madam speaker, i'll yield back my time. mr. petri: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise? mr. petri: madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to support the resolution before us and have no further request for time and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin yields back all of his time. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio. ms. fudge: thank you, madam speaker. i, too, would just ask that my colleagues support h.res. 1336, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time has been yielded back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1336. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to -- the gentlewoman from ohio. ms. fudge: madam speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present.

the messenger: madam speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 3111, an act to establish the commission on the freedom of information act in which the concurrence of the house has requested. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. gutierrez: thank you. madam speaker, the old joke around congress is that the senate is washington's legislative's hospice, a place where good bills go and die a slow death. i hope this joke will be proven wrong. unfortunately, many of the reforms passed in the wall street reform and consumer protection act of 2009, including strong consumer protection and much-needed reform to the industry are being watered-down. the latest victim of this appeasem

madam chair. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 5116, pursuant to house resolution 1344, i report the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the chair in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 5116 and pursuant to house resolution 1344 reports back -- reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is say do notted. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to invest in innovation through research and develo

bilbray: thank you, madam speaker -- madam chairman. i regretfully stand up today in opposition to this bill. it's not because of the major portions of this bill. i want first of all, i want to thank the chairman for getting as much of a bipartisan bill as possible. he worked hard on this bill. the entire years he's been chair, he's done a lot that many talk about, to make the bipartisan effort. sadly, madam chair, i have to oppose this bill for one major issue and that is this bill does not take the effort to make sure that the billions of dollars in this bill do not go to illegal employers who are creating a crime problem in my district and around the country. all we've asked for is the ability to assure our constituency that none of the tax money that we're putting in this bill, that this effort will be diverted into illegal activities, such as hiring people that are illegal present in the united states. as every member of congress knows, the federal government requires that all federal apartments, including members of congress, use

royce: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of this legislation which expresses condolences to the families of the 46 south korean sailors who recently lost their lives to a north korea torpedo attack, and this resolution appropriately stands in solidarity with our south korea ally in the wake of this assault. last week, south korea unveiled the results of an international investigation, a quite methodcal one, into the cause of the sinking of this south korea naval vessel, and the evidence overwhelmingly showed what many but all were certain occurred on that march 26, it showed that the ship was indeed sunk by a north korean torpedo attack, in clear violation of the north korean war armistice. madam speaker, this incident is offering long lasting clarity across asia after years of delusions about north korea. reality is now setting in. in seoul it is offering clarity about the brutal nature of the stalinist regime that operate in the north. earlier today, the south korean president addressed the nation and he

madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president?he presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 3217, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 349, s. 3217, a bill to promote the financial stacket of the united states by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 10:00 a.m. will be for debate on amendment number 3749, with the time equally divided and controlled in the usual form. the senator from nebraska. mr. johanns: thank you very much, madam president. i'm just going to speak two minutes this morning. but i would like to stand to take a moment to voice my support for the tester-hutchison amendment. this amendment will ensure that banks of all sizes pay their fair share by broadening the assetment base that is used by the fdic. the fdic would determine bank premiums by basing it on total asse

hoyer: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? mr. hoyer: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today ited a jurp to meet at -- adjourn to meet at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. and further when the house adjourns on that day it adjourn to meet on tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair will entertain one-minute requests. without objection. mr. kirk: madam speaker, today's volatility in the market teaches us two lessons. first, our treasury secretary and our president must advance a new international economic stabilization plan based on tremendous cuts in european government spending. over 60% of greece's g.d.p. is in the public sector. with debts rising to 100% of national income, their ability to repay their debt was inevitably going to collapse. spain, portugal and italy may be next. their debts total trillions, not hundreds of millions. our u.s. financial system

thank you, madam president. with that, i yield the floor. mr. sanders: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. the senator controls 20 minutes. mr. sanders: thank you. madam president, let me begin by thanking my colleague from louisiana, senator vitter, not only for his remarks today, but for his excellent work throughout this process. and i've enjoyed working with him. and one of the things that we have tried to do in this whole process is to bring together people who come from very different ideologies to basically make the point that the time is now that we have got to end secrecy at the fed. madam president, i should also -- i should also say, madam president, i would like to yield myself 15 minutes. if you can let me know when 15 minutes has expired. the presiding officer: the senator will be notified. mr. sanders: madam president, at a time when the federal reserve has provided the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world, the largest financial institutions in this country, trillion dollar institutions, without the approval of

madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. and i rise in strong support of the franken amendment. first, i want to praise my colleague from minnesota for the great job that he has done on this amendment. this makes -- is going to make a huge difference. it strengthens the section that's already in senator dodd's fine bill where senator reed, jack reed, did great work, and now it goes a little further. but particularly i thank my colleague from minnesota for offering it really gets at the heart of the conflict of interest. you know, we can go around the conflict of interest. we can shine a mirror -- a light on the conflict of interest. but unless you get the heart of it, you're not going to undo the problem. and the senator from minnesota does that, and i really praise him for his fine work. i think if this amendment passes, it's going to be one of the lasting contributions and one of the most significant contributions to prevent a future

dear, madam speaker. i want to apologize for saying in a sunday press release that you and the democratic leadership are betraying americans -- america's veterans. your support of america's veterans, military and their families is and has been above reproach, quote-unquote. above reproach. and so now using this opportunity to try to cast any aspirgs i think is more than unfortunate. i think if i might say so is disgraceful. . there is said something about we are doing something in health care reform on the emotion of the moment. talk about emotions. we had worked on this in our country for decade after decade after decade after decade after decade and more decades. health care reform was an effort in the best american tradition to try to advance what has made this country great and that is acting as a community to meet the needs of individuals, to combine responsibility and community. so let me get back, if you want to go out and talk about repeal, as the gentleman from california has, go and talk to the

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. burris: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. burris: thank you, madam president. roughly two years ago, the american economy stood on the verge of collapse. after years of growth and seemingly endless prosperity and the honeymoon was suddenly over. the bubble burst, the world was plunged into recession. banks began to fail, foreclosures skyrocketed, business struggled and many americans lost their jobs. working families saw their hard-earned economic security evaporate almost overnight, madam president. some of our largest and most respected financial institutions were forced to close their doors and others were in intimate danger. near washington, policy-makers -- here in washington, policy-makers found themselves face to face with the worst economic crisis since the great depression, so they took action, madam president. they were forced to make some difficult decisions but they -- they stopped the bleeding. and set america back on the road to recovery. it's well-known that

madam speaker, mr. slater has accomplished a great deal in the world of amateur and professional surfing. as a teenager, he won six have you ever -- surf association titles. at the age of 20, he was the youngest surfer to win the association of surfing world championship. he has won that title nine times in his career, another record. this year he won the rip curl championship for the fourth time, earning him yet another international title. he is in fact the all-time leader in career event wins. but his accomplishments are not limited to tackling big waves. in 2007, he founded the kelly slater foundation, an organization dedicated to raise awareness and financial support for a number of environmental and other charities. madam speaker, mr. slater has achieved much in the world of professional surfing. today, we have the opportunity to congratulate him for his success and to commend him for his charityible works. i thank -- charitable works. i thank the gentleman from florida for introducing this measur

meeks: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. meeks: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. serve the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: madam speaker, on sunday we'll be celebrating mother's day. and on may 9, 2014, we'll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the declaration by president wilson of mother's day. being the second sunday in may. and i speak in strong support of the bill that mrs. capito also worked on and drafted and fought so hard to have a commemorative coin done on -- for that day in honor of mother's day. as you know, anna jarvis, who is considered to be the found irof the modern mother's day was born in webster, west virginia, on may 1, 1864, and she loved her mother. so much so that when her mother passed the governor o

i yield back, madam speaker. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. ms. kaptur from ohio. mr. jones from north coor -- carolina. without objection. the gentlelady from florida is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, madam speaker. thank you for the time. in 1993, a group of south florida women established the women's fund of miami-dade, a nonprofit dedicated to funding innovative, community programs geared towards girls and young women. at the time of the fund's creation, gender-specific community-based initiatives were nonexist tant. according to a survey undertaken by the women's fund in 1996, only a few agencies had implemented programs exclusively for women. absent from our community were programs to assist young women seeking to advance their education or to secure their economic future or engage in professional leadership training. the women's fund of miami-dade took this cause to our south florida community and has since generated enough support to provide m

thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: thank you, madam president. i'm here today to speak about the consumer protection title in the dodd bill, but i do want to say that while i disagree with my friends from connecticut and ohio in their approach, i certainly appreciate the way they've conducted themselves. and actually, i think the debate we've had on this floor over this bill, i will say to the senator from connecticut, has been of the highest level i can remember in a long time. and i want to thank him for setting that tone. i want to thank my caucus for i think offering nothing but constructive amendments. and people on both sides of the aisle i think have tried to do that. i think, you know, it took awhile to get here but we're on the floor, and obviously there are a lot of improvements that people would like to make to this bill, but i think people are really focused on doing that. and, again, i want to thank you for setting that tone. at the same time,

burton: thank you very much, madam speaker. madam speaker, mr. poe of texas comes down here and talks about the problems along the border between the united states and mexico. and today or yesterday, i received an email that i would like to read to my colleagues and the subject is the wild southern border. and it starts off and says, don't leave your weapons in the car, don't turn your back on strangers. use your cell phone with your off hand, not your strong hand and the reason they start off with that lesson is because what it said in this email and i would like to read it to you. as you know, one of the local ranchers was murdered in douglas, arizona. i received three messages from different officers within the rangers and law enforcement. yesterday afternoon, i talked to another rancher near us, who is a friend of ours and great grandfather started their ranch here in 1880. these are good people. he told me what happened out at the ranch and what you won't read in the newspapers. the border patrol is afraid of starting a small war between civ

thank you, madam chair. i was just going to say, to respond to my colleague from texas. i understand the concern he has. on the other hand, the attorney general has demonstrated no reticence or reluctance whatsoever to come before the committee, not this committee, but others but i'd companies will return at the first available opportunity. if that's the case, it would be nice to have more full representation of our committee. i know a lot of members who couldn't stay, would love to participate in the hearing. they will lose that opportunity if we go forward without. >> would the gentleman yield? >> i would be glad. >> several responses to the gentleman's point. first, it's obvious the attorney general has the willingness to stay and answer questions for as long as they might be. second of all, all members of congress were on notice that we expected to be in session today, to at least three or 4:00 this afternoon. the fact that the votes in that earlier were not anticipated, some members have not had to chan

madam president, that is outrageous. we cannot continue to funnel unlimited amounts of taxpayer money into freddie and fannie and have no plan to end this siphon. at a time we're faced with crushing debt and out-of-control deficits we're willing to turn a blind eye to a $145 billion problem which is going to only magnify over time to the point that last christmas eve the administration lifted the cap of $400 billion, which is what initially was put in place that would limit the amount of taxpayer exposure. what we're now saying is that may not be enough. yet, we do nothing, nothing in this legislation to remedy this problem. obviously the administration knew there was more bad news ahead when they decide to lift the cap on government assistance on christmas eve of last year. the obama administration decided the taxpayers could afford unlimited funding for freddie and fannie rather than keep a $400 billion on assistance in place. and it's frightening that they believe that that $400 billion is not going to be enough. unli

a senator: madam president? could we have order, madam president? mr. lemieux: this chamber just supported and voted for the franken amendment. my measure goes further. my measure says we are going to write these rating agencies out of law. we should not reward bad behavior. there are other ways to determine creditworthiness. there is a two-year period to figure that out. this is not -- this is the better way to do this. it will solve this problem. these rating agencies were responsible for this debacle. madam president, mr. president, i'd like to give the remainder of my time to my colleague, senator cantwell. ms. cantwell: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: will the senate be in order, please. the senate will be in order. the senator from washington is recognized. ms. cantwell: thank you, mr. president. this is language that was also offered in the house bill by our colleague, barney frank, and it's appropriate that we don't require our federal agencies to just rely on these rating agencies. it's critical that these agencies like the fdi

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. dodd: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: before our colleague from delaware leaves the floor, i said this once before, madam president, but i want to repeat it again. our colleague from delaware has only been here a few months, i guess, a little over a year now. it goes by very quickly stepping in after our colleague, joe biden, became vice president. senator kaufman, i believe almost on a daily basis, or something like that, weekly basis, takes a few minutes out to recognize people whose names or face i'm sure most americans have never seen and never know, maybe their families and neighbors are familiar with them, but he chooses three or four people who have worked on behalf of all of us. in many cases for years without ever getting the kind of notoriety and celebration that people in elected office receive. and i just want to thank him for doing it. it's not a piece of legislation. it's not an amendment to a bill. it's not some ordinance or some treaty that thi

alexander: thank you, madam president. madam president, are we in morning business?nate this week is financial regulation. it's hard to pick about what the business should be this week; there's so much going on that's of great concern to many of us. we have a briefing this afternoon on the dimensions of the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. those of us in tennessee are deeply concerned about the 1,000-year rain, an event that only happens every thousand years according to to some of the engineers in the army corps that has wreaked havoc on middle tennessee and is beginning now to hurt west tennessee. we have the arizona immigration debate, which the distinguished senator from illinois was discussing a little earlier. we have a new start treaty that the president has asked us to consider. just around the corner we have a nomination coming for a vacancy on the supreme court of the united states which will dominate, as it should, the attention of this body for two or three months or so until it's thoroughly considered. and of course the american people would like for us

thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. woolsey of california. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from wisconsin rise? >> i sk unanimous consent to claim congresswoman woolsey's tie. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. baldwin: our hearts go out to victims of recent floods and natural disasters but i also fear that we suffer from the old addage, out of sight, out of mind. once the cameras are packed away and the news crews leave, what happens to the victims and survivors of our natural disasters? one would hope that the system of emergency response would keep on plugging away in assisting the families in need of assistance across this country. but sometimes, unfortunately that system breaks down. madam speaker, i rise today to bring the voices of my constituents in jefferson county, wisconsin, to the floor of the people's house. in 2008, homes along the northern shore of a lake and the surrounding community were devastated by a record-setting floo

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. brown: madam president?the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i appreciate the leadership of my colleague from delaware who understands this wall street reform perhaps better than anybody in the senate and has particularly led the charge on working to -- when too big to fail meaning too big, that the size of banks in this country the six largest banks' assets 15 years ago were only 17% of g.d.p. today the assets of the six largest banks total 63% of gross domestic product. we know that too big to fail really is too big and i appreciate the work senator kaufman has done on that. madam president we know what a financial meltdown looks like. it means pensions shattered it means homes lost, college plans delayed or even abandoned. it means good-paying jobs lost, it means middle-class security undermine. two years after the financial collapse in march 2010, there were 655,000 unemployed ohioans. ohio's unemployment rate today is 11%. three of the largest banks slashed

madam chair. the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings the committee of the whole house under the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 5136 directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon the speaker pro tempore: the committee has had under consideration h.r. 5136 and has come to no resolution thereon. the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 5128 an act to designate the department of interior building as the stert udall as the department of sbrosh building. -- interior building. the speaker pro tempore: pusht to house resolution 1404 and the rule 18, the state considers 5136, will the gentleman from oregon, kindly resume the chair. the chair: the committee will be in order. the house is in the committee of the whole in the house of the state of the union for further consideration of the bill h.r. 1404 which the clerk will report by title. revise that, bill 5136. the clerk: a bill to authorize appropriation

the secretary: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i am directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentlewoman from california, ms. chu, to suspend the rules and agree to h. resolution 1272, on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1272, resolution commemorating the 40th anniversary of the may 4, 1970, kent state university shootings. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial pu

brown. >> thank you, madame chair. the focus of today's hearing is conservation and education programs for marine mammals. in order to receive a permit, facilities are required to of conservation and education programs said it here to industry standards. the standards were published in 1994 and guides facilities and how to implement conservation and education programs for the visiting public. what some people might not know is that the standards are fluid and have evolved over the years to meet new conservation needs and education requirements. while i understand there are people that did not support the display of marine mammals or any animals in zoos or aquariums, the activities funded by these facilities such as education programs are all important programs to the conservation of marine mammals and other endangered animals. the rescue and rehabilitation program run by these facilities are crucial to the survival of stranded animals at participating institutions. minute institutions run programs in their own funds. t

king: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i appreciate the privilege to be recognized to address you here on the floor. i appreciate the gentleman from texas' previous hour and his discussion on health care. and by the way, the gentleman from texas, congressman and dr. burgess' contribution on this health care debate that has gone on now for months and months and months. his intensity doesn't let up. he understands the issue. he's here on a cause, this cause is to do what we can to salvage the system that america has had and improve that system and not capitulate to this system of obamacare. madam speaker, i take us to that. i'll cross a number of line into different subjects here this evening but with regard to the obamacare we've heard about for the last hour and the last nine or so months, we have -- we've seen a congress that's passed legislation that on the day it passed the house, it couldn't have passed the senate. on the day it passed the house we don't know what kind of bargains came in that brought ab

dodd: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that on tuesday, may 11, the senate resume srgs of s. 3217 and debate concurrently the pending sanders amendment numbered 3738 and the vitter amendment 3760. that prior to a vote in relation to each amendment, there be a total debate limit of 80 minutes, with 20 minutes each under the control of senators sanders, vitter, shelby, and dodd or their designees. that upon the use or yielding back of all time, the senate proceed to a vote in relation to the sanders amendment, followed by a vote in relation to the vitter amendment, with no amendment in order to either amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: madam president that . 29 be dischge the committee on foreign relation

madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president?the presiding officer: the nato fro texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise today to speak on my amendment with senator tester because we are trying to ensure that safe community banks and large financial institutions are treated equally. i heard senator tester's speech on the floor just a little while ago on our amendment and i am very pleased that we are able to put this amendment forward. i'm pleased that the chairman said he supported my amendment and i think that that is a great first step for us, for the chairman to support an amendment because we all know that this bill came to the floor on good faith. good faith that we would have amendments and that we would try to address the legitimate concerns of many in our country from small business people to dentists to food manufacturers and also small bankers, community bankers. we don't want -- and i know the chairman doesn't want and no one wants to hurt our economy with financial reform. but i also think i can say that we al

mckeon: thank you, madam chair. i wish to yield one minute to the distinguished chairman of the armed services committee. before doing that, i ask unanimous consent that the time for debate on amendment number 79 offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, be extended by 30 minutes, evenly divided between opponent and proponent. the chair: is there objection to the reest? >> i object. the air: objection. mr. mckeon: in that case -- the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. mr. mckeon: i yield one minute to the distinguished chairman of the committee, mr. skelton. the chair: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for one minute. mr. skelton: madam chairman,he bill for us is an excellent piece of legislation. it's one of the best that our committee has written. it's strong on our attempt to all terrorism. it takes care of the troops. it looks after their families. on this issue before us, inquiry was made of secretary gates and the joint chiefs of staff chairman, in a letter

. >> madam secretary, the united states made commitments as well.teps taken between now and december when the policy review happens. >> let me echo what president karzai said. from our side, this was a highly successful visit. the substantive discussion that we had i think took our relationship to an even higher level which will serve as a very good starting point for the efforts to rewrite and refurbished the strategic partnership declaration that we hope to complete by the end of this year. that will be a statement of our commitment between our two countries, not just our government but are people and it will specifically set forth the areas of cooperation and focus. we have a great visit in large part because we had excellent cooperation and coordination in preparation for the visit. i want to compliment president carbide -- president karzai and his team who have done an excellent job. those who have met any of the ministers and representatives of the government have uniformly come away impressed. i don't want to embarrass them but i have heard f

madam speaker, mr. vice president, honorable members of congress, and as we say in mexico, amigas, amigos. it's a great honor to stand before you today. i would like to thank congress and the american people for this invitation. i want to express my gratitude to all of you here who have supported mexico during very challenging times. i will also tell you the mexican americans and all latinos who work every day for the prosperity of this great nation. xico, a young country but very old nation. our roots go back thousands of years. however this year is especially significant for us. we are celebrating the bicentennial of our independence , 200 years of being proudly. at the time mexico was the first nation to abolish slavery in all ever continental america. -- in all of continental america. and it is exactly 100 years since the mexican revolution, a revolution against oppression, a revolution for justice and democracy. as you can see mexico was founded on the same values and principles as the united state

woolsey: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, on tuesday a suicide bomber deliberately crashed his minivan during the streets in kabul during one of the busiest times of the day. according to "the new york times"' account, and i quote them, the blast blew bodies apart, limbs flew hundreds of feet littering yards and walls and streets. in a passenger bus, an afghan woman lay dead in her seat cut in half with a baby still squirming in her arms. 50 yards away a man's head lay on the hood of a truck, end quote. it was the most devastating strike seen in the afghan capital in sometime, madam speaker. it served as the kind of welcome home by the snurnlts to president karzai just -- insurgents to president karzai just returning home from the united states who was getting ready to brief reporters at the presidential palace just a short distance away from the site of the explosion. aside from the gruesome civilian casualties, this attack is also significant because the claimed the lives of five of our soldiers which brings

paul: i thank you, madam speaker. i rise to call attention to my colleagues of a vote that occurred in the other body today. the senator from louisiana offered an amendment to the financial reform package in the senate that was essentially -- it was exactly the same as 1207, h.r. 1207, which is audit the fed bill. and there was a vote on this and unfortunately there were only 37 senators that voted in favor of this audit the fed bill. this this is rather sad because it is already in the house version of the financial reform bill and in the house we have 319 co-sponsors of this bill. so it's a very well accepted bill by broad spectrum of both republicans and democrats. but the reason why this is so disturbing is because of the occurring events going on the financial markets. we are right now involved with bailing out europe and especially bailing out greece. we're doing this through the federal reserve. the federal reserve does this with currency swaps. and they do this by literally giving loans and guarantees to other

t thank you, madame secretary. mr. chairman, to live. >> welcome, madam secretary.st border. i thought senator feinstein made an important point earlier when she noted that over the last five years, we have devoted a significant amount of resources to try to control the border and enforce the law. yet, that progress seems to be on even. we've made significant progress over all. part of that is due to deep recession. we get back to a need for more employment, what will happen? everybody is concerned about that. i suggest that the employment of the various things that you have mentioned here do work. the question is, have we done enough of it yet? i think we know what works and what i would like to do is focus on the three key elements of what i think works. it is a combination of things. it is having adequate resources, some degree of fencing, and attention of violators operations streamline. i think we can conclude this by a tale of two sectors. the tucson sector is larger by some number of miles. they both have proximity to interstate highways. one of them has the

kirkpatrick: thank you, madam speaker.am speaker, over the past months we have witnessed firsthand the potential consequences of allowing the national debt to continue growing out of control. greece borrowed heavily during the last decade, during the boom and the bubble, and found itself at risk of default when global credit dried up. now the country is facing financial disaster. the crisis should serve as a warning to washington. this country's debt is now $12.9 trillion and is approaching unsustainable levels. we must address the fiscal imbalance here before it's too late. washington must start by making major changes to the budget, changes that go beyond freezing spending and instead look to make significant budget cuts. that means we have to crack down on the consequence free-spending culture in congress, washington needs to put a priority on eliminating waste and finding cost-effective ways to achieve this country's goals. budget cuts are not always easy or popular, but business as usual in washington is not working.

i will ask you, madam secretary, and this may be technical stuff, but here is the question, and let meh the company, the to figure out how to close this prepared to deal with this kind of problem. in fact, as the company said quite honestly, they had capped concluded or anyone in the >> let me divide it, if i might, mr. chairman, into before the before the blood while it is clear that there was an i have read some of the same have been extensive plans prepared under the national there are area contingency from state localities and parishes. those plants not only exists, but are exercised on a regular indeed, i think there was an area response plan for an oil- commander for that exercise. those were not released to deal with the blowout in the deep water well. there was a lot of work done and there has been an enormous effort at response. it has really had an effect on the water on the surface. now we have to enormous problems that i am not sure we were prepared to do with. what do you do when a deep water well blows and what do you do about the oil under the water that is now accumulat

why do you call me madam justice? justice is a perfectly good title. you do not have to use a sexist term to describe a judge on the court." the advocates responded in an appropriate way. after, when we were discussing who should win, i talk to her about feeling strongly about this. she confirmed that she did. she felt this was a sexist term. i went back to the court. in the following conference, i told my colleagues about this instance. justice souter said we have to get rid of this quote mr. justice -- this "mr. justice" business. after that, we took off the term and just started using the term "justice." that was a couple of years before justice o'connor joined the court. i think a lot of people thought she was responsible for the change. i thought i would straighten out thh record. [laughter] [applause] thought my second major historical -- my second major historical event that i want to describe it refers to the chicago cubs. [laughter] i was, in fact, a witness of the home run by babe ruth. last year i was respo

[laughter] madame chair, i do thank you for calling this hearing. first, we know that the consequences of unemployment are severe. the unemployed are not only vulnerable to conditions like depression, but are also at higher risk for heart attacks and her stress-related eves. studies show that the unemployed experience a shorter life span jusfrom being employed. let me say that again. the unemployed expere shorter life span. basic unemployment is a virus and an epidemic and requires the attention that we would give to any public health concern. for many employed workers, substantial reach training is now necessary. this retraining often requires a return to the classroom, which requires a significant financial commitment. we are asking workers to commit to serious change. as a result, we owe them a serious return in this investment in education. therefore, we need to learn it and build on successful programs that we highlighted last week. they successfully get the unemployed into training and backed out to work. however, t record vestments in educati

i will ask you, madam secretary, and this may be technical stuff, but here is the question, and let me speak to someone who has as we watch the company, the to figure out how to close this prepared to deal with this kind of problem. in fact, as the company said quite honestly, they had capped concluded or anyone in the >> let me divide it, if i might, mr. chairman, into before the before the blood while it is clear that there was an i have read some of the same have been extensive plans prepared under the national there are area contingency from state localities and parishes. those plants not only exists, but are exercised on a regular indeed, i think there was an area response plan for an oil- commander for that exercise. >> we now have to enormous problems, but i d not believe we were ready to deal with and the company was not either. what you do when the people -- when the oil under the water, which is now accumulating in this massive plume -- does the coast guard -- i know u do a lot of drilling. do you do anything to deal with -- trained to deal with the consequences of a deep wat

. >> thank you, madam chairman. i would just caution with the all-time record high of long- term unemployment, no one in congress is raising an open " mission accomplished" banner just yet. there are 6000 -- hospitality, manufacturing, federal government, construction, mining employment, building services, temporary help workers, health care -- the federal government is hiring more than each of those sectors. how many federal government workers have been hired since december? do you know? >> i think i can pull that appear quickly. -- pull that up quickly here. >> i would like to know the comparison on the government side. >> let's see. i have to do a really quick calculation on that. the last couple ofonths, we have added about 120,000 jobs. for the year so far, it has been 155,000 in the federal government. thank you. >> thank you very much. that, too, continues to outpace manufacturing, health caree and other sectors. at the initial unemployment claims have remained -- of the inial unemployment claims have remaine

blumenauer: thank you, madam speaker.just returned from a two-day livability tour thanks to the courtcy of my colleague, congresswoman allyson schwartz, a champion of sustainability. i visited perfect district in pennsylvania representing parts of philadelphia where we saw rural small township, suburban communities, dense urban areas, open space, and abandoned industrial land and aging but vital transit system, they illustrated all the challenges that we face in our efforts to rebuild and renew america. i have a special interest in their initiative for a trail network where their vision and hard work was rewarded by millions of dollars from the obama administration in economic recovery act to help fill in gaps of an exciting trail expansion over the two-state area, including new jersey. amidst an impressive progress on mayor michael nutter's vision to make philadelphia the greenest city in america with innovative water projects, with creative private sector efforts in green development, township progress on revitalization

madam speaker, mr. vice president, honorable members of congress, and as we say in mexico, amigas, amigos. it's a great honor to stand before you today. i would like to thank congress and th american people for this invitation. i want to express my gratitude to all of you here who have supported mexico during very challenging times. i will also tell you the mexican americans and all latinos who work every day for the prosperity of this great nation. xico, a young country but very old nation. our roots go back thousands of years. wever this year is especially significant for us. we are celebrating the bicentennial of our independence , 200 years of being proudly. at the time mexico was the first nation to abolish slavery in all ever continental america. -- in all of continental america. and it is ectly 100 years since the mexican revolution, a revolution against oppression, a revolution for justice and democracy. as you can see mexico was founded on the same valuesnd principles as the united states of am

madam speaker, mr.ice president, honorable members of congress, and as we say in mexico, amigas, amigos. it's a great honor totand before you today. i would like to thank congress and the american people for this invitation. i want to express my gratitude to all of you here who have supported mexico during very challenging times. i will also tell you the mexican americans and all latinos who work every day for the prosperity of this great nation. xico, a young country but very old nation. our roots go back thousands of years. however this year is especially significant for us. we are celebrating the bicentennial of our independence , 200 years of being proudly. at the time mexico was the first nation to abolish slavery in all ever continental america. -- in all of continental america. and it is exactly 100 years since the mexican revolution, a revolution against oppression, a revolution for justice and democracy. as you can see mexico was founded on the same values and principles as the united states of

thank you, madam chair. >> thank you very much, senator. thank you, all senators, and i would ask at this time for the three panelists from panel one -- actually, this was mckay, the president of british petroleum, b.p., from the mineral management service, to drill for minerals at the site of the ongoing spill, steven l. newman, the president and c.e.o. of transocean, who owns the oil drilling rig associated with the oil spill, named the deepwater horizon. that lease was -- that rig was leased to b.p. and tim probert is president of global business lines and chief health, safety and environmental officer for halliburton. halliburton let the crementing efforts to temporarily cap the exploratory well involved in the ongoing spill. men, as you did in the committee, i will administer the oath to you. so if you raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. we wel

thank yo madam chair. >> senator feinstein is also the chair of the intelligence committee, and also is an outspoken person on the funding for the detainee trust fund that is often skimpy and spartan. you know where wesk local jurisdictions to hold the prisoners that are federal and then don't pay the bill. so i hope you ask some of those questions. >> well, thank you very much, madam chairman, i appreciateit. i want to ask a question in my capacity of chairman of the nate caucus on international narcotics control, and we've been spending some time looking at both afghanistan and mexico and the cartels and you could say that there is eruption in mexico and the cartels and you can say that there is major eruption in afghanistan with the taliban increasingly taking over drug lab activities, transportation of narcotics and in effect, transforming themselves into a narco cartel which i happen to believe will be the result. we have found that as much as $169 million comes from a single roin trafficker in a ten-month period in afghanistan. at present, the dea, which has units to address th

mckeon: thank you, madam chair. i wish to yield one minute to the distinguished chairman of the armed services committee. before doing that, i ask unanimous consent that the time for debate on amendment number 79 offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, be extended by 30 minutes, evenly divided between opponent and proponent. the chair: is there objection to the request? >> i object. the chair: objection. mr. mckeon: in that case -- the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. mr. mckeon: i yield one minute to the distinguished chairman of the committee, mr. skelton. the chair: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for one minute. mr. skelton: madam chairman, the bill for us is an excellent piece of legislation. it's one of the best that our committee has written. it's strong on our attempt to quall terrorism. it takes care of the troops. it looks after their families. on this issue before us, inquiry was made of secretary gates and the joint chiefs of staff chairman, in

madam secretary?>> sir, when i look at that long list, i think that actually we have the right military strategy in place, that the development is challenging but is moving in the right direction, that we are seeing pakistan step up to the fight, that we are putting the right level of resourcing against the problem and so forth so i think the ones that really will be the greatest challenges longer-term are the involvement of regional, other regional stakeholders and ensuring that they do not interfere it and are undermine afghanistan's progress toward security and stability. and, i think overcoming decades of war to establish strong and good governance at all levels in afghanistan, not just at the national level but at the local level where most afghans actually experience their government. >> general? >> mr. chairman i wrote down the nine of them and i highlighted the same two that secretary flournoy did. they are all critical. they are all important. they all sometimes can appear tenuous but we have

madam secretary, thanks for coming to our humble abode. we are so jammed in here and i think we need more space, and we are working on that. and president karzai, we are honored to have you join us at the institute of peace. we have our board chamber, and other members, ambassador holebrook and ambassador ikenberry, and senator john warren, and congresswoman jane harmon, and accompanying president karzai, we have members of his cabinet. and we have down the hall other folks,we have established a training academy for problem conflict and peace building skills. this facility is down the hall and under training. with folks working with the defense department going to afghanistan to try to help strengthen the defense of interior ministries as they bring stability to that country. let me just say briefly that the institute of peace has been working on the ground in afghanistan since 2002. we currently have an office in kabul and we have programs focused on the rule of law, and training conflict mediators and training women in conflict managemen

. >> madam secretary, the united states made commitments as well.here specific steps that we had in mind taking now -- between now and december? >> first, let me at the what president karzei said. from our side, this was a highly successful visit. the substantive discussion that we had, i think it took a relationship to an even higher level. this will serve as a very good starting point for the efforts to rewrite and refurbished the strategic partnership declaration that we hope to complete by the end of this year. that will be a statement of our commitment to, i recommended between our two countries, not to stir governments but our people. it will -- not just our government, but our people. we had a great visit because we had excellent cooperation and coordination in preparation for the visit. i want to compliment president karzei and his team to have done an excellent job. those who have met any of the ministers and representatives of the government have uniformly come away impressed. i do not want to embarrass them, but i have heard from many of