mr. nelson, proposes an amendment numbered 1365. mr. nelson: madam president, i rise today to present the fiscal year 2010 legislative branch bill. i want to start by thanking senator murkowski and her staff for help in putting this bill together. i'm very grateful for her support on this subcommittee. this was truly a bipartisan effort from start to finish. i thank her. i note that her health is improving because her leg is improving and she is getting places on her own now. this bill funds the salaries of the very dedicated public servants who support the legislative branch of government. the legislative branch is home to not only all of us here in the senate and house but the capitol police, the library of congress, the architect of the capitol, the government accountability office, the government printing office, congressional budget office, office of compliance and the open world leadership center. in crafting this bill, it was our firm belief that the legislative branch should lead by example funding only the most critical needs of

mr. nelson: thank you. i rise to discuss a sense-of-the-senate resolution that i proposed with several colleagues to address the government's recent move to take significant ownership stakes in two icons of american business: chrysler and general motors. joining me as cosponsors are senators collins, landrieu, klobuchar, and mil and mccaskild makes clear the federal government is a temporary shareholder in g.m. and chrysler. and that it should divest its shareholder position as expeditiously as possible. no one ever wanted the government to be in the car business but the alternative was worse and the turmoil in the auto industry extends far beyond detroit as most machines know. dealerships -- as most americans know. dealerships across my state alone are feeling the impact of decisions made by auto dealer somes. chrysler is terminating franchise dealerships with nine dealerships in nebraska and g.m. intends to terminate franchise agreements with 21 dealerships in nebraska. these decisions are affecting deale

mr. nelson: i share that concern. and as it is noted, the increase in the spending requested in the appropriations bill is about 2.4%. while $200,000 is a lot of money and it certainly is a lot for people today i think it's important to point out that this is associated with a the legislative branch in the following matter. the durham museum is seeking to provide a public service of federal interest making it appropriate to promote a public-private partnership. the funding of the project in this bill is only 10% of that total cost. the durham museum will be privately raising the remaining 90% and occur all ongoing operating costs. $200,000 requested to this bill for the durham museum is to begin the brez vacation and digitalization of the museum's photo archive collection that will create new jobs, preserve our history and improve access to these priceless treasures. the project will be moved significantly forward by the able assistance of the -- by the library of congress and i thank dr. billington, the librarian of

mr. nelson: and indeed the distinguished senator from tennessee is a great gentleman, and he's a pleasure to work with. madam president, the legislation that's on the floor is the travel promotion act. this is an important piece of legislation that will help our economy because it promotes travel to the u.s. and it promotes travel to areas not traditionally visited, which will highlight the united states as a premier travel designation. -- destination. the bill initiates a nationally coordinated travel promotion campaign established in a public-private partnership to increase international travel to the united states. and it also creates a corporation for travel promotion, an independent nonprofit corporation to run the travel promotion campaign. the program will be funded equally by a small fee paid by foreign travelers coming into the u.s. and by matching contributions from the travel industry. it's interesting that the department of commerce announced that 3.8 million international visitors traveled to this country in march 2009, which was a decrease of 20% compared to march of 2008. t

nelson? >> thank you, mr. chairman.secretary geithner, you mentioned that we're reluctantly in a position of holding shares of general motors and perhaps in a position of controlling other institutions, but we're doing so reluctantly. i'm so reluctant to be one of those holders of that stock, that i'm introducing a resolution as a sense of the senate resolution that we begin the process to divest ourselves of the stock ownership over a reasonable period of time, making clear that we're only a temporary shareholder and that we should take all steps to protect the american taxpayer dollars and begin to invest the ownership as expeditiously as possible and call for a gao study to help determine the period of time that it may take to return gm and chrysler's solvency and complete its divestiture. i think that says what i'd like to say. in addition, i've heard it said that for those who worry that somehow we're drifting into socialism, that socialism is where the government wants to take over profitable ventures as opposed t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator webb. senator nelson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general fraser, you have some experience in china. what do you think is the growing influence of china in south america? >> sir, from my study there, what i see is that they have commercial interests, they have interests to gain access to natural resources. i see them working the same purposes in other parts of the world also, not just influenced on and focused on latin america. i do not see from my study that there is it a military threat from that influence. so all of it right now is focused commercially. i also see an interest on the part of latin american caribbean nations to gain access to markets in china as well. >> as we discussed when you kindly came by to visit that the southern command is a great command that headed by a four star who is not only a warrior but is also a diplomat. and, ifs admiral stra rid is. and it's been -- stravridis. what kind of twist do you see as you apply diplomacy with being a commander? just give me some of your ideas as you take over command. >>

nelson? >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary, we're glad you're here. we appreciate the effort that you are providing and the progress that we hope will come, will in fact come. when i go home, i have people come to me complaining about the bailouts, complaining about t.a.r.p., complaining about putting the auto industry into bankruptcy, and they're all concerned about that. they're concerned also about the growing deficit and the increasing budget. the one thing that they're now becoming alarmed about is government ownership of stock and when we come to the questions, i've got some questions about that, because they come to me and say look, aren't we drifting into socialism at a rapid rate, and i assure them that our goal is not to hold the stock holdings or warrants or any other financial instruments that we shouldn't be holding, that our goal is to get these companies so that they're functioning on their own so that they're either publicly traded or that they're privately owned, but not government owned. so i'll be asking you for reassurance on that

president bill clinton and former south african president nelson mandela. mr.reenberg discusses his book with republican strategist mary matalin. >> host: welcome, book lovers. welcome, c-span lovers. c-span, they changed the world and books that are still selling not as well as they were a couple of years ago. but the industry that hasn't changed much and there are people who love them madly. and carry them everywhere with them. i'm mary matalin. here here with stan greenberg. i'm going to do one from your bio and from our history. >> guest: thank you. >> host: i've known you forever but i didn't know you were such a big cheese. stanley b. greenberg a strategic advise religious companies in campaigns. this is stan's seventh book, dispatches from the war room. in the trenches with five extraordinary leaders. the seventh of political-type books you've written these other great histories, the two americas our political deadlock, how to break it, described by my husband as the most important book in american politics. >> guest: true, true. >> host: middle class dr

nelson smith. caller: good morning. mr. smith, i think you hit on two things that i see as really important. is accountability and there is none in the public schools. and then importantly, setting the expectations. i mean the schools -- my son graduated this year, my daughter graduated two years ago from public schools. there is more rules, more rules and more people to enforce the rules. these are high school students, lined painted on the floor, stay on the line, keep their mouth shut. eat in the cafeteria, nobody allowed to talk. that kind of a thing. how are you preparing anybody for anything except prison with those kind of rules? the expectations are set so low, what do you expect? people will perform to where you expect them to. on the accountability side, that is the big problem. that is the difference between charter schools, i think. school boards are not there to represent the parents. school boards are there to protect the administration nowadays, unfortunately. host: mr. smith? guest: school boards are typically elected. running schools and overseeing schools, managing schools,

mr. secretary, i want to follow up on the questions that senator nelson asked to with regard to the decision of gm and chrysler to terminate dealerships. this decision has been perplexing to many of the automobile dealers in my state. everyone understands that gm and chrysler have to restructure and shed costs in order to survive. but the dealerships tell me that they pay for the cars, that they paid for the shipping and that they own their own showrooms. they pay for their sales people so they've raised the question of how does it save money for the automobile manufacturers to have fewer people promoting their products. could you shed some light on this for us? >> senator, excellent question, and i've spent this time. i've never run an automobile company -- >> until now. >> and i don't expect to be running one new, either, but since i'm looking at this and i guess i would say, i'm not sure this would be convincing or per sways testify you, that i think of the broad consensus that people looked at what will be necessary to put these companies back on a better financial foundation, i think th

mr. henderson? >> yes, sir. >> thanks. >> thanks. >> those were thoughtful and helpful questions. in closing i should point out that senators lincoln and senator nelsonof nebraska and senator cole of wisconsin had asked for the committee to pursue a line of questioning surrounding the closing of the dealersh dealerships, presumably, in their states. without objection, these statements, questions on their part will be a matter of the record. also without objection, all full statements of the committee will be included in the hearing record. and the advice of distinguished ranking member, if members have questions, further questions, they would like to be able to get them to you and have them, and this may be hard. but it can be done. have them answered by friday. are you willing to do that? >> yes, sir. >> finally i want to thank everybody for being here. it's a long hearing. there was a lot of emotion. a lot of things were said that people didn't want to say. it was a tough hearing but it was sort of at the very fulcrum of where we are going in america. how are our systems working? how are we paying attention? and i consider it a very valuable hearin

gloriously and happily by senator bill nelson, who has not even had a chance to ask a question, much less make an opening statement which i know he's not going to do. >> mr. chairman, i did not make an opening statement. i'll submit it for the record. but i just have one question, and i'd like to address this to the two ceos. between the two of your companies, you received $80 billion in bailout. and you have now, between the two of your companies, requested another $36 billion. that's $116 billion. now, if you quibble with the numbers, whatever it is, it is large. and so what i would like you to address, because of the failures of the management of your two companies, a lot of people are losing their jobs. and i would like for you all to address the mechanics that are losing their jobs, the clerical workers, the kids that do the detailing of the cars, the sales men. and please share with them where did all that bailout money go? ? 2349 case of general motors, the money received so far, senator, have been used to finance the losses that we have incurred this year. and late last year. and with respect to the monies that will be dispersed to us pursuant to

nelson is the man to do that. he's a wonderful person, i've already said. i'm just disappointed that it is such a struggle to get things done. mr. corker: mr. president, if i could talk back to the respected leader. i thank you for bringing it forth. i do think it's important that we work through eight bills before the recess ends or begins and i hope that over the next couple of hours that you and the distinguished senator from south carolina hopefully can reach some resolve that is an accommodation and we can move through this. and i thank you very much for your patience. i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. yektafar thank you for being on the program. guest: thank you. host: what is coming up later on "washington journal" today. next up rick rosendall with the national gay alliance. and nelson smith with the charter schools. and the state department will be here to talk to us about human trafficking. ..

nelson number? we don't have a. troy, can you give back to him on that? >> we can get back to you. >> paul. >> paul kirby with tr daily. have you got any sense, i know mr. mcdowell is talking about when congress will approve the other 25 million. the request was made yesterday. have you gotten any sense i guess from commerce rick ntia when they will likely get back to you all? >> no, obviously we are hoping it will be sin. i am fairly confident that things are on track. i don't see a huge problem here to be dealt with but i am going to be doing everything i can to make sure that is expedited. do we have any questions in my line? >> right now from john egger ten at broadcasting and cable. he says one group says that lots of the converter boxes won't be able to get the dtv signal because the propagation problems that require rooftop antennas. calling that a "fatal flaw in the transition." how do you you respond? >> i don't know that i heard it quite that way with generic box is being singled out. >> i think what he means is that, that there is a problem with propagation of the digital signal. >> there's no question about that. that is why i took pains to

mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, i have 11 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, i understand we are in morning business. i ask to speak for up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the senate energy committee has just approved an energy bill that adopted a very controversial amendment that would allow oil to be drilled ten miles off of the coast of florida. i want to refer -- here is the peninsula of florida. this is the panhandle of flori florida. pensacola, fort walton beach, panama city, cape sandblast, sosome of your largest m

mr. nelson: without objection. mr. vitter: thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: i'll be brief. in summary, madam president, let me try to clarify and rebut a few points. first of all, to say this bill is a 2.4% increase over last year is a complete fiction because that assumes the stimulus into last year's number. that inflates last year's number because of the stimulus, and the stimulus was a onetime bill, not a normal fiscal year bill. number two, last year's bill, as i mentioned, was an 11% increase over the previous year, three times the rate of inflation. number three, i wanted to give the committee maximum flexibility in making this modest cut, but there are plenty of suggestions i would have. and i'll be happy to offer specifics. i'll offer one right now. the open world leadership trust fund, $14.5 million. that would be almost a quarter of the savings i'm asking for. that is a program to bring governmental officials from russia and eastern european republics to tour the united states. i'm sure