the senator from michigan. mr. levin: the senate -- the pending business now is senate bill p 1867, the defense authorization act; is that correct? the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 230, s. 1867, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the department of defense, for military construction, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. levin: mr. president, senators are encouraged to come to the floor to offer their amendments this morning. we're going to be here doing business. senators that have remarks, speeches, proponents of amendments, opponents of amendments are given an opportunity here today, which may be one of the relatively few opportunities that are going to be available. we will be here the monday we return as well. before the vote at 5:30 montana dpai on a judicial nomination, but we will be here before that time also to hear from proponents and opponents of amendments, to have people offer amendments. we're not going to have t

lawmakers in michigan senate now they just passed a new and. and yeah you heard me right i think you have the senate michigan passed a lot of protect kids from bowling but i'm still giving them a troll time war might be wondering why i was happy as they're trying to protect children but just stick with me as i explain this one so help prove my point i'm going to call on michigan state senator gretchen written or for some help she's democrats voted against anti bullying measure just listen as she addresses fellow lawmakers about not safe school law which is named after a teen that plane who committed suicide shortly after an anti-gay hazing incident you may be able to pat yourself on the back city and see that you did something but in actuality you're explicitly outlining how to get away with bullying. now according to senator wicker this new law gave students a blueprint on exactly how to bully and now be held responsible for it listen to how she explains how lawmakers crafted this new piece of legislation you're exceptions have swallowed the r

senate michigan passed a law to protect kids from bullying but i'm still giving them a cold time of war let me wondering why i was hacked lawmakers are trying to protect children but just stick with me as i explain this one so help prove my point i want to call on michigan state's out of there gretchen whitmer for some help she's democrats voted against the anti bullying measure and just listen as she addresses fellow lawmakers about matts safe school law which is named after a teen that at length who committed suicide shortly after an anti-gay hazing incident. you may be able to pat yourself on the back survey and say that you did something but in actuality you're explicitly outlining how to get away with bullying now according to senator wicker this new law gave students a blueprint on exactly how to bully and not be held responsible for it listen to how she explains how lawmakers crafted this new piece of legislation. your exceptions have swallowed the rule as passed today bullying kids is ok if a student parent teacher or school employee can come up with a moral or religious reason

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: first, let me thank my friend from arizona for his great work on this bill and the way in which he and our members, our brothers and sisters on the committee, including the presiding officer, worked so well together on a bipartisan basis, and the way our staffs worked together. we are now in a position where we can consider amendments, as the senator from arizona said. and pending the receipt of amendments for our considerati consideration, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mri will withhold. mr. mccain: the pending business before the senate? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings you arunder the quorum call be suspended and ask what the business before the senate is. the presiding officer: without objection. the pending question is the mccain-levin amendment numbered 1092. mr. mccain: i think that's the levin-mccain amendment. could i -- the pre

the senator from michigan. mr. levin: the senator from new hampshire -- mr. mccain: mr. president the senator from new hampshire had intended to talk about her amendment and withdraw it and she may be coming. i have had a chance to notify her. there may be a couple-minute delay. so i have to suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: request unanimous consent that further proceedings urn the quorum call dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: in a exchange hi on the floor about -- and i mentioned the wonderful long people -- wonderful long island, i made a joke. i'm sorry there's at least one of my colleagues that can't take a joke and so i apologize if i offended him and hope that someday he will have a sense of humor. i yield mr. sessions: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president,

the senator from michigan. mr. levin: there are a number of people, a number of senators here who want to offer their amendments, make them pending tonight and that's fine with us. the presiding officer: the senator is correct, the senate is not in order. will the senators please take their conversations out of the chamber. the senator from michigan. mr. levin: there are a number of senators who have amendments that they are able to call up tonight, make them pending and then set them aside and then if they have speeches, i would suggest that they withhold speeches until everybody who has amendments here can offer them and set them aside so that we can allow people to leave and then have the speeches come, if there are speeches tonight, after anybody who wants to make their amendment pending has that opportunity. that's the process i would suggest. and senator mccain is supportive of that process. so that's my suggestion. that the chair recognize people, as the chair wishes, call up your amendment, set it aside, let

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: i yield three minutes to the senator from connecticut. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair and thank my friend, the chairman of the armed services committee. i rise respectfully to oppose the amendment that the senator from colorado has offered, though in some measure i thank him because for -- for offering it because this has been an important and good debate. my own position stated briefly on this is that as senator levin has said we're a nation at war and as such --, we were attacked on 9/11/01. we adopted in this chamber the authorization for the use of military force. that's about as close to a declaration of war as we've done since the second world war and the comparison is not -- is exact because what happened to us on 9/11 was -- in some ways was even worse than what happened in december of 1941 when weer we were attacked at pearl harbor. a nation at war who seizes those who have declared themselves to be part of enemy fo

[ laughter ] thank goodness, michigan senate republicans stepped in, pantsed that law and stuffed it in a locker by adding an exemption that states. "this section does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction." that's too complicated. tell them what this means news dork! >> the bill also gives students license to bully based on religious beliefs." >> stephen: ha! ha! nice report, lezbo! [ laughter ] the point is, bullying is fine as long as you get a permission slip from god. now with this amendment to the law, now if you're a michigan christian teenager caught giving a gay kid a swirlie, you can say it's a baptism. [ laughter ] after all, if you read the bible, you know jesus was a bully. he threw the money lenders from the temple-- because they were the mathletes! look at him at the cafeteria. hanging out at the cool kids table. "no, there's only room for these twelve guys, go sit somewhere else,you pharisees." [ laughter ] even though clearly there's tons of space on the other side of the table! by the way, christian teens don't have to res

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i support the amendment of the senator from tennessee. it's a balanced amendment which deals with a very complex situation. what senator corker is doing is pointing out some very important facts and that is that pakistan has received a lot of funds from the united states for this particular purpose which is aimed at helping the success of our operations in afghanistan. the whole purpose of the coalition support fund is to reimburse pakistan for the support that they provide, for instance, in providing security for our troops and other equipment that is going through pakistan that have oil or fuel, that are food going into afghanistan to support the effort in afghanistan. that's the purpose of these funds. and it's a good purpose and this is not a foreign aid deal. this is a reimbursement deal. the problem is that while on the one hand the pakistanis are assisting us, on the other hand they're assisting our enemy and the enemy of mankind and the enemy of the afghan

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: madam president, just to reinforce something that the senator from arizona said, these are amendments that there is no objection to on the substance. i mean, we have worked very hard, working with all the senators to clear amendments, and that process will continue after the cloture vote as well. we now have this group, we have worked very hard on it. we have no objection. if there were an objection, they wouldn't be in a clear package. we know of no objection, none have been forthcoming, they have been here for a day or two now, and the senate really needs to work its will. this is the way we should be operating. if there is no objection to an amendment, people have had a chance to look at it, they have been cleared on both sides, any committee of jurisdiction that has an interest has been talked to and that's been taken care of, and this is it seems to me the right way to proceed, and i wanted to just commend senator mccain for what he just said and join with him in that senti

senate from michigan. hat was back in 1964 when there were only two women senators, both of whom had entered congress when they were appointed to fill the seats of their late husbands. she was the first woman to chair a state republican party. in 1965 people around the country thought she was in fact the first woman to share any state party. this was a time when the chairman of the republican national committee would not permit the female vice chair to fill in if the male party could not attend the meeting. it was at a time the michigan repugnant party held its meetings at male only clubs. 1976 peterson was recruited to be cochair of dra america, the coalition of dozens of national organizations that work to ratify the equal rights amendment and that same year she served as deputy chairman of the president committee which according to my research was at that time the highest professional job that a woman had ever held in major presidential campaigns. in recent months, and often been asked what led me to wri

hashe senator from michigan four minutes.mr. n: >> 21 to yield to one of your -- >> i ask consent to yield twoldo minutes to the senator from new, hampshire, followed by the timet from senator levin for the ainator of connecticut's and rem remaining for the senator from remaining for the senator from georgia. fro >> without objection the senator ,rom new hampshire.k you specs before mr. president. i first of all one to thank andg chairman leavening and ranking t member mccain and remindamendmt everyone that this particular amendment addressing the thebas provision passed overwhelminglye on a bipartisan basis from then armed services committee, and as the reason that we address thisw issue is because h we heard an a witness after witness in a series of months before thertmet service armed services committee from the department of defense to callis for example when i asked the command saying she lay would need some help on how toam answer what to do with a member of al qaeda who was captured in africa. this is an area thathat cried

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i yield myself ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: there have been so many misstatements of fact that have been made, it's hard to keep up with them, but let me just take the last statement that the senator from illinois made about changing military tribunal law. there is no change in military tribunal law whatsoever which is made in this bill. now, i'm going to address the other misstatements that have been made by my friends and colleagues, but that one is the most recent so i want to just take on that one first. now, in terms of constitutional provisions, the ultimate authority on the constitution of the united states is the supreme court of the united states, and here is what they have said. in the hamdi case about the issue which both our friends have raised about american citizens being subject to the law of war. a citizen, the supreme court said in 2004, no less than an alien, can be part of supporting forces hostile to the uni

i yield to the senator from michigan. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 1867, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 230, s. 1867, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012, military activities under the department of defense, and so forth and for other purposes. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: i would now ask unanimous consent that the time between now and 12:15 be equally divided between myself, working with senator mccain in opposition to the udall amendment, and controlled by senator udall. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: i understand under the pending u.c. that senator udall is now to be recognized to offer his amendment. the presiding officer: the senator is correct. under the previous order, the senator from colorado is recognized. mr. udall: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. udall: i rise to speak in favor of amendment

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i now ask unanimous consent that the levin-mccain amendment number 1092, which is the regular order, be modified with the changes that are at the desk, that amendment addresses the issue of counterfeit parts and the department of defense supply chain. further, that the amendment as modified be agreed to, that upon disposition of the levin-mccain amendment, the senate resume consideration of the paul amendment, number 1064; that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form on the paul amendment; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the senate resume consideration of the landrieu amendment, number 1115; that there be up to 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form on the landrieu amendment; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the senate proceed to votes in relation to the two amendments, the paul and l.a.n. draw amendments, in the following order: paul number 1064, the landrieu number 1115, that there be two minutes equally divide

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: before the chair recognizes our friend from alabama, let me thank the senator from new hampshire not just for her kind and warm remarks but also for the great contribution she has made to our committee. it's really been an extraordinary launch for her, if i may put it that way. i think -- and i know our presiding officer would agree, because he's been a witness as well. it's been a major contribution. we thank you. you've had the kind of experience and you are so committed to the security of this country that you are a real -- you're already venerable as a member of our committee. i yield the floor. ms. ayotte: thank you, mr. chairman. you're very kind and it's been wonderful to serve under your leadership on the armed services committee, which is one of the great experienceness the u.s. senate is the armed services committee at a time when people see so much partisanship we work on a very strong bipartisan basis to ensure that our country is protected. with that i would like to

. >>> the michigan senate passed legislation requiring school districts to develop antibullying policies but last-minute language in the bill is drawing fire. the bill protects statements of, quote, a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, voluntary or, pupil, pupil's parnlts. a man for whom the bill was named says it will allow anyone to bully and cite religious belief. >>> president obama has reclaimed the list on forbes' list of most powerful people. vladimir putin came in second and chinese president hu jintao fell to third. >>> authorities in brazil has released video of officers ramming their car into a small plane to stop it from taking off. police say the plane was carrying more than $100,000 worth of smuggled electronic goods. >>> now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,0 44 after climbing 208 points yesterday. the s&p jumped 23 points. the nasdaq spiked 57. taking a look at overseas trading this morning n tokyo the nikkei rows 160 points, while in hong kong the hang seng skyrocketed 600. >>> well,

. >>> the michigan senate has passed legislation requiring school districts to develop antibullying policies. but last-minute language in the bill is drawing fire. it protects statements of a sincerely-held religious belief or moral conviction. a man whose son killed himself after being bullied and for whom the bill is named says the added language will let anyone have their beliefs. >>> president obama has reclaimed the top stop on forbes list of the world's most powerful people. vad mere putin came in second. the chinese president fell to third. >>> and authorities in brazil have released video of officers ramming their car into a small plane to stop it from taking off. it was carrying more than $100,000 worth of smuggled electronic goods. >>> jury deliberations are set to begin in the trial of conrad murray. after lawyers from both sides made their final arguments to the jury. we get more now that nbc's stephanie stanton. >> reporter: the fate of dr. conrad murray now rests in the hands of the jury, who must decide if the doctor is criminally responsible in the death of pop star michael j

joining me now from lansing to join me, michigan state senator glenn anderson.dvocates for an anti-bullying bill and yet you tried to get this measure voted down. why would you do that? >> well, thomas, i appreciate you having me on today. this bill falls far short of what we expected to have as effective policy. something that would really make a difference for kids in michigan. it fell short in three key areas. one of them is there's no reporting that's required to be sent to the department of education. so, there's really no way to monitor if this is having any effect on the safety of our kids. it has the district just reporting to itself. as we know, that will be of no value whatsoever. it also creates really a situation where you have a license to cyber bully. because it doesn't sufficiently address cyber bullying. as we know, social media and all other forms of electronic communication, texting and twitter and the other things that are available for people to use, that that's becoming more of a problem now than even some of the other ways of bullying kids.

quorumhe senator from michigan. morning business is closed. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent to call off the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 7691 which the clerk will report. the clerk: a bill to put workers back on the job while rebuilding and modernizing america. . the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: madam president, the rebuild america jobs act addresses two of our most fundamental responsibilities. first, the need to respond to the urgent jobs crisis, secondly, the duty to create the physical framework for economic growth now and into the future. there should be no debate about our duty to fulfill those two responsibilities and yet once again we're in a situation where the refusal of our republican colleagues to compromise even on consideration of measures that they've supported in the past prevents us from acting on behalf of the american people. i am encouraged by reports th

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i see that senator webb son the floorks and i know that he is going to be making some remarks in a few moments, and i would just urge other colleagues of ours to do the same thing. tbher a period now where debate is -- we are in a period now where debate is in order on any of the amendments, whether they are pending or not pendin pendi, whether they have been filed and not made pending. this is an opportunity that's going to end hopefully wednesday morning when we vote cloture. we must get this bill passed. it is critically important to our men and women in uniform. and they deserve to have a defense authorization bill passed. so i would urge colleagues who have amendments that they have filed to come to the floor this afternoon to debate their amendments. and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. webb: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that marcus suley of be granted floor privileges for the duration of the 112th congress.

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that on thursday, november 17, senator bennet be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. levin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: mr. president, i ask for regular order on the levin-mccain amendment. the presiding officer: the amendment is the regular order. it is now pending. mr. levin: i thank the presiding officer. now i ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments -- i withdraw that, mr. president. i ask unanimous con

i want to thank my michigan friends and colleagues. i see senator levin and his dear brother, congressman sandy levin. they and their family are great friends going back to before the day that i was even on this earth. my dad was friends of their fathers and grandfathers. to all of you, i express my thanks for being here. and express how grateful i am to have friends like you. i've had the privilege of long service with distinguished people, real men and women, people of incredible values and decency. and i value the mories, the history and the thoughts. i also am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving as a part of this glorious institution which all of us have reason to love and which is such an important centerpiece to this nation and to its greatness and to its history. and i'm particularly privileged that i can serve here and that i can have the wonderful friendships and personal relationships and that we can be here in an old chamber of the house of representatives with the statues of great americans around us. i'm delighted that i've bee

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. first, i want to thank my colleague for raising issues of great importance to all of us, financial regulatory reform is critically important for our country moving forward. and senator crapo and i have talked earlier about his amendment. we have a number of areas in which we share concern, and i am committed to work with him on these shalls. first and foremost, i agree with my friend from idaho that we need to protect our manufacturers, our rural co-ops, energy providers, other companies that use financial products to manage their legitimate business risks. these end users didn't cause the financial crisis. and so when we pass wall street reform, we included protections for them. we've held several hearings in the agriculture committee to reinforce the regulators to reinforce to them that manufacturers and others need to be protected. we'll continue to do that oversight. we certainly agree as new priewls are written, we need to make sure they are open and there is a transparent proces

. >>> take a listen to this, a truly emotional appeal from at michigan state senator. >> not only doest protect kids who are bullied, it further engages them by legitimatizing excuses for tormenting a student. >> how this powerful statement is bringing about change to a controversial bill. >>> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. nina is using high-tech marketing to engage customers at her new york-based garnet wines and liquors. scanning the bar codes with smartphones, her customers can learn about wines and get discounts. and bar codes are now everywhere. watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups. [ man #1 ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes ever since i was a kid. [ man #2 ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. to design and create the next greatest thi

the presiding officer: the senior senator from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: mr. president, on behalf of the senate armed services committee, i'm pleased to bring s. 1867, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2012, to the senate floor. the armed services committee approved the bill by a unanimous 26-0 vote. this is the 50th consecutive year that our committee has reported a defense authorization act. every previous bill has been enacted into law. i want to thank all the members and the staff of the senate armed services committee for the commitment that they've shown to the best interests of our men and women in uniform as we have developed this legislation. every year we take on tough issues and we work through them on a bipartisan basis, consistent with the traditions of our committee. i want to particularly thank senator mccain, our ranking minority member, for his strong support throughout the process. the unanimous committee vote in favor of this legislation would not have been possible without his cooperation and support. we were delayed in

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michigan to her courtesy. and i yield the floor. ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. first, i want to thank my good friend and colleague from rhode island for his important words on the floor and for indicating that millions and millions of middle-class families and small businesses in this country expect us to figure out a way to make sure that the tax system is fair and that we have the opportunity for everyone to be able to be successful in this country and know that they've got a fair chance to make it and that the rules aren't rigged for just a few folks. and so i want to thank the distinguished senator for his comments and for his leadership in pointing out i think some very important things for a majority of americans and small businesses across the country. i rise today to speak about a very important issue that will be coming before us for a vote that directly relates to jobs. and, mr. president, as you know, that's a pretty big issue for me in michigan. we have over 11% unemployment. i am laser focused on creating jobs and

. >> so, if you ran for senate in new york, i could run for michigan. nken on the floor of the senate. >> jimmy: it would be super fun. >> it would be so cool. like, c-span's ratings would just, like -- you know? >> jimmy: spike. absolutely, yeah. yeah, those sitcoms aren't doing well over on c-span. yeah, they're really rough. >> but, if we just made the senate funny -- >> jimmy: yeah. >> -- at least they'd be doing something. >> jimmy: do you -- what do you think about this whole occupy wall street thing that's going on? >> well, i'm a huge supporter if it. it's been something i've been wishing for for a long time. >> jimmy: yeah. >> and i wondered, you know, just how long would it take before people decided to get up and get involved and say, i can't take this anymore. how many people's lives have really been ruined by these banks and corporate america? so many jobs lost. so many people. so i think that -- and what's great about this movement is that it's just spread like wildfire. and there's no leader. there's no organization. there's no dues to pay

i want to thank my michigan friends and colleagues. i see senator levin and his dear brother, congressman sandy levin. they and their family are great friends going back to before the day that i was even on this earth. my dad was friends of their fathers and grandfathers. to all of you i express my thanks for being here. and express how grateful i am to have friends like you. i've had the privilege of long service with distinguished people, real men and women, people of incredible values and decency. and i value the memories the history and the thoughts. i also am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving as a part of this glorious institution which l of us have reason to love and which is such an important centerpiece to this nation and to its greatness and to its history. and i'm particularly privileged that i can serve here and that i can have the wonderful friendships and personal relationships and that we can be here in an old chamber of the house of representatis with the statues of great americans around us. i'm delighted that i've been ab

where the soldiers come from honoring the aid of your soldiers from the upper peninsula of michigan. senator inhofe for your support of the 45th, your relationship with the oklahoma national guard is one to be emulated as all the other members of the committee and all the distinguished members of this committee it's an honor to be sitting before you today to provide my opening comments on the matter at hand. i added my ear of the chiefs, the vice chairman and the chairman very, very much. i can tell you that our relationship will not be broken by the testimony given here today, and i think them for the honor of letting me be a part of this date as today. mr. chairman, for me to be here today to provide my personal views on whether the chief of the national guard bureau should be a member of the joint chiefs of staff, i'm sitting here be leaving now in the 21st century after three years in the job is the chief of the national guard bureau, and 11 total years serving in the pentagon that it is now in the best interest of the american people for the chief of the national guard to be made a full

say like what we saw in michigan with the bill they were trying to put forth. we had on state senatoritmer yesterday talking about the fact that it lost all of its teeth. >> michigan is bizarre, and i don't think it's really going to serve the purpose of fighting cyber bullying. my sledge lalegislation is very. once and for all we're going to make it a crime. i think we have to get serious and understand that we're in the digital age now. the school yard bully of yesteryear is now the cyber bully of the digital age. we have to treat it as a crime. and my legislation would expand our stalking laws in new york state, make it a class "a" misdemeanor to cyber bully somebody. >> kaicaitlin, when we talk abo the fact that you bring up your own personal experience, does that mean you're casting a wider umbrella that lgtb youth but all people that would be bullied in all walks of life? we're talking the tall kid, the short kid, to the kid that might be perceived as being nerdy as opposed to the kid that might be seen as being a little slow. >> yeah, i think with the internet, it's been the gr

michigan. caller: senator, you say that there was a surplus in social security.fact, 2 million i know you's in government, so there is -- iou's in government, so there is no saving. guest: if you take that argument, this country has a $14 trillion debt, and all the bonds that people hold our just iou's. yes, the government has barred from social security, as it should have. but the argument that it is just an iou -- well, all of our debt is an iou. i do not think that is a strong argument. host: what do you expect the next week to be like in the city? guest: i think the focus will be on the super committee. people will be anxious to know what will be accomplished? i hope they can reach an agreement, but i hope it is an agreement that does not come down and force reductions on the backs of the middle-class and working families. there are ways to do deficit reduction that are fair. i hope the committee reaches the conclusion. host: thank you for being at the table. we are going to take a break. we will be speaking with david abshire, who runs the center for the stu

new calls for investigation into a $70 million government listen going to a michigan plan owned by a russian company, two senatorshing for that probe, republican from indiana, senator coats. senator, what is the deal? >> well, here is one of those situations that does not pass the sniff test. pat toomey and i are trying to get the inexpector -- inspector do a full investigation. is the loan on the up and up or needed? we don't think it is. >>neil: the russians are the last that need special treatment making money hand over fist and they could almost buy and sell us, why would we do anything that would even have a tax advantage for them? >>guest: well, i don't understand that, either. and the fact that this is a russian company, it is located in michigan, the steel they are producing is a special strength steel that is produced at u.s. privately held and publicly held businesses, steel making facilities so we don't understand why they need the loan in the first place. >>neil: i am sure the administration is arguing, we have not heard this, jobs are jobs, securing more in michigan is well worth it. what do you say?

michigan race. also facing recall, republican state senator, russell pierce of arizona. the man who wrote arizona's paper's please law, a very powerful republican controlling the state senate there. his challenger, interestingly, is also a republican. but russell pierce's challenger is a republican who denounced who pierce and jan brewer have done to the state's image with their anti-immigrant legislation and announced it as something akin to alabama 1964. polls only closed in arizona moments ago. we're awaiting on preliminary results in the russell pierce recall. that watched closely around the nation. in iowa, today, a special election could make the whole state go red there. republicans in iowa control the governor's office and the state house and they're only one seat away from tieing with the democrats in the senate. if there is a tie in the senate, the deciding vote is the republican governor. effectively putting all parts of iowa state governance in republican hands. now, the republican governor appointed one democratic senator from a republican leaning district t