mr. nelson schwartz? guest: well, there have been a lack of prosecutions in the wake of the financial crisis. i don't think anybody would argue with you there. in terms of the big banks, they had a $20 billion settlement, so you are seeing some movement there. these are heavily-regulated industries. but you know, whether their customer service is good is another issue. host: corpus christi, alice, democrats line. caller: good morning. host: hello? caller: i love all the comments and the conversation. y'all are over with in about 14 minutes, is that correct? >> host: we're about 15 minutes, go ahead. caller: i'm from corpus christi. and there has been a lot of hulla ballew since perri came back as governor. but my main thing is with mr. nelson schwartz, i think that we need to get to the basis -- basic of your ethics on investment banks. host: and so do you have a question for our guest, ma'am? caller: yes, sir, i do. how much go ahead. caller: bank of america. yes, sir. host: go ahead, mr. nelson schwartz

mr. nelson: certainly. mr. carper: a lot of people go out this time of year and buy new cars, trucks and vans. traditionally spring is when people shop for vehicles. go back a couple of years -- 2007, 2007 we sold 16 million cars, trucks and vans in this country. 2009, as we have fallen into the great recession, car sales, trucks fell to nine million units. from 16 million to 9 million in less than 24 months. that's changed now. we're on our way. as we noted sergio marchion tph*e, the c.e.o. of chrysler, said they were on their way to record profits, the money we invested in as taxpayers, people are going out to start to buy vehicles again, the average life of a vehicle most people own is 11 years. this is a time when people are thinking about starting to trade in their vehicles or buy something more energy efficient. unlike five years, people could go into any chrysler, ford dealership, ford labels as well, and buy vehicles that bet 30 -- that get 30, 35, 40 miles per gallon and more. we find that finally the

mr. nelson: would the senator yield? the presiding officer: the senior senator from florida is recognized. mrs. boxer: yes, i would. mr. nelson: i just want to underscore the senator from california's statement with regard to the outer continental shelf and point out that the vitter amendment would allow drilling in the one place on the outer continental shelf that is off-limits in law, and that is the gulf of mexico off of florida. and the reason that that was passed in a bipartisan way, with my colleague, senator mel martinez, back in 2005, is several reasons. in the first place, there is no oil out there of any appreciable amount. and the senator has already pointed out that there are 50 million acres under lease that are not drilled. well,ing 30 million of those acres -- well, 30 million of those acres under lease that have not been drilled are in the gulf of mexico, where the oil is. in the central and western gulf, and there's very little oil in the eastern -- and gas in the eastern gulf of mexico. why? because moth

let's talk to mahdi in as a mirage a middle east expert from the center of research on globalization mr nelson maraya kofi annan peace plan and now have a lot of equal backing why do you think the syrian opposition is reluctant to accept it. well the syrian opposition wants tensions in the country peace does not work out in their favor they're using a strategy of tension hoping to get support just like in boston what the bosniaks or the bosnian muslims do. when no seventy to go for example was evacuated after five thousand guests nato came in people want that gets the numbers to rise people want the violence continue and they want to use this for humanitarian intervention do you think that the syrian authorities are really going to stick to the plan if it's fully endorsed all right well i have to tell you that i believe speaking for myself that all sides for the trip to kofi annan six or six point plan because they see that they can reap some benefits from it that's why they need this agreement that includes all the members of the security council and that includes the syrian government paid t

nelson. >> thank you mr. chairman and let me add my appreciation for your service as well. thank you. i have got a number of concerns about our presence in iraq at this time. i don't think that i have a clear understanding of what our mission is there. and is further complicated by the fact that we have got questions about the new embassy, which is a significant in terms of size was significant number of security contract yours located there, perhaps not even functioning in a security role outside of the embassy. and the embassy continues to be expanded and i understand perhaps the state department now is in charge of establishing what our mission in iraq is. can you, either of you, help

mr. charm. >> thank you, senator. senator nelson? >> thank you mr. chairman. thank to both of you for your service and for your kind remarks this morning. i appreciate that very much. general kehler, and general alexander, the comments today and all of the discussion for some periods of time has indicated the growing threat of cyberwarfare to the threat to the united states national security. as we engage in this discussion there is an ongoing restructuring of stratcom's headquarters with the new headquarters. general kehler, can you give us some indication why an aging facility would not be an appropriate facility as we take on new responsibilities but particularly as it relates to the high-tech cybersituation? general alexander if you had some thoughts about that, it would be helpful, too. >> sir, the activities that go on at stratcom are unique activities. we perform those activities particularly the command and control that we have of our strategic forces, the planning that we do for our strategic forces, the intelligence support that's required behind our

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mrs. boxer: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: will the senate please be in order. mr. nelson: madam president, we're going to divide one minute 15 seconds here, 15 seconds there and 30 seconds to senator shelby. and i'll just say this is the b.p. fine money to come back and restore the gulf of mexico and the people who earn their living from the gulf. ms. landrieu: madam president, this money will be shared with all of the states. it's appropriate, new money paid by b.p., not taxpayer money, to the gulf. let me thank senator boxer, whitehouse and baucus for their extraordinary help on our side and thank senator shelby. we'll take the next few seconds. i don't know if senator vitter wants to say a word. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: madam president, i urge support of this amendment. it is bipartisan. it's -- this concept is supported by multiple outside groups as well as the administration and it is fully offset, does not increase the defici

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, with all of the very well-deserved statements that have been made about our colleague, senator barbara mikulski, i wanted to raise my vote in support of that milestone she has achieved here in congress. a personal word i want to add, and that is that she has been so supportive and such a leader in our nation's space program as the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee, she has to be intimately familiar with the details and the appropriate way to allocate the funds in order that this nation's civilian space program can go forward in the visionary and frontier-breaking manner that it always has. and i am extremely grateful for her leadership, and i wanted to add this to the accolades that she so well deserves and has already had from so many of our colleagues. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, what we're seeing in the senate this week is exhibit a in what the american people just don't like abou

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. senator cornin. >> thank you. thank you for your service, gentlemen, to our country. i want to focus a little bit on iran, not surprisingly in light of your testimony general mattis where you say that their wreckless behavior and bell akoes rhetoric create a high potential for miscalculation in the region. and another area of your testimony you say it's perhaps -- represents perhaps the greatest immediate and long-term threat to regional stability. i wonder if you would agree with the characterization of a think-tank here if washington, the center for strategic and budget airy assessments when they define iran's strategy as anti-access, anti-denial strategy. and designed to take advantage of the, they say, of the unique geographic attributes of the persian gulf rather than confront the u.s. forces directly, iran could attempt to use ballistic missiles, terrorist proxies to coerce gulf states to deny u.s. forces permission to operate from a sovereign territory. without going on to describe that further, i wonder if

mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you, very much, senator brown. senator reid is not here and senator nelson is next. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you gentlemen for your service. it's been reported that al qaeda leaders and others extremists have called their members of their groups to support the uprising of syria and general mattis stated that there's evidence that the terrorist network is involved in supporting the opposition. do we have an idea regarding the number of violent extremists that are engaged in the uprising secretary? >> we do, but i would prefer to -- >> no. >> -- discuss that in closed session. >> so we do have an idea, we have the intel? >> yes. >> do we have an idea of what sort of outside assistance they are getting as well, you do not is have to tell me what it is necessarily. >> that is correct. >> do we have some idea of what iran is providing in the way of outside assistance? >> that's correct. >> to the level of detail that we need to have? >> as a former director of the cia, i would like a lot better detail. >> always want more detail. i understand that of

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. senator sessions? >> well, chairman levin and ranking member mccain have i think had a great deal of wisdom over the years in dealing with the issues we face. i think senator levin has indicated his strength, i believe his -- and support. general allen, he said our soldiers deserve our support and they have it in the plans that i believe you're working on. senator mccain has likewise said that. secretary miller, dr. miller, you said that afghanistan will meet the challenge, i believe, in your opening statements. that expressed a confidence that we can be successful. you quoted again president obama's statement, we will build an enduring relationship with afghanistan. senator mccain talked about the vision that we had for the success in afghanistan. we've had bipartisan support for that. and we're having some difficulties now, at least certainly in the press if not on the ground. we had the problem with the koran. we've had the problem with afghan soldiers killing our own soldiers. we've had the problem

nelson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and let me add my appreciation for your service, as well. thank you. i've got a number of concerns about our presence in iraq at the current time. i don't think that i have a clear understanding of what our mission is there. it's further complicated by the fact that we've got questions about the new embassy which is of significant -- in terms of size building with significant number of se

mr. charm. >> thank you, senator. senator nelson? >> thank you mr. chairman. thank to both of you for your service and for your kind remarks this morning. i appreciate that very much. general kehler, and general alexander, the comments today and all of the discussion for some periods of time has indicated the growing threat of cyberwarfare to the threat to the united states national security. as we engage in this discussion there is an ongoing restructuring of stratcom's headquarters with the new headquarters. general kehler, can you give us some indication why an aging facility would not be an appropriate facility as we take on new responsibilities but particularly as it relates to the high-tech cybersituation? general alexander if you had some thoughts about that, it would be helpful, too. >> sir, the activities that go on at stratcom are unique activities. we perform those activities particularly the command and control that we have of our strategic forces, the planning that we do for our strategic forces, the intelligence support that's required behind our

mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you, very much, senator brown. senator reid is not here and senator nelson is next. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you gentlemen for your service. it's been reported that al qaeda leaders and others extremists have called their members of their groups to support the uprising of syria and general mattis stated that there's evidence that the terrorist network is involved in supporting the opposition. do we have an idea regarding the number of violent extremists that are engaged in the uprising secretary? >> we do, but i would prefer to -- >> no. >> -- discuss that in closed session. >> so we do have an idea, we have the intel? >> yes. >> do we have an idea of what sort of outside assistance they are getting as well, you do not is have to tell me what it is necessarily. >> that is correct. >> do we have some idea of what iran is providing in the way of outside assistance? >> that's correct. >> to the level of detail that we need to have? >> as a former director of the cia, i would like a lot better detail. >> always want more detail. i understand that of

nelson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me add my appreciation for your service as well. i have a number of concerns about our presence in iraq at the current time. i don't think i have a clear understanding of what our mission is. it further complicated by the fact that we have questions about the new embassy which is significant in terms of size, building with a significant number of security contractors located there, perhaps not even functioning in a security role outside of the embassy. the embassy continues to be expanded. perhaps the state department is in charge of establishing what our mission in iraq is. either of you help enlighten me about what our fission truly is in iraq today and how that might relate as well to providing security, by contractors and continuing expansion of a building that seems to be gargantuan in size already. general mattis? >> part of our mission, iraq is going from a military led effort in iraq over the last eight years to a state department led mission under the ambassador. i do have a lieutenant general with a small footprint on the

mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you, very much, senator brown. senator re is not here and senator nelsons next. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you gentlemen for your service. it's been reported that al qaeda leads and others extremists have called their members of their groups support the uprising of syria and general mattis stated that tre's evidence that the terrorist network is involved in supporting the opposition. do we have an idea regarding the number of violent extremists that are engaged in the uprising secretary? >> we do, but i would prefer to -- >> no. >> -- discuss that in closed session. >> so we do have an idea, we have the intel? >> yes. >> do we have an idea of what sort of outside assistance they are getting as well, you do not is have to tell me what it is necessarily. >> that is correct. >> do we have some idea of what iran is providing in the way of outside assistance? >> that's correct. >> to the level of detail that we need to have? >> as a former director of the cia, i would like a lot better detail. >> always want more detail. i understand that of course,

nelson. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you general allen and secretary miller for your testimony today and for being here and general allen, please take your appreciation back to the men and women in uniform. and the civilians they are working together to help solve a very challenging problem that we all face. one of the things that we have struggled with as a country and as individuals and as a government and a military is trying to outline progress and put it into a metric program to understand weather was 25% of our goal or 50%. unless there is some definition, the metrics associated with that, one persons success is another person's loss so we establish some time ago the benchmarks in afghanistan and i'm interested in both of your analyses here of our efforts in achieving those benchmarks and last october, the report on progress towards security and stability in afghanistan revealed that the f. garden army units assess only 30% were effective independently and likewise only 44% of the afghan police a

mr. chairman, i would like to pause and remind the committee that stratcom is headquartered in the great state of nebraska. and i wanted to take this opportunity to thank senator ben nelson for his service. senator nelson will retire at the end of the congress and during his service he has worked dill gently to better the lives of our troops and strategic offices. those who work at the air force base are well aware of his deep commitment to them. on behalf of your fellow nebraskans at stratcom, senator, we off our thanks. thank you for this opportunity. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you very much, general. thank you for your reference to general ben -- now i call hem a general and you a senator -- to senator ben nelson. we all feel very much the way you do and grateful for your reference to him. thank you. general alexander? >> chairman levin, ranking member mccain and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the community to appear before you today. i'm pleased to appear with general bob kehler, and i echo his comments all across the board, including with senator nelson. i would start up front by echoing some of those comments which is, is it a

i reminded them for years ago, nelson mandela was the most respected leader in the world where every american president wanted to have an opportunity with, at that time, mrndela was still on the terrorist list of american congress. it changed only after that. we need to create a strong, powerful international movement here in the united states and other places in europe. we need to change people, then parliament, then the government will change. i am sure of one thing. one day the palestinians will be free of this apartheid system. we're doing it through nonviolent resistance. one day we can have peace based on imposed agreements like oslo, but based on peace and coexistence and mutual respect and respecting the palestinian'' rights to freedom, dignity, and an end of this terrible segregation system. >> rabbi arthur waskow? >> i totally agree there needs to be a grassroots movement. i just described one rooted in the churches where a grassroots movement would, in fact, change u.s. government policy. i think there needs to be an alliance among the majority of american jews who supported tuesday's solution, regardless of the top down institutions that will

change and we've turned around when nelson mendela walked out of jail and a black government is in power in that country now. in america i often wonder how much of the flack mr. obama gets is because of his policies or because of his skin color. >> rose: do you really think it's because of his skin color. have you asked the question or have an assumption. >> i have an assumption. i actually think a lot of flack mr. obama comes in for is a result of prejudice. the notion of a black man in the white house. i'll put it as bluntly as that. >> rose: tell me about how you see america today. you look at this country today and you just -- divided. >> left and right. left isn't a word with so many political resonance us think of communists at the extreme end or liberal but you know what a mean. it's a division in terms of -- yeah, i really do believe it's a division in terms of skin color. >> rose: you really do? the division in america is primarily skin color or primarily out of a sense of racism? >> well, i don't know what the distinction is. can you explain to me? >> rose: skin color and racism -- no, it's the same. >> racism is a better word. >> rose: there's cla

mr. blunt: i do, too, senator. while we don't have as much bipartisan support as we'd like to have, we'll have some and senator ben nelsonrom nebraska along with senator ayotte from new hampshire and senator rubio from florida and i introduced this bill in august of last year. this is not just something that we came up with recently. members who were in the senate when the health care act, the affordable health care act passed said they believed if it had passed at a more normal way that this would have been in the final bill, that that would have been an understanding just like it was in the patients' bill of rights draft and legislation that was introduced in 1994 or the health care bill in 1999. this same language was an accepted and bipartisan part of who we are as a country in forcing -- enforcing the first amendment and in fact in the religious freedom restoration act it says government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, even a rule that would generally apply, the government should not burden a person's exercise of religion

senator ben nelson and exemption from his state for its share of the medicaid expansion of the bill and that dubbed the corn husker kickback became a health reform bunching bag for a while. >> mrident, they're outraged that a back room deal for our state might have been what puts this bill across the finish line. >> outrage of the so-called co husker kick back for the state of nebraska. >> one deal for one state and another state. >> the corn hus ski kickback has become a political cancer. >> everyone was outraged about ben nelson's sweetheart deal including justice scalia. >> if we struck down nothing in this legislation but what it's called, the cornhusker kickback, we find that to violate the constitutional proscription of venality [ laughter ] >> very funny justice. the main thing about the cornhusker kick back is it did not make it into the final bill. it was removed. it's not part of the law that's before the court. justice scalia seemed blithely unaware of the fact. watching the justices conduct oral argument this week, you would almost thing they were reading straight from commo threads on red state.com. >> and talking to every reporter who will listen, how unbelievabl

kohl, nelson of florida, lautenberg, shaheen, bloomen that will, cardin, coons, feinstein, leahy, durbin, lieberman, schumer. cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance -- provided mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i have filed 17 cloture motions. the clerk has read the first one. there are 16 others. i would ask the chair if it would be in order for a unanimous consent request that the -- following the 16 nominations that were not yet read into the record, it would appear as if the same action occurred on those procedurally as the first one that was read. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now ask the senate resume legislative session. 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: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without

nelson mandela to bring education about aids. a lot of those people are still very vigorous, very interested. and of course, before mr.andela got so frail, i supported all of his charitable work in south africa. i try to go every year on his birthday and see him and do some event that supports the do the work of the foundation, or the work of some other foundation that he supports. i think it is something that can make a real difference in africa. [applause] >> right there. the guy next to the guy in the blue. [cheers] , ladies, please. he is not a piece of me. he has ideas. >> i come from the university of california pacific. this is my second conference at cgiu and i'm impressed with the commitments being made here. i get inspired as well and i made commitments to what i can. not to bring peace in afghanistan, because i cannot do that. my question is, all of these commitments that people make here, they go back to their countries and they have security to follow through on those commitments. when i make a commitment, my commitment is at risk, because it is not secure. if i make a commitment to go to kandahar or helm

mr. nelson: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this friday will mark five years since f.b.i. agent bob levinson disappeared while on a business trip as a retired f.b.i. agent. he was on a business trip to kisch island in the persian gu gulf. it's a part of iran. that's five long years that his wife, christine, has been without her husband and five long years that her seven children have been without their father. over those five years, i've spoken so many times about bob from the floor of the senate and so many other venues. bob, a retired f.b.i. agent and a resident of south florida, just yesterday i met with his wife christine, and she joined the then-f.b.i. director bob muramueller, and deputy directo, shawn joyce, in announcing a million-dollar reward for information leading to bob's safe return. and so soon in southwest asia, billboards will start to appear announcing that million-dollar reward, and it is southwest asia that we know where bob is being held. well, today i want to talk about his children. because tomorrow in miami, the society of former special agents of t

- reid, carper, brown of ohio, begich, nelson of florida, lautenberg, shaheen, blumenthal, coons, feinstein, leahy, durbin, lieberman, murray, schumer and pryor. mr. reid: mr. president, this is an extremely important bill. that's the postal reform legislation. we have been waiting to get to it for a long time. we're going to move to that next week. i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask we proceed to a period of morning business, with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i rise to speak about a disturbing made recently about the national football league. the national football league investigation revealed that the new orleans saints had allegedly been operating an illegal bounty program. under this bounty program, players were reportedly given significant sums of money in direct exchange for intentionally injuring opposing players, for disabling them, for having them carried off the field in a