senator udall, what can we do about that? >> you're right.the president and leaders of both houses ought to sit down, majority reed, leader pelosi and the president, let's urge them to sit down and go to work and a bowles-simpson plan. >> shouldn't your president get off the campaign trail and got these guys in the room and do something about this, run that meeting? >> sir, we got very close in august as we all know. it was discouraging to me a bit because we had nine part spending cuts to one part revenue increase. my good friends on the republican side wouldn't take the deal. let's get to work and get bowles simpson put in place. >> senator johnson, it's not as simple as simpson-bowles but is this government now too big to succeed? >> it's certainly too big to manage, that's for sure. i want to go back to last summer because i have no idea hough close we might have come. i was totally opposed to negotiations because the american people simply don't know what was proposed, what was rejected. we should be really following basically regular or

udall: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator new mexico. mr. udall: mr. president, i would ask to waive the quorum call, dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator from new mexico is recognized. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to just say a few words about my good friend and my mentor in the senate, senator richard lugar. i heard both leaders here this morning mention senator lugar, and i just thought i would rise for a minute to talk about him because i've been lucky to have him as a mentor since i've arrived in the senate. senator mark pryor organized for our class when we came in mentors, usually a senior democrat, senior republican, and senator lugar was -- was that mentor for me, and he -- i've spent, as a result of that, a great deal of time with him, both in -- at the foreign senate relations committee and in a variety of committeings, and he's always given me -- the remarkable thing ssess a always given me -- he's always given me very, very valuable advice. and above all, h

snar senator udall. >> thank you, mr. chairman. sorry i wasn't here earlier. we all have so many things going on. >> we were talking. >> yeah. i understand. but -- and i hope you all forgive me. incredibly important subject and the chairman always focuses on what the american people are concerned about, and i just hear a lot of discussion in new mexico about this whole privacy issue and i apologize if i'm going over any ground that you've already hit here, but i just had a couple of questions. chairman liebowitz, the ftc's recently settled privacy cases with well-known online companies used by millions of americans. could you explain how these settlements will benefit consumer online privacy and how have these secretary of statements encouraged other companies to change or improve their privacy policies? >> well, we have -- if you're talking about our settlements with, say, google, for google buzz and facebook, we -- we found what we believed were violations of the law essentially those companies made commitments about keeping information private that we belie

. >> senator udall. >> thank you mr. chairman, thank you the ranking member for holding a very important hearing on innovation. always good to see you, mr. augustine. thank you for your continued service to the country. your ideas are always spot on. the american energy innovation council has done yeoman's work here and i hope we will listen to, and implement, your recommendations. as you've pointed out, we are in the midst of a clean energy revolution and by that i think we mean all energy sources and all energy technologies have clean elements. we can't have, as you point out, inconsistent and uncertain innovation policies. that's why it's -- you've underscored here and why this hearing, again, is so important. i have in my notes here -- i've said to myself -- we need to be leaders in this field and we've always been a paragon of innovation. i think about the fact we have been leaders, particularly -- well, in every energy technology, but i think about solar and wind, for example, in the '70s. now we're trying to play

senator udall? >> thank you, chairman kerry, and really appreciate you holding this hearing and focusing on this issue. i believe it's a very, very important one. i just recently came -- returned from africa on a trip that was focused more with on pepfar and hiv/aids. and it's incredible what we're doing there. but that's another side part of the picture. but we had an opportunity when there was a national holiday to spend a couple of hours in a game park up in northern namibia, otosha, and saw these just magnificent creatures that are there. and i really identify with what secretary scanlon said. very, very poor countries where individuals are gaining a living, you can call it ecotourism, or sustainable range management or whatever, but they're out there on the ground, living, and as a result of these animals, they're able to stay in the country rather than go into the shanty towns where you just have this abject poverty. and so i wanted to focus a little bit. and so it was incredible just to be th

senator udall and the kinds of questions you were focusing on.it will be about, how do you transition, how do you bring to an together, together formula, a formula for the proposed 2014 period? but i think the other two elements of this summit both capabilities and partnerships are also very important. dr. kupchan talked a bit about partnerships. i think this is extremely important because the alliance basically will not fight by itself any more. wherever it goes, in and out of various operations it will have partners than it needs to have capable partners. i don't see this particular summit basket is being full of this point. i think more work needs to be done. i think there are real opportunities to make our partners interoperable, to certify that, give them better consultation arrangements and i think better work and still be done between now at chicago on that. but let me turn my attention to no terry capabilities because that is what i was asked to talk about and i want to raise for problems. i want to argue that the this summit will take st

a group of senators including tom udall from new mexico, tom hark enfrom iowa, and several others, recognize there is one point in the legislative year at the beginning of the congress where an extraordinary procedure can take place. when that extraordinary procedure takes place you can amend the rules with a simple majority. on all other legislative days it takes a super majority even to correct the flaws of the filibuster. we're hoping that the pressure that we're building with our federal lawsuit and with the support of not only some of the members of the senate who know the filibuster has been destructive, but also harry reid's comments last week. we think we can build momentum. there is a bill that senator hearken introduced who said, let's keep it at 60 votes. but three days later make it 57. three days later, make it 54, and then eventually get to a majority vote. there are many changes that could happen. i would also like to see us go back to a talking filibuster like we saw in the movie "mr. smith goes to washington." in 1939 when jimmy stewart did that movie there were zero filibus

senators have already spoken out against the law senator ron wyden of oregon and mark udall of colorado so they x. they oppose the extension of the law on civil liberties grounds we'll continue to bring you the latest developments of this act as it makes its way through congress and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r.t. america or check out our web site r t dot com slash usa you can always follow me on twitter at abby martin for now have a great night and we'll see you tomorrow. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old i like to tell the truth. i confess and i am a total get of friends that i love rap and hip hop music and pretty. she was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the role that out she has played.

senators have also spoken out against the law senator ron wyden of oregon and mark udall of colorado say the acts they oppose the extension of the law on civil liberties grounds will bring the latest developments of this act as it makes its way through congress and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america or check out our web site r t dot com slash usa and you can also follow me on twitter abby martin thanks for watching see you in thirty minutes what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it to be made who can you trust no one who is you view you with a global reach see where we had a state controlled capitalism.

and so have more than 40 elected officials including the house minority leader nancy pelosi and mark udall of colorado and so has the man that is chairing the democratic national convention, los angeles mayor. there's really only one thing that seems like it could block official democratic party support for marriage equality. in the modern era, party platforms are unofficially he handed down by the nominee. there are very few platform fights. the context is that. with very little notice in fanfare the democratic party now appears to be on a collision course toward a platform fight. the kind of plat norm fight you rarely see anymore. the kind of platform fight that would be distracting and embarrassing for the president of the united states. if he wants to maintain his current position on this issue and keep the party platform in line with him, he would have to go to the mat on this. we'd have to use precious political capital and fight against the stated preferences of the house minority leader, four former dnc chairs and it appears his own vice president. joining us is the founder of the

senator udall. specs before mr. chairman. sorry i wasn't year earlier.hat we have so many -- >> we have things going on. >> i understand. and i hope -- i hope you'll forgive me, but incredibly and precious objects the chairman always focuses i just hear a lot of discussion in the mexico about this whole privacy issue and i pulled his time going over in the ground that you already hit by just a couple of questions. chairman leibowitz, the ftc's recently sold privacy cases are companies used by millions of americans could you explain how the settlement will benefit consumer online privacy and how they have the solid encouraged to other companies to change or improve their privacy policies? >> you're talking about the settlements that say google or facebook we are found in violation of law is essentially those companies made commitments about keeping information private that we believe they got keep or didn't honor their commitments as we brought cases against them and have a settlement. in the settlements they are required to be monitored, the have to enga

sorry to run over, madame chair. >> thank you very much, senator udall.n the interest of time because we have another panel, i think we should go ahead and move on unless senator udall were senator lee is leaving so unless you have further questions i am going to move on to the second panel. >> i'm ready for the second panel. >> i have a lot more questions but i will reserve those. thank you very much. have a good trip to paris and why we are transitioning the panel i will take a moment to introduce the next panel. senator kerry -- but let me point out that each of the next three experts has extensive experience working throughout government in the private sector on europe and nato and we're pleased to have them join us today. first is the whitney sheppard sent council on foreign relations and a professor of international affairs in the law school of foreign service and the government at georgetown university. second is even brzezinski a senior fellow in the international security program at the cleantech council and a member of the council strategic of p

senator udall and the kind of the questions you were focusing on. i will be about how do you transition, how do you keep me in together out to get the formula, and what is the formula for the post-2014 period? but i think the other two elements of the summit both capabilities and partnerships are also very important. dr. kupchan talked a bit about partnerships. i think this is extremely important because the alliance basically will not fight by itself anymore. wherever it goes in the out of area operations it's going to partners and each have capable partners. i don't see this particular summit after asking for this point. i think more work needs to be done. i think there are real opportunities to make our partners interoperable. to certify that, give them better consultation arrangements, but work can still be done on that. but let me turn my attention back to military capabilities because that's what i was asked to talk about. i want to raise for problems, and i want to argue that the summit will take the steps, each case, to begin to alleviate th

i think there are a lot of great senators who want reform, udall, harkin, many more than that. at the end of the day, they have not been able to move things forward even though several of them do want the change. i think a lawsuit, external force is what is needed in this situation, even if that's just to prod them to do the right thing, i don't think removing this lawsuit is going to do the trick. we need to have the lawsuit move forward and see this litigated in court, if necessary. if they fix it, they can make everything move. >> the key difference between senate and house is proportionality. montana doesn't get as much as california does. but does for senators. 7 of 13 states representing 27% of the population could muster the majority of the senate to command action. today, using filibuster, 21% of the states muster 11% of the population can muster the votes to stop in the senate. i am a californian and are most disadvantaged by the current rules. doesn't that seem unfair, doesn't it seem like we've gone too far disadvantaging the large states? >> i think it's gone too fa

i remember udall's famous quote that said, members have spoken. you think that way, and it's like goldwater after losing in 1964 saying i still believe america's a great country anybody can grow up to be president but me. you worry about what's happening, but you think about, did i make a difference? did i have an impact? maybe a congressional race was minimal. i feel like i movedded the ball forward a little bit, and at the presidential level, obviously, there's greater insight, and it loses our very important. first off, behaviors. losing campaigns are far more dynamic and prophetic. how do they make democracy work? you may have noticed on election night that losers always get to speak first. on the network, they declare who the winner they think is, and then we wait for an hour who is declared an hour to speak, and the won -- one that won can't speak until the loser gave his speech. the fact is the election is not over when the winner speaks, but when the loser concedes defeat. if he says i was frauded, you can imagine what happens because we'v

udall: i ask to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: mr. president, i -- i was just listening to senator whitehouse who is now in the chair, and i just want to congratulate him on filing that amicus brief with senator mccain and the supreme court. i really believe that the supreme court should heed the good advice that both senator mccain and senator whitehouse have given them, and i think if they do not heed that advice, they will be -- the authority that they have undertaken themselves would be taken away from them by the people, the people that are urging a constitutional amendment to give this back to the congress and back to the state legislatures, and i -- i join my colleagues today to highlight what i consider a significant problem in our country, the unprecedented flow of money into our democratic elections. over the past several months, a group of us have been working together to address this problem. we have asked the f.e.c., the i.r.s. and the f.c.c. to take actions that would help curb the impact of money on our elections. led b

the interest of time because we have another panel i think we should move on and less either senator udall or senator lee are leaving so unless you have further questions i'm going to move on to the second panel. >> i'm ready for the second panel. i have a lot more questions but i will reserve those. thank you both very much of a good trip to paris. undersecretary gordon. and while we are transitioning the panel in and out i will take a moment to introduce the second panel. senator kerry did adelbert but let me point out that each of the next three experts has extensive experience working throughout government and in the private sector on europe and nato and we are pleased to have them join us today. first is dr. charles kupchan, the whitney shepherdess and fellow at the council on foreign relations and a professor of international affairs in the law school of the foreign service government at georgetown. second is ian brzezinski a senior fellow in the international security program at the atlantic council and a member of the strategic advisers group p also leaves the brzezinski group. fin

udall: mr.the senator from louisiana has the right intentions but this amendment would truly be a vote against u.s. jobs and manufacturing. the presiding officer: please, order. mr. udall: it would wrongly target renewable energy manufacturing. it would threaten millions of dollars in export of u.s.-made products at a time when we should be seeking to expand these markets overseas. and if you look particularly at the wind industry, it's already suffering because we haven't had the courage to extend the production tax credit ford wind. and it has bipartisan support. so we've got to pass that production tax credit immediately. but in the meantime, let's not create a double whammy and pass the vitter amendment. without question, that sector is expanding dramatically. and it is the source of a lot of jobs in my state and i think in every state? thlet's export, let's not limit that possibility. the vitter amendment would do just that. i urge you to vote against the vitter amendment. the presiding off

if there were ever a time when tom udall and jeff merkley were prophetic, it's tonight. these two young, fine senators said it was time to change the rules of the senate, and we didn't. they were right. the rest of us were wrong -- or most of us, anyway. what a shame. so here we are wasting time because of the republicans. this week we have accomplished a lot, mr. president. we had a vote on a judge and we voted on cloture on the republicans defeating our ability to get something done with student loans. that's our workload this week. i know it's been tough. mr. president, that was sarcastic, of course, but this is just absolutely mindless what's going on. then to top it off, one of the finest members of the senate we have had ever was defeated yesterday by a man -- listen to this, mr. president -- who campaigned on the platform that there is too much compromise in the senate, and he is going to come back here and not compromise with anybody on anything. now, that's what we need in the senate -- more people who are willing to do nothing but fight. so, mr. president, i am

senator udall. >> thank you madam chair. thank you for doing this today. all of few are aware, the united states has about 90,000 troops currently in combat mission there in afghanistan and i think they have done an outstanding job in terms of the mission that we have entrusted to them and i think they have largely accomplished their mission. osama bin laden is dead, the taliban is no longer in power, terrorists no longer have a safe haven in afghanistan and that is why i was really encouraged when secretary panetta stated that we could bring home our combat troops as early as 2013 and this is his quote. hopefully by mid-two better part of 2013 we will be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise-and-assist role end quote. could you update me on his hope and where we are on that? i mean, i interpreted it at the time when he said that that he was really moving in that direction but i haven't heard anything else and i'm wondering mr. townsend maybe you could start on where we are, because they think there are a growing number of amer

udall: thank you for the recognition, mr. president. let me just say, i have been sitting here listening to my colleague, the senator from wyoming, and i think he makes some good points. i think we do need a more open process. i think we need to try as much as possible to work with each other in the committee process. i don't think there's any doubt about that. i think we need to allow germane amendments and have a good, robust debate on the bills that are on the floor. but the thing that i wanted to talk about today is the fact that we're in a filibuster, and if 52 of us wanted to move forward on this bill and 45 of us didn't -- that's why we're locked in this situation. and i rise with regret today -- and there is of to r regret abot yesterday's vote on the student loan bill. first, i regret the false choice between helping students or funding preventive health care. most americans support student loans. most americans see the value of preventive health care. and yet my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would ask that we sacri

provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tom udall, a senator from the state of new mexico, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 400. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 400, s. 3187, a bill to amend the federal food, drug and cosmetic act to revise and extend the user fee programs for prescription drugs and medical devices, to establish user fee programs for generic drugs and biosimilars and for other purposes. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. we're now on the motion to proceed to f.d.a. user fees legislation i. now extent that following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the time until 10:30 be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the fi

. >> senator udall. >> thank you mr.airman and the ranking member for holding a very important hearing none innovation. always good to see you mr. augustine for your service to the country and your ideas are always spot on the and i hope we will listen to and implement your recommendations. we are in the midst of a clean energy revolution and by that i think we mean all energy sources in all energy technologies we can't have as you point out inconsistent and uncertain innovation policies that's why this is important. i have my notes here that i said we need to be leaders in this field and we've always been a paragon of innovation but i think about the fact we have been leaders particularly in every energy technology and solar and wind in the 70's now we are trying to play catch-up i'm biased and honored to represent the six colorado we are a national leader in many areas we of a great model of industries of research institutions like the national energy lab in the government and of encouraging energy innovation for job c

provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tom udallco, to perform the duties f the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mada mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: we're now considering s. 3187, the f.d.a. user fees legislation. there is an agreement now reached to complete this legislation today. under the agreement, debate time will expire at 2:00 p.m. today. up to 12 roll call votes could begin earlier in order to complete action on the bill and have a couple votes in relation to the student loan interest rate hike. we'll notify everyone if time is yielded back, but people should be aware of the need for you come here we hope before noon to have a couple votes. there will be no votes between 1:00 and 2:00 because of meetingmeetings both sides have. so we also hope -- we worked out a tentative agreement yesterday on flood insurance, which is important to 6 million people. we need to get that done today also. we hope we can get that done. mr. president, i was ple

it is one of the reasons why i've joined senator mark udall in cosponsoring the due process detentionmendment act, which would repeal the mandatory military detention requirement. also i want to to speak with the director about the administrations request for reauthorization of fisa. i certainly appreciate the importance of providing the intelligence committee with appropriate surveillance to help protect our country against terrorist threats. we have to be sure we are conducting a sufficient oversight to ensure that we protect the privacy rights and civil liberties of law-abiding americans. that is why i try to reauthorize certain provisions in the usa patriot act and i'm disappointed common sense bipartisan improvements were ultimately -- as congress considers the menstruations request to reauthorize the fisa amendment act, i will look at whether we should have accountability, privacy or were limiting protections in various parts of it. now with facing the daunting security challenges dr. mollohan is insured the fbi maintain its historic focus on fighting crime. at a time of economi

one of the reasons why i've joined senator mark udall in the amendment a act which is repealed mandatoryitary retention requirement. also reported to speak with the districter about the administrations asked for re-- certainly appreciate the importance of providing the intelligence community to the help protect our country against terrorist threats. we have to be sure we're conducting sufficient oversight to be sure we protect the privacy rights of law-abiding americans. i true to do we authorize certain provisions in the u.s. patriot act. common sense bipartisan priew.s ultimately not enacted. congress considers the administration's request to reauthorize the amendment act. look at whether we should strain the accountability or privacy or liberty of protections and various parts ever it. with a daunting national security challenges director molar is sure that the fbi maintain the historic focus on fighting crime. at the time of economic crisis and shrinking state and local enforcement budgets many expected violent crimes to skyrocket, instead crime rates across the country continue to h

and then senators to who was here earlier and then senator pryor and then senator cantwell senator udall and senator ayotte. >> already. thank you very much, commissioner. welcome to our two new commissioners. i want to applaud you for a reason action. that is something that had a lot of issues within our state and i wondered if you could just elaborate a little mr. chairman, navy commissioner mick dowell on how you're going to investigate this and what your plans are and why you think is the problem. >> well, work with them for the excellent work the staff committee did in tackling to cram in the hearing the committee held and the complaints we also received at the fcc about cramming and wireline. we found same as the committee staff report with respect to wireline there is real evidence that consumer reviews that we needed to act and we did unanimously at the commission, putting in place a set of reform that we expect will decrease cramming. we also continue to take enforcement seriously. we announced over the last three series of enforcement action by finds. that will continue and we

senator udall. >> thank you, chairman kerry. i appreciate you holding this hearing in focusing on this issue because i believe it is a very important one. i just recently returned from africa on a trip that was focused more on hiv aids and it's incredible what we're doing there, but that is another sad part of the picture. we had an opportunity when there was a national holiday to spend a couple of hours in a game park in northern namibia. we saw these just magnificent creatures. i really identify with what secretary scanlon said. these are very poor countries were individuals are gaining a living, if you call it eco- tourism or whatever, what they are out there on the ground living and other results of these animals they are able to stay in these areas instead of going to the abject poverty. i just wanted to focus a little bit. it was incredible just to be there, see that, and have that experience to see the creatures and know that this is a part of their livelihood. these poachers are taking that away from them and i think it

senator udall, go ahead. >> thank you, senator kerrry. i echo what you said. i think it was very eloquently said. i just want to come back to this law enforcement side where you have this total inequality. when you have 200 armed, heavily armed people moving out of sudan down into cameroon, they get into a national park there in cameroon and kill 200 to 450 elephants out of a total of maybe 600, and then they take the ivory and move back up and it's part of their whole syndicate, if someone or entity or government doesn't confront that kind of activity, i mean it's going to continue. and you're going to see the elephant populations decimated in a variety of different places whether it's cameroon or the central african republic or others. is there the capability there, if we know that these armed -- heavily armed militias or whatever you want to call them r. moving across-country borders to engage in this kind of killing -- across country borders to engage in this kind of killing, is there a way to push them back? it seems to me if it happened a couple times it

amendment that senator vitter as worked with me on, as well as senators franken, shaheen, cole, tom udall, tim johnson, senator klobuchar, senator merkley, senator sanders and senator sherrod brown. the amendment has the strong support of many organizations that are focused on the cost of prescription drugs. here is a list: aarp, afl-cio, wal-mart, families u.s.a., consumer federation of america, u.s. pirg, consumers union, center for medicare advocacy, afsme. national legislative association on prescription drug prices, the alliance for retired americans; various other companies and organizations. the new mexico pharmacy association strongly supports this legislation. this amendment addresses the root cause of anticompetitive, anticonsumer settlements that are entered into between brand name and generic pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. the effect of these settlements that they enter into is to delay timely access consumers would have to generic drugs. this practice is commonly referred to as pay for delay. and it costs american consumers and it costs the federal government billion

i fully ask that had to be raised on the floor by senator udall and i predict we have a couple days of vigorous debate on the floor of the senate on the issue of detainees. i think one of the most important things we did was the issue of the civilian personnel in the pentagon. we're scheduled to reduce in the united states army by some hundred men in women. we are reducing the size of the marine corps by some 80,000. there is no provision for any production and billion workforce, which has been growing on 61st and second 2007. we will have enacted legislation that requires the secretary of defense to reduce civilian personnel and contractor funding of 5% over five years, saving over $5 billion. that'll be the first time we have addressed that aspect of reductions in the pentagon. there's many issues. biofuels, defense clandestine service, cyberwarfare continues to be a major issue of concern. i'd like to finally mention that this legislation requires that before the government of pakistan can be reimbursed using coalition support funds come in at a ceremony that supports the armed serv

as follows: mikulski, reid of nevada, cantwell, murray, lautenberg, bingaman, whitehouse, shaheen, udall of new mexico, klobuchar, levin, warner, pryor, reed of rhode island, and gillibrand. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived and the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to s. 3220 occur at 2:15 p.m. on tuesday, june 5. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, we're going to arrange a vote monday night on one of the members who is trying to become a judge. one of the nominees, i should say. i note -- a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i want to take a few moments this afternoon to do something that has become a bit of a ritual with me, and that is to try to take some time each week to speak about the damage that we are doing to our atmosphere, to our oceans and to our climate with the relentless carbon pollution that we are discharging. as each week goes by, the information continues to pile up