byrd 436 years in the senate, almost longer than any other senator. would you please join me in getting a west virginia welcome to the vice president of the united states, joe biden. [applause] >> bishop, reverend clergy, good morning, margaret, the entire byrd family. if you didn't already know it, it's pretty clear they incredible esteem your father was healthy. i know you have known that your whole life. to my fellow members of the senate, you know, i was on the president when i got elected, the last time, a great honor of running with the president, i was elected vice president and united states senator the same day, my seventh term. and in talking to, and i got sworn in for the seventh term because we thought we might need a vote there in those first couple of weeks. and every time i sat with the leader, i never called senator byrd sender. i always called him later. when i sat with the leader, i could see that look in his face and he said, joe, are you sure you're making the right decision getting at the senator for vice president? [laughter] >> s

not sending more proposals to the senate, but putting the bill this that the senate has passed to the president's desk for approval as law tomorrow. to that end, i wonder if the proponent, the gentleman from wisconsin, would yield to me for a unanimous consent request and i will tell you what it is in the hopes he'll let me pro pound it. i would like to ask unanimous consent that the senate amendments be considered as withdrawn in favor of a motion to concur in the senate amendment and woy ask the gentleman if he would yield to me for that purpose. will you permit me to have a clean vote on funding to support the troops? the silence on the other side is deafening. no ability to cast a vote to pass a bill that would go to the president. mr. obey: the senate amend the the house bill which was a disaster bill. if you want a clean vote, we would be voting on the disaster bill tonight, not the war. mr. latourette: my understanding of where we are is that the senate hollowed house a bill, you don't have a motion to recommit and you have denied the members of this house the opportunity to ca

when does the senate need to have a vote? >> i think realistically for us to get a bill to the president for signature, the senate will have to pass something that it could go to conference with the house on before we take the august break. >> and how far are you going to -- how hard are you going to be working to make that happen and what do you envision doing to make that happen? >> well, i've been advocating for moving ahead with the energy legislation. we've come out of our committee with for some time now, and i continue do that and ink realistically senator reid has pressure on him to bring a lot of different things to the floor, and i understand that. and he is going to have to choose which items to bring up, how much time to devote to them on the senate floor. that is a very difficult job, and i do not envy him that job. but i think, if we're going to get legislation to the president for signature, in this congress, i think the senate is going to have to act before the august recess. >> we have time for a couple more q

byrd 436 years in the senate, almost longer than any other senator. me in getting a west virginia welcome to the vice president of the united states, joe biden. [applause] >> bishop, reverend clergy, good morning, margaret, the entire byrd family. if you didn't already know it, it's pretty clear they credible esteem your father was healthy. i know you have known that your whole life. to my fellow members of the senate, you know, i was on the president when i got elected, the last time, a great honor of running with the president, i was elected vice president and united states senator the same day, my seventh term. and in talking to, and i got sworn in for the seventh term because we thought we might need a vote there in those first couple of weeks. and every time i sat with the leader, i never called senator byrd sender. i always called him later. when i sat with the leader, i could see that look in his face and he said, joe, are you sure you're making the right decision getting at the senator for vice president? [laughter] >> s. senator snowe, he reve

on energy and climate change and president obama parent -- apparently said he would like to see the senate passed legislation that requires companies to pay for the rights to emit greenhouse gases. what does the president need to do to get such a bill passed? >> i think he is doing all he is able to do at this point. the meeting was a very useful meeting. he encouraged us to work together to try to come up with a bill that could get bipartisan support and could pass the senate. that was his main focus. i think he has said again that he would like this to be comprehensive legislation and he would like to deal not only with eneegy but climate change. he is certainly aware we have some real disagreement in the senate over what the elements of the bill might be. he understands political life and writing legislation is a matter of give-and-take. >> there has been some discussion among members about the possibility of scaling back this bill. not trying to regulate greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy, maybe restricting it to targeting electric utilities. could you support such an a

as i introduce a carte, he will join the united states senate as the youngest senator serving. it is only be fitting that he is replacing the most beloved, the most historic figure that the senate has ever known, and who happen to be the oldest when the good lord took him. what a tremendous signal i think that shows of west virginia, but what a tremendous opportunity that we have that we passed this torch to another generation. i continually have encouraged and pushed young people to get involved in public service. now we are growing to pass that george to someone of a generation that will have an opportunity to lead west virginia in the future. i want to thank each and everyone of you for being here today. i want to thank all of them and of you who have helped in this process. i want to thank every west virginian who has been so patient, and i hope they understand that we wanted to do it right for one purpose and one reason only, and one man, and one man only, robert c. byrd. i think we have honored him as we showed our respect. i think the nation honored him and i know that wa

in, in front of the united states senate and the world. right after that, because cart goodwin will make the 60th vote in what is a necessary piece of legislation, we will take up and pass unemployment compensation. [applause] it's a remarkable symbol of who cart is, how important the senate is he is a united states senator. there have not been more than 1800 united stits senator in he probably won't have the biggest home base at the beginning. he way have to walk up one floor to get to the first flow. none of that makes any difference. in the senate. that's why the word soonor, junior never meant anything. it is what do you know, can you express yourself, are you can you reach across the aisle, can you ifpk it's super official, really. senator cart good wiven he will have all the powers of dan or any of the senior members of the senate. that's important that you understand that. he is a united states senator, pure and simple. now a moment on cart goodwin. i'm thrilled that he's a pointed. the find. various members of the goodwin family. i

not sending more proposals to the senate, but putting the bill this that the senate has passed to the president's desk for approval as law tomorrow. to that end, i wonder if the proponent, the gentleman from wisconsin, would yield to me fr a unanimous consent request and i will tell you what it is in the hopes he'll let me pro pound it. i would like to ask unanimous consent that the senate amendmts be considered as withdrawn in favor of a motion to concur in the senate amendment and woy ask the gentleman if he would yield to me for that purpose. will you permit me to have a clean vote on funding to support the troops? the silence the other side is deafeng. ability to cast a vote to pass a bill that would go to the president. mr. obey: the senate amend the the house bill which was a disaster bill. if you want a clean vote, we would be voting on the disaster bill tonight, not the war. mr. latourette: my understanding of where we are is that the senate hollowed house a bill, you don't have a motion to recommit and you have denied the members of this house the opportunity to cast an up or

the senators are wrong. cannot afford to go back to the same misguided policies that led us into this mess. we need to move forward with the policies that are leading us out of this mess. the fact is that most economists agree that extending unemployment insurance is one of the single-most cost-effective ways to help jump-start the economy. it puts money into the pockets of folks who not only need it most, but we're also most likely to spend it quickly. that boost local economy. that means jobs. increasing loans to small business, renewing unemployment insurance, these steps are not just the right thing to do for those hardest-hit by the recession, but they are the right thing to do for all of us. i'm calling on congress, once more, to take these steps on behalf of america's workers and their families and small business owners -- the people we were sent here to serve. because when storms strike ministry, we do not play politics with emergency aid, we do not desert our fellow americans when they fall on hard t

as i introduce him, i want you know that he will join the senate as the youngest senator. he is replacing the most beloved the most historic neigh the senate has ever known and who happened to be the oldest when the good lord took him. what a tremendous -- what a tremendous signal i think that shows of west virginia. but what a tremendous opportunity that we have that we passed this torch to another generation. you know, i continuously have been couraging and pushing young people to get involved in public service. and now we're able to pass that torch to somebody of the generation that hopefully will have the opportunity to lead west virginia in the future. i want to thank each and every one of you for being here today. i want to thanking all of them and all of you who have helped through this process. i want to thank every west virginiaian who have been so patient. i hope they understand that we wanted to do it right for one purpose and one purpose on only and one man and one man only, robert c. byrd. i think we've honored him as we showed our respect. i think the nation h

the nomination is pending before the full senate. some democrats have called for the vote be taken before the august recess. here are some of the senator's remarks and the vote by the judiciary committee. we begin with chairman pat leahy and ranking member jeff sessions. this is about one hour. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> good morning. i would note before we start, at the end of this hearing, we were all trying to rearrange things so many of us, both parties, could attend the funeral of the longest-serving member of the united states senate, senator byrd, and many members of this committee were there. i know that in the i know that senators cardin and schumer and kaufman stepped in to take the gavel. i want to thank them especially, but i want to thank all senators, republican and democratic alike, for the amount of time that you spend here. democratic senators alike, for the amount of time you spend here. i should note, at the sake of possibly emb

but the thing about the united states senate is the new senator from inexpensive state, that vote counts just as much as a new senator from an expensive state. so we'll have to make a practical decision as we approach the election on where we can pick up additional seats. >> in arizona, john mccain seems to have a substantial lead over his primary challenger. you've been in the senate eight years. you know john mccain. you've seen different incarnations. you need to do what you need to do to get reelected but what do you make of the old john mccain, the new john mccain? >> i must say, since the 2008 presidential election, senator mccain has been a strong and loyal leader of the republican opposition. and i think he's been outstanding. and of course he's in addition to being a hero in his own right, he is one of our leaders on national security issues. i think he has taken this primary race seriously, as he should, and i think given it the sort of attention it deserves. i think the numbers are reflective of that leading by 10 or more points against j.d. hey worth. and i think hell win wit

as i introduce cart, i wanted to know that he will join the united states senate as the youngest senator serving. it is only fitting that he is replacing the most beloved and the most historic figure that the senate has ever known and who happened to be the oldest when the good lord can. what a tremendous signal i think that shows for west virginia and what a tremendous opportunity that we have a that we pass this torch to another generation. we encourage young people to get involved in public service and now we're able to pass that torch to the generation that will have the opportunity to leave it was virginia in the future -- to lead west virginia in the future. i want to thank all of you who have helped in this process. i hope you understand that we do this for one person only. robert c. byrd. i think that we honor him as we show our respect. i know that the -- that today, we honor him-that the senate has just finished business and has a bill for rose. -- has a bill for us. we will have a proper way on how we hold an election. the people will make this election and it should be the pe

the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 1376, cited as international adoption simplification act in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind the house that on july 24, 1998, at 3:40 p.m., officer jacob j. chestnut and he detective john n. gibson of the united states capitol police were killed in the line of duty defending the capitol against an intruder armed with a gun. at the appropriate point today, the chair will recognize the anniversary of this tragedy by observing a moment of silence in their memory. the chair will entertain up to 10 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maine rise? ms. pingree: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. today i introduced a bill that will make it easier for schools to buy food. we have moved further and further away of feeding our children hea

the senate declined to act on it. we proposed smaller packages on two occasions since then, and both of them -- could we have order, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman makes a point of order that the house is not in order. indeed, the house is not in order. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: about a month ago, we offered a $23 billion package aimed at trying to save teachers' jobs, teachers who are otherwise going to be laid off because of the severe economic conditions in virtually every state in the union except a few states like north dakota and south dakota. we now bring before the house a bill which reflects what we have been asked to do by a great many members. it attempts to provide a much smaller aid package to keep those teachers on the job, about $10 billion and it tains a few other small items, including almost $5 billion in additional pell grant funds for some 87,000 students who are going to need them badly. we were also asked to provide offsets, and so we have done that. we

the senate is also in today. the white house is saying that the president will quickly sign the measure, and will also sign the financial regulatory overhaul bill. british prime minister david cameron is leaving washington. he will be in new york today. we are back tomorrow morning for "washington journal" 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we take you to the floor of the u.s. house of representatives for today's morning business. live coverage here on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, reverend herbert brook, st. john missionary baptist church, joliet, illinois. the chaplain: our heavenly father and creator, we acknowledge your presence and power on this day. today, lord, we ask your blessings upon this house of government and remind us of your word. the government shall be a soldier. we humbly ask, lord, to guide them, direct them, rest

the senate is out to honor senator byrd. and reporter from politico has written about the historic honor that the senate is giving to one of its own today. thanks so much for being with us. lying in reposed honor that the senate is granting to senator byrd today is one that has been used before but not for about 50 years. what can you tell us about the history? guest: this is a pretty rare occurrence. has not happened in 50 years. the last senator to lie in repose was senator joe mccarthy back in 1957. lying in repose in the senate is slightly different than lying in state, the honor that most people are most familiar with. lying under the capitol rotunda would take an act agreed to buy votes of the house and the senate, whereas senator votes -- senator byrd will be lying just in the senate. there was talk earlier that maybe he would lie in the rotunda but because of his 51 years of service and the senate and his deep attachment to that particular body, it's inappropriate to the family and also to senate leadership to have hi

as members of the united states senate. we are political animals and we know how to answer questions and maybe not answer questions. i think of the reference that the senator made to justice sotomayor and her positions on the second amendment. but it could be that committee promises are as reliable as campaign proms and we need to look at more. who would have been able to predict at a who would serve as an attorney representing the mayor clinic, the role he would play in the case of row versus waed our justice stevens, if i am not mistaken from nomination by gerald ford it was a matter of weeks. and justice stevens was appro approved. here was a chicago attorney considered a republican business attorney whom few people would have guessed would play the role that he does today on the supreme court. the same thing is true with justice sutors. appeared to be a conservative north nevada backwoods lawyer. we know what she will be. look at the role she played at the end of her career. the deciding vote and key questions and people

these people make -- the senate average is what? the planet, you have to live off of $14,000.400 -- $14,400 a year. every republican since reagan has ran at the deficit. where is the concern about paying for things and balancing the budget and bring about the deficit? host: stimulating on employment. they argue that if you cannot create any jobs, pay people not to work. the one possibility the president and congressional democrats will not entertain is that their own spending, taxing, and labor union favoritism has become a hindrance to job creation. that is in "the wall street journal" editorial this morning. independent line. caller: i agree with the last caller. when you give the unemployment benefits who are now working, they will help the economy in the long run by paying their bills, going to the supermarkets, shopping. my personal opinion as far as paying for the unemployment benefits, the tax cuts that were pet -- passed for the rich, let them expire. once that expires, that amount will offset whenever unemployment benefits

and it came in the reconciliation package that came from the senate. there was the one that had to do with the last component of obamacare that i spoke about 40 minutes ago. the reconciliation has in it the elimination of private sector student loans, all of them now go through the united states department of education. the federal government has taken overall of the student loans in america. now, i don't know if anybody can give me an example of when the federal government got involved in a business to provide competition and didn't involve getting swallowed up. i can give you two, flood insurance. when i entered high school, zero percent of the flood insurance in america was government. 100% was private. well, some -- by the time i got out of high school or some years after that, 100% of the flood insurance in america is government. there is no private. zero. it wiped out the private sector flood insurance competition. and we have seen it happen with the student loan program. we don't thri there is a legitimate marketplace. we'll get the private secto

general petraeus was unanimously confirmed by the senate. he is on his way to kabul to take over the command and we are debating a rule that will delay further the money that those troops need over there. sunday is the 4th of july. george washington on the 9 of july in 1776 was so impressed by that declaration ofndependence that he had all of the continental army come to ranks and have that document read to them. we're going to be reminded again of that sunday. and how important it is for us to follow our commander in chief to give our troops the things they need. the -- mr. dreier: i would like to yield an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mckeon: i wish we could have him here now and see the letter he would probably send to us accusing us of digittering while the troops are putting their lives on the line. we could defeat this rule. this afternoon, turn it right around, pass the bill that the senate already passed and have the money on the way to the troops next week. i ask my colleagues to ple

did you get the most electable candidate in nevada? senator reed just said he is up seven points now. he has been attacking sharron angle for being outside the mainstream. can she get elected? >> the best indication is can you get elected and she got elected in the primary. and you can't win a general if you can't get elected in the primary. she is our nominee. we are working closely with her and her team to prepare her for what is going to be a carpet bombing of negative ads. that is the only way that harry reid can get reelected. >> where does she need for more preparation? i know she's been criticized in not talking to the media enough. >> i think part of this is going to be incredible scrutiny that comes with being the opponent for the majority leader of the united states senate. of course, with all of the outside interest groups that will comb through every trash can and every bit of a record, every statement she ever made, it is only reasonable to say, you need to get prepared to deal with that kind of negative onslaught of attention. ou

you'll also see some of the senate debate from leaders of the banking committee. senators chris dodd and richard shelby. the senate judiciary committee votes on the supreme court nomination of elena kagan next thursday. members were scheduled to consider the nomination this week, but committee republicans asked for a week's delay. live coverage on c-span 3 at 10:00 a.m. eastern. . . >> good morning, everybody. we have been advised by the floor that there will be of vote on financial reform legislation. so while we are awaiting the arrival of lisa jackson, i am going to move ahead with the hearing. we are so pleased that dr. barry robinson is here from noaa. when he concludes, hopefully ms. jackson is here. if not, we will go forward to hearing our very able administrator from epa, whom i traveled to the golf with. this hearing will mel come to order. it is the official hearing of the commerce -- in this hearing will come to order. the purpose of the hearing is to determine what is it that we dispersants.is perso what is the impact is having on people, on real life,

the fact that she blew a gasket is fine. >> do you think the president is more focused on the senate? >> yes, a key is spread -- yes, he is. obama does not seem to be as rattled by the prospect and he should be parent. obama has until 2012 which seems like an eternity and the house only as a few minutes left to get it right. >> it is not that it favors the senate over the house, he favors himself over both. [laughter] he can live with a republican house in 2010. it might even help him win reelection this is the same way clinton used new gingrich and republican trove -- control, he used them with great success. obama has achieved all the big achievements he will have. he has done that with all of those issues. he will not do anything between now and inauguration day, whoever is elected in 2013. he is worried about his reelection. he is not concern about house democrats and they know it. >> will it be a republican house? >> it is very much possible. there is a path where you can see the gop getting the 39 seats. they have taken a tough votes and their attitude is not for the white house

this is not an issue that the senate can walk away from. this is a national security issue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. it is a health issue to reduce the emissions of fossil fuel emissions into the air. it is a competitiveness issue for our country so that is the economics of this. the whole world is out there doing new green technology to save the planet. we can either lead in that or we are going to be left behind. we must act upon this, and the third, fourth if you believe as i do that this planet is god's beautiful creation and we have a moral responsibility to preserve it, that is why we work closely with the evangelical community on this issue. we all agree we have a moral responsibility to pass it onto the next next generation in a responsible way. time is running out. this is not an issue you can walk away from cause we have spent a billion dollars a day on foreign oil that goes out of the country. there are $65 billion a year going out of the cotry. so in any event, i don't know what their bill will look like, but whate

with the other 38 members of the senate. le praise and condemn him. there are three names that rise to the forefront in the consumer protection agency. it is harvard law school professor elizabeth warren. treasury department secretary michael barr. gene kimmelman. kress, from jackson, mississippi, thanks for waiting. go ahead. "caller: my kids came from the oilfields. i am worried about the future of the people that will come after us. they should not have been there in the first place. if you have the equipment to keep from causing a disaster, they should not have been out there in the first place for the governor and the oil companies should be held liable and shut down. we are talking about millions and millions of lives. we are talking about our ecosystem. it does not matter -- find something else to do. find another job. people go through that all the time. as far as who's fault is, it is all of their fault. these people eat lunch and dinner together. it is a soap opera. they are all involved. nobody should take full bla

the senate will be in for a couple of weeks. we'll see what they do and we could determine when we get back what roukt we have from them. also the media. thank you. >> thank you. jamie from u.s. trade. i wanted to follow up on the manufacturing issues you were talking about. it seems like the house is poised to act on a number of bills as you enumerated. there doesn't appear to be action on the senate. how -- can you help us understand this? how do you defend defense the accusation -- >> across the board from the senate? >> on manufacturing particularly, how do you explain to someone that this isn't just election politician and these bills really have no chance of actually becoming law this year? >> as i said, absolutely is not election politician. we believe that -- first of all, we have invested a great deal of money in building the economy. we think we had progress on doing that. i make the distinction between progress and success, success is when we have eight million jobs for those people that lost their jobs in the previous

the senate passed a resolution recognizing the anniversary. the house is expected to bring up a similar bill sometime today. senator harkin not in the room just yet, but he is expected to moderate. the first panel looking at the history of the disability movement, and the second movement will look at new initiatives. senator harkin now entering the room. we expect this to get underway shortly. we do expect given to go until noon eastern. the house will double in at 12:30. we will have live coverage of the house. the senate is in today at 3:00. senator harkin, who is monitoring -- moderating this event, is just entering. live coverage here on c-span. >> we're waiting at the start on the events of the 20 anniversary of the americans with disability act. senator tom harkin is the moderator of the event. the first discussion underway in just a moment. we expect to appear from the house majority leader, steny colliehoyer. the first panel will look back at the history of the disability bill amends. the second panel looking bulwarks, and we do expect

the small business taxpayer fund bill in the senate, the f.a.a. authorization bill from the senate, the 9/11 compensation bill and the education and labor osha bill relating to mining. if the gentleman could give us an update on those measures. and i yield. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman. rather than going into each one individually, i will say each of those bills is under consideration with respect to oil spills. there has been discussion going among the committees of jurisdiction and if we have a product to move forward, we will be prepared to do so. we believe responding to the oil spill is critical and have done so, as you know, two bills this week passed unanimously through the house. so we will be proceeding to look at the oil spill issue to try to ensure to the extent we can, a, it doesn't happen again and bmp if it does happen again that the industry is prepared to respond to it. with respect to the other pieces of legislation, they are under discussion, some in this house and some in the senate, as you know. mr. cantor: i thank the gent

it has been mired in the senate for some time. it expired at the end of last year for the 14th time. manufacturers are small, medium, and large. any notion of whether there will be retroactive extension of the credit -- the jobs credit? more than 75% of the credit goes to jobs in the united states. >> i do not want to anticipate what we will do on that. my personal view would be we need to make it retroactive again, to encourage. as you know, we have adopted statutory pay ago. i think that was the right policy to adopt. when the republicans jettisoned statutory pay-ago -- - pay-go, they eliminated the requirement. what that allowed them to do was to incur great that without consequence in terms of procedure. but the consequence was of course we created great debt without paying for it. these are subject to statutory pay go requirements. we need to pay for those tax credits. having said that, my view is strongly that those credits are very, very important to the make it in america agenda, incurred to manufacturing in any way we can.

>> that is not the case, senator leahy. the only question that ever came up -- as you stated earlier. this was a balance for the -- the law school. because on the one hand, we wanted to make absolutely sure that our students had access to the military at all times. but we did have a long stand going pack to the 1970s' antediscrimination policy which says no employee can use the office of career services if that group would not sign the plemg that applied to many categories, race, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status as well. but the military couldn't sign that pledge. >> because of the don't ask don't tell. >> because of the don't ask don't tell strategy. >> which the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said should be repealed. you said military service is the noblest of all professions. those cadets serve their countries in the most important of all ways. it didn't sound very anti-military to me. tell me why you said that? what you did at west point. >> i said it because i believe it. i was so honored to be invited

he taught himself history, wrote the book on senate history. his lectures, speakers were filled or lectures on history. we place some of emphasis on credentials these days but the power of a lifelong -- is far greater than somebody who has a harvard yale or university chicago degree. >> populism rears its pretty head. >> woodruff: we have two pretty heads right now and we hate to say good-bye, but thank you. mark shields and david brooks. >> she was talking about judy and me. >> brown: and as judy said, the memorial service was held today for senator robert byrd in his home state of west virginia. hundreds of people, from the elite to the everyday, gathered at the state capitol in charleston to honor senator byrd's life and service. ♪ there was even a bluegrass band, in a tribute to byrd's own well- known talent as a fiddler. when the eulogies came, former president bill clinton recalled the senator's fierce reputation for winning federal dollars for west virginia. >> he did as good a job for you as he could. as far as he was concerned, there wa

sitting over in the senate. at least five jobs bills that i can think of and i know that there are more, jobs for veterans, jobs for teachers, jobs for first responders, jobs in the 21st economy and the green economy. all of these sitting over in the united states senate because senate republicans are standing in the way of job creation for the country. and i'll tell you, madam speaker, it's not that they're standing in the way because these aren't good ideas. they're standing in the way because they've let politics get in the middle of whether americans should have jobs or not. and so here we go, it's time for the senate republicans to actually deliver a paycheck and a payday for the american people, to stop standing in the way of job creation, to make sure that americans get paid an honest day's wages for an honest day's work because americans want to work. now, here we have, we have bill after bill, we have house resolution 5297, passed on june 17, 5019 passed may 26, may 28, march 21. i mean, it's been days a

i spoke at length ago her actions on the senate floor yesterday. and you will be pleased that i will not go into the details now. but the fact of the matter is that the witt decision placed the "don't ask don't tell" law, a law that she has stated repeatedly she personally abhors in serious jeopardy and has made it unworkable. miss kagan chose for reasons she stated not to seek an interlocutory immediate supreme court review of that decision. at her hearing she claimed that, quote, the question we had to decide was whether to challenge that ninth circuit decision at an early stage or at a late stage of the case, closed quote. her answer left the false impression that the government had to choose between appealing a decision then. or later after trial. but, again that is not true. the government could have taken two bites of the apple and should have, if the court did not grant their interlocutory appeal, they would still have the right to appeal at the end of trial. as solicitor general, she knew that. she also testified she believed it, quote, woul

the senate is back today at 2:00 p.m. stern live on c-span2 and is keyspan radio hd -- and the c-span radio hd 3. the price for the oil spill has risen to at $3.5 billion. that includes $165 million paid so far to settle individual claims. the u.s. command says they will meet with north korea tomorrow to discuss the deadly sinking of the south korean war ship that has been widely blamed. the announcement comes three days after the u.n. security council approved a statement condemning the sinking that stopped short of directly implicating north korea. defense officials say israel's first internal report on the deadly raid against the gaza bound ship will compromise the intel. the report is not going to fault the commandos that opened fire. finally, this week the fda will begin radio of the first of the three new weight-loss drugs -- the fda will begin a review. dimon deliver significant weight loss without risking side effects. with of the city -- almost 35% of the adult population, expectations are high for some of the new

yesterday three members of the senate crossed from the majority party position. a two main -- two maine senators. tell us a little bit about the politics? guest: democrats have been working for quite a long time to find some republicans that would come over and vote with the democrats in the senate, so whatever they wanted to get done, they needed two republicans. the republican party had been holding in line for quite a while now that basically said they would have to offset the unemployment benefits with cost savings or revenue raises it -- razors, tax increases somewhere else. ultimately the two maine senators' help block a filibuster so it was not surprised that they voted for the bill. ben nelson from nebraska is probably the most conservative democrat in the senate and he went back on the other side, standing with most of the republicans on this. at the end of the day i think there was a lot of pressure from the two maine republicans back home to go ahead and vote for the extension without trying to find offsets. host: looking ahead to november, mr. allen, t

the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: well, madam president, let me thank my colleague from alabama once again. i say this with respect, but i almost feel like i'm listening to the same speech i heard back in november when i offered the original proposal of this bill. i'm wondering whether or not we have been in the same chamber, in the same city over the last several years. i'm not going to go in the time between now and 11:00 a.m. when we'll vote on the cloture motion. i won't go through the long list here, page after page after page of amendments that were adopted as part of this bill offered by my good friends on the minority side. 80 hearings held over two years. countless efforts to reach out and bring people in. you can make a lot of accusations i suppose about the bill, but this was a very inclusive process. half the amendments that were adopted on the floor of this chamber during the consideration of the four weeks were ones offered by the minority were accepted and bipartisan amendments. there was never an

kansas is going to send a republican to the senate. the question is, what kind of a senator do you want? it is important in the challenges that we are facing. we are in debt almost 13 trillion dollars and we have an economy that is flat. it is important that we send somebody who is a leader that can get things done and somebody who is not a compromiser like john mccain. we need someone strong like sarah palin. i have lived in kansas for 27 years. i have been in my house for 27 years. jerry brown and i spent the same amount of time -- jerry moran and i speak the same amount of time in washington. what is at issue is who has the best record on fighting taxes and getting things done for can chris -- for congress. who has a record of doing something. i think i have that record. we want people to have a chance to operate a business or get a good job. that is why i am asking for your vote on august 3 to send me to washington to be a senator. >> for you, congressman iran? -- congressman moran. >> i would say that we take very seriously the kan

we consider the senate version today. it is the name given to the practice of doing an end run around the first amendment by suing authors and publishers in the courts of certain courts with defamation laws as we do. written as a nation that is the cite for these actions. while we generally share a proud common law legal tradition with the united kingdom, it is true that they have laws that disfavor speech critical of public officials, contrary to our own constitutional tradition. as a result, the united kingdom has become the favorite destination of libel tourists. for example, in contrast to u.s. law, british law presumes the defendant is wrong and places the burden on the defendant to prove the truth of his or her allegedly statement. this speech in british law has drawn condemnation not only from american defenders of free speech but also from the united nations and some members of the british parliament. in addition to britain's defamation law, procedural laws facilitate libel tourism over a defamation defendant. unde

the house. and it was not uttered by senator mitch mcconnell, the minority leader in the senate. it was uttered by the true leader of the republican party, and that is my good friend, rush limbaugh, who for every day, five days a week, three or four hours a day, since that same message out to americans who are hooked on that show. he sends it out to them relentlessly and they remember it and they act on it. but they aren't the only ones who have acted on it. it's been the followers in the senate who have acted upon it. and it's been the followers here in the house of representatives on the other side of the aisle who have followed his leadership

it does not apply to the senate. yet, at the exact same time, the proposal being brought forward double counts and double spend money and then spends the money that is specifically earmarked to reduce the debt. we're going to pay for this, but we're really not going to pay for it. that is what we are saying to the american people. we are going to use the fdic account to offset other spending. erican people to be used for the debts or new spending. that is a lot of money. it is a fair amount of money for new hampshire. but we do this for tens of billions of dollars almost on a weekly basis around here three months ago, there was a pay-go bill passed in the senate and in the house. since that bill passed, we have either passed to put in the pipeline two hundred billion dollars in spending that violated the pay-go rules, the purposes of pay-go, and added to the deficits and the debt. now this is going to be added on top of that. so it should not be done this way. independent of whether you believe in this bill or not, yo

the u.s. house and senate on the issue of electoral reform. i believe we need to do things to open up our systems of governance. i believe in passing a pair elections law that removes the influence of corporate tax dollars from our system. that is the thing into undertake first. that will provide drastic change to t way people feel about their government and about who controls the government. if we implement such laws and people are still feeling as cycal as the bill today, and i understand why, would be happy to reconsider a term limit. >> i have a different view of it. i believe we will not take washington -- we will not break what is broken in washington until we break the connection betweenoney and policy. we need to pass the third elections act, which will remove the influence of bigoney in campaigns. we need to enact a ban -- a lifetime ban that you can never become a lobbyist if you were a member of congress. we need to mitigate as much as we can the decision of the supreme court so corporations cannot influence elections. if we do not

the republican senators said no. . and they held up this particular amendment to the amendment for over six weeks because they said it had been paid for at the same time as they were saying, we must pay for those $34 billion for benefits, for the unemployment, but we don't have to pay for the $700 billion for the wealthiest people in america to have tax cuts. those same tax cuts during the eight years of the bush administration did not create jobs, they increased the deficit and the republicans have said they want to go back to the exact agenda of the bush administration. they look with increased fondness on the bush agenda. and the bush administration. well, let me say this here toy, the good news about this is, finally our unemployed will get their benefits. it will be retroactive. it's really sad that it has to come to this. an unpaid for tax cuts for the rich, paid for benefits for our workers. but it's important to note, contrary to what you might hear from some in this chamber that in the first eight months --, th

without the senate. -- >> the house has never changed hands without the senate. when you look at a few important poll numbers, but the most important are the correct right track/wrong track where more people are telling us today than even a month ago that the direction of the country is on the wrong track. the president's job rating has been going down and if you look at the president's job ratings in the 50 house seats that democrats have won over the past few cycles, these are very -- these are not solid democratic seats. they are swing seats. his job rating there is about where george bush's job rating was in 2006 these are places where there are not a lot of minorities. when you take away the president's popularity with those groups, suddenly he is sitting in the mid to high 30's. which was where george w. bush was. you look at clinton in 1994 and all the ingredients are there for a fairly big wave. the white house is expecting its. they assume 30 house seats are gone now. all republicans need another

add to 3:00 p.m., the new senator from west virginia -- at to 3:00 p.m., the new senator from west virginia will be sworn in in front of the united states senate in the world. right after that, because he will make the 60th vote in what is a very necessary piece of legislation, we will take up and pass the unemployment compensation. [applause] i think it is a remarkable symbol of who carte is, how important the senate is, how unimportant the word "in te int" is. carte is our most recent one. he will be and have all of the powersw o of any other enator signature. he will probably not have the biggest home base at the beginning. he may have to walk up one floor to get to the next four. in the senate, that is the word senior slashing has never meant anything -- senior/jr. has never meant anything. it is what you know, are you a genuine, are you tough in the rules of engagement but fair, it can you reach across the aisle, can you bring others with you, and most importantly, how much do you know? that is how senators are judged. there is a seniority system that i have grown to like but more. [la

the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: you know, i've sat and listened to my colleague from california, and i am somewhat amazed to think that she would imply that we don't care about the unemployed. the fact is we do. i went through the list of the things she mentioned and the senator from vermont. i wasn't here in 2001. i wasn't here in 2003. i wasn't here when both wars were initiated. i had no part in any of that. but even had i been, the fact is is we can help two groups of people with this unemployment insurance. there isn't anybody on our side of the aisle that doesn't think we ought to pass extended unemployment benefits, and to state or imply that is absolutely absurd. it's not about stalling. the majority leader of the senate did not allow one amendment, not one amendment to allow us an opportunity to have your vote on whether we ought to pay for it. the question isn't whether or not we help the unemployed. every time we have offered ways to do that. as a matter of fact, five times it's been rejected that,

the senate extended the time line until august 5. i stand in support of this bill which will assist independent living centers for citizens to live full and productive lives and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. ms. chu: does the gentleman have further speakers? mr. bishop: i do not. i yield back. ms. chu: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the ruse and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 5610. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to. and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass resolution 1558. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1558, resolution expressing th