions in a trance of that judge sotomayor and this has some ideas of what the questions will be and this is a very important question to most of us -- the second amendment means a great deal to us. it's a long time to get this heller case finally decided that the second amendment is a personal right and i think the distinguished senator from alabama has explained it quite adequately. the seventh has to look at judge sotomayor's entire record and to evaluate her judicial philosophy including her speeches as well as the cases. now her second amendment decisions appear to have unnecessarily minimized and confine the scope and vital

chairman dorgan, senator demint and members of the full committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the faa's role in the oversight of air carriers. let me start by saying that we faa more tragic loss of kuhlman air flight 3407 and as well as the families and crew members aboard the air france for 47. this is an agency that is dedicated to air safety. and the loss is felt keenly by all of us and our sympathies go out to both the families of 3407 and air france for 47. as you noted senator this is my first appearance at a hearing since i was sworn in as at the eight administrative and i want to thank this committee again for both your support and your confidence in me. we do have an ambitious agenda and i think i have discussed some of that with you at the left confirmation, and i intend to work very hard to achieve the state the goals we have set forth in the challenge of the faa. since the mid 1990's there has been a requirement for one level of safety that all regional carriers must operate under the same rules and the same level of safety as their major airline counter

, visitors center inscription "in god we trust"; vitter, motion to recommit 2009 level, demint, audit reform federal reserve, upon disposition of the amendments in motion, the substitute amendments, if amended, be degreeds, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the bill as amend be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill; upon passage, the senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the house on the disagreeing votes of the two houses, and that the chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the senate, provided further in a point of order is raised against the substitute amendment, it be in order for another substitute amendment to be offered minus the offending provision, that including any amendments which have been greed to and no further amendments be the senate will come to order. upon the substitute amendment -- and that the substitute amendment as amended, if amended, be agreed to, and the remaining provisions be adopted in the substitute amendment remain in effect. the presiding officer: is there objection? wi

demint a lot to our family. . sonia sotomayor graduated from princeton with high marks. .he went on to yale law school. when commentators have questioned whether she was smart enough, you cannot make up that you have these high awards from these prestigious universities. since graduating, the judge -- graduating from law school, she spent five years as a prosecutor at the manhattan district attorney's office. it was one of the most dizzying offices in our country. at the time, it paid about half as much as a job in the private sector. she took the job as a prosecutor. i was a prosecutor before i entered the senate. i managed about 400 people in minnesota. i've is very interested in the experience that we had. one of the things that i learned and i know she understood is that as a prosecutor, bollore is not a dusty book in your basement. after you've seen the damage that crime can do in your community, and you have seen some families in the courtroom, you know that law is not an abstract subject. you see that it has a real impact on real people. as a prosecutor, you do not

america will not turn our backs on the legitimate palestinian aspirations for demint, opportunity, and a state -- dignity and opportunity. [applause] for decades there has been a stalemate. two peebles with legitimate aspirations -- two peoples with legitimate aspirations that makes compromise elusive. it is easy to point fingers. for palestinians to point to the displacement brought by israel's founding and for its release two point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders and beyond. if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth. the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states where israelis and palestinians each live in peace and security. [applause] that is in the interest of israel, palestine, america, and the world. that is why i intend to personally pursue this outcome which all of the patients and a dedication that the task requires. the obligations that the parties have agreed to under the road map are clear. for peace to come it is time for them and

senator rockefeller and senator hutchison, myself, senator demint and others are going to be working on days where putting together along with my collies the faa reauthorization act. we are right in the middle of that. and many other things. all of which have to do with safety. and so we are going to, i would say to those that have raised the questions this morning about pilots records and so on, my first expectation is that administrator babbitt is going to move quickly to address some of those issues. but we will introduce legislation to be certain that it is done the right way as well. so, senator baggage did you wish to make any other comment on trenton on trenton? let me thank the witnesses for being here. will have one additional hearing at one point with the airline companies themselves are we appreciate mr. may and mr. cohen, you're a person patient during this hearing. there is one other question i have not asked. i know there's a term of art called to rest, these are the 50. we talked a lot about fatigue today and i think one of the senators raised the issue of true rest. i

going back to the issue on medicare, could you imagine senator demint introduce legislation cutting medicare by $110 billion, which you not see press stories, newspaper headlines and so forth saying to republicans want to hurt seniors out there? how badly was seniors be hurt by this type of legislation? the administration is proposing it and i have seen nothing in it, i have seen nothing regarding whether or not this is going to create a problem for seniors. the media ought to be asking that question and i have been silent. >> any other questions? >> there is a hearing going on this afternoon and they're going to be arguing there is rationing in the current system especially in the for-profit health care and i wonder what your comments on that. >> there is a key difference here. and that is of the government madison currently in medicare if a treatment is not covered, it's not something they will pay for your actually prohibited from going outside the system and paying for it yourself it is denied to you as a covered service. that means that it is illegal for a doctor not to file a claim for

going back to the issue on medicare, could you imagine a senator demint passing legislation cutting medicare by $110 billion. would you not see perez stories, newspaper headlines and so forth saying do republicans want to hurt seniors out there? how badly would seniors be hurt by this type of legislation? the administration is proposing it and i see nothing on it. i see nothing regarding whether or not this is going to create a problem for seniors. the media ought to be asking that question. and they've been silent. >> any other questions? sir? >> my understanding is that folks are going to be arguing that -- i wonder what your comments are on that. >> there's a key difference here. that is, under the government medicine currently, and medicare, if a treatment is not something that they will pay for, you are actually prohinted from going outside the system and paying for it yourself. if it's denied to you as a covered service. that means that it is illegal for a doctor not to file a claim for a service and it's illegal for you to go out and pay for it yourself. it's called private contractin

and i would echo the sentiments of senator demint. clearly the government running anything -- the public option in health care looks like medicare part b. public option and other kinds of things, for example, the housing market, secondary market for mortgages looks like fannie and freddie. it's a disaster. that's what happens when the government gets involved in these kinds of things that the private market can run so much better. i want to point out one thing that the president said yesterday. i would, again, echo the senator's comments. up to this point, the president simply has not been telling the truth about his proposal. yesterday, though, he began to march down a road that bore a little more resentment to the truth. when he was pressed on this notion, when he says, if you like your plan, you may keep it. well, in fact, that's not what the bill says that was introduced in the house. frankly, that's not what the president has supported. what he clarified yesterday before the press was that if you like what you have, the governmen

chairman, ranking member senator demint, thank you for your time, and i am open to answer any questions. >> thank you very much, mr. maurer. i have some discomfort about a good many things here, reading the transcript of the cockpit recording demonstrated to me a number of errors, a number of deficiencies occurred in the management of that fight. i also said the young co-pilot and co-pilot perished in that accident as well and they are not here to speak for themselves. they have families who miss them terribly. i am discomfited by that, and yet we have no choice but to proceed aggressively to find out, what are the standards here? are these accidents, was there an accident that could have been prevented? how do we prevent future accidentss and circumstances like this? let me ask a few questions. my understanding to mr. mayer and mr. kogan, we are hiring pilots to put in a pocket of commercial airlineairlines, 30, passengers, for $10 an hour. >> the average pay is $72,000 a year. the average pay of a first officer is thirty-two thousand dollars a year. that is very comparable to other pr

demint of south carolina dropped those provisions from this bill which were carefully crafted by the committee on oversight and government reform here in the house and i hope that we can revisit those issues in the future. but the underlying bill with respect to tobacco is a very important bill. again i thank mr. polis from colorado for his leadership and his passionate commitment to the subject. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: i'd like to thank the gentleman from virginia for bringing out another important issue that is no longer included in this bill and hopefully he and other of our colleagues can work to ensure that we have a competitive work force for our federal government. madam speaker, the tobacco is the deadliest product on the market today. it kills over 400,000 americans every year. despite that grim statistic, tobacco companies have enjoyed a great deal of influence over public policy. indeed, a privileged state. avoiding the appropriate oversight of their dangerous business

chairman dorgan, senator demint, members of the committee take you for the opportunity to appear before you today. we commend you and chairman for focusing on these critical safety topics. we submitted a register statement and i will summarize. i am here today representing the flight safety foundation. i also speak you as a pilot who has served for 22 years as a director of engineering and air safety. although i don't speak, more than 50 accident investigation so these issues are near and dear to my heart. a flight safety foundation was founded 60 years ago. at a neutral to share information, ideas and best practices for safety. today we represent over 1000 organizations from 142 nations. as of the committee requested our testimony is focused on specific measures that may be appropriate to improve pilot training, prevent errors from fatigue and address aircraft icing hazard. and after sometime i would like to highlight for the committee to topics that need particular attention to these topics cut across all the committee's issues. violas and most vulnerable aviation safety to his accide

. >> are we more prepared now for the digital transition demint feb? >> not really. to the extent we are going to be totally prepared we were prepared then and we will be about as prepared now. statistically, i think we are 1.7% more prepared now than we were back in february which means instead of about 97% we are going to be about 98.9%. but there are going to be a couple% of the population now matter what time we put the date they are going to wake up on the day of the transition and say we've gone all digital today. so i think it should have happened back in february. the president's father wise so they put off for 90 days. the transition date is coming up in june in a couple of weeks and almost everybody in the country will be totally ready but there will be a couple percentage points which translates to two or 3 million tv sets that are not ready to go. >> your district is both urban and rural. what is the status of your district? >> well, when i go out and talk about it, most people are cognizant of it and ready to go. statistically, the dallas-fort worth area

demint: thank you, mr. president. i rise today regretfully to oppose the nomination of harold coe to be the state department legal advisor. it's hard to do because in meeting mr. k oovment h, i certainly enjoyed him. i have friends back in south carolina who know him and he is certainly very likeable person. but his nomination to this important position requires some scrutiny about what his philosophy is when it comes to the united states and our international agreements and the sovereignty of our country. so i oppose mr. koh's nomination for many reasons and really most importantly of these is my tbleef if of ited that he'll -- is my belief that if confirmed, he'll greatly undermine the principles of sovereignty that i believe all americans expect of our federal government. let me talk a little bit about his role, what that would be if he's confirmed as the legal advisor to the state department. according to the state department's web site, the legal advisor will furnish and i quote, "advice on only legal issues dome