so senator kerry, chairman kerry, we're pleased to have you before our committee today. please go ahead, sir. >> thank you very much, chairman leahy, for those kind words of introduction. ranking member sessions and to all my colleagues on the important judiciary committee at this important moment. members of the committee, mr. chairman, 16 years ago, i had the privilege to introduce stephen breyer to this committee. and with the loss today of senator byrd, i'm particularly reminded of senator kennedy sitting beside me that day. as you all know, better than anybody, senator kennedy served on this committee for 46 years. and i know the pride he would feel seeing elena kagan nominated for the supreme court of the united states. when ted introduced then judge breyer, he quoted oliver wendell holmes that every calling is great when greatly pursued. those words applied to stephen breyerrand i can share with you my complete and total confidence that they apply equally to solicitor general elena kagan. massachusetts is proud, mr. chairman, of enain lane nan kagan's accomplishme

john kerry did.he personal connection -- we can never predict the future, but we are a pretty intense information age. that personal attention is still so critical to take what you have on line and make sure you have it offline, too. >> more question. the woman and a purple shirt. -- the woman in the purple shirt. >> my question is for mr. willington. you talked about candidate personality and how that can affect voter for turnout. your candidate had a photo shoot in cosmopolitan magazine that came about how would you say that affected voter turnout? did you enhance that factor for within voters? -- for women voters? how do they spend that to make that a positive factor for turn out? >> this was news that came out when he ran in 2004. we used his daughters and we have a video that was a bloopers of video. we talked with them about their father. they volunteered to do this with us. it was very natural and material to show how he was as a father but also as a family person because we could not use his

that is the john kerry question. how you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake. >> larry: was he right to fire mcchrystal? >> i think here is a guy that is trying his hardest to implement the policy that may not be as. i hate to see a guy taken down for gossip. i think the way to fight this is not the way they are doing it. i look at the terrace and the plots we have stopped in recent years. i think they are home grown. obama's policy is really not that different than bush's policy. he used to say we are fighting them over there and we will fight them over here. redneck it. obama is just the tenor of two deals. it is the same policy. he may enunciated better but it is the same thing. they are ready here. we do not have to fight them over there. the times square bomber, he was an account. >> larry: something else big will happen. are you saying you cannot be terrorism? >> they are here and are incited to violence. >> larry: how do you feet terrorism? >> you do not defeated. it is not a war, robbery does no

signed off on kerry's senate climate bill which was hardly a cap louis concoction.

senators kerry and lieberman had been waiting to try to revamp the legislation and build a basis for new support in the hope that it could get past this year. going into the speech last night a number of senate democrats that we spoke to said thee were not convinced that the oil spill in the gulf of mexico had put enough momentum behind some sort of legislation to regulate greenhouse gases. what will happen this week in the senate is they will get together and discuss not so much whether or not to do an energy bill, not whether or not they should try to make a clean energy, buttwhat kind of energy legislation and if it should include direct regulation of greenhouse gas. host: than what is the reason behind the senate calling this an energy bill and not a climate build demo guest: -- climate bill? guest: a little bit before the house passed its greenhouse gas bill the senate and natural resources committee passed a bill with republican support to require power companies to buy more electricity from renewable sources like wind farms and solar farms, geothermal plants and things like th

i think john kerry said it well in the 2004 election when he ran on this idea that terrorism is best fought with law enforcement, with the spy agencies. that's how you fight this you don't fight it with an army. and you know, they have been very disappointing that this president -- >> why do you think he does support it so much? >> because i think he can't lose the right-wing that much, because i think he feels like he is pulling out of iraq and the democrats are already seen as a party that's soft on war, soft to on the macho stuff. so he has to have some war going. he can't just pull out. but i think it is kind of sin knackle to say, okay, we are going to double-down on this but we are pulling out in a year, because these people over there in afghanistan, they have outlasted invaders for hundreds of years, thousands of years. they kicked alexander the great's ass out of there they defeated the british. you think the idea we are staying there just one more year is instilling fear in them? >> larry: told me it was russia's biggest mistake? >> yeah, of course. >> larry: to ever get in

, on april 22, when the deep water ho horizon blew, that senator kerry was commmnicating with british petroleum about trying to get that global warming bill passed. things got put on hold, obviously, after that explosion took place. and yet still over 60 days later, the jones act has not been suspended, so the netherlands could come in as they had offered to come in. they have got some amazing machinery that would help with the separation that could build island barriers, save so much of the pristine beaches, and stilll the jones act suspension. obviously that was a bill to give protectionism to unions and certainly unions did not want to see that bill suspended but for all the criticism of president bush, within three days of hurricane katrina occurring, august 29 was when it occurred, septtmber 1 is when president bush had suupended signinged or -- ssgned an order suspending the jones act so that foreign vessels could come in and assist us in our time of need after hurricane katrina. over of days later this administration still has not done it. so i hear all the talk about we're doi

we are going to be showing you those remarks from senator kerry a little bit later. right now we're live at the white house where president obama has just finished meeting with health insurance scomblecktiffs and state insuranceeccmmissioners. he's expected to talk about the ongoing effort to implement the health care law passed by congress earlier this year. associated press writing that today at this event here at the white house president obama will talk about consumer safeguards, announcing a patient bill of rights, including guaranteed coverage for children. also, a ban on lifetime coverage limits. more than 100 million people are enrolled in plans that currently impose such limits. that's what's happening here at tte white house today live on c-span. this event with president obama at the white house is late getting started. we are going to move on with our programming and show it to you later on the c-span networks. this morning's "washington journal" we took your calls on the u.s. indirectly paying afghan warlords. we are going to watch that now while we wait

after that, reaction from senator john kerry followed by a state department briefing that in 40 minutes, president obama's comment late this afternoon about tomorrows meeting with general mcchyrstal. >> what is the president's reaction to the comments? has the present spoken to the general about this yet? >> the president has not spoken with the general. as we all know, he is on his way back to washington and will take part in tomorrow's planned afghanistan meeeing. he was called back to washington to speak to pentagon officials and to the president about the remarks that were made. persooal reaction? >> suffice to say our commander does not usually for debate in meetings from washington. -- participate in meetings from washington the president asked for him to come back to explain those remarks. that is what he is on his way to do. >> does he plan to fire him? >> first and foremost, if there bravest men and women in afghanistan. what we owed them is nothing short of our best efforts to get a new strategy in that country right. that is the president's focus. focus.hould be everybody's i

john kerry is still pushing things. the buzzword is jobs. i think on monday there was something about a congressman and obama having a one-on-one that was a he said, he said situation. it was about sending all the troops to the border. i'm afraid that we are -- democrats are waiting to put all of this stuff into one huge bill while the oil is still flowing in running our shores. do you guys feel like the democrats are using the oil spill to pass whenever they want to -- whatever they want to? they are not working on the border. >> obviously i do not know anything about the dispute between senator kyl and the president on immigration. that being said, first of all, we're very far from the problem of democrats passing anything that they want to. but, to get to the part of your -- the heart of your question, i think the president made an important point that is really inarguable. the reason we have problems with oil is that we are dependent on oil -- imported oil. our dependence has gone up since the oil crisis of the 1970's. that is a fundamen

outcome would have been better from i dare political point of view, but imagine four years later, john kerry came within one of thousand those of carrying ohio. you could have had a result where president bush won the popular vote by about 2 million had lost the electoral vote. so i think all of us, whatever our politics, haveto think about the fact that th electoral college as crently constructed is a problem waiting to happen again. and i hope that discussion inners, comes onto the table. it wasn't mentioned today, but there's a lot of talk about the alternative though, which i think is something that is worth discussing. fusion voting is another idea where parties can endorse, cross and endorse candidates. i would say that fusion voting has been in effect in new york for many, many years, and i don't know a single new yorker was happy with the government at the moment. nonetheless, i think it's worth to talk about. i'm glad the issue of senate reform was raise. yes, we are very inconsistent about this when your site in the majoty do of having to get 60 votes. when you are into mr. georgio

at a senate foreign relations hearing chairman john kerry said the general's fate is in mr. obama's hands. >> my impression is that all of us would be best served by just backing off and staying cool and calm and , you know, not sort of succumbing to the normal washington twitter about this for the next 24 hours. we have troops on the front lines. we have a major mission that we are in the middle of. >> lehrer: mcchrystal still has the confidence of afghanistan's president hamid karzai. today he called mcchrystal the best commander and urged president obama not to replace him. still, the fighting has taken no break for controversy. two nato service members were killed in attacks in the south. one last night and one today. for more we go to mark thompson deputy bureau chief and pentagon correspondent for "time" magazine. retired general dan mcneil who commanded nato forces in afghanistan from 2007 to 2008. and retired general merrill mcpeak, air force chief of staff from 1990 to 1994. he was among a group of generals who campaigned in 2008 for barack obama. mark thompson, whe

i believe senator kerry and others make the point that if you do put some sort of mechanism in you will unleash enormous uncertainty. i do not disagree with that. there are some in the republican irina who disagree with that. we have to figure out how to get there. that is why a mechanism of some sort, in fairness to the system, to bring as many people to the table as possible. ge has done this. they did it because they recognize the benefits to their shareholders. host: i wanted to ask you about the general david petraeus' appeared before the armed services committee. he was quickly confirmed. i wanted to ask about strategy in afghanistan. do you believe the u.s.-led coalition there is doing the right strategy? guest: at this point, we are, but there are challenges. i talked about afghanistan not getting enough resources a couple of years ago. we have now put more rhesus -- resources in there. i think the president's target of july -- we are going to determine how many people are coming out to see if it is a good approach. july is the target date to begin the process. host: you do not

that is why senator lugar and senator kerry both got calls. there have been ideas about increasing energy efficiency standards in buildings, much as carol has worked tirelessly to do with cars, light trucks, and heavy duty trucks. the president met with business executives at the white house last week and one of their questions was like more money is not spent on research and development. there are a lot of ways to get to this. the president will have a meeting next week here to work through that process going forward. >> in comparison to the public option, where the president supported the public option and got 90 percent of what he wanted. >> it would not be pertinent to get into a hypothetical again. going back to what he said at pittsburg, what he said in 2006 as a u.s. senator. his position on how to approach our energy policy comprehensively is fairly well known. >> what is beginning as a result of this agreement? are they getting any agreement that they will not be found negligent at all? it said that bp would fund the fund with u.s. as

but the problem was, had john kerry one, it would have sent a signal to the existing progressive in the that things were okay. it was a question about one time but of george bush winning in 2000. this showed that an unpopular president winning and pot -- waging unpopular policies had beaten a candidate who talks a lot, but john kerry is a fairly impressive person if you can get him to shut up. [laughter] rmally does not a bad problem. but they destroyed a war hero. they were able to take a president who was unpopular and had him when fairly easily. there may be is a problem in our movement. movement.

kerry, this -- good morning. on the independent line. caller: i think it is time for clean energy in america. this oil disaster, it is bad for both the environment and it has been bad for aong time when we byrne carbons. i think coal is bad, both when we burn it and the disasters. i think nuclear bad because of the waste and it is way past time for change. guest: i think she clearly represents a point of view in america. the difficulty with going immediately to clean energy is i don't think technologically there is a way to just turn off fossil fuels and turn on an undeveloped an unknown technology. there are different parts of the clean energy sector that are being developed, that are being refined, and brought to the fore but even the president recognizes before this disaster in the gulf hits, when he was approving more well and gas drilling leases, that while he clearly -- and we know he clearly wants to move to a clean energy industry in terms of energy that americans consume -- he knew it could not happen overnight. especially for a

also republican snorl committee chairman a, and senate foreman committee relations chairman john kerrythe guests include admiral allen, hayley barber, and michael orin. on "face the nation" florida democratic senator bill nelson. on cnn's state of the union, candy crawley will be talking to thad allen, flor's governor, charlie crist, blan much lon -- blanche lincoln. we note "meet the press" is pre-empted today due to sports coverage. so you can listen at 1:00 p.m. that's 90.1 f.m. here in washington, d.c. nationwide on xm 32. and you can follow us on facebook and twitter. >> everyone has an agenda. as long as you know what their agenda is, that's a story you can write about. >> over the past year, wall street investigator -- investigative reporter brody mullins. he's our guest tonight. >> david cameron fields questions from parliament in his first prime minister's questions tonight at 9:00 on c-span. >> today on book-tv's "in depth" martha nussbaum. she has britain or contributed to more than 20 books on liberal education, sexism, and legal justice. join join us with e-mails and tweet

but the problem was, had john kerry one, it would have sent a signal to the existing progressive in thetructure that things were okay. it was a question about one time but of george bu winning in 2000. this showed that an unpopular president winning and pot -- waging unpopular policies had beaten a candate who talks a lot, but john kerry is a fairly impressive person if you can get m to shut up. [laughter] normally does not a bad problem. t they dtroyed a war hero. ey were able to take a president who was unpopular and had h when fairly easily. there may be is a problem in our movement. 2006 rolls around and a looking at we're going to take back t set. we're fighting hard. the environme is in our direction. we look at a prime pick up opportunity in rhode island. a republican senator -- we were going to take him out. next thing y kw, the enronmentalists were backing him. e women's grps were backing him because he votes with them on certain issues. that's fantastic, but we won that s up by a single seat. had he won, if half the progress of and had tried to win, james and half would have b

one senator who will have a hand in that in terms of the energy bill is senator john kerry, the head of the foreign affairs committee -- the foreign relations committee and the senate. he was asked about whether the gulf spill will make congress less inclined to pass his energy and climate bills which calls for new offshore drilling. he says he disagrees. he said we will not stop drilling in the gulf to margaret terminate wells out there. do you think americans will just stop driving to work? that will not happen. of the fear factor this year in elections but we will stay on this. in terms of investments, there is a chart on this eetensive piece of what members of congress invest in and where they serve in terms of congressional committees. when public duties and private investments overlap, this is the chart that says the executive branch officials must divest themselves of all these industries that their agencies oversee very judges are required to recuse themselves from lawsuits involving companies where they have ownership member. as of congress can sit on committees overseeing i

to go back toove dozen for when george bush john kerry. then, the party has been in the doldrums. the dealing of katrina was a disaster. they suffered in the polls. butsee thess numbers, specials want a election. will see what happens. republicans think they have a good shot of taking back the house and picking up seven %%ats. host: independent line, texas. an independent now, what change of mind on when they voted on terry shaiva. she was not taken off life suuport. was starved to death. the judge repeated the 10 %%mmandments. that affected me a whole lot. i am no longer republican. host: what may we see in the over elena kagan? how significant is this going to as we watch her confirmation process? guest: the oil spill is the problem of the obama administration. kagan is a boring story, there has not been a lot of conflict. i am sure she will get some yes votes. the hearing starts next week. there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance. opening statements on monday. in a give-and-take. there will be some trauma there. the white house believes they shape on thatgood nomination. it

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i voted for al gore over bush but then voted for bush over john kerry. appreciate moderates like blanche lincoln. i think she is presidential. i ever cuccinelli and from the cincinnati area. we haven't conversely done an outstanding job. the hamilton county senator is dusty rhodes. i am a very independent and i look at their character. i did not care what the race or religion or sex. when i see as sleazy campaign like a gubernatorial campaign with their present governor strickland attacking cases, i'd vote against that. >> thank you. brian sandoval getting 56% over given to is mired in his own personal scandal. c-span is the only place where you concede the speeches in their entirety. we are awaiting word from other candidates declaring victory. more of your phone calls and reaction to these primaries. 12 states holding elections. calling from california, could morning. -- good evening. >> i think jerry brown sounds like it better candidate. and i did not like her speech today. i thought it was really fake. i thought -- i trust democrats more than republ

but british petroleum was meeting with senator kerry and they were pushing this global warming bill. they needed an oil company to help give this ridiculous bill that was being pushed, so-called energy bill, they needed an oil company to give them credibility. of course they didn't want to come down on them. of course they want to talk about wall street and getting tough and the fat cats, but as far as doing anything, it's just talk. that's why goldman sachs had their biggest profit in their whole company's history last year as the democrats controlled the house, the senate and the white house. and i'm trying to dig. we found some contract. but i'm wondering how much of that was government money coming from this coping and this administration -- congress and this administration into the coffers. the contracts indicates that. as far as the oil spill, you got companies and countries around the world willing to help. president bush, for all the criticism, actually within three days of the katrina hurricane had suspended the jones act so foreign countries could send ships and send help a

you probably have to go back to two dozen for when george bush beat john kerry. since then, the party has been in the doldrums. the dealing of katrina was a disaster. they suffered in the polls. you see these numbers, but democrats want a special election. we will see what happens. republicans think they have a good shot of taking back the house and picking up seven seats. host: independent line, texas. caller: i am an independent now, but what change of mind on republican -- when they voted on terry shaiva. she was not taken off life support. she was starved to death. the judge repeated the 10 commandments. that affected me a whole lot. i am no longer republican. host: what may we see in the battle over elena kagan? how significant is this going to be as we watch her confirmation process? guest: the oil spill is the biggest problem of the obama administration. kagan is a boring story, because there has not been a lot of conflict. i am sure she will get some yes votes. most -- the hearing starts next week. there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance. opening sta

my colleague from connecticut, senator lieberman, senator menendez, senator kerry, senator shelby, bennett and lugar from the senate perspective who are part of drafting this bill along with our house conferees led by howard berman of california. i want to extend a special thank you to all of them for their leadership and also senator reid, the majority leader, senator mcconnell. none of this ever happens without the majority leader of the senate taking a leadership role and insisting that this matter move forward, that it be addressed before we break for the july fourth recess period coming up next week, and in the midst of all the other things we're involved in -- as my colleagues know, we have been involved in a very lengthy conference regarding financial reform, but i'm delighted to take some time out from that effort to address this particular proposal and urge our colleagues to be supportive of this proposal. i also want to support what i mentioned earlier, president obama's approach and appreciate his team's work in helping us approve this important legislation. i mentioned earlier

john kerry will be there. and lindsay gramm was going to be there.is office confirming that he will not be in attendance because of the hearings on general petraeus. saying he cannot be in three places at the same time. now it is up to senator kerrey and lieberman to move forward on this. senator gramm saying he will not be part of the legislation. >guest: right. and your question? host: no question. just wanted to clarify. you can check it out on c- span.org. james joining us from north carolina. caller: good morning. you know, this thing about oil, it is not our only source of energy. it is time to look for new energy. i understand she talks about all these regulations. it is all the other oil companies. all this regulation stuff, that has been talked about before. i think the moratorium should stay there. i lost my job, but a lot of jobs have been lost and not coming back. there are other things people can take up. if all other -- it the other oil companies can prevent this, why do they not have the technology to stop it? it does not sound too goo

i would like to thank senators kerry and brown for those generous introductions. also want to thank the president again for nominating me to this position. i'm honored and humbled by his confidence. . let me also thank all the members of the committee as well as many other senators for meeting with me in these last several weeks. i've discovered that they call these courtesy visits for a reason. each of you has been unfailingly gracious and considerate. i know that we gather here on a day of sorrow for all of you, for this body and for our nation with the passing of senator byrd. i did not knowhim personally as all of you did, but i certainly knew of his great love for this institution, his faithful service to the people of his state and his abiding reverence for our constitution, a copy of which he carried with him every day. a moving reminder to each of us who serves in government of the ideals we must seek to fulfill. allf you and all of senator rd's family and friends are in my thoughts and prayers at this time. i would like to begin by thanking my family, fri

. -- kerry lieberman bill. there are a number of proposals, that is why senator lugar and carry both got calls. there have been ideas about increasing energy standards. the president met with business executives last week and whether questions was outcome money is not spent on research and development? the president will have a meeting next week here to work through that process going forward. >> the president supported the public option but he got 20% of+ what he wanted. >> i don't know why it would be pertinent to get into hypothetical at this point. go back to what he said and pittsburg a week and a half ago or in 2006 as a u.s. senator. his position on how to approach our energy policy comprehensively is fairly well known. >> what is bp getting as a result of the agreement? are they getting any agreement that they will not be found negligent? you said that they would use this with u.s. asset. >> they will provide assurances by setting aside 20 billion in u.s. assets. >> they have committed to 20 but they wi

kerry, this -- good morning. on the independent line. caller: i think it is time for clean energy in america. this oil disaster, it is bad for both the environment and it has been bad for a long time when we byrne carbons. i think coal is bad, both when we burn it and the disasters. i think nuclear bad because of the waste and it is way past time for change. guest: i think she clearly represents a point of view in america. the difficulty with going immediately to clean energy is i don't think technologically there is a way to just turn off fossil fuels and turn on an undeveloped an unknown technology. there are different parts of the clean energy sector that are being developed, that are being refined, and brought to the fore. but even the president recognizes before this disaster in the gulf hits, when he was approving more well and gas drilling leases, that while he clearly -- and we know he clearly wants to move to a clean energy industry in terms of energy that americans consume -- he knew it could not happen overnight. especially fo

john kerry and john or scott prawn. i don't know senator brown said whether or not to support her or not but would could suggest he's open to the idea if he's introducing her to the judiciary committee. >> what has she been doing a few monthing a? guest: elena kagan, like other nominees has been practices for this week of you tickses. she has been brushing up on the many different kinds of questions she's likely to face. brushing up on legal precedents and studying prior confirmation hearings. she's been taking a bunch of questions by advisors and aids trying tougher her up. this is something pretty much all nominees too do. just cities stephens. old buddy held up in a courtroom spent the weekend preparing but didn't go the elaborate preparations that's common in some ways it's like preparing for a supreme court argument sit elf. advocates like to practice and imagine what type of questions will be asked and try to get ready and someone the best way to answer it. she's practicing for the debate championship. next call.

john kerry. jimmy carter is another. if i'm not mistaken but in order to have diplomats on the ground engage with authoritys in gaza, we need to have a different political situation there. >> well, as we've made clear. we will engage with any, you know political group that is willing to meet our basic you know, red lines for playing a constructive role in the region. those lines are clear and hamas made clear they have no intention at the present time to agree to those and as a result, we do not have political relationship with with hamas. >> you expect - north korea [inaudible] you expect - you know, just to clarify to be sure that you didn't mishear me. we, the south korean government has sent a letter to the president of the security council. we do expect the material er to come up within the council in the next couple of weeks. we would expect to have you know per the south korean request an appropriate response from the un security council but what that specific response is, we'll or will be part of upcoming debate.

. >> elena kagan will be introduced by senators kerry and brown and it will be carried on one of ourany c-span networks and on radio and on the internet. so stay tuned just in case the house and senate are in. i don't think the house is in that day. i'm not sure. but it will be carried all over c-span. so you can't miss it. chandler, arizona. thanks for holding. go ahead, mo. caller: i've been reading in certain magazines that she's gay. is that what -- understanding is? host: mo, where have you seen that? caller: i forget the magazine but it was body language, there were photographs, the way she was sitting. host: is that important to you? caller: no. just asking. host: ok. thanks. guest: i don't know. and i don't think it's any of our business. it's only our business if it directly influences how she rules. if she puts that ahead of the law. but other than that, i don't think it's our business to ask. and i would rather not go there, although it is worth noting the administration has said categorically that she is not. host: helen on our independent line. you're on with quinn hilly

practice transfer, the nature of the relationship between the safety organizations, the regional safety kerry organization and ours, the extent to which we have on occasion found them wanting and suggested that until something was addressed that we would be suspending its contractual service of a particular sort with them. we would be glad to do that. >> that would also include the specific action your airlines take to verify the pilots? >> we will do so. >> we will be glad to that. >> thank you. >> we now read it -- we now recognize the gentleman from michigan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i ask questions, i would just comment on the colgan situation. i read the transcript, and i think beyond the training issue was the issue of the lack of competence of the individuals. it's made me shudder to read the cockpit transcripts and observe the conversation back and forth. they were preoccupied with personal issues and not flying the plane. i think it is not just a matter of training. it is a matter of hiring responsible individuals. i think anyone who reads that transcript would realize that

as one article talks about senator kerry communicating with, working with british petroleum to try to pass the crap and trade bill at the time the deepwater horizon blew out. it is beginning to appear that british petroleum used a cheap way of drilling in such deep water. it shouldn't have been used in such deep water. that's what is beginning to appear to be the case and that they felt like -- it seems like there was an attitude that we don't have to worry. we are big buddies with the white house and with the majority, they got our backs. we can cut corners. you know, and so we find out minerals management service send out their two-man you unionized father and son team to be the last team to inspect the deepwater horizon. there are stories about how the inspections weren't occurring as they should and there were gifts exchanging hands, all kinds of problems. we find out a lady who was in the clinton administration that actually signed the notice about the deepwater offshore leases back in 1999 and 1998 that pulled the price adjustment language which apparently has cost our country b

i would like to thank senators kerry and brown for those generous introductions. i also want to thank the president again for nominating me to this position. i'm honored and humbled by his confidence. . let me also thank all the members of the committee as well as many other senators for meeting with me in these last several weeks. i've discovered that they call these courtesy visits for a reason. each of you has been unfailingly gracious and considerate. i know that we gather here on a day of sorrow for all of you, for this body and for our nation with the passing of senator byrd. i did not know him personally as all of you did, but i certainly knew of his great love for this institution, his faithful service to the people of his state and his abiding reverence for our constitution, a copy of which he carried with him every day. a moving reminder to each of us who serves in government of the ideals we must seek to fulfill. all of you and all of senator bird's family and friends are in my thoughts and prayers at this time. i would like to begin by thanking my fami

but, anyway, it turns out that on april 22, senator john kerry, democrat from massachusetts, was on the phone with allies in his push for climate legislation and told them he was rolling out the bill that very day with three oil companies, including british petroleum. they were supporting him on his climate change, global warming bill, and they were supporting the white house, and so, of course, they were reluctant to jump on the oil company that was being such a big help to them. but what we found is once they saw that the united states was angry and that this was going to be nothing but trouble, well, they were willing to throw their friends under the bus and put their boot on their throat and wanting to kick some rear ends. and we had a meeting today in our natural resources committee and we had the new acting director of minerals management service. we had the new acting inspector general of department of interior, and i was asking that, you know, since we had hearings a few years ago on why the price adjustment language was pulled out of the offshore leases in 1998 and 1999, this w

please give john kerry of my best regards.he is an extraordinary leader -- , and it worked very closely with him when he was in defense, so i'm pleased to be here with all of you. the values of free societies can break down the strongest walls of oppression, and american foreign policy has, at its best, and most creative taken advantage of the fact -- of that fact to keep our nation more secure. as chairman of the helsinki commission, i watched firsthand as free speech, free association, and free markets became the rallying cry for the brave dissident movements of the eastern bloc. solidarity in poland, tighter 77 in czechoslovakka, to heroes in russia, they found courage in the universal principles of free men and women. they helped usher in an era of new openness behind the iron curtain, and ultimately, they helped bring down an empire. i have never forgotten the lesson. america opposing military is a powerful weapon, but is it not -- but it is not the only one we have. today, we are engaged in a new struggle, one unlike any