states and our country. in 1966, robert byrd spoke to a meeting of incoming senators and reminded them that the united states senate is still the anchor of the republic. senator byrd was the anchor of the senate. there will never be another like senator byrd. he was a member of this nation's congress for more than 25% of the time that we have existed as a country and longer than a quarter of today's sitting senators and the president of the united states have been alive. his political career spanned countless american advances and achievements. a dozen men called the oval office his own while senator byrd called the capitol building his own. and he would be the first to remind you that those two branches are equal in the eyes of the constitution, and i heard him say so many times, that we work with the president, not under the president. the nine times the people of his state sent him to the senate and the more than 18,500 votes he cast will never be matched. mr. president, as you and i and each of us are fortunate enough to be here, we have the privilege of knowing firsthand it was an incomparable honor to

states and our country. in 1966, robert byrd spoke to a meeting of incoming senators and reminded them that the united states senate is still the anchor of the republic. senator byrd was the anchor of the senate. there will never be another like senator byrd. he was a member of this nation's congress for more than 25% of the time that we have existed as a country and longer than a quarter of today's sitting senators and the president of the united states have been alive. his political career spanned countless american advances and achievements. a dozen men called the oval office his own while senator byrd called the capitol building his own. and he would be the first to remind you that those two branches are equal in the eyes of the constitution, and i heard him say so many times, that we work with the president, not under the president. the nine times the people of his state sent him to the senate and the more than 18,500 votes he cast will never be matched. mr. president, as you and i and each of us are fortunate enough to be here, we have the privilege of knowing firsthand it was an incomparable honor to

the united states senate has lost an icon. and as any senator will tell you, senator byrd served as a tremendous mentor in passing on senate procedure to newly elected senators. in many ways, senator byrd was an institution within the institution of the senate and the senate will not be the same without him. i will miss senator byrd's passion and ardent defense of our nation's constitution. he was one of a kind and i feel privilege to have had served with him. i'll never forget the advice he gave me when i first sought his counsel when i went in in my first year. i he said, shelley, you need to be a work horse, not a show horse. he will be remembered as a work horse and also for his dedication in representing our great state of west virginia. i wish to extend to senator byrd's family my deepest sympathies and know he is at peace and at home with his beloved irma. i thank again mr. rahall for presenting this, senator byrd will certainly be missed and i want to pay tribute to his tremendous service, sacrifice, strength, honesty,

he was the united states senator. -- the kkk. he was the united states senator. he helped put together brown vs. board of education. john paul stevens today is not what i thought he might be as a justice when i voted for him 35 years ago. i am pleased with the way he has turned out. he has a certain amount of saying that gerald ford was president and should be able to say who he nominates, and i thought john paul stevens was more conservative than someone i would have recommended for a democratic president. i think he has been a good justice. at the same time, you have a mother who i think was a superb justice. -- another who i think was a super of justice. -- superb justice. there was one picketing outside my office saying if i voted for him i would not get reelected. he served very well. people make up their mind on many things. you can probably get as good a view of them as you can, but ultimately, they are going to make up their minds. >> you can read too much into your papers when she was a clerk to justice marshall are served in the clinton administration.

the 100 members of the united states senate. it is a major responsibility. and i can't tell another senator how they should make up their mind, what should weigh in their mind. i just ask them to keep an open mind and vote yes or no. most justices are going to last longer than most of the senators who vote for them. >> what, if anything, can we get from the memos that she wrote to justice marshall as his clerk? i know you've looked at those as well as senators did before her conif i rememberation hearings. and she often seemed to be weighing cases based on whether she thought the conservative quote would make bad policy if it took them. is that an appropriate conversation for a justice or justices clerk to make? do you think that says anything about what she would do if she were confirmed? >> i ask myself that question and it's a good question. i thought about it and i think, after all, the one writing the opinion is not the clerk as justice marshall. and the man had enormous amount of experience, had argued dozens of cases successfully before the u.s. suprem

in the united states senate, we have legislation that would boost our economic recovery in help americans who have been affected by the worst recession in generations. we have surly made progress since we were losing 750,000 jobs per month are on the time i took office. our economy is growing again and we have added jobs for five straight months. there are still millions of americans out of work and millions more who are struggling to pay the bills. the legislation in the senate right now would extend unemployment benefits to those workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and would provide relief to struggling state and save the jobs of thousands of teachers and cops and firefighters. there are also provisions in this legislation that would extend the tax credit for first- time home buyers, as well as tax cuts, and keep research and development jobs here in the united states. unfortunately, the republican leadership in the senate will not even allow this legislation to come up for a vote. if this obstruction continues, and employed americans will see their benefits stop.

so, byrd, he is the author of a history of the united states senate. hen you say he wrote the book of the senate, that is literally true. host: legislatively, what will he be best remembered for? guest: it is interesting. it is hard to pick a particular landmark bill, but he is best known by most americans for the lot of pork barrel spending for hihome state. remember, west virginia was and remains a very poor state. if you have driven through west virginia, and you can see his impact, ings are named after him. federal facilities have been built in the eastern panhandle of west virginia and provided much employment for the state. he was chairman of the appropriations committee until just about a year ago when he got gently pulled aside when became frail, but he is best known for his representation in the approiations committee of his home state. host: earlier in his career he was a segregationist, correct. guest: it is part of his biography. he apologized for it. he not only was a segregaonist but in the early twenties he was recruited by the local club

that is a quote from the president of the united states. >> senator, i am not sure it is productive to comment on conversations that took place. >> i understand that. >> i would come back to what the president said at west point. that is something that i support. that is that july 2011 is not the date where we race for the exits. it is the date where having done an assessment, we begin a process of transition of tasks to afghan security forces based on conditions. and we began a processsof irresponsible drawdown of our forces. >> do you believe that we will begin a drawdown of forces in july 2011 given the situation as it exists today? >> it is not give as the situation exists today.+ it is given as projections are. i do believe that that will be the case. >> you believe that we can begin a drawdown in july 2011 under the projected plans that we havv? >> that is the policy and i support it, senator. >> i understand you supporting the policy. conditions on the ground, will they indicate that we will begin a withdrawal? in the words of the vice- president, july 2011, you will see a lot o

he's a senior united states senator from massachusetts. he's chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. i've had the privilege of serving with him ever since he came to the senate, and he's a decorated vietnam veteran from his ground breaking work on the iran-contra scandal to his leadership and global efforts to combat aids. senator kerry has distinguished himself as one of our nation's most respected voices on national security and international affairs and chairs the prestigious foreign relations committee. so senator kerry, chairman kerry, we're pleased to have you before our committee today. please go ahead, sir. >> thank you very much, chairman leahy, for those kind words of introduction. ranking member sessions and to all my colleagues on the important judiciary committee at this important moment. members of the committee, mr. chairman, 16 years ago, i had the privilege to introduce stephen breyer to this committee. and with the loss today of senator byrd, i'm particularly reminded of senator kennedy sitting beside me that d

there is something very, very wrong with this, especlly in the united states senate that is so unrepresentative of the country as a whole. where you can secure 41 votes from senators representing about 15 -- i seem seem to never done a couple giveaways. 15 to 20% of the american population. there really is something wrong here. i would favor much more radical reform of the senate itself. that's not on the table now but i think it is nt an accident that the senate is at the center of the discussion of thos who care about democracy, because it is in many ways the least democratic body in our vernment. we talked about some titles that i think campaign finance is a good area where we face a really difficult windows. isaiah, the phisopher sid that the hardest choices are not between good and evil, but between competing goods. and i think as we search for ways for reform in the electoral system, the campaign-finance system, i think we want to balance between limiting special interests power with the desire to finance politics adequately, and remote brought participation in political action. now i thi

[laughter] i had all of those dreams, but i never dreamed of becoming a united states senator. hank you for those questions. [applause] >> robert byrd served more than 50 years in the u.s. senate, a longer than anyone else in history. he was 92 years old. looking ahead to our live coverage, and about 20 minutes we will take you to the center for strategic and international studies from -- for remarks from steny core year. he will be joined by the national security provider. and confirmation hearings get under way for elena kagan. she will appear live at 12:30 eastern on c-span3 and c-span radio. we have a preview of the shearing from this morning's "washington journal." e wall street journal." "usa today" lead editorial " said elena kagan, setting the senate hearings are a hollow shell raid -- quotes elena kagan, saying the senate hearings are hollow charade. guest: i spoke to john ul stevens and he says it is an opportunity for the senators to say how important hearings are. beyond that, not to much. there is a certain dynamic to these proceedings, the nominee will pledge her f

in fact, as you know, and their people in the united states and republicans in the united states senate and democrats who oppose talking about that objective. i think that that needs to be on the table. >> let's go over here in the front. [inaudible] >> iithink the administration at present is very concerned about the deficit. the president has taken three very concrete, direct steps. first of all, he made it very ccear early on that he was for reinstating statutory paygo. we support that and work toward it. he also indicated that he was in favor of a commission. we could not get that done statute torelll. ironically, because many of the republicans who said they supported it and some democrats -- the republicans who had told judd gregg some they supported it, and of not supporting it. we did not get a commission -- a formal commission appointed which would have statutory authority. the president did what he could do by executive order to create the commission. thirdly, which as you know to reach a substannive recommendation, we support those recommendations and the united states senate

for the military get the $10,400 that's required in south carolina to file to run for the united states senate >> lehrer: do you find a message here? >> well, first, i don't really care where he got the $10,000. obviously it would interesting to know but it's not dispositive because, apparently, people voted for him. if people voted for him, wherever he got the money, they vote for him. and i think it would be very hard politically in a democratic country to take that nomination away, assuming the votes were fairly counted. as for the larger message, i always detest candidates while they're campaigning so the fact that he didn't campaign he didn't lower himself in my eyes. maybe that's the secret here-- don't campaign. >> lehrer: let's talk for a moment here about the arlington cemetery problem. talk about a b.p. situation. this is-- this is relevant, is it not, similar? >> this is-- if b.p. and that continuing 60,000 gallons a day is a metaphor for government not being able to work , the corporate structure not being able to work, arlington cemetery is a blasphemy of -- and a metaphor of inep

has impact, then you hear from the people like, oh, let me see, let me just say, liberal united states senators who would like to use this -- use the i.r.s. to intimidate their competition. pot alive today. but there is a histoy ry of it. that's juut the first amendment, ffeedom of speech, religion, press, freedom to petition the government for redress, and -- freedom to assemble. second amendment, the freedom to bear arms thhs eright to own guns and not have the federal government take away our guns. i've been a second amendment defender for a long time, will be for as long as the lord grants me breath, but mr. speaker, many of the people that defend the second amendment think it's about owning and keeping firearms to target shoot, recreational shooting, hunt, or for self-defense. and i will make the --- take th position here, mr. speaker, that those three things that i've talked about, hunting, ppself-defense, target shooting are all residual benefits, kind of like extra benefits that come with the second amendment. we would have they second amendment whether there was ever target shooting, w

look at the economic advice that we got, not only as the house of representatives but the united states senate and the white house, with president obama and congress being advised by a team of economists that ranged over the broad spectrum of philosophy in the world of economics, and from the far right thinking to the if a far left thinking, from more conservative view points to the more liberal view points, there were recommendations made by this panel of economists who spoke to the priorities that needed to be embrace -- embraced by this nation and the time had more than passed in the recovery for america. and the results are astounding. when we look at the recovery act we can witness that the bleeding has stopped, the tell tale indicators suggest in many cases that there is slow and steady progress, that the bleeding has stopped and the recovery act can be credited for that. and the investments that were made were in three categories. tax cuts, as the representative, the gentlewoman from florida, indicated, and historically large impact, an historical large middle income tax cut for this na

[cheers and applause] you all sent me to washington, to the united states senate, to fight for arkansas. that is what i have done. congressman gary says, "plans, you do all of that fighting -- blanche, you do all of that fighting." [applause] tomorrow, we will put this act on the road. we are going to make sure that, as we move toward november, we will be successful and we will remind ourselves every step of the way. this election is not about special interests. this election is not about me. this election is about us. we are going to do this, as people of arkansas, you and i are going to do this together and we are going to make a stand. [cheers and applause] i have to say very special thank you to some many people. i want to say very special thank you to my rock, my husband, who has been with me through thick and thin could he has just been phenomenal. he is a great arkansans and he is a great husband. i owe him everything to make this happen. [cheers and applause] our boys, resend bennett, are not here tonight because they are in the middle of finals. they are exactly where they need

you give me this opportunity, and i am going to be the 41st vote in the united states senate, and you know what that means, that means that stops this bill dead in its tracks under regular order, under normal operating procedures. and the people of massachusetts understood that, understood that very clearly. they were, mr. speaker, very concerned, weren't they, about commonwealth care. they had had about two, 2 1/2, three years of that, and they knew, that the cost of health insurance with that kind of approach, those premiums didn't go down, they went up. they wanted no more of that. they wanted the honorable senator scott brown now to go to washington and be that 41st vote so that cloture could not be invoked, the filibuster could not be overridden and this bill could be stopped dead in its tracks. and it would have been, mr. speaker. it would have been. except for smoke and mirrors, hook or by crook, promising everything, anything you have to to get a vote and then this arcane strange stuff called reconciliation. and really, mr. speaker, and my colleagues, what was done here three

[applause] you all sent me to washington, the united states senate, to fight for arkansas and that iswhat i have done. the congressman teases me all the time. we have to do a lot of fighting. we have to fight for what we know is right and what arkansas is all about. [applause] tomorrow, i will put this act on the road and make sure as we move toward a member we will be successful and remind ourselves every step of the way that this election is not about special interests. this election is not about me. this election is about us. we will do this. as people of arkansas, you and i will do this together and we will make a difference. [applause] i have to say a very special thanks to some many people. i want to say a very special thanks to my rock, my husband, who has been with me through a thick and thin and has been phenomenal. he is a great arkansan and a great husband and he is a great everything and made this happen. [applause] our boys are back here tonight because they are in the middle of their panels and they are exactly where they need to be, studying. they have been wonderful an

the president of -- the ceo said he had not actually talked direly to the president of the united states senator earlier asked had bp refused to do anything that the government asked. a follow up to that is has the government rused to do anything that bp h asked in terms of trying to be helpful to stop this leak? >> i am not aware that the government has refused any request in terms of science from the labs let me respond to the first question. the fact of the matter. the relationship with bp. stoney or andy or lamar, i met with them on multiple times. they will pay for every cent as well as any damages thatccur from this national tragedy. the directed relationship which i character iize we will contin to have that kind of relationship until we get a conclusion of this incident. >> thank you for your hard work. >> thank you. i appreciate your focus and attention on this issue which is, ocourse, extremely important to t people of louisiana and the gulf coast in a very particular and personal and emotional way because of what i happening right o our shore. but it's what's happening on our shore th

consider the climate in which you are running for the united states senate. litical observers from around the nature consider it remarkable that you to our meeting on the stage tonight. this is arguably the most republican state in the nation, turned out by his own party. how do you characterize this political climmte and how does your candidacy address it? mr. lee your first. >> it focuses on less government rather than more. we've operated under the idea that the government can create jobs and make us wealthy, when in fact it cannot. this is what happens when the government perpetuates the problem too long and ignores a problem for too long, when it refuses to it knowledge the fact it has been exceeding the authority granted to the federal government by the constitution for decades upon decades and it has to stop somewhere. it is appropriate that the process of stopping this trend should began in utah and began by replacing someone who was a good man, are really good man who was a republican, in many respects. but we're ready for new leadership, leaders who

i hope to reach a resolution, a concrete, substantive, recommendation, report this to the united states senatend hope the united states senate deals with them. speaker policy and i have both indicated we will put those recommendations on the floor of the house of recommendations -- the house of representatives, which i expect to happen by the end of the year. thirdly, the president sent to congress a budget that was the first non-defense non-security discretionary spending. the president has made it very clear that he thinks fiscal discipline and fiscal responsibility is a critical component of his administration. whoever is the director, i believe is the policy of the administration to pursue a fiscally-responsible alternative. >> here in the front row, and then we will go before you. -- go behind you. >> you mentioned a resolution regarding discretionary funds. >> i mentioned a budget enforcement regulation. >> to what extent has there been completion of the spending levels of the party and what other extraneous items to you expect to be in that language? >> i think we are close to reaching

our staffs on our behalf for information that we need to be the oversigh committee of the united states senate. >> absolutely, senator hutchison. lo forwardo that if confirme >> thank you. t's talk abo collective rgaining. we have asked nominees before the question abouthat you think about it, how you would respond to it,ut i'm going to ask you a different question beuse i though that the secretary will make a final decision on this. but my question toou is, what is goi t bour aice to the secretary? and what factors are you going tose to give her advic on whether ts would hurt the capability to respond tovoid any kindf work stoppages or slowdowns or any of the ways that people use t show that they aren't pleased if colltive bargaining doesn't go their way? >> sure, thank you, senator. secretary napolitano did ask me to conduct revie o this ise, which i'll d engaging all stake holers in t procs. in terms of any bigssues or cisions like that in my leadership experience at the fbi, i tried to do jus that so it's consistent with that perspective of trying to gather as much information as possible

in fact, as you know there are people in the united states and republicans in the united states senate and democrats who are both talking about exactly that objective. i think in a needs to be on the table. >> over here in the front. p> speaker hoyer, do you think that the war hawk departure will have -- >> i think the administration, the president is very concerned about the deficit. the president's taken three very concrete, directtsteps. pirst of all he made it very clear early on he was for reinstating statutory pay-go. he supported that, worked towards it. he also indicated that he was in favor of a commission. we couldn't get that done statutorily. ironically, because many of the republicans who aid they supported it, some democrats supported it, some democrats who didn't, but the republicans who told judd gregg they supported it ended up not supporting it. we didn't a commission, formal -pcommission appointed which wod have had statutory authority so that the president did what he could do by executive order created a commission. thirdly which i, as you know, and can garner from

this judge should be in the judge's hall of shame, not on the appellate court of the united states hearing cases. the senate should not confirm this person to be an appellate judge in the united states and that's just the way it is. i yield back. . >> i request to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. maloney: at this time, there are over 27,000 workers employed by b.p. or its contractors and more than 2,000 federal employees directly involved in the massive cleanup operation now under way in the gulfport. at a hearing last week, another federal agency, the c.b.c. tried to assure congress it was doing all it could to keep its workers place and tracking surveillance data across the gulf coast states for health effects that may be related to the oil spill. this was good to hear. but a work shop held by the institute of medicine down in new orleans this week made one thing abun dantly clear. when there are many people engaged in a complex clean up effort of such unprecedented size over such a long time, the true danger levels for exposures simply are not known. in

>> well, i'm proud to be a member of the united states senate.s long as there is a forum in which questions can be asked of men who do not stand at all of the chief executive, questions can be asked, one can speaas long as his feet will allow him to stand, the liberties of the

>> well, i'm proud to be a member of the united states senate.s there is a forum in which questions can be asked of men who do not stand at all of the chief executive,

barrasso do you-- first and then back to senator nelson as we finish this-- of you, you're united states senators. you're very much involved, you , a member of the vital committee. you, senator nelson, as one of the gulf coast senators, do you feel the situation is now understood and under control in any way, in a general way, adding up b.p.'s efforts, the federal government's efforts and all efforts under way, senator barrasso first? >> i don't tnk the system that it is under control, and i don't think it will be under control until we get the leak stopped and i know they're trying to drill other wells to unload, but i think at this point it is not under control. and it seems to be-- today at least from the hearings that we had with the secretary of interior, that the amount leak may be-- today, may be greater than it's been all the way through. >> lehrer: an ongoing disaster, senator nelson? >> yes, sir, and the sooner it's over the better. right now, we keep hearing that they are , as of this moment, collecting 15,000 barrels a day , just look at the streaming live video. look at all the oil t

that's a pretty difficult view for people who are united states senators. the presiding officer is a senator from the state of oregon, and that is your prime responsibility, is to take care of their state. but also as a united states senator have to be concerned with what goes on in the other 49 states. that's our job, our role. that's the way we were constitutionally designated. the bill they rejected yesterday creates jobs. as the headlines say, closes corporate loopholes. the bill yesterday that was rejected by the republicans would stop jobs from being outsourced, from american companies getting tax breaks by creating jobs overseas. those jobs should be created here. that was rejected by the republicans. the bill that was before the senate was a bill that would help small businesses grow and allow them to hire once again, to be the engine that runs our country. big businesses should not be rewarded for shipping jobs overseas when there are so many here at home desperate for a paycheck. i've read a number of these stories, mr. president. they really are h

i am running for united states senate and there is a vote on tuesday.d luck, you guys. >> thank you. >> that is an eggplant. >> we have a big vote coming up. very good to see you. good luck today. all right, you said we are late? >> we are late. >> how are you doing? it is good to see you. with a vote on tuesday. should we take off? are you calling? >> yes. where do you think things stand with the runoff campaign? >> which will do a runoff for the next three days, campaigning at least 16 hours a day and possibly a couple of hours longer. it feels pretty good. we are traveling today to multiple locations. tomorrow, again, will be out at other parts of the state. on monday, we will travel all over this day. we will touch all four corners of the state. we really want to retrace the route we took before. how -- >> how are you feeling in terms of the race? >> we are focused on getting every vote bang out. it was tight in the primary. -- every vote out. it was tight in the primary. our great hope is for a big turnout. we believe that a large turnout will hope

so, byrd, he is the author of a history of the united states senate. when you say he wrote the book of the senate, that is literally true. host: legislatively, what will he be best remembered for? guest: it is interesting. it is hard to pick a particular landmark bill, but he is best known by most americans for the lot of pork barrel spending for his home state. remember, west virginia was and remains a very poor state. if you have driven through west virginia, and you can see his impact, things are named after him. federal facilities have been built in the eastern panhandle of west virginia and provided much employment for the state. he was chairman of the appropriations committee until just about a year ago when he got gently pulled aside when became frail, but he is best known for his representation in the appropriations committee of his home state. host: earlier in his career he was a segregationist, correct. guest: it is part of his biography. he apologized for it. he not only was a segregationist but in the early twenties he was recruited by the l

one thing that troubles me -- the people that complained the most, like that to united states senators from arizona -- they complain the most, but when we try to do something on the senate floor, they say no. it's a logical and unfair. and in spite of all that, we're going to move forward because we need to. i already said how much i appreciate your help and i really do. the election is at issue. we know who my opponent is. this is going to be a campaign focused on issues. [applause] if we cannot focus on issues in this campaign, we are all in trouble, aren't we? [laughter] i want to remind everyone has i remind myself, america is a great country. and i want to do everything i can to make sure that it continues a great country. remember -- i say to all of you -- i remember where i came from. i know where i came from. searchlight. i know that in america, anything is possible if harry reid can make it, anyone can. parents were not eduuated. my dad and not graduate from eighth grade and my mom did not graduate from high school. we lived in a small apartment, no hot water, and even by stan

both parties who faced this choice has concluded that the united states is better off with a treaty that without one. the united states senate has always agreed. more than two years ago, president bush began this process that led to this treaty that we are discussing today. the new start treaty has already received broad bipartisan endorsement bread as james s. schlesinger -- endorsed a. as james s. schlesinger declared recently in his congressional testimony, it is obligatory for the united states to ratify. why do so many people who have studied this issue over 70 years, and from opposite ends of the political spectrum agree so strongly? today, i would like to discuss briefly what the new start treaty is and also what it is not. this is a treaty that will provide stability, transparency, and predictability for the two countries with more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. it is a treaty that will reduce the permissible number of russian and u.s. deployed strategic warheads to 1550. a level not seen since the 1950's. in addition, each country will be limited to 700 deployed strategic delivery vehicles and 800 deployed

indeed, prior to that decision, parents of the current president of the united states, some members of the united states senate and the supreme court could not have married in some states. if you believe that what you do in your home in your bedroom, is your business and not -- no one else's, especially not government's, you are correct, but only because of the supreme court decisions like griswold versus connect kept and lawrence v texas reinforced our individual rights to privacy, keeping government out of the pry vass consensual activities of adults. the supreme court was on the side of the american people when it ruled in roe v wade that the constitutional right to pray vassey exists. the court was not taking sides in debate on abortion, it was stating that there were certain matters wit government should not interfere in the privacy of families. these landmark decisions and others continued a forward progression of protections for the american people against the abuse of power, particularly by an overreaching government. such was the case went supreme court ruled in gideon v wayne wright that the constitu

as a great american, former united states senator, bob dole, who ed to say his body, the u.s. senate, is a great place if you ke to see paint d and in which things are done. ed however here they have acted with due diligence and great speed and in that speed have made a minorechnical error and i'm not going to tell anyone about it because th is the situation in which we must proceed on anemergency basis. i'm going toverlook it in irness. and i'd also like to yield to the gentleman, our honorable chairman, my partner, mr. oberstar. the eaker pro tempore: the ntleman yields. the geleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. oberstar: madam speaker, i thank the distinguished ntleman for ying. and we have agreed that the technical issue raised by representatives of t other body is of a nature that can be relved by the administration upon passagef this bill. it is better for us to pass this bill now to releasehe sutantive -- to address the substantive issue, relea of funds from the oil spill liability ust fund and not dela progress in cleanup. for that reason we will pass the bill inta

that's a pretty difficult view for people who are united states senators. the presiding officer is a senator from the state of oregon, and that is your prime responbility, is to take care of their state. but also as a united states senator have toe concerned with what goes on in the other 49 states. that's our job, our role. that's the way we were cotitutionally designated. the bill they rejected yesterday creates jobs. as the headlines say, closes corporate loopholes. the bill yesterday that was rejected by the republicans would stop jobs from being outsourced, from american companies getting tax breaks by creating jobs overseas. those jobs should be created here. that was rejected by the republicans. the bill that was before the senate was a bill that would help small businesses grow and allow them to hire once again, to be the engine that runs our country. big businesses should not be --rewarded for shipping jobs overseas when there are so many here at home desperate for a paycheck. i've read a number of these stories, mr. president. they really are heart

take, for example, the two united states senators from arizona. they -- they complain the most, but when we try to do something on the senate floor, they say no. but in spite of all that, we're going to move forward because we need to. finally, let me say this. i've already said how much i appreciate your help, and i really do. the election is formed. it's an issue. you know who my opponent s. i know who my opponent is. this is going to be a campaign that focuses on issues. if this -- if we can't focus on issues in this campaign, we're all in trouble, aren't we? i want to remind everyone, as i remind myself often, america is a great country. and i want to do everything to make sure that it continues a great country. remember, i say to all of you, i remember where i came from, i know where i came from, i know that in america anything's possible. if me, harry reid, can make it, anyone can. i mean, my parents were uneducated. my dad didn't graduate from the eighth grade. my mom didn't graduate from the high school. we lived in a house that had no ins

had everything that i'm about to list had the 100% suuport of barack obama, whether he was a united states senator, whether he was a senator-elect -- excuse me, whether he was president-elect, or whether he was president of the united states and most of it, under his guidance as president of the united states. here's what happened this federal government took over, nationalized, and when i say nationalized, i mean ownership, management, or control of three large investment banks, a.i.g., fannie mae, freddie mac, general motors, chrysler, where am i going? there's more to this. the entire student loan, all the student loan program in america, all of that, swallowed up by the obama administration and that's 1/3 of the private sector activity according to prfsor boyles at arizona state university, 1/3, then along came obamacare which passed. the gentleman earlier talked about that being 17% of the economy. the number i see 17.5%. we're with within half a percentage point. when i added up, i added 18% to 33%, takes us to 51%. the question is whether it's 50.5% or 51% of the private sector activity tak

situated in the visitor's center in connection with memorial services to be conducted in the united states senate chamber for the honorable robert c. byrd, a senator from the state of west virginia. the speaker pro tempore: is in objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution? without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order -- house concurrent resolution 284, house resolution 5395, house resolution 1446 and house resolution 4307 each by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion by the gentlelady from hawaii, mizz hirono, to suspend the rules -- ms. hire oweno, to suspend the rules and agree -- ms. hirono, to suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 284. the clerk will report the concurrent resolutio

that is a quotation, apparently a direct quotation, from the president of the united states. >> senator, i am not sure it is productive to comment on conversations that took place in the oval office -- >> i understand that. >> what i would come back to is what the president ssid at west point, and that is something that i support, as i just told the chairmen. that is that july 2011 is not the state where we brace for the exits. -- not the date where we race for the exits. we begin the transition to afghan security forces based on conditions, begin a process of a "responsible drawdown" of our forces. >> do you believe we will begin the drawdown of forces in july 2011, given the situation as it exists today? >> well, it is not given the situation as it exists today, but for that time. i do believe that will be the case. >> you believe we will begin the drawdown in july 2011 and the projected plan -- under the projected plans that we have? >> that is the policy, and i support it, senator. >> well, i understand you support the policy. will conditions on the ground indicate that we will begi

in the united states senate, we have legislation that would boost our economic recovery and help americans who've been affected by the worst recession in generations. we've certainly made progress since we were losing 750,000 jobs per month around the time i took office. our economy is growing again, and we've added jobs for five straight months. but there are still millions of americans out of work, and millions more who are struggling to pay the bills. the legislation in the senate right now would extend unemployment benefits to those workers who lost their job through no fault of their own. it would provide relief to struggling states that would help save the jobs of thousands of teachers and cops and firefighters. there are also provisions in this legislation that would extend the tax credit for first-time homebuyers, as well as tax cuts to keep research and development jobs here in the united states. unfortunately, the republican leadership in the senate won't even allow this legislation to come up for a vote. and if this obstruction continues, unemployed americans will see their bene

i was one of a two voted against it in the united states senate. then they put this to together -- this stew together. it has made as sick. to my way of thinking, some people say that you cannot put the genie back in the bottle big i am sorry. i happen to believe that you can carry -- back in the bottle. i am sorry. i happen to believe that you can. you have to put up those walls. then makes things a little bit more transparent as it pertains to the investment houses. but i know that that is a minority view. but i still think that is the only way you're going to solve this. as far as this bill goes, i want to compliment senator lincoln for her statement and her leadership on this issue, on the issue of derivatives. they have to be transparent and they have to be complete control. glassssteagall work for all of those years. we have to get as close to that as we can. i defy anyone here on this conference committee, anyone sitting in this room, i defy anyone in wall street or new york to show me one person, one trader, one was kid, one of these entiti

united states and bp. which is what is contemplated by the law, senator corker. the law is very clear. bp is the responsible party. they are responsible with respect to dealing with the oil spill.they are responsible for g with a the damages that flow from the oil spill. they're responsible for compensating those that are damaged from the oil l, and the president has been very clear and very direct as all his team has been that we will hold bp accountable. >> are you through -- >> i have more questioning but i'll stop t honor the time again, thank you for the way you've conducted yourself today. i appreciate that very much. >> senator stabenow? >> thank you, mr. chairman and welcome, secretary salazar. it's always wonderful to see you, although these circumstances are ones that we l wish we were not having to be involved in and to a of you, thank you for your service. this a horrendous situation. and i appreciate the efforts that you are taking and have tan since the beginning of your term to focus on reforming what has clearly been an process. i think it's important that we learn less

united states, that's l.a. unified school district, and in the california state senate as the first ever. and i was so proud that members came to me to show me their membership in the naacp. i then knew that the work that was done over 100 years ago was of such vision for the future of this country and particularly my state of california, the largest in the union, and the first state to be a majority of minorities, that that vision, that hard work, that dedication brought about justice so that the california and the united states of america -- the state of california and the united states of america could be reflective of who we are as a people. the justice, the fairness, the freedom, the liberty all came about for people like me because of this organization and others who supported it. so i am pleased, i am pleasured and i do hope that all men and women of fair mindedness will support whole heartedly this resolution. thank you, congressman, and thank you, mr. speaker, for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from tennessee.

i am running for united states senate and there is a vote on tuesday.luck, you guys. >> thank you. >> that is an eggplant. >> we have a big vote coming up. very good to see you. good luck today. all right, you said we are late? >> we are late. >> how are you doing? it is good to see you. with a vote on tuesday. should we take off? are you calling? >> yes. where do you think things stand with the runoff campaign? >> which will do a runoff for the next three days, campaigning at least 16 hours a day and possibly a couple of hours longer. it feels pretty good. we are traveling today to multiple locations. tomorrow, again, will be out at other parts of the state. on monday, we will travel all over this day. we will touch all four corners of the state. we really want to retrace the route we took before. how -- >> how are you feeling in terms of the race? >> we are focused on getting every vote bang out. it wasight in the primary. --very vote out. it was tight in the primary. our great hope is for a big turnout. we believe that a large turno will hope us -- h

after that, he went to the united states senate. we did criminal justice and regulatory reform on a broad range of issues as well as cutting taxes. dealers said the center of much of that activity. he became attorney general in 2001. those of us who knew him realize at the time that he was enjoying that office immensely. then the night states was 2001.ked september 11 i am sure he will address many issues that he had to deal with in those days. when i ask today, and i do get asked this a lot, when i am asked why the united states has not been successfully attacked again, these of the two top reasons. the vigorous activity in -- i work with them on a number of instances. he is in his personal life a model of integrity, humility, and humanity. it is a great pleasure to introduce to you the former attorney general of the united states, john ashcroft. [applause] >> thank you. it is a pleasure to be with you. i would like to way they scoot across the top of history to avoid the peaks. ine lost more elections three of the last four decade

because of the dysfunctional rules in the united states senate. they could not get a bill for jobs passed, they could not get fmap, they couldn't get extension of unemployment insurance, people are losing their unemployment insurance or if they lose their jobs they won't have it available to them. what we have before us is one little piece, it is at least for five months to extend the physician fee reimbursement. i can't say that we should be proud of this. this should have been fixed permanently and this is the best we can do. so let's vote aye. i reserve the balance of my time and urge my colleagues to support this suspension. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. herger: yes, mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from florida, ms. brown-waite. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the preservation of access to care for medicare beneficiaries and pension relief act that e have before us. for

here we are, members of the united states senate and house, getting ready to pass this. i do not understand it. it is still a tax. it is a tax that all of them is going to lead to less credit, more expensive credit, and fewer jobs. that is what this is all about. i yield back. >> the gentlewoman from illinois. >> thank you. i am concerned about the fact that we did not receive this amendment. i can remember when tarp first came up in the house and the first bill really did not have the accountability. most of us voted against it. then there is this crisis if the market was going to change, it could never recover. i can remember calling senator gregg about that in saying, how are we going to ensure that there is accountability? what he said was, the money that comes from park definitely goes to the debt. i think they've always counted on that. many of us voted for that reason. now we are going to say that the tarp money is going to pay for this the bill. what worries me is that pete peterson's foundation was at a hearing that we had on the oversight subcommittee professor