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

and i also particularly like claire mccaskill from missouri. the only democrat who voted against that nomination. in the normal scheme of things, there would have been a gaggle of democrats voting against that nomination, had that been a republican administration. she demonstrated great character i thought to separate herself out from that. >> i think senator coleman was one of the other ones. clec senator colburn, i disagree with senator colburn on a lot of social issues but he is fantastic. i would vote for him early and often if i had a chance. he's been a real tiger in court.

i briefed the senator mccaskill on some of this. and she told me, she said i don't know how long i'm going to be in washington. i'm from missouri. i'm a democrat from missouri, we are in danger. she said if i can change 1% of that, the gop, and she also had just gotten a new ad hoc committee on federal contracting and she said she is ready to take the two by four out. so we hope that she doesn't leave part, and it took a lot of guts to vote against the nominee. there are some out there still trying to. >> tried to talk to these people and help them to come forth. >> may be asking you guys to come talk to her. >> a question on acquisition. is there a problem, don't understand these problems or don't do anything about them? is that they don't have enough power implementing them? >> they have the power. i've watched and worked for acquisition executives in my time in the pentagon, and watched the procedure. you know, these guys come in from industry. some of them pretty bright guys your end day, right or wrong, are all-stars on shoulde

reid: in accordance to the resolution, i recommend to the chair the appointment of senators mccaskill as chair, klobuchar, whitehouse, udall of new mexico, shaheen and kaufman. the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, in accordance with the resolution on the appointment of an impeachment trial committee, i recommend to the chair the appointment of senators martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns, and risch. the presiding officer: pursuant to the resolution on the appointment of an impeachment trial committee and impeachment rule 11, the chair appoints upon the recommends of the two leaders the following senators to be members of the committee to receive and report evidence in the impeachment of judge samuel b. kent: senators mccaskill, klobuchar, whitehouse, udall, shaheen, kaufman, martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns and risch. the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the resolution on will meet at a time to be determined. the presiding officer: the senate will take proper order and notify the house of representatives a

thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator mccaskill. our vote is on and let me just have a couple of follow-up questions, if i can or follow-up observations. one of the things senator lautenberg talked about is he'd written a letter and he never received a response. i don't know if this is true but anecdotally i've heard and i hope it's not true that there was favoritism shown to republican inquiries as opposed to democratic inquiries and i certainly hope that wasn't the case. but i would definitely hope as long as you're chairman you'll be very politically neutral when it comes to communicating with house, senate, attorney generals, governors, whatever the case may be. >> senator, i will. my track record as state superintendent of education was to treat all persons who wrote letters to the state department or requested me to visit schools as politically neutral. it will be in the executive branch and i want to work with everyone in the congress and throughout the federal and state government as best i can. >> well, that's the way it sh

thoughtful remarks about the nominee, and we are now joined by the senator from missouri, senator mccaskill, who as a former prosecutor i sure will shed some light on the subject. i also want to thank the senator from kansas for allowing us to take an additional five minutes. thank you, mr. president and i yield the floor. >> thank you, mr. president. >> senator from missouri. >> i want to thank my friend, the senator from minnesota, for helping get us organized this afternoon to spend a little time talking about an outstanding -- outstanding federal judge. i also want to thank my colleague from kansas and giving us a few minutes to make these remarks. as i started looking i will confess i wasn't familiar with julca sotomayor the issue was nominated and i started looking at her resume and there are some things in a resume frankly amazing that you can get distracted by where she went to school and where she got her law degree and the fact that she has been at several levels of the federal bench and also of course she had a very big job with complex litigation and a law firm the part of her r

chairman. >> senator mccaskill, thank you. we will attempt to get more information.i'm well familiar with the issue of the inspections and repair stations. we have, in fact, have been about one of the carriers that fly is an empty airbus to el salvador to prepare and then flies in md 320 back to the united states after having had it repaired in el salvador or inspected or maintain it. my guess is that is probably another issue of dollars and cents. let me go back to just a moment ago on icing. i just pull the transcript again of his co-pilot to saying i have never seen icing conditions, never deiced. i have never experienced any of that, i don't want to have to experience that and those calls. i freaked out. i have not seen this and that we're going to crash. the actual transcript is of a copeland that appears to me to have had a minimum training in icing conditions. in now, the reason i mention this is because the training issue has been on the table. what kind of training to some have in that cockpit to find the conditions into which that airplane is headed? if the

senator mccaskill. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think mr. press, one thing we discovered today is that there is -- has been a significant breakdown in communication as it relates to your plans to relieve these dealers of their cars and replace them with the dealers going forward. these two gentlemen have said they didn't know it. i'm betting there is others that don't have all the accurate information so i think one of the things you -- we have learned from this hearing is you have a task in the next 24 hours and that is to check the phone log and the e-mail log and make sure that you have communicated clearly with all of the dealers that you have, in fact, moved 97% of the vehicles and are on a path to provide some kind of specific assistance as it relates to tools and parts. >> i will do that, senator. obviously mr. lopez, i'd like to work with him. he had somebody contact him because he did refuse to sign our agreement and i would like to work with him so we could communicate. >> fair enough. quickly, mr. wattly and mr. lopez, what brands

i want to the knowledge claire mccaskill, and as i said, i want to acknowledge the speaker of the house and steny hoyer. they are here because they are fully supportive of the efforts. two years ago, a democratic congress put in place rules to restore the principle gut -- but could not pass legislation without the support of the administration. you now have this support. the fact is, there are few people not distressed by deficits. this crosses party lines and ideological lines. but often in the political process, the interests of the few overtake the interests of the many. the debate of the day is drowning out the people who speak about what we may face tomorrow. that is why this is essential. congress must navigate politics but must be fixed on the horizon -- the fiscal horizon. it will take time and patience to dig out of the hold, and some tough choices. in the face of this challenge, there are many who are skeptical of the collective ability, they are not wrong to feel this way, after years in which we have allowed politics to grow smaller as the challenges became more daunting. an

it general with us from the misery of national guard which is of particular interest to senator mccaskill. in our final common next panel we will have george foresman former dhs official to talk about the private sector role because this committee chair and ranking member recognize it is not just the federal government, state and local governments, individuals, priv ate sector and a nonprofit sector bree want to give them voice breck we're happy to hear from the director of operations, at armand mascelli they have went three major transformation since katrina we're very interested in hearing about the fact they have increased volunteer base from 23,000 up at 90,000 it is not only a bigger but a better red cross and we are excited about hearing, because i think americans look to the red cross to give them particular strength and comfort at times of disaster and that of course, is a key role of the at united day shrek cross for many years. janet durden joining us of a community of northeast louisiana. my husband's home town and with katrina they did the good job as the office is dropped off

senator mccaskill. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think you're start it's starting to hit all of us in the face what government-managed economies feel like. if this was a normal bankruptcy situation it would be none of our business what you did with your union contracts or whatever but this is a political bankruptcy and the government has been a part of picking winners and losers. so we're concerned. but also strotch blame for the process that's taken place if we want to look at who to blame as far as how we ended up in bankrupt sifment certainly we have to look at management, maybe the government policies, high levels of taxation and at federal and state levels, regulation that is we put on our companies. certainly union contracts have to be in with that mix because some of it got way over board as far as what was affordable. we can see those are some of the mix that maybe caused some of the problems, but we can't blame the stock holders, the ones who believeed in your company and put money in it and we can't blame the customers w

general with us and he is from the missouri national guard which is of particular interest to senator mccaskill. then in our next panel we will have george foresman, former dhs official who was here today to talk about the private sector will because this committee chairmen, the chair and making member and member's recognize it is not just the federal government. it is state and local government. it is individuals. it is the private sector and the non-profit sector. we want to give them a voice. we also are happy to hear from frank. they have gone through a major transformation since katrina. were very interested in hearing about the fact that they have increased their volunteer base from 23,000 to 90,000 we think it is not only a bigger but a better red cross and we are excited about hearing it because i think americans look to the red cross to give them particular strength and comfort at times of disaster and that of course has been a key role of the red cross for many years. finally mrs. janet durden joins us on behalf of a committee in northeast louisiana which i am very proud. my husband's

. >> senator mccaskill. >> who we see is a bad guy it depends on where we sent and other considerationsd guys for treating a business model that depended on treating artificial demand. some will say that it is the unions that are the bad guys for working hard to get agreements that allow them and their families to aspire to a comfortable place in a middle-class. allow us to consume a lot of goods in this country and allow us to have the trajectory of growth we've had in some will say it is the president, some say it is congress for authorizing the funds in the first place that are being utilized to invest in these companies and some will say it is the people who promote with some primary this theory when bottom line is we'reç going to build today in a quarter backing. the alternative two what has happened is a much more drastic results and if we are honest about it would have to knowledge that if the actions have not been taken which will last 30 days voir, two giantç manufacturers would cease to assess and there would be no dealers of standing and would be no families that would go

. >> senator mccaskill, thank you very much. we will attempt to get all of the information.on the inspection and repair stations. we have in fact written about one of the carriers that flies an empty airbus 322 el salvador for repair and implies an empty 320 back to united states after having it repaired in el salvador, or inspected or maintained. my guess is that's probably another issue of dollars and cents. let me go back to just a moment ago on icing. i just pulled the transcript again. this copilots that i have never seen icing conditions. i have never deiced. i have never deiced. i have never experienced any of that. i don't want to have to experience that, make those kind of call. i freaked out, i haven't seen this much ice and thought oh, my gosh, we're going to crash. the actual transcript is of a copilot that appears to me to have at minimum training in icing conditions. now, the reason i mention this is because the training issue has been on the table here. what kind of training does someone have in that cockpit to fly in the conditions into which the airline is h

democratic senators amy klobuchar, jean chretien, barry blanchett encorps mccaskill spoke about the nomination on the senate floor. this is about 20 minutes. >> mr. president, i will be joined on the floor by some of my fellow women senators to talk about the president's nominee for the supreme court. aldus some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle came to the floor yesterday and went to as one news report described it to kick off their campaign and against her. so we want to take this opportunity to get the tax out, to correct any misconceptions and to set the record straight. the supreme court confirmation hearing for judge sotomayor will begin on july 13th. , but my consideration of her will not begin then. i began considering her the day she was announced because of the member of judiciary committee, i want to learn as much as i can and will be about president thomas was to fill one of the most important jobs in our country. even though there are many questions that will be asked in many areas we want to focus on i would like to speak today in about how judge sotomayor appears t

[applause] >> i want to acknowledge senator claire mccaskill who has shown real leadership on this issue in the senate, and as i said i want -- [applause] >> as i said, i want to acknowledge the speaker of the house as well as leader who are here because they understand the importance of this principle and are fully supportive of our efforts. in fact, two years ago a new democratic congress put in place of congressional rules to restore this principle. but could not pass legislation without the support of the administration. i want you all to know you now have that support. [applause] >> the fact is there are few who are distressed by deficits and it's a concern that crosses party lines, geographic lines. that often in the give-and-take of the political process that vested interests of the few overtake the broader interests of the many. the debate of the day drowns out those who speak of what we may face tomorrow. and that's why pay-as-you-go is essential. it requires congress to navigate the aven flow of politics while remaining fixed on the fiscal horizon. the reckless fiscal policies

accountability, and i thank my good friends, chairman lieberman, ranking member collins, and senator mccaskill for signing on to cosponsor this bill. as the economy begins to improve for some americans, let's make sure that millions of others are not left behind. we need to lift up the least fortunate among us and ensure that every american has an equal chance to benefit from our continuing economic recovery. now as one of our former distinguished vice presidents, hubert humphrey, famously said -- and i quote -- "the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life -- the children. those who are in the twilight of life -- the elderly. and those who are in the shadow of life -- the sick, the needy, and the handicapped." it is time to renew our commitment to the communities that are hurting the most as we work to increase transparency and speed up the responsibility for the use of the stimulus funds, we need to make sure that no one is left behind. mr. president, we need to make sure that no one is left behind. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor a