thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: madam speaker, i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wilson: madam speaker, i am humbled and grateful for the overwhelming encouragement by the people of south carolina. house republicans have been developing commonsense reforms for our health care system. the republican study committee, led by dr. tom price of georgia, has introduced h.r. 3400, a bill to make health insurance accessible, affordable and portable. the bill gives small businesses the tools to provide coverage for their employees. it covers pre-existing conditions, promotes wellness and healthy lifestyle. the republican plan does not impose taxes on individuals and small businesses which will cost jobs. it does not add billions more to our nation's debt. the american people have spoken , and their voices must not be ignored.

thank you, madam chair. this amendment it seems to me is a little bit like putting a band-aid on what has proven to be a gaping wound. i don't think it's going to make anything worse and it might even stop a little bit of the bleeding, but it certainly won't heal the damage. h.r. 3221 eliminates a program that over 70% of colleges and universities have consistently chosen. this amendment is an acknowledgment that the break neck pace of this transition, transitioning by next summer, will be a problem for students, families and schools. while i share the concern about this radical change to our financial aid system, i fear this amendment may not do as much good as the gentleman from texas hopes. the department of education already maintains a website on federal aid programs and regularly disseminates information to high schools about the availability of federal student aid. in spite of information about the direct loan program, most schools still choose the ffel program. this tells me it's not lack of informat

feinstein: thank you very much, madam president. madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. dorgan: madam president? the presidini ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota, without objection. mr. dorgan: i have just checked with the manager of the bill, senator feinstein and asked if i could speak for five minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan: madam president, i -- the other day when our colleagues were talking about our departed colleague, senator ted kennedy, i was not able to be on the floor, and i did want to say just a few words about ted kennedy. i had the american of serving here -- i had the pleasure of serving here in this chamber for 16 years. he sat in the row behind me and i had plenty of opportunities to spend time and swap stories and talk about public policy with him. i knew him before i came to the united states senate. as a very young man i worked in his brother robe

kline: thank you, madam chair. at this time i yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. petri. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes and 30 seconds. mr. petri: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the chair: without objection, so ordered. mr. petri: i rise in support of h.r. 3221 which moves all student loans to the direct loan program. for over two decades i championed direct loans as the most cost-effective way to provide student loans. but the defenders of the archaic guarantee loan program are confused so let me be clear. currently we have two federal student loan programs which provide the exact same loans to students. fell is a federal program, not a private loan program. private lenders make the loans with two separate subsidies from the federal government, a guaranteed interest rate that's determined by the political process, not the markets, and a guarantee against default losses. thus, if a student defaults, the taxpayers are on the hook, not the private lender. th

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. res. 264 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution, 264 -- the presiding officer: the clerk will please take your conversations outside. the senate will be in order for the senator from connecticut. the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 264 designating the caucus room of the russell senate office building as the kennedy caucus room. whereas during the last century few rooms have borne witness to as much history as the caucus room of the russell senate office building. whereas during the last century few families have played as integral a

thank you, madame secretary.very concerned was she, though, about this issue of the swine flu and what should she do and that sort of thing. questions about what if she got it, what would be the risk to her, especially in the third trimester as she was then. and what was the risk to the fetus? and i think that we need to get more information. i noticed on web md, a recent printout from web md, july 29th, 2009, it says, pregnant women even if they are healthy are at high risk of hospitalization and death from h1n1 swine flu, the cdc reports. now, i would like for you to answer that question. are they -- i know they're increased risk over the general population and there are certain issues with decreased lung capacity and not as vigorous immune response because of their pregnancy. it does put them at higher risk than the general population of women, but are they at high risk of hospitalization and death? i think the answer to that is probably no, but comment on that if you will. >> congressman, what we saw in the s

freedom, madam speaker. if it is not, the u.s. -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: mr. mccotter of michigan. mr. mccotter: i'd like to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mccotter: madam speaker, i quote, for lo the winter is passed, the rain is over and gone. the flowers appear on the earth. the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the trurtle is heard in our land. every april we michiganders recite these lines from the song of solomon from his broadcast booth. and we welcome him and another season to detroit tigers baseball back into our homes. ernie is not only a part of our cull ter, he is a part of our families -- culture, he's a part of our families. throughout radios and sand lots, ernie's voice embodied and expressed the greatest of american games. baseball. everyone either tried or knew someone who tried to mimic

shimkus: thank you, madam speaker.ed states has an operating national missile defense to protect our west coast. why would we leave our east coast undefended? in an abc story today, i quote, the obama administration believes iran has now lied to inspectors three times. in addition to today's news, there were revelations in 2002 about a different clandestine plant and news in 2007 that iran has been working to design a new -- a nuclear warhead. our response should be, don't trust but defend. if the obama administration believes that iran has lied to the united states on nuclear weapons, why would we drop our defenses on the east coast? our national government is constituted to protect our citizens. by scrapping national missile defense for our east coast we fail in our job. and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise tod

>> thank you, madame chair. i appreciate the chair's commitment to have the secretary come back before the committee, before we have a vote on the health care overhaul bill in the house. >> i don't have that power but i'm going to talk to the chairman who does have that power. >> if you had that power you'd give us that commitment i know. i appreciate that because a lot of us share that concern. i also want to draw attention to the secretary to a letter that -- bipartisan letter mr. rogers, mr. gonzalez eni sent to you recently regarding the 2010 fee schedule on medicare as it relates to cardiologists and oncologists and proposed cuts that could be as high as 40% in some codes. if you haven't gotten that, i don't expect you to be on top of every letter that comes your direction, but if you flag that one we'd appreciate your response 37 i was reading a story in one of the papers coming out here yesterday from oregon, problem in the southern hemisphere related to h1n1 as it related to folks in the hospital trying

engel: thank you, madam speaker. i would like to commend my colleague who just spoke before me because i think he hit the nail right on the head. president obama spoke to school children today. i listened to it. it was very moving. it was very good to see the president of the united states talk directly to america's youth. and disgracefully during the past week, parents and some teachers and some schools saying they weren't going to allow their children to listen to the president of the united states. what a sad day it is when people can talk that way. the president of the united states is to be respected by all. he's all of our president, not just the people who voted for him. i voted for him. i'm proud i did. but everybody's president, every american's president. i believe that tomorrow as he did today with school children the president will make a very, very good speech on health care. highlighting health care y. we need health care reform, why it's important to have it. 40 million americans have no health insuran

thank you, madam secretary. thank you. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you, mad sam sec -- madam secretary, for being here with us again. in states and cities across the our country, local public health departments are getting decimated by budget cuts. in my hometown of sacramento the office has had to cut 17 percent of its budget. we'll lose three communicable disease specialists and two microbiologists from the public health lab. this is on top of other people who work behind the scenes every day testing samples for h1n1 virus and other communicable diseases. madam secretary, the one bright spot in these statistics i just mentioned is that my local public health department will be able to retain at least some positions thanks to a one-time infusion of recovery package dollars. what other plans do we have at cdc or in a department at large to help local public health departments cope with the huge responsibilities they're going to have soon, and also too, what is the plan if the virus hue tate sometime -- mutates sometime soon so we have a greater

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 3288 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 153, h.r. 3288, an act making appropriations for the departments of transportation, and so forth and for other purposes. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. again, we are on the floor today considering the transportation-housing appropriations bill. this is a major appropriations bill with funding for states across the country. i have been talking with a number of senators who have amendments that they would like to offer. again, this is now the fourth day we've been on the floor. we started on thursday. we were here friday. we were here yesterday. we're again here today. the majority leader would like us to finish this bill tomorrow. we have other appropriations bills that need to be done and conferences to be done in

madam president, i thank you, and i yield the floor. mrs. feinstein: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. stein stein: it's my -- mrs. feinstein: it's my understanding that the distinguished ranking member of the judiciary committee would like to speak as if on morning business and i certainly have no objection. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: madam president, i thank the senator from california and her courtesy's legendary in this body and i thank you for that. madam president, i -- i am taken aback and flabbergasted really by the obama administration's decision announced today to cancel the european missile defense site. i would ask, what does that mean, what kind of consequences are there for that? and i would just like to share a few remarks about it and note that it is contrary to the sense of the senate language that we included in the defense bill passed just a few weeks ago by this senate. it's a very, very significant decision. and i -- i want to give it more thought and i don't want to overst

kline: thank you, madam chair. at this time i yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. petri. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes and 30 seconds. mr. petri: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the chair: without objection, so ordered. mr. petri: i rise in support of h.r. 3221 which moves all student loans to the direct loan program. for over two decades i championed direct loans as the most cost-effective way to provide student loans. but the defenders of the archaic guarantee loan program are confused so let me be clear. currently we have two federal student loan programs which provide the exact same loans to students. fell is a federal program, not a private loan program. private lenders make the loans with two separate subsidies from the federal government, a guaranteed interest rate that's determined by the political process, not the markets, and a guarantee against default losses. thus, if a student defaults, the taxpayers are on the hook, not the private lender. th

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: madam president, there was an historic momt on capitol hill last night. the president of the united states, barack obama, asked for a joint session of congress to address one of the most important and controversial issues of our time. emotions were running high in the house chamber as members of the house and senate gathered to hear the president. you know that the ran high because there were expressions of support and disapproval during the president's speech. i sat with harry reidnd the other leaders in the, on the democratic side in the united states satend watched carefully as that speech unfolded. i thought the president was at his best. even under fire with the high emotions in the chamber. i wonred what the ending would be and how it would be received. if you recall, at t end of his speech the president referred to a letter that had been sento him by the late senator ted kennedy to be read after the senator had parsed away

thank you. >> madam secretary, we're delighted to have you with us. your full testimony that's been submitted in advance will be made part of the record, and we want to recognize you for your oral presentation to us. >> thank you very much. >> there is a button on the base of the mike. be sure it's on and bring it close to you. >> i believe i hit it. the green light is on. chairman waxman, ranking member barton, dingle, mr. stupak, mr. walden, members of the committee. it's good to be back before the energy and commerce committee, and i appreciate the opportunity to give you an update on

thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. gingrey: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: so recognized. mr. gingrey: madam speaker, on monday the washington post published an editorial talking about the net neutrality proposal. this proposal would call the federal government to introduce unnecessary regulation that would inherently slow down the international -- internet volume users. the so-called internet freedom protection act is pending in the house. today, the internet runs smoothly and networks balances your email, music downloads and streaming video because the internet runs without government interference. yet, net knew ralt would disrupt that. madam speaker, in this case, the washington post got it right. implement a net -- internet knew ralt will stifle the very technological growth that we need to continue to stay competitive in the global marketplace and it needs to be defeated. and

>> thank you, madam chairman. the, in the initial design of the program our expectation was there was going to be a period of ramp up in the program. we are on track to meet the goals that we designed the program to meet in february. >> excuse me one moment please. you can not hear me? oh okay. thank you. let's. no, if we were going to get you we would do better things than that. thank you. all right, we'll go back to mr. barr. >> in the initial design of the program we expected that it would be a ramp up in the progm, given the significant time that servicers would need to change their basic systems, and for tasury and other participants, fannie mae and freddie mac to put their systems in place. we're on track to meet the goal we enunciated at beginning of the program which is to reach three to four million borrowers over the 3-year period binning from initiation of the program. we're on track when we announced the program. i explained that we wanted to be at a roll rate of 20 to 25,000 trial modifications begun

let's listen. >> madam speaker, the president of the united states! [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> members of congress, i have the hard privilege and distinct honor to present to you the president of the united states. [ applause ] >> thank you! thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. please, be seated. thank you. thank you very much. please, be seated. madam speaker, vice president biden, members of congress and the american people, when i spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month. credit was frozen and our financial system was on the verge of collapse. as any american who is still looking for work or a way to pay their bills will tell you, w

prime minister, madam chancellor, prime ministers, ministers, members of parliament, your excellenciesladies and gentleman, the citizens of gdansk, on the first of september, 1939, the nightmare of europe and the world started with the attack on poland. here in of westerplatte, i handful soldiers reacted heroically and stood in defense of the freedom and honor of europe. it was here for the first time that first nazism met armed resistance. it was here that people fought against the nazi regime, from the first to the last days of the war. today as the president of the european parliament, i want to say very strongly, we shall never forget and we shall never let others forget. historic remembrance cannot be put away into a dusty museum because it is important to remember it the victims of the war, in cemeteries all over the world. it will be the community of remembrance for us. the warnings for the future generations. this remembrance is the foundation upon which we build the future. the second world war came to an end in may 1945. the nazi regime collapsed, but it was not the end of th

foxx: thank you, madam speaker.in a recent article conservative commentator thomas sole, a african-american, examined some of president obama's claims about the health care reform legislation moving through the congress. i wanted to quote some excerpts from his column i found to be insightful. he writes in his joint address to congress president obama is wrong about the spending levels of his health care reform. he says, quote, to tell us with a straight face can he insure millions more people without adding to the already sproketting deficit is world class chutzpah and insult to anyone's intelligence. to do so after an analysis by the congressional budget office has already showed this to be impossible reveals the depths of moral bankruptcy behind the glittering words. sole continues along this the accounting line by addressing the issue of paying for the health infrastructure implied in the president's health reform plan. he writes, even those who can believe that obama can conjure up the money from eliminating "w

murray: madam president, the senate's not in order. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m. >> this morning on capitol hill, joint chief of staff mike mullin told lawmakers the war in afghanistan probably will require more troops at a senate hearing on reappointment to his post. the question and answer portion followed starting with armed services chairman carl levin. >> admiral, has general mccrystal submitted yet a request for special additional resources for afghanistan? >> no, sir, he's not. >> has the decision been made on whether to commit additional u.s. forces to afghanistan beyond the 17,000 combat troops and the 4,000 trainers that the president approved in february? >> no, sir. >> has the recommendation been made by you or secretary gates to president obama be relative to sending additional troops to afghanistan? >> sir, we've made our recommendation based on the assessment, but we have not having received the request from general mccrystal yet, we've made no recommendatio

gohmert: thank you, madam speaker. i do appreciate the time. there's so much going on and we have heard so much about community organizations in the last -- actually the last year as we heard then candidate and senator obama talking about community organizations being the way to go. and i think it's wonderful. community organizations, i'm a member of a number of community organizations. none of them pay me, though. we do the things we do in the community organizations i have ever been a part of because we care about the community. we have jobs, we work, and then in our own time without being compensated we try to help others. we do it through church, we do it through all kinds of civic organizations. so this whole thing of community organizations has been a bit of an anathema to me. an enigma, a riddle within a riddle, a community organization of volunteers who get paid to do some kind of organization. it's a strange thing. so as we have heard more and more about this group acorn and the vast amount of money that it has been receiving from taxp

madam chairman. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman. >> thank you, madam air. and i thinkhere is a very stark difference in the approach of the foreclosure issue has been put before us, the gentleman from alabama says the federal government should do nothing to alleviate the specific foreclosures. his proposal is to incase jobs. i will point out that according to the single most important appointment to an economic post that george bush made, chairman ben bernanke of the federal resee, the economic recovery program that the gentlemen voted against and still apparently still lament significantly increase jobs. mr. bunning he said that there would be fewer jobs if we did not have this. in his report to us volunteered several instances in which, several specifics which had an increase. so i do agree jobs are better but i also think that the analysis we justeard, it lumps together all kinds of foreclosures. yes, unemployment is causing a new wave of foreclosures. these are people who got mortgages that were perfectly nsible for them at the time they got them, but y

madam secretary, over to you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. well, it is a great delight to be back at brookings through that revolving door that does go both directions. i spoke with strobe after i was asked to take this job as secretary state, and he said, i know you will decimate the place, and i said yes, we are, but that's part of the revolving door, people that go in and out of administrations and those who do the work here at brookings every day, the high quality work and visionary and analytical. and i am very grateful of this team you have lead for years and the opportunity to work with them now in this new capacity. and i want to an a word of personal appreciation to strobe, most of you know he's been a friend of my husband's and mine, starting with my husband at oxford, and shortly afterwards, and he and the wonderful brook were dear friends over all of these years. and i am pleased to look out and see adrian and devin, the next generation, and to all the diplomatic corp, the ambassadors here today, i thank each of you. i have had th

pasquale of new jersey for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. madam chair, the fact is that our inability to find a border security solution that actually works makes it impossible for the congress to enact real comprehension immigration reform. that's the bottom line. and with all due respect, and i thank them for their to chief aguilar, mr. borkowski, and mr. stana and to many respects, our friend from boeing here, see, i don't think the technology is the problem. it's our inability to articulate a coherent policy for practicing and protecting our borders. that's the problem. i don't think they're the problem. we're the problem. and the administration is the problem. before and now. so you could put more personnel -- i mean, we just discovered we had a northern border in the last two years. we thought that it disappeared. dematerialized. but you can have more personnel, more walls and fences and more electronics, and we're good at that stuff, you know, we like to work with that. but we're not good at accomplishing what we're set out to do and

bill: it was a guest, madam -- guest, madam. bill: interesting point.lly coming down on them but they are all over wilson. bill: pointing that out leads nowhere, madam as the kanye west tailor swift controversy speaks for itself. your speculation and the factor doesn't plate race card. we are never going to do that. bill: well, i'm glad. so i'm going to send you a copy of bold fresh, cory. keep reading and i hope you like it. bill: thanks for reading my book. remember, buy bold fresh or anything else on bill o'reilly.com. and you have got to buy it $19.95. get a fre, fre fre bold fresh tote back. how about our web site, www.fox news slash o'reilly. talking points memo is a good one this evening if you come in late. email us with pithy comments from anywhere in the world. o'reilly@foxnews.com. name and town if you wish to opine. please, when writing to us here is the word of the day don't be a plooter. that's it for us today. continue 24/7 on bill gretchen: good morning, everyone. thursday, september 17, 2009. thanks for sharing your time today. she's cl

. >> thank you, madam chairman. i mentioned to the chairman, i haven't been nervous at one of these board meetings since i attended my first one. with the number of tv cameras, this is -- my anxiety level is a little higher. i'll be brief. as we know, continuing bank resolutions have placed increasing pressures on the deposit insurance fund. staff projectses that the deposit insurance fund balance will be negative as of september 30. in addition, staff projected that the fdic's liquidity needs will exceed the liquid assets on hands beginning in the first quarter of 2010. so the fdic board today is presented with two challenges. to address both the negative fund balance and the shortfall in liquidity for the fund. to address the negative fund balance, the board is proposing an eight-year restoration plan as provided for in the most recent connelly enacted legislation. to restore the d.i.f. to its statutorily required ratio of 1.15% by the first quarter of 2017. this restoration plan would maintain assessment rates at

>> thank you, madam chair, and thanks to the panelists.tuents, town meetings and so forth, we talk about the urgency of reform because americans are living sicker and paying more. i say the intention of these reforms are to provide better coverage and better care without increasing costs, and they say, "oh, come on, congressman. that is political doubletalk." how can you provide better care without increasing the costs to the ordinary american, and i say we are spending $8,000 per person for health care in america, more than ample to provide excellent care for all americans. i talk about redundance activities and unnecessary tests and procedures and financial incentives that are directed more towards corporate profits or providers' income than they are for patient health or the best outcome. i would like to hear it from doctors, hospitals, and nurses that the legislation in front of us in better patient care without increased costs. >> there are parts in there that will be helpful, but at the end of the day, 50% side of the health care cos

madam president, i yid the floor. msmikulski: madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, good morning. i wish to speak aut senator ted kennedy. ordinarily i would have been proud to be on my feet to give such a testimonial. but as many of my colleagues know, i had a fall a few weeks ago coming out of church and ready to bet my duty statio but can quite stand to be 4 '11" and give theseemarks. but i do want to species and spee speak from my heart, speeblg from my memory, and speak with my affection. ve known ted kennedy a very long time. he's been my friend, my pal, my comrade in arms. i've enjoyed everything from working with him on big policy issues to selling off of the coast -- to sailing off the coast of the hyannis. i have been with him in his hideaway while we strategized d how to me an agenda of empowerment and i've danlsed at his fous birthday parties. we've had a good time together, and i remember one of the first parties was a theme fm the 60's, and i came with a bigwig looking like

madam secretary, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> let's get to the heart of behalf gan stan and the meeting. the second of five big names in the room. what is going to come out of this? >> well, i think what is so important tamron is this president is actually taking the time to gather all the opinions and to gather the facts. you can't just increase numbers of troops without having all the aspects. general mcchrystal is coming in through video and the others to state their views to figure out what is going on. i think this is the right way. >> what are the unknown facts? i know general mcchrystal said he has spoken to president obama once. i don't know if he is supposed to speak to him more. but what more does this president need to know more than the facts reported daily? >> not all the facts are the same. that is what i find interesting in listening to the news and reading what i read. it is trying to figure out from various perspectives. general mcchrystal is part of a chain of command. the president is clearly knowledgeable about what goes on and takes a great deal of inter

madam secretary, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. >> thank you, harry smith the president said about the secret facility that's been uncovered in iran that it is inconsistent with a peaceful nuclear program. what does the united states think this secret facility is for? >> well, we believe that it is a covert facility designed for uranium enrichment. it has not been disclosed. and therefore it raises additional suspicions about the iranian intent regarding their nuclear program. and this week we had several very important developments. first, we had in this room a bilateral meeting with president med ved and president obama. in a very small setting where i was there, the president, you know, talked with great specificity with president medved about the dual track that we are on regarding the iranian nuclear program and the upcoming meeting on october 1. and opened the discussion about the information that we had concerning this facility. >> smith: he told president medved. >> yes. what we also saw happen today, later that day, was an agreement by all the members

>> thank you, madam chair. mr. secretary i do want to reply the old ground on financial institutions. i agree with you we probably made about as much headway we're going to make on that. but i surely think it is reasonable for anyone to conclude that there is a fair amount of subjective power that is assumed by treasury in deciding who will receive bail out or economic recovery funds under eesa. i do want to starr report some old ground in my earlier line of questioning because the american people to know what are we getting for our $700 billion today? again, having been on this panel i started reading from treasury's website on the purpose of these programs. and frankly, withhe exception of the foreclosure mitigation program, where you offer the goal of assisting seven to 9 million homeowners. i think today we stand roughly 350,000, if my records are correct. i can find no demonstrable metric of success by the administration. so can you enlighten me? >> again, happy to walk you throug again, like h given testimony

congressman hensarling. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. secretary, i continue to be concerned over the precedent being set for the taxpayer and our financial markets with the chrysler and gm intervention. you are well acquainted with the facts since it was your team that helped put together the reorganizations, but in gm bondholders were asked to swap $27 billion in get for initially 10% common equity. the uaw agreed to swap $20 billion for 17.5% of common he can quit. $9 billion in preferred stock. and the uaw ends up with 55% of chrysler. they end up with 17.5% of gm. when you talk about the success of your administration in stabilizing the fanl markinanci markets, i'm just very concerned when senior secured bondholders are treated less equally than those who are unsecured and equally unsecured creditors still we see the uaw receives preferential treatment. warren buffett, perhaps the most famous investor in america, said, quote, if priorities don't mean anything, that's going to disrupt lending practices. abandoning that principle would

. >> warner: madam secretary, thanks for doing this. >> thank you very much for talking with me todaymargaret. >> warner: you are a key advisor to president obama as secretary of state as he's reviewing this whole afghan strategy. what is your reaction to general mcchrystal's assessment. >> first, let me put it into context. one of the points that the president has made continuously since taking office is that we're going to be assessing both our strategy and its implementation constantly. we're not going to make a decision and then just let it go on auto pilot. we think that it's much better to be very open and robust' in our deliberations. so what general mcchrystal has done is to take a look from his perspective. he's a new commander. he was asked to please give his best judgment. his memo is is what's called a classified pre-decisional assessment. but it goes into the process. we have a really vigorous process through the n.f.c., and the white house, where we make ours= contributions. then, of course, decisions go to the president. i think the president said very well yesterday on

let's listen. >> madam speaker, the president of the united states! [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> members of congress, i have the hard privilege and distinct honor to present to you the president of the united states. [ applause ] >> thank you! thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. please, be seated. thank you. thank you very much. please, be seated. madam speaker, vice president biden, members of congress and the american people, when i spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month. credit was frozen and our financial system was on the verge of collapse. as any american who is still looking for work or a w

madam president, i yield the floor. >> madameresident? madame president?>> senat from maryland. >> madame president, good morning. >> good morning. >> i wish to speak about senator ted kennedy. ordinarily, i would have been proud to be on my feet to get such a testimonial. but as many of my colleagues know, i had a fall a few weeks ago coming out of church, and ready to be at my duty station but can't quite stand getting these remks. but i want to speak and speak from my heart, speak from my memory and speak with my affection. i've known ted kennedy a very long time. he's been my friend, my pal, my comrade of arms. i have enjoyed everything from working with him on big policy issues to sailing off the coast. i have been with him in his hideaway while we strategize on how to move an agenda of an powerpntand life instead his famousirthday parties. we have had a good time together, and i remember one of the first parties was the theme from the 60's d i came with a big way -- wig hoping to look like jackie kennedy. ted saidecause vicky, because they wereoming

. >> in other words, your party not saying in the house, madam speaker's is not saying, wait until thet first? >> that's my thought. i believe that's true, yes. >> okay, thank you. let me go to you. >> thank you, chris. first of all, americans are awakening to what this bill will actually do. they will be forced to become part of health care. they have to do it or else they get in with a 2% tax. >> i support that. >> i don't. >> i think everyone ought to be responsible for health care. >> will be forced -- it's all about force, force this, force that. >> we have to have car insurance to drive on the highway. i can't get on the jersey turnpike -- i can't get on the jersey turnpike without insurance. >> you're asking questions. i'm trying to answer. the health care advisory committee will say what the parameters for health care are. rationing is a very real concern. factcheck.org found that the president was mistaken -- hopefully he wasn't deceiving by design, but he was mistaken when he said abortion will not be covered. it is covered in both the premiums that will be paid when people g

madam secretary, we cited the polling at the beginning. it does appear the president got a significant bounce from independents about the 14 points in terms of support for the president's plans based on those who watched it. however, the viewing audience itself, 21 million, was relatively small compared to other primetime events. a little disappointed by that, that maybe the president if you believe all of the accounts of last night, that it was a great speech but not a lot of people saw it or least not as many people saw it as perhaps he would have wanted? >> i think, david, the president did exactly what he set out to do, which is to clarify what health reform means, security and stability for those americans with insurance, some opportunity for affordable coverage, for those without insurance and lower cost and higher quality for everybody. he got that message across. he took on some of the worst misinformation that's been circulating, clarified what's in the bill, what isn't in the bill. and then called on all of us to reach into our b

president, president, madame first lady, secretary gates, distinguished visitors, welcome. offer a special welcome to the loved ones of those who died or were injured in an attack on the pentagon september 11th, 2001. we are here to reflect and remember. who among us can ever forget where we were, what we saw, how we felt as citizens and as a nation. i myself remember the shudder and the smoke, the ship mates i lost and how the whole world changed that day. as americans, we share a common sore row for the 184 livings that ended here -- lives that ended here and for all those who perished in new york and somerset county pennsylvania. some young, some not so young. all of them taken from us, stolen from us, right before our eyes, and well before their time. our grief is real and it is warranted. but if i may, let me ask and let me urge, that we look upon this day, not only with sorrow, but also with hope for the future, that those we honor wanted us to have and gratitude for the life they wanted us to live. let us face that future with the same resolve, our men and women in u

madam secretary, over to you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much.ell, it is a great delight to be back here at brookings. through that revolving door, which really does go both directions near i spoke with strobe shortly after i was asked to take this job as secretary of state, and began thinking about who needed to be in this new administration. and he will flee said i know you're going to decimate the place. i said well, yes, we are, but that's all part of the revolving door. people who go in and out of administration, who do the work that is done here every day at brookings, such high quality work, in many respects, visionary as well as analytical. and i am very grateful for this farm team that you have led so well for so many years, and the opportunity to work with them now in this new capacity i also want to just say a word of personal appreciation to strobe. as most of you know, he spends eight friend of my husband and mine. of course starting with my husband had offered, and then shortly afterwards, and he had a wonderful brooks, were dear de

[laughter] thank you so much, madame secretary. we have got a little over 15 minutes or so, and why don't we go immediately to martin indyk who will ask the first question. >> there he is. >> thank you very much, strobe and madame secretary as leader of state. you seem to in your speech to make clear to the iranians they have a choice to make. but i wonder, you know, today president mahmoud ahmadinejad said the holocaust is a lie and stole the elections and he is pressing a position and he's also made very clear that the nuclear -- their nuclear program isn't something up for discussion and he wants to kind of talk to the p5 plus 1 about dividing the world and recognition for the superpower status. how do you affected his calculus? what is the strategy for actually getting him to understand that he has to address the nuclear program and he has to reassure the international community of iran's peaceful intentions? >> well, you know, martin, as i said there are no guarantees of results let alone success in many of these difficult eng

that's the soviet style of doing things, madam chair. this is america. we go from the grassroots up. and our friends on the democratic side chose not to do it that way. instead, they would rather villify republicans because that's what helps them raise money and win votes and isn't it about winning votes and maintaining your majority. you're not really held to account by the american account as to whether or not you pass your agenda or not apparently if we are to believe the poll numbers. i don't believe this can be done from the top down. this has to come from the grassroots up. we saw a member of congress, a democrat in one of the midwestern states ask her constituents during one of the august town halls, don't you trust me? and the response she got back from her awed yns well, apparently not. -- audience, well, apparently not. the question is, the real question for this house, was anyone listening to those voices as they were speaking to us? right now, this congress has historic low credibility ratings. we have some of the lowest credibility ratings i

and while that is an issue that could be disssed, madam chairman -- madam president, think about it,amtrak carries 28 million people in a year. and amtrak produces far less toxic emission, much more energy efficient. we've been delinquent for so many years in investing in good railroading in this advanced country, in this, the richest couny in the wld, no matter what our economic condition is. it incomprehensible that that kind of a choice is put on, either you carry guns on our trains -- in our bagge on our trains or else we shut the railroad down. it's preposterous when you think of the services that are offered not just on the amtrak trains, but on the amtrak tracks, where it is also used by commuting services. it would cripple the functioning of our country and it's outrageous that we at this point in time when we've worked so hard to generate funding for -- for amtrak to improve the service, to bring it up to the 21st ctury and it is suggested that maybe we ought to shut it down because we have a disagreement about whether guns can be carried in baggage on railroad cars. this am

madam chair, there's a better way. later in the debate, i'll join the ranking member on the higher education subcommittee, mr. guthrie, and offer an amendment to stabilize student lending with a program approved on a bipartisan basis last year. with this plan, we can put $10 million in deficit reduction and study long-term structural changes to our system. it's a thoughtful, reasoned approach to determine what's best for students, schools, and taxpayers alike. i urge my colleagues to slow down, take a breath and ask yourself whether another government takeover is what we need right now. i think the answer is a clear no. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. miller: i yield myself 30 seconds. i appreciate the gentleman wants to make this comparison between public option and private sector. let's run down what happened over the last 10 years. the private sector took $100 billion in subsidies and became the most prof

ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. our ambassador, susan rice, our permanent representative to the united nations, has emphasized that the u.s. is taking a new approach to the u.n. as part of its broader new era of engagement. instead of protecting the investment of our tax dollars, instead of conditioning our contributions on real reform, the u.s. has adopted a strategy of money now, maybe reform later. at the u.n. general assembly as it begins its new session next week or this week, there's perhaps no better time to evaluate its effectiveness thus far of this so-called new approach. well, let's see what they've resulted. in march, the u.s. sent an observer to participate in the u.n. so-called human rights council which is dominated by dictatorships like china, cuba and saudi arabia and is notoriously anti-israel. despite u.s. engagement, the council stayed true to form. what did they do? overwhelmingly passed five separate resolutions condemning israel. passing no resolutions condemning human rights violations by the