tries to get rid of, like in the case of the small businessman from springfield, that my friend, dick durbin talked about, or when they are denied coverage, or when they can't get coverage, or we're not renewing your proposal, or whatever. we understand that there needs to be a check on the insurance companies, and left alone they will not provide the kind of low-cost full health care that many, many americans need. when we propose a public option, we are proposing someone to keep a check on them. that's the only point here. if we had complete faith in the insurance companies, we wouldn't be debating public option. if we had complete faith that left on their own, when you had the situation, an illness, and your costs went way up, they said, sure, we're going to take care of you, you signed the contract when you were healthy and now you're sick -- sometimes that happens, i'm not saying it never happens but what about the times it doesn't. and praise god we're healthy, and it might happen? there has to be a check on the insurance companies. that is what the so-called public option does. the in

i really appreciate senator dick durbin. if i were in trouble, i like to have been defending me. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> up next on c-span, charles evans, president of the chicago federal reserve on the economy. then a senate hearing on rates for text messaging. and later a report on human trafficking. secretary clinton will give her remarks. >> tomorrow on "washington journal" and look at iran. former congressman tom davis talks about health care in republican politics. later, in the that the cover story on harper's magazine. that is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> how was c-span funded? >> through donations? >> through the federal government. >> grants. >> sponsors? >> they may get some government funding. >> viewers? >> helices been funded? 30 years ago, america's cable companies created he's been as a public service, a private business initiative. no government mandate or money. >> now charles evans, president of the chicago federal reserve speaks about the econ

senator jeff sessions, a ranking member of the senate judiciary committee and democratic senator , dick durbin. later, charles evans, the president of the chicago federal reserve on the economy. >> today on american and the courts, a few commencement addresses at this year's graduation ceremonies given by supreme court justice, anthony kennedy. and georgia supreme court justice -- that is on 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> people do not want to think as the conservation as a policy as much as a passion. he put aside 240 million acres of wild america. now as people are talking about environmentalism and green movements, roosevelt is becoming the key figure to understand because he was the only politician of his day to absorb dar went and who understood biology and birds migratory patterns. -- to understand darwin and biology. and he actually did something. >> the first of two hours with douglas brinkley on wilbert s. warriors. sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on c- span, for download the c-span podcast. >> senate judiciary committee chairman, patrick leahy on supreme court nominee, judge sonia sotomay

host: last night on the senate floor, dick durbin spoke right before the tobacco bill passed. >> in just a few minutes the senate will make an historic decision, and i think they will make the right decision. joe camel will be given a life sentence and put away forever. we are going to give our kids, our families across america, a fighting chance for life. this bill is a story, and thank you for making it possible. host: president obama is himself a smoker. he has acknowledged his trouble including the habit, and he says he will sign this if it passes the house, which is expected to. dennis is calling from long beach, california. caller: they should regulate tobacco, and also i think they should go after this fast food industry in the united states. i mean, on every corner you go, you see fast-food restaurants. you see very young children that are obese, adults that are obese, and i think as time goes by, the same kind of lawsuits that are going against the tobacco industry will go against the fast-food industry. so they should really go all the way with this kind of thing and go after t

like dick durbin said at the meeting with the senate and house, they are owned by the banks. in this case they are owned by the pharma and ama, and the insurers. so we need single-payer. it is simple as that. we ought to join the rest of the civilized world, and what the last fellow said about we have the best health care system in the world, it is just fox news propaganda, republican propaganda. it is not even close to accurate. "the wall street journal," with their talking about sending people to the united states for procedures, well, those people are covered. you know, when we go somewhere else, it is all out of pocket host: let me be clear, it was an editorial by david gratzer. he pointed out that in the united kingdom where socialized medicine with established after world war twii, patients are allowed to choose among facilities, including private ones. he concludes with this point, "americans need to ask the basic question -- why are they rushing into a system of government- dominated health care when the very countries that have experienced it for so long are backing

>> sinner majority whip, dick durbin, what are you reading?> the post american world i think will be a good one, my friend david kessler has wrote the end of your eating which i clearly need. there are two sports books i like, red and me and the yankee years by joe torre will be good and when i get into the bookstore i always discover something else. ♪ >> to see more summer reading lists and other program information, visit our web site at booktv.org. >>> the book tv bus is traveling the country visiting bookstores, libraries, festivals and authors. you're are some of the people and places we visited. >> we are with boris bradley in the book room of the linda hall library in kansas city, missouri. at the authors reception for the kansas city literary festival. please tell a little bit about the linda hall library. >> the linda hall library is one of the world's great libraries of science, engineering and technology and in fact we think the collection here is as strong as any library in the world in our areas of subject coverage and would cover

democratic senator dick durbin has said that care is, quote, unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its association with groups that are suspect, end of quote. democratic senator barbara boxer withdrew an award she gave to an official because she, quote, had concerns about statements bay some care officials and about claims of financial lengths to terrorism, end of quote. and other senators, including republicans jon kyl and tom coburn, have support voice with the f.b.i.'s actions to sever ties with care. i stand with the f.b.i.'s former chief of counterterrorism who has stated, quote, care, its leaders and its activities has effectively gave aid to international terrorist groups, end of quote. and perhaps most importantly, i stand with thousands of american muslims for woman care does not speak. in june, 2007, "the washington times" published a report which analyzed care's documents and found that care's membership has declined by 90% since 9/11. jasser of the american islamic forum tore for democracy said, this is the untold story in the myth that care represents the american muslim p

hear from republican senator, jeff sessions, ranking member of the senate judiciary committee, and dick durbin of illinois. this is almost 40 minutes. a new justice to the supreme court of the united states brings to our minds a core question both for the senate and the american people, than is what is the proper role of a federal judge in our republic? answering this question is not simply an academic task. it's fundamental to what we will be doing here. how the american people and their representatives and their senators, the ones who have been delegated that responsibility, answer this question impacts not only the future of our judiciary, but i think future of our legal system and the american experience, really. i would just say that from traveling the world as part of the armed services committee, i'm more convinced than ever before that the glory of our american experience, our liberty and our prosperity is based on the fact that we have a legal system you can count on. and when you go to places like afghanistan or iraq or pakistan or the west bank and -- and you see people -- bosnia, a

abc in the white house, there will be no money that will come out -- c-span news to talk about dick durbin and can i disagree with you on iran and north korea. i believe iran is more dangerous than north korea. north korea banks from the food and get it all from china iran, they fun hezbollah and libya, they fund hamas. there are finding al qaeda in iraq so myself i think they are a lot more dangerous. >> guest: the caller may be right, they may be more dangerous and he certainly right that they are dangerous. >> host: this is martha in rockland, maine on democrats line. >> caller: hello? this is martha clarke in that rock landed and out like to ask mr. well, why you included insurance companies in the health equation at all. they bring nothing to the table are in the business to make money and to prevent health care. thank you. >> guest: that seems to me is an eccentric view of the current function of history of insurance companies and our country. i don't know quite how to grasp the thought of there to prevent health care. are they trying to make a profit? yes and the way you make a prof

taking too long, another couple of weeks, three weeks, to get it done but because harry reid and dick durbin and my friend mike enzi have stayed with us and insisted we go through a normal process which was right to do in our committee, good staff people who worked hard on this, we will get this done today. it might just move along to the next issue but for the first time we're going do make a difference by requiring that the food and drug administration regulate the production, the sale and the marketing of these products much that is history. and i can't tell you how proud i am to be involved in it in the name of ted kennedy, in the name of others who is come before us, mike defin dewine of ohio who championed this along with henry waxman in the other body and the thousands of organization whose have joined us today. mr. durbin: i thank the senator from connecticut for his leadership on this issue. just a few week he had historic legislation on credit card reform. senator enzi, thank you for making this a true bipartisan effort. we wouldn't be here today without your cooperative effort and

other cosponsors are senator dick durbin, senator judd gregg, ted kennedy, richard burr, chris