. >> senator menendez. >> thank you, madam chairlady. condition garagelations to both of you on your nominations. ambassador, i enjoyed the last conversation we had, i want to pursue some items that developed since we speak. one is with reference to cyprus, as we know, the parties are engaged in pretty intense talks facilitated by the united nations secretary. i look at the developments and what's happening with the military, turkey, which is in my view been part of the challenge in getting to a solution in cyprus and i look at this new development and wonder how that affects the possibility of making some real progress. on the flip side, i look at prime minister's recent statements, which is to forget about what we were negotiating in the past, this is now a two-state solution, which is different than a bicommunal federation and urging turkish sip reyots to multiply in greater numbers or expect to have more settlers from an tolea. -- from antolia. that doesn't seem helpful. can you give me your perspective on whether we'll be table achi

senator menendez? >> thank you mr. chairman. gentlemen, thank you for coming. i with interest read your testimony. let me start with mr. duke. you had my former chief of staff working for you now and i've come to the proselytize if i read one more e-mail it says save more money live better. [laughter] let's talk about branding i tell you. he does a great job for you and me. let me pick up on a point we had a hearing yesterday and was a deficit hearing, and my colleague, senator conrad, made what i thought is a very good point. he pointed out that interest rates matter, and he said a sustained one point increase in interest rates would cost the federal government more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, that's from the governmental side, and i noticed that you were one of those ceos who signed the chamber of commerce letter warning of danger of default and in part the letter says treasury securities influence the cost of financing not just for companies but more importantly, for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student debt default risk this ray

. >>> el senador, rubio, y menéndez, votaron en contra. >>> sus motivos fueron diferentes, el mensajelo suficiente para ayudar a la economía. >>> cómo que trabajadores y medía clase, sufrirán los cortes vry los más ricos no pagarán un kilo más, no es responsable. >>> no hay un plan para salvar el medicare, y evitar crecimientos futuros en el gasto, y amenaza seriamente, la defensa del país. >>> parte del acuerdo incluye la creación de un comité de doce legisladores, que deberían decidir dónde más se recorta lo que el gobierno gasta. >>> parte del trabajo de esta comisión, deberá aumentar impuestos a ricos, y grandes corporaciones, declaró obama, dijo que el sacrificio de apretarse los cinturones, sería compartido, y desataría la nueva batalla con los republicanos que no quieren tocar los impuestos. >>> algunos dicen que estancaría la economía. >>> en un momento, la empresa privada no invierte, está esperando para ver qué va a pasar, y en ese momento, la falta de gastos, de parte del gobierno, lo que hace es quitar demanda, quitar dinero del bolsillo de la gente. >>> para millones de e

as senator menendez said earlier, it's not fair. this is the debate and the discussion we should be having in america, in the senate, in the house. this huge disparity in wealth in this country. and it's getting worse year by year, and yet our republican friends say give more tax breaks to those at the top, give more tax breaks. mr. president, the american people get it. they understand this. they know there's 25 million of them out of work. they know that wealth disparity is opening up a huge gap. the middle class is being destroyed in our country, destroyed. and this so-called budget deal is going to make it even harder for anyone to succeed in becoming a middle-class person. so i, mr. president, again just want to say that the most important thing we can do right now, the single-most important thing we can do is, i hate to say this, not -- quote -- "balance the budget" -- when which we're not going to do right now, obviously, this just raises the debt ceiling. that's not the most important thing. slashing government spending is n

and senator robert menendez joins me. nice to see you this morning. you are very familiar with these numbers. after this latest debate what is the message you think you will bring back home to your state when it comes to the jobs question? >> well, clearly that it's the number one priority. it's one of the reasons i didn't vote for the debt ceiling question yesterday. because, you know, we saw in june about 57,000 jobs created. but we saw 40,000 government sector jobs lost, which basically meant that, you know, we had an anemic growth. and all we're going to do in the short-term on the backs of soldiers, students and seniors is see further cuts that could destabilize the economy. the number one thing that needs to happen right after labor day is to do some of the things that we can do to make these -- this economy grow and create jobs. raise private activity bonds that will bring private sector capital to create construction jobs. let's get the transportation bill moving again and put america to work. let's make sure that, you know, we are able to loo

. >> senator menendez. >> thank you, man in chair lady. congratulations to the both of you and your nominations. ambassador ricciardone, enjoyed the last conversation we had and i just want to pursue some items that have developed since we spoke in oneness with reference to cyprus as we know the parties are engaged in pretty intense talks facilitated by the united nations secretary and they look at the developments and i look at what has happened in the military and turkey, which is my view that part of the challenge of getting to a solution in cyprus and i look at this new development and wonder how that affects the possibility of making some real progress. on the flipside, i look at prime minister guns recent statements that we should forget about what we are negotiating in the past, so this is now a two state solution which is different than the balsamo, by communal federation and eugene turkey sabre yachts to multiply in greater numbers are to have more settlers from anatolia. it doesn't seem to be in line with moving towards a solutio

i also want to associate myself with senator menendez's questions about cyprus. and the first would be what have you been able to do in order to promote religious freedom. you referenced a meeting with his holiness bartholomew and what process can be restoring the property and the seminary and what could we be doing to be a more effective partner with you in advocating for religious tolerance and openness in turkish society? and then second, what's your assessment of the state of turkish-israeli relations. turkey at one time was a vital so lie in israel and i hope the change in military leadership will open a window for improved relations. i recognize this is a very difficult moment in getting past the difficulties of last year's flotilla incident are quite difficult. so given the limitations of your role as a diplomatic representative of the united states, i would welcome any insights you would have for us on how we strengthen business ties and recognize they're a wonderful ally in the conflict in afghanistan and iraq and have stood by us in nato and in many con

. >> senator menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent that my statement be included in the record at the beginning. >> it will be. >> thank you. mr. chairman, thank you for holding the hearing and i appreciate the testimony that i've read of the witnesses. i have a few questions and i'm hoping that you can all help me here. so, let me start off with, i know some of you talk about single point of contact and dual track but if you had to name a few specific national mortgaging service standards that you would believe would be helpful, what would those be and how would they be helpful? for anyone on the panel. >> i'm happy to offer a few. clearly the single point of contact has become a dominant discussion in the regulatory environment, the legislative environment, the advocacy environment because customers aren't happy. and to turn that into something where they understand what's happening around them and to them and through the options that are made available, a single point of contact is something that makes them

robert menendez will be my guest. >>> and obama's base.erwhelming popularity of social networking will new facial recognition features create open door gold mines for cyber criminals. stick around to the top of the hour. we get you in the loop >> thank you, thomas. almost all republicans love to hate the debt deal. michele bachmann just started running this ad. take a listen. >> someone needs to say no. i voted against raising the debt limit because it's time to balance the budget and pay down the debt. i mean it. and you can believe it. i'm michele bachmann. >> all right. ba backmann and paul voted against it. let's bring in company journalist publisher karen hunter. good day to both of. >> you good day. >> they're all saying no to the deal altogether. will this help them or pay dividends in 2012? >> probably. it just shows why none are fit to lead against huntsman. if you have michele bachmann, continuing to be courageous, you know, but that was a cowardess move to vote against it. you're saying i don't really care about this country or

let's bring in our political panel, alicia menendez, senior advisor for the new democrat network. writer for role call. and heidi harris is the host of the conservative radio show, the heidi harris show in las vegas. let's talk about sarah palin. she showed up at the iowa state fair today. one day before the straw poll. so, is she running for president or not? here she is today. >> are you a potential candidate? >> still a potential. still thinking about it. >> i don't want to step on anybody's toes so we won't be in the state tomorrow. >> david, is she serious? >> i don't think she is running but she is a national figure. she is a big figure in republican circles so it makes sense to me that center of the republican universe this weekend is in iowa for the straw poll, and i'm not surprised she's there. >> alicia is she running? >> i think she is running for the queen of reality tv. she has a fantastic brand. she sells books, television shows. she doesn't need the headache of being president of the united states. she is doing well. i think keeping herself in the news and keeping h

voted no and joining her new york delegates in the house, and also the two senators from new jersey menendez and frank lautenberg saying no on that vote. so it went as expect and those three senators voting no made a stand for what they saw was a bad deal. every democrat you talk to absolutely hates this deal. it is referred to as a satan sandwich by senator cleaver, and the republicans are not liking it any better. >> and are the american people appalled by this process? >> well, i am sure that the lawmakers will find out real quick in hot august and when they go back to the constituent meetings the folks who made the telephone calls will be engaged. up with thing that this taught us, martin, is that the american people once they know and understand an issue and once it has been explained properly, they are really much engaged in it and care about it. i suspect that you will have a few angry town hall meetings to members of both parties over this recess. >> kristen, the president is about to celebrate his 50th birthday, but i geuess recent experience has put a dampner on the celebration? >>

but i think that senator menendez and other senators have suggested that he should be imprisoned andhad suggested that there may be problems for the new government that they don't help us with this. so, you know, to me, i'm being skeptical and waiting to see what happens with megrahi. >> sure. >> i would feel happy if he died later. but i'd like to know what he knows first. >> he took your sister's life in 1988. final question. if you were in that room, susan cohen, what would you whisper in his ear. >> he took my only child's life. my daughters. i would whisper to him he's going to rot in the lowest level of held. there will be no pity for him wherever he goes. he showed no pity of us, the people whose lives were destroyed by him and he never should have been let out on something called compassionate release, which i don't think is the reason he was let out anyway. i think it had to do with money, trade, oil and a moral collapse on part of the west. where did that get them? look where we are now with libya and gadhafi. if they had been tough with gadhafi, they would have wound off b

senator menendez has also helped in the committee's oversight issue with the hearing on the housing subcommittee. this is an important issue and the committee will continue to exercise its oversight responsibility before i turn to senator corker, i would like to thank him and his staff for working with me and my staff in the housing finance reform hearings. housing finance reform is a large topic that requires attention and all aspects in the hearings will help us better understand the need for reform. senator corker? >> thank you and thanks for having this hearing. i certainly welcome all the witnesses both here and i appreciate your testimony and i know we are going to be talking a lot about the servicing today and of what i would like to fourth is if we do that without paying attention to the mortgage investors that were going down the wrong track. i mean we've got to have private capital back in the mortgages or the rates certainly will not continue to be low and obviously we are not going to get the private market involved unless we take into account. i know we know they are to fundamentall

menendez: mr. president, i wanted to come to the floor to talk about the deal that the senate will vote on some time later tonight or tomorrow. before i do, i want to say to my distinguished colleague from north dakota, the chairman of the budget committee, as always, what an exceptional job he's done in laying out fact from fiction, the realities of the choices before us. and i only hope that the revenue possibilities that he clearly expressed exists as part of an equation to a solution can be invoked, but i'm concerned based on what the other side says. we have a deal before us that is a result of a manufactured crisis. the debt limit has historic, historically been raised as a matter of course by both republican and democrats, both sides, without conditions. without conditions. ronald reagan did it 18 times without conditions. george w. bush did it seven times without conditions. but, no, not this time. not this time. for days, for weeks this congress has been held hostage by a radical few, a ba