mrs. lincoln: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas is recognized. mrs. lincoln: thank you, mr. president. i first rise today to speak in support of the boxer amendment. it is no taxpayer funds will again be used to bail out the risky gambles that too many on wall street have conducted. the amendment should passes past with a hundred votes and i hope that it will. i'd also like to speak, mr. president, about the derivatives title which is the bipartisan product that was reported out of the senate agriculture committee two weeks ago. specifically, there's been statements in the press and here certainly in the senate chamber that i believe need to be corrected regarding section 716. as chairman of the senate agriculture committee, i'm proud to have included provision in the wall street reform legislation approved on a bipartisan vote by our committee two weeks ago. and i'm also proud that it is included in the dodd-lincoln legislation that we are now considering today. this prov

mrs. lincoln: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mrs. incoln: we women don't have pockets so this doesn't fit. of[laughter] mr. president, i rise today with great respect for my colleague from georgia my ranking member on the ag committee and all of his attempts and ideas of how to make our economy stronger and better but i do rise today to speak in opposition to the chambliss amendment. and, again as i said, with the greatest respect for my colleague from georgia the ranking member. he and i and our respective staffs spent civil months developing -- spent several months developing draft legislation in the agriculture committee. i'm unbelievably to him and to his staff as well as my staff. we've made progress and in the end accomplished i think 80% to 90% of what is now the dodd-lincoln substitute. but as with all policy decisions, some tough choices needed to be made. senator chambliss and i simply could not resolve our final differences. we ran out of time basically in the committee. but let me be clear, as chairman of the agriculture c

mrs. lincoln's seamstress and she wrote a memoir and she was closer to the lincolns in some ways than almost anybody in the white house. she had an absolute bird's eye view. she wrote her memoir and mrs. lincoln felt betrayed and she ended her life in a home for the -- the indigent -- the colored indigents -- i forget the name of the institution in the washington area. and also i recount the meeting between at the same time -- between frederick douglass and lincoln. it's interesting, henry lewis gates who became famous in the obama story a little later for reasons that we all know in the presidency described for me -- there was a long description of the book about his impressions of obama. and he said, look, the most radical thing about barack obama is that he's african-american. and then in a way he is a post-modern frederick douglass. and what did skip gates mean by this? he's somebody who's able to tell a story. frederick douglass had a unique capacity to tell his stories back and forth across racial lines. that he grew into a -- he's a figure that he's able to translate such as cassandra

mrs. lincoln felt betrayed and ended her life in a home with the indigent, covered indigent, i forget thename of of the institutions and also i recount in being at the same time between frederick douglass and lincoln. it's interesting henry louis gates became famous in the obama story a little later for reasons we all know in the presidency. i have a long description in the book and he said look the most radical thing about barack obama is that he's african-american. and then in a way e is a post-modern frederick douglass and what did skip gates mean by this? he meant he is somebody who is able to tell stories. we are talking about this before. frederick douglass had a unique capacity to tell his story back and forth across racial lines. but he grew into a in and co political terms he's a figure that he's able to translate just as cassandra was describing obama. this is a remarkable history and figure. however you feel but his mistakes, his faults or politics, wherever you come down on that this book is no means a a geography that is happening, some of the african-american and by this nam

mrs. lincoln: mr. president, i appreciate, again, all the debate we've had here and the discussion. i want to thank my colleague from georgia, my ranking member on the ag committee. he and his staff are a tremendous group to work with and i appreciate all of that. i feel very confident that we worked hard and i think in the underlying bill we've come to agreements with chairman dodd on, we lowered the systemic risk by requiring the mandatory trading and clearing which my colleague senator cantwell did a tremendous job explaining, bringing 100% transparency to the market, protecting municipalities an pensions and retirees, regulating foreign exchange transactions and increasing the foreign authority to punish the bad behavior that we've seen. and to that point, i believe not since the great depression, have we seen such devastating owenss of a banking and financial system gone wrong and it really does call us to action. we're not here to take easy votes. we're here to tackle complicated problems an find those solutions that we know are going to benefit all of america and we certainly

mrs. lincoln, how do you like the play? >> should rand paul now drop out?show a change in consciousness when it comes to having served in veet tham. there was a time when -- the idea of bragging about having served in vietnam in a weird way, shows some sort of progress. >> absolutely. >> for a long time, the whole business of vietnam was the opposite. when people came home, they were castigated. >> he said when we came home. >> he said some wheere. i think the first gulf war changed it. there was pride in the military. the leadership of colin powell, schwarzkopf. >> we treated the service personnel so shabbily at the end of vietnam. we were beaten, we blamed them the. that was ridiculous. the people opposed to this war honor, rightly, the people we sent there to fight it. that's a good thing. >> let's go the special election. you heard tim kaine talk about how great that was for the democratic party. here's an except from the ad by mark critz. >> i approved this message because i want you to see the ad that the republicans are running. >> mark critz, he wil

mrs. lincoln and ended her life in a home for the indigent, the colored indigents, i forget the name of the institution in the washington area. i also recount the meeting between at the same time, between frederick douglas and lincoln. henry lewis came famous in the barack obama story later for reason that is we all know in the presidency. describe for me, as a lock description in the book about his impressions of obama. he said the most radical thing about barack obama is that he's african-american. in a way, he is a postmodern frederick douglas. and what did he mean by this? he meant that he is somebody who is able to tell the stories, we were talking about this before. frederick douglas had a unique capacity to tell his story back and forth across racial lines. that he grew into a -- in terms, he was a trickster figure. in other words, he's able to translate, just as casandra was describing. this is a remarkable figure. however you feel about the mission -- mistakes or his fault or politics, whenever you come done, this is not geography. this happening, somebody african-american and by t

mr. lincoln diaz-balart for may 25. myself, mr. poe, for may 28. mr. jones for may 28. dr. burgess for today. ms. ros-lehtinen for may 26 and 25. and mr. thompson for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? ms. woolsey: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permit todd address the house for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous materials, ms. woolsey, ms. kaptur, mr. grayson, mr. defazio. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. . under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previoused orer of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. ms. woolsey of california. ms. olsey: mr. speaker, the united states troops will be on the front lines of the surge in kandahar and they are just now deploying and they are learning the lay of the land. but ironically, the cloud of smoke over iceland is delay manage arrivals.

mr. lincoln diaz-balart for five minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen today and may 5. mr. franks today and may 5 and 6 for five minutes. mr. king of new york for five minutes. mr. dreier for today. mr. moran. mr. poe today. mr. posey on may 5 for five minutes. mr. poe on may 11 and mr. jones on may 11 for five minu+ on may 11 for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina. >> i ask unanimous consent that following today's special orders the following members may be permitted to address the house and include extraneous material. mr. price of north carolina. ms. woolsey of saffle, ms. kaptur of ohio, mr. defazio of oregon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009 and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. price of north carolina. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. price: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to honor a man who has served his country and this institution with distinction as an officer in the uni

mrs. lincoln who otherwise how did the play go? just say things worked about fine until the catastrophe is missing the point. host: georgia on our independent line. caller: i agree 100% with the caller before me. i want to say your goal as being a conservative republican is to make the government look bad. ally greenspan testified before congrrss that fannie mae and freddie mac was just small part of the problem. the problem was a small part of unadulterateddgreed of the wall street bankers. they're the ones. fannie mae and freddie mac did not get any huge bonuses i after the bailout like wall street did. quit making our government look bad. our government is not bad. our government is for the people . and am sick and tired. let me tell you. the conservatives of islam are the taliban. is that what's going to happen to america what happened to afghanistan which was once a throbbing -- thriving society? guest: well, i don't know where to start on addressing that. i made it clear that i don't see fannie mae and freddie mac as the prim

. >> lyndon is goi -- lincoln is g after halter for his drug endorsement. >> i think it's important for people to know where mrer's record is. >> agriculture is 25 percent of arkansas's economy. the farming industry is wherein come bentsen tore lincoln is expected to get a lot of the votes a farmer's daughter is also chairman of the u.s. senate committee on ago culture commission and forest story. lincoln along with other candidates attended a forum to pitch political ideas in hopes of getting farmer's votes. >> the tarp bail jut has been a pa failure. >> we lost the battle but i don't think we lost the war. >> one of the reasons i don't believe we won the cap and trade decision it did pick winners and losers. >> washington is often not on the side of rural arkansas. you see it with the united states senate going on vacation this past week without extending the unemployment benefits. >> we are not on vacation we are working hard. working until next tuesday may 18th when the primary outcome will determine who gets one step closer to winning the senate seat. >> we are going to win the election on may 18th. >> ar

. >> lyndon is goi -- lincoln is g after halter for his drug endorsement. >> i think it's important for people to know where mrecord is. >> agriculture is 25 percent of arkansas's economy. the farming industry is wherein come bentsen tore lincoln is expected to get a lot of the votes a farmer's daughter is also chairman of the u.s. senate committee on ago culture commission and forest story. lincoln along with other candidates attended a forum to pitch political ideas in hopes of getting farmer's votes. >> the tarp bail jut has been a pa failure. >> we lost the battle but i don't think we lost the war. >> one of the reasons i don't believe we won the cap and trade decision it did pick winners and losers. >> washington is often not on the side of rural arkansas. you see it with the united states senate going on vacation this past week without extending the unemployment benefits. >> we are not on vacation we are working hard. working until next tuesday may 18th when the primary outcome will determine who gets one step closer to winning the senate seat. >> we are going to win the election on may 18th. >> arlon sp

mr. chairman. >> we have four other senators who have not ask questions of this panel yet. let me call on senator lincoln> thank you, mr. chairman. and thanks to senator mccaskill for holding a special hearing on the tragedy that has taken place in the gulf of mexico. while i think it is clear to many of us that the mystical production is critical to our national security, so is the safety of our domestic oil production. that is what we are here to talk about. it is imperative that we get some answers as to what happened, what the response has been, and how another accident like this one in the gulf can be prevented. we appreciate you gentleman being here with us today to help answer those questions. we appreciate your expertise. i don't know how many of my questions have been addressed because i was absent for a little while. for public like to ask dr. beck. use of the valves were operated by hydraulic pressure and applying that pressure at a water depth of 5,000 feet can be very complicated and is an engineering marvel. what are the differences in how blowout preventers are installed and tested as well

mr. speaker, i wish to thank my good friend, congressman lincoln diaz-balart from florida, for introducing this measure. the united kingdom and the united states have a long history born of shared values and experiences. british legal and philosophical traditions have greatly influenced american practices while both nations remain committed to human rights, good laws and good governance. our countries are particularly intertwained -- intertwined, as became evident in the global financial crisis. britain is the largest investor in our economy, our two nations also share a proud military history. british and american soldiers have stood shoulder to shoulder throughout the major on flicts of the last 100 years. we confronted the challenges of nazrism and communism while today we fight against the scourge of international terrorism. we remain grateful for britain's active participation in the military and reconstruction efforts in iraq and afghanistan. in recent months, britain have -- some in britain have begun to question this, quote, special relationship, unquote. as is the case of all rela

th that was a man of massachusettst who met lincoln and oak bluffse iowa. the chairmen would recognize mr. defazio. defaz >> thank you, mr. chairman. and ranking member tiberi for holding this, which is and i understand is the third hearing on the need for additional funding for and for stricter fui investment. i'm not going to reiterate or gg bore you with the statistics ona the incredible state of disrepair of our current infrastructure. but, you

that was a man of massachusetts who met lincoln bluffs on the web. the german recognizes mrdefazio. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member for holding this which as i understand is the third hearing on the need for additional funding for infrastructure in the u.s.. i am not going to reiterate or bore you with the statistics on the incredible state of disrepair of our current infrastructure. but the gentlelady that spoke before me, ms. rosa delauro has spoken with great passion and i endorse the idea that she's ut forward. there is tremendous merit in having this as a part of the solution of a well constructed and for stricter bank could meet the needs of state and local jurisdiction across the country in rebuilding or building out new infrastructure an assisting them in getting their reasonable and flexible financing and i believe it can be constructed in such a way as to protect the taxpayers of the unitestates would be providing the guarantee particularly with the collapse or the difficulties in the bond market today. it's very expensive to go forward with public in

that was a man of massachusetts who met lincoln bluffs on the web. the german recognizes mr. defazio. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member for holding this which as i understand is the third hearing on the need for additional funding for infrastructure in the u.s.. i am not going to reiterate or bore you with the statistics on the incredible state of disrepair of our current infrastructure. but the gentlelady that spoke before me, ms. rosa delauro has spoken with great passion and i endorse the idea that she's put forward. there is tremendous merit in having this as a part of the solution of a well constructed and for stricter bank could meet the needs of state and local jurisdiction across the country in rebuilding or building out new infrastructure and assisting them in getting their reasonable and flexible financing and i believe it can be constructed in such a way as to protect the taxpayers of the united states would be providing the guarantee particularly with the collapse or the difficulties in the bond market today. it's very expensive to go forward with publ

mr. danenberger. my question is for you. i would like to follow up on the issue raised by senator lincoln. she was asking about the cement used to keep oil and gas from bubbling to the surface and exploding during drilling. it is my understanding in 2000 m.m.s. asked the industry for advice how to deal with problems. and i guess i would like to ask you do you think it should take a decade or longer to fix a problem m.m.s. has identified and in your experience with the agency, are these types of delays common or have they occurred more recently since m.m.s. has began relying on industry self-regulation. >> yeah, i think that the issues associated are under discussion for a while and there have been some changes made in practices and in the regulations. i think clearly more needs to be done and that should be a focus of attention right now. >> and can you just -- do you know what the regular slation governing that cement use and how the industry was involved with developing that regulation? >> yeah, it was developed by the m.m.s. that regulation tells when you the cement. how much cements yo

that was a man of massachusetts who met lincoln bluffs on the web. the german recognizes mr. defazio. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member for holding this which as i understand is the third hearing on the need for additional funding for infrastructure in the u.s.. i am not going to reiterate or bore you with the statistics on the incredible state of disrepair of our current infrastructure. but the gentlelady that spoke before me, ms. rosa delauro has spoken with great passion and i endorse the idea that she's put forward. there is tremendous merit in having this as a part of the solution of a well constructed and for stricter bank could meet the needs of state and local jurisdiction across the country in rebuilding or building out new infrastructure and assisting them in getting their reasonable and flexible financing and i believe it can be constructed in such a way as to protect the taxpayers of the united states would be providing the guarantee particularly with the collapse or the difficulties in the bond market today. it's very expensive to go forward with publ

mrs. bush? >> well that's easy. i have two favorite presidents. >> i bet you can guess. >> president bush and president bush. >> yours as well? >> yeah! >> well, i love to read about lincoln. and george and i both looked at lincoln's life a lot while we lived at the white house, because he lived in such a really terrible time for our country when we were fighting and so divided with each other in a war. so many people died on both sides. and he still kept a sense of humor. he was funny still and it was -- it's just an inspiration to read about him. >> i imagine your sense of humor kind of keeps you going as you move forward. >> that's right. >> laura bush, such a pleasure. jenna bush, thank you so much for helping us through this. the book is called "spoken from the heart." we'll be right back after this. r on tough pain than tylenol rapid release gels. and not only faster. stronger too. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil. we helped keep your skin clear. now we have a solution for wrinkles. neutrogena anti wrinkle with retinol sa smoothes even deep wrinkles. it works...beautifully. neutrogena. to grow on your dentures? you are if you use toothpaste instead of

mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, madam president. this amendment is cosponsored also by senators levin and cantwell. the dodd-lincoln bill, as currently drafted, takes major steps to reform the $600 trillion derivative market. i don't think people understand how big this market is. it would require every trade to be reported in realtime to the commodities futures trading commission. it would require that all cleared contracts be traded on an exchange or on a swap execution facility, therefore guaranteeing transparency. it would require that speculative position limits be set in aggregate for each commodity instead of contract by contract. again, transparency. it would require foreign boards of trade to adhere to minimum standards comparable to those in the united states, including reporting requirements. the provision is designed to address the underlying problem of the so-called london loophole. i very much support these positions. however, i am very concerned that the bill doesn't go far enough to really address the london loophole. and this loophole has allowed for the trading of united states energy commodities,

when we get into the derivative section, we'll have senators lincoln and chambliss will be managing that part of the legislation. mrst night federal and local officials in new york city apprehended the man they believe to have attempted a terrorist attack in times square on saturday. i want to join all americans in thank the law enforcement officials who worked around the clock these past two days. it looks like they got their man. and we're grateful for their efforts on our behalf. it is my understanding that the suspect, a naturalized american citizen, is a native of pakistan and that he traveled there at some point in the past year. hopefully the appropriate officials are using this opportunity to exploit as much intelligence as he may have about his overseas connections and any other plots against americans, either here or abroad. but this is very good news, and again we want to thank those who worked so hard to keep us safe and to protect us from ongoing threats. as i said yesterday, this plot is a reminder to all of us that the need for constant vigilance can never, never be dropped. i'd also like to say a wo

senator warner, senator hagan, senator tester, lincoln, levin, burr and hutchison, we have broad and deep bipartisan support for this amendment. the reason we do, mr. president, is because it is a good amendment and it more specifically addresses the risk retention provisions currently in the bill by helping to eliminate the excessive risk-taking we saw in the home mortgage market between 2004 and 2007. without raising interest rates for those home buyers who have maintained good credit, document their income assets and finance their home the old-fashioned way, back to the basics with savings. so i'd like to call up this amendment, mr. president. it is number 3956; at this time, and offer it for the senate's consideration. i would like to also give a minute on our side to the senator from virginia, senator warner, and then send it over to my colleague from georgia. but we're proud to offer this amendment for the senate's consideration this morning. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, ms. landrieu, for herself and others proposes amendment 3956 to amendment 3739. ms. landrieu: i as

mr. page, i was going to ask you whether or not you've heard from senator lincoln herself.ve had some friends over at treasury who feel the way you do. even sheila bair thinks maybe the derivatives measure is a bit absolute. is there pressure against senator lincoln? there are others who say it's populists getting the tailwind. >> as a minnesota-headquartered corporation, we have worked with senator amy klobuchar. there are exporters in minnesota that are very concerned about this. she has given us a significant amount of time. i think she well understands our concerns. so we feel our voice is well represented in the senate ag committee. >> mr. page, just to lay things out, i think there's a lot of confusion among the public as to how derivatives are used, what it means. can you give us an example of how you might use a derivative and what it might mean for your company? >> at the farmgate level, a farmer undertakes a loan, as much as $400 an acre or more to put in his corn crop. he, in conjunction with his banker, want to think about that risk and how they can have revenue

mr. king: i thank the gentleman from texas. and i was deeply engaged in that presentation. and much of it i reflect upon having stood many times at the lincoln memorial and read the second inaugural address. i need to go back. if the gentleman from texas talked about voltair, even though he was a bit of a you topist and one whose beliefs i wouldn't follow, one of his quotes stands in mind for me and i think it's appropriate here in the united states. i watched us turn from a nation of rugged can-do highly spirited people to a nation that is slowly -- dramatically turning into a nanny state where i grew up in a society where we understood we had freedom and we exercised that freedom and the prohibitions were within the laws that prohibited us. the gentleman from texas and i have exercised that american freedom. that american freedom pretty interestingly in the country of tibet, when it was the idea of judge gohmert we should climb the mountain in the himalayas. the chinese minders job was to make sure we didn't get out of line and do things we didn't want to do and we didn't hear chinese tell us things we didn't want us to hear. and so when w

lincoln, mccain, murkowski, risch, wicker and wyden. this is a very broad cross section of ideological opinion in the u.s. senate. mr. president, in the house of representatives, a similar process has taken place, and this concept has been cosponsored by 320 members of congress. that is a lot. that very rarely happens. and that legislation was authored by republican congressman ron paul and democratic congressman alan grayson. the amendment that i will be bringing to the floor of the senate has 15 cosponsors, republicans and democrats alike, and i very much appreciate their support. mr. president, this amendment is simple and it is straightforward. at a time when federal reserve has provided over $2 trillion in zero or near zero-interest loans to some of the largest financial institutions in this country, this amendment requires the fed to tell the american people who got the money. now, i don't think that's a very radical concept. this amendment would simply do two things. number one, require the nonpartisan g.a.o. -- the government ability office -- to conduct a comprehensive audit of the fed within one year. secon

mr. shuster: the ceremonial golden spike hammered in utah on may 10, 1869 marked the completion of the trands continental railroad, one of the greatest engineering masterpieces, spearheaded by republican president abraham lincoln. it also marked the birth of what would become the greatest rail network in the world. 141 years later, we are still reaping the benefits of our ancestors' vision. the united states now has other 140,000 miles of railroads making up the transportation backbone of the nation. our railroads are environmentally friendly, producing significantly less pollution than other modes of transportation. a train can haul one ton of freight 436 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel, it's three times cleaner than a truck. trains also help alleviate the congestion on crowded highways across america. one train can take 280 truck office the road. rail has also had a comeback since the losses in the 1970's. it's been an unparalleled success. we must take great care to cake care of the regulatory environment that has allowed railroads to thrive and resist an effort that would undo the progress this industry has made. two years ago, president bush signed into law an amtrak re-authorization that will take thi