mr. voinovich: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. voinovich: mr. president, i want to take some time today to talk about the health care bill before the senate. which the majority leader is anxious to get passed before christmas. i expect that he knows if this bill sees too much light of day, he could lose one or two of his 60 votes and that's why his managers' amendment was kept under wraps so that really no one knew anything about it until the last minute. on our side of the aisle, w we'd like to hold off until after christmas to give all members of the senate and the american people a chance to review this legislation, and obviously this isn't going to happen and i think that's unfortunate. when you compare the number of days we've spent debating this bill to other major pieces of legislation that have come before this body in recent yea years, the democrats' haste is obvious. for example, in 2002, i was very much involved in legislation that created the department of homeland security. we spent 19 days over seven weeks on the floor debating thi

mr. voinovich: thank you mr. president. mr. president, i've been coming to the floor to remind my colleagues and the american people about the fiscal realities that our nation faces and to explain how this health reform legislation would make our fiscal situation worse and our economy suffer even more. i've been here before to highlight how this bill is chock-full of gimmicks to hide its true unimaginable costs. and as i've said before on the floor of the senate, as a form he mayor former -- former mayor, former governor, ma of people have come to me over the years and said, "mayor, you have to do this," "governor, you have to do this," and the plea that they had was genuine and the need that they expressed was genuine but the fact of matter is that we couldn't afford what they were asking us to do and i had to say no. and, unfortunately this legislation, in my opinion will increase the cost of health care care drive up our national debt debt and contribute to unbalanced budgets as far as the eye can see here in the united stat

senator voinovich. mr. ford, you testified that gao identified both domestic and overseas ds offices with a significant staffing gaps. i want to set the stage for why this issue is so important. would you please describe how the staffing shortfalls could affect our diplomatic missions? and the security of state department personnel, and i would like to ask for any additional remarks from the ambassador as well on this. mr. ford? >> okay. let me start by most of the staffing gaps we identified in our work tended to be in the domestic offices here in the united states. i think typically what was happening was that ds would receive protective missions for things like the olympics where they needed to staff positions in iraq and afghanistan which was the highest priority and they tended to use agents that were here on domestic assignments and so the domestic offices here, they are responsible for things like passports, visas fraud, another investigatory type of missions that ds has. those were the shortfalls in

mr. voinovich: over the past several months, i've got to the floor on a couple of occasions, i think one when you were presiding, to remind my colleagues and the american people about the unsustainable and fiscal crisis confronting our country. our national debt exceeded $12 trillion for the first time in history. from 2008 to 2009 alone the federal debt will increase 22%, posting the national debt as a percent of g.d.p. from 70% last year to 80% this year. we have not seen this kind of debt to g.d.p. ratio since the second world war which is some 65 years ago when i was about 7 years old. the american people know that this is unsustainable. but my senate colleagues from the other side of the aisle continue to ignore this reality. i pledge that i would continue to cry the emperor has no clothes until we did something to address this crisis. mr. president, i should explain. most people, i think, knows the story, the hahns christian anderson story, the emperor goes about the land wearing a nonexistent clothes by a tailor who convinced the monarch that the silk was made of the finest silk,

mr. enzi: i'd yield up to men minutes to the senator from highway high, senator voinovich. mr. h: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to just comment on senator kyl's, the senator from arizona's remarks about medicaid advantage. i was surprised to hear that the legislation provides for grandfathering in medicare -- medicaid advantage benefits in two states. obviously, individuals that want to grandfather them are doing it for a reason and that is they're afraid that if they didn't grandfather them, that the people in their respective states would lose them. and if we're going to apply that same type of grandfather to other states, then it should be uniform i think throughout our country. mr. president, i just want to speak about the nelson-hatch amendment. i want to spend a minute discussing the very emotional and divisive issue of abortion. mr. president, i personally believe that all children born and unborn are a precious gift from god and we have a moral responsibility to protect them and it graves me to think that it's been 40 -- there's been 40 million abortions performed i

it's really very not practical. >> thank you. >> thank you, very much, senator voinovich. mr. ford, you testified that gao identified domestic and overseas ds officers with significant staffing gaps. i want to set the stage for why this issue is -- will you please describe how the staffing short falls could affect our diplomatic missions? and the security of state department personnel. i'd like to ask for any additional remarks from the ambassador as well on this. >> okay. most of the staffing gaps that we identified in our work tended to be in the domestic offices here in the united states. i think typically what was happening was that ds would receive protective missions for things like the olympics or they needed to staff positions in iraq and afghanistan which was their highest priority. and they tended to use agents that were here on domestic assignments. and so the domestic offices here, they're responsible for things like passport fraud, visa fraud, other investigating type missions that ds has. those were where the short falls tended to be in terms of the mission. so w

. >> thank you, very much, senator voinovich. mr. ford, you testified that gao identified domestic and overseas ds officers with significant staffing gaps. i want to set the stage for why this issue is -- will you please describe how the staffing short falls could affect our diplomatic missions? and the security of state department personnel. i'd like to ask for any additional remarks from the ambassador as well on this. >> okay. most of the staffing gaps that we identified in our work tended to be in the domestic offices here in the united states. i think typically what was happening was that ds would receive protective missions for things like the olympics or they needed to staff positions in iraq and afghanistan which was their hst priority. and they tended to use agents that were here on domestic assignments. and so the domestic offices here, they're responsible for things like passport fraud, visa fraud, other investigating type missions that ds has. those were where the short falls tended to be in terms of the mission. so we ha

mr. reed of nevada, aye. senators voting in the negative. alexander, bohmbach, chambliss, coburn, corker, corn then, demeant, ensign, graham, grassley. hatch, hutchinson. inhofe, kyle, lemieux, lugar, mccain, connor, rich, roberts, sessions, voinovich and wicker. >> mr. byrd, aye. mr. webb, aye. mr. vitter, no. mr. baucus, aye. >> mr. kerry. mr. kerry, aye. mr. schumer, mr. schumer, aye. mr. kaufman, aye. mr. shelby, no. mr. bennett of utah, no. >> mr. lincoln. mrs. lincoln, aye. ms. landreaux. ms. landreaux, aye. >> on this vote, the yeas are 63, and the nay are 55. the motion is agreed. the question is on the motion to concur with the house amendment. sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: may we have order, mr. reid: may we have order, >> leader, may we have order, please the presiding officer: anyone wish to change their vote or hasn't voted? by a vote of 88 ayes and 10 noes, the motion to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment on defense appropriations is approved. leader. mr. reid: first of all, to the united states senate, this is a good strong message we've

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator collins. senator voinovich, you've been so active in this quest for so many years. and i know because you announced you're retiring after this term that you really focused on this as something you want to feel you made some progress on before you leave public office after an extraordinary career at many levels of government. so i would with respect invite to you fwiff an opening statement this morning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this hearing and after national security i think the most important issue congress and our nation faces today is this issue of our debt and budgets that aren't balanced as far as the eye can see in the future. and as you said, if we don't deal with it it will affect our national security and will have an impact on world peace. so i want to thank you for your work and our work on the safe commission. i want to thank our panel, the chairman, the ranking member of the senate budget committee, senators conrad and gregg, for your leadership to unite efforts of the memb

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator collins. senator voinovich so active in this quest for so many years. and i know because you announced you're retiring after this term that you really focused on this as something you want to feel you made some progress on before you leave public office after an extraordinary career at many levels of government. so i would with respect invite to you fwiff an opening statement this morning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this hearing and after national security i think the most important issue congress and our nation faces today is this issue of our debt and budgets that aren't balanced as far as the eye can see in the future. and as you said, if we don't deal with it it will affect our national security and will have an impact on world peace. so i want to thank you for your work and our work on the safe commission. i want to thank our panel, the chairman, the ranking member of the senate budget committee, senators conrad and gregg, for your leadership to unite efforts of the members of the se

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> i also turn to senator warner for any opening observations he might have and then we will go to senator voinovichhank you, mr. chairman. i am pleased to see your leadership on this issue. senator lieberman mentioned thhe letter. one of the important thing about the letter is that many of them were new ones. i am glad to be one of the signatories of the letter. as we wrestle with health care and try to get it right, taking on this issue with the deficit in this bipartisan fashion is terribly important. the newer members who may not have been as entwined in the system bring perhaps a fresh view. i came from the governorship where we had to balance their budget each year and maintain the aaa bond rating. i commend your efforts. there are legitimate questions about the structure of this commission. my only hope is that, as a new member, is that we not only have it bipartisan, but that those members, whether members or outsiders, this is so important that they would have to come with an approach that everything truly is on the table, that no program is sacred, that, yes, they have to look at cuts and

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator collins. senator voinovich active in this quest for so many years. and i know because you announced you're retiring after this term that you really focused on this as something you want to feel you made some progress on before you leave public office after an extraordinary career at many levels of government. so i would with respect invite to you fwiff an opening statement this morning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this hearing and after national security i think the most important issue congress and our nation faces today is this issue of our debt and budgets that aren't balanced as far as the eye can see in the future. and as you said, if we don't deal with it it will affect our national security and will have an impact on world peace. so i want to thank you for your work and our work on the safe commission. i want to thank our panel, the chairman, the ranking member of the senate budget committee, senators conrad and gregg, for your leadership to unite efforts of the members of the senat

senator voinovich, thank you for your kindness. >> senator voinovich.i] >> mr.pan, you talked about 1983 and the unusual interpersonal relationships and -- between the president an the speaker of the house and the fact that you kept people informed as you moved along. and it worked out. the question i have is, compare that period of time, you have done it in your testimony, when in terms of the urgency of the situation. i'd like the same comment from mr. walker. in other words, there are some people who say that we don't have an urgency. we can kick the can down the road. we don't really have a crisis that needs to be met. and i'd like the two of you to comment on that. the second question is, what do you think it will take to convince the american people and probably just as important, international community that we are getting serious about dealing with this problem? >> first let me say that the first act of the commission in 1983 implemented was to recognize thatÑi medicare, whic was part of our mandate, was much too complex to handle. besides we had a quart

mr. lynch: thank you, madam speaker. in closing i would just ask all members to join with senator voinovich, chairman towns, and ranking membera in support of this resolution. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 303, as amended. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. lynch: madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 779, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 779. resolution recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of national run away prevention month. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, and the gentlewoman from illinois, mrs. bigg

mr. chairman and good afternoon to you, sir, and to the members of the committee, senator voinovich as well appear before you today. i would like to thank you four continued support and interest in the diplomatic bureau of programs. with your support we've been table safeguard american diplomats and facilities for the conduct of u.s. foreign policy and main tower our robust investigative programs which serve to protect borders of the united states. with your permission i'll make this brief statement. while diplomatic security continues to provide the most secure environment possible for the conduct of america's foreign policy, as you mentioned, mr. chairman in your opening remarks, the scope and scale of d.s.'s response and authorities have grown immensely in response to emerging threats and security incidents. increased resources were necessary for the bureau to meet the requirements of securing our diplomatic facilities in the extremely high threat environments of iraq, afghanistan, pakistan and other locations. the department currently operates diplomatic missions in locations where in t