mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i call up amendment number 423. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask -- the clerk: the senator from texas, mrs. hutchison, for herself and others proposes amendment 423. mrs. hutchison: i ask unanimous consent to dispose with reading of the amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, this is an amendment that i hope will save our businesses and our states the millions and dollars that they are now spending to implement the health care reform bill that is in the courts. today -- or actually it was yesterday the court in atlanta, the 11th circuit court of appeals in atlanta heard arguments from the government and the states about whether the florida district court

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, before i start my remarks, i would like to say that in about an hour, we will start voting on the nomination of senator -- excuse me, general petraeus to lead the c.i.a. and i am going to enthusiastically support that nomination because i do think that general petraeus has shown the kind of military leadership that makes our country proud. he has come in at some of the hardest times, in both iraq and afghanistan. i have met with him in iraq to see exactly what he was doing, how he was implementing his counterinsurgency proposals, and i think he is a gifted leader. i also believe that in this war that we are in, the war against terrorists, the c.i.a. and the military have such a necessary link, and in many ways the -- they are codependent for the information, for the capabilities that each uniquely has. so i think that he will do the same great job that he has done in public service in a different arena but one that has become much more closely linked to the military for sur

mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise today to discuss social security and its future. this is certainly an issue that affects all americans, and, madam president, now is the time that we can address it in a way that will not be horribly obtrusive to the people who will be on social security in 25 years when it just hits the bottom and we have stark realities that are going to hurt people. we can avoid that. last thursday i introduced with senator jon kyl as an original cosponsor, senate bill 1213, the defend and save social security act, a bill that will secure social security for the next 75 years without raising taxes and without cutting core benefits to anyone. 28 years ago this passed april, congress and president reagan came together in a bipartisan manner and acted decisively to address social security's finances to save the program for retirees. the men and women of th

mr. chairman, ranking member hutchison, my testimony today is in response to the emergency -- emerging threat to rail in this country. that was recently highlighted by information obtained from the osama bin laden compound. during a prior period before this committee, i testified that the threat against rail was very real and i described the manner in which amtrak had responded by focusing on threats related to improvised explosive devices in stations, on board a train, or by an active shooter scenario. the recent events serve as a stark reminder that these threats continue to be viable and then a new twist was added, that terrorists are considering derailing trains. this is of particular concern to amtrak operates high-speed rail trains were catastrophic losses could occur. this begs a question, are we doing enough to detect and deter terrorist acts on surface transportation? and can we do more to prevent a terrorist rail tragedy from happening? upon receipt of intelligence information from the ubl compound, in the hell with tsa officials to discuss what was uncovered and to evaluate how to

mr. chairman i think it is critical to work with you, senator kay bailey hutchison and senator snowe and others on the committee in order to bring more people to the table and i certainly look forward to doing that. i do want to point out that at the moment and sort of in the center of this debate there are a couple of polls but in the center you have major companies like intel, microsoft, ebay and hewlett-packard as well as consumer advocates represented by the consumers union and others who are helping us to try to focus this in the right direction. finally, we have expert agencies represented here today. the federal trade commission and the department of commerce and the federal communications commission, they have all been doing what they can to protect americans using the legal tools available to them and using their ability to convene the stakeholders and the experts and educate themselves and the consumers on the changing practices of this rapidly moving and ever evolving world we live in. but, the fact is that they don't have all the tools necessarily and that is why this discuss

mr. chairman, i think it is critical to work with you, senator kay bailey hutchison, senators now, others on the committee -- senator snowe, others on the committee, to bring more people of the table, and i look forward to doing that. i do want to point out at the moment, it is at the center of this debate -- coupled polls, but in the center, you have companies like intel, microsoft, and hewlett-packard, as well as consumer advocates presented by the consumers union and others who are helping us to try to focus this in the right direction. finally, we have expert agencies represented today. the federal trade commission, the department of commerce, federal communications commission, they have all been doing what they can to protect americans using the legal tools available to them and using their ability to convene stakeholders and experts and then educate themselves and consumers on the changing practices and it is rapidly moving and ever evolving world we live in. the fact is, at they don't have all the tools necessary. that is what this discussion is so important. i look forward to work

mr. chairman, i think it is critical to work with you, senator kay bailey hutchison and others on the committee in order to bring more people to the table, and i certainly look forward to doing that. i do want to point out that at the moment sort of in the center of this debate there are a couple of polls. in the center you have major companies like intel, microsoft, ebay, hewlett-packard as well as consumer advocates presented by the consumers union, others who are helping us to try to focus this in the right direction. finally, you know, we have expert agencies represented here today, the federal trade commission, department of commerce, federal communications commission who have all been doing what they can to protect americans using the legal tools available to them and using their ability to convene the stakeholders in the experts and educate themselves and consumers on the changing practices in this rapidly moving and ever evolving world we live in. but the fact is that they don't have all the tools necessary, and that is why this discussion is so important. i look forward to working with

mr. chairman i thank you for having this hearing on the way to hearing from the witness is in moving forward. thank you. >> thank you, senator hutchison. it is the chairs wish that any member who wishes to make a statement about three minutes and i apologize, senator feinstein, to you, is free to do so. [inaudible] >> you know i don't have -- yes i do, which happens to be senator lautenberg. [laughter] i didn't mean to interfere. you can about out the night before? >> i was here. tanks very much, mr. chairman. we have a distinguished colleague at the desk and i don't want to take too much time, but i've got to say we are so lucky to have some of the qualifications, but i've got to say we are so lucky to have some of the qualifications, but i've got to say we are so lucky to have some of the qualifications terry garcia bring got to say we are so lucky to have some of the qualifications terry garcia bring to this position. i met with mr. bryson last week. we have things in common in addition to being very proud fathers, were both former ceos and while we care about the environment and the well-being of our children. in order to try and

mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to lift the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise today to voice concern about the current state of the north atlantic treaty organization. in 1949, more than 60 years ago, the united states joined with 11 other nations to create the north atlantic treaty organization, nato, in order to ensure the mutual security of the member nations. from the beginning, the united states has served as nato's backbone and provided a major share of the cost and manpower and resources. we have consistently answered the call of our nato allies when they needed us. even when there was no clear united states interest involved. for example, in 1993, the united states military answered the call to participate in the nato air action to enforce a u.n. ban on all unauthorized military flights over bosnia-herzegovina. after the dayton peace accords in 1995, the united states stationed over 10,000 personne