mr. lieberman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i come to the floor to express my support for the measure before us like my colleague from missouri has just spoken, and like everyone else i have heard express their support for this proposal. no one seems perfectly satisfied with it, but that's inevitable, and i think we come to one of those classic moments on a very big challenge our nation faces, this enormous debt we have, of whether in this agreement we see the glass half full or the glass half empty. whether what encourages us in the agreement outweighs what disappoints us. and for me, the positive outweighs the negative. i'm going to vote for my hopes about what this agreement means as opposed to my fears that we're not doing enough in this agreement. what makes me most happy about it? this is a bipartisan compromise that really does turn the corner, turn the ship of america's state away from greater and greater deficits and a greater national debt and in the direction of balancing o

mr. lieberman is not concerned about maintaining its. what about the news organizations that should be to the? he wants to amend it to cover the times. allowing it to be the only defense, there's no defense at all. >> please, stay your name. >> the traditional media were the ones that disseminated the information for wikileaks. when you put on top of that the fact that the traditional model is broken and there is a lack of financing, are we now in a world where traditional media can no longer afford to be independent investigators of abuse in crisis? is traditional media now regulated to a point where they are disseminate years much like the having to post -- december nader's -- disseminators much like the huffington post? >> this is absolutely the problem. they can afford to be journalists. newspapers were relatively profitable. we are past that age. the business model of journalism is increasingly skewing the polar extremes. it turns out that pays. you get a more active audience that translates into better revenues. what is the alterna

mr. lieberman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i come to the floor to express my support for the measure before us like my colleague from missouri has just spoken, and like everyone else i have heard express their support for this proposal. no one seems perfectly satisfied with it, but that's inevitable, and i think we come to one of those classic moments on a very big challenge our nation faces, this enormous debt we have, of whether in this agreement we see the glass half full or the glass half empty. whether what encourages us in the agreement outweighs what disappoints us. and for me, the positive outweighs the negative. i'm going to vote for my hopes about what this agreement means as opposed to my fears that we're not doing enough in this agreement. what makes me most happy about it? this is a bipartisan compromise that really does turn the corner, turn the ship of america's state away from greater and greater deficits and a greater national debt and in the direction of balancing o

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, i rise to speak on the proposed debt crisis agreement. the first thing i'd like to do is to express my appreciation, i think i'd actually say empathy, to the president, vice president, the bipartisan leadership of both houses of congress that have had to deal with this enormously significant and difficult problem for our federal government, because the obvious fact is that we have worked our way into a very deep hole of debt and when i say "we" i mean we, all of us. succeeding presidents of different parties, members of both parties, in both houses of congress. there's a tendency when you've got a problem like this to want to point and blame everybody else. the truth is, we're all responsible and we're only going to get out of this hole and get the american government and the american people out

mr. lieberman is not concerned about maintaining its. what about the news organizations that should be to the? he wants to amend it to cover the times. allowing it to be the only defense, there's no defense at all. >> please, stay your name. >> the traditional media were the ones that disseminated the information for wikileaks. when you put on top of that the fact that the traditional model is broken and there is a lack of financing, are we now in a world where traditional media can no longer afford to be independent investigators of abuse in crisis? is traditional media now regulated to a point where they are disseminate years much like the having to post -- december disseminators much like the huffington post? >> this is absolutely the problem. they can afford to be journalists. newspapers were relatively profitable. we are past that age. the business model of journalism is increasingly skewing the polar extremes. out that pays. you get a more active audience that translates into better revenues. what is the alternative tax we do not h

and senator lieberman, we're delighted to have you with us to introduce mr. eisen. >> n.s.a. very much, madam chair, and senator luge a it's an honor to be here. i should express my appreciation to you on behalf of the nominees that you did not join the herd leaving washington after the vote at noon. and thank you for conving this hearing. i'm here to introduce ambassador eisen. i would be remiss if i didn't say i got to know that ambassador ricciardoan and ambassador ford. they are great, courageous representatives of the united states in which they have served and are serving now. i am here to introduce norm eisen. this is not a political duty. it's a personal pleasure because ambassador eisen and his wife, lindsey, and his daughter, tamar, are personal friends of mine and my family. as you mentioned, i guess the reason i'm asked is that norman is one of those stateless people who lives in washington, d.c. so i occasionally do double duty by introducing such people. as you mentioned, senator sheehan, ambassador eisen was given a recessed appointment that was disposed of at

lieberman once these halted when. the when the the calling between the two is far beyond the military and the fences from the calling between the police mainly on the apology mr barak other ministers and probably also the prime minister . ready for a certain kind of apology lieberman is totally against it but he also said in the past that his lawyers he is the foreign minister is will not apologise i think this is the bottleneck because if even that will be in acceptable form a lot of the politics with the changes they seem to be in the sky is the limit again because if the relations will be normalized i think a little more nobody will be against selling arms against but again if any connection between the way countries have handled this for teller and the accounting expected palestinian unilateral declaration of statehood in september i think it is it is. something the palestinians have to think about it because islam is quite effective in its diplomacy it is up to there is the big this. small this is the big test is the vote in september they need to third of the votes all they need one hundred twenty eight out of one hundred ninety two. i don't know everyt

mr. ford in the second panel. we're fortunate to have senator lugar here with us and we want to try and accommodate his schedule as well as senator lieberman'sschedule. so on our first panel we will consider the nominations of norman eyesan to be ambassador to the czech republic and francis richard olney to the republic of turkey. and on our second panel we will be considering the nomination of robert ford to be ambassador to syria. senator casey from pennsylvania will be here. he chairs the subcommittee on near eastern affairs and he will chair ambassador ford's questioning portion of the second panel. all of the posts being considered today are critical in strengthening u.s. influence and safeguarding person interests around the globe. i look forward to discussing the challenges and opportunities the united states faces in these three important countries. now, as i said, we're doing this a little bit differently today. and one of the differences is that both of our nominees on the first panel were nominated last year to serve in these same positions. i think i chaired one of those nomination hearings last year. but both nominations were th

senator lieberman, we are delighted to have you with us to introduce mr. eisen. >> thank you. an honor to be here. -express my appreciation on behalf of the nominees that you did not join the herd leaving washington after the vote at noon and thank you for convening this hearing. i am here to introduce ambassador eisen. i would be remiss if i didn't say i had the opportunity to get to know ambassador ricciardone and ambassador ford. these are two extraordinary public servants for the united states and the countries in which they are serving. i am honored to be here to introduce mr. eisen. this is not a political duty. it is a personal pleasure because ambassador eisen and his wife are personal friends of mine and my family. the reason -- one of those stateless people who lived in washington d.c. so i do double duty by introducing such people. as you mentioned, ambassador eisen was nominated and given a recess appointment at the end of last year but prior to his nomination he had a distinguished career as a lawyer in washington and special counsel for ethics and governmental re

senator lieberman, we are delighted to have you here to introduce mr. eisen. >> thank you. it is a pleasure to be here. i should express my appreciation to you on behalf of the nominee is that you did not join the herd leaving washington after the vote at noon. thank you for convening this hearing. i am here to introduce ambassador eisen. i would be remiss if i did not say i have gotten the chance to know them, and these are two extraordinary public servants, very courageous and informed representatives in which the countries they have served and are serving. i am honored to be here to introduce norm eisen. this is not a political duty but a personal pleasure. ambassador eisen, his wife, and daughter, are personal friends of mine. as you mentioned, the reason i was asked is because at norman is one of those faceless peopel that lives in d.c. ambassador eisen was nominated and was given a recess appointment. prior to his nomination, he had a distinguished career as a lawyer in washington and was special counsel for ethics and governmental reform. i regret it was necessary fo

lieberman. senator aya. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i very much want to thank you, general dempsey, and deany for your service, and appreciate you coming before the committee today. i wanted to echo on the question that senator brown had asked you about the garden reserve, your role in the forwarden reserve. we've all seen has been the case that, really, we haven't used the reserve as a true reserve. the contents we use as a real source. there was a need to do it but there's also a immediate to cost-effectively use the guard. as we go forward in this difficult economic climate, how do you anticipate preserving that readiness that we have gotten as a result of having the garden reservuard and reserve, you intend to work with the guard and reserve going forward? >> we are working very closely with the guard and reserve. if there's something we're holding from them, it's not apparent to me. it goes back to the trust that has to exist in the army and the other services as well with their reserve components. i would like to just elaborate a

mr. ford in the second panel. we're fortunate to have senator luger here with us, and we want to try to accommodate his schedule as well as senator lieberman's schedule. on the first panel we're considering nomination of norman eisen and francis ricciardone to be ambassador to the republic of turkey, and on our second panel, we're considering the nomination of robert ford to be ambassador to syria. senator casey from pennsylvania will be here. he chairs the subcommittee on middle eastern affairs, and he will chair ambassador ford's questioning portions of the second panel. all of the posts being considered today are critical in strengthening u.s. influence and safeguarding american interests around the globe. i look forward to discussing the challenges and opportunities the united states faces in these three important countries. now, as i said ring we're doing this a little bit differently today, and one of the differences is that both of our nominees on the first panel were nominated last year to serve in these same positions. i think i chaired one of those nomination hearings last year, but those nominations were thoroughly considered and