mr. kerry mentioned, privacy by design, another more transparency, that could be what codes of conduct, one of the benefits of having stakeholders involved in developing codes of conduct. we discussed this in a previous hearing, we have found privacy policy in the mobile space that are 102 clicks. okay. nobody reads that except our staff who we ask to read it, and then the other thing, this is part of the reason why i think businesses are so supportive of things like, can be in some, supportive of do not track and general privacy legislation. is, it sort of creates a virtuous cycle. if consumers have more trust in the internet, they have, if they have more control, they generally feel like they have more trust in the internet, they do more -- engage in more commerce. and so i think part of the reason why companies support a general privacy legislation is because it's the right thing to do. part of it is because it becomes a virtuous cycle. as my colleague mentioned, you have to watch out for ba

mr. kerry, what the department of commerce is doing with regard to these issues and if you've had things come up with password issues and the like? you want to start, senator -- >> well, we have some concern, and we've expressed some concern about the practice of employers asking for facebook passwords and have communicate thatd toll that to facebook. facebook, sounds like they're working with you. they've noted this may not be part of their terms of service. so it is something we are concerned about. it may be something, by the way, that -- that isn't within our unfair deceptive acts or practices authority. it's sort of an interesting question we were discussing today before i came up here, but we want to work with you are going forward on your legislation. >> very good. mr. kerry? >> all right. thanks, senator. the relation between the consumers and the companies that they deal with and not with their employer, but what i would say is that the use of that information by employers is reflectiv

and mr. kerry, you note in your testimony that the european union is moving forward with data privacy regulations. is there a concern, if europe moves forward with privacy rules, while the u.s. does nothing that european regulations will essentially become the global norm that u.s. companies follow? >> senator, thank you. yes, that is a concern. it's a concern that we've heard from many companies. i sat in remarks that, you know, i defend the american system of privacy and the commitment that we have in our laws. but, you know, we do not want to let other countries set a default standard. you know, there are certainly points in common between what we are proposing and what the european commission has proposed, but there are also concerns that -- there are ways that that gets into prescribing technology and other kinds of prescriptions that could operate as barriers to entry. that could inhibit the free flow of information across international borders. so you know, it is important to move forward he

mr. kerry: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: mr. president, what's the parliamentary situation? the presiding officer: it's concerning the motion to proceed to s. 2343. mr. kerry: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent i be permitted to proceed as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kerry: mr. president, i -- i do want to speak for a few minutes about our colleague, senator lugar, and i -- i would ask that my comments be separated at this point. i want to make a few comments about what the senator from wyoming was just saying on the health bill. so i'd ask that my comments be separated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kerry: mr. president, let me just say very quickly, i couldn't disagree more with the senator from wyoming's comments a moment ago with respect to the health care bill. and, in fact, just this morning, we had a meeting with secretary kathleen sebelius, who was outlining to us all of the gains

i think mrs. kerrybefore she went against it. >> absolutely, steve. >> no kidding. >> today, the senate launches an investigation into facebook's multibillion dollar i.p.o. from last friday after allegations that select clients got inside information before shares went on sale. it's a big deal because the stock has tanked somewhat and every day, folks have lost over the last week or so, lost a collective $2 1/2 billion. here to weigh in is fox news senior judicial analyst judge andrew napolitano. all right, judge, so according to some news accounts, explain what happened. >> according to some news accounts, morgan stanley which was the lead bank on the -- the underwriter. the person that -- >> the middle man. >> correct. examined facebook's books and decided -- advised them how much stock they should sell and what the price should be. >> so facebook, we think your stock is worth x amount. >> right. according to the media now, that's all we have. morgan stanley gave facebook a number which was far less t

mr. chairman. >> okay, thank you, senator kerry, senator demint? >> thank you mr. chairman, i think you made the bests point starting out is our jobs is to make sure that consumers are protected and we know the best way to do that is through lots of -- i think that's what we're all about. and i hope that's the way we look at it. my concern as i have expressed to a number of you, and there seems to be a sense to the content producers are somehow a government property, or a government service. i think you know they're not. they're private companies, private investment, private management. our job is to make sure that competition works, if there's enough choices to make the market work. sometimes i think we look at it as more of a public utility, it's our job not only to regulate it, but to manage it. and that's the sense i get sometimes with the decisions that are coming out of the fcc. pre-emptive regulation that solving problems that aren't there yet. that's what i want a chance to talk a little bit today. i think i have helped to usher most of you through this pro

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator kerry. i want to proceed now to our witnesses, and we'll have ample time for questioning and others will be -- members will be coming and leaving. let's start by preference of order, would be to start with the honorable john leibowitz, chairman of the federal trade commission, then honorable -- i'm going to skip over you to the guy who's general counsel to the department of commerce, who is somehow related to senator kerry. and then come back to you as a cleanup. is that all right? >> sure. >> so let's start with chairman leibowitz. >> thank you, chairman rockefeller. senator toomey, senator kerry, senator ayotte, i appreciate the opportunity to present testimony on consumer privacy alongside our newest commissioner as well as my friend cam kerry. the commission commends the recent privacy efforts by the department of commerce as well as the bipartisan leadership your committee has shown on consumer privacy issues. though most of my remarks today will concern privacy policy and especially do

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator hutchinson, senator kerry? >> thank you mr. chairman chairman. you've even countered some of the progress made and some of the advances in technology. obviously the technology we see competition in the app and a lot that people have a choice on. u but there really are only two dominant wireless service providers and 96% of americans have a choice of either -- of two wired broad band, either your cable or your telephone. so my question to you is how would you say the law has in fact encouraged or discouraged competition in the best sense of the word in terms of numbers of providers and so forth. >> first of all i have heard from a broad array of speakers this week that broad band is -- consu consu consumer benefits. competition has always been an issue in the communication space. since 1996, we have more competition than we did before and that's good. we hear from many stake holders in the space, smaller companies that are trying to compete, that they have real concerns about obstacles to competition. the more that we can in a smart, sensible prag

mr. secretary. >> chairman kerry, senator lugar, distinguished members, i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear here as the first secretary of defense to testify in support of the united states accession to the law of the sea convention. i've been involved with ocean issues most of my career. and i strongly believe that accession to this treaty is absolutely essential, not only to our economic interests, our diplomatic interests, but i'm here to say that it's extremely important to our national security interests, as well. i join a lot of the military voices of the past and present that have spoken so strongly in support of this treaty. a fundamental point is clear. if the united states is to assert its historical role as a global maritime power, and we have without question the strongest navy in the world, but if we're going to continue to assert our role as a maritime power, it's essential that we accede to they important convention. being here with secretary clinton, chairman dempsey, their presence alone is a testament to the conviction of our dim theic and military leadership that y

mr. secretary. >> chairman kerry, senator lugar, distinguished members, i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear here as the first secretary of defense to testify in support of the united states accession to the law of the sea convention. i've been involved with ocean issues most of my career. and i strongly believe that accession to this treaty is absolutely essential, not only to our economic interests, our diplomatic interests, but i'm here to say that it's extremely important to our national security interests, as well.

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator kerry. i want to proceed now to our witnesses, and we'll have ample time for questioning and others will be -- members will be coming and leaving. let's start by preference of order, would be to start with the honorable john leibowitz, chairman of the federal trade commission, then honorable -- i'm going to skip over you to the guy who's general counsel to the department of commerce, who is somehow related to senator kerry. and then come back to you as a cleanup. is that all right? >> sure. >> so let's start with chairman leibowitz.

mr. champion. >> kerry sanders live with breaking news out ofkerry. up next we'll get a live rousht from bejing with new developments in the chinese activist that escaped from house arrest and says he wants to leave china after threats on his family's life. secretary of state hillary clinton is in china. we'll have a live update. plus, it is the shirt that may have upstaged mitt romney's morning show interview. what the designer of the blouse ann romney was sporting with the bird print, what the designer is saying, plus people dug up how much it cost her. it is just one of the things we thought you should know. first, in today's money minute here is a look at wall street. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need

mr. chairman. senator john kerry. >> can you pull the mike a little closer? >> i'm deeply grateful for this response from the highest political levels in the united states of america and i'm honored to appear before this committee. i have actually appeared both in the '70s and '80s on this particular issue when the elephants were in peril. we are now again in that situation. what's happening to elephants is appalling, more so since we have been these ivory crises before and should have found solutions by now. quickly to summarize by points, in case i run out of time, escalating crisis in africa. it is driven by demand in china. the demand exceeded the supply. it creates security threats as well as impacts. much of the trading being led by organized crime which undermines good governments, peace stabilized security and causes the killing of elephants on a massive scale. urgent action is critical to stem this decline. the solutions are to increase funds and environmental guidance through programs managed by u.s. fish and wildlife service in the state department

kerry? >> thank you, mr. chairman. obviously the technology -- in a lot of the things that people have a choice on. there are really only two wireless providers. 96% of americans have a choice so my question to you is how would you say the law has, in fact, either encouraged or discouraged competition in the best sense of the word in terms of number numbers and so forth? >> first, i am hearing from speakers today that it is a core feature part of the market system and the best as far as job creation and consumer benefits. competition has always been an issue in the communication space. since 1996, we have more competition than we did before, and that's good. we hear from many stake holders in the space, smaller companies that are trying to compete, that they have real concerns about

president and chief executive officer, cofounder, said oil biomass llc in columbia, missouri and mr. kerry hair, chairman of the national bio diesel bort washington d.c. so welcome, gentlemen. thank you for being here to bring expertise and experience to the subcommittee hearing and congressman greenwood, please begin when you're ready. [inaudible] >> jim, you're out of this. >> i usually have someone do that for me. so chairman thompson and ranking member holden and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you and i appreciate the opportunity to be with you today. i am the president and ceo of the biotechnology industry organization. bio is the world's largest biotechnology organization that was an 1100 members worldwide. with this broad membership, innovative industrial and agricultural biotechnology companies are developing new feedstocks biological catalyst for production of advanced biofuels can renewable chemicals and bio-based products. because these feedstocks manufacturing methods and products based on plants and biological processes, they are more efficient, sustainable a

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. i call on the chairman of the subcommittee that works this, and that is senator john kerry. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate it. i certainly appreciate this hearing. and i think this hearing can help as a couple of prior hearings have. i think the record is already fairly clear, senator toomey, if i may say that a lot of the questions you've raised have actually been addressed in those hearings and i think there's been a pretty powerful showing with respect to both the ability to have a privacy standard as well as the need for the privacy standard without affecting those applications and the free access and all the other things you're talking about. and i think the record will reflect that. i'm delighted that we have the chair of the federal trade commission and one of the commissioners from the commission here with us today. and obviously i'm delighted to welcome my own brother, who carries either the burden or privilege of being so. but i'm glad that he's here today representing the commerce department. he's been working on this under two different secretaries now,

mr. secretary. we appreciate it. secretary townsent? >> chairman kerry and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here to discuss the anyw nato summit which the united states will host in chicago in may. i will describe what we hope to achieve from the defense point of view and its relevance for national security. i particularly look forward to hearing the committee's views on the summit and the priorities you have for its outcome. i'd like to summarize my statement, mr. chairman, and submit the full statement into the record. >> without objection. coming together at a summit every few years not only to approve rn pieces of businesses but also to renew at the highest level the commitment allies have made in the north laeshg treaty. this commitment has expressed in five of the treaty is a solid one that has only been invekd after the united states was attacked on september 11, 2001. this was critical during the cold war to help the warsaw pact from attacking the united states and her allies. even with the end of the gold war this article 5 co

mr. whelan and his wife pat now live in kerry, north carolina. in the fall of 2003, mr. whelan released his first book, jefferson's war," which the fort worth star telegram woo a bit of sturdy history. it was soon followed by the 2005 release of" jefferson's vendetta: the pursuit of aaron burr and the judiciary," elegantly written and smartly conceived. tonight we are here to celebrate his newest release, invading mexico. so please, join me in giving a warm welcome to mr. joseph whelan. [applause] >> i want to thank you for coming, and i want to thank quail ridge for inviting me. this is my third visit here. really appreciate it. um, let's start by talking about what the mexican war was and was not, and then i'll go into some more of the details. mexican war is one of america's o forgotten wars. the civil war 15 years later all but erased its memory. this has robbed us of insight into the origins of other wars. for example, in important ways the mexican war is a distant echo of the iraqi war. and mexico's abiding distrust and resentment of the united states can be traced

mr. secretary general. >> thank you very much, chairman kerry and thank you to yourself and to the committee members for your interest in this topic. it's a great honor to have an opportunity to testify before you this morning. was adopted in washington, d.c. at a conference hosted by the united states government and the united states has been a very strong supporter of the implementation since that time. and has been at the forefront of efforts to combat the illegal trade in wildlife. seitz regulates trade in around 35,000 species to be sure that such trade is legal, sustainable and traceable and there is a high volume of legal trade, which is a multibillion dollar business, but today, we're here talking about another aspect and that is tackling illegal trading of wildlife and this is a growing problem worldwide. the value of this illegal trade is now estimated at being between 5 billion and $20 billion per year, that excludes timber and marine resources and the state of illegal trade and wildlife is further reenforced when you look at the published results of specific operations undertaken by organizations

kerry? >> thank you mr. chairman.commissioner, ebay, hewlett-packard and microsoft, intel, for a rise in, other industry leaders support the legislation that senator mccain and i have introduced. obviously these are all companies get important consumers etc.. you said there might be an unintended chilling effect. they don't see an unintended chilling effect. they are signed and they think this is important. i do not have seized in the american consumer if you're given choices that they can make those traces, and what is the unintended chilling effect of the american consumer? >> thank you, senator. you raised an important issue and that is one of the things i want to explore as i said one london to my tenure and i want to find out more putting it there is the possibility that companies that are already entrenched it have the data that they need to create their products may not have the same concern as a new company and they have a new product that we haven't even thought of it may use consumer data in a different way

made a video of today so that diplomatic john kerry and i believe that in the future mr putin will be sending to a lot of diplomat diplomatic functions around the world where he would not want to go where he could where he could not go for different reasons you could talk about the interests the intentions and the issues and i think that the biggest issue weighing in on the u.s. russian relations in the next couple of years will be the issue of ballistic missile defense in europe if putin and obama find a way that would. leave the united states with a system that is capable against the radio and missiles that assuredly harmless toward the russian in the continental ballistic missiles then we'll have a deal and then we'll have. a brighter future for the relationship if that deal for whatever reason is not reached then i think we can expect a period of progress to really nation between moscow and washington. russian businessmen victor boot sentenced to twenty five years behind bars for conspiring to kill sell weapons and kill americans spoke exclusively to our team from his new york pri

mr. secretary. >> chairman kerry, senator lugar and members are wanted thank you for the opportunity to appear here as the first secretary of defense to testify in support of the united states succession to the law of the sea convention. i have been involved with these issues most of my career, and i strongly believe that accession to this treaty is absolutely essential not only to our economic interest or our diplomatic interests but i'm here to say that it's in extremely important to our national security interest as well. i joined a lot of the military forces of the past and present that is spoken so strongly in support of this treaty. the fundamental point is clear. if the united states is to assert its historical role as a global maritime power, we have without question the strongest navy in the world. but if we are going to continue to assert our role in the maritime power, it is essential we proceed to this important convention. being here with secretary clinton, chairman dempsey, their presence alone is a testament to the conviction of our diplomatic and military leadership that this conven

mr. president. you are going down! texas style! >> death is a dish best served barbecue. >> where was kerry? sailing to pussy island. >> you have a president with epicot balls. i don't know where he was hiding. reagan told me in a dream. >> one for the gipper, george. >> you are welcome, america. take that beardy! yeeeeehaaaa!!! >> i am george w. bush and i sure as hell approve this message. >> stewart: we will be right back. >> stewart: in a new story, a segment we call back in black. >> i have sad news. if you are eating right now, chances are you are not eating what you think you are eating. unless you are having a hot dog. then you know you are eating pig anuses. have you ever eaten kobe beef? no, you haven't. you just paid for kobe beef. in fact, you can't even buy kobe beef in this country because it is only made in japan, and it is illegal to import it. so if your local bistro is serving kobe sliders, just go across the street to white castle, have that (bleep), have the exact same (bleep) thing. these people are pissing on our legs and telling us it is champagne! and it is not just m

mr. president. you are going down! texas style! >> death is a dish best served barbecue. >> where was kerry? sailing to pussy island. >> you have a president with epicot balls. i don't know where he was hiding. reagan told me in a dream. >> one for the gipper, george. >> you are welcome, america. take that beardy! yeeeeehaaaa!!! >> i am george w. bush and i sure as hell approve this message. >> stewart: we will be right back. [ male announcer ] zero calories, maximum pepsi taste. ♪ sorry i've yelled at you all these years. ♪ cc, glad you made it. [ man ] good shot. oh! what is this place? iowa, only with maximum pepsi taste and zero calories. whoa! i love it when he does that. [ male announcer ] wanna play ball with some of mlb's biggest legends? learn how at mlb.com/pepsimax. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. mmm-hmm. and just leave your phone in your purse. i don't want you texting, all right? daddy...ok! ok, here you go. be careful. thanks dad. call me -- but not while you're driving. ♪

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hutchison. senator kerry. the next thank you mr. chairman. you've regarded some of the progress made in advances in technology. the technology itself wiese e. competition and the apps and a lot of the things they had a choice on. but they really are only two dominant wireless service providers. 96% of americans have a choice of either -- as to wired rock bands, easier cable or telephone. so my question to you is how would she say the law has in fact either encouraged or discouraged competition in the best sense of the word in terms of numbers of providers and so forth? >> well first, i hear from a broad array of speakers today that competition is a core feature of our free market system and the best mechanism to generate innovation, job creation and consumer benefit. competition is always -- has always been an issue. in the communication space. since 1996 with more competition than they did before and that's good. we hear from many stakeholders in this space smaller companies trying to compete they have real concerns about obstacles to compet

kerry. welcome, miss murdoch. and you may proceed with your testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to prevent the nature conservancy's views on the timing and reforms to the national flood insurance program. my name is sarah murdoch senior. the nature conner have van si is a conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. we continue to support a five-year reauthorization of the national flood insurance program through the passing of the flood insurance reform legislation. we ask that this legislation be brought before the full senate for debate and consideration at the earliest opportunity. the nature conservancy is also a member of a diverse coalition of environmental organizations, taxpayer advocates, insurance industry representatives and housing groups. also strongly supports the senate banking committee's flood insurance reform and this week we are participating in the hill activities. with this much diverse political support, i

mr. durbin: first i want to thank senator kerry, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee for coming to the senate floor and speaking about our mutual friend, colleague nor dick lugar, who serves as the ranking republican on that senate fr foreign relations committee. i am a new come her to that committee but i am not a newcomer to my knowledge of dick lugar. 16 years ago he was well-known throughout the mid-west for his service as mayor of indianapolis where he combined and made more efficient local units of government and i think the rebirth of indianapolis is attributed to those early steps by dick lugar. loretta, my wife and i, came to snow dick and his wife through an institute. i think we need to encourage where members come together to discuss foreign policy issues. dick lugar was there and always a major contributor when it came to issues of importance. before i arrived in the 123459 when you were still here, senator kerry, he teamed up with senator sam nunn to deal with an issue that related literally to the peace and security of the world. what would happen as the soviet un

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator kerry, now, senator demint. >> i think our first goal is to make surethat senators are protected. burns to consumers, transparent to them i think that's what we are all about. and i hope that is the way we look at it. i have expressed a number of you what seems to be a sense in this room and in this congress, that telecommute nations haitians companies, the producers are somehow a government property or government service. private investment, private management, our job is to make sure that the competition works, that there are enough choices let the market work. when we do that, we know the customers are protected because they always have more choices that they are not treated right. sometimes, i think, as we look at it as a public utility, it is our job not only to regulate it, but to manage it. that is the sense i get sometimes with the decisions that are coming out of the fcc. with a lot of, i think, preemptive regulations that are solving problems that aren't there yet. that is what i want to talk a little bit about today. i appreciate the service

mr. leibowitz -- jon leibowitz the general counsel to the commerce related to senator kerry and then comeck to you. okay? let's start with mr. jon leibowitz. senators come i appreciate the testimony on consumer privacy. it commends the recent part of the bipartisan leadership you have shown on consumer privacy issues. most remarks conserve privacy policy and it said do not track. we'll describe the recent enforcement efforts. imagine a cash strapped college student and applies online for a loan and obtains it but also because her father suffers from depression so she wants to research symptoms and treatments. then in the mail she receives another loan offered from a payday lender. in the evening she spends time relaxing by being of a social old network but now realizes she precedes adds for medication. could the lender have sold the information into the pale lenders? or the fact she researched the depression and be shared with potential employers? yen these exchanges of the operations of her without awareness. the answer is yes from quick responses to loan applications. and an easy way to

kerry. welcome, and you may proceed with your testimony. >> thank you mr. chairman and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to present the views on the timing and the nature of the reforms to the national flood insurance program. my name is sarah murdock senior policy advisor for the conservancy. the conservancy is an international nonprofit conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important land and water for nature and people. the major conservancy continues the support of the five-year reauthorization of the national flood insurance program for the passage of the senate banking committee flood insurance reform legislation. we ask that this legislation be brought before the full senate for debate and consideration the earliest opportunity. the conservancy is also a member of the smarter senator coalition, a diverse coalition of environmental organizations, tax payer advocates, insurance industry representatives and housing groups. smarter safer also strongly supports the banking committee flood insurance reform

mr. secretary. secretary townsend. >> chairman kerry and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to discussthe nato summit, which the united states will host in chicago in may. i will describe for the committee what we hope to achieve at the summit, from the defense point of view, and its relevance for u.s. national security. i particularly look forward to hearing the committees he was on the summit and the priorities you have for its outcome. i would like to summarize my statements, mr. chairman, and submit the full statement for the record. >> without objection. >> nato and the government come together at a summit every two years, not only to approved important pieces of alliance business, but also to renew, at the highest levels, and a commitment allies have made to one another in the north atlantic treaty. this commitment to come to one another's defense, as expressed in article five of the treaty, is a solemn one that has only been invoked once. after the united states was attacked on september 11, 2001. this commitment was critical during the cold war, to help deter the soviet union a

mr. durbin: first i want to thank senator kerry, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee for coming to the senate floor and speaking about our mutual friend, colleague nor dick lugar, who serves as the ranking republican on that senate fr foreign relations committee. i am a new come her to that committee but i am not a newcomer to my knowledge of dick lugar. 16 years ago he was well-known throughout the mid-west for his service as mayor of indianapolis where he combined and made more efficient local units of government and i think the rebirth of indianapolis is attributed to those early steps by dick lugar. loretta, my wife and i, came to snow dick and his wife through an institute. i think we need to encourage where members come together to discuss foreign policy issues. dick lugar was there and always a major contributor when it came to issues of importance. before i arrived in the 123459 when you were still here, senator kerry, he teamed up with senator sam nunn to deal with an issue that related literally to the peace and security of the world. what would happen as the soviet un

mr. secretary. i appreciate it. >> chairman kerry and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the nato summit which the united states will host in chicago in may. i will describe for the committee what we hope to achieve at the summit from a defense point of view, it and its relevance for u.s. national security. i particularly look forward to hearing the committee's views on the summit and the priorities you have for its outcome. i like to summarize my statements amah mr. chairman, and some submit the full statement for the record. >> without objection? nato and the governments come together every few years, not only to approve report and pieces of alliance business, but also to renew at the highest level, the commitment allies have made to one another in the north atlantic treaty. this commitment to come to one another's defense, as expressed in article five of the treaty, is a solemn one that has only been invoked once after the united states was attacked on september 11, 2001. this commitment, which was critical during the cold war, to help deter the warsaw pact

kerry. i encourage all members so everybody can be called upon in a relatively short period of time to keep their questions and answers to five minutes. senator demint. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have to smile when i hear us, you, talk about encouraging innovation and investment in the industry. this is one industry we don't need to encourage it. the greatest obstacle if you talk to people in the industry, whether content providers or networks are just orb trar and unpredictable rule making. i'll be careful. i appreciate you coming by my office. i enjoy meeting with you. i appreciate your service. how many complaints has the sec received in the last six months six the regulations were published? how many did you receive before that? >> in terms of formal complaints, i believe the commission received at least one. >> it was handled on a particular basis. this is what i mean by preemptive rule making. a private network built with private capital. we're deciding how they're going to manage it. if there was only one network, we would have to sit down and talk about it. as commissioner mcdowell has talked about wireless or land line, dozens and dozens of choices. it's

mr. secretary. >> secretary thompson. >> chairman kerry and members of committee, thank you for inviting me here todayo discuss the nato summit, which the united states will host in chicago in may. i will describe for the committee which we hope to achieve at the summit from the defense point of view and its relevance for u.s. national security. i particularly look forward to hearing the committee's views on the summit in priorities you have for a period i would like to summarize my statement, mr. chairman and samantha falsehood that for the record. >> without objection. >> nato heads of state and government come together every two years, not only to approve important pieces of alliance business, but also to renew at the highest level, the commitment allies had made to one another in the north atlantic treaty. this commitment to come to one another's defense as expressed in article v of the treaty is a solemn one that has only been invoked one. after the united states was attacked on september 11, 2001. this commitment was critical during the cold war to help deter the soviet union and the warsaw pact

of nebraska, leahy, conrad, johnson of south dakota, brown of ohio, cardin, whitehouse, kerry, akaka, and harkin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, this is the -- i have spoken before, madam president, abouts the importance of the f.d.a. bill, something we have to get done. literally, people's lives dpep depend on it. it addresses so many things with the f.d.a. to make it a better position. we have to get this done. as i've said before, if my republican colleagues don't like the bill, offer an amendment, offer an amendment to take that out, put something in, if you don't like it. but i would hope that we don't have to go through voting on cloture on monday night. we should be legislating this coming monday. so i am stunged that once again our motion to proceed when there's been an agreement that we would proceed to this with relevant amendments, which everybody says that that's what they want to do -- it's not germane amendments, which is very narrow;s it relevant amendments. it gi

kerry. welcome. you may proceed with your testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman and members of the said committee. thank you for the opportunity to present the views of the nature conservancy on the timing and nature of reforms to the national flood insurance program. my name is sara murdoch, and your story senior policy adviser for the nature conservancy, which is an international nonprofit conservation organization working round the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. the nature conservancy continues to support a five-year reauthorization of the national flood insurance program through the passage of the senate banking committee's flood insurance reform legislation. we ask that this legislation be brought before the full senate for debate and consideration at the earliest opportunity. the nature conservancy is also a member of the smarter safer coalition, a diverse coalition of environmental organizations, taxpayer advocates, insurance industry representatives, and housing groups. smarter safer also strongly supports the senate banking committee's floo