frank h franken: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise today to speak about arms control and the president's negotiations with russia over a replacement to the strategic arms reduction treaty, or start. this new treaty will be an important enhancement to american national security and i look forward to considering it on the floor once it's been signed. as you may recall, the original start treaty was ratified by the senate in 1992 by a bipartisan vote of 93-6 it went into force in late 1994 with a predetermined life of 15 years. causing it to expire this past december. soon after taking office, the obama administration began careful and diligent work to negotiate a successor treaty with russia. as start was expiring in early december, president obama and memedveded, issued a joint statement making clear that our two countries would effectively abide by the expiring treaty until the new one comes into force. i think we can all agree that the original start was a landmark achievement. it brought about historic reduct

al franken was chairing the session. reached a conclusion shortly before 3:00 a.m., he seemed a bit tired and confused. >> do i pound the gavel? i guess we're adjourned. oh, no. -- say that we're not adjourned? >> bret: adjourned or not, they went home regardless. and finally china's state media lashed out at internet giant google saying it is not god and accusing it of working with u.s. intelligence. a front page commentary read, quote: for chinese people google is not god. its cooperation and collusion with the u.s. intelligence and security agencies is well-known. monday, google effectively shut down its chinese search engine and redirected users to its service in hong kong where google is not legally required to censor the results. some governments in the arab world are trying a new approach to terrorism. libya is the latest to employ what the son of its leader calls forgiveness and honesty. correspondent amy kellogg reports there are also changes in the country's relationship with the u.s. >> tripoli just released 2

goes into the machine then, and so that if it's a he close election, like we had between senator franken and senator coleman, well, then, they can pull them all out and hand-count them. with these new voting machines, you can't do that. >> larry: more with jesse ahead. should marijuana be bought and sold in the united states like liquor. the book "american conspiracies," don't go away. [ female announcer ] it's lobsterfest. the one time of year red lobster creates so many irresistible ways to treat yourself to lobster. like our new wood-grilled lobster and shrimp with parmesan scampi... our succulent lobster lover's dream, with both sweet maine and buttery rock lobster tails... and eleven more choices, each served with a salad and our freshly-baked cheddar bay biscuits. come celebrate lobsterfest. right now at red lobster. a guy named his own price, wants a room tonight for 65 dollars. we don't go lower than 130. big deal, persuade him. okay. $65 for tonight. you can't argue with a big deal. we're so sure priceline has the biggest hotel deals we're announcing the big deal guarantee, book

it goes into the machine then, and so that if it's a close election, like we had between senator frankennd senator coleman, well, then they can pull them ought owl and they can hand-count them. with these new voting machines, you can't do that. >> larry: more with jesse ahead. should marijuana be bought and sold in the united states like liquor? jesse's thoughts on that. lots of other things. the book "american conspiracies," don't go away. oh sure, we have plenty of employees that... you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do. visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force. to stay in tune with life after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memor

. >> guest: this is important to the two of us and franken emmet till there in a place called memory and with what we talk about of "race & reconciliation in america" it deals with hatred and how it kills and the play was supposed to have premiered at the holocaust museum last year and while we were waiting for janet to arrive a car drove up long been to the museum about 30 feet away and a black security guard pulled open the door to help him and the man picked up a rifle and killed a security guard and then the others opened fire on him. but the irony was on that day which a play that really talks about how hate kills institutionalized hatred and germany during the nazi period of time and in this country with the klan and other groups that were tear raising people to talk about what has happened and what needs to happen and what call of the action comes to have a man interrupted by 88 years old carrying the burden of hatred and killing an innocent young officer who had a young family that captures why we are committed talking about "race & reconciliation in america" and why we're co

and so, hamilton understood it, franken understood it. so here we have the seeming paradox.the united states, the most commercial nation ever invented and yet we're also the most philanthropic nation ever invented you people think, what a contradiction. no, both serve the needs and wants of others. different skill sets, i'll acknowledge that. but two ways of serving the needs and wants of others he said this idea that you make your corrupt bargain in commerce and then you make up for it by giving it all away. no, you give it away because you are trying to serve others in a different way. that's what it's about. so two sides of the same coin, car simply enter free goods are not polar opposites, the two sides of the same coin. america exemplifies it and we don't know it. serving the needs and wants of others. now i make it sound like a very pretty system. people are not always pretty. the nitty-gritty of day today and our founders understood that, which is precisely why is he pointed out, you have separation of powers. you have the checks and balances. they feared passions. th

franken for the interest in the hearing. senator carl levin which notes that the department of state is recommending the foreign assets control issue a general license that was authorized download a free mass-market software by companies such as microsoft and google to iran for personal communications of the government is asking for a waiver so they can provide that additional information. i also have a statement which i will enter into the record without objection. from the chairman of the committee has senator patrick leahy as well as statements from business responsibility, computer and communications association, the global network initiative and reporters without borders which will be entered without objection i want to thank the panel and previous panel to extraordinary panels before the committee on a critically important topic brought home by your testimony. you reminded us to think about the millions of people around the world is looking for a ray of hope each day that they should continue in their struggle for free

franken: thank you, mr. president. mr.president, today we took an historic step forward toward a healthier america. i'm proud that the senate is debating the reconciliation bill this evening, fulfilling our pledge to make some crucial adjustments to the senate bill dat we passed in the reconciliation bill before us will make the newly minted health reform b it will provide stronger subsidies for low- and middle-income working families so that they can afford insurance. and that means fewer people getting primary care in emergency rooms. it families affected by the excise tax on high-cost plans and address the geographic disparities in and it will finally close the medicare prescription drug doughnut hole so that so many of our seniors no longer will have to choose between eating or taking medicine. but let's be honest. even with these changes, it still isn't perfect, and we'll continue to improve it because there's always things that we can't foresee. look, we're still making adjustments to medicare 40ears later. and when

franken: thank you, mr. president. 50 years ago this month a group of athletes gathered in squaw valley, california, for the winter olympics. part of the u.s. contingent, the 1960 men's ice hockey team surprised the world and brought home the olympic gold medal by beating the soviet union, czech and canada. three were from my great state of minnesota. as anyone can see from watching this year's games, this outsized contribution from minnesotans continues to this day. 28 years after this forgotten miracle, team u.s.a. defeated finland and the soviet union to genuine the gold medal. 13 minnesotans played for the 1980 miracle on ice team and the 14th was their coach. this year's olympic men's ice hockey team was considered by many not to have a chance for a medal. they were too young, too inexperienced, they hadn't played together before. and the u.s. men hadn't defeated canada in the olympics in 50 years. yet, a week ago, despite being the underdog, team u.s.a. defeated the canadians in their own arena. after

. >> if senator franken will allow me to ask one more question, i won't need a second round. ms. mackin non, i find it interesting, we have some people ignoring the operation, what's holding it back? it can't be money. i put the fee schedule in the record here, it's certainly a reasonable fee, $2,000 for a company with $100 million in revenue, doesn't sound like a lot of money, though some use that as an excuse. is there something else you need to tell us, can share with us, about the resistance to make this an american effort or international snevert >> mr. chairman, that's a very good question and a question i've often asked myself, what is holding these companies back? it does seem in part a fear of acknowledging that human rights is part of their business. that telecommunications and internet companies, no matter how you slice it, have implications for free expression, privacy and human rights. i think a lot of companies are afraid of even having that conversation for fear that people will then hang charges on them of various kinds and they'd rather avoid having the conversat

some of you will remember now the current united states senator from minnesota, al franken.when people talk about the challenges in the northeast, or they talk about the challenges in massachusetts, or they talk about the challenges of the conservative opportunity in the great lakes, the upper midwest or places like that, i know a little bit about that. i ran as a conservative two teams in the state. in 2002, it was pretty touch, and again in 2006. here is what we have done in minnesota. we have taken the spending curve. from 1960 until i was governor, minnesota's budget either went up on average 21% every two years. we have brought that down now to just about zero, approaching zero. and for the first time in state history, actually cut spending. [applause] now this next one may not seem like a big deal to those in the granite state, but for 30 years governors of both parties in minnesota have said can we threat get this state out of the top 10 in state taxes. 30 years worth of governors. nobody ever did it. we were also first, second or third in taxes. three years ago the f

we created a franken stein monster that threatens us militarily. this gang of thieves now has leverage to drag us down and destroy our prosperity and the prosperity and well-being of our people. we are now vulnerable to a corrupt dictator ship in beijing. and after tiananmen square we ended up not just having most favored nation trading status, but under bill clinton he made most favored nation trading status permanent. bush allowed that tiananmen square for the policy to continue. clinton made it permanent. one of the most disturbing aspects of this unwholly relationship has been the transfer of american technology to china. technology used against our remaining manufacturers and against our defenders and technology that advances chinese military power and threatens our safety. technology has flowed over there. much of the technology to which i refer was a product of r&d paid for by the american taxpayer. letting such american innovation to bolster and strengthen such a monsterous regime in china is sinful and an incredible betrayal of the america

franken: talk to the average person on the street and he will probably tell you that americans are frustrated with government right now. people think government doesn't work and politicians care more about fighting with each other than they do about helping american families. some days i can hardly blame people who hold this opinion. we're now in the second year of president obama's administration, and we've only just begun to fill the spots in the executive and judicial branches because filibusters, holds and other procedural tactics have delayed an extraordinary number of people. we have no under secretary for domestic finance at the treasury department, despite the fact that our country has just experienced arguably the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we have no assistant secretary for legislation at the department of health and human services. you'd think when we've been considering health care reform legislation in the past year, it might be helpful to confirm an assistant secretary for legislation at the department of health and human services. there are so few members

some of you will remember the current united states senator from minnesota, al franken.eers] >> when people talk about the challenges in the northeast or in massachusetts or the challenges of the conservative opportunity in the great lakes with the upper midwest are places like that, i know a little bit about that. i ran as a conservative two times in a state and one. a. nand won. we have taken the spending curve of a budget that went up 21% on average every two years. we have brought that down to about zero. for the first time in the state history, we actually cut spending. [applause] this next one may not seem like a big deal to those in the granite state. for 30 years, governors of both parties in minnesota have said can be at least get the state out of the top 10 states with taxes. you would not think that would be too much to ask the 30 year'' worth of governors, nobody ever did it. just a couple years ago, when moved out of the top-10 after cutting taxes and holding the line. we are already down to number 11 or 12. we're heading in the right direction. we are movin

franken: mr. president, thank you. i rise today to commend the communities of the minnesota's red river valley for their extraordinary flood mitigation efforts this year. spring flooding in the red river valley is an enormous challenge to my constituents in moorexphed in surrounding communitiemoorexn surrounding communities and in communities drownstream. last year these communities experienced record flooding resulting in over 40 feet of water filling the valley. the families of the red river valley saw severe overland flooding resulting in the devastation of their homes, road closures and the cutting off of transportation in and out of the area. this year, the red river valley is getting ready for what is again forecast to be a major flood. right now the national weather service is forecasting a 90% chance of major flooding of over 35 feet. i spent this past weekend in moorhead, minnesota, and surrounding communities and communities downstream, meeting with local leaders and talking to folks on the ground getting rea

senator franken? >> i look forward to the hearing. >> we're going to turn to our first panel. u.s.mportant role to play in promoting global internet freedom and ensuring u.s. technology companies do not facilitate government repression. i look forward to hear about the administration's plans to advance freedom of expression around the world. the witnesses will have five minutes. their written statements will be made part of the record and posted on-line. would the witnesses please stand and raise their right hands to be sworn. do you affirm that the testimony you are about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. let the record reflect both of the witnesses answered in the affirmative. our first witness, michael posner, assistant secretary of state for human rights and labor, our top official. he was executive director of human rights first which he headed for 30 queers. he has substantial expertise in corporate and social responsibility and played a key role in funding the foundation. he has a law degree from the un