mr. bennett. steve says that you have included a copy of in the book. don't you think in the past two years you have heard the word patriot more than i can remember having lived here and [inaudible] fantastic. what i want to know is how do you see the influence of tea party people and what do you think of them, the influx in the congress? have you met any of them and what do you think of them? host: where are you from, karen, great britain? caller: i was born here but lived abroad. guest: i tphknow a lot of tea py people and representatives who were lifted by the tea party. there was the most important political movement of the year if you are doing the 2010 in review on the last day of the year. you would have to say that. the range of people in the tea party from conservative republican, very conservative republic, conservative republican, moderate republican, center, independent, and send tryst -- centrist democrats. it was a remarkable thing. "the economist" is a magazine that i read as much as i can. it is a center-left magazine but well written an

mr. bennett: madam president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senator from utah is to be recognized for 20 minutes, or as much as you need. may we have order in the chamber. mr. bennett: thank you, madam president. i think i will wait until there's a little more order. the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the chamber. mr. bennett: madam president, there used to be a very strong tradition in the senate that every new senator gave a maiden speech, and in that tradition, some senators waited as long as a year before they gave the speech, and then when the time came, the more senior senators would gather and take notes and then critique the newcomer on how well he did. life has changed a good deal there. i didn't ever give a maiden speech, plunged right into the debate when i got here. but now the tradition seems to be to give a farewell speech. and so i'm grateful to my colleagues that they will gather for that occasion as i contemplate saying farewell to the senate.

bennett. they write him back. dear mr. nancy, we could not find any information on a show appearing with mr. bennett. but i attached a schedule for tony. he writes back to them. i told you it's not tiny, it's small mccartney. he is a fun sized man that looks like paul mccartney. they go back and forth. >> larry: they answer. >> they answer. they're so afraid of losing a customer. >> larry: they answer because of fear? >> yeah, fear. >> larry: let's do another one. this is about -- this is about opening a sandwich stand in a casino bathroom. do you have that? >> yes. >> larry: read this letter. >> do you want to read it? >> read it. >> okay, i'll read it. this is to the kanook winds indian casino. i want to sell ham sandwiches in your restrooms. have a sign on the restroom mirror that says we have the potty melt. can you direct me to what office i would contact to request casino credit. they reply, dear mr. nancy, we thank you for your interest but at this time we're not interested in putting any businesses in the restroom. we have five food outlets for our customers. thank you for considerin

mr. president, i've been proud to call bob bennett my friend for the last 18 years. i count myself fortunate to have served with him on many, many issues in the appropriations committee. he is a gentleman, a bridge builder, a person of rock-solid character and integrity. i join with the entire senate family in wishing bob and joyce the very best in the years ahead. mr. president, in these closing days of the 111th congress, the senate will be saying farewell to one of our most popular members, senator blanche lincoln of arkansas. at a time when the senate has become increasingly partisan, senator lincoln charted an alternative choice. she had cultivated friendships on both sides of the aisle. she -- last year senator lincoln succeeded me as the chair of the senate agriculture committee. i would note that she is the first arkansan and the first woman to chair the senate agriculture committee. she has used that position to champion causes that have been her passion for many years including revitalizing rural communities, supporting family farmers, promoting biofuels an

mr. president, i've been proud to call bob bennett my friend for the last 18 years. i count myself fortunate to have served with him on many, many issues in the appropriations committee. is a gentleman, a bridge builder, a person of rock-solid character and integrity. i join with the entire senate family in wishing bob and joy the very best in the years ahead. mr. president, in these closing days of the 111th congress, the senate will be saying farewell to one of our most popular members, senator blanche lincoln of arkansas. at a time when the senate has become increasingly partisan, senator lincoln charted an alternative choice. she had cultivated friendships on both sides of the aisle. she -- last year senator lincoln succeeded me as the chair of the senate agriculture committee. i would note that she is the first arkansan and the first woman to chair the senate agriculture committee. she has used that position to champion causes that have been her passion for many years including revitalizing rural communities, supporting family farmers, promong biofuels and advoc

earlier, senator bennett's colleague lauren hodge spoke on the senate floor about senator bennett, who was elected to the mr. lee will be sworn inesident. january 3rd.nd >> i rise today to recognize the retirement and the departure of riend, bob bennett. joint bob bennett -- senator bennett y and i have jointly represented the state of utah for many years. we are close. during that time we were together as partners andgood collaborators, but most of allgr is good friends. bob's presence in the senate is going to be sorely missed. senator bennett is a lot of things. he is honest, he's thoughtful, he's knowledgeable. is a f but more than anything else, senator bennett is a fighter for the people of utah.ing bob has served with unwavering devotion to our state, its people and its interest in theie interest.been forem throughout his 18 years in the s senate, state of utah has beenno foremost in bob's got theour nao monopoly you've made a single decision that he didn't believe is in the best interest of our state and of our nation. senator bennett is the son of francis and will send bennett. allemember, wallace

. >> democrat russ feingold and republican bob bennett are veterans who lost their bids for fourth terms. this is about 10 minutes. mr. harkin: mr. president, with the closeth congress the senate will lose to retirement senate russ feingold of wisconsin, a proud progressive, a fearless reformer and a genuine mavrick in the very best sense of that much abused term. senator feingold has been a worthy successor to another great progressive reformer from wisconsin, senator robert "fighting bob" lathola, at whose desk i'm proud to sit here in the united states senate and who's por rate is -- portrait is in senator feingold's office. it's not enough to have our hearts in the right place. progressivism by it's very nature is a fight against entrenched corporate interest, entrerched economic, and entrenched political fire. we haveo know how to fight and willing to fight. as our colleagues here in th senate know veryell, senator feingold is equally skilled at building bridges across the aisle and carrying the fight those who would -- we witnessed these tall enters during feingo's relentless campaign to pass the landmark 2002

bennett. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you for your leadership of this committee for allowing me to participate in for excellent, excellent speech yesterday. i hope we hear about more like that when going forward. i wanted to go back to the observation mr. tarullo made at the very outset of this with the economic complications of what we're talking about here. i think they are potentially devastating. we have this housing bubble. we have this crash. we had a lot of people try to figure out how to preserve these home values, which we know is like holding back the ocean. but now i'm very concerned that we're moving in exactly the opposite direction, that because of all of the issues that have been raised here we find ourselves in a place where the width and the investor's economic interest for a lot of these blogs to be modified rather than foreclosed, houses foreclosed upon. it's in the homeowners interest to get modifications not to be foreclosed upon. and because it is in the broader economic interest of this en

mr. president, i rise today to recognize the retirement and departure of my great friend, bob bennett. bob bennett -- senator bennett and i have jointly represented the state of utah for many years. we're close. during that time we've worked together as partners and collaborators but most of all as good friends. bob's presence in the senate is going to be sorely missed. senator bennett is a lot of things. he's honest, he's thoughtful, he's knowledgeable, and more than anything else, senator bennett is a fighter for the people of utah. bob has served with unwavering devotion to our state, its people, and its interests, and their interests. throughout his 18 years in the senate, the state of utah has been foremost in bob's thoughts and i don't believe he's made a single decision that he didn't believe was in the best interests of our state and of our nation. senator bennett is the son of frances and wallace f. bennett. wallace f. ben knelt, we should all remember, was also a great u.s. senator from utah who served four terms between 1951 and 1974. i think that's accurate. bob is also the

rockefeller, dorgan, whitehouse, reid, menendez, cardin, nelson of florida, bennett of colorado, murray, mikulski, dodd, durbin and kerry. mr. reid: i move to -- with an amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid moves to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment number three with an amendment number 4822. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is. there is a sufficient second. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes amendment number 4823 to amendment 4822. mr. reid: i move to refer the house message to the senate judiciary committee with instructions to report back forthwith with the following amendment. i ask the clerk to state that motion. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada mr. reid refers to move to the senate judiciary committee with instructions to report back forthwith the following amendment number 4824. mr.

mr. president, before i proceed to speak on the topic, i would like to say a couple words about bob bennett. we all are deeply impressed with his sense of integrity and his commitment working for, you know, basic sound principles. and one i might say made a big impression on me is he came to my office i think on his own, or could be he was appointed to help find a way to make the senate more relevant, ways to change the senate rules to address some of the frustration that a lot of senators have. you know, people watching might wonder, gosh, why do senators think they are not very relevant. but i must say, it's because a lot of senators feel they want to get something done quickly and are sometimes frustrated by the actions of other senator who has not quite the same idea. but i was very impressed with bob's attitude. he came and talked to me, what can be done, max, what ideas do you have. it was very, very refreshing. and i remember thinking at the time, this is going to be difficult. i told him it was going to be difficult. but i didn't tell him how difficult i thought it would be. but i w

mr. darcy a rest. let him remain within the covers of the book and let the bennett sisters do their business, you know, in words. we don't need to see another bunch of actors being these people. i've seen more adaptations of pride and prejudice than i care for. >> host: in several of your books, i've come across a phrasing, and i'm going to paraphrase a little bit, but you've written for the new to be born, the old must die. >> guest: yeah. well, it's -- i think originally it's the italian marxist antonio gram shi who talked about a transitional phase in which he says the old refuses to die, and the new cannot be born. and he says, in that there arise a large variety of morbid symptoms. and i think, you know, he was talking about a moment when he wanted a certain kind of revolution. you know, which, obviously, didn't happen. but i think it's true that what happens at -- we live in a time of colossal change. i mean, colossal, very rapid, very radical change. technological change, political change, social change. and that's dizzying sometimes, the speed of change. and i think everybody finds it sometimes

mr. president, before i proceed to speak on the topic, i would like to say a couple words about bob bennettwe all are deeply impressed with his sense of integrity and his commitment working for, you know, basic sound principles. and one i might say made a big impression on me is he came to my office i think on his own, or could be he was appointed to help find a way to make the senate more relevant, ways to change the senate rules to address some of the frustration that a lot of senators have. you know, people watching might wonder, gosh, why do senators think they are not very relevant. but i must say, it's because a lot of senators feel they want to get something done quickly and are sometimes frustrated by the actions of other senator who has not quite the same idea. but i was very impressed with bob's attitude. he came and talked to me, what can be done, max, what ideas do you have. it was very, very refreshing. and i remember thinking at the time, this is going to be difficult. i told him it was going to be difficult. but i didn't tell him how difficult i thought it would be. but i was