to south dakota. but beyond business and government efforts, they're have been thousands of private actions that have been taken by people to help their relatives, friends, neighbors and even strangers to survive these tough times. during this legislative session, we need to do what most south dakotans are doing during these tough times. they are being frugal, yet they are being optimistic. i am proud, and you should be proud, too, that today, hour to reserve fund balances combined are still greater than what they were at the start of my first budget back in 2003. the budget presented to you in december will use 3.1 -- 31.8 million of the 107 million in our two guerini de funds for the 2011 budget. in the two months since we made our revenue projections for 2010 and 2011, some of our key revenue source is have grown, but most are down, which means our structural deficit may actually still be growing. even the weather is interfering by keeping people from shopping during the holiday season. the way to

of the country star record-breaking low temperatures and, listen to this, 31 below in aberdeen, south dakota and 21 below in grand island, nebraska. >>> the freezing temps have even moved to the sunshine state, prompting a run on space heaters. >> i doubt four but i think i'm going to go in and get some more. >> business is booming for florida stores that sell space heaters but the cold snap isn't so good for tourism or orange crops. temperatures will reach into the mid-40s today across parts of central florida. but factor in the windchill and it feels more like the low 30s. >>> police in ohio are looking for two teenage girls who are on the run after they allegedly robbed a bank. police say the teen girls walked into the bank on tuesday, suggested they had a weapon and got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. authorities report that the suspects were described as two girls, one 14 to 16 years old. and the other possibly as young as 12. police are asking for your help, for help from the public to track them down. >>> authorities in new jersey say they've identified and arrested the man w

listen to this. 31 below in aberdeen, south dakota, and 31 below in grand island, nebraska. >>> the freezing temps even moved to the sunshine state, prompting a run on space heaters. >> i bought four but i think i'm going to go in and get some more. >> business is booming for florida stores that sell space heaters. but the cold snap isn't so good for tourism or orange crops. temperatures will reach into the mid 40s today across parts of central florida. but factor in the windchill and it feels more like the low 30s. >>> authorities in new jersey say they've identified and arrested the man who touched off the newark airport security scare. he was taken into custody from his home last night. authorities say he ducked under a security rope on sunday to walk his girlfriend to her plane. when it was reported to security, the terminal was shut down. thousands of passengers had to be rescreened and thousands more trapped on arriving planes. last night jiang was charged with defiant trespass and released. new jersey senator frank lautenberg says his arrest sends a clear message. >> we're pleased tha

people in south dakota know that. i think people in montana know that, but that's why they are so frustrated about this process. they see this thing dragging on and all this don't going on and all these different numbers being thrown out there, but the fact of the matter is we are creating a massive new government entitlement program under health care with all kinds of new spending. financed with tax increases and medicare cuts that are supposed to be used to finance the new health care entitlement but are also being credited to the medicare trust fund and thereby being used for two purposes. you can't do that. but that -- that point is -- is one of the reasons, i think, that most americans become so cynical about washington, d.c. they get very frustrated with what they see is all these -- this washington, d.c., talk and accounting gimmicks and budget techniques that are used to disguise this amount of spending which has led taos where we're having to raise the debt limit by $1.9 trillion. face it, that's the simple r

america's coldest spot, aberdeen, south dakota, minus 31. >> december noins was minus eight today and blown through all $3 million the city budgeted for snow removal, but there, people own winter can coats and gloves, not like meridian, mississippi, winter weather arrived inside the courthouse, the boiler is broken. >> we have to dress in there, but when we have to go down the hall or into the break room it is freezing. it is over our socks. >> many people are just sick of it, this cold has been biting them for more than a week and this time, there is no escaping to florida. tomorrow's low in miami will feel like 24 degrees. jeff. >> glor: well, mark strassmann, braving the cold hat less, thank you very much. north america isn't the only continucontinent shivering toni, mark phillips in london faces the temperature of an icebound europe. >> reporter: britain's fabled green and pleasant land is white and cold, the space shot confirms something everybody on the ground knows. britain and the rest of europe are enduring the longest, deepest cold small in three decades and forecasters say

alexander, the senator from south dakota, mr. thume, and the senator from texas, mr. cornyn. the members of the committee will exit the chamber through the doors. >> madam speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps. [applause] >> madam speaker, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> madam speaker, the president's cabinet. [applause] . .

including their most recent game which was a 75-63 loss with south dakota a week ago.l go to the line. >> ron: early on maryland has done an excellent job at not settling for the long jump shot. everything is some action towards the basket as you see landon attacks >> steve: the terrapins have 12 second chance points and already 11 points off their bench. and james padgett, the freshman from brooklyn getting a terrific opportunity tonight. >> ron: james can be a huge help for maryland if he doesn't get one play run form. if he does just this. get on against new hampshire back on november 20th, is hot again here tonight. basi i's abmmet h!'. be her ug ah! - it. -'m go my b '. 'm th ugh 'm - re - a oh! - anr: an tythi -'m go ept ste iet unti max. first diet colmen. ahh, this is good. >> steve: maryland on top of longwood 44-23 with 7:10 to go in the 1st half. gary williams able to use most of his young players early in this game, as the terps got out to a quick lead. gary -- >> ron: if you're longwood that's what hurts when you get to the foul line and get an opportunity

we had a couple of record lows from south dakota to texas. aberdeen at 31 below zero. 8 degrees in waco, texas. san angelo, your temperature this morning was only 10 dgs. the windchill still well below freezing. 22 below in fargo. winnipeg, 31 below. minneapolis, minus eight. doing better than the 40s and 50s you have been dealing with in the upper midwest. there, you can see the picture as a whole. you can see los angeles, 73 degrees, making you feel warm for about 5 seconds there. 22 in atlanta. 31 degrees is the temperature your body is feeling in orlando. we have been seeing moisture moving in across parts of florida. you combine that with temperatures near the freezing mark. we have been getting some sleet in some of these areas. tampa has been reporting. we have seen a little bit in orlando as well as over towards daytona beach. as that freezing line of the arctic air pushes south, we will start to see more. temperatures, how much cooler are they than knocking, look at that. 28 below your average in springfield. 25 below average in new

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i have an amendment at the desk, and i would ask that it be called up and be made pending. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from south dakota, mr. thune, proposes an amendment numbered 3301. at the appropriate place insert the following -- mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, we enter into this debate about the debt limit today -- and i appreciate the comments of my colleague from new hampshire with respect to the overall picture of our financial, our fiscal condition of the country right now. i think it's important to put that context out there, because we are debating now an amendment, a substitute amendment that the senator from montana is offering. the debt li

the winner, john thune, south dakota senator.k he will not have a serious reelection race and allow him to position to run for president in 2012. bad year, anybody who likes legislative or partisanship, you're going to see little of it as we lead up to 2010. >> a lot of the predictions we make are usually based on taking a trend now and putting it forward and that's why so many predictions have been wrong the past few years. the economy is not going to be nearly as bad as people think it is. i think this is going to be seen as a low point for obama and things are going to get bter as better as the economy approves. house losses for the democrats will be lower than the alarmists predicting. >> you're looking rosie ahead for obama. optimist for obama. gentlemen, pleasure to be with you. thank you for spending sunday morning with us. happy new year 2010. >>> up next we get out of washington as we always do on "state of the union" and ahead go to salt lake city, utah, on our weekly diner discussion on the issues that matter most to y

south dakota for example has been a big leader in this.e's also a movement underfoot by a group of college presidents. i think 135 college president signed a document called the aim of this initiative about the drinking age itself, just recognizing the colleges themselves aren't the frontline particularly for binge drinking. well we in fact have saved quite a number of young people's lives by shifting the drinking age back to 21. in the first place we did it for drinking age on turn and driving. in particular, for distilled spirits. there is this whole prohibition culture going on now on college campuses and that's really troubling. the fact that you have the students who are effectively drinking themselves to death now. because again, there's a social taboo against drinking. and yet, alcohol is easy to get in that kind of the fundamental part of it. and so there's this culture of gosh i don't know when i'm going to get my next drink so therefore i will drink to oblivion. so there's not a responsible drinking culture established on college

about a line from south dakota to minnesota and at one of our meetings, he mentioned they have been working on it for two years and they had very little success in moving it through the federal permitting process and there was a response of a chuckle from people in the audience, essentially suggesting in two years, you could barely started. there is a great frustration. >> what you are saying is the states were working together " for the week to try to find a solution to their regional issue, but because of the federal government, there was a multi-year delay in getting to a point where the issue could be resolved. >> that is the sense of the western states. the federal process is difficult, onerous, and time- consuming. in many cases, there are requirements that do not add any value to the permitting process. we would hope to see something one would recognize those areas that a priority because of the richness of their renewable resources. more than that, recognize that if we are going to meet any requirements for renewable portfolio standards for carbon reduction, we have to do a

america's coldest spot, aberdeen, south dakota, minus 31. des moines was minus 8 today. and has blown through all $3 million of the city budgeted for snow removal. but there, people own winter coats and gloves. not like meridian, mississippi. winter weather arrived inside the courthouse. the boiler is broken. >> we have to dress in layers but when we have to go down the hall or into the break room, it is freezing. it is as though we're outside. >> many people are just sick of it. this cold has been biting them for more than a week and this time, there's no escaping to florida. sunday's low in miami will feel like 24 degrees. mark strassmann, cbs news, marietta, georgia. >>> where do you go to thaw out? >> hawaii. >> that's about it. the bahamas. we always see cruise ships. i'm surprised we don't have one leaving from the marine terminal now today. they're always leaving but the problem is even if you're doing that, you have to dress to get to the ship. wear the heavy coat to get to the ship to go to the bahamas. >> or just run from your car. hope it is quick. >> it is re

places like aberdeen, south dakota and valentine, nebraska are in the negative numbers, minus 33 degreesone reporter was knocked down while trying to show the sustained winds. >> reporter: the windchill, it is just painful. >> well, you can see the person actually trying to hold her up until she was knocked down. pretty nasty weather there. kgw reporter keeley chalmers. no reports of damages or lasting injuries. mostries in hot atlanta, not these days. no match for sleet and ice. slick roads blamed for a massive 29-car pileup. some of the coldest temperatures it has seen in years with the windchill factor this week. it was colder in atlanta than fairbanks, alaska. so the windchill in many areas of the country today, well below freezing, shelters are urging the homeless to stay inside if they can. the salvation army in san antonio, texas, has been delivering coffee and hot cocoa who won't go inside the shelters. the bone-chilling temperatures are too much for some. >> we decided not to end up like this on purpose. because of that, we are having greater success getting them indoors. >> we

check out the record low temperatures in aberdeen, south dakota, negative 31. that's not the windchill factor. that's the actual temperature. it plummeted that far down below zero. waco, texas, eight 8 degrees. it's been 20 years since waco, texas, has dropped down into the single digits. incredible numbers across much of the region and we're still tracking, of course, some very chilly conditions there, as well. we've also been watching the weather in florida. just to let you though that we are looking at snow that's accumulated not even on the windshield. this is from green eyed gem on twitter. it looks like it's sand on a wind cheeld but it's actually snow. snow in ocala, florida. it's been cold in orlando, florida, no snow there but in florida we've had some sleet. look how cold it is. there's actually a half marathon happening right now in orlando. we're expecting the marathon to bring 55,000 runners and yes, we are looking at very cold conditions there across the region. so some very cold temperatures in florida. sleet now has subsided in daytona beach, bu

record-low temperatures were set in five states overnight, including minus 31 degrees in aberdeen, south dakota. snow and ice a dangerous combination here for the drivers in atlanta. the drivers losing control on one of the many slick streets that are coated in black ice there. there's been over two dozen car crashes reported just this place alone. look at that. let's get the latest now from nbc's ron mott. yep, it's still cold there, though the sun's out. is that helping things any? >> reporter: it is helping tremendously, alex. good morning. we're probably within an hour of hitting 20 degrees, but we were just talking with the crew here. it feels so much warmer. we've been out here since about 5:00 a.m. this morning. it was 12 degrees with a windchill of zero at that hour. it's warmed up a little bit here. just to put this in perspective, about 500 or 600 miles south in miami it was 60 degrees at 5:00 a.m. it's now down into the mid-40s with windchills in the 30s in miami. they are not used to that. we are not used to this here. as you mentioned, all this ice yesterday on the roads here, alex

overall jobs or tennessee or iowa growing clean jobs at seven times the rate of the average or south dakota who managed to beat them all with 19 times the job growth and clean energy sector than an overall job growth we know it's common sense and good for our economy when we see billions of dollars going to other countries, many of whom might not have our security interests at heart, and every year we see ourselves despite rhetoric after rhetoric watching of increasing reliance on fossil fuels and on oil that comes from off shore leave us vulnerable. we know that energy independence is a common sense solution for the country and for our national security. but for me most importantly when we see polluted air, when i see water that is literally in parts of the nation today making people sick, when we experience historic routes or in my beloved hometown horrendous historic flooding we know that clean energy is just pure common sense for the environment for reducing climate pollution and confronted once and for all the threat of climate change to the plan that. now some people might think it ma

tod today, south dakota, another very cold spot in the nation, in between, as you said, tough travelwing snow, storms hitting the plains. in fact, so bad that governor tim pawlenty activated the minnesota national guard to be on standby in case of possible emergency situations. thankfully, this weather is getting better, but this cold remains, and a lot of people out here are having to brave these cold temperatures. here in waterville, minnesota, you can see some of the ice fishermen who are out. and yet, they're glad for the cold weather because it means this lake is frozen over well. two feet of ice, alex. so, they are able to drive their pickups on this ice now. >> i know, i told you i was nervous about that. any cause for concern? i mean, there's nothing to say it's going to warm up a little bit and then some car could go, plop? >> reporter: not a chance of that. we are just out in one of the fish houses and it's unbelievably thick. but boy, i'll tell you, this cold weather, that does the trick. so, no worries here. >> okay. well, that's good. i want to keep everyone safe and sou

it has been sometimes as we have had that south dakota. we are very independent.an probably approach this issue may be more dispassionately than most since it is not something that we have in our state. of a commodity with all the stimulus money we could get some. that would be nice. i want to say that it is an opportunity, obviously. the funding has been made available for high-speed rail in the president's budget, not on the stimulus money, but also the other 5 billion that is in the next annual appropriation cycles. i also would argue that it poses some risks to be degradable chanted for advancing high-speed corridor development, but it is also a great financial risk. not wisely carried out. this is the key area that i am most interested in hearing about from today's witnesses. hands the government generally does the course job. one common result is the money gets spread thinly over a wide range of projects. as a result none of them actually gets done correctly or quickly. or the government uses soft criteria that results in choosing and viable or unsustainable

i know having grown up in sioux falls, south dakota, it sure would've been nice to take in a 40 or 60rainride to minneapolis for mike thanksgiving or a vikings game. but instead of stucco mini blizzard because we had to travel by car. these systems will be costly to design, fun to construct, but we can do this. this is the united states of america. mr. chairman, and three policy changes for this policy to consider in the new authorization. first, we must agree upon a bold new vision and make the cultural shift in the way we do transportation. a vision the american public can invest in and believe in an includes passenger rail that connects america much like the eisenhower interstate highway system did. we must do it today. we must do today what our parents and their grandparents did for us. invest in a new vision. reform the current program and revolutionize the way we do transportation policy and funding. second, we must reduce the time it takes to deliver a rail project in this country. twenty years a new starts is just too long. we need to get our projects delivered in three to fiv

overall jobs for tennessee or iowa, growing clinch of set seven times the rate of the average or south dakota who managed to beat them all with 19 times the job growth in the clean energy sector than the overall job growth, we know it is common sense and good for our economy. win we see billions of dollars going to let the country's many of whom might not have our security interests at heart and every year see ourselves despite rhetoric after rhetoric, watching are increasing reliance on fossil fuels and on oil that comes from offshore, leave us vulnerable we know that energy and independence is a common-sense solution for our country and for national security. but for me most importantly when we see polluted air and dicey water that is literally in parts of our nation today making people sick, and when we experience six historic drought sword my beloved hometown her in this historic flooding we know that clean energy is just pure common sense for our environment for reducing climate pollution, reducing other pollution and confronting once and for all the threat of climate change to our clima

of ranking, the states in the worst category having fewer than half of these 15 basic laws are south dakota with only three of the laws, arizona, north dakota, wyoming, va., vt., pennsylvania, ohio, and nebraska. as i said earlier, it does not make sense in this area we have virginia, which is a red state, bordered by the district, which is our top area in the green category and maryland with a green rating, when all the thousands of people every day across between those dates, yet there are not covered by the same important traffic safety laws. in ohio, the governor included a primarily -- a primary enforcement seat belt law this year. in a conference on the budget bill, it was stripped out. as a result, hyatt dropped to the red category. we're hopeful the government -- the governor will try again to get a high primary enforcement seat belt law. the report clearly raises the question of what can we do to accelerate adoption of traffic safety law. timing is everything in the time is right to increase pressure on states and put pressure on congress to take a leadership role. congress has suc

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. johnson: madam president, i rise in support of the reconfirmation of chairman ben bernanke to serve another term as chairman of the federal reserve board of governors. as the administration and song continue to look for ways to restore our nation's financial stability for economic recovery and work on the legislation to ensure that another economic crisis like the one we faced last year never happens again, we need chairman bernanke's steady leadership. while there has certainly been criticism of the federal reserve for not doing enough to protect consumers and for unprecedented actions it took during the financial crisis, there is also consensus that mr. bernanke kept the nation out of a depression and has kept inflation in check. as our nation recovers and faces additional challenges in the months ahead, there is no doubt that having one of the world's foremost experts on the great dpletion at the helm of the fed is a benefit to our nation, but it cannot be business as usual for the

they're not going to run, it opens up opportunities for republicans, especially what is it, in south dakota? >> in north dakota. >> north dakota. >> well, you know, they look alike on the map and great places and very different. but byron dorgan was a long-term senator and congressman, he had been in congress since 1980. this was a shock that he dropped out. and look, he didn't drop out in isolation, he had an extremely tough opponent coming in the governor, john hoven of north dakota, a republican governor of north dakota in public and private polls, hoven was destroying dorgan, 20 points or more. so i think that played into his decision regardless of what he says publicly and i don't care who the democrats run now in north dakota, my crystal ball has put that seat solidly in the republican column. the governor will win that seat so long as he runs. >> brian: well, swammee sabato take a look at the crystal ball and tell me your long range predictions how it's going to play out. >> i think republicans right now are on track to pick up about 27 house seats, on track to pick up three or four

montana, south dakota, north dakota, wyoming.the list goes on of special deals that were carved for special reasons, and the latest, of course, is the incredible, incredible action concerning unions being exempt from taxes that nonunion members will now have to pay in greater numbers. how do you justify favoring one group of americans -- this is union members -- for any reason other than you owe them political favors? and they have political influence? and so the -- so the negotiating went from the back rooms here to the back rooms in the white house. the same -- the same president that said that c-span in a completely transparent process would prevail here so the american people would know who is on the side of the pharmaceutical companies, who probably got the best sweetheart deal of anybody in this whole process. so, mr. president, i believe that the majority of the american people that said according to polling data, 48% of massachusetts voters said that health care was the single issue driving their vote, and 39% said they v

of ranking, the states in the worst category having fewer than half of these 15 basic laws are south dakotaith only three of the laws, arizona, north dakota, wyoming, va., vt., pennsylvania, ohio, and nebraska. as i said earlier, it does not make sense in this area we have virginia, which is a red state, bordered by the district, which is our top area in the green category and maryland with a green rating, when all the thousands of people every day across between those dates, yet there are not covered by the same important traffic safety laws. in ohio, the governor included a primarily -- a primary enforcement seat belt law this year. in a conference on the budget bill, it was stripped out. as a result, hyatt dropped to the red category. we're hopeful the government -- the governor will try again to get a high primary enforcement seat belt law. the report clearly raises the question of what can we do to accelerate adoption of traffic safety law. timing is everything in the time is right to increase pressure on states and put pressure on congress to take a leadership role. congress has succe

host: rapid city, south dakota, linda on the republican line. caller: i would like to get a message to the people of massachusetts from the rest of us out here -- please vote scott brown into office and remember, you are not voting republican and to the senate, what you are doing is helping the rest of us tell this government that you are out of control. you want to run our lives. you want to tell us exactly what to do and we are just are not going to do it. isn't it amazing that all of this is starting in one of the original 13 colonies -- virginia and new jersey and now massachusetts. host: when did you start paying attention to the special election? caller: when it started. host: have you contributed financially and otherwise? caller: no, i have not, it is up to the people of massachusetts. host: what sparked interest? caller: everybody is starting to wake up and see what happens. -- and see what happens. this government wants to control every aspect of our lives and we did not want to do it anymore. host: this is from "the washington post."

if you are in south dakota where you are airing a lot more ads -- it can get up to 15% or 20%. are spending a million dollars you would like to be under $100,000 of production costs. a day of shooting, we are union signatories so we only use union crews around the country. we fly in, one person who will bring it in. that kicks the cost down. we are looking at $25,000 for a day of shooting. depending on the equipment you use and the cost of the crew talent. and the cost of making the ads in the editing phase. $6,000 per add to $8,000. it depends on the special effects. then the card being handed from room to room with him talking. video tracking, and more expensive way of making an ad. most consultants make a percentage of the medium, the amount that is allocated for spending on the air. that is how we get paid. the more at you make the more expensive it gets. we need to factor that into the budget because that is not an insignificant amount. [inaudible] >> it depends. we have a library of stuff we have shot over the years that we can sometimes applied to different campaigns, th

. >> the senator from south dakota. >> madam president, i raise and support of the reconfirmation as chairman ben bernanke to serve another term as chairman of the federal reserve board of governors. as the administration and congress continue to look for ways to restore our nations financial stability, from what academic recovery and work on legislation to ensure that another economic crisis like the one we saw last year never happens again, we need chairman bernanke's leadership. while there has certainly been criticism about the federal reserve for not doing enough to protect consumers and for unprecedented actions that took during that financial crisis. there is also consensus that mr. bernanke kept the nation out of the depression and has kept inflation in check. as the recession recovers and the challenges in the months ahead, there is no thought that one of the world's foremost experts of the great depression is a benefit to our nation. but it cannot be business as usual for the fed. like many banks and wall street, the fed must be more transparent the federal reserve cannot j

ranking, the state's and the worst category having fewer than half of these 15 phasic laws ars south dakota, has only three of the laws, arizona, north dakota, wyoming va vermont pennsylvanians ohio and nebraska, and as i said earlier, in the interview it doesn't make sense in this area where you have virginia which is now red state bordered by the district which is our top area, district of columbia in our green category in maryland with a green rating when all of the thousands of people every day to cross between those states and yet they are not covered by the same important traffic safety laws. in ohio governor ted strickland included a primary enforcement seatbelt law and his budget bill this year, and in the conference on the budget bill it was stripped down as a result of that ohio dropped to the read category and we are hopeful that governor strickland will try again to get ohio the primary enforcement seatbelt lauper cow the report clearly raises the question of what can we do to accelerate state adoption of traffic safety laws? timing is everything in the time is right now to incr

like skelton of missouri, john murtha of pennsylvania, john dingell of michigan, john spratt is a south dakota and leon croswell fallujah among others. yes, says chris cillizza, we know some of these members said recently the plan to run for reelection. we also know that an event like the republican victory massachusetts can change a lot in the mines in a hurry. remi cow is joining from pittsburgh california. democrats line. go ahead, please. >> caller: first all i want to congratulate senator brown. he has my vote and when he decides to be the president of the united states, i voted for president obama last year and i'm very disappointed with the way this whole health care issue has been going on. first of all we need to have an open-door policy where we are making such decisions because it affects people now is making the decision but the rest of the united states public. and the way i see a senator brown defends the constitution of the united states and as a democrat, i'm going to be switching my vote when he decides to run for president. >> host: you are looking at a scene from earlier thi

second, an amendment by the senator from south dakota on tarp. and third, an amendment by this senator to protect social security. we anticipate that the senators from north dakota and new hampshire will be offering their amendment to create a budget commission sometime midday today. i am hopeful that the senate can schedule votes on my social security amendment, the conrad-gregg commission amendment, and perhaps the pending thune amendment as well early this afternoon. and we are hopeful that we can continue to process amendments with the goal of wrapping this legislation up early next week. before i take a few moments to describe the amendment i offered yesterday to protect social security, i suggest the chair recognize the senator from utah, who wishes to address the senate. the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from utah. mr. bennett: thank you, madam president, and i thank the chairman of the finance committee, senator baucus, for his courtesy. he has always been most accommodating for those of us, even those of us who disa

south dakota? caller: wish you guys would put on one of the eye-witnesses that saw how he got a government. an attorney from taylor, michigan, he has his own law firm and he was in earshot. there was another man with his underwear bomber and this other man did all the talking. he went up to the ticket agent and told them this guy doesn't have a passport to get on the plane but he is a refugee and would like to beat him on board and woman, said, no we can't do that and he said well we do this all the time. i'd like to talk to one of your superiors and they hustleed the two off and he never saw them again until after this event happened and none of the media wants to cover this. if there's any dispute about it all they have to do is get the surveillance tape out and that should be easy to solve. looks to me like another government operation to me and they were ready to sell all the body scammers. it really smells to high heaven as far as i'm concerned. host: chairman of the national committee wrote a

president, i yield the floor and, again, i would i want to thank the senator from south dakota for his courtesy and the senator from the other side.

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. federal reserve board of governors. as the administration and song continue to look for ways to restore our nation's financial stability for economic recovery and work on the legislation to ensure that another economic crisis like the one we faced last year never happens again, we need chairman bernanke's steady leadership. while there has certainly been criticism of the federal reserve for not doing enough to protect consumers and for unprecedented actions it took during the financial crisis, there is also consensus that mr. bernanke kept the nation out of a depression and has kept inflation in check. as our nation recovers and faces additional challenges in the months ahead, there is no doubt that having one of the world's foremost experts on the great dpletion at the helm of the fed is a benefit to our nation, but it cannot be business as usual for the fed. like many banks on wall street, the fed must be more transparent and more accountable for its actions. the federal reserve can

south as florida. and the u.s./mexico border and in the great plains, it is dangerous to even be outside. it was 34 degrees below zero this morning in pol pollock, so dakota and far south of there, 8 degrees in waco, texas. these folks here in indiana have a lot of work ahead of them as they try to keep up with all of the snow that has fallen there. oh, gosh, that is the worst, isn't it, trying to shovel snow across the country? at least nine deaths are being blamed on the snow and the ice and the cold. so the big question is -- when is that warmup going to happen? when will it feel next cold, jacqui jeras? >> early next week. >> cracks me up. >> i know. have you to put it in perspective. it's winter, right. this is impacting so many people. this is two-thirds of the country, easily 60% plus of the population. when we're not hitting a lot of records, we could start seeing some records for having a prolonged period of cold weather in places like maybe gainesville, florida and across much of the deep south. so today our big focus of the cold weather and the arctic air mass is what's happening across florida. and this is hitting at places that don't see this

survey, you generally need if it's a small state, an at-large state -- north dakota, for instance, south dakota, vermont although vermont's not a swing state in this case, obviously, or -- montana. you would need to do at least 400 interviews. if it's a larger state the, you know, kind of a small to medium-sized state, you'd want to do 500 interviews, 600 for the next tier up. california, florida size you'd want to do l800. what max talked about is doing, you know, five key states. you might do a thousand interviews. you can't really look at the data per state, but you can say among these swing states, here's where the electorate comes down. and, yes, that would be less expensive than doing five 500-sample surveys because three things effect surveys. number one is the sample size. the larger the sample, the more it costs. obviously. so the difference between doing 500 in a state, you know, and doing 900 in a state it's not -- well, let me make the math simpler for myself right now. the difference between doing 400 and 500 in a state, if you're doing 500, that's 25% more interviews. the cost isn

was a sh to buy snow sled in this countr bismarck, north dakota, had wind chillof 50 below zero f a second day. thdeep freeze extended as far south as flori. and schools closed in at lst ten states vice-presidentoe biden's mother, jean biden, died tod in wilmiton, delaware. she had been seriouslyll in recent day then-senator bidenaid tribute to his mother at the democrac tional convention in 2008 as she looked on. >> you kw, my mom taught her children-- all the childn who flocked to our house that you are defined by your see of honor, and youre redeemed by your loyalty. she believes that bravery ves every heart, and her expectation is that it wl be summoned. >> sreenivasan: jeaniden was 92 yrs old. the vi-president's father passed away in 2002. the univerty of alabama celebrat today after winning college football's nationa championship last night. the crson tide beat the texas longhorns at the rose wl in pasadena, california. the star quartback for texas, colt mccoy, waknocked out of the game early. after thatalabama dominated the first half, and then sved off a late rally by texato win 37-21. it was alabama first title nce 1992.

you might expect that in north dakota, but the cold stretch is all the way from the plains and eastern united states all the way into the deep south. like i said, 8 in oxford last night. rick is in the extreme weather center. man, it's extreme. this is off the hook. >> you feel like it's been a cold winter so far in the northeast, shep? >> not like oxford? >> exactly. 16 is the coldest we've been in new york city. 8 in oxford. this is odd. it will be worse across parts of florida over the next two days before we see any break. the wind chills still right now into the minus teens. it will be minus 30 or so across some of the plains tonight. all of this cold air diving down across the south. here is our departures from where we should be. still around -- not departure. minus teens once again across parts of the plains. tomorrow into sunday morning, we still have it. look at monday morning. a bit of a break. it's still cold. we have a very long weekend to get through in florida. then we're going to start to see big pattern shift and next week a lot of people will thaw. 50-degree warm up in the plains and could t could mean a little s

way down to the south, we're looking at teens and 20s, that's extremely cold for places like florida. as you mentioned. now we saw this morning a number of record low as cross the dakotas and into minnesota. the coldest windchill reading was 54 below zero in granite falls, minnesota. we're starting to see 20s and 30s begin to develop across the region. i talked a minute about how dangerous that is and how long it will take you to get frostbite. i posted this on my facebook page if you're interested. we're looking at 15 to 30 minutes to receive frostbite with those brutally cold temperatures. we have another system bringing wintery conditions to the northeast. this is bringing in some very strong winds, and this system is actually doing what we call retrogra retrograding, it's moving backward, toward the coast. that's why the winds are going to pick up in intensity throughout the night and pick up during the day tomorrow. the worst of the snow will be here along i-95 and in land, that's where we're expecting to see a good foot of snow or so. the winds are going to be strong all over the place. we've had a lot of delays at some of the airports in the northeast, a lot of

south where we aring lo aring -- are looking at teens and 20s. in florida as you mentioned a number of record lows in minnesota and across 2 the dakotas, and the windchills across great falls, minnesota, and we are seeing the 20s and 30s developing across the region. we talked about how dangerous that is and how long it will take you to be frost bit. i posted this windchill chart on my facebook page if you are interested n. this range, we are looking at 15 to 30 minutes with those kinds of temperatures so brutally, brutally cold. that is all due to an arctic high pressure system. now, we have another system we are dealing with that is bringing in the low pressure and the snow conditions across the northeast. that is the same pesky low bugging us late in the week last week including the new year's eve plans in the northeast. this is bringing in some strong winds and the system is actually doing what we call retrograding and moving backwards toward the coast. that is why the winds are going to pick up in intensity for tonight and continue throughout much of the day tomorrow. now, the worst of the snow is going to be somewhere along here along i-95 and inla

dakota. it is expected to reach, get this, 43 degrees below zero when the windchill is factored in, some new low temperatures expected as far south as florida across the midwest and we will get the forecast from msnbc meteorologist, bill karins in just a moment. >>> snow and ice a dangerous combination in atlanta. can you believe that? here it is, you don't want to see that. a sheet of ice. the driver in the pickup truck lost control, it's one of many slick streets coated in black ice there. we should let you know the driver in these incidents have been all shaken up but they're okay. you can watch this stuff, can you imagine being on the top of that road and seeing that coming at you? scary. there have been over two dozen car crashes we're showing you right there and bill karins has more. >> good morning, alex. a historic morning in central florida. believe it or not, we're getting reports of snow and sleet from areas from tampa and just outside of downtown orlando. this doesn't happened, i lived there for five years myself, never saw anything like this. orlando international airport has a temperature of 32 degrees. we're gettin

dakota, it is expected to reach 34 degrees below zero. that's when you factor in the windchill. new low temperatures are expected as far south as florida, across the midwest, and out west. we're going to have the forecast in a moment. snow and ice were a dangerous combination in atlanta. we can't get enough of looking at this video. can you imagine being at the top of that hill, that incline and seeing a sheet of black ice below you and cars to boot? yeah. fortunately we can report there were no serious accidents other than the damage done to the cars there. a lot of insurance adjusters being called today. and over two dozen car crashes reported overall. bill karins has more. bill, good morning. >> good morning, alex. a historic morning in central florida. we're getting reports of snow and sleet from areas in tampa, just outside of downtown orlando. this just doesn't happen. i lived there for five years myself, never saw anything like this. look at the temperature. orlando international airport, a temperature of 32 degrees. and we're getting rain and sleet and snow mixed in all through central florida. look at the winter rad