the ratings of congress are not particular good and nancy pelosi's ratings are not good. is more on popular now than newt gingrich ever was. but don't mix it -- mistake the shift in democrat fortunes for people falling back in love with the republican party. we are not there yet. americans are simply losing faith in the democrats losing checks and balances. they have not fallen in love with the republican party again but they have fallen out of love with the democrats. if i am a democrat -- i have been in this negative politicalo election cycles and i know this pretty well. we have a long way to go. 10 months is multiple political a desperate with 10 months to go before the next political election. the political environment will said -- change several times between now and then. nobody knows what will happen but the political environment will change dramatically. second key point -- but republicans do not stand for anything once we get a chance to tell our side of the story and expose them as nothing more the naysayers, we look in the benches. democrats are saying that by

and nancy pelosi and harry reid want all the power consolidated in this building. in this town, in their hands and not in your hands. [booing] this issue, healthcare, happens to be the opportunity for the american people to take power back in their hands. to make sure every parent, that every parent in america has the opportunity for their children to inherit from them an opportunity to succeed. ladies and gentlemen if we continue to spend money, if we continue to borrow money, if we continue to run debt up in this country where our interest obligation outstrips capacity to pay for it we will export our children's opportunity to succeed. it is absolutely crucial that we stop it now. i truly believe the american people have spoken. they don't want bigger government. they don't want more spending and they don't want higher health care cost. but for christmas i also don't believe they want this bill. [booing] i truly believe -- i believe the american people would take a lump of coal before they take this health care bill. thank you. god bless. [cheers and applause] >>

nancy pelosi was truenough as speaker of the houseo keep it all in her oice -- in the senate, it was pretty open, pretty visible androbably not what our teachers in decracy and civilization h in mind in high school when ty taught us. >> some of the tngs in the house billre better than the senate bill. >> i agree. >> the excnges in the house bill are more competite but if ey have a fight over this ta exemption, to me that woulbe a big deal becau first of all, i don't think you can pay for pecially over 20 years witho the full tax on all ose plans. that t, because it's not really indexed for inflation raises $1.3 trilon in the second 10 years. if they'reoing to say this balances the budget, that's st a toof money they need and they need toax it all, and condly, i think there is a nsensus at least among healt care economists --ou've got to raistaxes from within the health care system becau noing else will keep up with the risingosts, so if there really is resolve fight this, especily on the part of the unions -- anthere probably is -- that could ke it trickier than may i anticipate. >>

i am glad that speaker pelosi is going to copenhagen.i disagree with their policies, but i agree that the u.s. needs to be engaged. i just hope we are engaged in a fashion that does not break our economy and end up doing things it does not help the environment. >> why are you so skeptical? >> because i am so -- because i am an engineer, and i do not believe the facts prove the case. there are so many facts that go the other way. one of them is that co2 is such a trace gas and the dominant greenhouse gas is water vapor. even the climatologists who thinks the 02 -- who think co2 is a major factor admit that the largest factor in controlling temperature is water vapor and cloud formation in the atmosphere. the ipcc models use plug in variables for clouds because they cannot model clouds. so they cook the books when they determine the outcome they want and then put in the cloud preminger -- parameter to give them the outcome they want. >> congressman joe barton from texas, thank you for joining us. >> always an honor. >> we continue our conv

. >> nancy pelosi says that the idea of this commission cedes too much authority to a commission and takes away from congress. will she go along with it? if not, what does it do to your idea? >> i cannot speak for the speaker. i have absolute respect for the job that she does and all the challenges that she faces with the variety of views from our caucus and her committee chairman. but i believe that this is an idea whose time has come. i believe, that if we just review what happens, we will see the chances of dealing with this through the regular process of congress is the most [unintelligible] [unintelligible] increasingly, i think there is an understanding that we are running a great risk with their economic future of the country. the risk that we are running is that those who are financing the state will wake up some morning and say, you know, there's too much debt over there. we have to move these things. we need to put the united states dead in a special category it has to be in a riskier category than the aaa rating that we have enjoyed for a very long time. we have the chines

speakers include house speaker nacy pelosi and the dollar llama himself.inutes. -- the dollar llama himself. -- cthe [applause] [applause] >> before we began, like to call your attention to changes on the program. my niece is going to sing today and her mother was going to offer our closing remarks. however, just a few days ago, charity under wind emergency double lung transplant surgery at the cleveland clinic in ohio and my sister is by her side as she faces this enormous challenge. i know that they're both here with us in spirit and would ask you to send your warm wishes and prayers their way. i have been told that there is a familiar saying in asia which states -- there is an invisible crimson thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. this thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. i cannot help but think of this saying when i consider the deep friendship and unbreakable connection that existed between my late father, congressman tom lantos and today's award recipient, is telling us, th

i'm glad that speaker pelosi is going to copenhagen. i disagree with her policies but i do agree that the united states needs to be engaged and i just hope that we're engaged in a fashion that doesn't wreck our economy and doesn't do thing that is really end up not helping the environment. >> you've clearly outlined this. but why are you so skeptical? >> because i'm an engineer, and i do not believe the facts proved the case. there's so many facts that go the other way. but one of them is that co 2 is such a trace gas. the dominant greenhouse gas is water vapor. the dominant -- even the climatologist who think co 2 is a major factor admit that the largest factor in controlling temperature is water vapor and cloud formation in the atmosphere. and the ipcc models use plug-in variables for clouds because they can't model clouds. so they kind of cook the books when they determine the outcome they want and then put in the cloud parameter to give them the outcome. things like that. >> congressman joe barton, republican of texas, thanks very m

speakers include house speaker nacy pelosi and the dollar llama himself.e dollar llama himself. -- cthe [applause] [applause] >> before we began, like to call your attention to changes on the program. my niece is going to sing today and her mother was going to offer our closing remarks. however, just a few days ago, charity under wind emergency double lung transplant surgery at the cleveland clinic in ohio and my sister is by her side as she faces this enormous challenge. i know that they're both here with us in spirit and would ask you to send your warm wishes and prayers their way. i have been told that there is a familiar saying in asia which states -- there is an invisible crimson thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. this thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. i cannot help but think of this saying when i consider the deep friendship and unbreakable connection that existed between my late father, congressman tom lantos and today's award recipient, is telling us, the dalai lama.

so what are we looking at in terms of obama-pelosi spending. well, you've got the second half of the wall street bailout here, $350 billion. then you've got this economic stimulus thing that has not worked, we said it wouldn't work, it doesn't work, it will never work, yet they spend $787 billion -- they haven't spent it all, they're swapping it into other government programs. then the schip and appropriations, another $400 billion over there, i.m.f. bailout that chart is wrong, it's probably about $110 billion. then the house got excited about doing some serious spending, they passed a c57 and -- cap and tax, that global warming bill, let me see what the number of that is. get the chart turned around, $846 billion. the reason that's a little hazy is because the senators weren't brilliant enough to go along with this $800 billion cap and tax or cap and trade bill. this is going to extend a huge government net over the energy business and it included probably -- it was probably worse in terms of red tape and government than it was in terms of it

nancy pelosi is pretty awful. nancy pelosi is more unpopular than newt gingrich ever was.don't mistake the shift in republican fortunes for a newly enlightened and electric that falls back on the republican party. we are not there yet. americans are simply losing faith in the democrats. they will not fall in love with the republican party again but they have fallen out of love with the democrats. if i am a democrat, in this political environment the last two elections, i know these talking points pretty well. let me walk you through them. we have a long way to go. ten months, multiple political life times, ten months before the next election. a long way to go yet. the political environment will change several times between now and then. that is absolutely true. you know what is going to happen. the environment will change dramatically. republicans don't stand for anything. nothing more than naysayers will retain the advantage. they will run the campaign against republicans. you can say bad things about us but republicans don't have an idea of standing for anything. voters

. >> senator, this past week the speaker of the house nancy pelosi saying the idea of this commissionin her words cedes too much authority to a commission and takes it away from congress. will she go along with it? and if not what does that do to your idea? >> well, i can't speak for the speaker. i have absolute respect for the job that she does and all the challenges that she faces with a variety of views from her caucuses and her committee chairmen. but i believe this is an idea whose time has come. i believe that if we just review what's happened that we will see the chances of dealing with this through the regular process of congress is remote at best. and increasingly i think there is an understanding that we are running a great risk with the economic future of the country. and the risk that we're running is that those who are financing this debt wake up some morning and decide, you know, there's just too much debt over there. we've got moody saying that they're going to put the united states debt in a special category now, a different category, a riskier category than the a.a.a.

okay, pelosi, word or phrase. quick. >> abrey bracive. >> very abrasive. >> and ego maniac. >> polarizing >> arrogant. >> i would say everything. >> i think -- i think she's -- i don't find her terribly sensitive. i don't. >> and -- there is a positive way to express that. >> i think she's strong. >> queen bee. >> queen bee. >> and pamela. >> okay. >> lisa. and assertive. >> william. >> aggressive. >> very aggressive. >> okay. and can -- and we used whack job, so we can't go back there. >> and harry reid, how many people know harry reid? okay. say it. we got one, two, three four, five. harry reid? >> wheeler, dealer. >> politician. >> anybody else? >> balanced. >> aged politician. >> and sarah palin? word or phrase. >> whack job. >> okay. lisa. >> can't handle leadership. >> william. >> unstable. >> and patricia. >> future leader. >> and bill, immature. >> bernadette >> ridiculous. >> tim? >> a joke. >> crazy. >> attractive. >> we're going to start and goo straight around upon michele obama. >> admirable. >> admir

i saw that nancy pelosi left town quickly yesterday, declaring she is already in campaign mode.tell that to millions of americans who are asking where the jobs are. right now, we have double-digit unemployment. we have red ink as far as the eye can see, permanent bailout, and no long-term plan to put any of this behind us. as the policy and president obama continue to put political agendas in from the american people. they will raise costs on health care, raise taxes, cut medicare, and pile more debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids. that is why they are falling off to copenhagen so that they can promote their national energy tax that will ship millions of american jobs overseas. that is why they are importing dangerous terrorists into the united states without presenting a real plan for how to confront and defeat the terrorist threat. instead of worrying about defending the indefensible, democrats should be working with republicans on bipartisan solutions that will help get our economy back on track and get the american people back to work. all year long, republicans have

the fascinating part of this for many of us has been that while nancy pelosi or harry reid would talkublican stalling, you have the votes and the bill but they seem to have a small problem with that. they cannot pass the bill. a 60/40 at the edges of the senate, you are looking for republicans to either blame or to provide you with the votes you need, tells me there is something desperately wrong with the bill. , when you can i get your own people on board. -- when you can't get your own people on board. when we are saying to slow this down, it makes sense with what i am saying. let's create an environment where bricken to a doctor- centered approach to this that is bottom that focuses on some key things. you have a menu of choices that could be very easily introduced and not as complicated as the 2000-page behemoth that they have running around the senate now. there are real challenges, yes, in terms of getting all this through the senate and the house because they want to block it at every turn despite those challenges, i think the leadership has been fairly consistent in making sur

and nancy pelosi and harry reid want all the power consolidated in this building.n this town, in their hands and not in your hands. [booing] this issue, healthcare, happens to be the opportunity for the american people to take power back in their hands. to make sure every parent, that every parent in america has the opportunity for their children to inherit from them an opportunity to succeed. ladies and gentlemen if we continue to spend money, if we continue to borrow money, if we continue to run debt up in this country where our interest obligation outstrips capacity to pay for it we will export our children's opportunity to succeed. it is absolutely crucial that we stop it now. i truly believe the american people have spoken. they don't want bigger government. they don't want more spending and they don't want higher health care cost. but for christmas i also don't believe they want this bill. [booing] i truly believe -- i believe the american people would take a lump of coal before they take this health care bill. thank you. god bless. [cheers and applause] >> w

. >> president obama, spear pelosi, and majority leader re have ner run a business, much less ner had a real job in the private sector. how they know what it takes to cree real jobs? >> house mirity leader john boehner was noinvited to this week's jo summit, along wh others, including the u. chamber ocommerce. the labor department reported on friday tha the unemployment rate has fallen for the first time since dember 2007 to 1, charles. >> obviously, the job mmit work. [laughter] in one day der what presidency would we have seen something like that? perhaps he really god. >> i mean, tell the people in michigan tt unemployment has fallen. it will not pay attenti to you. >> if there

and dumber. >> how many had pelosi? how many had reid? so pelosi, reid, and a staunch yield white dude. >> ted kennedy. >> very interesting. that is great. what is the one thing you would like to see congress do before they go home on recess at the end of the year? anything you would like to see them do or accomplish? >> pass a health care bill. >> let me see the hands. i have six. 61 him to pass the health care bill. anything else? >> work on the economy. >> let me turn and do something quickly here. i am going to read you a number of peoples names that you probably know and have some sort of attitude about, and get you to just essentially give me a word or phrase to describe your feelings about each of these people. i don't want to just tell me they are a senator are just describe their title. anything that you feel about that person, so if i were to say madonna, you would say -- >> trashy. >> rock star. [applause] [laughter] >> garrido. barack obama, word or phrase. >> doing a good job. >> give me a feeling about him

nancy pelosi. >> it is a distinct honor.ll as myself to welcome so many distinguished guests on this very special day in the capital. the unveiling of a statue in the capital is always exciting. rarely are we able to do it in the presence of an immediate family member. it is usually about history. today it is a great privilege for all of us to be joined by former first lady mrs. ronald reagan, nancy reagan. we're honored by your presence. [applause] president reagan and mrs. reagan had one of the great love stories of all time, and the american people benefited from that. the support, the love that mrs. reagan gave the president for a slice of joy -- a source of joy for the american people. mrs. reagan, with your presence here today, i hope you know that we honor you. not only for your support of the president, but for turning that support and love into action. with your support for stem cell research has made a significant difference in the lives of many american people. it has saved lives. it has found tears. it has given

nancy pelosi. >> it is a distinct honor.welcome so many distinguished guests on this very special day in the capital. the unveiling of a statue in the capital is always exciting. rarely are we able to do it in the presence of an immediate family member. it is usually about history. today it is a great privilege for all of us to be joined by former first lady mrs. ronald reagan, nancy reagan. we're honored by your presence. [applause] president reagan and mrs. reagan had one of the great love stories of all time, and the american people benefited from that. the support, the love that mrs. reagan gave the president for a slice of joy -- a source of joy for the american people. mrs. reagan, with your presence here today, i hope you know that we honor you. not only for your support of the president, but for turning that support and love into action. with your support for stem cell research has made a significant difference in the lives of many american people. it has saved lives. it has found tears. it has given hope to people.

signed sincerely, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house. the honorable bart gordon, chairman, committee on science and technology, dear mr. chair, this is to advise you that representative parker griffith election to the committee on science and technology has been automatically vacated pursuant to clause 5-b of rule 10 effective today. signed, sincerely, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 11-b of house resolution 97 , the house shall stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on saturday, december 26, 2009 unless the conditions specified in section 11-c of that resolution have been met, in which case the house shall stand adjourned sine die pursuant to house concurrent resolut >> several official statements on rep parker griffith from alabama who yesterday announced he was switching from the republican party to the democratic party. the house will be back -- won't be back into legislative work until early 2010. pro-forma sessions, one coming up saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern and live coverage here on c-s

total debt now, when speaker pelosi took over, it was at $8.9 trillion. it's so hard to keep track of billions going to trillions. well, i think 100 bucks is a lot when you are spending taxpayer money. we're talking millions? frget it. billions? we don't go there any more. we are talking trillions. now why does that matter? the house controls the purse strings. whoever controls the house starts every spending bill. that's how the process works. the house, united states house of representatives, this body, you mean and women who are watching and here tonight know that is how it works. the president can veto but at the end of the day, the house controls the purse strings. $8.9 trillion. the debt now $12 trillion. every man, woman and child is responsible for $39,000 and going up to $45,000. the debt is projected to double in the next five years, triple in the next 10. under the president's budget, the debt would triple in five. now i want you to think about a debt that goes to $20 trillion and how you ever pay that back. when republicans were in charge of t

so speaker pelosi can catch a plane to copenhagen. we're spending $1.1 trillion on top of the $6.7 trillion that this liberal majority has already spent this year. that means in the course of 12 months this liberal majority in congress has already spent, in this house, nearly $8 trillion in 12 months. it's unprecedented, it's unsupportable, it will bankrupt this nation and crush our children under a burden of debt that they cannot possibly repay without crushing tax burdens and massive sack nices. we may be the first yen ration in american history that leaves our children worse off than we -- than the world we inherited from our parents. it's unacceptable and outrageous. and as my colleague and i introduced legislation earlier this year to require the house to lay these bills out, every bill, for at least 72 hours before they can be voted on on the floor. i want to ask the speaker a simple question. what's more important, giving the american people time to read these bills to give the members of congress time to read these bills, or t

nancy pelosi is ready to push through anything on health care.think that the blue dog, progressive, liberal not withstanding, these people should have put their political clout on the line and said look, we are going to go for this and do something good for the american people. as a result, they will not be going back anyway as. after this length of time, not to come up with a pragmatic solution for the american people without health coverage, that is an atrocity. that is my comment today. thank you. host: "top 30 ed goldman sachs will not get a bonus. shareholders have been given a vote on compensation. the policy comes as some of the world's financial capital ways steep taxes on the employees of banks during the credit crisis. -- credit crisis." and other banking story -- "france yesterday said that they would follow the lead of britain by levying a super tax on the bonuses of business people in french -- france." pa., stephanie. independent line. please go ahead with your comment. caller: several little things. first of all, capitalism and the

i've examined the pelosi and reid health care bills and i made a diagnosis. the american people need to listen up to this diagnosis. if you like your health insurance today, the price is going to skyrocket. and you're not going to be able to keep it eventually. if you are on medicare, you are going to have a hard time finding a doctor that will accept medicare because of the massive cuts. if you're a veteran and dependent upon tricare, forget it. mr. speaker, my prescription, we need to trash the reid and pelosi health care bills, work in a bipartisan manner, do this in an incremental way to lower the cost to everybody and work to make something that -- makes sense for the american public and keeps the good quality health care we have in america. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from arizona rise? >> qui unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from arizona is recognized -- without objection, the gentlewoman from arizon

. >> boy, is pelosi the shield. she's catching all the darts and bullets. half of them didn't even know who reid was. >> i think congress -- pelosi and congress in general, i have to go back to that because everyone -- everyone has some amount of anger and they look at obama and they say, i'm not going to place my anger here for some reason and it's just shifted to pelosi and congress. >> good. charlie, what are you going to write about? >> i guess i'll go back for the obama people he's our guy. i don't think democrats or republican leaders of congress could find any solace in anything they've heard today. >> mark, what's the -- >> i would say -- the poster for walter mondale referred to ronald reagan as a great president. that aside, if barack obama drove a convertible with a top down through a car wash, congress would get wet. that's really it. i mean, he is -- he's got a teflon quality right now. now, i don't think -- i don't think it is perpetual. i think he's been given the benefit of the doubt. he's been given a long leash but i think if we're looking

yet months ago speaker pelosi's announced says no big never mind who months ago said it was essentialrry reid says the same. this is opening the democratic party to inevitable tax. we're not even getting the new deal kind of program we need. such as guaranteed. health care for guaranteed this is a travesty. we're giving the insurance industry huge subsidies. the medicare proposal floated in the senate -- now we find out the premiums for just one individual between 55-64 each person could be paying $7,600. this is not a social compact that guarantees health care. it perpetuates the idea or reality of healthcare apartheid. host: good afternoon to our viewers are watching us on the bbc parliament channel. we also welcome your calls. you can also send us a comment by twitter or by our e-mail address. let me share with you what mitch mcconnell said yesterday off the senate floor and where the healthcare debate is and is going. >> we saw two weeks ago in a gallup poll that there was a 9% more americans opposed then supporting. we saw a 40% more opposing in another poll. now in the cnn will

house speaker nancy pelosi and was asking if they would come back saturday or stay through saturday instead of going home for the holidays. that would help get the bill passed. it would not guarantee senate action, so that they may have to come with a tenuous resolution to keep some government agencies are running. there is some talk about a resolution to last until december 23, but this is all very tentative at this point. >> can you tell us about some of the legislative riders that are being discussed? >> at the top of the list, probably for a lot of people is the increases of up to 1.9 trillion dollars, which house leaders say is necessary and important. conservatives and republicans obviously have a problem with that, saying that we are spending money we do not have printed a six-month extension on unemployment insurance, possibly an extension on food stamps. then there are other items that may or may not be included, including the so-called jobs part that would include infrastructure money. >> why are some of these provisions a priority for house democrats? >> they do not want to go in

i am speaking on behalf of myself and i am speaking on behalf of nancy pelosi. we feel very strongly about the issue that is the central point of this press conference. we all know that years of mismanagement by president bush put our country in a deep fiscal hole. we inherited the worst economic situation this country has seen in three-quarters of a century. that is why it is so important to recommit ourselves to the principle that we must pay for what we buy. pay-as-you-go. this was first made lot during the clinton administration. it turned massive deficits into a record surplus. it can do so again. it must do so for your granddaughter and for my granddaughter and my great- granddaughter. that is why it speaker policy and i are so committed to enacting paygo into law once again. president obama sent us a bill and had a press conference at the white house on where all of us bears saying paygo was a priority of the obama administration. fiscal responsibility needed to be the focus of congress and the american people and the white house. on behalf of the blue do

>> the decision of how many people are going to copenhagen will be made by nancy pelosi. there are five or six republican members who will be going to copenhagen. i will be leading the republican side of the house delegation. there will be a couple senators. senators are never led by house members. that is part of the territory but -- [inaudible] >> what i think the republicans are hoping to accomplish is number one, basically saying president obama should not make promises that the american people and their representatives in congress can't keep. and thus avoiding a repeat of what al gore did immediately prior to that. secondly, i think we will be making the point that the un should step back into the climategate controversy is completely resolved so that we know we are legislating and negotiating international treaties based on sound science. finally, the most important point to be made is the united states senate will not ratify any treaty that is not international in application. that means china and india and brazil and the other third world countries are going to ha

this freedom in this country has been by the pelosi congress and obama administration. this is being quashed by the socialization and nationalization of our economy and the intentional creation of a dependency class of people that are designed to be the political base that will support those who will continue to do class-envy politics, share the wealth. that share the wealth phrase that came out of president obama's mouth is in the mission statement of acorn. mr. burgess: i think the gentleman has summed things up very well. and i cannot be nearly as eloquent as he is delineating the history and what created greatness in this country. all i know is the people who seem to be making the decisions today are the people who never held a job in the private sector. it is a startling thing to watch as we see once again the administration is going to lunch forward with a jobs creation strategy when the jobs creation strategy exists right before our eyes. it's the small businessman and woman in america who has the capability of creating those jobs. but they are scared to death of

host: joe barton our guest on "newsmakers" and he is expected to join nancy pelosi in a trip.te house flying overto denmark for to friday one day of meetings to deal with climate change. the entire program on "news makers." back to the discussion we were talking about. was 2009 a historic dwrear? how will the historians regard 2009 one, two, three decades hence? various writers speculating on the most important year ever, and the contenders are i illuminating, including the year 5 b.c., also the year guttenberg invented moveable printing. finally, 1944 and 1945 which featured the bretton woods conference, the bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki and the beginning of the cold war stalemate. >> compared to those events that you just cited were more world changing than just historic. i think it will be historic. if i could respond quickly to a couple callers that said this is a tipping point for america and we're headed toward destruction and i guess you would call them deficit hawks 10 or 11 months into the obama administration. i would just remind them that ronald reagan trippled

it is mirrored after the speaker -- speaker pelosi's bill. they have this rule in the house. they can make it workable. certainly the integrity of this body is worth considering. i would encourage my colleagues, at this point when the public is looking at us, asking for some trust and integrity, we can make this bill work. i -- i ask my colleagues to support my amendment and oppose the tabling motion. mr. baucus: mr. president, i move to table the amendment and ask for yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the question is on the motion to table to suspend the rules -- the motion to suspend the rules. the yeas and nays have been ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: is there any senator who has not yet voted or wishs to change his or her vote? if not, on this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 46. the motion to table is agreed to. mr. reid: move to lay that on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i as

bush, barack obama, newt gingrich, nancy pelosi, the republicans, the democrats, if the free contractors, the unions, michael more, rush limbaugh -- who's to blame? it is a natural question asked. but is it to the right question? all you need to do is visit a local bookstore and go into the current events section which is filled with them. -- filled with villains. i wanted us to appear on the cover of our book in short black many dresses. but my brother dave talk this out of it. there's always the paperback. instead of who is to win, we ask a different question. why do some issues fell and why do some succeed? we look for great successes and monumental failures. we wanted to look for patterns. we wanted to look at the success of the marshall plan to the integration reform and vietnam. we reviewed all of these initiatives. we realized that it would require a small army of individuals who understood the government and were willing to work for free. the answer was clear. we needed cred students. [laughter] with of the help of more than 70 grad student, we -- we needed grad students. [laught

speaker pelosi left town quickly yesterday, declaring she has already entered campaign mode.ell that to millions of americans who are asking where their jobs are. right now, we have double-digit unemployment. we have red ink as far as the eye can see. permanent bailout. and no long-term plan to put any of this back in shape. so speaker pelosi and president obama, they continue to put politics before the interests of the american people. that is why they continue to push this dangerous government takeover of health care in spite of the fact that it will raise costs, increase taxes, cut medicare benefits, and pile more debt on the backs of their grandchildren. that is why they are flying off to copenhagen, so they can promote their national energy tax that is going to ship millions of american jobs overseas. that is why they are courting dangerous terrorists into the united states without presenting a real plan for how to confront and defeat the terrorist threat. so instead of worrying about defending the indefensible, democrats should be working with republicans on bipartisan

nancy pelosi said that she did not want to hear from us on any of these things.can ideas on health care. i said -- he wanted to work together on these things, when you get back to was we would love to discuss these ideas. that was months ago. guest: let's get your phone calls. you can also send a message by e-mail or twitter. scott garrett is a republican from new jersey. the house began debate last night on the democratic leadership bill that would let's begin with a call from san bernardino, california. stephanie, democratic line. caller: thank you. republicans worked with democrats when republicans were in the majority because of the pharmaceutical billÑi. i believe that the tax-cut issue, top earners are not paying their fair share. host: top earners not paying their fair share. guest: first and foremost, your question before was what is our solution to the problems? one of the solutions was tax cut across the board. we would suggest that everyone would be better offñxi if they right now. about where she wouldñr want to keep and spend her money. we would try

nancy pelosi and other democratic leaders proposed a jobs bill.barbara air and reich discusses the economy. and legal and technical issues involved in tracking terrorists communications. >> c-span3 has live coverage of two congressional hearings to margaret the first looks at illegal sports broadcasts on the internet. that hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. at 2:00 p.m. eastern, on homeland securities subcommittee committee -- committee meeting on an incident where tea s.a. officials mistakenly put procedure manuals on the internet. that is live on c-span3. you can watch the hearings live or anytime on our web site, c- span.org. >> there is a month left to enter the 2010 student can contest 3 $50,000 in prizes for middle and high school roses -- high-school students. create a five to eight minute video on one of our country's greatest drinks or a challenge the country is facing. must incorporate c-span programming and show various points of view. winning entries will be shown on c-span. do not wait another minute. go to steer -- go to the

all the critics of the war are daut pelosi democrats from cambridge and new york city.the supporters are sarah palin republic and. the people he has to convince are his natural constituency. palin is just looking for a chance to say he is covering it up. the politics in this are terrible. yes? >> you mention that we do not know and there have been no credible reports. there have been reports over a number of years that he has not stayed in above iran what is going back and forth. there were reports in the 2004 and photographic evidence. the had seen him there in january 2009. how do you analyze those reports? >> i want to be absolutely explicit. the last time we had a solid piece of information about where osama bin lawn was was eight years ago. -- osama bin laden was 8 years ago. he said it has been a few years. senate -- gates has been my boss in more organizations than i can remember. it has been eight years, mr. gates, since we have had any idea. has he been in iraq? i do not rule it out. al qaeda has been able to operate in iran on more than one occasion. we do not

american people i want to commend senator harry reid, the extraordinary work he did, speaker nancy pelosi her extraordinary leadership and dedication, having passed reform bills in the house and the senate, we now have to take up the last and most important step and reach agreement on a funnel reform bill that i can sign into law. i look forward to working with members of congress and the coming weeks to do exactly that. with the boat today, we are incredibly close to making health insurance reform a reality in this country. our challenge is to finish the job. and do another generation of americans with soaring costs, eroding coverage, and exploding deficit. instead, we need to do what we were sent here to do and the -- and improve the lives of people we serve. for the sake of our citizens, are common, and their future, let's make 2010 the year we funnel reform health care in the united states of america. everybody, merry christmas, happy new year. >> do you have a holiday which for the troops? >> i do and i will be actually -- i am on my way to call a few of them. i wish them a merry chr

. >> there is always nancy pelosi, the shield. she is catching all the darts and bullets and half of them did not even know who centre reif was -- senator reif was. >> this has just shifted to nancy pelosi and congress. >> good. what are you going to write about? >> for the barack obama people, he is our guy, but for -- i do nothing democrats or republicans could find any solace in anything that they heard today. >> mark? >> first of all, i was astounded -- that aside, if barack obama drove a convertible with the top down to a car wash, congress would get wet. he has a teflon quality right now. i do not think it is perpetual. he has been given the benefit of the doubt and a long leash. one year from tonight, we're looking at 12% unemployment, the willingness to blame both parties in congress rather than him, when health care goes down, no one blamed him. it was just remarkable. i think that the wall street thing is just sitting there. i cannot believe that republicans are not running against those of washington and wall street. it

it's going to be led by our esteemed speaker, the honorable nancy pelosi. i also attended kyoto and the hague's. i have been a participant at the congressional level on the climate change debate for the last 20 years. i'm going to start off by putting into the record a suppressed report congressman poe just spoke about that has never, before this evening, been made public in its entiring unexpurr gated form. the title of the report is "comments on the draft technical support document for greenhouse gas emissions under the clean air act." this report was compiled by doctor allen car lynn who is a -- carlin who is a career scientist at the e.p.a. at one time he self-described himself, i'm told, as a global warming believer. he prepared this report, he works in a group within the e.p.a. that is responsible for conducting an internal review of some of the draft orders before they go public. i'm not going to read the entire report. i'm going to read excerpts of the preface and the executive summary and then i will put the entire report into the record. this is f

we are all truly honored to serve with speaker pelosi and i'll tell you why for a second.values. they say to her, do the right thing. she couples that with a spine of steel, which is reflected -- those values are reflected in the legislation that gets passed in this body. no more reflecting essential core values and doing the right thing more demonstrated by the vote today. my colleagues have mentioned a year, i subscribe and echo what has happened in the house of representatives this year. extraordinary legislation in terms of people's lives. just today, to take just today, there was a recognition and a drive to say to the people of this great nation, we know you're on your knees. we know you lost your job. we know you can't feed your kids. we know you lost a chunk of that child tax credit which gave you the ability to take care of your kids. we know what your loss is. we walked in your shoes. because you can count on, you can rely on this house of representatives. to pass legislation that can do something, to not give you everything you need, but give you that help when

>> if a reckless spending that's been going on in congress the last three years since speaker pelosi got the gavel has put us in this position and put the american economy in jeopardy. and so i think ultimately to increase the national debt limit and to increase spending to reach the 14 trillion-dollar number is not only threatening to today's economy, but for the future generations because of our children and grandchildren will have to pay for this and they will be denied that opportunity we have had if it passes, so it is a critical vote and it is a critical time we need to stand up and say take this off the backs of our troops. we need to support our troops, but don't put a $6,000 extra debt on the back of their children and grandchildren while they are fighting to defend our freedom. >> [inaudible] >> i stand behind this legislation and i will follow this until it is a law, as long as i'm here in congress. thank you for coming. [inaudible conversations] >>> now a news conference with a group of congressmen known as the blue dog democrats. the proposed paygo for a portion of raisi

and spker nancy pelosi said last night she won't rou up votes to defeait. she said, "the president i going to havto make his case." republicans saidoday they still support e surge. in pakistan, intellince officials sa missile attacks by u.s. drone aircra killed at least 17 people today,ear the afghan border. they said somef the victims appeared to foreign fighters. the u.s. has cried out more than 40 drone atcks this year inside pakistan. u.s. officia today played down reports that insurgentin iraq and afghanistan have intcepted live video from amican drones. an account in "t wall street journal" said mitants are ing $26 software programs-- availablonline-- to hack into the feeds. a seniorentagon official insisted the problem has bee addressed. the senate banking committ has endoed the nomination of federal reserve chrman ben beanke for a second term. the vote was 16 to 7. supporters said bernanke held ste off financial ruin, while opponents argued he shou have seen therisis coming. >> had he and others not aed, some of whom sit on th committee at a time of

for instance, speaker pelosi couldn't convince house democrats to support a medicare plan paying medicare rates. but that's exactly what senator reid compromise is proposing, i've been told. which doesn't sound like much of a compromise to me. in fact, let me quote another congressman, congressman wiener of new york. doesn't see it as a compromise either. in fact, he sees it as a big step toward their ultimate goal of a single-payer health plan where government's going to run everything and you've got one choice, the government plan, you don't have choices like we have in america today. and congressman wiener said th this: "this expansion would perhaps get us on the path to a single-payer model." so i don't see this as a compromise to a government-run plan. in fact, in some ways it's worse, because this could harm seniors' access to care starting not down the road but on day o one. but i don't want to spend too much time today talking about medicare expansion. i think that i've made my feelings on this idea pretty clear. instead, i'd like to focus on another aspect of the supposed new rei

pelosi will ever agree to it in the house of representatives.ut i think it gets to a point that i wanted to make here back to frances' presentation and that is that isn't it unfortunate -- isn't it unfortunate that we've got to the place in our political system that we have to contract out our legislative process to a commission? i think it's sad. i think it's unfortunate, but it comes back to the partisanship that i believe that has developed. and i don't disagree with lee. there was a time when it was much more partisan to go back. but i think over the last few years, this partisanship has grown rather dramatically. and i want to try -- to the panel last night, marginet, the one that you were on, what's caused all this? what's caused all this? and i guess political scientists than i have looked at this at some length. i find income growing inequality, immigration, technology, and in margaret's words last night, to democratization of the media and the interconnectionists between campaign campaigns bad lobbyist here. i think most americans, most

nancy pelosi has noted much unrest in her caucus with afghanistan and have it has been going. this will be tough for the president. he has to convince not only republicans, who want 40,000 troops at least, but he must convince a fair amount of powerful democrats to go along with his plan and i think that there will have to be compromise on capitol hill because they are not going to rubber-stamp what obama wants. you have to concede to some of these offsets. host: what about selling this to the american people? guest: it will be a challenge. earlier this year 65% of americans supported the war in afghanistan, but since then the number has dropped considerably. he is not really going to convince anti-war liberals, who have been very skeptical of the war in afghanistan. he has got to convince centrist democrats as well. people that polls show have lost faith in this war. host: what will he and the folks in his administration be doing to not only sell this to the american people but, as you indicated, the legislators on capitol hill? >> there will be a series of hearings later thi

all of the critics of the war are nancy pelosi democrats from san francisco, came bridge, and new yorkty. all the supporters of the war are sara palin republicans from alaska and arizona. it's a terrible place for a democratic president to be. people he has to convince to support him are his natural constituencies. he doesn't have to convince sara palin. she's just looking for the opportunity to say you're screwing it up. the politics of it are terrible for the president. >> you mentioned that we don't know where bin laden is and there's been no credible reports and very few bad reports. but there have been reports over a number of years that he has if not stayed in iran gone back and forth to iran. there are reports in 2004, there are photographic evidence there that he was there until 2009. how do you evaluate those reports to the islamic republic and perhaps his sojourn there? >> i want to be absolutely explicit. the last time we had a solid piece of information about where osama bin laden was, was eight years ago. we don't have a clue where he is today. bob gates asked this questio