could the united states senate rise? with the united states senate accomplished this important goal which has meaning not just to us but to them because they have joined with us in resolution 1929 in order to put pressure on iran and not to mention long-term efforts we made with respect to north korea. what we do here is going to be an expression of our opportunity, our ability to provide leadership to the american people. let me clarify one thing at the onset of this discussion. we have enough time to do this treaty. anybody who wants to claim we don't have time and can't do it, is right before christmas and so forth, let me just remind people the original s.t.a.r.t. agreement which was passed back in 1992 was a far more dramatic treaties and the new s.t.a.r.t.. the original s.t.a.r.t. treaty was formulated in the aftermath of the demise of the soviet union. there was a huge uncertainty in russia at that point in time. the soviet union had just collapsed and yet despite all of the uncertainty, despite the complexity of g

treaty on the floor of the united states senate, really marks an historic moment. the senate has the opportunity and frankly it has the solemn responsibility to act to reduce the number of nuclear weapons pointed at our country. that is what makes this moment historic. it is the continual him of an effort that has been engaged in by republican and democratic presidents alike and congress, the united states senate and overwhelmingly embraced arms reductions as in our national security interest. some have suggested that somehow we don't have time to take up the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty because christmas is only 10 days away. let me read you what retired brigadier general john adams said in response to that claim a couple of days ago. he said, we have 150,000 u.s. warriors doing their job over christmas and new year. the united states senate should do its job and ratify this treaty. and all of us agree with that statement. i think general adams has for cicely wright, and he echoed the support for this treaty that his calm from every single leader of our military. the secr

the president, who was a cosponsor of the dream act when he served in the united states senate. secretary of interior ken salazar who was in the corner here as a former member of the united states senate. what a great ally you've been throughout this debate. secretary of education arne duncan, secretary of homeland security janet napolitano. senator reufrpbd lugar -- richard lieu gaffer indiana, what -- senator richard lugar of indiana, what a courageous man he has been. mr. president, what will this bill do? let me make it clear some of the things on the floor that have been said are not accurate. first, when this bill is signed into law, the only people eligible to take advantage are those who have been in the united states for five years. anybody who comes after 2005 cannot be eligible. and those who are eligible have one year to apply and to pay the $500 fee. and then they have five years under the bill to do one of two things: to serve in our united states military and risk their lives for america or to finish at least two years of college. what are the odds that they're goi

the role of the united states senate." on page 125 the study takes amendments are proposed changes in the text of the actual treaty. they amount, therefore, to senate counteroffers that alter the original deal agreed to by the united states and the other country. so should the senate agree to strike the missile defense section of the preamble, we are simply asking the russians to accept it. the ball is in the russians' court. the russians can either accept or reject the senate's counter offer. if text to the preamble is just a nonbinding statement of fact, then russia should not have any problem in eliminating that portion of the preamble. but if russia does have a problem with eliminating a so-called nonbinding statement of fact and russia is willing to jeopardize the entire treaty over it, then every member of the united states senate, every member of the united states senate should be concerned about the provision' impact. the treaty's preamble, the russian unilateral statement on missile defense, and remarks by senior r

that's where you see the road map for 80 plus votes in the united states senate. i can't think of something in the last two years that has been hotly contested and hotly debated that ended up with 80-plus votes in the united states senate. >> let's listen to what i don't know boehner had to say on "60 minutes" about the nature of compromise. >> governing means compromising. >> it means working together. >> also compromising. >> finding common ground. >> okay. is that compromising. >> i'm not going to compromise on my principles, nor am i going to compromise the will of the american people. >> you're saying i want common ground but i'm not going to compromise. i don't understand that. i really don't. >> when you say the word "compromise" a lot of americans look up and say oh, they are doing to sell me out. so finding common ground i think makes more sense. >> your reaction to what the next speaker just had to say. >> well, i think he was basically saying the same thing the interview was without repeating the term obviously. look, i think this is an agreement that do

than chris dodd served long career in the united states senator than i any senator from connecticut. so on this day i hope he will hl forgive me a bit of my hyperbole i would guess as a matter of friendship and faith that he's t probably accomplished more than anycc other senator in the histy of the state of connecticut, and he has done it because he cares, about people and when he takes something on, he simply does not i just want to tell you oneis mt story. in 1989, chris met a woman named eva at her church in connecticut. she told him her daughter had c. been born with a rare brainen disease and was fighting for her life in the intensive care unitn employer for time off to be with his wife and critically sick infant he was told to go homeere and never come back leaving ancl family without income or healthl insurance.at the the story all too common at the time is just the kind of injustice that has repeatedly moved chris dodd to action. he offered offered the family medical leave act.ore, as i said before on the made compromise is that made itge acceptable to a large number ofu peo

there are enough votes in the united states senate, a majority of the united states senate, is willing to vote to make this dream come true. but since our republican colleagues have used the rules of the senate to require not a simple majority of 51 of the 100 senators, but to require a super majority of 60, we are in this predicament, otherwise this bill would pass tomorrow, be sent to the president, and i know the president would sign it. and the dreams and the aspirations, but most importantly, the intellect, the service to country, service to the armed forces would begin to become a reality all to the nation's benefit, all to the nation's benefit. so we are here in this set of circumstances because our republican colleagues have insisted on a super majority instead of a simple majority that would clearly pass. now, i know that for some who don't have immigrant communities like illinois or new jersey, maybe their populous doesn't quite understand the value. maybe they don't have a mixture of understanding of the great vitality, the heart-felt sense of these young people being as ame

treaty on the floor of the united states senate really marks an historic moment. the senate has the opportunity and frankly it has the solemn responsibility to act to reduce the number of nuclear weapons pointed at our country. that's what makes this moment historic. it's the continuum of an effort that has been engaged in by republican and democratic presidents alike. and congress, the united states senate, is overwhelmingly embraced arms reductions as in our national security interest. some have suggested that somehow we don't have time to take up the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty because christmas is only ten days away. let me read you what retired brigadier general john adams said in response to that claim a couple of years ago. he said we have 150,000 u.s. warriors doing their job over christmas and new year. the united states senate should do it's job and ratify this treaty. and all of us agree with that statement. i think that general adams says it precisely right. and he echoed the support for this treaty that has come from every single leader of our military. the

the united states senate, which has been the source of a weeks' long republican-imposed logjam is now freed, open, back up for business. you will recall at the beginning of this month, senate republicans stood absolutely yun anied. all 42 members signed on to a letter proclaiming they would block all other senate work until the expiring bush tax cuts issue was dealt with. nothing else could happen in the senate, not even the funding of the united states military until those tax cuts, that whole deal, was resolved. period, end of story. nonnegotiable. well, today senate republicans got their wish. today the senate by an overwhelming vote of 81 to 19 passed that tax cuts package that president obama negotiated with congressional republicans. no matter what you think of the

president, only in the united states senate would a year and a half be a rush. we've started working on this treaty a year and a half ago. senators have had unbelievable opportunity to be able to do this. i think the question is really not why would we try to do it now, it's why would we not try to do it now? for what reason? within the four corners of the actual treaty. not talking about modernization, that's not within the four corners of the treaty. not withstanding that, the administration has allowed delay after delay after delay in order to help work with senator kyl and provide adequate increases in modernization so much so that the modernization is way over what it was with president bush or any prior administration. but that's not within the four corners of the treaty. that's something you do because you want to maintain america's nuclear force, which is why we've worked hard to be able to provide that funding. but i believe that the importance here is to recognize that it's been more than a year since the original start treaty and its verification provi

the president, who was a cosponsor of the dream act when he served in the united states senate. secretary of interior ken salazar who was in the corner here as a former member of the united states senate. what a great ally you've been throughout this debate. secretary of education arne duncan, secretary of meland security janet napolitano. senator reufrpbd lugar -- richard lieu gaffer indiana, what -- senator richard lugar of indiana, what a courageous man he has been. mr. president, what will this bill do? let me make it clear some of the things on the floor that have been said are not accurate. first, when this bill is signed into law, the only people eligible to take advantage are those who have been in the ited states for five years. anybody who comes after 2005 cannot be eligible. and those who are elible have one year to apply and to pay the $500 fee. and then they have five years under the bill to do one of two things: to serve in our united states military and risk their lives for america or to finish at least two years of college. what are the odds that they're going to

senator in the united states senate come january. but i -- but i should have said right now, he's an outstanding senator and makes a great contribution to this country. and congressman pomeroy with whom i have served, the other part of team north dakota, three of us who worked together on campaigns 40 years ago, 35 years ago in north dakota, and then for 18 years became three members of the -- the only three members of north dakota's congressional delegation. it's been a great, great pleasure and it's -- we will continue these friendships but i say thanks to senator conrad especially for the work we've done together. now, you know and it shows that i love politics and i love public service. always have. john f. kennedy used to say that every mother kind of hopes that their child might grow up to be president as long as they don't have to be active in politics. but, of course, politics is the way we make decisions about america. it's an honorable thing. i've always been enormously proud of being in politics. i've run 12 times in statew

he's one of the most diligent members of the united states senate. 's one of the most thoughtful members of the united states senate. and i've had the pleasure of serving with him on the commerce committee. i have seen how creative and determined he is with respect to the interests of consumers, on internet issues, on fairness issues, on consumer issues, which he's taken an enormous interest in. and he's -- as head of the policy committee for i think almost ten years or so, he's been responsible for making sure that the rest of us are informed on issues, and is a kept us regularly -- and he's kept us regularly up to date on the latest thinking. he's put together very provocative weekly meetings with some of the best minds in the country so we think about these things. so i just want to say to him personally through the chair how well-served i think the citizens of north dakota have been, how grateful we are for his service, how extraordinarily lucky we have been to have someone representing one of our great 50 states as effectively as he has. i think

what you're looking at there is the breaking of the united states senate as an institution. these are is filibusters. this is when the senate decides to take the extraordinary measure of making something take 60 votes to pass instead of 50 votes. and that's impossible. supermajorities are impossible. you cannot actually pass things with supermajorities in an ongoing way. this is not the way that legislatures function. it is never the way that america's legislature has functioned. if you're going to require a supermajority it means that effectively this body has ceased to function, it has ceased to function as a normal majority rules legislature. this is how republicans broke the senate. they have turned the senate into a republican strong hold not while they were in the majority, but since they've been in the y minority. since they lost the senate they have turned it into a stronghold for their own party by using power the senate minority is usually entrusted not to abuse. they've used that power to break the institution. even know they are the minority, less than 50 of them

wisconsin, senator robert "fighting bob" lathola, at whose desk i'm proud to sit here in the united states senate and who's por rate is -- portrait is in senator feingold's office. it's not enough to have our hearts in the right place. progressivism by it's very nature is a fight against entrenched corporate interest, entrerched economic, and entrenched political fire. we have to know how to fight and willing to fight. as our colleagues here in the senate know very well, senator feingold is equally skilled at building bridges across the aisle and carrying the fight those who would -- we witnessed these tall enters during feingold's relentless campaign to pass the landmark 2002 bipartisan campaign reform act better known as the -- as the mccain-feingold law. senator feingold and his legislative partner, senator mccain, championed this legislation for nearly two years, overcoming stiff resistance from both parties as well as powerful interests outside the senate. they faced countless obstacles. they refused to give up and they won. again in 2007 in the wake of the abe a.m. office scandals, -- abram

. >> i am pleased to announce at this hour the united states senate is moving forward on a package of tax cuts that has strong bipartisan support. and this proves that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and

but only in the united states senate could year-and-a-half be a rush. we started working and is a year-and-a-half ago. senators had unbelievable opportunity to do this. the question is not why would we try to do it now but why not try to do it now? for what reason? in the four corners of the actual treaty not talking about modernization, that is not in the four corners of the treaty. notwithstanding that the administration has allowed delay after delay after delay in order to help work with senator kyl and provide increase in modernization so much so that the modernization is way above what it was under president bush or any prior administration. that is not in the four corners of the treaty. that is something you do because you want to maintain america's nuclear force and we all want to do that which is why we work hard to provide that funding. but i believe that the importance here is to recognize it has been more than a year since the original s.t.a.r.t. treaty and its verification provisions expired. more than one year since we have inspectors on the

they amount, therefore, to senate counteroffers that alter the original deal agreed to by the united states and the other country. if the senate gives its consent to new start with amendment to the text, the treaty is sent back over to russia and the duma meets, and they decide what they're going to do with it. and then of course they make changes and then it comes back over here. this is something going on for 200 years. why all of a sudden are we in a abortion we're not going to do it, and we -- sudden are we in a position where we're not going to do it and we look at our constitutional duty as something in the past. i feel we have this obligation. i know every amendment that would have amended the treaty has been defeated. it's been defeated, quite frankly -- well not necessarily party lines but been defeated by and large by party lines. this is something very concerning to me. the other thing when we talk about tripling the number of inspections under the new start, we've heard it said several times there are fewer sides. i'd like to suggest to you that the type ii -- keep in mind type

of nine students can travel from a desk in that small school to a desk on the floor of the united states senate and a search for farewell speeches and hear from retiring senators on the cspan of video library with every cspan program since 1987, more than 160,000 hours, all on line, all free. it is washington your way. >> today on "washington journal," the co-founders of the no labels movement. after that, our series on food policy continues with tracy fox, president of the food, nutrition, and policy consultants. she will discuss childhood nutrition legislation "washington journal" your calls live every morning starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. friday on c-span, the no labels national leadership meeting. the group was founded by former george w. bush speech writer david frum. the meeting included getting citizens involved in politics led by a newark mayor cory booker. that is friday at 8:15 a.m. here on east -- cspan. our as a republican congressman john shattuck is retiring this year after 60 years in the u.s. house. republican dan quayle, the son of former vice president dan quay

ultimately, that's what the united states senate being broken has wrought. what the house has giveth, the senate has taketh away. with the endless obstructions and delay tactics. the margin that democrats have over republicans has been equal. things have died in the senate, not because democrats didn't have the votes. they had the votes. the senate broke. without president obama recognizing the president that is the u.s. senate and acknowledging it is a broken institution that may be should be fixed, it's sort of game over in terms of the rest of his agenda. it's therefore sort of game over for his support from his base. especially with a whole slew of republicans on their way to washington in january. the distance between what the president supporters want to see happen and what ends up happening continues to grow. unrest and frustration among the president's core supporters continues to build. the president -- this presidency has a problem, it is called the united states senate. it is a problem that can be fixed. the question is, will it? joining us now is

"i urge the united states senate to ratify the start treaty." this is a statement from a few days ago, president george herbert walker bush. quote -- "i fully support this treaty" this is colin powell, "i hope the senate will give its advice and consent as soon as possible. it's in the best interest of the united states of america. the best interest of the world and, frankly, in the best interest of the russian federation." howard baker, former senator, republican from tennessee. he said just a few days ago, "a world without a binding u.s. nuclear u.s.-russian treaty is less predictable than the one we live in today. trust but verify he says. ratify this treaty. george schultz, a constituent of mine, secretary of state for president reagan, he wrote with sam nunn, democrat, former senator from georgia who we all respected on these issues -- quote -- "noting the full support of the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and following our own review of the treaty, we urge the senate to give its advic

became a member of the united states senate. as a young man in connecticut -- me -- growing up, thinking about a political career, when i heard that senator tom dodd was somewhere within range of where i lived or went to school, i went to listen to him speak. he was a classic orator, an extraordinarily principled man who had a great career here in the senate. and as we know from the years we've served with chris, the characteristics i've described in his father were taken and put to extraordinary good use here in the senate. chris' words were very important. and as senator mcconnell said should be studied by all of us and anybody thinking about coming to the senate. we all talk about this being an age of hyperpartisanship, but i think that misses the point. because as chris said, he's a partisan in the best sense of the word. he's a principled partisan. he's passionate about what he believes in. but he knows that wedom a point when -- we come to a point when partisanship ends and you've got to get something done for the public th

why did we have to have all that screaming and drama for one -- on judges, last night the united states senate approved four of president obama's judicial nominees. that in and of itself is kind of a miracle. but here's the random part of this frenetic action. the senate approved these judges unanimously. these judges were also approved in the judiciary committee unanimously. every republican and every democrat voted for his judges. there's nothing controversial about these judges whatsoever. but between the first time they were voted onan mousily and last night when they were voted on unanimously. six months passed. six months during which time no one had any objections to them being judges, not a single vote against them, not a word against them, nothing. but six months of just you can't do it. six months of nothing until now, last night, unanimous, let them go through, frenetic random activity period. the great meltdown in the senate last night was over the big regular spending bill, the bill that congress needs to pass to keep the government going. despite the fact that they helped write i

now back to the vote in the united states senate. joining me now, judd gregg from new hampshire. e ranking member of the budget committee, retiring. so this is one of his last big weeks casting votes. senator gregg, have you already cast a vote on this bill? >> i have. yes, i voted for the bill. i voted for closure. we won't vote for the bill until tomorrow. but i voted to move the bill forward. >> how many amendments do you expect to see? i know the bill is sort of being put together as we speak. walk us through the process a little bit over the next 24 hours. >> well, there won't be any amendments. the agreement is reached. it's an agreement both sides have signed off on. the president and the leadership of the congress. when you get that sort of agreement, if you start eamdi ag it, the agreements become unraveled. i have reservations about it. some of it gives me serious a angst. as a practical matter, the government is in the business of compromising. you can't govern unless you do compromise. especially in the divided government. as a result, this is an agreement that on bala

there is not a better member of the united states senate. much has been said about him so i'll say three things quickly because there are other senators who wish to speak. first, judd gregg is of new hampshire, not from new hampshire. we say well, sometimes senator so and so is from tennessee or from new york or from south dakota or from maine, but a senator whose roots are really where roots are supposed to be is of his state. judd gregg sounds like new hampshire, he acts like he's from new hampshire, he is from new hampshire, he votes like he's from new hampshire. the old man of the mountain, which is a rock that was up in new hampshire, those of us who have been there a lot, would drive by and see it, fell down a few years ago. i thought, well, maybe the best way to replace it is just put judd gregg back up there because he is of new hampshire. second, judd gregg is a very good politician. i know that from direct experience. there is such a thing as the gregg machine in new hampshire. those who have the temerity to run for president find t

senator in the united states senate come january. but i -- but i should have said right now, he's an outstanding senator and makes a great contribution to this country. and congressman pomeroy with whom i have served, the other part of team north dakota, three of us who worked together on campaigns 40 years ago, 35 years ago in north dakota, and then for 18 years became three members of the -- the only three members of north dakota's congressional delegation. it's been a great, great pleasure and it's -- we will continue these friendships but i say thanks to senator conrad especially for the work we've done together. now, you know and it shows that i love politics and i love public service. alwaysave. john f. kennedy used to say tha every mother kind of hopes that their child might grow up to be president as long as they don't have to be active in politics. but, of course, politics is the way we make decisions about america. it's an honorable thing. i've always been enormously proud of being in politics. i've run 12 times in statewide

absolutely technical in nature, no matter how technical or trivial, they have to come to the united states senate to become hostage to one senator or another senator's agenda in terms of our ability to move, at least as structured here. now, under start, the compliance commission adopted provisions on how inspectors would use radiation detection equipment to determine that the objects on a missile that russia declared not to be warheads were, in fact, nonnuclear and therefore not warheads. there was absolutely no need for the senate to hold hearings, write reports, have a floor debate on that provision, even though it created a new right for the inspecting site and a new obligation for the hosting side in an inspection. so we really don't want to take away our ability to do that, and this amendment would do that. similarly, the commission under start reached agreement from time to time on changes in the types of inspection and equipment that a country could use. equipment changes over time, as we know, which, you know, the technology advances so the equipment changes. giving u.s. inspectors the n

they amount, therefore, to senator counteroffers that alter the original deal agreed upon by the united states and the other country. if the senate gives its consent to new start with amendments to the text, the treaty is sent to the russian -- to russia for its approval with the amendments. so both the russian duma and the united states senate have the constitutional right to change the portion of this treaty and it's up to both of them to -- so this reinserts us back into the process. and i -- i feel that is exactly what our -- our founding fathers wanted us to be doing on these treaties and that's what we're trying to do. the third thing that was stated by the senator from massachusetts was talking about the concept of the type i inspections and the type ii inspections. it's a new one. well, it is a new process because type ii inspections are inspections on -- on formerly declared facilities. obviously on the start i treaty, we didn't have formally declared facilities. they came as a result of the -- of the -- of the first treaty. now, the type i refers to inspections of icbm bases, submari

we have been on the treaty for a year and a half not just six days. 60 members of the united states senatearmed forces, foreign relation committee national intelligence committee national security working group which i cochair with senator kyl have all met and considered this treaty. some people have gone to meet with the negotiators. the negotiators met with us here before the treaty was signed we were weighing in on the treaty. we considered it in over 21 hearings and meetings over the course. this is not six days. let's not kid the american people. this is not six days. three other treaties, one of which had no verification at all. that treaty received the 95-0 vote. the american people voted for us to stop the politics. they voted for us to act like adults and do the business of that country. and i believe voting on this treaty in the next hours and days is our opportunity to live up to the hopes of the american people. i yield the floor. >> senator from indiana. >> mr. president the great deal of the day will be spent on discussing the verification regime on the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty.

if the president of the united states of america see this treaty and i can assure you its approval by the senatehould that happen as validation of his belief that the united states needs to set an example of denuclear san diego for the rest of the world. denuclear rising the united states whether it's through dramatic arms cuts like he's proposing here or more worrying to me, quite frankly is through the atrophying of our arsenal that he and, again, this is not a partisan defense, george bush and bill clinton before him and george herbert walker bush before them all allowed it to happen. the atrophying of our arsenal. do you know that we have weapons today that are on average 30 years old? that's our arsenal. they've not been tested realistically for over 18 years. there has been no modernization of these weapons for about 15 years. >> we need to have a viable safe effective and reliable nuclear deterrent. the president has said he thinks we may see it for the foreseeable future. he's n providing for it. that's troubling. the senate has not been given an opportunity to properly evaluate that by

george voinovich and has made as his work with lake erie, his contributions here, has made the united states senate a better place. more important, it made the united states of america a better country. senator voinovich, i thank you for that, as my senior senator. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. brownback: mr. president, i want to rise to pay tribute to my colleague george voinovich as well. what a great gentleman. the body is, it's an august body. it's a wonderful place. it's a delightful place to serve in. it has great issues before it. but then there are people that are gentlemen and gentleladies in it as well that conduct themselves with one of the highest regards and highest abilities. and i think of that in george voinovich. a really good guy, doing a great job, a real gentleman in the senate and a man who lives his faith, who believes it, which is tough. it's tough to do in this body. it's tough to do in any position in life. yet he's done it, done it for over four decades of public service to the people of the state of ohio and the people of th

i am the oldest grandfather in the united states senate.85 by became a grandfather. ted says," i don't know if you will have any more but i am looking forward to several more." girls -- [laughter] keep in mind. yes, it is a time of morning but it is always a time of reflection and celebration. millions of words have been spoken, printed, written about ted. they have reminded us of the tragic year of 1978 when he lost his beloved anne. when i saw him, he said," why anne, not me?" he was ready to give up but he realized that he had a duty to carry out. he'd stop on. thank god. that reminded us of a recent trial. but i knew it and we all knew it that he was not guilty and he was vindicated, cleared of all charges. [applause] well, much has been said about his going to harvard, becoming a lawyer, that he served in california. i would like to share with you a few personal footnotes. i don't know if you remember this but ted was sworn in on december 24, 1978. it was christmas eve. it was a christmas gift to alaska. [laughter] in many ways he was.

and to think that you would want us to just do nothing, nothing on the floor of the united states senate? the senator from new york has offered you an idea. i think a reasonable idea. let's agree on this. let's agree that people making a million dollars or less will have the same tax cuts that they had before, no questions asked, to invigorate the economy, but let's say to paris hilton and bill gates and warren buffett no, you're not going to get a $100,000 tax cut each year if you make a million dollars, that's the average. we don't think that that really invigorates the economy. i would add to that as a postscript what the senator from new york raised, wouldn't it be reasonable for us also to say if we were going to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in america, add to our deficit in the process, that shouldn't we help those who are unemployed in tennessee -- i see the two senators from tennessee -- or wyoming, i see the senator from wyoming who is here or minnesota or illinois. do you really think that it's right for us to cut off unemployment benefits for people in the midst of t

and in the past, many current members of the united states senate have expressed their concerns with russia's tactical nuclear weapons. even vice president biden when he was a member of this body, when he was on the foreign relations committee, spoke and said, we were hoping in start iii to control tactical nuclear weapons. they are the weapons that are shorter-range and are used at shorter distances referred to as tactical nuclear weapons. well, mr. president, as i look at this and work through this, it seems that clearly this administration did not make tactical weapons a top arms control and nonproliferation objective in the new start treaty. the negotiators of this treaty did not make this issue a priority. and they gave in to pressure from russia to exclude the mention of tactical nuclear weapons. so i want to point out that while the administration failed to negotiate the reduction of russian tactical weapons in the new start treaty, it did allow a legally binding limitation of u.s. missile defense, and that's, i believe, a mistake. so i disagree with those who argue that ratif

before the senate armed services committee on june 7, -- june 17, 2010, would still require further reductions to meet the treaty's central limits. they went on to argue that because the united states will have seven years to reduce its forces to these limits, they did not find it necessary to identify a final force structure at this point. meaning the senate will commit the united states to a delivery vehicle force of 700 without knowing how that force will be composed. this problem is compounded by the fact that the treaty was so poorly negotiated that for every icbm or slbm deployed with a vengsal warhead 1 one less nuclear delivery vehicle will be available to the united states. russia is already well below the delivery vehicle limits it would drastically reduce its arsenal with or without this treaty. as the congressional research service writes and i quote -- "russia has 620 launchers and this may decline to 400 deployed and 440 total launchers. this would likely be true whether the treaty enters into force because russia is eliminating older missles as they age and deploying newer missles at a slower pace than that to retain 700 launchers. end quote. in light of all these fa

senator in the united states senate come january. but i should have said right now he's an outstanding senator andn makes a great contribution toand this country and congressman pomeroy with whom i've served rte otherom part of north dakoto wree of us to work together onw campaigns 40 years ago, 35 years ago in north dakota and who then for 18 years became three three members of the on the three daks members of north dakota's congressional delegation. it's been a great pleasure and we will continue these friendships, but i say things ts senator conrad especially forond the work we've done together.e p now you know and it shows the will of politics and i love hav. public service.t ve.ays ha john f. ken onedy used to say every other kind of helps herprs child might grow up to be president as long as they don't have to bice active in politicse but of course, politics is thee. way we make decisions about thig america. it is an honorable thing.ng i have always been enormouslyol. proud of being in politics.imesi i've run 12 times in statewi

> i am senator mitch mcconnell from your neighboring state of kentucky, the republican leader of the senate. [applause] and i am here today to represent all of the republican members of the unitedte and paid tribute to your beloved senator, robert c. byrd. 10 years ago, senator byrd honored me in the students at the university of louisville by making a trip to kentucky to share some of his wisdom about the senate. i regret to say it has taken me a decade to return the favor. but i do so with a deep sense of gratitude. not only for that particular kindness but for many others he showed me over the years and for the many valuable lessons i have learned and relearned from the life and example of robert c. byrd. others have talked about his encyclopedic knowledge of history and literature, his courtliness, his profound reverence for the u.s. constitution, his oratory. it is all true. for about a quarter of the time our government has existed, senator byrd stood like a century in a three-piece suit, watching over the legislative branch. but here in west virginia, one cannot help but be reminded first and foremost of the challenges he overcame to achieve all this. it is one of the gl

so i think the united states senate -- which is appropriate -- has time to focus on this treaty. and i thought we had a good debate yesterday. the president said regardless of russia's actions, as long as i am president and as long as the congress provides the necessary funding, the united states will continue to develop and deploy effective missile dwens to protect the united states. i -- i really would hope our colleagues would give credence to the secretary of defense, secretary of state, the military, the president of the united states, and to the budget , because the chairman of the appropriations committee informed me yesterday they have fully funded the modernization once again in the c.r., just as we did in the previous c.r., as a sign of good faith of the direction we're going in. so all i can say is we have bent over backwards to meet the concerns of our colleagues in a completely nonpolitical, a political, totally bipartisan, substantive way that meets the security concerns of the country. i hope we can find reciprocity with respect to that kind of action here in the u

so we have to get rid of these old filibuster rules that we have that are strangling the united states senatewith other senators right now, senator schumer from new york. a whole bunch of other people i'm working with right now, to see if we can come up with something that will get the senate to function more effectively in the future. we'll have something to do on that on the first day we come back on january 5th. >> you've suggested it can be done with 51 votes on the first day. we're going to be watching on the first day to see what the harkin secret move might turn out to be. thank you very much. >> we can do it, lawrence. thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, meghan mccain is on the record supporting the repeal of don't ask don't tell. she's also been pretty claire about what she thinks of sarah palin. has that video of palin killing a caribou changed her mind? meghan mccain is in the spotlight. >>> why do some republicans think doing their job is an attack on christmas? pathetic. you call this a holiday party? we need to help. these people are under-indulgers, not enjoying

, paul butler, is a facebook intern who has facebook's approval. >>> still ahead, when the united states senate on the tax cut deal, only two senators could not make it back in time to vote. they were both traveling from their home state of oregon. after the break, i'll ask one of them, democratic senator ron wyden, how he plans to vote when the final bill comes to the floor tomorrow. >>> and when you hear the newly released tapes of former president richard nixon you will understand why he's in the rewrite. the droid 2 global. run a universe of free apps on the world's fastest mobile phone processor. the droid pro. a fortress for data, a global office as mobile as you. now get a droid 2 global by motorola for $199.99 and get any phone free. [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday. that's why only zales is the diamond store. where you can get up to $1,000 off now through sunday. but my doctor told me that most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it c

senator in the united states senate come january. but i -- but i should have said right now, he's an outstanding senator and makes a great contribution to this country. and congressman pomeroy with whom i have served, the other part of team north dakota, three of us who worked together on campaigns 40 years ago, 35 years ago in north dakota, and then for 18 years became three members of the -- the only three members of north dakota's congressional delegation. it's been a great, great pleasure and it's -- we will continue these friendships but i say thanks to senator conrad especially for the work we've done together. now, you know and it shows that i love politics and i love public service. always have. john f. kennedy used to say that every mother kind of hopes that their child might grow up to be president as long as they don't have to be active in politics. but, of course, politics is the way we make decisions about america. it's an honorable thing. i've always been enormously proud of being in politics. i've run 12 times in statew

, paul butler, is a facebook intern who has facebook's approval. >>> still ahead, when the united states senated on the tax cut deal, only two senators could not make it back in time to vote. they were both traveling from their home state of oregon. after the break, i'll ask one of them, democratic senator ron wyden, how he plans to vote when the final bill comes to the floor tomorrow. >>> and when you hear the newly released tapes of former president richard nixon you will understand why he's in the rewrite. ♪ [ male announcer ] here's hoping you find something special in your driveway this holiday. ♪ [ santa ] ho ho ho! [ male announcer ] get an exceptional offer on the mercedes-benz you've always wanted at the winter event going on now. and stay connected with three years of mbrace service complimentary. check out the myboniva program. it's free to join, and it shows you lots of ways to help improve your bone strength. like bone-healthy exercises that are easy to do. boniva works with your body to help stop and reverse bone loss. and myboniva gives you calcium-rich recipes... monthly reminde

discuss if there is any progress on that issue because of the delays it is causing in the united states? >> senator, i believe that we have answered in a couple of your letters. we continue to work with the canadians on this. as you are aware, the aviation transportation security act is very specific on what kind of screening has to be done on those checked bags. we continue to encourage canadians to purchase the same kind of explicit protection systems or checked bag screening that we use, in accordance with the agreement, however, given space constraints, given financial constraints, they have not been able to move forward. once they purchased the equipment installed it and begin using it as we do, we anticipate we will be able to move forward very quickly in eliminating the need for the re-screening upon arrival in the united states. >> we have canadian members too. at the minneapolis-st. paul airport, there is no airport with higher costs to qualify for this particular requirement. vendor is rising quickly. -- denver is rising quickly. if you go from montreal to denver with your bags screen, yo