mr. inhofe: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: madam president, this afternoon it's my understanding we're going to have one more vote and it's going to be on the travel promotion act. i have opposed this in the past. i've voted against it three times. i'm not going to hang around here and waste a whole day to vote against it a fourth time. so i would like to ask unanimous consent that i make a very brief statement and then it appear in the record immediately following the vote that takes place this afternoon. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: and statement is this, i have no real strong feelings about this bill other than i don't think this country needs to create another corporation and a corporation that would be authorized to impose an annual assessment on u.s. members of the travel and i tourism industry represented on a board of directors, the corporation, establishing in the department of commerce the office of travel promotion. i don't believe we need another office in this bureaucracy and so i w

mr. inhofe: mr. president, today i want to highlight several recent media reports uncovering very serious errors and possible fraud by the united nations intergovernmental panel on climate change. let me, first of all, define what we're talking about here because it's been around for a long time but people have a lot -- a lot of them have forgotten. way back in 1988, the united nations formed the ipcc, the intergovernmental panel on climate change. the whole idea was that -- to try to determine whether or not manmade gases, anthropogenic gases, co2, methane caused global warming and if, in fact, global warming is taking place. it's kind of hard on a day like today and the last few days to be talking about global warming. i often say, where is it when you need it? but nontheless, for right now you need to know just three things about the ipcc. number one, the obama administration calls it the gold standard of climate change science. number two, some say its reports on climate change represent the so-c

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator inhofe. senator ben nelson. >> thank you, mr.man, and let me add my appreciation to you and your families for your distinguished service. i've long been an advocate for benchmarks or measures of progress, and i think we need to progress, and i think we need to continue to@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ b be forthcoming to our committee, but at least i have yet to see them, and it seems to me one of the most important times to inform the process is at the very onset of any change. and as this mission changes course, so obviously must the way in which we measure efforts, that will change as well. have comprehensive and final benchmarks or measures of progress been developed to reflect this new strategy? and if so, when will these be made to the committees? to the committee? secretary gates? >> i think they have, and i frankly thought that they had already been provide to the committee and i'll check on it after the hearing. >> okay. thank you. could you talk a little bit about some of the areas of measurement that would be in these measures of

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator inhofe. senator ben nelson. >> thank you, mr.airman, and let me add my appreciation to you and your families for your distinguished service. i've long been an advocate for benchmarks or measures of progress, and i think we need to continue to do so objectively. so we can gauge our efforts in both afghanistan and pakistan. and i know this administration as well as our nato allies are committed to objective benchmarks for measurement, and we've done so with past strategies and all talked about this many time. most recently in december about both afghanistan and pakistan. during that hearing in december it was noted that measures are progress were being used and evaluated, and i thought at that time that those benchmarks would be forthcoming to our committee, but at least i have yet to see them, and it seems to me one of the most important times to inform the process is at the very onset of any change. and as this mission changes course, so obviously must the way in which we measure efforts, that will change as well. have comprehens

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator inhofe. senator ben nelson. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and let me add my appreciation to you and your families for your distinguished service. i've long been an advocate for benchmarks or measures of progress, and i think we need to continue to do so objectively. so we can gauge our efforts in both afghanistan and pakistan. and i know this administration as well as our nato allies are committed to objective benchmarks for measurement, and we've done so with past strategies and all talked about this many time. most recently in december about both afghanistan and pakistan. during that hearing in december it was noted that measures are progress were being used and evaluated, and i thought at that time that those benchmarks would be forthcoming to our committee, but at least i have yet to see them, and it seems to me one of the most important times to inform the process is at the very onset of any change. and as this mission changes course, so obviously must the way in which we measure efforts, that will change as well. have compreh

inhofe. >> thank you, mr.n, i'm going to pick up on two things you mentioned, the first one i will be criticized for. it's not politically correct. i'll make the statement. when you are around washington and the hearings, it's one thing. when you go back to oklahoma as i do every week, that's another thing. and i'm always hit up with this idea. because not only -- we're talking about the fort hood thing now. i could talk to you about ab due -- abdulmutallab, the christmas bomber. it goes on and on, we all know the father reports late november. he was added to the u.s. 550 name terrorist, identify the date of mark and all of this stuff. all this stuff is not stuff that you knew. nonetheless, it's the same. a terrorist is a terrorist. and that's what they do for a living. they kill people. and i'm for one, i know it's not politically correct to say, i believe in rational and ethnic profiling. i think if you are looking at people getting on an airplane and you have x amount of resources, you need to get at the ta

mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma is recognized. mr. inhofe: when the senator from new hampshire talks about what we can and can't do to our children, i remind my fellow senators, i happen to be blessed with 20 kids and grandkids. i'm probably more concerned than anyone else here is about the future generations. let me just say -- and i hope the senator from new hampshire will stay on the floor -- i -- to redeem myself in advance, i have been -- i'm a conservative. i have been ranked number oneaway the a.c.u., man of the year by human events. yet i think we're supposed to be doing something when we come up here to washington. i have always said and i say on the stump when i run for office that our two main things we're supposed to do are to defend america, our defense system, and infrastructure. and yes, i am the ranking member on the environment and public works committee. i was the sponsor of the bill in 2005, and i'm proud of it, because we have to do something about infrastructure. i don't know, maybe there aren't any roads in new ha