mr. kerry: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: mr. president, i think all of us agree with the intent and direction that the senator from texas wants to go here with respect to our friendship and our support of taiwan. in the 26 years i have been here, i have never not supported doing what's necessary to live up to the taiwan relations act. but the senator is reaching way beyond what we have ever done in the united states senate. a senator: could we have order? mr. kerry: which is to compel a single weapons system sale by the president with respect to a complex relationship like china, taiwan and the entire presence of the united states in the area of the straits and in that region. we have never done that. moreover, the president of taiwan has said that it is entirely adequate. he feels that they will have the defensive capacity necessary under the t.r.a. in order to be able to defend themselves at the current level with the upgrade that we're providing. now, let me point out, under president bush, over eight years, we provided $12 b

mr. kerry: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: i ask proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kerry: madam president, the parliamentary situation, how much time does senator cantwell have at this time? the presiding officer: 13 minutes remaining. mr. kerry: it's my understanding senator cantwell wants to preserve a proponent of that. i would on behalf of senator cantwell yield myself five minutes at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kerry: i appreciate the comments of our friend from alabama, senator sessions, regarding his amendment to strike section 37 of the patent reform bill, but i disagree with him on substantive terms, and i want our colleagues -- i ask our colleagues to look carefully at the substance of this amendment and at the importance of this amendment with respect to precedent not for one company from massachusetts or from one entity, but for companies a

mr. kerry: mr. president, i rise to speak about the amendment that's been introduced by the senator from texas, senator cornyn. i think it's amendment number 634. i will just take a few minutes. i know my colleague from indiana is waiting here. but just a few minutes to speak to it, if i may. the senator from texas has introduced an amendment that really takes an unprecedented step here in the senate, and that is the step of actually requiring the president by mandate with respect to one weapons system, one singular amendment to sell a specific weapon to another country. specifically, the senator wants to take the unprecedented step of requiring the president of the united states to sell 66 new f-16 fighter aircraft to taiwan. now, the amendment mandates the sale of these new aircraft despite the fact that just yesterday, the president and the administration notified the congress of their intention to provide taiwan with nearly nearly $6 billion additional in goods and services on top of money that

mr. zachary kerry wants to make changes in east oakland as well as west oakland.pponents of the current ordinance say energy conservation aside, the dim bulbs are giving crooks a chance to commit crime. >> at certain areas there's not enough light and there's a lot of crime in certain areas where there isn't enough light. >> reporter: is this one of the areas? >> this is one of the areas. >> reporter: in september earlier this month, part of the same group of people, minister kerry among them, he also lead as group called save soldiers against violence everywhere. they marched from the baptist church in east oakland to city hall. part of the purpose of that march was to call attention to the 75 homicides that happened in oakland between january and august. last count there is 85. it's not just about stronger lighting. they're also trying to make changes in local gun laws and in local parolee movements. reporting live in oakland, craig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. >>> 8:02. oakland remains one of the most dangerous cities in america. f.b.i. statistics

mr. barthold. >> co-chair recognizes senator kerry of massachusetts. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to focus later on some of the tax expenditure piece probably when we're individual, but i think it's important to note that 80% of all the money the federal government raises in taxes, 80% of it, goes out right back into tax expenditures. only 20% of what we raise actually goes into things we spend and pay for at the federal level. 95% of the tax expenditures, 95% of the 80% goes to the top ten expenditure items. i have a lot of questions of the efficiency of that and other things and the choices made in that which i think we have to look at, but i want to say at the outset i second powerfully what senator portman said about our opportunity here given the mandate and structure of this committee and the presentation to the congress to take advantage of this to try to get that sweet spot, which he talked about which is really simplifying this, putting in place the most efficient choices that will drive our economy that therefore will raise revenues and help us deal both with the

mr. barthold. >> co-chair recognizes senator kerry of massachusetts. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman.to focus later on some of the tax expenditure piece probably when we're individual, but i think it's important to note that 80% of all the money the federal government raises in taxes, 80% of it, goes out right back into tax expenditures. only 20% of what we raise actually goes into things we spend and pay for at the federal level. 95% of the tax expenditures, 95% of the 80% goes to the top ten expenditure items. i have a lot of questions of the efficiency of that and other things and the choices made in that which i think we have to look at, but i want to say at the outset i second powerfully what senator portman said about our opportunity here given the mandate and structure of this committee and the presentation to the congress to take advantage of this to try to get that sweet spot, which he talked about which is really simplifying this, putting in place the most efficient choices that will drive our economy that therefore will raise revenues and help us deal both with the deficit

mr. hensarling. >> senator kerry brought up the revenues are at 14% of gdp.s your latest estimates show that revenues go back to their historic norm of 18% of gdp in 2014? >> they are a little over 15% today. the improvement in the economy and other underlying factors will push it up to zero little over 18%. >> it also shows spending going from an historic average of roughly 20.5% up to 34% of gdp. is that correct? >> that sounds about right. >> with respect to revenues, one is episodic related to the lack of economic recovery. the other is structural. is that a fair assessment? >> both factors are at work right now. >> those who have advocated were brought up that historically when the budget has been balanced, taxes have gone beyond the historic norm of 18% of gdp to closer than over 20% of gdp. this is your alternative fiscal scenario. it shows that spending by 2035 goes up to 33.9%. the same alternative fiscal scenario shows taxes are already on a path to increase to 18.4% of gdp. following the analysis of those that advocate revenues have to come up to 2

coming decade and nordstrom or both kerry and george are all bads the border that's not its fair share of corn for cities with her transit countries accusing russia of mrs nordstrom as a political leader but the government insists on their safeword supplies europe has a plan to rely on the gas from the majority shareholder all sorts of other readings side many more service supply coincides with european countries like relative france and that you hate it when the second parallel pipeline comes on stream next year it'll be a lot of believe me or so gas will flow from russia so it's all summer's end here. but it's been confirmed part. of germany will also take part in the sell stream pipeline project become a call joined along with france's e.d.f. will each have a fifteen percent stake in the gas pipeline across the black sea to hear up there shuffle means it's less and he will have it in the twenty four billion euro project drop to twenty percent. but so look at the markets french crude has rebounded with the year. mark is just going to the system thing is the european story debt crisis is escalating france is trading higher this hour at one hundred elev

mr. cain's opinion does have back up and the year 2000, blacks voted 90% for al gore. 2004, they voted 88% for john kerry, they voted 95% for barak obama. jehmu green are, fox news contributor. so we're saying -- you were talking before the segment began that you're one of these brainwashed people. you would never vote for a republican, right? >> no. that's actually not true. can. >> bill: have you ever voted for a republican? >> not yet. but i think the diversity of opinions amongst black leaders at the national level is important and it's going to lead to progress. i think that it's great that like president obama, herman cain has only an american story. but his comments are not only insulting, they are offensive, dishonest. he basically said -- >> bill: wait. let's take it one by one. >> he's saying we can't think for ourselves. >> bill: let's take it one by one. the data backs up cain, when you have that kind of a plurality, over a 12-year period, i don't think herman cain is wrong. brainwash is an opinion. it's an opinion. >> here is what the data backs up. that african-americans vote for democrats

mr. president, i had the good fortune to be appointed in 1992 by majority leader mitchell to be a member of the select committee on pow-mia. that committee was chaired by john kerryas a wonderful experience for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to watch senator kerry, because i really, frankly, didn't know him very well then. i had been in the senate for a few years. when we work here, sometimes you don't really understand how good people are until you work with them on a real close-knit basis as i did with him because of that appointment. he did a magnificent job of chairing that committee. of course, he had some standing to look at what went on in vietnam since he was wounded three times and won a number of silver stars for his heroism in vietnam. but legislatively, that was a great experience for that year, to look to see what had happened in southeast asia. not only vietnam, laos and cambodia, people who had been taken prisoner of war, and certainly if not were missing in action. it was really a good experience for me, and i will always remember that. so this day, national pow-mia recognition day, recalls those memories of many years ago, of the

mr. kerry: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may use. let me thank the senator from michigan, the chairman of the armed services committee, for his comments and particularly for the recommendations that he is going to make to the super committee to each of us. i think all of us in the senate know that senator levin is one of the most creative and thoughtful senators, and i am confident that the suggestions that he makes are going to be important ones that will be worthy of consideration. and i know also because it's something that i began to focus on back in the 1980's, this issue of off-shore havens is absolutely staggering. so i really look for it. i know the senator has led the permanent committee on investigations, subcommittee on investigations on that. they've done outstanding work and i am confident that a lot of that work can be certainly put on the table and ought to be seriously considered. my hope is we can do something with it. so i thank the senator. madam president, one of the amendments that we will vote on shortly is an a