mr. morales' issues about the licensing, if we could get the city attorney to respond as to our jurisdiction on his specific case, maybe in writing, and then also, i think that the issue of the director's ability and our ability around deputy directors and our responsibility under the charter -- that maybe something that we could get an update from our city attorney. i think that we have -- the previous director actually made huge changes in or adjustments to what the charter mandates, and we approved that. i think we need to understand what our requirements and responsibilities are under the charter. commissioner murphy: you are saying you want that on the agenda? i would agree with that. >> is there any public comment on item -- commissioner lee: wait, there's still more. just piggybacking on the vacant buildings and blight laws, maybe we should include that to see what departments are doing parallel with each other or in conjunction with each other to solve the plight issue, so to speak. we might need the president to craft something on the agenda so that it includes everything back commi

mr. morales served over three years in the federal penitentiary for attempting to illegally channel millions of dollars in a tobacco settlement that was due to the state of texas, but he steered it to a lawyer friend of his by trying to back date a contract to make it appear to be something it was not. the actions of mr. mcconnell and his partners by funneling tens of thousands of dollars into campaign accounts of state officials who hired them raises concerns about pay-to-play dealings. in the state of washington, for example, mr. mcconnell and members of his small south carolina-based law firm contributed $23,200 to the reelection of the attorney general in the state of washington. by the way, that was the very same lawyer who hired them on a contingency fee basis to represent the state. in north dakota, mr. mcconnell and his wife contributed $30,000 to the gubernatorial campaign of the attorney general who appointed him as special assistant attorney general for purposes of representing that state in tobacco litigation. mr. mcconnell and his law firm contributed an additional $73,000 to th

to -- make sure our children and grandchildren inherit a country that's fiscally sound and morally responsible. mr. president, with that i yield the floor. call the roll. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent on tuesday, may 17 at 10:00 a.m. -- that's 2011, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 31, two hours of debate equally divided in the usual form. upon the use or yielding back of time the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number 31, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to the nomination, any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask, mr. president, consent the senate proceed to calendar number 41, s. 498. the presiding officer: the cler

i don't want to hear things like that and mr plenty by the way two years ago. go against the moral fabric of this country so obviously it is their first thought as a little bit with presidential candidates but you know if we need them part of why for sure is incompatible with american principles we just got to look for our first president george washington during the revolutionary war. for sure. whether or not it works. is not compatible but for now i'm just wondering of course it's always hard to look back and try to try to say that things could have been different but you yourself you know you're an interrogator you think that torture is not the best way to get information out of people this is a report coming from so many interrogators out there so do you think that we could have gone to bin ladin not almost ten years later but much earlier had we not been waterboarding khaliq mohamed a hundred eighty three times. without a doubt it think we would much earlier we had reports of torture for several reasons one is it's not just. interrogation and it was certainly we just never got

supports them will continue to look to washington for moral support, but the skeptics will not have been swayed by the rhetoric. they will be watching mr. obama's next move. >> how did the president's speech play here in america and throughout the arab world? joining me to discuss this is the senior u.s. correspondent for nbc television. here is an american president for the first time saying quite clearly a two-stage solution with a palestinian state within the 1967 borders -- is that throwing down the gauntlet to benjamin netanyahu? >> absolutely, and he has rejected it. he says the borders are not defendable and we're not going to negotiate. >> soap and the delay. >> a media elite. the president -- immediately. i was told he would address this more in detail in august. this administration seems to work on deadlines. if you remember this settlements, they waited until almost two days before the negotiations collapsed. for the palestinians, it's an important step, but the president, to come to a speech like this, people expected some much from him and he did not deliver because this administration is strong on rhetoric and short on a

morally opposed. every doctor and health care provider deserves the right to act according to his or her own conscience. this important legislation will ensure that -- mr. chabot: and this will ensure that that happens. the american taxpayers don't want their tax dollars used to pay for abortions. let's do the fiscally and morally responsible thing to vote to pass h.r. 3. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. andrew druse: if proposals were brought to the house floor tissue mr. andrews: if proposals were brought to the house there are that said the following, if an american makes a charitable contribution and takes a deduction on his income tax return, we'll disallow that if the group receiving the donation supports gun ownership, gun rights or gun education, i suspect it would not get one vote on the republican side of the aisle an shouldn't get

mr enablers includes attacking. and controls and from tripoli. i think we have got to be very careful before you commit troops there. you've got to make sure you put moral high ground you've got to make sure that it is the measure of last resort where all other avenues of negotiations have been exhausted and i'm not sure we met those criteria when it came to libya as well so i think lessons still need to be learned and i'm afraid we're repeating. it's now a quarter past the hour here in moscow you with r.t. pressure is mounting on the russian parliament to introduce chemical castration for pedophiles i think they say the current laws allow criminals to reoffend something which has forced desperate parents to turn down at their own form of mob justice however some believe it stream forms of punishment alone won't solve such a complicated issue. alina is a mother of three last summer her four year old daughter was raped it was really learned what happened she found the man responsible and beat him to death. i don't want him back i can only say that i just wanted to be sure that this animal was punished and would never do such a terrible thing kids and i w

somehow a morally depraved and pro-drug using abortion fanatic we know that in an interventionist foreign policy is the only kind that will keep us safe and is based on true conservative ideas so far mr mallock easy to continue continue insisting that liberal nation building is somehow conservative tells you just what kind of big government shill he really is i want a large segment of the tea party anti-republican that's a no no the g.o.p. can't win without the libertarian leg of the party but the new director of c. bet is already alienating us by calling our champion a republican seriously ron paul won the straw poll two years in a row and the best the corrupt us tell us we could do to fight this trend is to put you in charge. you think they could get someone who could at least right now tack article against ron paul with some logical consistency in a coherent these this christopher you represent everything that is wrong with the g.o.p. not only have you lied multiple times about congress and paul your kind of petty attempts at political manipulation or bad for conservatism it's shills like you and the republican party that have hijacked it away from its own principles whether you l

moral obligation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: thank you, mr. speaker. i'll yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from florida, a former member of the rules committee, ms. castor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from florida is recognized. ms. castor: i thank my colleague from colorado. i rise in strong opposition to this -- to the rule and the underlying bill. in the state of florida, we are still recovering from last year's b.p. oil blowout disaster. we're recovering economically and environmentally. . from the policies of the past that elevated oil company profits over safety. to add insult to injury, every summer the price of gas goes up. and we see it in florida because our economy is largely tied to tourism. and we see it and it pains us and consumers know that they are messing around with the american consumer. they understand that the wall street speculators are making a profit, maybe 20% in the price of gas. and that is not fair. why don't we start with a meaningful energy policy that acrests -- addresses th

moral and stratenalic failure. we can't -- strategic failure. we can't keep doing this, mr. speaker. our military is at a breaking point. the american people's patience is wearing thin. two wars are already more than we can handle. let's define the mission in libya, let's complete it and let's get out. anything less is a replay of iraq and afghanistan where we must move as quickly to bring our troops home. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. paul, for five minutes. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. paul: thank you, mr. speaker. the last nail is being driven into the coffin of the american republic yet congress remains in total denial as our liberties are rapidly fading before our eyes. the process is propelled by unwanted fear and ignorance as to the true meaning of liberty. it's brought on by irrational good sbeckses. the rule of law is constantly rejected and authoritarian answers is offered as panaceas for all our problems. runaway welfare is used

stick to our values, if we build a new moral consensus, then i think someday we will see millikin rodriguez adarandan be swept into the dust pin of history. so we know mr. liu wants to use the courts to change society and ratify society. what was ata -- adaran about? it was about randy peck. one of five kids born to a welder who lost his job during the great depression. the mom worked as a salesgirl in a department store. neither of them went to college. mr. peck left the company and started a company that put guardrails up along highways. his start-up was the money he would have used in his fourth year of college. his loan was accomplished by using his parents' retirement pensions as collateral. he made a bid as a construction contractor on a highway in colorado that was by far the lowest bid, but he lost to a minority-owned company because our own government was paying bonuses to contractors who made subcontracts with so-called disadvantaged businesses, and mr. peck happened to be white. the supreme court decided that this was wrong and decided in mr. peck's favor. although the civil rights commission pointed out ten years later that the supreme cour

how i am moral is that, all americans who contribute to medicare, pay for medicare and invest in medicare that it would not be there for them to get medicare. i'm actually just a little shocked, mr. speaker, by the rhetoric. and the fact is, if we want to save medicare, we need to do exactly what the republicans are proposing and that is to reform it, to save it. even the medicare trustees came out two weeks ago and said the medicare program would be insolvent five years sooner than predicted. what does that mean? it means going bankrupt. insolvent means going away. it means all the seniors that paid into the system will not -- it won't be there for them. we have a duty, an only nation to make sure medicare is there. this side of the aisle is the only ones working to keep medicare for our seniors. no, i won't, i only have about five minutes, i want to continue. what we're proposing is premium supports. it's not vouchers, it's not privatizing, it's premium supports. premium support is the best model you can look at for that is medicare part d. the pharmaceutical program. medicare part d gives seniors the opportunity to pick from plans that work from them. that are customized to t

mr. gingrich very intellectually solid and probably has a really good history. i find it and little bit humorous and that people are pulling up his past -- what everyone to call it, moral indignation or what ever. it doesn't make sense to me. compared to all kinds of other politicians who i can name but i won't, i just think that unfortunately for him, he is not getting enough credit for actually balancing the budget and creating a surplus when the republicans took control of the house under bill clinton. host: that was a cliff in washington. this is "the new york times" this morning. their second editorial. mr. gingrich's intolerance history. just to close it out -- republicans only for the first segment of "washington journal." we want to get your reaction. claudia in houston. good morning. caller: hi. he is immoral. he was in politics and he cheated on two wives and it was even terrible that he tried to get his teacher to marry him and when she had cancer he dumped her. i feel mitt romney is a moral also because he is an -- is in a religion that approves of multiple wives. if i were a man running for president, i would leave any organization that is immoral, whether

mr. pence: i thank the gentleman for yielding, and i rise in strong support of h.r. 3, the to taxpayer funding for abortion act. i believe that ending an innocent life is moralally wrong but i believe it's moralally wrong to take the funds of taxpayers and use it to fund a procedure that they find morally offensive. over 30 years the patchwork of policies have denied federal funding for abortion in america, but todaythat exto the yeoman's work of congressman smith of new jersey and congressman dan lipinski, we're bringing a strong and codified message that the american people don't want to allow public funding of abortion at the federal level, and i strongly support it. the man who first brought this idea before the congress was the late henry hyde. i had the privilege of serving with him. his eloquence cannot be matched but it can be peted. henry said, quote, i believe nothing in this world of wonders is more beautiful than the innocence of a child a that little, almost born infant struggling to live as a member

maintain our moral responsibility to care for those who volunteered to serve our nation in uniform and their families. i want to just highlight a few of the elements of this bill. i think mr. wilson did a great job of doing that. they do include the 1.6% pay raise. also something that is going to be very important for our troops come authority for the secretary of defense to establish apprenticeship or grams to help in the transition of servicemembers. over the past year, as mr. wilson noted, the subcommittee has maintained a focus on sexual assault and harassment and remains committed to significantly reducing sexual assault and harassment in our armed forces. to he continued to support military children. once again, the mark includes an authorization of $30 million in the department of defense impact aid program, an additional $10 million for local educational agencies directly impacted my force structure changes and brass. there is no doubt that our armed forces are the best trained and the best equipped in the world, but it is really more than that. those who wear the uniform defend the very values that americans hold dear, values of equality, fairness, passion and in

mr. pence: i thank the gentleman for yielding, and i rise in strong support of h.r. 3, the to taxpayer funding for abortion act. i believe that ending an innocent life is moralallyrong but i believe it's moralally wrong to take the funds of taxpayers and use it to fund a procedure that they find morally offensive. over 30 years the patchwork of policies have denied federal funding for abortion in america, but today, that exto the yeoman's work of congressman smith of new jersey and congressman dan lipinski, we're bringing a strong and codified message that the american people don't want to allow public funding of abortion at the federal level, and i strongly support it. the man who first brought this idea before the congress was the late henry hyde. i had the privilege of serving with him. his eloquence cannot be matched but it can be peted. henry said, quote, i believe nothing in this world of wonders is more beautiful than the innocence of a child and that little, almost born infant struggling to live as a member of the human family. an abortion is a lethal assault against the very idea of human rights and destroys, along with the defensive baby, the moral fou

stick to our values, if we build a new moral consensus, then i think someday we will see millikin rodriguez adarandan be swept into the dust pin of history. so we know mr. liu wants to use the courts to change society and ratify society. what was ata -- adaran about? it was about randy peck. one of five kids born to a welder who lost his job during the great depression. the mom worked as a salesgirl in a department store. neither of them went to college. mr. peck left the company and started a company that put guardrails up along highways. his start-up was the money he would have used in his fourth year of college. his loan was accomplished by using his parents' retirement pensions as collateral. he made a bid as a construction contractor on a highway in colorado that was by far the lowest bid, but he lost to a minority-owned company because our own government was paying bonuses to contractors who made subcontracts with so-called disadvantaged businesses, and mr. peck happened to be white. the supreme court decided that this was wrong and decided in mr. peck's favor. although the civil rights commission pointed out ten years later that the supreme cour

mr. sikh, is not only is it better policy to have a federal standard instead of a patchwork of different definitions and also it results in better enforcement but it is a moral imperative? [inaudible] >> i believe it's a moral imp r imperati imperative. we hear about children with disabilities but children with any issue, we had 800,000 people -- students visit our website last year. we had a young girl who said she was thinking of committing suicide. she went on our website for teenagers and changed her mind. so it's kids with disabilities. it's all kids. it is so pervasive that indeed it is a moral imperative. the harm that's happening to these kids -- you talk about mental health issues. these kids end up with mental health issues. 160,000 kids drop out of school every day because they've been bullied. children end up with so many issues their entire life. the story i told about the families, their lives have been changed forever. so, yes, i agree we need federal legislation. i think we have 45 states that have their own laws, but it is not working. we wouldn't be here today -- you wouldn't have this hearing today if it was working. it's not working. ther

nation has a solemn and moral responsibility to our veterans and this is just one more way to make sure that we do what's right. i'd also like to thank the chairman for including mreally important, i think all of white house heard the testimony of mr. connolly and his family -- all of us who heard the testimony of mr. connolly and his family, true american heroes, someone who is doing everything right and we make sure we share that pain with him and his family for the cost he's given going to war. that grant's intended to assist eligible veterans to adopt a family member's home to provide a barrier-free living environment, make sure they have the highest level of independent living possible. again, i thank you for that. i would if i could for just a moment, mr. chairman, just put in a slight plug if i may for a bill i'd like to see moved with these h.r. -- this, h.r. 1025, recognizing our reservists for their service and being able to call themselves veterans. and i know your staff and i want to thank the majority and minority staff working on that, keep moving that in the future if at all possible. but you're unwavering support of this piece of legislation, this

moral obligation. many have said, well, we need to do something because we're putting debt on on our childrend grandchildren. and that's absolutely true. but w we've been told by numeros experts, including mr. bowles, who chaired the debt commission, that we could be facing a debt crisis in two years, give or take a little bit. that was his opinion. his cochair, alan simpson, said it could be one year. so we could have another debt financial crisis that could put us back into a recession as a result of our fiscal irresponsibility as soon as two years. according to erskine bowles, accomplished businessman. president clinton's chief of staff, chosen by president obama to head the commission. that's what he told us in the budget committee just a few weeks ago. how serious is he? well, our highway spending this year is about $40 billion. last year, this country spent in interest on our debt $200-plus billion, five times the highway bill, just for example. and we need to do something about our infrastructure and highways in america. i am really worried about it. i see the majority leader. if he would like to -- mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i wil