senator boxer of california, senator isakson of georgia, i'm happy to welcome them. they both have strong records and housing policy and they'll talk about it though they've introduced to jumpstart the housing market and help millions of homeowners refinance their mortgages. with that, senator boxer. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. i'm proud to be here with senator isakson and he is a long, long profession come a

senator isakson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent might prepare statement be submitted to the record or >> without objection it shall be. >> thank you for calling this hearing in a particular pleased to join the senator boxer from california and this piece of legislation, which addresses a new phenomenon that has taken place in the most protracted housing recession in america since the great depression. that is called strategic foreclosure. there's 10 million -- 10,900,000 american homeowners underwater right now today as estimated. as 10,900,000 people make payments on mortgages, the payoff is more than the houses were. a new phenomenon something called strategic foreclosure, were homeowners underwater by looking at the future of real estate, looking at the future values and walking away from their mouths and going off in buying a foreclosed house down the street, thinking they'll be better off. this is me the marketplace wares, but more foreclosures in place continue to contribute to the downward pressure on

isakson. mr. isakson: thank you, senator blunt. thank you very much, senator johanns, for organizing this colloquy. i represent a state that is the home to the second-largest port on the eastern seaboard of the united states of america. the port is savannah. the poverty savannah directly employs 300,000 people in the southeastern united states. can you think what an impact this is going to have to increase that employment if we get these free trade agreements? let me give you an example that is amazing. south korea surpassed japan in 2010 as the second-largest northeast asian destination for south atlantic exports behind only china. second largest in all of asia behind only china, most of that going out of the poverty stpapb tphafplt senator savannah. we're number one in poultry and korea is a huge kpwoert -- importer of poultry. south korea's imports from south korea into the united states went up by 26% last year. our exports to them went up by 15%. that's an 11% negative in the trade deficit which causes us tremendous problems.

alexander: i thank senator isakson for his leadership on this bill. senator richard burr for years has focused on elementary and secondary education especially on making it easier for local school districts to use the federal dollars that are made available, and on finding ways to encourage student and teacher evaluation. he is introducing a bill which i'm proud to co-sponsor on titles ii and title iv. mr. burr: i thank the senator from a state once owned by north carolina, and a distinguished member of this august body. mr. president, what are we simply here doing today? we're responding to what every c.e.o. has said and every local leader has said and every parent has said. if you want a future in this country, you've got to fix k-12 education. make sure every child in this country has the foundational knowledge to meet whatever challenge they're faced with in a lifetime. now, washington is good at sort of coming up with new perhaps and to be honest with you when you look back over the history of the last couple decades, every year we come up with a

but i end where i started: senator johnny isakson. let's fight when there is something to fight about. there is nothing to fight about tonight. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i'm going to walk us through where we've been and where we are. after tonight's vote, i think the quickest and surest way to get fema disaster funds it tphaoepd and end -- needs and end talk of government shutdown would have been to take up the house-passed c.r. right away. as we know, our friends on the other side will not agree to that. earlier today, as we all know, fema indicated it already has the funds it needs for the duration of the current c.r., which is basically this week, without the billions more in funding that democrats have been calling for. quite frankly, i think this is a vindication of what republicans have been saying all along. before we spend the taxpayers' money, we should have a real accounting, a real accounting of what is actually needed. we also believe that in these days of hu

how does your refinance proposal differ from boxer and isakson's legislation? if you could give me some sense of that? >> sure. i will just pull up my notes here. so i think there are several things as i commented earlier. mortgage insurers are really a big issue that i think we need to address. the mortgage insurance industry almost all the companies are rated single b. i'm not sure their insurance is as good as we would like to count on as we do now, so we are going to have to deal with a large number of potential folks who have mortgage insurance and i think there are ways to do it but that is going to be one key issue. and refs and warranties as a related issue which gets to the mortgage insurance question. those issues i think are really holding back a lot of people from being able to participate in h.a.r.p. and if we don't address them i don't expect that we are going to get the take up that we should. i think also trying to take steps to bring down closing costs is important, and i think we have to take seriously what the cost is to the gse and the balan

i'm proud to be here with senator isakson.. so i'm very proud that he is on this bill and just to say this before i read any of my statements, our bill is based on a very simple premise. if you have paid your mortgage all along through all these difficult times, and it is have a high interest rate and you've never missed a payment as the value of your home went down and down you find yourself under water, mr. chairman and stick the seven or 6% rate you should be reworded with a program like this and what we say is you should have a chance if you want to refinance at the current level. but this is such a win-win. number one, fannie and freddie, because these would all be home mortgages backed by fannie and freddie, they actually make money on this. as we look at the cbo analysis about $100 million because a would stop many people from defaulting right away. second, if you are the homeowner you are going to have thousands of dollars in your pocket because you refinanced. i remember the years when bill clinton was president one o

senator isakson? >> thank you very much mr.t objection, it shall be. >> thank you very much for calling this appropriate hearing on the housing industry, and i am particularly pleased to join senator boxer from california on this particular piece of legislation which addresses the new phenomenon that has taken place in the most protective housing recession that america has seen since the great depression. and that caused strategic foreclosure pure there are 10,900,000 american homeowners who are under water right now today as estimated. that's 10,900,000 people making payments on mortgages that the payoff is more than the house is worth. the new phenomenon is something called strategic foreclosure where they are under water looking at the future of the real-estate, looking at the future of the values and walking away from the loans and going and buying a foreclosed house down the street thinking that they will be better off. this has made the market place worse, put more foreclosures in place and continue to contribute to the d

the publisher calls it a companion to the authorizized biography written by walter isakson. >>> meantimedraft of his memoir going on sale today without his approval. he condemned the british publisher for profiteering from an unfinished and erroneous draft. the publisher played for the rights to the memoir last year. he then changed his mind about doing the book. so the publisher is now releasing it as an unauthorized autobiography. >>> drug agents are investigating a big shipment of high grade marijuana from northern california that ended up at the kentucky home of two pro football players. investigators say anthony collins and jerome simpson of the cincinnati bengals were both at home when a package containing several pounds of potent pot arrived from eureka. agents were tracking the package. police questioned boeing players but so far, no arrests. >>> major league baseball is now limiting the consumption of energy drinks by its players. so far the arizona diamondbacks and houston astros have stopped providing the drinks in a clubhouse. they're also discouraging players from drinking t

senators alexander grosso boozman chambliss, coats coburn, cornyn copeland, hutchison, isakson, kyl, moran and then.lleahe mr. president, i urge all of our colleagues to support theegulor regulatory timeout act which is are a critical step towards easing the regulatory uncertainty andns costs that are keeping our job creators from getting americans back to work. thank you mr. president.eard >> mr. president, we all hope h heard thisis president's speech from the joint sessions of was congress last week about his proposal to bring forward a jobs bill that was released this an morning and the president indicated that he wanted to take his case to the people. and i'm glad he is doing so. i hope that as he travels abouthe the country, i think he will be hearing what many of us heard during the august recess when welked t were back at home. as they travel across the state of indiana and talk to people from all different categories of work engagement small to medium to large businesses, homeowners, other constituents one thing came through loud and clear, ando that was i needed to listen t

. >> georgia republican senator johnny isakson says you have to pick your fights.ssible government shutdown than money the democrats and republicans were arguing over. guys, back to you. >> steve: wendell goler, north lawn of the white house, thank you very much for the live report. >> gretchen: let's talk about this, yesterday remember we told you about the story about a history teacher who was at a forum talking about illegal immigration and the dreamact specifically and he sort of got into it with the leader of the tea party in that community in san antonio and eventually ended up calling him a nazi. well, today that chair of the tea party came on to respond to that. >> again, folks, it's a person that they are -- that there is some unfair and unbalanced teaching going on in the school room. this is a generation that is being indoctrinated, in my opinion, and i just wonder what kind of teaching is going on regarding the constitution of the united states and the history of our nation. >> steve: so there you have george rodriguez, the president of the san antonio

senator isakson and i healed a hearing before the debt ceiling vote and as many members were going home for the work period. we had a hearing about the difficulty the office of foreign ethic control is required to enforce sanctions and al that back is preventing -- al shabaab is preventing aid. we had a report of additional 300,000 people are in critical need of assistance, raising to 12.7 million. usaid has said this is the worst humanitarian need. what else do you think we can do to reduce al that -- al shabaab's influence? >> i thank you for raising this. this horrific situation. almost 13 million have been affected, not only in somalia but a refugee camp in kenya that was meant for maybe 90,000 people, has now maybe 400,000 people who are seeking hem and assistance. i know that the office of treasury that issues licenses when waivers are needed and a situation in somalia does with al shabaab's interference has in fact created a license waiver for aid to provide some snaps and is looking at the potential for other waivers, for n.g.o.'s that might be appropriate to try to bring in tha

moratorium: senators alexander, barrasso, blunt, bozeman, coats, coburn, cornyn, hoeven, hutchinson, isakson, kyl, moran, and thune. mr. president, i urge all of our colleagues to support the regulatory timeout act, which is a critical step toward easing the regulatory uncertainty and costs that are keeping our job creators from getting americans back to work. thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum and yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. e prese senator from maine. ms. collins: i ask unanimous consent that the proceedings under the call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i introduce the bill at this point and that it be appropriately referred. the presiding officer: the bill will be received and appropriately referred. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. coats: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. senator coats mr.

reid: this tonight is a johnny isakson solution. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to concur with the amendment 665 offered by the senator from nevada, mr. reid. the yeas and nays -- there a second? sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 79, the nays are 12. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, motion to concur with an amendment the amendment is agreed to. the motion is agreed to. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of h.r. 2017, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 156, h.r. 2017, an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012 and for other purposes. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent to withdraw the substitute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: and call up amendment number 666. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. r