i think everybody agrees that the durbin amendment as written has problems with it. but there are questions on interchange fees and legitimate gripes that retailers have, and i hope we can address that with this bill. >> let wrap up wwth a question + from brady dennis. >> we saw a rare hing in coogress this week, which was an actual meeting with the house and senate, a conference, in which a lot of republicans complained that the democrats have kind of put together a lot of this behind closed doors, and the democrats said this is more open than any other conference. could i comment on that and if you -- could you comment on that and if you think the republicans in the room have a chance to make any changes in the next couple of weeks before this bill goes to the president? >> well, the proof will be in the pudding. we had 1,600-page bill. we were told that it would be the senate language, and the 1,600 pages turned out to be lot of the house language too, so it was a mesh of the two. we read the senate bill thinking that is what are we were going to get. plus we got

and senator durbin offered an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill that would direct theederal reserve once again to take a look at these fees and determine are they actually reasonable and proportional to the costs that are actually incurred in the transaction. host: so has action been taken on the swipe fees yet or is this something they're looking at? guest: the senate has approved the amendment to the financial reg bill. and right now, the house and the senate are working to reconcile the two versions of the bill, the version that passed the senate that includes the swipe fee amendment and the version of the house that does not. host: let's go to the phones. our first call comes from buffalo, new york on our line for republicans. lieu seel, go ahead. caller: yes. i have a credit card from bank of america and i look at just to pay the bills, i don't want their advertisements. and come to find out they were charging me -- and this is since january, 46%. right on there. every time i buy anything it's 46%. this has got to the point where people are going to get rid of the

televised address last night earned him plaudits from some leading democrats, including senator dick durbin of illinois. >> this president has been very firm and resolute that british petroleum, this oil company, is going to be held responsible for the damage that's been done. it will be at their expense and not at the expense of american taxpayers that we will help the businesses that are affected and do everything within our power to restore the devastation which has occur to the environment. >> woodruff: on the other hand, senate republican leader mirb mcconnell criticized the president for citing the spill in a renewed appeal for energy and climate legislation >> fact that the white house wants to use this crisis as an excuse to push more of its legislate agenda on the american people with the same kind of arguments it used to push health care is really nothing short of startling. >> woodruff: along the gulf coast, reaction to last night's address was decidedly mixed, including this sampling at a marina in southern louisiana. >> in my opinion , he didn't talk enough about stopping the o

i think dick durbin and some of his recent attempts to try to staunch the flowwof money in politics haven interesting. those would be two examples of a couple of people that i think >> we go back to the last clip, you saw the young man neil volz. tell us about him. why did he talk to yoo, where did he talk to you, and why did bob ney who was a congress whman who went to prison talk to you? >> those are good questions. neil volz was bob ney's chief of staff. he came to bob -- you know, as he said, veey idealistically, which was interesting to me and important for me to hear. they were rightfully trying o run against the kind of institutionalized corruption in washington. but the relationship of neil and bob was a very interesting one in the film because you can gnaws away at them and their relationship, you know, it's like something out of "lord of the rings" where frodo and sam begin to go at each other's throats because of the corruption of the ring. so did neil and bob. what's really instructive about their relationship too is that in the case of neil, he did the classic washington jou

. >> reporter: that drew a retort from democrat dick durbin of illinois. >> the results with justice marshall dedicated his life to broke down barriers of racial discrimination that had haunted america for generations. i might also add his most famous case brown versus the board of education. if that is an activist mind at work, we should be grateful as a nation. that he argued before this supreme court based on discrimination in this society and changed america for the better. >> reporter: south carolina's lindsey graham was the only committee republican to vote for sonia sotomayor's nomination to the supreme court last year. he said it's hardly unexpected that kagan is a political liberal. >> what did i expect from president obama? just about what i'm getting. there are a lot of people who are surprised. well, you shouldn't have been if you were listening. i look forward to trying to better understand how you will be able to take political activism, association with liberal causes, and park it when it becomes time to be a judge. that to me is your challenge. >> reporter: after list

durbin's points, if in fact we don't change this, if we're unable to be doing this retroactively, who is supposed to pay this $8 billion, $10 billion that b.p. cost in damages? >> once again, the damages limitations retroactively against the lessees, my firm belief, would be a breach of contract. however, there are other options. one of them has been suggested by senator individualer, an offer to change their liability limits on this contract so congress can enact a law that accepts that offer. senator one is, of course, the oil spill liability trust fund. that does not raise -- >> isn't this the one that you just told senator durbin has the $1.6 billion in and we're looking at almost $10 billion for this right now? >> you could adjust it and make it retroactive and claims from this accident could be paid from that and provide additional fees or taxes to support that. >> let me give you some other facts that makes us concerned about having b.p. tell us that they are going to do something. i am looking at the exxon valdez spill. i am familiar with the case because the law firm that rep

i urge the conference committee and my colleagues to support the durbin amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. inslee: mr. speaker, we now are at a critical juncture to determine whether or not we will respond to a terrible problem in the ocean. that is not just the oil spill in the gulf, it is the acidfication of the ocean caused by the carbon dioxide caused by some of the fossil fuel indussries. i suggest members may want to look at a report in science magazine published two days ago, the asocial -- american association for the advancement of science, their conclusion, the -- it breaks down the food chain, irreversible changes that have not occurred for several million years. we have a chance to restrict and restrain this pollutant, in a bill now pending in the u.s. senate. we hope in conversations with the president next week we come out with a firm clear cap on carbon dioxide so we can stop wh

durbin, it was a thursday. i said i didn't dispute it, senator.it was an example in my mind of a man who understood this constitution, understood his use of that constitution for his state. some would say he overused it, but he was fighting for his state every day he was here. his command of history and his command of the moment. that was robert c. byrd. they don't make them like that anymore. there just aren't many people in our generation who can even claim to be in that position. i recall it and i remember very well another conversation that i had with him. you see, history will show that in his early life, robert c. byrd was a member of the ku klux klan, and many of his detractors and enemies would bring that up, and he would be very open about it, not deny it, but say that he had changed and his votes reflected it. and i once said to him of all these thousands and thousands of votes that you cast, are there any that you would like to do over? oh, yes, he said. three. there was one for an eisenhower administration appointee which i voted again

. >> senator durbin, thank you very much. senator coburn, you are next. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome and welcome to your family. i welcome to our time together this week. the purpose of these hearings for me is not to examine or evaluate your professional qualification. i think those are obvious. but for me, it is to determine whether or not you have an appropriate judd dishal philosophy and you and i discussed the fact that i gave the speech about a week ago on the floor that kind of lined up with what you said in 1995, vet fact that we have a relatively new phenomenon. for the vast majority of this country's history, we dn't have these hearings. as a matter of fact, we looked at the record, we had individual meetings with nominees and they were voted on and we didn't have this dance back and forth and much as you described, the -- what you thought were fantastic and i think the -- i'm not sure i would go that far but you and i are kindred spirit wednesday it comes to whether or not the american people ought to know you and know what you think and know what you believe and t

in the senate and the conference process means a compromise there is in that amendment, as senator durbin put it in, an exemption for any fee set big the federal reserve for small institutions. they, then, feared they would be discriminated against so we amended the amendment. with the participation of the senate, obviously. and there were three provisions that protect smaller institutions, community banks, and credit unions. there's an anti-discrimination provision that says merchants and retailers cannot refuse to accept a debit card on the basis of who issued it, and the federal reserve, the instructions of the federal reserve include making that anti-discrimination work. we can guarantee people we will do it. as the amendment passed the senate, it said the small institutions were exempt but they might have suffered discrimination. they are protected in this bill. that's why the small businesses in illinois have endorsed this bill. i want to talk briefly about what's happened with the tarp. we had the last two republican speakers, one hailed the c.b.o. is an unassailable authority, the

durbin: madam president, reserving the right to object. madam president, for eight weeks, eight weeks, senator baucus and senator reid have negotiated with the republicans in an attempt to pass this important jobs bill. they have been asked to make the package smaller, which they did. they have been asked to pay for portions of the package, which they did, and still republicans continue to filibuster and stop this bill. what the senator from kentucky wants to do would be virtually unprecedented, that we would pay for the emergency spendg for unemploymentompensatio by removing money from our jobs program, the stimulus program. so he is going to kill jobs on one side to pay for the unemployed on the other side. it makes no sense economically, and it is certainly not within the tradition of the senate, and i object. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from from -- the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: madam president, i would only briefly offer that the offset i just offered was one the m

i was just in shock, says michael lewis, as members of congress from chris dodd to dick durbin, saying it is a book that must be read. the front page of politico and also online at politico.com. the conversation on line is going on in earnest. this view were saying -- -- viewer saying -- next from fairfield, iowa. caller: good afternoon to. i had the opportunity to visit with you. we are simply in trouble and what we had is a president who is incapable and will never get out of it. we need to get rid of him and pushed the democrats out and go back to a one-on-one debate and then we will have something. thank you. host: thank you. from "the guardian" this morning. over the weekend, ariana huffington dubbed mr. obama "the nowhere man." charles joining us from springfield, massachusetts. good morning. caller: i was thinking that what is going on right now is sort of a reflection of what went on at kyoto. it seems as though america is being challenged by these emerging powers. you have the situation in north korea where we are completely reliance on the chinese. and the situation with iran

and i think what senator durbin said earlier is one of the things many of us are concerned about is howisincentive the bad behavior? we sent a message after this example. bmp p has been getting away with this thing. are you concerned about a corporate board room at some time. i am not talking about bad people. mbas are concerned about the fact that crow have got look out for the shareholders' money. if you are sitting there looking at what's going to happen, if you don't do the proper safety and don't put in the proper things, and you don't take the chance which bp has been accused of on a number of occasions. does that concern you at all in terms of present liability structure? i am a strong believer. i do have is questions as to whether inspections were handled properly. one of the things that can be done is to send out inspectors. certainly civil penalties are available for a failure to perform at airports with the regulations. >> what about the private sector. i am a private sector guy. what about an approach that says the government is going do all that. >> i found that the bar is

they are concerned with an amendment that richard durbin successfully attached to the senate bill.t would require the federal reserve to cap the fees that banks charge retailers when you use your credit card at the cash register. that has been of a titular interests. i did of particular interest. -- that has been of particular interest. it would require companies to hold a lot more capital. it to be a little more exclusive and the type of capital that banks could hold. the house bill does not have any of that language. these are all things that make the banking industry worker do they will have to be ironed o onence it begins. >> he talked about the capital requirement. why is it so important to keep it in? why do they want banks to keep more reserves? >> going into the financial crisis, if they did not have enough capital on hand. it did not have enough for the risks they were taking. i think there is a lot of unity around the bright idea that we need to have banks that hold a lot more capital than they have in years past. it is basically a cushion against losses. is the likely wi

the bill also addresses the challenge of interchange fees, working with senator durbin and representative meeks, we were able to craft a balanced compromise that addressed both the concerns of merchants about high interchange fees and the concerns of the financial sector to be fairly compensated for their services. this bill ensures transparency, establishes accountability and protects consumers and investors. america has long been the world lead for the financial services with this landmark bill we can set an x. and take the lead in global financial reform. i urge a yes vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. mr. bachus: at this time, i recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee on international monetary mollcy, mr. mill over california, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. miller: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in opposition of this by this country is going through a period of economic distress, and this will only serve to restrict access to credit and place more and more undue burdens on the back of co

forest service, barto, frank, durbin fire and rescue along with department of natural resources and sheriff departments from the surrounding areas. as you can see, it was a collegial effort, an enormous effort and one that really, when we first received the news of this accident over our local television and radio stations, really had us on the edge of our seats because i think we knew how treacherous a rescue in this area could be at this time of the year. i'd like to say congratulations, again i'd like to thank my colleague, mr. rahall, for bringing this resolution forward and i'd like to ask my colleagues to join in congratulating not only our first responders and national guard but thank their local and ssate and national guard and first responders for all the work they do voluntarily every day for our benefit. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from west virginia yields. the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania. . mr. kris: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland. mr. bartlett: i have no fur

durbin: madam president, reserving the right to object. madam president, for eight weeks, eight weeks, senator baucus and senator reid have negotiated with the republicans in an attempt to pass this important jobs bill. they have been asked to make the package smaller, which they did. they have been asked to pay for portions of the package, which they did, and still republicans continue to filibuster and stop this bill. what the senator from kentucky wants to do would be virtually unprecedented, that we would pay for the emergency spending for unemployment compensation by removing money from our jobs program, the stimulus program. so he is going to kill jobs on one side to pay for the unemployed on the other side. it makes no sense economically, and it is certainly not within the tradition of the senate, and i object. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from from -- the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: madam president, i would only briefly offer that the offset i just offered was one