mr. lieberman: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: madam president, i support this -- i support this amendment and i'm prepared to yield back any additional time. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. lieberman: move for reconsideration be laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. there will now be two minutes of debate prior to the demint amendment, number 511. mr. demint: madam president. madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. demint: thank you. the senate is not in order, madam president. the presiding officer: the senate needs to come to order. can senators take their conversations from the well. the senator from south carolina. mr. demint: thank you, madam president. this next amendment is about accountability and transparency. i want to thank the leadership teams on both

mr. lieberman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, it's my honor now to rise as chairman of the homeland security and governmental affairs committee to speak on behalf of s. 679, the presidential appointment efficiency and streamlining act of 2011, and i do so with great gratitude toward senator alexander, who is here now on the floor; senator schumer, and others who worked together to clear away procedural obstacles to focusing on this piece of legislation. this is a noble effort that's been tried before and failed, but i'm confident that this time, with the support of our leaders, really our bipartisan leadership -- senator reid, senator mcconnell, senator alexander, senator schumer, not to mention senator collins and me, in our committee role -- we're going to get this passed. this is a bipartisan effort to solve a problem, or at least help so

mr. lieberman: i thank the chair, mr. president. i rise to speak today about the fiscal crisis facing our country and specifically the dire financial situation of medicare, which is a program that matters so much to tens of millions of senior americans, but also adds so much to our national debt. and i want to talk about some ideas that i have about how we might effectively deal with this problem, in medicare particularly, without doing away with the medicare program because i believe in it. if i can start on a broader level, briefly, it's hard to find anybody here in congress in any party who doesn't acknowledge that our federal government is hurtling toward the edge of a financial cliff. we're now running again deficits in this year of over over $1 trillion. that means we're spending spending $1 trillion more than we're taking in, so we have to borrow that money, and at some point we're going to reach a level of borrowing that is unsustainable. one of the great -- and will send us, our economy hurtling down, will bring us into ano

mr. chairman. thank you, senator lieberman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i first of all want to say that we are blessed and grateful to have the service of all three of you for the country and i want to thank your family is an old that served under you for what you have done, and we have a great confidence in all with your qualifications. i wanted to ask the vice admiral mcraven in your evidence policy questions, your asked what are the weaknesses and shortcomings in the current effort to combat terrorism in insurgency in afghanistan, and in one of your answers, you said the weaknesses and shortcomings a rise of from the strategy or the efforts of the soldiers, marines, air men and civilians on the ground, of the diminished resources, lack of long-term commitment and any decrease in international assistance. vice admiral, can you elaborate for me what you meant by that statement in terms of the concerns about diminished resources or lack of long-term commitment? >> yes, ma'am. this is basically focused on what we refer to as the enablers. so for us the spe

mr. chairman. thank you, senator lieberman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i first of all want to say that we are blessed and grateful to have the service of all three of you for the country and i want to thank your family is an old that served under you for what you have done, and we have a great confidence in all with your qualifications. i wanted to ask the vice admiral mcraven in your evidence policy questions, your asked what are the weaknesses and shortcomings in the current effort to combat terrorism in insurgency in afghanistan, and in one of your answers, you said the weaknesses and shortcomings a rise of from the strategy or the efforts of the soldiers, marines, air men and civilians on the ground, of the diminished resources, lack of long-term commitment and any decrease in international assistance. vice admiral, can you elaborate for me what you meant by that statement in terms of the concerns about diminished resources or lack of long-term commitment? >> yes, ma'am. this is basically focused on what we refer to as the enablers. so for us the spe

one of our country's finest films and stage actors as senator lieberman mentioned mr. kline may have been virtually unrecognizable in his recent appearance as edward stanton of the secretary of war in the movie the conspirator. but he is no stranger to us he testified before our committee ten years ago at our 2001 hearing, and i am delighted that he's made a return performance and encore i guess i will call it, and because i look forward to hearing his perspective on the progress that has been made during the past decade and the road ahead. so welcome. we are delighted to have you here. >> [inaudible] hello? talk, he says. time remaining? [laughter] a bitter talks quickly. senator collins, thank you, senator lieberman, thank you and for the mice mention of the conspirators and my performance as a historical figure. members of the committee, thank you all for inviting me to appear today with this distinguished panel and a mixed this collection of such remarkably policed self possessed quiet but ultimately very vocal delegates. ten years ago as you mentioned i had the ho

one of our country's finest films and stage actors as senator lieberman mentioned mr. kline may have been virtually unrecognizable in his recent appearance as edward stanton of the secretary of war in the movie the conspirator. but he is no stranger to us he testified before our committee ten years ago at our 2001 hearing, and i am delighted that he's made a return performance and encore i guess i will call it, and because i look forward to hearing his perspective on the progress that has been made during the past decade and the road ahead. so welcome. we are delighted to have you here. >> [inaudible] hello? talk, he says. time remaining? [laughter] a bitter talks quickly. senator collins, thank you, senator lieberman, thank you and for the mice mention of the conspirators and my performance as a historical figure. members of the committee, thank you all for inviting me to appear today with this distinguished panel and a mixed this collection of such remarkably policed self possessed quiet but ultimately very vocal delegates. ten years ago as you mentioned i had the ho

one of our country's finest films and stage actors as senator lieberman mentioned mr. kline may have been virtually unrecognizable in his recent appearance as edward stanton of the secretary of war in the movie the conspirator. but he is no stranger to us he testified before our committee ten years ago at our 2001 hearing, and i am delighted that he's made a return performance and encore i guess i will call it, and because i look forward to hearing his perspective on the progress that has been made during the past decade and the road ahead. so welcome. we are delighted to have you here. >> [inaudible] hello? talk, he says. time remaining? [laughter] a bitter talks quickly. senator collins, thank you, senator lieberman, thank you and for the mice mention of the conspirators and my performance as a historical figure. members of the committee, thank you all for inviting me to appear today with this distinguished panel and a mixed this collection of such remarkably policed self possessed quiet but ultimately very vocal delegates. ten years ago as you mentioned i had the ho

mr gun is so other u.n. officials have to say i have to say we can just listen to israeli officials like lieberman explaining the punitive and illegal intent of this blockade and as i mentioned and i stress this israeli officials themselves say one thing in english to the international press and another thing and he. in english that talking about all the scary things that might be on the ship with holocaust survivor had the epstein in hebrew that briefing the cabinet that we have absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any threat coming from this flotilla so mr katz's husband may may work in far right wing suckles in israel but it's it's why israel is in such a bad bind in terms of our oblate diplomacy relations you can please it's next relations you just don't. like i did ask you a question years can i ask you a question do you think that even fire rules israeli city will be as you think he is really bill a terry will tell him i'm sorry gentlemen it's my risky decision elz we keep this orderly here if i could ask you if the israeli government doesn't think that this hotel is a threat do you think it will use m

mr. vice chairman. it is now my privilege to ask the chairman of the homeland -- homeland committee, the distinguished senator state of connecticut, joe lieberman and were delighted to have you here, mr. chairman. thank you very much. >> thank you very much, chairman feinstein, senator chambliss, members of the committee, colleagues and friends, i am truly honored to have been asked to appear before you this afternoon to introduce president obama's nominee to be the next direct your of the central intelligence agency, general david petraeus. none of chair, as you indicated earlier in a literal sense, and general petraeus needs no introduction. i want to take a few moments to describe what i believe dave petraeus has meant to her country and why i am confident he will be a superb direct and why i am confident he will be a superb direct and why i am confident he will be a superb direct and why i am confident he will be a superb direct petraeus is the most distinguished general officer at the united states generation of his generation contained a number of very impressive general officers. he is a true american hero who has twice been called upon

lieberman. i'm very glad we were able to work out this agreement and have final votes on the amendment and final passage tomorrow. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the question as -- the request as modified is agreed to. a senator: mr. president? mr. reid: i will protect the senator's time. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 185. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 185. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 185, reaffirming the commitment of the united states to a negotiated settlement of the israeli-palestinian conflict, and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate shall proceed to the measure. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there being no intervening action or debate and any statements relating to this matter appear in the record at the a

mr. aderholt, list a lot of numerical and factual points about personnel. let me be very clear, as senator lieberman said, all of our sisters need to be on high alert and all of our citizens need to be on high alert as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11. . it is clear, mr. chairman, and our colleagues, that something is awry with al qaeda. al qaeda is interested in transportation modes and they're interested in our rail systems. they have already done mumbai, they have done london and they have done madrid. and therefore, they are looking at the united states. no, we don't have specifics, but we do have the potential of our rail lines crossing america, being ripe targets for al qaeda. this is a very small amount that would allow us to have surface inspectors who are truly crucial to the protection of the nation's mass transit, freight, and long-distance rail. every state is impacted from new hampshire to florida. to the midwest, to the west, texas, houston has as its city insignia a rail. why? because trains crisscross our community. and therefore, i think it behooves us to be bipartisan and t

mr. president, i rise today in support of the ethanol subsidy repeal agent which senator coburn offered and i have co-sponsoredded along with senators collins, corkers lieberman, tiewmy, and webb. i know that the fact that this amendment is on the floor scheduled to be voted on at 2:15 this afternoon caused deep consternation on my side of the aisle. there is objection to the procedures used. i am not going to get into that. i'm going to say a vote a is vote, and we are facing a vote at 2:15 unless something changes. now, to be candid, if there were an offer to bring to in the floor next week or the week after for a time specific in a commitment specific, i believe that the author and myself and co-sponsors would certainly agree to that, but in the absence of that offer, it is important that the united states -- the united states senate takes a position on a program has become both gross and egregious, and i want to explain why i feel that way. madam president, no other product i know of has the triple crown of government support that corn ethanol een joys in the country -- enjoys in the country. its use is mandated by law. oil companies are paid by the feder

and senator portman -- in addition that senator lieberman is developing a comprehensive bill on reg reform? is the senator aware of those other bills? mr. thune: well, i would say through the chair that there may be many efforts, as there typically are here in the senate, to address some of the issues, and a lot of our members have different ideas about how best to do that. i happen to bleaive that the proposal put forward by the -- i happen to believe that the proposal put forward by the senator from maine is a very reasonable, commonsense approach to this. the regulatory flexibility act is something that is in need of some revisions, particularly in light of the fact that we have so many regulations coming out of these agencies that are so costly, so difficult, and so burdensome for small businesses in this country. i think we ought to be at every opportunity looking for ways to lessen the cost and the difficulty for our small businesses to create jobs. ms. landrieu: well, through the chair, i understand that senator coburn, under u.c., has the next 15 minutes, but i would just and he $ $end my question through the chair. i think the

mr. hatch: i hope i can stay within the time constraints, but i am not shiewmplet i am proud to rise and offer with my good friend, the senior senator from connecticut, senator lieberman, a continuing resolution which reaffirms our nation's steadfast and unshakable commitment to the security of israel. specifically, through the establishment of secure, recognized, and defensible borders. i am also proud that this -- pleased that this resolution is supported by apec. it is unfortunate that i feel compelled to offer such a resolution. for years both republican and democratic administrations have recognized that that israel's boundaries of june 1967 are indefensible and if reestablished will create a strategic military vulnebility for our staunch ally israel. mr. president, that is why president obama's recent comments were so dumbfounding. the president's prepared and thor roar rowly considered remarks called for the starting point of negotiations to be what we all know are the militarily indefensible 1967 lines. remember, if israel returns to the 1967 lines, it's territory will in some locations be only nine miles wide. as prime minister binyamin netanyahu correctly st

mr. lieberman: madam president, i would yield back all remaining time and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: any supports wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 55, the nays are 42, and the nomination is confirmed. the question occurs on the seitz nomination. all in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. the question occurs on the monaco nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid on the table. the president shall immediately notify -- shall be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate shall resume legislative session. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until senate stands in recess until >> this morning in the senate the chamber took up three nominations inclu

not at all. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, senator lieberman, senator chambliss. >> thank you, mrchairman. and director panetta, thanks for your willingness to exhibit great public service. and you and i have had the privilege for working together for many years now, since i was a freshman member of the house and you were a member of the clinton administration. we don't need to talk about how many years that's been, but i respect your service and value our friendship. and i would just say that i know that you will be the first to credit the many hard-working and very professional men and women in the intelligence and military community that led to the successful takedown of bin laden and you'd be right to do that. but the fact is, without strong leadership at the top, that mission would not have been successful and i give a lot of the credit for that mission to you and it's well deserved. you and i had the opportunity to talk about the issue of rising health care costs in the department of defense budget when we visited a couple weeks ago and i noticed you had several questions on