mrs. hutchison: isn't that the same as the language of the nelson-hatch-casey amendment? mr. hatch: you're right. let me read that language for you. in general, no funds authorized or appropriated by this act or an amendment made by this act may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the cost of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion. mrs. hutchison: based on what you've said, this is not new federal abortion policy? the hyde amendment currently applies to the plans discussed, including the plans that members of congress have, and the abortion protections for all of the federal health programs all say exactly the same thing and that we should -- the amendment that we are going to vote on, that is the nelson-hatch-casey amendment, would preserve the three-decades long precedent. that's what your amendment does. and that we must pass it if we are going to guarantee that the bill that is on the floor is properly amended so that it is the same as our 30 years of abortion federal policy in this country? mr. hatch: the reason it's so critical that we pa

mrs. hutchison: so that is federal funds prohibited from being used in abortions for that particular pweufplt what about

mrs. hutchison: mr.resident? the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserve. under the -- under the previous order, there will be a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes with the republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the next 30 minutes. mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, as i understand it, we are now in the 30-minute time frame for the republicans. the presiding officer: that is correct. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that we have a colloquy so that we can go back and forth. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: thank you. mr. president, the leader, the republican leader just stated, i think, the case for why it is so important that we have the votes, that we really go back to the drawing boards on this bill. americans are looking at the fine print of this bill. they're seeing hal

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i was under the impression that there would be a 30-minute allocation for colloquy for our side and i'm not sure that when we start that -- when we start that process. the presiding officer: the republican -- the republican side has 25 minutes and 15 seconds. mrs. hutchison: how many? the presiding officer: 25 minutes and 15 seconds. mr. mccain: i thank the -- mr. president, i think i've made my point here. i'd like to yield to -- i'd like to ask unanimous consent to have a colloquy with the senator from south dakota, the senator from texas, the senator from oklahoma, and senator from wyoming. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: so -- a senator: if i might respond to the senator's question. mr. coburn: is one of the things that our president has promised is transparency. and we're going to see at some time in the next week or 10 days another bill. whatever the deal is and it would just seem to me that 72 hours with a complete c.b.o. score, much like was as

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? mr. alexander: i might say, we're operating under a colloquy managed by senator mccain, and so the republican senators are free to engage in a discussion. mrs. hutchison: i very much appreciate what the senators have been talking about, because what you're saying, senator mccain, is that these seniors who are low-income have an affordable option, and it's less expensive than the aarp option that would give them this extra care: the eye care, the dental care, the hearing aids. it's an affordable extra option. in texas, we have over 500,000 seniors enrolled in medicare advantage, and one of the great things about medicare advantage is that it is available in rural areas and it gives them choices that they might not be able to afford with other programs that are medigap. this one is affordable. and that's why we're fighting so hard to restore the cuts to medicare advantage. medicare advantage costs about 14% more than traditional medicare because it provides a wide range of th

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas is recognized. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that we be able to go into a colloquy for the next half an hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: thank you. mr. president, i rise today to talk about the taxes that are in this bill and taxes that are imposed in three weeks. not three weeks from -- six months from now, not three weeks from 2014, three weeks from january 1 of 2010. three weeks from now, january 1, 2010, we are going to see the taxes in this bill start. now, i know people are saying, but wait a minute, this bill doesn't take effect until 2014. that's what we've been talking about, it's what we've been hearing, but, no, the tax part starts in three weeks, january of 2010. i have partnered with senator thune, who has been working on this problem, senator grassley, senator hatch, and many others who are going to be speaking today. and i see my colleagues from florida, nebr

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i have a motion at the desk and ask that it be brought forward. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from texas, mrs. hutchison, moves to commit the bill h.r. 3590 to the committee on finance, with instructions. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the motion be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, this is a motion that senator thune and i are putting forward, and it's a very simple motion. i think a lot of people don't realize that the taxes in the bill that we are discussing actually start in about three weeks. they start in january of 2010. but the effects of the bill, whatever the proposals are going to be in the bill, whatever programs are available, will really not come into play until 2014. so the taxes will start this next year, and they will be paid for four years before any of the programs that the bill is supposed to put

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to 10 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i rise today to speak about the health care bill that is pendi pending. the department of defense bill is also pending. it is the business that we have on the floor today and i have no doubt that at the appropriate time there will be a vote in support of funding our troops. and i know that that may come on saturday after the time for debate has run out. but i'd like to talk about the health care issue because i think the reason that we have been here for really most of the last month and voting every friday, every saturday, every sunday is aut to talk about the health care bill, debate the health care bill, assure that the american people know what is in this health care bill and assure that people start looking at the affect it is going to have on their business and their families, because i can't think of any

mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hison: madam president, i rise today to talk about another amendment that is pending, the nelson-hatch-casey amendment. and this is the amendment that i think has been discussed in the last day as well that is the amendment that would assure that no federal funds are spent for abortion. that was unclear. it is unclear in the underlying bill. and i think it is very important that we talk about it, that we make sure that it is very clear exactly what the nelson-hatch-casey amendment does. and that is it would bar federal funding for abortion, which is basically applying the hyde amendment to the programs under this health care bill. since the hyde amendment was first passed in 1977, the senate has had to vote on this issue many, many times, probably just about every year. and i have consistently voted to prohibit federal funding for abortions, as i know my colleague and friend from utah has done, as well as the democratic sponsors of this amendment. and yet, it seems that some members we

mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i would just ask the distinguished senator from montana if in the -- following the postcloture time, will my amendment be put in the queue for the votes if i ask for the yeas and nays? mr. baucus: madam president, that, i must say to my good friend from texas, that is my understanding. mrs. hutchison: thank you. thank you, and i thank the senator. madam president, we truly are in uncharted waters. this bill has been written by the majority under a veil of secrecy, and we are expected to vote on its final passage less than two days before families across the country will be sitting down for holiday celebrations. over the last weeks, my colleagues and i have spoken about some of the things that we know to be problematic, ranging from unsustainable cuts to medicare that will result in scacatastrophic reductions in care -- make no mistake about that -- to oppressive new taxes on individuals, medical devices, prescription drugs, and insurance companies that will

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, how much time is remaining on our side or is it back and forth now? the presiding officer: 19 minutes on the republican side, and senators are limited to 10 minutes each. mrs. hutchison: thank you. thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we have been talking on the crapo amendment about the new taxes that are in this bill. and there are so many new taxes that it's really going to increase the cost of health care to every individual who has health insurance, and it will also tax the people who don't have health insurance. and it will tax the people who have too much health insurance. so, the taxes in this bill are almost mind-boggling. yesterday we talked about the cuts in medicare. but we're also talking now about the $500 billion in tax increases. $500 billion of tax increases. and what senator crapo's amendment will do is to say that we want to go back to the promise that was made by the president that no one who makes under $200,000, or a couple who makes under $250,000

mrs. hutchison: will the senator from nevada yield? mr. ensign: i will be happy to yield. mrs. hutchison: i have real statistics. we hear the other side saying we're going to lower the cost. that's what health care reform is about, lowering the cost of health care reform so -- health care so more people will have access to affordable options, and yet the main one that is clearly available is medical malpractice reform, tort reform. and i know the senator from nevada has an amendment and i'm a cosponsor. let me just give you some statistics about how we could save money. mr. mccain: could i ask the senator from texas, isn't it true that it is the state of texas that's the demonstration project for medical malpractice reform? mrs. hutchison: exactly, and let me tell you what it has done in texas and something we could do and i think we would have bipartisan, hundred% support in this body because that would be reform that would help health care. since medical malpractice and tort reform has been passed in texas, over 7,000 new physicians have flooded into our state. 7,000 increase.

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, just to put this in a perspective. when i hear all of this debate, it's like everything has to be more government, bigger government, government is better than the private sector. mr. president, medicare advantage is an option. it's not a mandate. it's an option that allows seniors another choice to get hearing aids. mr. president, let's let these seniors have an option. we need more competition, not less. thank you, purchase. and i -- mr. president, and i yield the time. the presiding officer: who yields time? mr. harkin: how much time is left? the presiding officer: 2 1/2 minutes. mr. harkin: mr. president, it's interesting to hear the last speaker say, don't take away the option for seniors on medicare advantage. yet, they have an amendment to take away the option for people to buy insurance against having a disability so they can stay in their own homes and have support. it's voluntary. it's not mandatory. no one's forcing anybody to do anything much i say to my friend from texas, yet, there's an amendment on that

mrs. hutchison -- mr.inhosfe, no. mr noway, aye. mr isaacs said, nope. mr.johans, no. mr. johnson,aye.mr. kaufman,aye. mr. careyaye mr. kirk,aye. mr coles, aye mr. pyle,no. ms landreau, aye. mr lautenberg, aye. mr leahy, aye. mr levin ,aye. mr. lieberman,aye. mrs. lincoln,aye. mr. lugar,no. mr. mccabe,no. mrs. castle,aye. mr. mcconnell,no mr. menendez,aye. mr. merkley, aye. ms. mikulskiaye. mr merkowski, no. mrs. mary,aye. mr. nelson of nebraska,aye. mr. nelson of florida,aye. mr. pryor,aye. mr. reed of rhode island,aye. mr. reid of nevada, [laughter] mr. reid of nevada,aye. [laughter] mr rich, no. mr. roberts,no. mr. rockefeller,aye. mr. sanders, mr. schumer,aye. mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby, ms. snowe,no. mr. spector,aye. mr stabinow, aye. mr. tester,aye. mr thune, no. mr udall of colorado,aye. mr. udall of new mexico,aye. mr.vitter, no. mr.voinivich, no. mr. warner,aye. mr. webb,aye. mr. white house,aye. mr. wicker,no. mr. whiden, aye. mr. bennett of utah, no. this is a hutchinson,no. mr. cochran,no. mr. bennett of colorado,aye. [no audio] mr. sessions,no. [no audio]

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i know that we are going to eventually vote on the d.o.d. -- the department of defense appropriations bill and it may pass tonight, the -- cloture may be invoked. if it isn't, it will be in 30 hours. so i think that the bill that is before us is not what is driving actually the timing of this vote at 12:15 in the morning on friday morning. i think that what is driving it is health care and i believe that all of us are going to support the -- or many of -- most of us are going to support the department of defense appropriations bill when the time is right. but i think that it is very important that we have the opportunity to talk about the health care bill that is the underlying bill that will be the next piece of legislation that is considered. and i hope that people are looking at the underlying bill that we have before us because it is -- it's so important for the quality of every family, every person in this country that we have a health care system that is affordable, i

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, we have spent the last few days highlighting how this health care reform bill is paid for by cutting benefits to seniors, jeopardizing their access to care. almost $500 billion will be cut from the medicare program. but this bill also imposes $500 billion in new tacks. these are -- in new taxes. these are taxes that hit every american and virtually every business and health care-related businesses. these taxes will discourage investment and hiring. we are in one of the worst economic downturns in the history of our country. we don't need to tell anybody that. we're all feeling it. we know people who are really suffering right now. i look at what has been done in the past when we've had economic downturns, and i look at president kennedy, president reagan, president bush. they lowered taxes. and what happened? the economy was spurred. lower taxes are proven to spur the economy. and yet, in this bill we see $500 billion in new taxes on families and small businesses. let's wal

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr.resident, i just was hear listening to the remarks of the senator from missouri about his football te team, and i would just say that that -- i couldn't possibly follow that without mentioning my beloved texas long horns, who arlonghorns whoare going to plae national bcs championship. mr. bond: i am on your side. mrs. hutchison: i appreciate the senator from missouri saying that he supports fully the longhorns as the big 12 champions. it's always good for the conference, of which the university of missouri is a great member, that we win the national championship, which i have all confidence that my beloved longhorns will do. moving right along to the other important issues of today, and i certainly am serious when i start talking about the issue that is before us today -- i see the distinguished chairman of the appropriations committee sitting on the floor -- the winner of the congressional medal of honor, the only member of our body who has that great distinction and well deserved. an

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise to speak on the mikulski amendment and the murkowski amendment because i feel very passionately about the women's issues. in fact, senator mikulski and i have worked throughout my time in the senate and hers before me on these very issues, assuring that women's health care concerns, which are different from men's in many instances, are a part of any health care coverage in our country and ongoing we must assure the same. i have been an advocate for cancer screening services for women, and i was dismayed when i saw the united states preventive services task force a few weeks ago issuing new guidelines for cancer screening for women -- breast cancer screening for women. we all know that we have lived with breast cancer throughout, of course, the history of women, but especially in the last probably 25 years the strides that we have made in saving and survivability of women with breast cancer is because we have early detection. we don't have a cure for b

mrs. hutchison: i thank the senator from arizona and am so pleased that our leader is standing strong to saythat nothing should take precedence over our handling of this bill and making sure that it's done right. and that's what the republicans are trying to do, is make sure this is done right. we talked about the medicare expansion that is in the purported bill that we haven't seen yet, but that the democrats appear to be putting forward. and yet, we've been spending the week talking about a $500 billion in cuts to medicare. now we're talking about possibly expanding medicare at the same time we're cutting $500 billion out of the care that medicare patients would get. one of the amendments -- the senator from arizona mentioned -- i mean, excuse me, oklahoma mentioned that he has 15 amendments pending. i have an amendment, and it would stop the cuts to hospitals. $135 billion in the underlying bill that would cut hospitals reimbursements from medicare patients. that's my amendment. now we're talking about possibly expanding medicare, and the american hospital association put out an alarm. it

mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. utchison: madam president, i thank the majority leader for allowing me to speak because i am very concerned about a precedent that has been set on the floor in this last vote. when the senator from vermont withdrew his amendment and started talking, my amendment was the amendment on the floor, my motion to recommit. and i did not have notice, which is the normal procedure here, to be able to talk on my amendment and we had no idea that there would be a motion to table my amendment before i had a chance to close on my amendment. so here is my point. the amendment that was not tabled -- that was tabled, that was the hutchison-thune amendment, was the amendment that would assure the american people that there would not be four years of tax collections before any kind of program would be put forward under the health care reform act. i thought it was very important that i and senator thune be able to close on our motion because it is, i think, a concept that we have always had in the united

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, may i ask what? is it ten minutes or what is the procedural position as of now? the presiding officer: the minority party controls the time until 2:30, and there are no individual limits. mrs. hutchison: thank you. thank you, mr. president. mr. president, for weeks, we have been debating legislation that will dramatically and permanently reform our health care industry. it will impact the life of every american and it will add to our growing national debt. on saturday, the majority leader filed an amendment increasing the size of this bill. early this morning at 1:00 a.m., we had a vote to proceed to the revised bill that makes really a mockery of transparency in public policy. yet even though the majority took the opportunity to amend the bill, it is clear that the concerns of the american people were not heard by my friends on the other side of the aisle. i was astounded to see that this revised bill still contains half a trillion dollars in new taxes, half a trillion dol

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i want to talk about health care legislation. that's what we have been talking about now on the senate floor for the last week, and i expect we'll be talking about it for quite a long time. we just -- we've just begun really considering this bill, and the american people are growing in our opposition. according to a new gallup poll released yesterday, americans now oppose this bill by an 18-point margin, 53 against it, 37 for. the report states, this gallup poll states that despite the considerable efforts of congress and the president to pass health insurance reform, the public remains reluctant to endorse that goal. but this poll is just confirming what we've really known for months and that is that the bill before us and the one that passed the house before that is the wrong approach. we are not against reform of health care. we need reform of health care. people are concerned about the rise in premiums in health care. so we ought to be looking at ways to address that is

mr. durbin: may i asked the two amendments that you voted, thune and hutchison and the other amendment, snowe, we would allowed to have side-by-sides to those? mr. mcconnell: of course. if you chose to, of course. mr. durbin: if you would be kind enough to review that proposal, i promise you i will get back to you. mr. mcconnell: i appreciate that because i understand capitulation when we do it. and basically we've essentially said to the majority, we'll go along with what you had earlier requested and we'd like to -- for you to take "yes" for an answer and for us to wrap this up and be -- have a sense of where we're going from here. mr. durbin: and i promise that we will get back in a timely fashion. i thank the minority leader. the presiding officer: there is objection to the initial request. mr. durbin: i object to the initial request. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: yes, the objection is noted. the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that my remarks appear without interruption in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. s

mrs. hutchison: i would ask the senator from idaho, if i could respond.when the senator from tennessee was talking about the luxury taxes and how everyone thought that felt so good to have a tax against luxury boats an who suffered? the workers. and then the catastrophic medicare coverage, which resulted in a tax on seniors who were going to have to have that coverage and seniors erupted and that was repealed. and then followed on from the senator from nevada, who talks about the cadillac plan, which is the high-end plan of coverage. and i thought, you know, maybe congress has learned something. maybe the democrats are on to something. they've listened to the history of all of these good-sounding taxes on rich people or people who buy expensive things. and as the senator from nevada has pointed out, they've now learned that they really probably ought to go ahead and tax both ends instead of just the high end. because in this bill you have a tax on the high-end plans. you have a tax on employers that provide too much coverage. oh, but we also tax the peopl

mr. mcconnell: would that include both sanders an hutchison? mr.eid: no, as i schaind to your floor -- explained to your staff, i would like that to be offered. if we have five hours of debate and the four votes we have planned on. mr. mcconnell: during the time that the democratic senators are at the white house, would we be in recess? mr. reid: i think we should be in recess. mr. mcconnell: do you know how long the meeting will be? mr. reid: it is scheduled for an hour an 10 minutes. mr. mcconnell: what time? mr. reid: i think at 1:30. i'm glad that we got the balancing back and forth of the unanimous consent request finally settled on these matters. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. burris: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. burr: thank you, mr. president. and i will continue from where i was. i'll pick up a couple of paragraphs above, and, for the record, i might repeat. as i said, history recalls the debate of this issue furious and it was not without struggle and it was not without com

mr. corker? >> aye. >> aye by proxy? >> ms. hutchison? >> mr. chairman, could i be recorded aye in person? thank you. or hutchison voted nay. 16 voting yay, 7 voting no, the nomination passed. >> let me thank my colleagues. the committee will report this accordingly and i will let members know when we can talk with leadership about scheduling the vote on the floor. and again the invitation, obviously on these documents and so forth, the members and or staff, i would urge both the minorities to get in touch with senator açcÑcÑcÑcçcçcçcçcçcÑcÑc >> ben bernanke is nomination proceeds through the senate where he is expected to be confirmed despite opposition. the fed's current term ends in february. senator ben nelson of nebraska today announced his opposition to the senate health care bill over the issue of abortion. for details, we talked with the congressional quarterly reporter. >> we're joined by alex dwaine of congressional quarterly. senator nelsen is still not ready to support the health care bill. is abortion his biggest concern? >> abortion is the issue he says he will vote against if it is not

mr. corker? >> aye. >> aye by proxy? >> ms. hutchison? >> mr. chairman, could i be recorded aye in person? thank you. enator hutchison voted nay. 16 voting yay, 7 voting no, the nomination passed. >> let me thank my colleagues. the committee will report this accordingly and i will let members know when we can talk with leadership about scheduling the vote on the floor. and again the invitation, obviously on these documents and so forth, the members and or staff, i would urge both the minorities to get in touch with senator ÑcçcÑcÑcÑcÑcÑcçcÑcÑcÑcÑc i particularly want to thank kent conrad and chairman and ranking member respectively of the budget committee and i say for purposes of this hearing, i will unofficially designate you as leaders of the rebelian against our national debt. -- rebellion against our national debt. let me just say a few words in opening. our focus here this morning is on our exploding national debt, and what we can and must do about it. i want to say that the committee is holding this hearing because under our traditional governmental affairs jurisdiction before we got to also be

mr. corker? >> aye. >> aye by proxy? >> ms. hutchison? >> mr. chairman, could i be recorded aye in person? thank you. son voted nay. 16 voting yay, 7 voting no, the nomination passed. >> let me thank my colleagues. the committee will report this accordingly and i will let members know when we can talk with leadership about scheduling the vote on the floor. and again the invitation, obviously on these documents and so forth, the members and or staff, i would urge both the minorities to get in touch with senator açcçcÑcçcçcçcÑcÑcçcÑcÑc industry? one is >> the u.s. senate continues debate on health care. max baucus of montana is the chairman of the finance committee. they are alternating debate. according to congressional quarterly, the amendment help democrats secure enough votes to avoid a filibuster. right now, barring an agreement with republicans, the final vote on passing a bill could happen on christmas eve. here's how you can follow the debate. you can watch it live, unedited and commercial free only on c- span 2. you can listen to highlights on c-span radio. go to our health care of on c- span.

mr. chairman. >> now, following up senator hutchison's question on the commercial, you're really looking at the cargo capability on commercial, because that next step of the question of safety for human capability, what did your committee come up with on that? >> it would be our recommendation that as nasa develops new launch vehicles, most new launch vehicles, that would make arrangements so that they could be human rated at an appropriate time. and so we think it would be wise to begin addressing how would you human rated those commercial vehicles. >> and did your committee have a time at which you think that they might be ready? ready, for human rated commercial vehicles? >> i think, mr. chairman, i better provide that for the record. we did evaluate that. i can't remember the time. it's not within the next six years or so. i will provide that, for the record. >> senator vitter? >> to directly follow up on that, is that to say that you would agree with a sap and their 2008 report that it's unlikely that c.o.t.s. would be done in time, human rated to minimize the gap? >> that's argue. >> okay. goin

hutchison's comment. necks general has to be a priority. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman. thanks for holding this hearing. thank you director for being here again. let me say that first of all, nexgen is a priority for me as well. i would reiterate what senator hutchison said that our transportation system is without a doubt the safe est system in the world. we cannot rest on our past achievements. this was proven with the tragedy of air flight 3407 which brought the safety of our airlines back in the public eye and what was so chilling for me is to learn about the fatigue issues and some of the training issues with the regional flight and the most chilling was a conversation that was recorded between the captain and the first officer when the first officer told the pilot i had never seen icing conditions. i've never experienced in i of that. i started looking into these de-icing rules and what had been happening and i was shocked to find out, you were not at the helm of this time but the de-icing rule has been pending for 12 years. i raised this issue earlier, a few weeks

mr. schumer is recorded as aye. senator hutchison voted nay. 16 of voting aye, 7 voting no, the nomination is passed. >> let me thank my colleagues. the committee will record this vote accordingly and i will let members know when we cançó talko the leadership about scheduling the vote on the floor. again, the invitation obviously -- we will talk about how we can do that. i would urge folks to talk to senator shelby. we can coordinate the efforts. i thank my colleagues for their patients and indulgence. we are adjourned. happy holidays. thanks. >> good job. >> all right. >> you are looking live at the senate. you can hear senator's waiting for a senate majority leader harry reid to come to the floor. they're expected to recess. they will set aside health care legislation and work on the $636 billion defense spending bill for the fiscal year 2010. when the return to the floor, there is a possibility that after the vote, senators could be in session all night. you can follow the senate live on c-span 2. now house minority leader john ma

mr. chairman, thank you very much. senator hutchisonenator vitter, members of the committee -- i appreciate this chance to appear on behalf of our committee and describe our results. i will submit for the record my prepared statement in briefly summarize it now. you provided the proper opening, and that is that the human space flights program in america is at a tipping point right now. probably more so than at any time when president kennedy to the leadership to say that we should have such a program. before it began, i would like to acknowledge the enormous effort and dedication of the members of the committee i have had the privilege of serving with. i have rarely worked with people who put in the hours and effort this group has. i would like to take note of the fact that the support we received from nasa was extraordinary. extremely competent people, very open and candid. very hard-working, very responsive. further, we had hired the aerospace corp. to work for us independently to provide us with a separate view of problematic issues,

hutchison, is not here today. if no one else comes, we will go right to you, mr.then we will see what happens from there. we have a lot of questions. you need to go after your first thing and we would love to have some of your folks that you're talking to come back again. and that we have another terrific panel behind that. my approach to this, frankly, is not to start out controversy away. i did that last year. i am so put off by the whole concept of promiscuity and lasciviousness and all of these things. it bothers a grandfather of five. i care about that. i found out that this is very much a first amendment committee, and so we have to work carefully, but i am determined that we will eventually get to this. now one atop basically about the committee, the commission, and we will talk about the committee another session. but be at ease. i am absolutely delighted to see. i explained it to people that just the fact that you had been appointed is a testament to the president and his interest in the best people -- like john aldrin, you know. he was ready to retire bu

. -- the ranking member kay bailey hutchison is not here today. we will go to you mr.ki and see what happens from there. we have lots of questions. you need to go after your first thing. we would love to have some of your folks come back in. then we have another terrific panel behind that. my approach to this is not to start out controversially. i am so put off by the concept of promiscuity and lasciviousness. i am the grandfather of more than five grandchildren. i care about that. i found out this is the first amendment committee. we have to work carefully. i am determined that we will eventually get to this. i want to talk about the commission. the committee will talk about the committee in other sessions. i am delighted to see you. the fact that you have been appointed is a testament to the president and his interest in the best people. john holden was ready to retire but he could not stay away from the opportunity to do the office of science and technology. here he is now at ostb. television is a powerful force in children's lives. children in america typically wat

hutchison's comments. nextgen has to be a significant priority and we will have additional hearings on that very subject. senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. thank you for holding this hearing and thank you director for being here again. let me say first of all nextgen as a priority for me as well and i would reiterate what senator hutchinson said that our air transportation system is without a doubt the safest in the world but clearly we cannot rest on our past achievements in this point was proven earlier this year with the tragedy of colgan air flight 3407 which brought the safety of our airlines back into the public eye in what was so chilling to me was to learn about these fatigue issues, to learn about some of the training issues that regional flights and the most chilling was the conversation that was recorded between the captain in the first officer when the first officer told the pilot i have never seen icing conditions. i have never deice. i've never experienced any of that. as a result the started looking into these de-icing rules and i was shocked to find out and you were not at the helm at the time that the de-icing

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i will be taking the leader time on our side. how much time is there? the presiding officer: six minutes. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, today we are taking another step toward passing a bill that has not seen light of day for very long. it is a bill that is going to change health care policies in this country -- policy in this country forever if it is finally coming to enactment. it will take effect in 2014. and the reason that we are talking about this bill and trying to let people know what is in it is because we hope that there is still a chance that this bill will not become law. this bill was drafted behind closed doors without republican input. the votes are 60-40. 60 democrats and 40 republicans make up the united states senate and that's what providing cloture on this bill. this is a bill that increases taxes by over half a trillion dollars over a 10-year period. that's over $500 billion. and half a trillion dollars in cuts in medicare. now, mr. president, this is

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i would be using some of the leader's time. if the leader decides to step in here, it will be certainly -- all he has to do is signal. i want to, first of all, say how much i appreciate the leader, senator mcconnell, the republican leader, senator mcconnell, for the heroic efforts really that he has made in the last few weeks to try to assure that the american people know what is in the bill that will be put before us very soon. i say put before us very soon because we don't know what the substitute bill is that has been worked on for the last few days. we haven't seen it yet. and i think that brings up an important point. i am hoping that the distinguished majority leader, who is also here on the floor, will allow america as well as certainly the united states senators to see the manager's amendment, which is all of the changes in the bill that is before us, before we are forced to vote on this monumental piece of legislation. you know, when i am talking to my constituents

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise to speak on the mikulski amendment and the murkowski amendment because i feel very passionately about the women's issues. in fact, senator mikulski and i have worked throughout my time in the senate and hers before me on these very issues, assuring that women's health care concerns, which are different from men's in many instances, are a part of any health care coverage in our country and ongoing we must assure the same. i have been an advocate for cancer screening services for women, and i was dismayed when i saw the united states preventive services task force a few weeks ago issuing new guidelines for cancer screening for women -- breast cancer screening for women. we all know that we have lived with breast cancer throughout, of course, the history of women, but especially in the last probably 25 years the strides that we have made in saving and survivability of women with breast cancer is because we have early detection. we don't have a cure for b

mr. president, because i approve of this budget gimmicks and the imposition of these taxes, i support the hutchison thune amendment, an amendment which that says new taxes will not be enacted until the rest of the bill is. and i urge my democratic colleagues not to op to voting on the pending amendment -- not to object to voting on the pending amendments and to take up additional amendments, such as the snowe amendment, which will come later, and the hutchison-thune amendment, which would at least address the problem they've discussed today. the american people -- problem that i've discussed today. the american people don't want a slew of new taxes for christmas. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois, the acting majority leader, is recognized. mr. durbin: mr. president, this would be a perfect moment for me to say to those who are following this debate, well, that's the senator from arizona's critique of the democratic bill, so i'd like to offer a critique of the republican plan for health care reform. but i can't do that. it's impossible to do thatment t becau

hutchison, for coming. i want to turn to her for her opening comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> you have come through for our country one more time. of the rising above the gathering storm report has been the bible for those of us that want to promote science education, mass, engineers to graduate from colleges. we thank you for that. now, you have done a great study about the future of nasa and space exploration. i just want to commend you. it was centered to nelson and myself who have the space station designated as a national laboratory and we did that because we saw so many funding shortages and we knew that if we had designated in that way, others could do research. universities, federal agencies, corporations, and, in fact, that is beginning to happen. we are just on the cusp of realizing the capabilities of these abilities of the united states space station. now we are talking about shutting down the shuttles and not being able to fully equipped the space station. i commend you for the report and we must utilize this in order to have the investment pay off th