isakson: i thank the gentleman from alabama for the question. i'll tell you this, i was in the real estate business for 33 years. leverage is essential in real estate. you have to borrow money and put in equity as well to make a real estate transaction to work. you can't do it for all cash. too much leverage will destroy you. america's been through a period where many american homeowners were destroyed with too much leverage. they borrowed more than they could afford to pay. america is at the point where we have too much leverage and too much debt. i try -- when i thought about what i would say this morning, i didn't know you would ask the question you asked, but it's appropriate that you did. i was trying to think of an example we could put forward of a leader in the private sector who addressed a tremendous problem america faced and solved it. you know who that leader was? lee iaococca. cars were broke, they had too much debt. they brought him up from the ranks and said, lee, we need to fix this company or we're going broke. lee eye coca put -

isakson: i'm absolutely optimistic. with all due respect the last couple of years the government has tried to eliminate risk with over regulation of everything. if you eliminate risk, nobody gets out of bed because they feel they're protected. allow people to take a risk to get reward. that's what makes this country and every other country different. give them a platform of predictability, so they will invest their money, employ people. and the interesting thing and the byproduct of that is you have higher revenues. when you have a productive america on a progressive tax system, you get higher revenues. if people are more satisfied, they are more happy and more productive. you have less productivity when they are overregulated and under confident. we need to restore the confidence, have fair but equitable regulation, empower the american to invest their capital. we will i am prove employment, improve revenues and improve the future of the united states of america. mr. sessions: thank you. i enjoyed the opportunity to ch

isakson: mr. president, before the distinguished senator from new hampshire leaves the floor, i'd like to commend her on a number of things, but most importantly her hard with me and many others on the biannual budget bill we hope will come to the floor of the senate in the not too distant future. i want to make a comment because this potential shutdown which i hope does not happen and i will talk about that in a second. with this potential shutdown we have been asking the agencies to speculate on what that means. if you read yesterday's "washington post" you saw the only agency of the government that will work seamlessly through the shutdown without any shortcoming or any deficiency is veterans health care. that's because we appropriate for veterans health care. the one thing that will be open during this shutdown is the one thing we do in a two-year process rather than a hit and miss process like the current appropriations act. so the distinguished senator who was governor of a state who has a b

much to do with the upper representing class nobody's all so this idea to point at the invisible isakson ackley what he was doing, and because of that two or three days into the revolution he was arrested by the regime and after he was released and arrested for the rap basically saying you will meet the day your people will overthrow you and they really did. and soon after he was released his next rap was come on other arab countries we need the resolutions and he's basically passing on the book on to egypt, libya, algeria has we have seen it and now there's a mix tape even the idea of mixed tapes there's a mix tape of rap, revolutionary rap in the middle east and north africa that's exciting so not only is it representing the values but it's now being sung in the language that the average working-class underrepresented person can understand and not the language of the privileged and affluent and that is exactly the kind of value that it started with. [laughter] >> we don't have a straight up and down hip-hop credit on the panel, so i'm not just going to be as animated as i normally woul

211, the biennial budgeting and appropriations act which was introduced by my colleagues, senator isakson and senator shaheen. this bill would take the washington-as-usual politics out of the budgeting process. the bill changes the budget process from the current annual spending debate to a two-year deliberative process that allows us to work together on commonsense cuts coupled with sensible investments. similar to what is done in north carolina, which balances its budget every year. and right now congress rarely passes the 12 government funding bills by the end of the fiscal year, and this year we've been operating on short-term fix after short-term fix. a biennial budget process is part of the long-term solution we need to remove partisanship from the budget. the status quo is unacceptable. mr. president, i hope that we can continue to work across party lines this week in moving forward on a bipartisan, comprehensive plan for the nation's budget that tackles head-on our mounting debt. mr. president, i ask -- i notice -- i ask that we have a quorum. -- a quorum call. the presiding offic

moderating is jason isakson. [applause] [applause] >> good morning. hello from a.j.'s 2011 global forum. i want to make sure you picked up a copy of the "wall street journal" you will see in the center an advertisement. united states and israel an enduring partnership. please pick it up. good statement to resolve to continue to strengthen the relationship between the united states and israel. i am jason isaacson your moderator. i would like to welcome the audience washington, d.c. and the global web cast. on the panel, we are joined by elliot abrams, senior fellow at the council of foreign relations and former deputy national security advisor, and robert wexler, president of the s. daniel abram ha center for middle east peace and former u.s. congressman from florida. a few notes about the debate, we will begin with opening statements. each debater will have five minutes for the statement and three minutes to respond to his counterpart. we'll then move to the question and answer portion of the debate in which each speaker will again have up to five minutes to respond.

senator mark pryor, senator john boozman, senator michael bennet, senator max baucus, senator johnny isakson, senator mark kirk, and senator tim johnson. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: that brings the total to 58. senator casey has been a wonderful supporter in this. he is the lead cosponsor. 58 united states senators have stepped up to the plate and sa said, this is not an option for us to equivocate for one minute. so, mr. president, i'm waiting to get two more cosponsors which will show that we have 60 and that we want to act as a united states senate, and i am hoping that senator casey and i could get the ability to bring our bill up and pass it. very simple, very clear. military pay and those who are serving our military in civilian capacities will not be delayed because they're going to report to work and they need to have the peace of mind to know that the mortgages that they have, maybe our direct lines to the mortgage companies, are going to be covered. that is the very least that we could do as we are arguing about whose fault it is going to be if we have

much to do with the upper representing class nobody's all so this idea to point at the invisible isakson ackley what he was doing, and because of that two or three days into the revolution he was arrested by the regime and after he was released and arrested for the rap basically saying you will meet the day your people will overthrow you and they really did. and soon after he was released his next rap was come on other arab countries we need the resolutions and he's basically passing on the book on to egypt, libya, algeria has we have seen it and now there's a mix tape even the idea of mixed tapes there's a mix tape of rap, revolutionary rap in the middle east and north africa that's exciting so not only is it representing the values but it's now being sung in the language that the average working-class underrepresented person can understand and not the language of the privileged and affluent and that is exactly the kind of value that it started with. [laughter] >> we don't have a straight up and down hip-hop credit on the panel, so i'm not just going to be as animated as i normally woul

i've talked to the chairman of the subcommittee, chairman coons and ranking member isakson, and theyo have these hearings. i'm anxious to get into this so all the world can see. maybe we can stop this from happening again. i don't know. i also suggest that the united states step in to help and examine the possibility of seeking a place of exile for gbagbo outside of cote d'ivoire. the u.s. performed such a role before in 1986 under the reagan administration. haiti's baby dock duvalier was sent into exile. it happened before. the american government did it before. i'm asking them to do it again. take these people who are being maybe murdered at this moment. we don't know. we know they're being tortured. allow them to go into exile. this could be an important step toward the beginning process of reconciliation that the people of cote d'ivoire deserve. this is not about the gbagbos. it's about the modern-day return to french colonial imperialism. this time with the help of the united nations they were doing this. here's what my concern is. cote d'ivoire has had a hard enough time trying

much to do with the upper representing class nobody's all so this idea to point at the invisible isakson ackley what he was doing, and because of that two or three days into the revolution he was arrested by the regime and after he was released and arrested for the rap basically saying you will meet the day your people will overthrow you and they really did. and soon after he was released his next rap was come on other arab countries we need the resolutions and he's basically passing on the book on to egypt, libya, algeria has we have seen it and now there's a mix tape even the idea of mixed tapes there's a mix tape of rap, revolutionary rap in the middle east and north africa that's exciting so not only is it representing the values but it's now being sung in the language that the average working-class underrepresented person can understand and not the language of the privileged and affluent and that is exactly the kind of value that it started with. [laughter] >> we don't have a straight up and down hip-hop credit on the panel, so i'm not just going to be as animated as i normally woul

an organization led by former secretary madeleine albright, and walter isakson of the aspen institute. it was formed after president obama's cairo speech and includes the c.e.o.'s of companies like intel, cisco, and morgan stanley. these leaders will conseen a summit at the end of may to connect american investors with partners in the region's transitional democracies with an eye to creating more jobs and boosting trade. under the auspicious of partners for a new beginning, the north africa partnership for economic opportunity is building a network 6 public and private partners and programs to deepen integration among the countries in north africa. this past december in algiers, the partnership convened more than 400 young entrepreneurs, business leerds, venture capitalists -- leaders, venture compappists, and diaspora leaders. these people to people context have already helped lay the groundwork for cost border -- cross border initiatives to create jobs, train youth, and support start-ups. there will be a follow-up meeting this year later in morocco. for the long-term we are discussi

moderating is jason isakson. [applause] [applause] >> good morning. hello from a.j.'s 2011 global forum. i want to make sure you picked up a copy of the "wall street journal" you will see in the center an advertisement. united states and israel an enduring partnership. please pick it up. good statement to resolve to continue to strengthen the relationship between the united states and israel. i am jason isaacson your moderator. i would like to welcome the audience washington, d.c. and the global web cast. on the panel, we are joined by elliot abrams, senior fellow at the council of foreign relations and former deputy national security advisor, and robert wexler, president of the s. daniel abram ha center for middle east peace and former u.s. congressman from florida. a few notes about the debate, we will begin with opening statements. each debater will have five minutes for the statement and three minutes to respond to his counterpart. we'll then move to the question and answer portion of the debate in which each speaker will again have up to five minutes to respond.

very much to do with the upper representing class nobody's all so this idea to point at the insible isakson ackley what he was doing, and because of that two or three days nto the revolution he was arrested by the regime and after he was released and arrested fo the rap basically saying you will meet the day your people will overthrow you and they really did. and soon after he was released his next rap was come on other arab countries we need the resolutis and he's basically passing on the book on to egypt, libya, algeria has we have seen it a now there's a mix tape even the idea of mixed tapes there's a mix tape of rap, revolutionary rap in the middle east and north africa that's exciting so not only is it representing the values but it's now being sung in the language that the average working-class underrepresented person can understand and not the language of the privileged and affluent and that is exactly the kind of value that it started wh. [laughter] >> we don't have a straight up and down hip-hop credit on the panel, so i'm not just going to be as animated as i normal would. but the