mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. last week, the u.s. house of representatives passed a plan to prevent the risk of another credit rating downgrade by ensuring that the u.s. will not default on its obligations, the house made the responsible decision to stop playing politics, at least for a while, with our nation's creditworthiness and to prevent self-inflicted harm on our economy, but despite this effort, the house couldn't pass up the opportunity to try, while doing the right thing, to score at least one political point. we're now considering the measure they passed. this legislation, the no-budget, no-pay act coming directly off a campaign document insists that congressional pay be linked with the passage of a budget by april 15. i'm fine with that, that we do that, and if we don't, we don't get paid, but let's not forget that the senate passed somet

mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i concur in the remarks that senator durbin just made, especially about the vote last night. i -- you know, the most -- the primary thing we did was we spared that $2,000 tax increase for so many families in california and illinois and ohio and acrossing this country. i remember the presiding officer telling a group of us last night how many hundreds of thousands of californians would have been -- would have lost their unemployment insurance if we had not acted last night the way that we did. my criteria -- fundamental criteria in voting on this issue and voting for this issue was we were able successfully to stop cuts in social security to pay for some of this plan or raising the retirement age for medicare or not doing the unemployment insurance in the way that we did. so all of those were victories last night. i also concur with senator durbin that we -- while adding five years to the earned-income tax credit, locking in one of the best poverty-fighting programs begun by ronald rea

quorum call: mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i rise today to celebrate the career and the calling of a remarkable ohio expan a close friend, reverend dr. lynnwood h. channel berlin. our pasty, woody, and his wife peggy are important to connie and me and to our whole community in lorain. the evangelical lutheran church of america, of which i'm a member, embraces the motto, "god's work, our hands." it means moral imperatives must be the concern of every citizen. in his 31 years of service to the first lutheran church of lorain, ohio, pastor woody has labored for love and for justice. he's been doing god's work, as his wife peggy, supporting those who suffer, celebrating our community's joys, and being concerned with every citizen. pastor woody's been a counselor and a friend to many. his words, his attentiveness, his patient understanding, his gentle encouragem

here mr. brown and mr. helman and a few others decided to make this an enterprise department. now that it's an enterprise department and i know that mr. moran is looking at me with big eyes, and that's rightly so. now that this is an enterprise department we need some sense about our assets. so i was at the last meeting, and i missed the first portion where (inaudible) and i was there in the succession portion with lafco, and i strongly feel that hetch hetchy was taken, and all the mandates laid down in the regular act, which people do not want to read. which we should read. are to focus on hydroelectricity. and how much of that can we increase to bring here to the city. we are not paying attention to it. we are like arbitrarily thinking if they pay us something, we can be content. we need to revisit that. now

there is a deeper problem behind it you know obviously and now that obama is coming to power with mr brown and as the chief will say we're going to have more drawn appropriations where when to have united states more involved in the world but at the distance not saying troops like bush did it by probably keeping people by drones so the problem is. how accurate are these drones going to be if the west miscalculated in syria i mean we're even in russia we see how big it has a tremendously distorted picture of russian reality you know we human deem it is a way that put you in the new caravan and stuff like that so there is a less and less trust in the united states as the full force which has technical capability to kill someone in yemen or enough to gain a star in pakistan thousands of miles. away from american borders how accurate is they thinking about the drones sincere a don't believe it's possible because who you will target. in pakistan i can understand it's very damaging for united states but i know who the who they try to strike but in syria there's a lot of this experience was sort

mr brown domestic security in france has been stepped up amid this campaign can there be real represents for the country domestically over this foreign policy your point is really a again half of any people but what you have to do is for another way of solving cry the problem and will solve the crisis you have to look for peaceful conflict solution the negotiation about the situation in mali start they were not at the end and before they really come to first resolve to truly lying on the table the french government for those struggles responsible for all the enlargement of all of the other countries of africa and at home because there isn't a limit rick war as a measure of or meet means that these powers of the of the two sides which is not so strong with africans who use other kinds of all and i think the war so they've got go with bomb attacks to the different countries i'm totally against that but these are the consequences of such off. all right braun joining us live from berlin with his analysis of what's happening in algeria and in the whole region in fact thank you very much for t

mr. brownn csu to cut costs without increasing tuition during a meeting in long beach today. >> the problem is rides rising inequality. 26% as a kid, 23% of the kids under family that's are december nated below poverty line that. is a big, big challenge. >> the trustees want to give employees a raise. government warned them today it's going to be hard to get lawmakers to approve those raises in this era of belt tightening. >> the question may be putting a damper on a program that let's solo drivers use the carpool lanes for plug in owners until 2015. so far, just 9,000 stickers have been issued. that is in contrast to the yellow sticker program that sold out of its 85,000 stickers. state senator lee wants to encourage drivers to give them more years in that carpool lane. >> more expensive and can use these vehicles on an hov lane kind of helps settle anxiety a little bit more. >> advocates predict sales of the plug in cars will pick up as the economy picks up. 1400 of the cars sold in november

mr. brown of ohio. ms. cantwell of washington. please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? >> i do. >> congratulations, senator. [applause] >> [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the clerk will call the names of the next group. >> mr. cardin of maryland. mr. carper of delaware. mr. casey of pennsylvania. mr. corker of tennessee. >> please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that he will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of each patient, and that you will well and fa

. >> thank you, mr. brown. we agree with that. robert kerwin? reverend gloria -- pardon my mispronunciation. >> thank you very much. my name is pastor gloria jones. i am a member of communities united of greater washington. i am also a sitting commissioner on the commission for persons with disabilities for the county of prince george, maryland. i also want to commend you for your very important first step toward resolving a very egregious problem, with regard to predatory lending. i myself am a predatory lending survivor. however, i am very concerned as to whether or not the protections built into your efforts are adequate enough for people who are particularly vulnerable, such as folks like myself, who are totally print disabled. one of the things i would really like to happen is to get a copy of your proposal in some audio form. i do not have immediate computer access. and unless god changes his mind, i am not going to be able to read the printed page. one concern that i do have is a safe harbor for borrowers, and i will use myself as an exam

he seems to have taken -- mr. brown, that is, taking on ed markey, who is a possible opponent. sterday on the jim and marjorie show, their last program of last year, brown questioned markey's residency. >> you have to check the travel record. i see most of the delegation. i have never seen ed on the airplane, ever. >> senator kerry, by the way, is back, the long-time massachusetts congressman, markey and a whole bunch of others rallied around him. scott brown is supposedly wondering whether to become governor or attempt to be not someone who loses two senate seats in less than a year. south carolina governor nikki haley announced the special election to fill soon to be scott's house seat will be may 7th. scott officially resigned from the house yesterday. >>> and finally, school students from sandy hook elementary, they will return to class this morning. it's been nearly a month since a gunman shot and killed 26 very small children and the adults in that school still being treated as a crime scene. so students will go to class at a refurbished school in a neighboring town. polic

mr. chuck brown. the park has already been renamed chuck brown memorial park. the existing small stage there will be turned into a 900 seat amphitheater and should be ready sometime this summer. no. 3, new mortgage lending rules went into effect today and force banks to verify a borrower's ability to repay loans and not to lend to borrowers whose debt exceeds 43% of their income. lenders face bans on the risky interest only and no documentation loans that helped fuel the housing crisis. no. 2, the fda is ordering the makers of ambien and other sleeping pills to lower their zones. it's an effort to report harmful side effects especially in women. a key ingredient stays in women's bodies longer and could affect alertness the next morning. no. 1, more than half the states across country are reporting high flu levels. flu concerns have people flocking to get shots. some doctors and drugstores are having a hard time keeping up with supplies of the vaccine and the medicine used to treat the bug. that's a look at tonight's fox 5 top five. >>> the flu no fun, symptoms

mr. brown of ohio. ms. cantwell of washington. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will suppo and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the sa; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations. [applause] the vice president: the clerk will call the names of the next group. the clerk: mr. cardin of maryland. mr. carper ofelaware. mr. casey of pennsylvania. mr. corker of tennessee. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well an

mr. president. >> brown: this was the fourth time the chief justice and presidenhaddone this together. re-do the oath at the white house after roberts stumbled over some of the words in the public ceremony and president obama was officially sworn in for his second term yesterday in a private ceremony at the white house to meet the constitutional requirement that the oath be taken on january 20. today the president began his second inaugural address with a nod to the country's founding doctrines. >> each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our constitution. we affirm the promise of our democracy. we recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. what makes us exceptional, what makes us american is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ( cheers and applause ) that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that

billy connelly is funny as always.though mrs. brown reminds us of his acting.ine with delicasy and charm. not a penetrating look at aging, but like the best exotic marigold hotel, a chance to relate and identify. at a time of violentand bloody movies. this is one to see to remind us of movies that connect and make us care. marty? >> let's take a quick look outside this morning. let's check in for your first forecast. live look outside at heavenly valley this morning. cloudy today. with scattered showers this morning. then isolated showers this afternoon. snow in higher elevations. highs 42 to 47. 50s through oakland. taking a look at the satellite and radar. we have weather pushing and with spotty showers. mainly expecting cooler temperatures. as we track and for this afternoon. and the weekend, most of that merger will stay out of the area. through lake tahoe, and for our conditions. a bit of a cool down. and you can see 50s in the south bay. through mountain view, santa clara, and fremont. and in san jose. along the del mid '50s through fairfield. with mid '5

mr. brown: i ask the quorum call be dispensed. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. on sunday we confirmed carol galante as the new commissioner of the federal housing administration, the f.h.a. i want to thank my 19 republican colleagues who supported her nomination. it was an important step forward for f.h.a. special thanks to senator corker for his work on this, my colleague on the senate banking committee. my democratic colleagues and i have cleared an important commonsense piece of legislation on our side. it's passed overwhelmingly in the house. we've received little cooperation from some of our republican colleagues because it did not include everything that they want. it's clear the f.h.a.'s mutual mortgage insurance fund is facing significant financial issues. two years ago senator begich and i introduced an f.h.a. reform bill. for a time we collaborated with senator vitter from louisiana who worked with me on legislation with the g.a.o. and other things, and with senator isakson on that effort. so i know that many of my colle

brown. >> thank you mr. speaker, fellow constitutional officers. all my friends gathered here this morning. california is once again confounded our critics. in just two years, a solid and enduring budget and by god, we're going to preserve and keep it that way for years to come. [ applause ] this is my longest speech. we're not going to get out of here if we don't keep moving. against those who take pleasure seeing our demise, california did the impossible. you, the legislature, cast difficult votes to cut billions from the state budget. curbed prison spending through a historic realignment and reformed and reduced the long- term pension liabilities. then the citizens of california using their inherent political power under the constitution finished the task. they embraced the new taxes of proposition 30 by a healthy margin of 55% to 44%. [ applause ] michelle obama members of the legislature, i salute you and the unions, their leaders. you showed what ordinary people can do when they're united and organized. i salute those leaders of california bu

mr. marquee. he's the likely democrat that he'll face that's running for senate? >> i know that senator browns about how mr. marquee's wife works down here. that's going to be a tough one on the trail. i'm not sure if it's a big plus if you're going back to massachusetts all of the time. what's so important is to develop relationships down here, to get things down. i think markey is a pretty formidable candidate. and, in some ways, he's a much stronger candidate than elizabeth warren was. she's a terrific mind and a terrific senator. massachusetts is not a very hospitable place for female candidates. she is sort of portrayed as a school elitist and she still won. so i think that it would be form midble. the problem for brown is if he runs and luszs, he's done for politics. so he's got to decide. if he ran against markey who we asumt will get the nomination and lost, then i don't see how he gets governor. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. thank you both for your time thef ening. >> thank you. pleasure to be here. >> colin powell versus bill o'reilly. that's next. i was in the ambulance a

. >> thank you, mr. brown. we agree with that. robert kerwin? reverend gloria -- great. >> [inaudible] >> thank you very much. my name is pastor gloria jones swearengin. i'm co-chair of communities united of greater washington. i'm also a city commissioner on the commission for persons with disabilities, for the county of things george maryland. and i also -- prince george maryland and also want to commend you for your very important first step towards resolving a very egregious problem with regard to predatory lending. i myself am a predatory lending survivor. however, i am very concerned as to whether or not the protections built into your effort are adequate enough for people who are particularly vulnerable, that folks like myself, who are truly disabled, one of the things i would really like to happen is to get a copy of your proposal in some audio form. i do not have immediate computer access, and unless god changes his mind, i'm not going to be able to read the printed page. but one concern that i do have is a safe harbor for borrowers. an

. >> thank you, mr. brown. we agree with that. robert kerwin?reverend, gloria -- pardon my mispronunciation. >> thank you very much. my name is pastor gloria jones. i am a member of communities united of greater washington. i am also a sitting commissioner on the commission for persons with disabilities for the county of prince george, maryland. i also want to commend you for your very important first step toward resolving a very egregious problem, with regard to predatory lending. i myself have -- and a predatory lending survivor. however, i am very concerned as to whether or not the protections built into your efforts are adequate enough for people who are particularly vulnerable, such as folks like myself, who are totally print disabled. one of the things i would really like to happen is to get a copy of your proposal in some audio form. i do not have immediate computer access. and unless god changes his mind, i am not going to be able to read the printed page. one concern that i do how is -- have is a safe harbor for borrowers, and i will us

brown liquor. and he is also been the finalist for the 2006 poetry prize. please, join me in welcoming mr. sean hill. [applause]. >> i want to read from blood and brown liquor today. this book is about my home town in georgia. it's also where [inaudible] is from. and i started researching the history of [inaudible] and sort of fell into the history of black people there because it was not taught in school. so -- in order to write about the history i had to invent a character to explore this history. the character's name is si loss wright. >> first poem i will read is titled silos write at age 71914. it's about silos follows a fishing riggel in the shallows. he describes the line in his tablet as much pride in that line as a man and his son. he giggles and goes on. the next letters come easy. with this he will have more than a mark to bind. rambling across the page again and again in messy rows along it flows until he goes off the page's edge. he smiles. he's surprised to hear when his mouth opens. that's mine. so, this really lovely book that georgia put together for me has great painting o

mr. mayor and i am going to welcome you your predecessor mayor brown and i would like you both to lead usthe count down, are are we ready to turn the lights on? >> the lights only are electricians are literally at the north pole and they can't flip the switch unless there was a joke about the candle stick. they can only flip the switch from the north pole as we really, really hear them. so before i turn it over to mayor lee and mayor brown to do the count down, i need to hear as loud as you could possibly scream, are you ready to turn the lights on? they said that they heard a dull roar but they could not hear it up at the north pole. one more time. are you ready to turn the lights on? [ cheers ] >> they heard that. all right, mr. mayors all you. >> okay. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [ cheers ] >> it worked. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the san francisco playground's history dates back to 1927 when the area where the present playground and center is today was purchased by the city for $27,000. in the 1950s, the center was expanded by then mayor robinson and the old gym was built. thanks to the passage of t

brown. (applause) >> ann, thank you very much. mr.mbers of the boards of supervisors, assemblyman ammiano, [speaker not understood], moscone family, gay men's course, and all of you who are assembled herein, as i look around, i absolutely know that i had probably the greatest pleasure, other than the moscone children, of literally living with george moscone for so many years. mr. mayor, it was when we were in law school together, we were fellow janitors at hastings college of law. george moscone was amazing. he was just as aggressive about inclusionary activities. he was just as focused on sharing. and he had an immense pride in the city and county of san francisco like no other. i suspect that much of my love of the city comes from my exposure to george in those very early years. george went through a considerable amount of evolutionary process politically. he allowed john burton to talk him into running for the state legislature. an unsuccessful effort for the state assembly. he went on to become, obviously, a supervisor in the city

. >> thank you, mr. brown. we agree with that. robert?my mispronunciation. great. thank you very much. my name is tester laureate jones and by the co-chair of the community's united on the commission for persons with disabilities and with the county of prince george maryland and they also want to commend you for the very important first step towards resolving a very egregious problem with regard to predatory lending. i, myself, and the predatory lending survivor. however, i am very concerned as to whether or not the protections built into your effort are adequate enough for people who are particularly vulnerable such as folks like myself who are totally disabled. one of the things i would really like to happen is to get a copy of your proposal in some audio form. i do not have a media computer access and unless some god changes his mind i'm not going to be able to read the print today. but one concern that i do have is a safe harbor for the borrowers and i use myself as an example. my predatory linder has been an enthusiastic violation of

mr. have a say. >> brown: the question of the scale and speed of the drawdown estimate to come as the president said, but much of this is about what happened afterwards, after 2014, that so-called security agreement of some kind. >> yes, absolutely. two key issues for the future of afghanistan is the political certainty. for an afghan, insecurity is to the a problem, it's uncertainty. the fact we don't know what we are transitioning too. what is next for afghan. part of that has to be form nature-- formulated by the afghan political leadership. they can help to a certain degree but we still do need to hear very clearly what is in for afghanistan after 2014, as far as what from the national partner but most importantly how afghanistan itself sees itself in a changing region. >> what about this of hamid karzai saying he will be retired president soon enough. is that a certainty at this point. and then what does that mean for afghan politics? >> that is a challenge. i believe that president karzai will step down and he is not going to be running. >> therefore i didn't expect he will be endorsing i

mr. president, distinguished minority leaders, lieutenant governor anthony brown, treasurer kopp, governor hughess, governor glendening, attorney general gansler, attorney general curran colleagues andy and county government, congressman cummings and edwards, mayor vincent gray from our neighbors in new columbia, ambassador da n ovich, ambassador steph, ambassador dig knowchy, ambassador alrahami, ambassador collins, members of the most effective cabinet among these united states, katie o'malley and men and women of the maryland general assembly, there is more that unites us than divides us. and this year one of those things is the mighty, mighty baltimore ravens. [cheers and applause] my goodness. i might also note bipartisan agreement. look, all of us are very familiar with the ravens' story. but there are also a number of remarkable people who are here today with us in the gallery. and i wanted to share a few of their stories with all of you. first, one of our nation's leading minds and most prominent advocates for science, technology, engineering, and math education. some of you may kn

mr. president, distinguished minority leaders, lieutenant governor anthony brown, treasurer kopp, governor hughess, governor glendening, attorney general gansler, attorney general curran colleagues andy and county government, congressman cummings and edwards, mayor vincent gray from our neighbors in new columbia, ambassador da n ovich, ambassador steph, ambassador dig knowchy, ambassador alrahami, ambassador collins, members of the most effective cabinet among these united states, katie o'malley and men and women of the maryland general assembly, there is more that unites us than divides us. and this year one of those things is the mighty, mighty baltimore ravens. [cheers and applause] my goodness. i might also note bipartisan agreement. look, all of us are very familiar with the ravens' story. but there are also a number of remarkable people who are here today with us in the gallery. and i wanted to share a few of their stories with all of you. first, one of our nation's leading minds and most prominent advocates for science, technology, engineering, and math education. some of you may kn

mr. browne is kind of responsible for the -- not entirely the skinny pants, but the high water look amonghalf lauer as we know it in our business. >> i will say that thom does wear the look that he puts on the runway. >> what's good. what do you think the reviews will be of first lady's outfit across the board today? >> you know, i was a little struck by the fact that it was a much more subdued ensemble than four years ago. the lemon grass yellow, it was so bright. people talked about how it was cheerful, how it was optimistic. this seemed much more reserved and fitting for a second inauguration. >> the next big moment in kind of people curious about her look is tonight, correct? >> correct. the gown. >> the gown. and there's no advance intel. i guess this is closely guarded. >> it is quite possibly the closely guarded secret today. the preparation for her inaugural trousseau began after the election. they go to the variety of the designers and they ask for their best effort. >> david, i know you wanted in on this. >> well, i just think she's so tall, as everybody can she. she works out a

thank god that mike brown came and cave them all a certificate in mr. shornberg class and i participated and held my workshop. whatever african-americans in that class they got a certificate because we gave it to them but in that school not one black kid got a certificate and i didn't know about the stuff going on at mlk so please wake up you all. >> i'm not a preacher but my name is fouz. i was born in san francisco -- i'm sorry. gym comment is closed now. >> >> i don't have a card for you. >> but i'm going to speak anyway. i'm the guy they're talking about. i'm the guy they're talking about that -- i'm the guy that don't have a job. i'm the guy out there homeless. i'm the guy live on third and the only one besides ought the rest of the african-americans -- >> sir, you're out of order. >> you i need to have -- >> sir geing -- >> you got all the money. >> okay. i think we're going to close public comment now. i'm going to call for a five >> public enrichment fund and we have a report from one of the committees. >> yes we have a report from the bilingual