this being chaired by senator claire mccaskill, democrat of missouri. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> there were decisions made that were made with a myopic look at the mission, not a realistic look at security and sustainability and competency in terms of available personnel to continue whatever money we were spending on reconstruction. i always point out that the contract is probably -- if you read the initial log kept contract, if you look at everything wrong with contrasting, that would be the poster child. people may not remember that the estimates for that contract for the first year were supposed to be under $1 billion. the first year that contract cost us $20 billion. that is just one example. i'm going to try to focus today on reconstruction contracts. the sad thing about this hearing is i have been hopeful, back in 2007 that by this year we would have done a lot to overcome some of the problems in the construction contract in. this hearing does not make me feel good about the progress we have made. there has been som

i'm tired of looking and feeling fat, wrote missouri senator claire mccaskill, whose candid tweets haveeared here to 55,000 followers. new york new jersey mayor cory booker has amassed more than a million virtual constituents even though he runs a city of less than 300,000. last winter, he used twitter to locate residents stranded by a blizzard. >> it's a powerful tool to connect with my community in ways that you really just can't through the regular means of e-mail or telephone or even going door to door or community meetings. >> reporter: but the immediacy, just type and hit send, eliminates the opportunity for second thoughts. as some lawmakers have learned the hard way. michigan congressman pete hoekstra got in hot water in 2009 for tweeting just landed in baghdad, even though the trip was supposed to be a secret. and last november, seven little words prompted now retired senator chris dodd to issue an urgent apology after his account blasted profanity to nearly 13,000 followers. both men are still on twitter. as is congressman weiner. who bragged digitally about all his new follow

i'm tired of looking and feeling fat wrote missouri senator claire mccaskill whose candid tweets havendeared her to 55,000 followers. newark new jersey mayor cory booker has amassed more than a million virtual constituents even though he runs a city of less than 300,000. last winter he used twitter to locate residents stranded by a blizzard. >> it's a powerful tool to connect with my community in ways that you really just can't in, through the regular means of e-mail or telephone or even going door-to-door or community meetings. >> reporter: but the immediacy of twitter, just type and hit send eliminates the opportunity for second thoughts as some lawmakers have learned the hard way. michigan congressman pete hoekstra got in hot water in 2009 for tweeting just landed in baghdad. even though the trip was supposed to be a secret. and last november seven little words prompted now retired senator chris dodd to issue an urgent apology after his account blasted profanity to nearly 13,000 followers. both men are still on twitter. as is congressman weiner who bragged digitally this week about

announced that he's running for senate next year an attempt to unseat democratic senator claire mccaskill so obviously the best way to get attention is to make crazy comments to the media you might recall more than a week ago and b.c. caused a controversy after cutting the words under god from the pledge of allegiance during its airing of the u.s. open golf tournament congressman akin said a few days later on a conservative radio show i think n.b.c. has a long record of being very liberal and at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for god and i believe the government should replace god to help all liberals a god who knew how since his comments that many religious leaders in his home state of call for an apology but who no yesterday congressman akin to actually doubled down on his comments on a different radio show. oh it'll be. a record but i was told. to. go. to work for what are you doing and try to. so it sounds like the congress some believe that because he's a republican he has the upper hand of god so if he's actually correct correct and that's a big if then one of the things

that's why -- that's why we sent the letter to vice president biden, senator tester, mccaskill, cardin and i did, to say take medicare off the table. we need to deal with this budget deficit, but don't -- don't mess with medicare while we're doing it. it's pretty simple, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent to speak for the next ten minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, later this week, we're going to consider an issue which is complicateed, but it's an issue that affects every single american that ever takes a piece of plastic and pays for anything, at a hotel, at a restaurant, at a convenience store, tuition at a school, a charitable deduction to red cross in the midst of a disaster. if you use plastic, every time that debit card -- we're talking just about debit cards for this conversation -- every time that debit card is swiped, there is a fee that goes to the bank that issued the card. and you think to yourself, well, i wonder how they nego

senator mccaskill. >> thank you. part of our mission is to secure and stabilize and enhance the infrastructure. i want to commend to you and ask you to direct the folks who work with you to pay attention to some of the findings on the commission on wartime contacting. they issued a report last friday. it is full of basic information that seems to be escaping us in the area of contacting and contingency operations. that is two important factors. one is security and whether or not security is available and appropriate to support the building of projects we have put a lot of money in. we saw this in iraq over and over again. we would build a power plant. we would work on an oil refiner we and two months later, it would be -- and oil refinery and two months later, it would be blown up. the second one -- this report came out on friday and it was an important report -- that is sustainability. we have white elephants all over this part of the world brought to you courtesy of the american taxpayer. the the sustainability par

senator mccaskill. >> thank you. part of our mission is to secure and stabilize and enhance the infrastructure. i want to commend to you and ask you to direct the folks who work with you to pay attention to some of the findings on the commission on wartime contacting. they issued a report last friday. it is full of basic information that seems to be escaping us in the area of contacting and contingency operations. that is two important factors. one is security and whether or not security is available and appropriate to support the building of projects we have put a lot of money in. we saw this in iraq over and over again. we would build a power plant. we would work on an oil refiner we and two months later, it would be -- and oil refinery and two months later, it would be blown up. the second one -- this report came out on friday and it was an important report -- that is sustainability. we have white elephants all over this part of the world brought to you courtesy of the american taxpayer. the the sustainability par

senator mccaskill. >> thank you. part of our mission is to secure and stabilize and enhance the infrastructure. i want to commend to you and ask you to direct the folks who work with you to pay attention to some of the findings on the commission on wartime contacting. they issued a report last friday. it is full of basic information that seems to be escaping us in the area of contacting and contingency operations. that is two important factors. one is security and whether or not security is available and appropriate to support the building of projects we have put a lot of money in. we saw this in iraq over and over again. we would build a power plant. we would work on an oil refiner we and two months later, it would be -- and oil refinery and two months later, it would be blown up. the second one -- this report came out on friday and it was an important report -- that is sustainability. we have white elephants all over this part of the world brought to you courtesy of the american taxpayer. the the sustainability par

senators mccaskill of missouri, tester of montana, brown of ohio, consideringin of maryland and bill nelson of florida sent the vice president a letter expressing their turn. they're asking him to reject the gop plan to trim down medicare funding and restate his commitment to leaving the program alone. all five senators are from states with significant elderly populations and all are up for reelection in 2012. bill: we're hearing about john edwards now rejecting a plea deal that would have sent him to prison, a report in the raleigh observer saying that federal prosecutors wanted the former senator 20 plead -- to plead guilty to miss 19or charge and serve six months behind bars that, in exchange for dropping felony campaign finance charges against him, the report says edwards refused the jail time, he's accused of illegally using campaign money to pay off his mistress, rielle hunter, last year, edwards admitting to fathering a child with hunter while his late wife was battling breast cancer. alisyn: there was panic on a long island soccer field as more than a dozen kids involving a r

senator mccaskill. >> thank you. part of our mission is to secure and stabilize and enhance the infrastructure. i want to commend to you and ask you to direct the folks who work with you to pay attention to some of the findings on the commission on wartime contacting. they issued a report last friday. it is full of basic information that seems to be escaping us in the area of contacting and contingency operations. that is two important factors. one is security and whether or not security is available and appropriate to support the building of projects we have put a lot of money in. we saw this in iraq over and over again. we would build a power plant. we would work on an oil refiner we and two months later, it would be -- and oil refinery and two months later, it would be blown up. the second one -- this report came out on friday and it was an important report -- that is sustainability. we have white elephants all over this part of the world brought to you courtesy of the american taxpayer. the the sustainability par

my colleagues, senators corker and mccaskill introduced what they call the cap act which would put spending on a downward glide path so we don't spend more than our historical average of 20.6% of g.d.p. the last 40 years, mr. president, we have averaged spending on the federal government has averaged 20.6% of our total economy. that represents all of federal spending. that doesn't represent state and local government spending. but federal spending percentagewise on average for the past 40 years has equaled 20.6% of our entire economic output. this year we are in the 24% to 25% range. we have gone from spending a fifth of our entire economy on the federal government to spending about a fourth of our entire economy on the government. that, to me, is something that needs to be reined in. we've been a huge ramp up in spending as a percentage of our entire economy. what that means is that the private economy as a percentage of our whole economy is getting smaller, and the government spending, the government component of that is getting larger. we need to get that back on a more historical and wh

i would also say before the chair rules on this that we have senator mccaskill that wants to offer an amendment on the same subject matter. we'll do that at some subsequent time. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california is recognized. mrs. boxer: mr. president, as i understand it, i will have an hour and a half to present our side on the amendment, and senator snowe will have an hour and a half. could you please give me the exact time frames here? the presiding officer: under the order, an hour and 37 minutes for each side. mrs. boxer: thank you very much. i was close. i just want to let senator snowe know what my plan is at this time. it is, first, i'm going to yield some time on another subject but will be used on our time; to senator whitehouse who has something very important pertaining to his state. and then i'm going to come back and take as much time as i might consume -- and it won't be that long. i want to lay out where we are in this debate, why this bill is so impo

nelson, cardin, brown, mccaskill and tester say it has to be moved off the table. >>> moving on, we got of the economic advisers austan goolsbee says he's leaving the white house to return to his position. the announcement comes one day after he appeared on sunday's shows answering the question about the state of the economy's recovery. it marks the fourth high-profile member of obama's economic team to resign. >> really if the university of chicago is going to strip you of tenure if you decide to serve the president during these bad economic downtimes. i don't buy that. >> how many phone calls did you make to universities to say i need to keep this guy with me. >> i know they say there are no good universities in pennsylvania. >> that's not true. >> i would not -- >> i was joking. all i can tell you is that the same thing was true with larry summers at harvard, but i will -- austan goolsbee is enormous. he loves washington, d.c. he's not unhappy and they did not want to get him out. those are -- those are two facts. >> so what's the deal. >> don't you think austan goolsbee went to obam

senator square mccaskill, john tester, ben cardin and bill nelson, all democrats with significant elderlyions who are up for reelection in 2012. secretary gates said that despite the death of osama bin laden is still too soon to wind down the war on terror. secretary gates is in the country, saying final falwells to u.s. troops before he retires at the -- final farewells to u.s. troops before he retires at the end of this month. in libya, there have been more air strikes in and around tripoli. they have hit a storage centers, command-and-control facilities, and radar systems. nato general rasmussen talked about the air strikes earlier. you can hear his remarks at 10:00 a.m. eastern. and a proposal to buy 10 american seed-17 aircraft for more than $10 billion. an indian official requires that boeing invest 34% of the profit in its defense spending in india. >> the house has completed work on the first two bills to fund the federal government. you can follow them at congressional chronicle with easy to follow schedules, plus video of every house and senate session. congressional chronicle a

mccaskill: each year the naacp selects only one person in this country to receive the prestigious spingarn medal in recognition of particularly outstanding achievement. we in missouri are so proud of ms. freeman for her many accomplishments, including receiving this most distinguished award. while i am honored to come to the floor and congratulate frankie freeman i regret that i will not be able to be in st. louis at the st. louis city and county freedom and fund dinner and celebrate in great woman and her many admirers and supporters from the st. louis area. frankie freeman is an amazing story. she is 94 years old and still has the passion to serve her community. at age 16, ms. freeman enrolled in her mother's alma mater hampton institute. in 1947, before the presiding officer or i were ever born, she earned a law degree from howard university law school. during that time period, as one might imagine there really weren't law firms that hired either women or african-americans, much less an african-american woman. so what did frankie freeman do? she decided to open her own law firm. she beg

senator udall of colorado, senator collins, senator mccaskill, senator burr, senator paul, senator brown of massachusetts, and senator mccain. i yield the floor. mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i ask consent that the toomey amendment number 514 be considered as having been adopted before the managers' amendment to s. 679. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask consent that be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator is recognized. mr. nelson: mr. president, thank you. mr. president, i want to give you a quote from a publication. "days after working at guantanamo naval base prison in cuba, a u.s. navy veteran found himself behind bars where he could remain for a decade for alleged passport fraud." end of quote. mr. president, i had to read that article from cnn's web site -- i had to read it twice. i couldn't believe it. but that's what it said. former u.s. army specialist, now navy reservist, u.s. petty office

finding a solution, the five senators that have bills and other senators that i know -- senator mccaskill, for one, who is here today, who is developing a bill; senator carper, who has spent years on this subject and is quite the expert -- they would all come before the homeland security committee, which i have the privilege of serving on, and in a short amount of time -- just a few weeks -- figure out something that the majority could support. this isn't about fixing the problem. this is about bumper stickers for elections, and i am very tired of it. and i'm not the only one. as chair of the small business committee, i can promise you that our committee, which senator snowe is the ranking member, has worked every day very hard through this recession to put forward bills on this floor that could help create jobs, bring relief. in fact, one of the most burdensome regulations that the business community was just screaming about, our committee was very aggressive in helping to eliminate, and that was section 1099 which would have required every business to report to the i.r.s. any purchase t

the best proposal i've seen is one proposed by senator corker and senator mccaskill. it's bipartisan, a republican and democratic. and they have a republican and democrat cosponsors for the same proposals in the house of representatives. it is a cap act. once the spending is determined, they do it as a percentage of the g.d.p. i think that is the smartest way because it is an incentive for everybody to help the economy grow more, because the more it tkpwroz, the more -- the more it grows, the more the spending as a percentage can be. if you don't achieve the savings that are called for, there is an automatic sequester where all the accounts of the government -- defense spending, non-defense spending, mandatory spending -- would all have to save a little bit. they wouldn't have to spend quite as much money so you can make up the difference between the target and the goal and what the law called for. there are other ways to do it as well. we were discussing different alternatives in the conversations with senator biden -- excuse me -- vice president biden. but the point

this amendment has senator udall, nor mccaskill, senator burr and senator mccain as well as senator collins and senator paul and senator scott brown. so this isn't a partisan move. this is a move about information and knowledge so that we make informed decisions. but just for the record, what the g.a.o. told us less than five months ago is that we have 101 programs across four different agencies for surface transportation. that's 101 sets of bureaucracies. nobody has ever gone and said which ones work and which ones not, which one does exactly the same thing versus what somebody else does. we have 82 teacher programs for teacher quality across 10 different agencies, nine of which are not in the department of education. we have 88 economic agencies, economic development agencies spending $6.5 billion a year across four different agencies. we have job training. we have 47 job training programs across nine different agencies, and we're spending $18 billion a year, and the g.a.o. said every one of them overlapse with the exception of three. and yet we haven't had the first move in the senate th