landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i thank my colleague for her passionate remarks about this passionate remarks about this supporting bob and a woman i consider to be an extraordinarily accomplished woman and commend president obama for his selection. as the senate judiciary committee prepares for its confirmation hearing, i wanted to come to the floor to express my strong support for this nominee. as we know the supreme court serves as the highest tribunal in the nation as the final arbitrator of the law the supreme court justices are charged, mr. president, with assuring the american people achieve the promise of equal justice under the law and serving as interpreters of the constitution. it's a very important charge. it's our duty as samet terse to insure the members of this high court which we are asked to confirm so it is in partial and fair minded who apply the laws not merely their ideology. the american people deserve no less. a number of my colleagues have expressed concern regarding this nominee. those are n

>> thank you, chairman landrieu. it's an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the united way and the 211 system across america. as you are aware 211 is an information referral line that connects people to existing community resources like rent and mortgage assistance as well as food and utility assistance. however, to 11 please a vital role in disaster response and recovery. trained specialists assist callers in times of natural disaster in crisis providing real-time information on shelter locations, food and water distribution sites and important evacuation routes. 211 disseminates accurate information about the prices and relieves the very overworked negative 11 dispatchers also taking those non-emergency calls. as you are aware, to 11 was a bright spot and a very difficult time in our state and responding to the 2005 hurricanes katrina and rita. prior to the land all of katrina, the 211 and new orleans had to close. united way, united we of northeast louisiana and monroe began ta

louis, you are on with senator mary landrieu. caller: good morning, since we were given the stimulus packages for the auto industry, why don't they have the oil companies about the oil industry? there have been inventions that the oil companies have had shelved because the want to keep gas prices in the mileage at a certain rate. there is a movie called "who killed the electric cart?" -- car?" that was in northern california. the oil companies least those cars and prevented their use. one of the major things that obama was saying -- preventative medicine, better food. making quality of food better, i think that is one of the major things that is a problem with health care. guest: you are right on both of those points. i thank you for those comments. in the old days and still today there has been a dragging of the fee. and there has been some unfortunate partnerships if you will between the oil companies and though car companies to keep all of our automobiles moving on oil. it has been a major fight. we are making a lot of progres

. >> thank you chairman landrieu, it's an honor and privilege to have this opportunity to be able to speak today on behalf of the new -- united way and the 211 system across america. as you are aware 211 is an information referral line that connects people to existing committed to resources like rent and mortgage assistance as well as food and utility assistance. however, 211 plays a vital role in disaster response and recovery. train specialists assist callers in times of natural disaster and crisis providing real-time information on shelter location, food and water distribution sites, an encore and evacuation routes. 211 disseminates accurate information about the crisis and it relieves the very overworked 911 dispatchers who are also taking those non-emergency calls. as you are aware, 211 was truly a blind spot in a very difficult time in our state in responding to 2005 hurricanes kachina and rita, the landfall of us katrina, it had to close and our united way of northeast louisiana began taking all the 211 calls that were directed from new orleans and overnight we have expanded f

joining me as cosponsors are senators collins, landrieu, klobuchar, and mil and mccaskild makes clear the federal government is a temporary shareholder in g.m. and chrysler. and that it should divest its shareholder position as expeditiously as possible. no one ever wanted the government to be in the car business but the alternative was worse and the turmoil in the auto industry extends far beyond detroit as most machines know. dealerships -- as most americans know. dealerships across my state alone are feeling the impact of decisions made by auto dealer somes. chrysler is terminating franchise dealerships with nine dealerships in nebraska and g.m. intends to terminate franchise agreements with 21 dealerships in nebraska. these decisions are affecting dealerships and their employees in communities such as hastings, david city, omaha, auburn, mill ford, lincoln, scotts bluff, and west point which have already been impacted by the auto bankruptcies. auto parts manufacturing plants and communities like karny, grand island and seward are feeling the results of the downturn in the auto ind

caller: yes, what mary landrieu said is what i support.ost: here is an editorial that talks about how congress should use the medicare part b system as the model going forward. he says it is an enormous success, cheaper than expected, and popular with singers. the problem is ideology. it is based on competition among private insurance plans. democrats are determined to run reform on government-run plant. he writes that private insurance companies are competing for customers and offering them tauruses. seniors can switch plans once per year. our next call is from tallahassee on the independent line. caller: good morning. i basically believe the best way to take care of any medical insurance is for government to get the heck out of the wood. government is the problem, not the solution. -- to get the heck out of the way. national means our country, universal means " we'll pay for everyone else who does nothing. i do not like universal at all. government-mending is the problem. it is better private. i work in telecommunications. i do not have

barry landrieu of louisiana chairs the subcommittee on disaster recovery.is an hour and 50 minutes. >> the hearing will come to order anthony welcome everyone that has joined us today for what i think is a very important hearing and what is one of a series of hearings that will have happened or happening today and will continue to happen as we strive to get our nation's response in the very best possible shape that we can for hurricanes and of disasters and that is the subject of this hearing today. to see where we are and have the opportunity to have on our first panel the new fema administrator who will be testifying today for the first time since this confirmation, welcome mr. craig fugate, and frank grass from missouri will be testifying today as well. let me say that this hearing is focused on her cane response because we snap started hurricane season this week, but we will be a salmon issues that affect not just the hurricane region but all regions of the country in this hearing today and we will be focusing on plans and processes that actually have a

merry landrieu chairs the subcommittee on disaster recovery bridges to hour. >> our committee on disaster recovery will come to order. let me welcome everyone that has joined us today for what i think is a very important hearing. and one is a serious of hearings that has happened today war will continue to happen as we strive to get our nation's response in the best possible shape that we can for hurricanes and all disasters that is the subject of this hearing today. to see where we are and to have the opportunity to have on our first panel of the new fema administrator who will be testifying for the first time since his confirmation wellcome mr. fugate and the general who will be testifying today as well. let me say this hearing is focused on hurricane response because we started hurricane season and this week. but we will be examining issues that affect not just the hurricane region but all regions of the country. and we will be focusing on playpens and processes that actually have applicability across the board for many types of threats earth quakes come hurricanes, , etc. the ranking

. >> thank you, madam chairman, senator landrieu, there is always the first time to testify a lot of formalities i have submitted written testimony by walt try to keep the short because i would rather have the questions and have the dialogue. i am pleased to be here to represent homeland security and the federal emergency management agency for preparations for 2009. i appreciate to come before you the leadership, the committee work in identifying as a nation where to go. that talks about changing how we want to approach things. we at fema believe our role is to ensure we are working together resignation to build and sustain and improve our capabilities, prepare for, respond to, recover from against all hazards the key thing is recognizing fema by itself cannot be successful. many groups you have representing a are part of that team more britney is the local and state officials and volunteer organizations but ultimately it is our citizens a part of the team. if nothing else i'm trying to get people to recognize public is not a liability but the resources to help us be more successful

. >> host: senators landrieu you brought a map along. >> guest: this map is actually the gulf of mexico, as uchitelle and the gulf is divided into three different areas, the western planning area, the low taxes, the central belleau mississipians louisianans and the eastern. the little spots of the middle are what

i thank my colleague, senator landrieu, -- mr. coburna senator: we are joi- ms. klobuchar: we are joined by senator mccaskill, and i wanted to thank the senator from kansas for allowing us to take an additional five minutes year. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. mrs. mccaskill: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mrs. mccaskill: i want to thank my friend, the senator from minnesota, for helping us get organized this afternoon to spend a little time talking about an outstanding -- outstanding federal judge. i also want to thank my colleague from kansas in giving us a few minutes to -- to make these remarks. i -- as i started looking, i'll confess, that i wasn't familiar with judge sotomayor, before she was nominated, and i started looking at her resume. and there are so many things in her resume that are, frankly, amazing, that you can get distracted by where she went to school and where she got her law degree and the fact that she has been at several levels of the federal bench and also, of course, that she

. >> and then mary landrieu tauks talks about oil drilling in the gulf of mexico. "washington journal" begins each day with the day's news. >> president obama met with the chairman and ranking member of the committees working on health care legislation. the senators worked -- spoke with reporters after wards. this is eight minutes. >> the president wanted to meet to discuss health care rosm. the main point is, we have to act now together, which is probably one of the more important messages we wanted to make, to revamp the health care system, so that health care costs do not go up as rapidly as they have. so many person families are experiencing an uncon shunnable hike in health care costs. we have to reform the system, reform the health insurance system so people are not denied coverage based on preexisting conditions or health status. and all americans should have health insurance to make this system work, and it's just morally the right thing to do. we discussed various ways to get a yes from the bipartisan bill. the president made it clear he prefers a bripe so

senator landrieu, thank you for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon and to talk about the important work of the ready community's partnership. we provided written testimony and respectfully request that it be included in the record. it seeks to identify and implement best practices that help support improvements in public and private sector disaster response and recovery efforts. this initiative has grassroots. developed by a coalition of public and private sector leaders who recognize that better preparedness for emergencys and disasters could not solely depend on the action of the federal government or, in fact, government alone. this initiative is centered on a community-based approach that seeks to further galvanize the private and public sectors to address a large scale crisis in a community. these two sectors depend on each other and on day-to-day life on a community as they collaborate on how to improve their economic competitiveness, schools and infrastructure. the partnership operates undertakenet that the dependency should be just as strong if not stronger during a crisis.

senator landrieu, thank you for the average bennati to be with you and talk about the work of the ready communities partnership. we've provided written testimony to respectfully requested it be included in the record. the community's partnership is an initiative of the corporate crisis response officers association that seeks to identify and implement best practices in public and private sector disaster response and recovery efforts. this initiative is grassroots developed by a coalition of public and private sector leaders who recognize better prepare best for emergencies and disasters couldn't depend on actions of federal government or in fact government alone. this initiative is on a community-based approach that seeks to further galvanize resources of the public and private sectors to address large scale crisis in a community. these sectors depend on each other on day-to-day life of a community as they collaborate how to improve economical competitiveness, schools and infrastructure. the partnership operates under a tenant the dependency should be just as strong if not stronger duri

this isn't what senator landrieu thinks might happen, this is what our government and scientists and leaders believe is probable to happen. and what this committee's going to do is to try continuously to show those probabilities and the gaps to respond to what we are predicting is going to happen. and as we work i realize there are other priorities of the government. this is not the only priority of the government. but having represented people who lived through and survived through a catastrophic disaster, it's hard to tell them that there's another priority. >> that's right. >> and that is what's going to happen. i mean, for the two or three or four million or five million or twenty million people that are caught up in it at the time it happens, it's very hard to tell them that there's a higher priority than giving them a meal, a shelter, a potential job, a place to return, and it becomes a very significant issue for any country whether it's china or india or other countries that we have seen go through, you know, some horrific , catastrophic disasters. and it is just a matter of t

i am certainly continuing to work with senator nelson, senator landrieu and others on legislation and funding, which has thus cpsc studying this issue and has it on a more accelerated timetable to study three things in particular. number when the relationship between the drywall and health sometimes. so what's the bottom line on health, number one. number two, the relationship between the drywall and electrical and fire safety issues. and number three, the tracing of the origin and distribution of the drywall. so i know that's going on. the big issue is timing. even -- even with these funding assurances, even with the study ongoing, the word is it's taking months and months. what can you tell about the current plan at cpsc with regard to the timing of the study in? >> i understand this committee had a hearing to weeks ago on chinese drywall, and that is the date that the epa came forward and had dave either the results of its test and i am the stand the test was inconclusive, they didn't have a lot to tell you; is that correct, senator? >> that is my understanding, yes. >> i've review

>> chairman landrieu, senator burris, thank you for the opportunity today to present comments over the defense's support of civil liberties that we do at north com. i would like to take a moment commander dan baxter. he definitely understands the hurricane season, ma'am. >> it's very nice to meet you. >> we at northern command are privilege to be a member of the whole u.s. government approach to disaster response. including active guard and reserve alongside our federal, state, tribal and local partners. we started our planning this year well in advance of the past. we stand ready to assist the primary federal agencies in responding quickly to manmade and natural disasters when directed by the president or the secretary of defense. when requested and approved by appropriate federal officials in accordance with the national response framework, we support civil authorities by providing specialized skills and assets to save lives, reduce suffering and restore infrastructure in the wake of catastrophic events in the homeland. last year during one of the most destructive hurricane seasons o