i schmidt michigan simply can't afford that. >> as far east as quhick of course does not reach michigan. furnler, when the cost is included in the equation, michigan based transmission is more to develop. we contend with the northeast and mid-atlantic governors on developing renewable resources locally. we don't object to such projects if the benefits exceed the cost by a regional margin that might be the code of the developers that node to meet their standards even without theseover lays. we don't feel that the oversight is taking transmission. it's owned and there for not subject to the oversight. we think targeted transmission investment is needed both in michigan and nationally. we believe planning and groups is an appropriate way to pursue that. we think three key principals need to be followed. wince reasonable cost, two, reasonable alternatives have been considered and three, costs are appropriately allocated. >> thank you. >> we thank our entire panel. we'll turn and recognize the gentleman from washington state. >> thank you, first i'd like to put into the record a white paper,

i thank my good friend from michigan. mr. speaker, there's a long tradition of bipartisan support for extending these expiring tax relief provisions. i've personally been a strong supporter of the research and development tax credit, the five-year depreciation schedule for farm equipment, and tax-free charitable contributions from individual retirement accounts. that's why i'm very disappointed that the majority party has chosen to bypass the ways and means committee and bring a partisan extenders bill to the floor. the bill before us raises taxes by nearly $25 billion. at a time of 10% unemployment. as our economy is struggling to recover, this tax increase targets hard-hit sectors like real estate. it simply does not make sense that at the same time we are talking about the need to create jobs, this house is voting for the second time in as many weeks to raise taxes for next year. h.r. 4213 also fails to extend the renewable energy credit for biomass plants that's very important to my northern california district. but -- wi

the gentleman from michigan. mr. conyers: mr. chairman, i yield to one of the people who knew little about this music, but has come a long way from memphis, tennessee, the distinguished gentleman from tennessee, steve cohen, as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. cohen: we all start as a tab lara sa in all area -- as a tabula rasa in all areas of life and then grow. i've learned quite a bit about jazz. it's been my pleasure to have a lot of friends involved in jazz, including one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. he was known by jazz mewes musicians all other the world as a great jazz pianist. others have gone from memphis to new york, marvin stanley, a great flugelhorn player, went to north texas state university in education, where they've got a degree in jazz band, one of the few places in the world, mr. smith's state has a jazz band distinction. new york, bradley's, village vanguard, all those wonderful places, where you've historiccally h

greenville, michigan. go ahead. >> i wanted to tell a story, because you had the article on world war one. my grandfather -- the only thing i know about the war, because he would not talk about it, was that that was the war where they had those long holes they had dug, the trenches, and all day long they would fight, and when the sun went down, there would fix something to be -- eat. and before they went to bed, both sides, the germans and the americans would sing together. and that was the only thing he told us, because he thought war was so stupid. but i am so proud of the guys and girls that go. i did not know how they go. i am 60. high it would never think of doing that. but merry christmas to all of you, and i hope you like the story. host: according to senior military leaders, most units are in the midst of finishing up their fourth combat tour since 2001. trips include two each from the airborne and bound divisions. it is well below the standard target of 22 months of the well time between departure

looks like michigan will take over.m, don't think he is as tough as he is, he is a battler on the inside. >> mike: good anticipation of the lob that time, good inside defense. >> scott covers, and up top. lost the handle, still put it up. rebound, mcgowan. >> mike: have to be careful putting the ball against that zone. little bit of opening but rejected by dunn. >> mike: that's what dunn does off the bench, not a great scorer but presence in the lane. sixth block of the year. goes back down on the floor, here comes dews. will go with the right hand on the layup. >> mike: another long miss that turns into a fast break. miami by three, inside of eight minutes to play in the first 20. miami started out in that zone defense. you get the fence without biko paris on the floor, things have really stagnated for boston college. always looking for that three. dunn takes it back to roche. offensive rebound rejected but boston college's ball. davis is saying, wait a minute. the official says the ball belongs to bc. 7:27 left in the

ray suarez has two video postcards from ann arbor, michigan.ne on zingerman's deli and the other on the rise of digital media. and on jeffrey brown's art beat blog our correspondents pick their favorite books, movies and performances of 2009. all of that, and our new blog of news and insight it's called 'the rundown', and we update it throughout the day. you can find it all at newshour.pbs.org. judy. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. jim. >> lehrer: thanks, judy. we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. i'm jim lehrer. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> what makes us an engine for the economy? plants across america. nearly 200,000 jobs created. we see beyond cars. monsanto. producing more. conserving more. improving farmers' live

go ahead, darlene, in michigan.: thank you so much for what you do and i would like to say god bless you all of our troops over there and i wish them a speedy return and a very merry christmas to them and their families. i would like to ask you, do you feel that we are accomplishing something over there? i just cannot wait for all of our men and women to come home and to know that they are safe with their families. without you over there, i could not be doing what i'm doing over here, so thank you, bless you. i cannot say enough to you and i wish you a speedy return. and guard bless america and their christmas to all americans. and -- god bless america and merry christmas to all americans. guest: thank you for your best wishes. you make us proud, you and all the americans who support us every day. we are doing it for you, for our country. we have got a complex mission over here. i have been here about a month. i served 27 months in iraq and i'm on my first month here in afghanistan. my first impression is that it is

they have stopped lending to michigan homeowners and michigan businesses.oyers can't get loans they need to bring employees back to work. tarp has performed better than expected but they still expect to lose taxpayer dollars. we still do not have a guarantee that the bailed out financial industry will actually repay taxpayers for their loans. mr. peters has offered an excellent amendment to ensure american taxpayers will get their money back and that those that created this mess will pick up the tab. this amendment enables the fdic to make additional assessments on the nation's largest, most systemically risky financial institutions to pay back this tarp money. this amendment finally puts in place a plan for wall street to pay back its loan. this is common sense. those institutions responsible for the collapse should at least -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. schauer: i yield back. the chair: for what purpose does -- the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hensarling: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from mic

you might be surpred to find yourself in anarbor, michigan.the citys like a life prerver, floating in a state whose economy has be sinking for a decade. michigan ihome to the nation's highest employment rate, 30% in detroit, ana full-blown collse of its manufacturing econy. but, ann arb, built around the universityf michigan campus is--literally--buzzing with activity. >>that's not a neun, is it? >> suarez: in the bament of a non-deript office builng, greg gage antim marzullo are nkering with a machine that records the neuralctivity of a cockroach's g. so this, this that i hearing, this st of geiger counter sound. >> yeah, ectly. >> suarez:ts coming from this little leg here? >> exactly. what we have here in our hds, these are thuh cockroaches wee using. >> suare gage and marzullo, an engineer and a neurobiolist, teamed up as backyard brai, to build inexpensive equipmt for students tmeasure electrical tivity in nerve cells. they hope theiinvention will soon be used in highchool biology clses across the country. they are among a gup of some thi

jennifer from hollow, michigan. i'm married and have one beautiful little girl, but six months ago my husband's work informed us that they would not longer be able to carry health insurance for our workers. a common story, choosing between keeping people employed and paying for health care. we could have gone on cobra, but it would cost double what we're paying and we couldn't meet that cost. mr. president, as you know, we have worked throar the cost of -- worked to lower the cost of cobra and hope to be able to continue that lower cost in legislation that will be coming up shortly. but it's still very expensive. we're lucky because michigan has a program for children so we didn't have to worry about our daughter's coverage. when we went to look for insurance for my husband and me, the prices were steep or we were denied because of my preexisting condition. one of the things that we're going to change. right now going the doctor is next to impossible. but to see a specialist is like asking for the moon. we know that

>> i mean, tell the people in michigan tt unemployment has fallen. it will not pay attenti to you. >> if there

stupak of michigan, amendment number 9 by mr. stupak of michigan. the chair will reduce to five minutes the times for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 1 as modified printed in house report 111-370 offered by the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. frank, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ace prevailed by voice vote -- ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report 111-370 offered by mr. frank of massachusetts as modified. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-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-cap

tonight, how ann arbor, michigan, is being helped by a cockroach. >> sort of a geiger counter sound. >> exactly. >> it's coming from this here? >> exactly. >> lehrer: that's all coming up on tonight's pbs newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> what makes us an engine for the economy? plants across america. nearly 200,000 jobs created. we see beyond cars. monsanto. producing more. conserving more. improving farmers' lives. that's sustainable agriculture. more at producemoreconservemore.com.

and indeed, the floor in michigan is higher than it is in 100%.stantially higher because it is a relatively low medicare payment rate. so when you hear stories and discussions about medicare payments, medicare advantage payments being at a fairly high level, michigan is one of those states because of the legislation that resources were put back to recognize the underfunding that occurs in medicare. and michigan is one of the states that stands to lose medicare as and hedge participation because of the draconian nature of the cutbacks that are proposed both in the house and the senate. so we offered in terms of offering a very aggressive path but sustainable path to make sure we were taking responsibility to participate in the cost containment discussions but not so much that would take choices a week. so i'm glad you asked that question. in addition we are looking at $67 billion in tax increases over 18 year period. that amounts to 6.7 billion per year starting next year. every health plan here in this audience will tell you that people have alrea

he'd won the pennsylvania primary and the michigan primary and massachusetts and others. he had more foreign policy experience. and he was the guy who was going to be the one who would best unify the convention because as you know as we all know, unified conventions tend to win in the fall and divided conventions tend to lose in the fall. and there's a part on governor reagan and mrs. reagan taking george bush because of these lingering issues being left unaddressed. this one day of what is just madness in detroit where they try to put together the copresidency which some of you would remember the gerald ford, the dream ticket where, you know, he had reagan running for president and they tried to get gerald ford it off serve -- to run as vice president. i always thought jim baker had the best line on the whole situation. because if you had reagan and -- reagan and ford elected as president and vice president, would you address ford as mr. president, mr. vice president or address him as

and should there be a sticker there for michigan -- quote -- "home" -- and i'm quoting from the milbank article -- "home of two other democrats would earn higher medicare payments for some reduced fees for bluecross blueshield." vermont -- vermont, senator bernie sanders held out for larger medicaid payments for his state. neighboring massachusetts would get one too. i guess there's a number of maybe states that should have stickers on them so that the american people can see where these special deals were cut o

. >> lehrer: tomorrow night ray reports from ann arbor, michigan, a college town prospering in an economic depressed state >> ifill: jim, we turn our attention now to this week's big meeting in copenhagen on climate change, and a new decision from the obama administration. newshour correspondent kwame holman begins with more about the meeting in denmark. . >> reporter: diplomats from 192 nation its gathered in copenhagen today for the largest and potentially most important u.n. climate change conference ever. their goal to shift away from fossil fuels and get rich countries to send billions of dollars to poorer ones to help them adapt. organizers warned this could be the critical last chance to curb global warming. >> the science has never been clearer. the solutions have never been more abundant. political will has never been stronger. and let me warn you, political will will never be

alone, probably 350 in michigan, probably 250 in minnesota, every single day are losing their insurance. and in this country 1,000 people a week are dying because they don't have insurance. a woman with breast cancer is 40% more likely to die if she's uninsured than if she's insured. 40% more likely to die if she's uninsured than if she's insured. when i see my friends stall and stall and stall -- and they have all kinds of reasons to stall. they have the clerk read the bill, they try to talk too long, whatever it is. however they're stalling in so many different ways, think about those 390 ohioans every day, think of the woman with breast cancer without insurance that just has more trouble fighting back. mr. president, to sort of further put a human face on this, i want to share letters from people in ohio who have written me. they are people who understand how important it is because it's important to their personal lives, their families, their loved ones themselves that this, that we take care of this bill

one out of six people on the state of michigan are on food staches because of the -- food stamps because of the state of their economy. and many states with high unemployment are near that. the food stamps provide literally the basics and necessities of life for these families. you would think as i describe this bill that it would pass in the senate by the same overwhelming margin that it just passed in the house two days a ago. in the house, the vote was, if i recall correctly, in the range of 393-35 or something close to that. it was an overwhelming bipartisan vote. 164 republican congressmen voted for it, and it's an understandable -- it's understandable why. it was a vote of confidence in our men and women in uniform. it was a vote of support for them. and it was a vote of compassion and caring for all the people suffering in this great recession. and yet we may find -- i hope it isn't true -- but we may find that in just a few moments, this will become a strictly partisan vote. i hope that doesn't happen. it shouldn't. it was not a partisan issue in

would michigan argued was they used the holistic approach. it didn't look just at grades, adjusted gpa but everything in my guess is the everything turned very nicely on hispanic surnames and perhaps being a member of the thurgood marshall society, some helpful extracurricular activity. it looked like the thing to virtually all observers that the michigan program was going to be held unconstitutional by a 5-4 vote. that was consistent with the majority on that, and yet it was sustained by a 5-4 vote in part because of an amicus brief. for those of you who aren't lawyers, lawyers write friend-of-the-court briefs, amicus is a nice letter word for it. these briefs are worth less. they are an ego trip for the rights are. i know, i've written them. [laughter] and they are a lot more fun if you are being paid, but the parties are fully capable of handling their own problems there, but this brief was signed by william cohen, the former secretary of defense and 43 retired admirals and generals, and they stated that without affirmative action, the off

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. i want to specifically respond to the senator from nevada who was talking about the canadian health care system a little earlier and i appreciate the information, the education. of course, it has nothing to do with this debate but it was nice to hear, we now understand a little bit more about the canadian health care system. the great news for us is that what we are designing is a uniquely american health care system. and i want to walk through the hments of tha -- the elements tt have and take just a moment. about 60% of the folks in the great state of michigan get their health insurance through their employer, and that will continue. we are told that either their premiums will stay the same or go down, according to the congressional budget office, and we believe many of the efforts in this bill will actually bring costs down. one of the reasons that costs will come down is that those of us with insurance will no longer be paying through the back door for people that use the emergenc

stupak of michigan. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 964, the gentleman from michigan, mr. stupak and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. stupak: madam chair, thank you. chairman frank and chairman peterson have provided regulation for swap markets but we can improve this bill. we could pass the most comprehensive and thorough regulation of the financial sector imaginable but it would be meaningless if we continue to leave loopholes in place. as we saw in the oil markets of 2008, leaving loopholes in place for speculators cost consumers more. swaps are financial crabts that allow a company to lock in prices from everything currency, oil to pork bellies. in 2008, $80 trillion was traded on regulated exchanges worldwide and as astonishing as that figure is it pales in comparison to the 600 trillion traded over the counter. this is 7 1/2 times. to put that in perspective the total gross domestic product in the united states is 14.4 trillion or 41 times smaller than the unregulated swaps market. these unregulat

michigan is a much different place.ear 2000, michigan has lost half of the jobs that have been lost in the country. we understand how devastating this can be. that said, of course we need the right people in office. of course we need our president and congress to work together. we also have a responsibility as citizens and business people to move this fall for word. we cannot wait. host: does that mean -- bill ford, yesterday in the meeting, and the dow chemical president asked the administration to allow them and other ceo's to be part of the conversation? guest: we would like more collaboration. though detroit economic club will not be the organization that leaves the country. our role, and i believe our role going forward will be a platform for nonpartisan debate and discussion. we have got to debate these things. we have got to have our voices heard. what we did through this process was just that. that was the goal, to activate the voices of business in a way that we could provide helpful input to the administration

dodd: four minutes to the senator from michigan. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized for four minutes. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. i have an amendment that will be sent to the desk pursuant to the consent agreement. i would now call up my amendment 2899. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from michigan, ms. stabenow, proposes an amendment numbered 2899. at the appropriate place insert the following: section, no cuts in guaranteed benefits. nothing in this act -- ms. stabenow: i would ask that the amendment be considered read. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this is a very important amendment to clarify once again that we are not cutting any medicare benefits. we are not cutting any of the guaranteed medicare benefits that people receive right now. in fact, aarp who has been saying this on their web site for months has released a letter now, and it quotes this sentence: "most importantly, the legis

here is dennis in michigan. caller: merry christmas. there are a lot of nonfiction books the came out. i think the very best this year was "end the debt." or heard discussion about the different parties but i think he melted. this caused so many problems. -- i think heat nailed it. it is a wonderful book. i would highly recommended. and mary christmas to you and all the publicity. host: recovered wrong cawe covel talking about his book. " there were discussions with alan greenspan. i tell the story about the time and most of you would know the story. alan greenspan was get a supporter of a little group of people in the 1960's. he wrote a fantastic article about how bad the debt was and how bad the central bank was and we confiscate wealth by printing money. it is a wonderful article. we had one session and one morning before orlin to the banking committee and it was to go in and say -- before we go into the banking committee. he was getting ready to testify. i dug up an old copy of the objective newsletter with the original article appe

pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, and the gentleman from michigan, mr.p, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: madam speaker, i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i rise in support of h.r. 4284. this bill extends two preference programs, the generallyized system of preferences, knowledge as g.s.p., and the andean trade preference program, known as atpp, for one year. without this extension, the two programs would expire less than three weeks on december 31. preferences including g.s.p. and atppa is important in trade policy. they are means by which the u.s. can work with developing nations to help and capture the opportunities and to meet the challenges of trade and globalization. over many decades, the g.s.p. and andean programs have seen these results for developing nations. g.s.p. currently provides duty-free treatment to over 3,500 types of products coming into the u.s. from over 130 developing countries. the program provide

i want to thank the gentleman from michigan, mr. stupak, a member of our commerce committee, for bringing to our attention and very -- in very forceful terms the need to serve all of the 28 currently unserved local television markets across our nation. the bill before us makes other changes needed to harmonize the satellite carriage licenses with the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting. and it will result in more high definition carriage of public broadcasting television under the terms of an amendment that was offered by the gentlelady from california, ms. eshoo, and adopted during commerce committee consideration of our bill. i want to say thank you this afternoon to chairman conyers and his excellent staff for the cooperation with my staff and with me as our two committees structured the bill that we present to the house this afternoon. and i want to say thank you to the gentleman from texas, mr. smith, and the gentleman from florida, mr. stearns, for the highly constructive and cooperative bipartisan role t

conyers of michigan. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? ms. kaptur: permission to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. ms. kaptur: mr. speaker, the job market is bleak. a major reason is that bank credit is frozen in this country still. business can't get loans to hire and function. the federal deposit insurance corporation reports that lending has declined for the last five consecutive quarters. this chart demonstrates that. it was in the "washington post" yesterday, because credit in the real banking sector has dried up. i'm not talking about the political tarp bailout fund banking sector being managed by treasury. i'm talking about the impact of that on the rest of the banking system where credit is simply not being lent across this country. businesses are clammering to get loans only to be rejected from coast to coast. the normal banking sector is not functioning. tarp destroyed over $600 billion of real bank capital as the treasur

michigan has many different problems than those georgia.have wide range of different needs throughout regions of this country. some of those are health care delivery problems and others are because of the autumn, the situation. this legislation is no different than the defense bill with just pass. we spent $600 billion on this. it is no different than other pieces of legislation, small pieces of large pieces. we were to compromise. there are 100 senators hear it i don't know if there is a senator but does not have something in this bill that was important to if they do not have something in it important to them, then it does not speak well of them. that is what this legislation is all about, the art of compromise. >> talking about the grant program for education, there are roughly 14 states that would qualify, connecticut is one one. it is a grant determined by the secretary of human services. competitive if the states decide to compete, they will get them. this does not involve just my state by state is interested in a proposal for reconst

brian is in michigan. good morning. like to state my unequivocal support for the obama administration concerning the guantanamo base closing. we're going to recognize our legal system. the people who are guilty will be tried in court. some will be tried in military commissions. we're going to close something that is an abomination. we've been hiding those people. i want to say something about global warming. look out your window of the snow that is coming down. global warming is not just warming. it is chaotic climate change. the atlantic conveyor is diving beneath the fresh cold water in greenland and the poles. host: thank you for the science lesson. we want to stick with our conversation about what is accomplished by moving the detainees from guantanamo bay to prison. steve is on the line for republicans. caller: i think the only thing that will be accomplished is that president obama will be able to go before a joint house of congress and said that he closed guantanamo bay but he said he would. he is nothing but a c

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, many who are filibustering this defense appropriations bill tonight are filibustering because they want to delay health care. they want to delay the health care reform legislation from being voted on. so the bill that provides the funding to support our men and women in uniform who are serving on the front lines, often under arduous and dangerous circumstances, to protect our nation is being filibustered to keep the senate from acting on another unrelated piece of legislation. this is not only unbelievable; it is unconscionable. a 3.4% pay raise for the troops is being filibustered, additional funding for needed medical research in traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress syndrome and to improve the care, the medical care, for our wounded warriors is being filibustered tonight. funding to provide over 6,000 m wrap vehicles -- shows are the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that are so desperately needed by our troops in afghanistan, is being filibustered t

in michigan it's about 60%. -- 60% of the people of michigan and in other places it's 50% or 55%. but we have what's called an employer-based health insurance system. and we've started with the basis that people should be able to keep what they have. and we've built on that. the majority of people have either employer-based insurance or they have medicare or medicaid or veterans services or other public services. so we started from the basis that we want to make current health insurance more secure, more stable. so the insurance reforms we're putting in place for those plans that take effect, new plans after this takes effect, will include no -- the elimination of preexisting conditions, the elimination of what's called rescissions or the ability to drop someone if they've gotten sick. the elimination of discrimination. one of the things that i was surprised about -- i was surprised to learn about in terms of -- its extensiveness as we went through this process is that women are paying on average 50% more for the same coverage in the individual insurance market. or maybe even less

here's dennis in bloomfield hills, michigan. go ahead. >> caller: merry christmas, sir. there are lot of rate books that came out and i think the very best this year was and the fed by duron paul and at first was a discussion back and forth about the liberty and that sort of thing. but i think that dr. paul nailed it when it was calling so many problems. it's just a wonderful book, very well written. in his humanity comes through now which i recommend it. i wish a merry christmas to you and all the listeners. post go and we covered congressman ron paul talking about this book at an event on booktv. >> next federal reserve chairman that i have some confrontations with the discussion with what is our greenspan and i tell a story in there about the time i think most of you here in this audience with know the story that alan greenspan of course was a supporter of and a friend of an land and he was in their little group of people. but in the 1960's he wrote this fantastic article about how bad cop was and how bad the simple bank was then that we confiscated wealth by printing

president, i yield ten minutes to the senior senator from michigan. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: thank you, mr. president. first let me thank the senator from montana for the extraordinary work that he has put in on this bill for so long, so many months, so many years. thanks also go, of course, to the democratic leader, our majority leader, senator dodd and others who have worked so hard to get us here. we are at a pivotal moment in the long fight to reform our health care system. everyone should by now be well aware of the history, of how presidents of both parties have tried and failed to achieve reform. and of how, after months of painstaking review, we've arrived at this instant, closer than ever to health care reform. it would be impossible to fashion legislation on an issue so massive and so complex on which all could agree on every detail. those seeking perfection will have to look outside this chamber or, for that matter, in any piece of complex legislation. but when they look outside the walls of this capitol,

and indeed, the floor in michigan is higher than it is -- than 100%.ntially higher because it's a relatively low he medicare payment rate state. so when you hear stories and discussions about medicare payments being -- medicaid advantage payments being at a fairly high level, michigan is one of those states because of the legislation that was -- resources were put back to recognize the underfunding that occurs in medicare. and michigan is one of the states that stands to lose medicare advantage participation because of the draconian nature of the cutbacks that are proposed both in the house and the senate. so we offered in terms of offering a very aggressive path but a sustainable path to make sure we were taking responsibility to fully participate in the cost containment discussions, but not so much that would take choices away. so i'm glad you asked that question. in addition, we're looking at $67 billion in tax increases over a 10-year period. that amounts to 6.7 billion per year starting next year. every health plan here in this audience will tell

you're favorite best non-fiction book of 2009 year raised dennis in bloomfield hills, michigan. go ahead. >> merry christmas, sir. >> thank you. >> caller: there's a lot of great nonfiction books that cannot and of a book about dred scott. the best this year was and the fed by dr. ron paul. we heard discussion back-and-forth about liberty and that sort of thing on the two parties but i think dr. paul kneal did in terms of the linchpin that's caused so many problems in the federal reserve system. it is a wonderful book, very well written, very down-to-earth and his humanity comes through. i would highly recommend it and the fed to everyone a merry christmas to you and all the listeners. >> host: and we covered congressmen ron paul talking about his book at ebook event this year on book tv. here is a look. scaap next federal reserve chairman i had some confrontations with and discussion with was alan greenspan and i tell the story about the time i think most of you here in this audience would know the story that alan greenspan of course was a supporter of and friend of ayn rand an

lake michigan. that big lake, that real big lake. there's a lot of lakes in michigan. i didn't know. he started out at santa clara and was recruited by dick davey. never played for dick davey, but was there. they had the coaching change. kerry took over. a bunch of guys transferred, and he was one of them. he felt a lot more comfortable around big davey. stanford losing zone. all right a 1-2-2 and landry fields at the point man because of his length. they kind of bother the passers out top on this zone. get a deflection that leads to a steal. >> barry: anderson steps up and knocks down a three. >> marques: he's concentrating on the defense and not forcing a lot of shots, kind of allowing the game to come to him. landry fields is the playmaker, the point forward on the floor, gets the ball out of shiller's hands. >> barry: landry is drawing a lot of attention and still knocking it out of the baseline. >> marques: he's knocking down shots and jumping over defenders. >> barry: he's 4 for 4 in the game. >> marques: green with a rebound. nice job. a little too aggressive, b

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. first i want to thank my friend from new hampshire for her advocacy on health reform in general, but, specifically, working to on thers that affect small business -- on the areas that affect small business. and we're so pleased to have her here in the united states senate. mr. president, i'm coming to the floor today to join my colleagues. i know the chair of the small business committee, senator landrieu, has been here, and i know others will be here. senator lincoln, who's played such a critical role in putting together the small business provisions in the bill, and i'm very pleased to have authored one of the provisions in the managers' amendment that will guarantee that small businesses get immediate help starting next year. tax cuts to be able to cut them -- to be able to help them pay for the cost of health insurance. michigan has close to 200,000 small employers that represent about 96% of the employers in our state. most folks think of michigan when they think of la

congresswoman miller from michigan. congresswoman miller from michigan. the the gentlewoman from is recognized. >> this house passed what is known as cap and trade legislation that would place limits on co-2. and the reason needed is that global warming poses a grave threat to the future of our planet. we have been told that the debate is over and the science is uncontravertable. and enthough it would cause redistribution of wealth from our nation to others and would lead to massive job losses and outsourcing from the united states to the other nations. particularly hard heat would be heavy industry, agriculture and states that rely upon coal for like that production. mr. speaker, i voted against cap and trade because i wasn't convinced of the problem and because the solution would cause further economic devastation to my constituents. i'm from michigan where we currently have the highest unemployment in the united states. we also derive 2/3 of our like that from coal and our number one industry is industrial manufacturing and our number two industry is a

michigan. your question, please?ller: i was curious if the gentlemen there has to give his employees cuts in pays and most americans have to take a cut in pay. why wouldn't it be a good idea for the legislators to take a cut in pay and then when they get done with their term they're done with it and we know longer give them benefits after that other than maybe going for their health plan to the, v.a. just like our soldiers. let them have a reality to the wake up? host: anything for that caller? let me pass this question or comment really from a viewer who layable on twitter ise 3. air tractor will be copied by china soon but it was nice to see an american company that tried. guest: we're willing to compete. we've sold planes to china recently and other markets so i guess everybody can be copied possibly but we think we can build a better product with our employees in texas and we're willing to compete. host: how can you compete against china? guest: quality. host: michael, republican line? caller: thank you very much

robert is chief executive officer for wayne county, michigan.hat did we learn from the events of christmas day, robert? >> at this point there's definitely a heightened awareness. you saw from the flight today, larry, that people are taking and the airlines are taking all sorts of precautions. the individual in the bathroom was not responding to directions or commands from the flight staff. as soon as the plane landed it was segregated and they checked all the passengers and luggage, and the individual was taken into custody. >> larry: martin, how are peach reacting to this long delay? are they bracing in or a little ticked? >> reporter: i think a lot of people are willing to put up with delay if it means they gain extra security and be safer in the air. as much as people might not like standing in line or the prospect of not making a flight, the alternative is there could be an attack or threat to their safety. as we found in many, many cases previous, passengers are willing to put up with a lot when you're talking about the issue of security.

van dussen the freshman from michigan down with it. here's evans. evans can score. he's the leading scorer on this team, but not that time. >> mike g.: again, i think as a coaching staff you like the look. i like the way that van dussen played and evans played off of him. you got a wide open jump shot. those are the ones you have to convert at home. >> mike h.: nc state started slow. since then, they have hit 7 of their last 11 shots. good ball movement as the shot clock now winds under ten. neither one of these teams are in a hurry to shoot the ball when they get into their half-court offense. >> mike g.: neither one of them are very -- they're both last in their respective leagues in scoring. the first team to 65 in this game may win. >> mike h.: nc state averages just right at 68 a game as good defensive play by elhanan bone. down at the other end, kyle randall, now uncg's leading scorer with six points. >> mike g.: korey van dussen has been a nice little spark plug in the last couple of minutes, playing with a lot of energy. he's elevated his team. the spartans

michigan wins is-t by 11. >>> illinois hosting western michigan. first half, illini on the break.d go. lays it in. 2 of his 11 points on the day. later, same guy showing hustle, making the steal. going to leave some offensive production. bucket on the other end. illinois got 23 at the break. in the second, gordon, son of michael. looking like michael a little bit there, using the window. 88-53 the final, illinois a winner. >>> we're not done here on "the final score," more football. patriots look to keep their lead in the afc east. ♪ energetic music geico powersports. insurance for your car and the other stuff that moves you. >>> welcome back. titans hosting the 1-11 rams. nfl leading returner chris johnson doing his thing. look at johnson run. 39 yards to the touchdown. now his eighth straight 100 yard rushing game. later, first quarter, vince young dumps it off. who's he looking for? yeah, why not, chris johnson. going to do the rest himself, going 6 of yards, weaving through traffic. first player in franchise history to go over 2,000 yard in a single season. three touchdowns fo

now, as he sits in a federal prison in michigan, his ties to yemen and its growing al-qaeda presence have come under intense new scrutiny. today, security forces stormed an al-qaida hide-out along yemen's western coast, and arrested at least one suspect. and the deputy interior minister declared his government "will continue its strikes against the group until it is totally eliminated." and officials in somalia reported a somali national tried to board a commercial airliner there last month with a bomb that closely resembled the one on the northwest flight. that's added to the urgency in the u.s. and other countries to improve screening. today, the dutch announced they will begin using full-body scanners on all flights to the u.s. >> ( translated ): however, security gates currently used only detect metal, which is why body searches are carried out sporadically. this combination is, of course, not watertight which is why the decision has been made to introduce full body scanners at schiphol for flights to the united states. >> reporter: and nigeria said it will purchase the 3d scanne

the senator from michigan. "people who rely on medicare and medicaid are going to be hurt tbhi bill." the senator from wisconsin, "irresponsible and cruel budget. i urge my colleagues to reject this bill." and the former senator from new york, senator clinton, at the time said, "this bill slashes" -- slashes, madam president -- "$6.4 billion of medicare over the next five years." actually it was $10 billion. my point is this: $2 billion a year, $10 billion over five years. these are the statements of -- just the overstatements of the impact of the medicare reductions were going to have on people in this country. we are taking about half a trillion dollar of medicare cuts. where do they come from? $118 billion comes from medicare advantage which now we have about 11 million americans who are impacted by medicare advantage. every state has seniors who have subscribed to the medicare advantage program whose benefits are going to be dput this bill is enacted. you get it out of hospitals. $15 billion in reductions t

mccain: madam president, i thank my friend from michigan. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i thank him for his leadership of the armed services committee. madam president, the train is about to leave the station on the last of the appropriations bills for 2010, and unfortunately nothing has changed. everything's the same. earmarking, pork barrel, excessive and unnecessary spending, billions in wasteful earmarks have again found their way into this bill which could otherwise be spent for the priorities that our men and women, our military leaders as well as the secretary of defense has asked for. there is in this one, here we go again, appropriations bill loaded up with earmarks 523-page explanatory statement for 1,720 earmarks, totaling $4.3 billion. so let's do some simple math here. $4.3 billion in pork, pork, $2.5 billion in unauthorized and unrequested c-17's, $500 million in unrequested and unwanted funding for the joint strike fighter alternative engine and presidential helicopter. $7.3 billion that the mili

here in michigan we have the term limits.byist that worked on term limits for michigan. and he voted for them. i'm against that idea bus i vote -- because i voted ever since i was 18. but he has told us it made the partisanship worse since we have inflicted term limits because now nobody works together lock enough to -- nobody works together long enough to build the trust. maybe we need to have folks act more like adults. and whatever. the term limits after that that is that is not the answer because you really don't get any partisanship -- or you get a lot more partisanship is what you get on that. thank you very much. i hope you have a great rest of the year and happy new year. host: this twitter comment from d dan. alex wayne and kate hunter have pieces in the latest edition of cq senate. even as the senate headed to the final vote congressional negotiators and groups were gearing up for what is certain to be an arduous conference which will begin in earnest in early january. the democrats' goal is to send the final measur