so the way he ran illinois government was completely puzzling.p he really was running particularly at the end of running it from a speaker phone in his living room. not only did he not go to sprifi

he had just won for governor of the fifth largest state in illinois. he had run a terrific campaign. a very populist campaign. he was an appealing character. the voters certainly responded to him. he could sure know how to raise a lot of money. and so as he was being talked about, it wasn't unrealistic. i remember doing an interview with jan schakowsky who said i think rod blagojevich i think it's realistic that he's running for president and many of hess contemporaries at that time, you know, agreed with her and when you look at the fact that there was another young politician who was exactly the same age who'd been elected to the illinois legislature at exactly the same age, with not much national, if any -- no national experience, then became elected to the u.s. senate at the same age that rod blagojevich was when he elected to become the governor and guess what? he's our president. [laughter] >> it wasn't that unrealistic. >> no, it really wasn't. if you look back at the first inauguration -- first inaugural speech that rod blagojevich gave, it was

i was an eager -- an eager reader of this book when it first came out as a lot of people in illinois have been because the story of our governor is a fascinating and ever-changing story with so many different dimensions. i will ask elizabeth some questions. we'll have a conversation here for a short time and then i'd like some of you to come up and take the microphone about halfway through and i'd like to hear your questions as well. the first thing i want to talk about -- i want to start this conversation with something that's been in the news in the past week and that is patti blagojevich, the ex-governor's wife is now on a reality tv show called "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here." i don't know -- have anybody been watching that besides me? this is a very highbrow crowd. i have not missed a minute of it. [laughter] >> and i wanted to know, elizabeth, have you been watching it and what do you make it. >> i've missed quite a few minutes of it, i'm sure. i watched the first night and that was about enough for me. once the torrentials went down i wasn't too sure more news was going

in fact, in illinois, tourism adds $2.1 million. in 2008, there were about 1.4 million international visitors to my state. these traveler spent $2 billion in all sectors of the economy -- transportation, lodging, food service, entertainment. these intj international visitors generated extra wages for illinois residents. i encourage my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. i am sorry that it was delayed today. there was no reason for that. we sat here idly today making wonderful speeches when we should have been passing this bill. i hope we goat it soon and i hope in passing it, we are going to help this economy get back on its feet. i have one last short statement i'll make. i seat senator from ohio waiting. i ask that it -- dishact if be placed in a separate place in the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. i went to the twhows hear president obama announce a sweeping change on the regulation of financial services. it is the most important change s

my home, as a matter of fact, is in tornado alley down in southern illinois. and we just hand in a big storm that came through a few weeks ago that it wasn't quite as the tornado leveled that caused who a tehran were some new name they call for the high rent that reaches 70 miles per hour -- is that correct mr. fugate, is that what they call it? >> that is a one-term, yuma, i also hear a microburst. my experience has been if you lose your roughead is kind of academic paths. >> is a hell of a storm. [laughter] i am hoping this sissons will be forthcoming because unfortunately in southern illinois there is a lot of party -- party and does not that many resources so i hope we can get assistance on that and are you familiar with that request for southern illinois at? >> no, sir, i am not, it could still be at the region. >> it was about six weeks ago. >> and may have already been through, i've been on the job two weeks and three days so if i haven't seen it i will find out or is that can i check it out for us, in general, i was down one at my national guard and hu

the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i will speak briefly and yield to the senator from arizona and be happy if he would like to ask a question or whatever and maintain a dialogue here. i will make this very brief. i have confidence in the courts of america. if i had to pick one place on earth to have a trial and to be sure it would be a fair trial with a fair outcome, it would be right here in the united states. maybe i've gone too far. maybe i'm showing my patriotism here, whatever it is. but i believe that. if you say to me we captured a terrorist somewhere in the world where would you like to have them tried? it would be right here. i believe in our system of justice. i believe in the integrity of our judiciary. i believe in our department of justice prosecutors. i believe in our defense system, our jury system, and i believe we have the capacity and resources to try someone fairly, better than any place in the world. the senator from kentucky may not agree with that conclusion. he obviously thinks there is t

i was just wondering can you put this in context of the rest of illinois and politics.o we just look at rod blagojevich as this is just a case of rod blagojevich, or how does this fit into the rest of upstate chicago politics and obviously what is going on in the governor's office, like is this just in illinois affliction or what's going on here? >> i do have a chapter in my book devoted to, the second chapter devoted to the history of illinois corruption spec just one chapter? [laughter] >> yeah, it could've been much longer. there is no doubt, we live in a state that has a strong sordid history of political corruption. 1853 governor masten found $200,000 which he said he found in a shoebox which sort of goes right along to paul powell who kept all his ill-gotten gains in a shoebox. i thought it was funny when i reread some of the story about paul powell. when you wanted to get, you just wrote a check to paul powell. it turned out that a lot of those checks really did go to paul powell. [laughter] >> and it goes on and on. for the last governor's will wind up in jail.

and my home as a matter of fact is in tornado alley down in southern illinois. and we just had a big storm to come through a few weeks ago and it wasn't quite at the tornado level. they call it a durado but it's high winds that reaches at 75 miles per hour, is that correct mr. fugate? is that what they call it a durado? >> that's one term. you also may hear a microburst. my experience has been if you lose your roof it's kind of academic. >> it's a hell of a storm, right. [laughter] >> well, and we had a quite a bit of damage. and, of course, our governor has asked for some assistance and i'm just hoping that assistance would be forthcoming because, unfortunately, in southern illinois there's a lot of poverty and there's just not that much resources so i hope we can get some assistance on that. are you familiar with that request that has been put in for southern illinois yet? >> i've not. i'll research it. it could be at the regional level. >> it's been six weeks. >> i've been on the job for about two weeks and three days. if i haven't seen it, i'll find out wher

roskam of illinois. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 474, the gentleman from illinois, mr. roskam, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. roskam: i want to thank chairman thompson and the homeland security committee for working with me on this amendment and appreciate their attitude very much and their openness to this suggestion. this is a fairly straightforward amendment and what it's trying to do is mirror the resources of the federal government and to make sure they're in sync with the needs of local transit systems. this actually developed out of a homeland security working group dialogue that i had in my congressional district. i represent the west and northwest suburbs of chicago, and a wide range of commuters. we have bus lines and rail lines in the chicago area and there's a certain level of vulnerability. so last march i invited some of the leadership of the public transit systems and some of the security agencies to really offer ideas. and this is one of the ideas that they had. they said, look,

so the way he ran illinois government was completely puzzling. it wound up he really was running particularly at the end of running it from a speaker phone in his living room. not only did he not go to springfield which the operative much know, he didn't go to the office in chicago either. the troubled his staff to put it lightly and they said it was almost as if have some real psychological problem. i talked to enough people who mentioned this to me that i finally went and talked to several psychiatrists who never good enough psychiatrists so they wouldn't want give a diagnosis of because i haven't examined him but they did appoint a toward the male clinic definition of a narcissistic personality disorder which is someone who has an overall need for attention and has to be in the middle of things, much of which is to cover up a basic lack of self-esteem and many of his staff members really thought this fit into a tea because they remembered so many of the times when they couldn't get him out of the office or at of his house which is most likely,

>> i do have a chapter in my book devoted to the history of illinois political corruption.n i just one chapter? [laughter] >> it could have been a lot longer. there is no doubt we live in a state that has a strong sordid history of political corruption stemming 1853 governor madsen on tuna thousand dollars in script which he found he -- he said he found in a shoebox which goes along to paul paul who kept all his ill-gotten gains in a shoebox and i thought was funny when i reread the some of the store is about paul powell 21 to get his license plate to the secretary of state he wrote a check to paul powell. [laughter] it turned out a lot of those checks really did go to paul powell and it goes on and on. four of the last governor's will wind up in jail so there certainly is a long history of political corruption, but i do think i would like to patrick fitzgerald said when he said this was pay to play a on steroids with rod blagojevich so he did manage to take into any level. >> the question when talking about the answer to this and the previous question is whether blagojevic

illinois example, the moratorium on the death penalty here. i mean, we could not have imagined really 15 years ago to years ago, that illinois would be the country where the absolute broken system of the criminal justice system would come to be recognized by the whole population of illinois, not democrats, not liberals and it happened in a six-year peered. so sometime we look at the problems facing us and it's my view that the obama administration will be judged and we will all be judged be our grandchildren on the great questions of this moment which i think are peace and poverty. and i guess the environment maybe we have to add, the future of the planet, the survival of the planet. but, but you look sometimes at the -- rate so overwhelming. what can i do about that? i'm tired. don't know how to bill a -- build a movement. you look at the examples, the life of harvey milk and you look at the fact that in 1991. illinois stopped executions. and resumed congratulations with the execution of john wayne gacey. a hideous, multiple murderer of young

smoke in illinois. an adigsal $3.2 billion is spent in direct medical expenditures related to smoking in ill boy. every day 4,000 kids try their first cigarette and about half of them become addicted. but finally, we have legislation giving the f.d.a., the power and resources to regulate the tobacco industry. and safeguard the public health and our children. it would lessen the cost of smoking related medical illnesses, and prevent adolescents and teens from smoking at a young age. in illinois i want to congratulate alexandra slain, an elementary school student from peoria, illinois, who won the tar wars anti-smoking annual poster contest with her drawing of a light bulb shaped as a human head. she wrote the captions, warning america, be bright, don't light. let's start by passing h.r. 1256. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: may i inquire how much time each side has. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 9

are you familiar with that request that's been put in for southern illinois? >> no, sir, i am not. it could still be at the region i haven't seen. >> it's about six weeks ago. >> it may have come through. i've been on the job about three weeks. >> check it out for us. general, i was down in my national guard facility at camp lincoln the other day and we were talking about coordination of the disasters with the national guard does. we also have another issue called flooding over the mississippi river that in south and new orleans, but it comes down through illinois roaring like a mack truck doing 90 down highway 55 and leaves in its way a lot of flooding and i was just wondering how does north comm. coordinate with the national guard in terms of the disaster coordination? does it go through the national guard first or who is in charge? >> senator, to answer your question, our coordination as with national guard bureau but the first response will always be with national guard supporting state and local officials. we've go immediately upon indications that there is a disaster pending

the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and ask consent to sneak morning businessment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, after the closure of morning business, we will return to the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act. this is a piece of legislation that has been in the making for two decades or more that would finally say that tobacco is going to be regulated as it should have been a long time ago. for the longest time, the tobacco lobby was the most powerful lobby on capitol hill. and they managed to create an exemption in virtually every law so that no federal agency could take a look at them and regulate them and basically know what we know about every product and service offered in america. they said, well, the food and drug administration shouldn't have any authority. the tobacco lobby argued, we're not really a food and we're not really a drug. and so they manage

i yield three minutes to the the gentleman from illinois. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. kirk: i rise in support of this bipartisan legislation. i thank mr. aderholt and our chair, ms. wasserman schultz for putting together this legislation. i have worked in this legislation particularly to build a staff gym, which is one of the great successes of this institution, but lately with particularly concerned with the decision quietly made that gave the architect of the capitol the power to control capitol tours in the capitol. it is clear they abused this power. they blocked staff-led tours of the capitol. and on facebook, set a record for poor customer service in condemning congressional staffs politically, naively enough, majority and minority staffs and saying what a poor piece of work they did. many members came together under the leadership of congresswoman wasserman schultz concerned about this power grab. while the c.v.c. attempted changes, they maintained they still wanted to control access

the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i renew my that that request to speak in morning business for 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: for the last month the republican leader from kentucky has come to the floor and argued that we should not move detainees currently in guantanamo, into the united states, even for trial. luckily, the president and the attorney general have the head of the joint military chiefs of staff have come to the conclusion that it's in the best interests of the united states' safety and security that one of these notorious terrorists be brought to the united states for trial. and so it has been announced today that mr. ahmaz ghalani is being brought to the united states, to new york, for trial. luckily this administration is not following the advice and counsel of senator mcconnell and some on his side. it is time for this man to face a trial. what is he being charged with? he's being charged as one of those involved in the 1998 embassy attacks in a

tveryone in illinois is happy we ane not resumed execution. it is a wide consensus that the death penalty is just an example of our broken criminal justice system and we have to fix that. >> there have been some remarks attributed to you regarding the thaon murders. saidne remark. >> host: i want to see if you can reconcile that view. >> an interesting example from vee election campaign. youou repeat something enough times, you can't even think outside of that thought so you just repeated and repeated. we all know that reverend jeremiah right is an extraordinary accomplished, dignified intellectual reverend. his one sentence got ripped out of context and replayed and replayed and replayed so that when you finally saw him you could hardly believe it was the same person that everybody who was touched by him recognize his gift. i'm not comparing myself to him adt i am saying that i said in amerary 1970, as an ironic joke, that charles manson had captured the american public's imagination and they couldn't get enough of charles manson. mass murder

they look at projects and to th another illinois issue.hy is it fanny and freddie still have a policy, for example, in the state of illinois, they only permit a handful of law firms, i think in illinois, it's two, to handle foreclosures. this continues to bottle next the system, it's anti-competitive, and i think a disservice to lenders and sellers and borrowers. and think a disservice to lenders and sellers and borrowers. >> i'm not sure about the situation in illinois. but i know in some other states they are trying to expand their legal representation. historically, there were not a lot of foreclosures and now that we're seeing, unfortunately, a pretty rapid growth in them, they, too, will be looking at how to more expeditiously work through the issue. >> is that something -- is there anything -- is there any regulation on this? >> not that i'm aware of. we'll go back and ask fanny and freddie about that issue. >> okay. then why is it that the home evaluation code of conduct has been implemented without the traditional public scrutiny a

. >> senator from illinois. sorry, senator from north dakota. >> madame president, the senate is not in order. >> the senate will be in order. senator from north dakota. >> madame president i asked senator durbin be recognized following my presentation. >> without objection. >> madame president i just want to compliment senator don for his work on this bill and senator enzi and so many others. i want to make sure the record notes something we just agreed to today. symbol wondered what has happened to the legislation i indicated i would offer on this piece of -- on the bill of which we had a cloture vote. the real importation of prescription drugs. now, i intended to offer on this. i have received from the majority leader a commitment that put on the calendar under rule 14 and brought to the u.s. senate for a vote and he will do that very soon. on that basis, i voted for cloture. i know my colleague senator snowe, senator mccain and senator stabenow and many others feel very strongly about this, as to why. we've

rangel: i recognize the gentleman from chicago, illinois, mr. davis for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. davis: i rise in strong support of h.r. 2454. i want to commend chairman waxman, chairman rangel, mr. barton, chairman peterson, chairman markey, mr. dingell and all of those who have worked so hard to reach compromises which helped to make this legislation possible. especially i want to commend representative bobby rush for his hard work to protect low-income consumers. representative butterfield for making sure that historical black colleges and universities and predominantly black institutions had the opportunity to be involved in the research and job creation. and i also want to thank representative january schakowsky and donna christensen on their hard work on environmental issues to help reduce health disparities. it's a good bill, mr. speaker. and i urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from

maybe committee get the senator from illinois to ask -- to yield for a question as well. don't think we want to complain about the fact that we haven't been attacked again since 9/11, i would say to my friend from illinois. containing terrorists at guantanamo, going after terrorists in iraq and afghanistan, clearly something worked. and to argue that we would be somehow made more safe in this country by closing down guantanamo i find almost absurd. mr. durbin: with all due respect, the senator failed to answer my question. i asked him this question: if it is a danger to america that if we put a convicted terrorist in prison in our country, if that creates a danger, as you've said repeatedly, in our communities and neighborhoods near this prison or in other places, then i ask the senator from kentucky, what would you do with the 355 convicted terrorists currently in prison and the senator didn't answer. he said we haven't been attacked since 9/11 that. is unresponsive. we know that there are facilities where these convicted terrorists can be held safely and securely. mario

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized. mrs. halvorson: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of h.r. 1016, the veterans health care budget reform and transparency act of 2009, which was introduced under the leadership of the chairman of the committee of of veterans' affairs, mr. filner. i want to thank mr. filner and subcommittee on health care chairman, mr. me show, for the great leader -- michaud, for the great leadership on this issue. the veterans' affairs health care system includes 153 medical centers with a facility in each state, puerto rico, and the district of columbia. almost 5.5 million people received care in the v.a. health care facilities in 2008 and v.a.'s outpatient clinics registered over 60 million visits. this is one of the largest health care providers in the country. however in fiscal year 2009 for only the third time in the past 20 years v.a. received its budget prior to the start of the new fiscal year. it isn't reasonable to expect that one of the largest, fastest growing health care providers in t

illinois it will be hit especially hard. gas prices will rise 75 cents a gallon. this is part of an arbitrary penalty on oil and gas and is passed on to the consumer. little has been done to incentivize a new nuclear production. nuclear power is safe and emission free. what it does is inadequate considering the overall goal of this bill. there is no framework for an international agreement on climate change in this bill. this framework -- framework -- my district will lose thousands of jobs to countries like india and china if this legislation is passed. i oppose this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. i yield back. >> gentleman from michigan. recognized for two minutes. >> without a job -- without objection, so ordered. >> climate change policy is a moral imperative. . action is a vital part of our legacy to the nation and to our children and grandchildren. we must ensure that the energy industry is not placed at a competitive disadvantage by nations that have not made a similar commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. after discussions between energy and

the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, it's my understanding we're postcloture speaking on the nomination of harold koh to be legal advisor for the department of state. is that correct? the presiding officer: that is correct. mr. durbin: thank you. earlier today the senate voted to move forward with this nomination. 65 senators recognized the extraordinary qualifications mr. koh will bring to the state department. in the last few weeks some senators on the other side of the aisle have done everything they can to slow down the work of the senate, even going so far as to delay the consideration of the bill to promote tourism in america. a noncontroversial bill with 11 republican cosponsors but a bill that could get only two republican senators to support it when we asked to move it forward. untphorpbl, the same thing is happening with the -- unfortunately the same thing is happening with the nomi

now i come from the great state of illinois. i love my state, the land of lincoln, the home of obama. but my state is also home to george ryan, a governor who is now in prison, governor blagojevich, a man who is on his way, and a home who's home to chicago politics. i see this body headed in the same direction. what happened here last night was a clear step in the wrong direction. the majority has shut us out of one of the last rights of the minority, the ability to offer an amendment to appropriation bills. the majority now has even continued this trend into rules disallowing several noncontroversial amendments, a second of which i offered that would have added more funding to the minority business development agency, an agency which under the current bill will see a funding decrease over what the house appropriations committee approved last year. . mr. speaker, i ask the majority this. with a 40-seat majority, what do they fear in an open arena in the competition of ideas? what do they fear with letting a good idea stand the t

he made before in the illinois house impeachment committee. state prosecutor there investigating the case said there is not enough evidence to support the charge. senator burris was appointed to president obama is vacant senate seat by former illinois governor rod blagojevich who was impeached due in part by allegations that he had attempted to sell obama's vacant senate seat. >> we are here at the washington, d.c. convention center. the first time we have held our dinner outside the facility in years. we are thrilled to be at this state of the arts facilities he, dynamic growth that we have had in was in d.c. people can come here and see the third floor where they see this beautiful skyline view of washington d.c. where they will have a reception. then the ball room doors we will open. they will walk into the grand ballroom. would covered paneling. a stage. and then the next two hours t here will entertainment. >> what is the entertainment? >> traditionally it is a stand-up comedian. our first, we went all-out. of variety of contrary tears. w

we have been starting work on a book called yiddish land and i am a gentile from downstate illinois and i stumbled into the yiddish world history and start interviewing and ended in communities with yiddish native speakers of all socialism. they adopted me as a grandchild and i was eager to adopt them as grandparents and i fell under reading yiddish poetry and so forth. for harvey the first language was yiddish, so what is the story of that 800 years that isn't entirely gone but which has an enormous richness and a huge impact in american popular culture that is rarely recognized. number two, harvey has been writing about jazz close to 50 years and everybody knows how police and his writing is, so what we want to do after that is do a comic about jazz and various kinds of ways. it is a fabulous idea of somebody will offer some money we will do it. >> this is a precursor, please, sir. >> thank you. i want to honor you guys for bringing this form to something more powerful. i learned an awful lot from studs terkel and the thing i learned to do best is how to be curious and a way that left

personalization is leading edge too. >> chicago, illinois. go ahead please. >> hello. i don't think our several governments are really doing anything to help us, and i sometimes wonder since they gave away all this money if we left and stopped paying taxes at all and did our own businesses if they would even miss us since they can just make their own money. it just - you know i'd like to give them a pink slip. i'd like to close the facilities in washington. i don't think we can afford for them to go to work anymore. >> i think they would miss you if you stopped paying taxeses, but i agree, that well, taxes are the prices we pay for civilization but are we getting good value? are we getting as - the value that um... for how much we're paying which is now 6 trillion dollars in fed, state, local taxes. are we getting as much civilization as we think we' buying. my big pet peeve is education and i'm, i'm the cochair of the milton and rose friedman foundation for the school choice because i think the way to solve social problems at this point is through education and i thin

kirk of illinois. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 522, the gentleman from illinois, mr. kirk, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. kirk: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kirk: i thank chairman berman and ranking member ros-lehtinen for their bipartisan work on this for a good underlying bill in my view as well. this amendment will assist in our fight against terrorism across the globe, especially in pakistan and afghanistan. currently, the terrorists reward program run by the state department assists in our hunt for terrorists by promising a cash reward or other type of assistance for information leading to the arrest of some of the world's most deadly terrorists. the rewards for justice program established by the 1984 act to combat international terrorism has now paid over $77 million to more than 50 people who have provided credible information to put terrorists behind bars and prevent acts of trim. as a staff member, i helped write the amendment

first call, illinois. mike independent line. >> i have a question for the chairman there. if concerns are with the taxes for the cell-phones for employees since he's an employer. my employer force please to carry a blackberry and cell-phone. how does i think that employee effects that they have to keep my job so i have to do this but at the same time the employee says you have to have the blackberry but the government will tax me. you think that's right and will have an impact with your employee? >> i don't think it's right and i think it will impact employees. normally the principal is, if your conducting legitimate business expense or that you, that you're not taxed on that. if your you know, flying across country and in a jet and you've got an commercial jet, you're not getting taxed on expenses your incurring in the line of doing your business. so it as very strange time in tax to me. >> north carolina, bernard on democrat line. >> how you doing? i got a simple question. i don't have a lot of sympathy as far as being taxed because the way i look ate. you don't care how

beaton, in your brother's case the illinois attorney general's office and dr. babs had to write to letters in fact one of them -- they are in the binder if you care to look up the attorneys general's office wrote i find the behavior on the part of florida's health for the extremely on ethical. clearly there's no justification for rescinding this gentleman's insurance beyond avoiding the cost of his treatment. to rescind terminate his policy at this point isn't only devastating but probably fatal to mr. raddatz. then in the second letter, the company finally reversed its decision so how did your brother note the assistance of the attorney general, is that through you? >> it is absolutely threw myself and like i said i even i had difficulty finding the of lead. it took me awhile to get to the attorneys general's office but we are fortunate in the state of illinois to have a health bureau and the attorney general's office. we are lucky to have an aggressive unit and they are available for the citizens of the state of illinois who go through the same situation my b

miss peggy raddatz from illinois. and miss wittney horton from los angeles, california. welcome all of you. thank you for coming. it's the policy of the subcommittee to take all testimony under oath. please be advised that you have a right under the rules of the house to be advised by counsel during your testimony. do you wish to be represent the by counsel during your testimony? you're all shaking your heads no? so -- okay. i'm going to ask you to please rise and raise your right hand to take the oath. miss beaton, if you want to sit there, that's okay. do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in the matter pending before this committee? let the record reflect the witnesses replied in the affirmative. they are now under oath. we will hear a five-minute opening statement from each of you. miss beaton, would you like to start first with an opening? you'd like to be last? miss horton, would you mind being first? would you pull that mike forward and turn on the green button there. it doesn't pick

in my state of illinois, there is no requirement that insurers take all-comers. i've heard from constituents over and over again who are unable to find a policy really at any price. those who do get through the insurance industry gauntlet know they're not home free. they know they may face high out-of-pocket costs, and doctor prescribed treatments, prior approval requirements, caps on services, and other devices that are designed to limit the insurance company payments. but few, no. when they need care, the insurance company has been collecting their -- that has been collecting their premiums may now go back and comb through their personal history in order to find an excuse not to pay, just when the policyholder needs the coverage the most. there are some who argue that recisions are used to stop fraud on the part of enrollees who misrepresent their health histories in order to obtain coverage. one has to wonder why we would put up with a health care system when people have to hide their illnesses in order to get access to care. but we also know that this isn't a

rahall: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from illinois, ms. schakowsky. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. schakowsky: it's nearly a decade ago that in my district a hate monger came with a gun and pointed it at young men and women, people, families, leaving their synagogue at the beginning of the sabbath. when he wasn't able to kill anybody there, he drove down the street and saw an african-american standing in front of his house with his children in skokie, illinois, and shot and killed ricky birdsong a community leader and beloved member of that community. we made some progress in extinguishing anti-semitism and hatred, we've certainly worked toward it. yet yesterday, at the holocaust museum a place dedicated to remembering the lives of senselessly killed millions of people. another shooter was there. but standing in his way was officer johns, officer stephen tyrone johns who died in defense of tolerance in our country, against intolerance in our country and saved probably the lives of many, many people in doing

in my home state of illinois, we use a lot of energy. illinois will be hit especially hard. gas prices could rise by 77 cents a gallon and diesel by 88 cents a gallon. this is part of an entirely arbitrary penalty on oil and gas that is passed onto the consumer. h.r. 2454 does little to incentivize a new nuclear production, despite the fact that nuclear power is safe and emissions free. and what it does is grossly inadequate considering the overall goal of this bill. i am deeply concerned also that there is no framework for an international agreement for climate change in this bill. in the absence of the framework and in agreement from developing nations, my district can count on losing thousands of jobs to countries like india and china if this legislation is enacted. mr. speaker, i oppose this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. without objection, so ordered. mr. levin: action on climate change is a policy indeed a mo

senate and illinois senate. that is a fact. that is not rhetoric. that is not spin. that is the case. and i understand in politics the question is, what have you done for me lately? but somebody's past record is a good measure of what they're going to do in 2 future. and i am a reality-based activist. and supporting the furtherest fringe candidate is not my idea of advancing. host: if you want to find out more about the organization, you can go to their website glaa.org. as we show you, we will take another call. carl on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i just wanted to say, rick, i commend you guys for standing up what you believe in. i just have an issue with your comparison when it comes to gay rights and civil rights. i think there's a big difference. one, you make a choice. the other one, you know, there was a situation where you were placed in slavery because of the color of your skin. if you were gay and you were white, you were not a slave. so i think when you use the comparisons of civil rights and gay rights, i th

the unemployment rate in my state of illinois is just over 9% as of april. this includes over 24,000 jobs laid off by my hometown employer, caterpillar. when i go back there this weekend, i will not be able to tell those individuals, not only are they unemployed, not only do they not have a job, but my colleagues decided our employee, who have not felt the economic downturn, not only get to keep their job but have added benefits at the expense of them as taxpayers. i don't know how we can honestly vote for more benefits, more pay, and more cost to the federal budget at the expense of taxpayers and those people who are cutting back and losing their jobs. i urge a no vote and yield back the rest of my time. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: madam speaker, i'd like to at this point yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california's sixth district, ms. woolsey. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. woolsey:. -- ms. woolsey: madam chairwoman, america should be a world leader in helping parents balance their work and family responsi

the senator from illinois said this is a problem that he -- meaning the president -- inherited. no, madam president, the president didn't inherit the problem of having to come up with a plan to close gitmo by next january 20th. the president made that problem himself. he was sworn into office within three days and he said we are going to close gitmo within 12 months. now, that is an arbitrary deadline i submit he should not have imposed on himself or the country because it will cause bad decisions to be made. we may have to try more people like this terrorist ghalini in the united states than we want to. we will have to find, i gather, facilities in which these people can be held here if the united states. the f.b.i. director, robert mueller himself, testified before the house of representatives, that posed a lot of problems, real risks for the united states. nobody is saying it can't be done. the question; should it be done? most of us believe, no, it shouldn't be done. there are better alternatives. the final point is this: what's wrong with the alternative of the prison at gu

now we'll hear from the other lady of illinois. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to give a shout out to michael mcraith and all our witnesses. until this year the role of federal involvement in the insurance industry is centered on whether to establish a federal insurance regulator. i worked with congressman royce on legislation to establish a federal regulator for the insurance industry. last congress our bill was focused on consumer choice and protections, advantages for agents and industry efficiencies. much has changed in our financial system since the last congress. the collapse of aig, the world's largest insurer has proven to be one of the most costly and dangerous corporate disasters in our nation's financial history, with nearly $180 billion of federal tax dollars committed to aig, plus $22 billion to other insurers. the federal government has made an unprecedented investment in an industry over which it has no regulatory authority. the need for federal regulatory oversight has never been greater. having a federal insurance commissioner who c

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois rise? >> i rise to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to recognize the outstanding contributions of the outgoing presidents and mayors from the eighth district of illinois. in may following retirements, many of our local leaders left office, including bill jentee, scott gifford, keith hunt, dick hyde, cindy irwin, kathryn bartlett, rita mullins, tim perry, sal and john. their longstanding service embodies what leadership is about. our mayors often serve as the voice of our local communities and is the closest contact for people on government issues. i thank them for their dealings with my office on federal issues. i've enjoyed working with each and every one of them and wish them the best of success. they assisted our office in betting serving our communities and all illinois families. i ask unanimous consent to enter into the recordhis list of past presidents and mayors. than

a battle of the computers here between illinois and louisiana. but i am very impressed with what several of our universities have done on the heels of katrina and rita and using technology and building strategic partners. so let's explore the opportunity because there may be real expertise out there at, i know at the university of laugh yet, because i've seen it. perhaps senator bureriss has a suggestion as well. i would like to get to my line of questioning, and we'll come back. i wanted to ask first mr. fugate, what are your top three priorities? i know you have many. but tucked forl if you could for this committee because we would like to work but, we're going to push and work but but push to get the very best systems we can. so what are your top three priorities as you're stepping in to an agency that has really been at the front line in many ways these last few years, how do you see your top three priorities? and i'm certain that you've discussed this with the secretary and with the highest levels of this administration. so would you outline

price: i thank the gentleman from illinois for raising this important shoot much the fema policy on levee assistance was intended to clarify the roles and responsibilities of federal agencies in providing critical flood recovery work. i understand that the gentleman and other members of the illinois delegation have concerns that the policy may not be accurate in its accounting of federal responsibility and may have the unintended consequence of leaving gaps in assistance for local communities and levee districts. fema and the army corps are reevaluating the policy to make sure there are no gaps in disaster assistance. i would like to stress, this is only a policy, not a rule. so fema can easily make adjustments to this document. if changes are necessary, fema should do so in consultation with the army corps to ensure accurateness. this issue also is being evaluated by the house transportation and infrastructure committee, the authorizing committee of jurisdiction. i'll monitor the issue as our bill progresses, i'll work with the gentleman and the energy and water appropriations subcommitt

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from illinois is recognized for one minute. ms. schakowsky: mr. speaker, i rise in support of house resolution 505 honoring the life of dr. george tiller and condemning his brutal murder at church. i thank representative slaughter for this resolution. dr. tiller was a husband and a father, he studied at the university of kansas school of medicine, and searched his country as a united states navy flight surgeon intern. despite attacks and threats against him, he continued his service as a tireless advocate for women's health and women's rights. on may 31 he was brutally gunned down in broad daylight in his place of worship by an extremist who took the law into his own hands. enough is enough. it is time for us to condemn this act of violence and state forcefully we will not condone murrer -- murder, threats, or intimidation in the future. in addition to my condolences to the family, i extend my gratitude to them for his life, his courage, his unyielding support for women, their health, and freedom to exercise their constitutional ri

in illinois in fact, out of the entire country, illinois has more seniors who fall into that doughnut hole than anybody else in the country. 32% of our seniors fall into that doughnut hole and very few of them ever come out. so we are working together and we need to do something about helping them and lately as you've heard the pharmaceutical companies are coming out talking about how. so i think we'll be able to come up with a very good compromise on how with we can all work together to help them and i think that we have to think about that. we think all of a sudden, you know, our seniors have medicare or medicare part d and that they're taken care of. nobody thinks about the fact that once you hit a certain point you're on your own until you get to another point. and, you know, there's a lot of money in there that you're going to have to pay on your own, besides the cost of the premium. you know, so there's a lot that we have to think of and at the same time i think there's a lot of places where we can find reform. ms. pingree: yeah, i'll just jump in on that and only because the is

on our independent line, jack from champaign, illinois. >> caller: hello, just want to make a couple of comments -- i don't agree that the government should offer a plan to compete with the private insurers here and i think that insurers themselves do compete with each other. in one that will take a lot of employee -- pardon me, public education but one other thing such as the enzi qa, if people would pay attention to organizations like that that might help them make decisions. i do agree that they should do away with a pre-existing condition clause because that definitely would allow more people to get coverage and if we have to help subsidize people who can't afford it than a payroll tax i guess at this point even though it would fluctuate on a year-to-year basis payroll tax might be one way to pay for it when you're talking about rescission, my last point, there was no pre-existing condition clause and decisions would not be possible so thank you very much. >> guest: the public plan debate is a cornerstone of this debate, should there be a government sponsored health plan, should

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized for one minute. mrs. biggert: i rise today in opposition to this rule and the bill. i offered five bipartisan commonsense amendments to the bill with support of other members. not one of these were made in order. i offered an amendment to strike the section that mandates national building codes because my amendment was rejected of state or local governments don't comply with these new national mandates. homeowners today who are struggling to make ends meet could be charged $100 a day for not being in compliance. a new tax on american homeowners is the wrong direction. i had another amendment to strike from this bill the new tax on all transactions cleared by any u.s. regulated derivatives clearing organization. this bill then will have very chilling consequences. it will punish those using u.s. regulated clearing organizations. discourage the use of central clearing organizations, and reduce transparency and liquidity and encourage legitimate businesses activities to move to unregulated foreign markets. a

we have some projects we need to do in illinois to make that happen. that is part of what we're looking at for the $8 billion side of what is going to happen, which the administration might want to comment on. there is a requirement that now that there is an application being made by the state of the land by iowa to receive those funds, they need to be competed for in the overall concept of what is happening with the $8 billion and whether they're really ready to go. we understand the need, we understand the interest of it and we are working with them. >> my understanding is both states are going to do a jewel application. guy in illinois. can you help me out here a little bit? >> give me $23.2 million. that will certainly be appropriate for me to comment on the merits of any particular application. the grand guidance is out. there will be a pre application period which will allow us to review and give some guidance to the various dots to make sure they are applying in the appropriate track under grand guidance, that will be most beneficial for them. t