mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the the senator from kentucky. mr. mcconnell: over the past few weeks congress has been engaged in a very important debate. it may have been messy, it might have appeared to some like their government wasn't working, but in fact the opposite was true. the push and pull americans saw in washington these past few weeks was not gridlock. it was the will of the people working itself out and a political system that was never meant to be pretty. you see, one reason america isn't already facing the kind of crisis we see in europe is that presidents and majority parties here can't just bring about change on a dime. as much as they might like to from time to time. that's what checks and balances is all about. and that's the kind of balance americans voted for in november. the american people sent a wave of new lawmakers to congress in last november's election with a very clear mandate: to put our nation's fiscal house in order. those of us who'd been fighting the big-government policies of democratic majorities in congress welco

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: this is an important moment for our count country. i appreciate the majority leader's comments and want to say a few words to our colleagues who have been so patient over the past several days. and whose ideas and encouragement have been so helpful in getting us to this point. first of all, let me reiterate that before any agreement is reached, republicans will meet to discuss the framework that the white house and congressional leaders in both parties think would meet our stated efforts to cut spending more than the president's requested debt ceiling increase, prevent a national default, and protect the economy from tax increases. and to that end, i'd like to say to my republican colleagues that we'll be hold b holding a confee meeting in the morning to discuss the framework and to give everyone a chance to weigh in. but at this point, i think i can say with a high degree of confidence that there is now a framework to review that will ensure significant cuts in washington s

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: this is an important moment for our count country. i appreciate the majority leader's comments and want to say a few words to our colleagues who have been so patient over the past several days. and whose ideas and encouragement have been so helpful in getting us to this point. first of all, let me reiterate that before any agreement is reached, republicans will meet to discuss the framework that the white house and congressional leaders in both parties think would meet our stated efforts to cut spending more than the president's requested debt ceiling increase, prevent a national default, and protec the economy from tax increases. and to that end, i'd like to say to my republican colleagues that we'll be hold b holding a confee meeting in the morning to discuss the framework and to give everyone a chance to weigh in. but at this point, i think i can say with a high degree of confidence that there is now a framework to review that will ensure significant cuts in washingtonpen

mr. mcconnell has stated on the floor, i've gotten to know him and speaker boehner a lot better this past month or two. especially the speaker. even though i disagree vehemently with the direction the speaker's legislation took with no bipartisan support at all, it is not the product we have here. the product we have here is one of compromise. the winners, without trying to the winners, without trying to to the winners are especiallyroh one winner through all this is the americanties we sold for less than we wantedo so did my friend, the leader, the republican senator, but they that's the way legislation works and compromise works. but i can't let go without bo responding to my friend who boasted about the new senators and members of congress who came here. all i welcome, them all.n the result of the tea partys has direction of the congress the do last few months has been very disconcerting and very unfair to the american people. nc stopped us from theco conclusionlu much earlier and mt go forward.reside i also, mr. president, io recognize we have to do more. he of course we have to do mo

mr. mcconnell and general alexander speak highly a few and other people, very credible people including senator conrad have spoken about your character, your family and the kind of person you are and i think it is a high recommendation. from my colleague as well as a number of other people. as you know we discussed in my office concerned with senator saxby discussed with you. i don't want to repeat all of that. i do want to state that it is disturbing that listening these news sources are credible about secretive plans, a stealth plan, it is disturbing if those are true. these are reputable news organizations. ism "the washington post," which i don't always agree with everything they do, but they usually check very carefully before they make this type of allegation, this serious of an allegation, this kind of can't talk good stealthy secret plan. you have discussed and for the record explained your position relative to this, where you were and your relationship with mr. wolf and so forth. but the larger question is, given the politics of the issue at the time, the fact that a decision was made

mr. mcconnell was worried about, and it's a difficult situation all around. >> so, john, all of what we went through, wasn't it supposed to avoid what has happened? but to help the u.s. not have a downgrade? >> reporter: well, first of all, the deal was supposed to help the u.s. avoid default. we have avoided default. it's also important to point out two out of the three major rating agencies preserved aaa so far. that's moody's and fitch. this is only a partial step and there's controversy associated with it, the administration pointed out a major mathematicy error in s&p figuring out what debt to gdp was going to be. nevertheless, this is something that the political system can take another crack at. you've got a special committee about to be appointed to seek a trillion and a half dollars in additional reduction. we'll see if washington can deliver better results, that the market will respect as much. >> can you get to, i guess, the practical aspect of all this? what this means for people's wallets, having a downgrade of u.s. credit? >> the hope of the administration is next to none becau

mr. mcconnell than barack obama did. >> i think her personal skills -- >> mcconnell determined to get ridby did they send joe biden up there? biden works the senate. and obama doesn't. >> i agree. better personal skills. if clinton had been elected, again, speculating, it been elected president, especially after tenure compared with an unrealized and unblemished obama administration, president hillary clinton would have been compete wig a dream. -- competing with a dream. if obama had lost, hillary won, saying, gee if he only had obama. >> exactly. exactly. we blew this opportunity for hope and change in history, and -- >> and there's not all that much difference. that's not like reagan and rockefeller or something like that. they're not that far apart. obama and hillary. >> here's a question. why -- >> they work so well together. >> the heart of progressives who watch this program. it seems to me that the clintons were able to do things like ball, the budget over eight year. worked with -- newt gingrich and did it. voted for welfare reform. got rid of welfare as a right, basically. they

mr. mcconnell: over the past few weeks congress has been engaged in a very important debate. it may have been messy, it might have appeared to some like their government wasn't working, but in fact the opposite was true. the push and pull americans saw in washington these past few weeks was not gridlock. it was the will of the people working itself out and a political system that was never meant to be pretty. you see, one reason america isn't already facing the kind of crisis we see in europe is that presidents and majority parties here can't just bring about change on a dime. as much as they might like to from time to time. that's what checks and balances is all about. and that's the kind of balance americans voted for in november. the american people sent a wave of new lawmakers to congress in last november's election with a very clear mandate: to put our nation's fiscal house in order. those of us who'd been fighting the big-government policies of democratic majorities in congress welcomed them into our ranks. together we've held the line, and slowly but surely we've start

mr. mcconnell: over the past few weeks congress has been engaged in a very important debate. it may have been messy, it might have appeared to some like their government wasn't working, but in fact the opposite was true. the push and pull americans saw in washington these past few weeks was not gridlock. it was the will of the people working itself out and a political system that was never meant to be pretty. you see, one reason america isn't already facing the kind of crisis we see in europe is that presidents and majority parties here can't just bring about change on a dime. as much as they might le to from time to time. that's what checks and balances is all about. and that's the kind of balance americans voted for in november. the american people sent a wave of new lawmakers to congress in last november's election with a very clear mandate: to put our nation's fiscal house in order. those of us who'd been fighting the big-government policies of democratic majorities in congss welcomed them into our ranks. together we've held the line, and slowly but surely we've started t

mr. reid: senator mcconnell and i have completed our statements. as i understand it, we move to the matter before senate; is that right? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr.mr. alexander: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask unanimous consent that speakers on the republican side be allocated up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: madam president, finally washington is taking some responsibility for spending money that we don't have. at a time when the federal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends, this is a welcome change in behavior, and i gladly support it. make no mistake, this is a change in behavior from spend, spend, spend to cut, cut, cut. let me give you one example. on christmas eve in 2010, congress raised the debt ceiling and attached to it $1 trillion in new spending over ten years in the new health care law. this time for every dollar we're raising the debt ceiling, we're reducing spending by $1, not adding t

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: this is an important moment for our count country. i appreciate t mority leader's comments and want to say a few words to our colleagues who have been so patient over the past several days. and whose ideas and encouragement have been so helpful in getting us to this point. first of all, let me reiterate that before any agreement is reached, republicans will meet to discuss the framework that the white house and congressional leaders in both parties think would meet our stated efforts to cut spending more than the president's requested debt ceiling increase, prevent a national default, and protect the economy from tax increases. and to that end, i'd like to say to my republican colleagues that we'll be hold b holding a confee meeting in the morning to discuss the framework and to give everyone a chance to weigh in. but at this point, i think i can say with a high dree of confidence that there is now a framework to review that will ensure significant cuts in washingtonpending.

mr. mcconnell would agree to unanimous consent agreement, could pass this within hours. or pass the bill that is in the senate. [inaudible] >> we now hear that the senate can pass it within minutes. [laughter] i will quickly go back to the house of representatives and report that, no matter how much my credibility will suffer. [laughter] we need to act on this issue now. 75,000 americans demanded it our country demands it, and it's very responsible to hold hostage these people and our country and the safety of our airways, pending some petty political gain that might be reached. i now yield to a distinguished former colleague of mine, not a colleague of mine but a good friend of mine, the chairman of the congress committee, senator jay rockefeller. >> ladies and gentlemen, it's very easy to solve this. it's embarrassing easily, shamefully easy. all we have to do is to have the house and us or we send it in and accept it. a clean bill of extension. the leader talked about where and a a 21st extension to be an authorized the federal aviation administration bill. aviation e

approach yeah but we got we got a little you know mr conrad through mitch mcconnell he has appointed jon kyl a path to me and rob portman two out of three of the tea partiers all three of them have signed grover norquist pledge never again to raise taxes on the house side we have john boehner has appointed judge hensarling fred upton and dave camp all three of them tea partiers are two of the three tea partiers there was a time when fred upton was actually fairly moderate and they have all signed grover's pledge so you've got six republicans who signed a pledge not to raise taxes and what's supposed to come out of this to make it work is some tax increases and some revenue cuts how is this going to worry easy easy if it was a c. . this committee by the way it one point five trillion i think it makes it a joke because it makes the makes the committee look like they're doing something when we need to cut way more but it's easy to do what you just said you lower rates and remove holes that increases revenues without raising taxes that was undoable that was that was the deal the beaner a

mr. mitchell mcconnell pick only people who have not taken the pledge. otherwise, this super committee -- this should not be called a super congress. we have a congress. call them a "super committee ." guest: i tend to be against people tying their hands behind their back because it makes them unable to respond to circumstances as they change. host: jim is on our republican line. caller: peter, you mentioned something about sharing the burden. i go home every night and turn on the news and see people of congress getting out of their limousines. for me, i am still getting a $9 hair cut bank i drive a pretty nice van. i am becoming the one with the draconian policies. i manage a quizno's. these punk kids come in and expect a free bigger chips. host: pittsburgh, pa.. i apologize for that caller. tom, are you with us? caller: ok, yes, i think we have been enjoying a false prosperity for maybe a couple decades. i suggest that we suspend the minimum wage, suspend the prevailing wage, and the mos regulations that keep business out of making something -- of addi

mr. mitchell mcconnell pick only people who have not taken the pledge. otherwise, this super committee -- this should not be called a super congress. we have a congress. call them a "super committee ." guest: i tend to be against people tying their hands behind their back because it makes them unable to respond to circumstances as they change. host: jim is on our republican line. caller: peter, you mentioned something about sharing the burden. i go home every night and turn on the news and see people of congress getting out of their limousines. for me, i am still getting a $9 hair cut bank i drive a pretty nice van. i am becoming the one with the draconian policies. i manage a quizno's. these punk kids come in and expect a free bigger chips. host: pittsburgh, pa.. i apologize for that caller. tom, are you with us? caller: ok, yes, i think we have been enjoying a false prosperity for maybe a couple decades. i suggest that we suspend the minimum wage, suspend the prevailing wage, and the mos regulations that keep business out of making something -- of addi

mcconnell had to say. and i quote. having known and worked with mr. olsen for over four years, i have observed him to be the utmost professional, dedicated to the security of the nation. he understands the intelligence community in the law and the process needed to keep us safe. he has great respect for the law, our values and the activities needed to ensure the safety of the nation. i have every confidence that if confirmed, mr. olsen will serve the nation, the congress, the administration, and the intelligence community at the highest level of service and performance. colleagues, matt is smart, honest, and he is a true professional and absolute patriots. i can't put it much better than admiral mcconnell. i hope very much this committee will move quickly on his confirmation and our colleagues in the senate will follow suit. it is really my honor to be here with matt olsen. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. appreciate the remarks. i know you have a busy day. much is happening. so feel free to stay or leave, whichever you wish. >> thank you. thank y

mr. speaker, i want to compliment the president of the united states, i want to compliment both leaders of the united states senate, harry reid and mitch mcconnell, and i want to congratulate speaker john boehner who has done an absoluly phenomenal job in ensuring that we wouldn't continue business as usual and i also want to congratulate minority leader pelosi for her effort that she's put in to getting us to the point where we are today. and so, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues, i urge my colleagues to support this measure and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. thchair now recognizes members from the committee on ways and means, chairman, mr. camp from michigan, and ranking minority member mr. levin from michigan. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: mr. speaker, if the congress does not act and act now, america will default and that would wreak havoc on our economy and make it harder for americans to find and keep a job in a

mcconnell, strong. nancy pelosi, strong. the president made sure that at the end of the day we didn't default. but what a spectacle in the world. the world can't even believe this, mr. president, and i know your hard work to get what we call a big deal, a major deal, a $4 trillion deficit reduction that was fair. that asked the millionaires and the billionaires and the multinational corporations to do something. but no, that wasn't to be. and we wasted time. a lot of time. and what happened? we almost brought the country to its knees and thank god it didn't happen is all i can say. and i felt strongly if we hadn't gotten an agreement, the president would have had to invoke the 14th amendment in order to save our country from this hostage taking. so that was a made-up crisis, never happened before. do you know the most times 25 the debt ceiling was raised was under ronald reagan 18 times. under george bush, nine times. i never heard anything like this. before. and i've been around here since the days of ronald reagan, dare i say. i was in the house for ten years. ronald reagan said very clearly, he said don't -- and i'm paraphrasing, he was very strong, don't play g

mcconnell? thank you very much. >> thanks, rev. >> coming up, eric cantor spoke and an amazing thing happened. the truth popped out. m mr.robably sorry but it but it is amazing. man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. the doctor leaned over and said to me, "you just beat the widow-maker." i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now. maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. >>> it's a million dollar mystery. somehow a million dollars found its way into mitt romney's campaign. i think he has some explaining to do. next. north america's natural gas producers a

, boehner didn't throw out the steering wheel, mcconnell didn't throw out the steering wheel but a group behind them said "throw out the speaking wheel, mr. speaker and make those people realize we're not going to agree to anything unless we get our way." and if you have a sane perso dealing with somebody that you feel may be insane, by the point at when they draw the steering wheel you say "you lose." and the american people lost, incidentally. >> rose: then along came standard & poos and basically downgraded because they said it appears in the u.s. congress is dysfunctional and able to deal withish issue. you disagree the downgrade? >> 100%. >> rose: but you understand why they made the decision? >> i understand why they did it. but mcgraw-hill owns standard & poor's. i bet if they have short-term money around it's in treasuries. i don't know that for sure but they would not be worried about it being in treasuries. >> rose: and that's, in fact, what happened. >> we can print money. there's 17 countries in europe that gave up the right to print money and, believe me, they don't want to give up the right to print money. >> rose: because

mr. speaker, i want to compliment the president of the united states, i want to compliment both leaders of the united states senate, harry reid and mitch mcconnell, and i want to congratulate speaker john boehner who has done an absolutely phenomenal job in ensuring that we wouldn't continue business as usual and i also want to congratulate minority leader pelosi for her effort that she's put in to getting us to the point where we are today. and so, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues, i urge my colleagues to support this measure and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair now recognizes members from the committee on ways and means, chairman, mr. camp from michigan, and ranking minority member mr. levin from michigan. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: mr. speaker, if the congress does not act and act now, america will default and that would wreak havoc on our economy and make it harder for americans to find and keep a job

mr. obama -- i am a democrat and i back him 100%, but when you are dealing with republicans like boehner, mcconnell, coburn -- talk about entitlements. i will tell you what entitlements are. coburn, kyl, they are not going to seek reelection in 2012. they are going to retire. when they are active -- when they retire, they will collect $139,000 in a pension when they were collecting $175,000 when they were still working. to me, that is an entitlement. when you get down to social security and medicare and medicaid, like all of my generation, i'm a baby boomer and proud of it. this is the sum of the total. host: a tweet in response to some of the compensation stories we had. an update on the pg&e situation. here is the front page of the "los angeles times." "the national transportation safety board also said pg&e exploited the lack of monitoring by regulators who mistakenly placed a blind trust in the utility." that is the front page. we have done segments on "washington journal" on that. if you want to watch those, go to our web site, c-span.org. go to our video library. it is in the upper right-hand

mr. president. >> senate leaders also spoke with reporters about the debt limit vote and what happens next. harry reid will be first, followed by mitch mcconnell. this is less than half an hour. >> the debate was long and it was not easy. people have wondered whether congress could get this job done. we got it done and brought our economy back from the brink of disaster. in the end, the two sides came together. that is how the system works. neither side got what they wanted. there were things we had to give up. that is the way it is. that is how our system works. that is where compromise is all about. it was a bipartisan compromise. it was not the right wing cap, cut, and, whatever it is over there. that was not bipartisan and. it is nothing we agreed to. it was a disaster for america. disagreement and cuts the deficit by $one trillion. we look forward to the work on the committee to make sure that millionaires and billionaires and corporate jet owners and people who have yachts who get tax benefits, oil companies to get these huge subsidies, that is what this committee is going to be about. we need to do more for families. the number 1 job we

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i rise to pay tribute to a young woman from owensboro, kentucky, who lost her life while in the service of her country. u.s. navy lieutenant commander jane lanham tafoya was assigned to the naval command health clinic in bahrain in support of iraqi freedom. she died from non-combat related causes on september 19, 2006. she was 43 years old. for her heroic service, lieutenant commander tafoya received many awards, medals and decorations, including the navy and marine corps commendation medal with gold star, the navy and marine corps achievement medal, the national defense service medal with bronze star, the global war on terrorism service medal, the armed forces reserve medal and the navy pistol shot medal with sharpshooter device. lieutenant commander tafoya served for 18 years in the navy. before her assignment in bahrain she served at the naval hospital and naval reserve center in philadelphia, the tphaefl hospital at -- naval hospital at camp lejeune, north carolina, abb

mr. mitchell mcconnell pick only people who have not taken the pledge. otherwise, this super committee -- this should not be called a super congress. we have a congress. call them a "super committee ." guest: i tend to be against people tying their hands behind their back because it makes them unable to respond to circumstances as they change. host: jim is on our republican line. caller: peter, you mentioned something about sharing the burden. i go home every night and turn on the news and see people of congress getting out of their limousines. for me, i am still getting a $9 hair cut bank i drive a pretty nice van. i am becoming the one with the draconian policies. i manage a quizno's. these punk kids come in and expect a free bigger chips. host: pittsburgh, pa.. i apologize for that caller. tom, are you with us? caller: ok, yes, i think we have been enjoying a false prosperity for maybe a couple decades. i suggest that we suspend the minimum wage, suspend the prevailing wage, and the mos regulations that keep business out of making something -- of addi

mr. reid: i have five unanimous consent requests for committees to meet, they have the approval of both senator mcconnell and me. i ask unanimous consent they be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. a senator: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: he would are in a quorum call. a senator: i ask unanimous consent the -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona. mr. mccain: the armed services committee met and approved the nominations of chairman and joint chief of staffs, chief of naval operations and chief of staff of the army and other important nominations, and i congratulate all of these nominees and appreciate their service to the nation. and i know that shortly the senate will approve their assuming these positions of great responsibility. i just want to take one moment to mention one of the new chief of staff of the united states army, general ray odierno, one of the finest milit