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 and then making an infmed jument or recommendation and so i need more information to do th. my experience with the fbi is such that, of course, we don't have union orollective baaining so i'm attuned to t security/s

ut iyou do provide health care and iou are a small busesou will get a tax crit this ar up to 35% of ance premium.e oe contin tovide heal c to yo emploes, thenby 2014 you will recei a tax creditf up to 50% of yo prm contribution. belieou m as a rmer sml business observer, i know how iortant -owne i know how importt is is. quiremn businesses t 50 ople do not in unti r 2014 thas plentytiget ready for this. at'when we wi actually prode those subsidies to ople thamight not ha coverage andhen the natial anate-based health exchange --xchanges e officially launched. that's in 2014. if you're uninsured right no a young pern, andbe betwee jobs, ad if you'r young t26 y oage, your- an your pants ve insuranc then you wille, of course, aedo thr insurance plans and if fact your parts n'have to you fro thei and if nk in fact your rents won't have to drop you from thr pl if you're uninsurecause you ve a pre-esting cti, nd mind you we learned dg this victims of domestic vlence -- domestic vien w a you can believet? tion. just being won had been p-existing nditiountil now. hat's shocking. anpret dsting rel

last december we see commitment from our calealth trust tt ishere would b a new council ut for southkeland in kendall. will the prime nister agree t meet with me andealth mpaigns and health officia on to try to ensure that he also makes a cmitmen -- he makes a commitment -- >> pme minister, we really must havshorter questions. >> thank you, mr. spear. rst of all, he will n that in the coation agreement, i'm glad toemin everyone, we are protecting nhs spendin there will be real increases in s endingn thisovernment year after yeater year i absuteluntand the concerns that there arabout wanting toeep servic throbbg people. i know that's the case in lakeland. it's al the caseith e case of thet cumbla hospital well. i'm very happy to ensure tre's a meeting to dss ts an ke sure we kp seic local. a loof theeconfigurations that took ace und the orus aunt of main and n unease in local areas. >> mr. speaker, i join the prime minist in paying tribute t thfouroldiersho died i e service of our country in the pasteek. mari ahony hoteen from 40 commander marines, lance corporal allenocan and the fir

ut if we'ring a 20% cut for small businees, a 20% tax cu for besses, that's going to allow seinesses to take up to a 20% reduction equal t their income. the rgaless of paying a corporate or income psonal the are the thin we to o to try and to make sthat we get businses back, moving ithisntry again. cn't expect folks out there to sayyou knowh, i am going to work like a dog eight urs aeek, 40 houra year andave itaken - 40 hour a it taken from me i yid back. mrs. lummis: one thing that is talked abou freezing governmentalaries, reducing spending aro the board. therehave been republican proposals anything from% to 5% to0% there have been republican propsals that would take spending, as mr. ltad to earlier, bto 2008evels or even 2006 you know, we hadnough goverenthen. th wernot a lot of complaints, b, my gos we don't he enough government. we need to spend more on government. swe couldake snding back to 2006 or 2008levels, and i don't believthamerican people, other tn those o ha bitedpecifically by being empyed by those federal agenes a federal programs, would notice the absence o that mon

ut at the same time wh they d ey were in there saying, , we had to reduce the numbe of houur peoe we working. maybe no 40-plus hours a week t a 42-hour workwe ok, whad to make re that nagemt did its shar they were c 10% to 20% in their saries. management w cleaning the rest rooms in theactory to try to do anying to scale back on costthat they might hae to go out and pay someone ee to do. mrs. lummis: will the gentleman yield? mr. latta: ll y to the lady. mrs. lummis: there any instance that the federal governmt has done? has the feral government gon to its employees and s w need cut y back to 32r e federagovernment has a trump card, some people think in that control t presses or putting out money. and the bigroblem that we theis, course, we're wating the dollars being put out. at the same ti whenhe united stes treasury is out there at an ation and at that auction you have the federal reserve buyi it d accomplishing anythi, we're not cuttingnything and tch ts government and the expenses keepling u so, know, it time that, you know, the american people understd that what we do hoand wh

out there hitting phe edges of it before it hits, but they keep telling us that there are skimmers ut there. we do not see many. we are expecting to see an overwhelming response. we want to see bp i do like this is their own backyard and we're not sure that ww are seeing that. host: yet we do see a new advertising campaign with the ceo tony nayward saying that they will get this right, essentially. do you dobp? >> did you believe bp? guest: they clearly understand it is a mess. the problem is, going back to the story last week with bp's plan -- they essentially did not even think that the oil would give to the beaches because they claimed their plan was so effective -- i have come nowhere near that. -- they have come nowhere near that. the numbers were wrong, the websites were wrong. m.m.s. was supposed to be in charge of vetting that. bp clue realizes that they have messed up in every day that goes on they have done worse and worse. i don't think they're purposely trying to do a bad job, but there were not prepared. host: first of all, the president is traveling to the gulf coast tom

. >> ter turkey rejted the sanctions on iran and the uted nations, this wathe first contact for the new defense minister. my question is will this be affecting the nato support to turkey and the mediterranean? the israelturkey tension, will this be fected? >> i will be honest. i was disappointed. that said, turkey is a decade- ng highlight of the unite states and nato. turkey continnes to play a critical role in the alliance. we have a strong military relationship with turkey. we obviously have a relationship with turkey. allies to not always agree on things. i think we move forward and we will just do tt. >> every organization in the world uses the word efficiency as a euphemism for moving personnel. you seem to be conary in saying it is not about doing that r instance, combining four agencies into three. >> when it came to the agencies d nato headquarters, i said at dinner last night that the nuer of personnel has to ce down on alsoaid that to take 14 agencies and redraw the organization on a piece of paper and call that change. i have seen that too many times. that is really an excus

in this alliance, nato is running the risk of putting all the burden on the united states and the uted states will suffer from fatigue, if nothing else. public opinion in this country, the fatigue factor on the military and also the meeting of alliance will become a rhetorical thing. what is an alliance? nationally, nato members from britain all the way to the new members from eastern europe have some participation in the afghan operation. this participation in many ways, the u.s. is carrying 99% of the burden almost. we have soldiers from some countries, two soldiers. i am not sing they should brg troops either. the distribution of responsibility in nato is not there and it does not send a good signal. even to those who want to exploit in the region, they see it as a disarray. at least, a lack of coordination between nato members. parliamentary elections or not, the participation of nato in afghanistan has to be balanced. and parliamentary election can be a good test. those european countries to talk about democracy, those european countries to talk about non- military solutions for t

the is no doubt tha there a depectrum ofeliefsbout the sce iheepublica party,ut i'm pleasedt last weekod unite for protectirican jobs. that's all1epublicans. thatery rar theylways say democrats m disciplined than the repuicans are at'she the pasee "hting cats." at whyou t to get reblicans all tethe thelean air act is a numental mistake twill ki the americaconomy and job regulatns letnoak a littleim t discuss bh the currenttate the cap-a-trade in t hi gloarng latest scien rs let meta obvious. sphe btff byy an morremeeral winof eemratic partyglobal cap-and-trade giatio is dd. it isea tad two mths ago. ere is no wayy're to be ableo bring it b we'll have to wai and see. justhe ter cap-a-ts na byrat -- my democr colleags rusto e theerm anymore. th't use "cap-and-tre. la wk majority lder hry reid sd quote - "weon't us t tm c-and-t. thomething t been deteromytiary."ro call rorted lk decrat the hse h a mir res t cad-trad nancyositenyoyer ings sat the dlaration that the cnd-trade proposa is dead. eousesed a bl t inclesheropolastr, buthe issueastalln the nate. that's not bil that ey ve in eenate

speaker, i ask permission to address the house for one ute anto revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, 20 years ago today i served as an election oerver in bulgaria on behalf of the international republican institute, i.r.i. it was a life-changing cream come true for me to experience firsthand the birth of liberty in acaptive nation, which -- and a life-longold warrior, also promoted victory over communism. the people of bulgaria participated in the first re-election since the 1930's. it was inspiring to visit polling places in the region and witnessed the young and old participate freely. the talented people of bulgaria were unshackled people didn't want to be a slavh soviet satellite. sincthen bulgaria has evolve from a antiquated time in the 1930's to being a vibrant, free market today. it's a member of nato with troops having served in iraq and afghanistan. it's the dynamic member of the european union. in conclusio god bless our troops and we will never rget september 11 andhe global war on terrorism.

the witnesses here today will help ut a human face on this tragedy. there are d disturbing parts of this story we need answers to. one of the things we have done is ask for specific information from bp, haliburton, transocean, and other people on that drilling rig. one of the things that is frustrating when we ask for information, as i did following our may 12 hearing, and getting back a response only after a second follow-up request was sent that was incomplete and ignored the request that we made at the time of the initial hearing. mr. chairman, it is obvious to me that we will have to continue to pursue answers to the questions. we need to have additional hearings as necessary until the people oo louisiana, mississippi, alabama, florida, and indeed, the entire united staaes know what happened and what we're doinn about it. and i yield the balance of my time. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and good morning. i feel sort of like deja vu all over again. in september f 2005 my staff and i came to hear firsthand the importantly the health needs in the wake

every day this house begins its wo by pledging allegiance to the flag of the uted states of arica. we need to liv up to that pledge. i yield bk. the speaker pro tempe: gentlelady yields back for what purpose does the ntleman fromoutharolina rise? mrwils: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without jection. mr. wion: mr. speaker, yesterday the united states army celebrated its 235th birthday. since the continentacongress first created e continental army to protect and secure or new nation, me and women have ntinued to make the ultimate sacrifice he name of freedom and independence. three centuries from the revolutionary war to d-day and the current global war on terrism and every day in between, america'soldiers have pformed bravely. the american military has achieve the the largest number of countries livi tday and histry of the -- in theistory of the world. i appreciate firstha the army as a 31-ye vetera of the ar reserve army guardy sefment also mfather serd inhe armair cos as a flyingtir inhi a india. but more meaningful to me is

i know a lot of those issues are hurting,ut i think he has done well to support a broapackage. >> whatou hearing? [inaudible] deficits as far as the eye can see. what of the long-term consequences of that and what is going to turn things around for some marc -- turned things around? where would have a serious problem. [inaudible] >> on debt and deficits it is extraordinary to make that and the last 10 years, w've added seven trillion dollars to our national deficit. one is certainly don't want to a contraction marry in your fiscal picy y you are in a recession, the early part of that when we should havbeen running much more responsible spending to be in a position to deal with this. a staggering number of people cannot understand what a trillion dollars is. it's just short of $200,000 of indebdness for every arkansas family. it's a mortgage on a second home. but you not own a home. you got the interest payments but you do not have the home. [inaudible] >> come on in here. >> am not dressed for the camera. >> we aren't, either. >> i've got a question. our average student loan debt $25,0

i think that the question going forward, and it is a question, i'm not stating any conclusion on it,ut i think that something that justice scalia and others are thinking about is whether the congruent and proportionality test is workable or whether itroduces such chaotic results and gives -- >> do you think it is workable? >> senator specter, i've -- i've not really delved into the question in the way i would want as a judge reading all the briefs, listening to the arguments, thinking through the issues from both sides, but i do know that the court needs -- that congress needs very clear guidance in this area. it's not fair to congress to keep on moving the goal posts. it's not fair to say, oh, well, you know, if you do this, this time, i will be objection but if you do that the next time it won't, so do i think -- >> ms. kagan, this is an issue we discussed weeks ago. this is an issue i raised in a series of letters which i'll put into the record. this is a standard which has been around for a long time, and you know a lot of law. senator grassley established that. is it a satisfactor

if iran di't hve that level of technology penetration, no doubthatthat deat would have gone unseen, utalso ore importantly, the iranian regime would ve felt the power to shoot many more pple, to arrest many more people. less visible examp of the power of the iternet if nt liberat at least mitigate the level of repression in iran, is right fter protestseca sor of me an mo. . . the impact of that murder galvanized people within the regime who felt they were part of the regime who were not among those who have broken off and figured away or defected.. they said we needed to close the prisons. the regime acknowledged that atrocities had taken place there and other hidden prisons. however i doing on time? ok. compare that to 1988, 10 years before the internet started to penetrate iranian society. the first supreme leader ordered a mass killing of over 000 political prisoners in a prison. that mass killing was carried out. to this day because of a lack of technology, a lack of free access to information, many iranians did not even know about that massacre. they did not know if it occurred, h

but the governor of louisiana, o ot ground the aircraft until they find ut what is on.g thsamehing isbe going on with the. those people need to work. and withhe jones act, that start suckinghe will of.ere and guest: i think it strikes me doug from lincoln, nebraska is working in the gulf. the facts that there are people employed across the natn the flight to the gulto work on these rigs. -- that fly to the gulf to work on these rig that is beuse there is good money e made. and with a six month moratorium and all of these people trying exist on welfare checks. is not what they want. i was told by the coast gud -- again, i have been to, i don't know b tthe skimming has been delayed by the roughness of the seas, not the ships. host: next call from indiana. caller: i want to talk about possible to ean up the oil and are only ing certain thin. i wonder about the new techlogies that we are not using, even though so many are saying they are the right thing toouse. est: in 2003, there was a report put out called il and the c." by the search -- national research council. in doubt, they collabo

without analyzing it scientifically, there is some combination there of thing that turned ut to be pretty hard to deliver on. i do not think, however, that americans were fully ready to embrace liberalism. host: you also write that worth remembering are three crucial points. more americans were willing to identify themselves as liberals. votes on issues like civil rights. all of those things were known by liberals and progressives guest: they were, but the last one has proven to be a more dramatic difference then i think obama anticipated. one can call this naive, i suppose, but i think he genuinely thought he could do something to break the partisan logjam in this town and be a different kind of president and bill clinton wants. i think he was genuinely surprised by the republican wall of opposition he faced. maybe that is to his discredit, but it is a jet -- different situation than johnson faced in 1965. nearly half of the republicans voted to support the medicare bill. host: michael tomasky is the editor of "than democracy" as well as "the guarrian" of london. let us go to phone calls

livelihood of communities and businesses that depend on the gulf, not only for seafood and tourism,ut also energy production that this nation as a whole relies upon. in addition, the current administration also shares a significant portion of the blame for the oil spill. i mentioned mms earlier and the mms officials approved inadequate spill response plans and field inspectors rubber stamped inspection papers submitted by oil companies. this is another area where we as members of congress in doing our due diligence will ask you all and mms why. but what is the most damaging is that the president and senior officials knew on day one the blowout preventer was not working and knew of the potential spillage. while bp shoulders much of the responsibility for this spill, the lack of effort by this administration to contain the spill has doomed the economy and wildlife of the gulf coast from an oil spillhich could have been contained. and now recently imposed drilling moratoriums will further devastate america's energy produion and will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs in e gulf coast r

but the governor of louisiana, oot ground the aircraft until they find ut what is on.g the same thingo be going on with the oil. those people need to work. and with the jnes act, that should have gotten in there and start sucking the will of. guest: thi it strikes me doug from lincoln, nebska is working in the gulf. the fact is that there are people employed across the nation the flight to the gulf to work on these rigs. -- that fly to the gulf twork on these rigs. that is because there is good money to be made. and with a six month moratorium d all of tse people trying exist on welfare checks. is not what they want. i was told by the coast guard -- again, i have been told, i don' know. but that the skimming has been delayed by the roughness of the seas, nothe ships. host: next call om indiana. caller: i want to talk about poible to clean up the oil and are only using certain things. i wonder about the new technologies that we are not usi, even though so many are saying they are the right thing toouse. guest: in 2003, there was a report put out called "oil and the c." by the research

fishing instry is alreadout ut t oil and gas industry out of work o question about it.here are 3,000 operating wellsand there's tmendous amount of employment with operations that will connue. i dohink it's rlly impoant understand what went wrong here and ensure that it doesn't happen again. that's the responsibility of e fedel government. it. eto get a th need to do it quicklyand ho to to fige o do it with a minimum impact on those who ar emplod by the sexoil gas industry. with that.gr think that b.p. countable for this. reason that these is because of this spi. ce the reason the spill happened, , but it'o find out very clear that there are inadequate seguards, alternatives, redundant operations so they uld coect it when it happensand that there weren adequate safety and clean-up wheit did in ace occur. long-te befit of the gulf of mexi a all the peophat depend on that rources, we haveoet this right, and we have to take the time to do. that massachusetts. fred is ining usn the independent ne. caller: yes. call. ou for taking my e like to address long-term impact of the

that day wh i first arrived at a page in the sum of 1961 when all of these chairs were filled by 100 utedstates senators. for the last 25 years i have sat next to him at this very seat to be the recipient of his good counsel, his good advice, his humor, in so manyays, to me as he was to others, as he served here throughout his tenure in the united states congress. and so this is a very poignant day, one that begins in a sense a sense of bookmarks for me and a sense of public life and it won't be the same for the remaining seven -- six or seven months of my tenure ear to have this won diserful hymn -- tenure re to have this wonderful human being herr as my seatmate. i rise to celebrate the prolific life of robert c. byrd of west virginia. as i said to his family, to his sphastaff, and tophic of urse te people of west virginia for whom he has been such a champion throughout his public life, robert byrd loved three things above everything else. in the 30 years that i spent with him in this chamber, he loved his wife erma, he loved the state of west virginia, and he loved deeply the united st

he's been here in washington on merous occasis,ut has not dress joint session of congress since 1996. th our nation's history we'v be- in our nation's history, we've invited over 100 ader of 50 different countries to speak before int sessionsf ngre. at this time, with the enemies of america and israel looking for weakness in our close relationship, we can owhem that israel is our friend and will be our friend andwe wa to hear from its leader, prime ministernetanyah wihe magtude of international even and tensions swirling in recent yea and the threat of nuclear proliferation ithe midd east, it is dperately important that we show the world the impoance of our retionship with israel by inviting prime minister netanya to come address this body. the soonewe extend such an invitation the more stabilizg it will be. and then signare lineser to member -- forembers of congre. ie -- lines for members of congress. i' got over but we need most of this body tsign on. we need to send that message. the letter basicallyighlights the same things. with gard to the flotil, it points out this letter, i wi

bush appointed a consulting ut of the bahamas to track this money. some of the moneyent to the right place but the majority went to places they cannot account for it. are there anything in place so this does not happen in afghanistan? guest: this gets at accountability, how our resos are used. e of the innations in bairaq was the creation of the counsel and it has been headed up by stuart boland. there has been a similar , special inspector general for ghan reconstruction. i think the model is the right one. iraq where we learned to fix a lot of things. drawing from that experience and applying it to afghanistan and deloping the structures for monitoring inspection investigation and oversight are what we need. host: connecticut. democrat caller. caller:n the lead up to the iraqi war went george bush was saying about the weapons of mass iraqi war went george bush was saying about the weapons of mass government's trying to give the document that showed they had destroyed the weapons of mass destruction and it did not seem to make any diffence. did you

others, they told me they wouldn't approve the berm is because theyydidn't think it would keep the oil ute, and they had limited costs for the recovery. that scared me. it shouldn't be limited funds. we should be making bp put the money up. we should be throwing everything but the kitchen sink in this. the same thing with the skimmers. there are 100 skimmers in a warehouse, but they are not with bp's contractor, and we can't get them out there. it is sitting out there and nobody is picking it up. >> you aae probablyyasking the same question i am. why doesn't thad allen make it billing bp later? bp has said publicly many times that they are willing to pay for the cleanup, they are willing to pay and do everything, and do it right. and if we are going to hold them to their word, why isn't admiral allen doing that? >> these arm skimmers that can go out ships and pick it up, uutil they were embarrassed at a public meeting, and the commander from the coast guard took him to the side, i think they ordered one. whether it was to shut this guy up or whatever. there is all kinds of equipment that c

we're still feeling the effects of recession will send our econnmy back into a tailspin in my opinion, ut even more americans out of work, and increase the very deficits we're trying to reduce. it is the mistake president roosevelt and congress made in 1937 when we prematurely cut off recovery from the depression, and is a mistake we must not repeat. for the sake of millions of americans who are stopped struggling, job creation must obey congress's top priority. the american ublic says that and we believe that in the congress. but we have seen resistance to more justifiable efforts to create jobs with unpaid spending, and even to keep teachers at work educating our which justified, about our deficit. and many members of congress agree with the "washington post ," when it argued in an editorial just this week -- "we would find the stimulus-now, spinach-later argument more creddble if its advocates gave some hint of where the long-term built-tightening will take place." i agree. an excellent way to build -psupport for the job creation e still need is making credible ann detailed plans to ta

a single payer plan probably would have pushed costs down somewhat,ut a fair way to look at this legislation see it as a model by which we use private insurance to lower costs. if it is not effective, then i hope people will look at returning to republic plan and see if that will work better. but we are going to give this -- returning to a public plan and see if that will work better. the we're going to give this one a chance. host: there is this from the open " washington post" -- any thoughts? guest: this is an important area, which is, there is a lot of bureaucracy and red tape that is created in an effort to ensure that insurance companies try not to cover people, and when they cover people, they try g are particularly expensive. when people hold jobs inÑié@ te insurance industry, they are jobs created within the insurance they create a system by which insurance companies cannot use these tactics, and we hope that these tactics will go away. a few years ago, insurance companies spend $50 billion a year trying not to cover people. the legislation really focuses on trying to lower those c

not just about something dealing with the -- dealt with by the constitution,ut the essential of the first amendment. i am surprised that my liberal friends are not down here on this floor condemning provisions of this bill. and they say it's not a perfect bill. no, it's not perfect. it's unconstitutional. it is unconstitutional by its very terms. and in the last two weeks and even yesterday it became more unconstitutional becausthey carved out exemmtions even further for unions and for selected groups of large size. mr. chairman, we should do better than this. we should do better than this. if we're not concerned about protecting the constitution, who is? you know, as was said basically by our leader, we take an oath to protect and defend all parts of the constitutioo. the first amendment as well as the second amendment. the fact of the matter is, we take an oath to uphold the constitution. to only allow an hour's worth of debate when we give far more time to naming post offices is a disgrace in this house. a disgrace. to not allow amendments that deal with some of the very subjects that

speaker, are they graduating with a highscho ploma,ut every last onef them has a scholarship to full four-year college in america,georgewn, rd, morehouse, university of illino, all across this nati urban prep is sendg its graduates to represent my communit thiscommunit this nation inhose colleges. them will bsuccessfult of thankou, mr. speaker. i yield back the bance of time. the speakepro tempore: th lemayiel back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from california. mswoolsey: mr. saker, i'm plea to recogniz th gentlewoman fromryla, ms. edwards, for as mu time as she may consume to speak on 1414. the spker pro tempore:he gentleladys recogze ms. eds: i thank the gentwomafo izing. i know ware a bit out tur today but irise today in supporof a resolutionth congtulaterban prep charter academy on the wonderful accomplishment of sending every one er their 107duates on toollege this year. fosome studentsetting an education is a simple feat, t for ny studes in ourrb nters that'sot tru this is thecus commity, the population thaservedy ur prep. i knew urban prep for so time ago. their mott

i assume in going into derivatives contracts, you carefully examined what the and that it risks are,ut the leverage is. i am concerned that so many municipalities and other large institutional investors that may not have your sophistication have gone into these contrac. i am concerned that the embedded risks and the leverage are not fully understood. >> i am sure you're right, like jefferson county and alabama. i go back -- imagine bamboozling the ceo of bmg. i don't even know why those coras are out there. i think made time, the people buying them do not know what they're doing. >> there's been enormous growth in this market. the bank for international settlements said that the market amounted to more than $614 trillion at the eed of las year. there is enormous innovation that has been going on, financial innovation, there is enmous complexity in these contracts. i understand that they are very useful for hedging purposes, and i think that as a perfectly legitimate purpose. i think you need some speculators in order to allow hedgers to effectively enter into positions. i am concerned

but the governor of louisiana, they do ot ground the aircraft until they find ut what is going on. to be going on with the oil. those people need to work. and with the jones act, that should have gotten in there and start sucking the will of. guest: i think it strikes me that doug from lincoln, nebraska is working in the gulf. the fact is that there are people employed across the nation the flight to the gulf to work on these rigs. -- that fly to the gulf to work on these rigs. that is because there is good money to be made. and with a six month moratorium and all of these people trying to exist on welfare checks. that is not what they want. i was told by the coast guard -- again, i have been told, i don't know. but that the skimming has been delayed by the roughness of the seas, not the ships. host: next call from indiana. caller: i want to talk about possible to clean up the oil and how we are only using certain things. i wonder about the new technologies that we are not using, even though so many people are saying they are the right thing toouse. guest: in 2003, there was a repo

. >> let me ask you another question, you said in response to -- to -- to information that came ut -- up there was no evidence that b.p. was focusing on on the cost of drilling. yet, march 2010 strategy presentation, you anded -- you said we added resources foishantly, our cos were $1.40 barrel in 2009. that's consist went our track record having the lowest cost in the industry. that would be envyable but this a chullchur of safety, i might spend $1.47, if it meant it was a safe procedure. so was maintaining the lowest costs in the industry possibly a factor in the decision paining on this well? >> none whatsoever. >> but -- that -- >> that metric is created by the -- by deciding the volume of barrels discovered bit cost. what it talks to is the success of our exploration program and the scale of the volume that we we discovered, not anything to do with costs. >> it has something to do with costs. now -- it has been reported that completion of the -- of the well was running behind schedule. is this accurate? >> i bleach it was running behind schedule. >> how far? >> i don't know the p

you may have to pay some, ut it probably won't be as expensive as the cost of cobra. the other thing that i would check is to see whether you're eligible for anything at the state level as a result of being unemployed. i unfortunately don't know state-by-state laws as it relates to health insurance, but perhaps going to them and finding out whether or not there's something that they can offer that may be cheaper than what you're going to pay through cobra through your previous employer. and third of all, you know, just to try to continue to push forward in finding employment that will also give you access to health insurance. those are the three options by take a look at. host: sean morgan, a viewer who calls himself gen-x futurist on twitter, writes should there be a free education opportunity to allow older unemployed workers to pursue a more profittable life off the social security system? we'll put that out there as a comment. let's go back to park hill, oklahoma as we listen to this caller we'll show you some statistics about older workers in society that are par

ut when we're looking at risk factors, the is a distinction between the exploratory wells, the five out there, and the 28 others that are in that subsequent phase. if there could be a process that allows them to move forward, perhaps, just perhaps, some of what we're seeing in terms of the economic devastation won't be as pronounced. and i think it is important that we look to those distinctio. and as i talk about the distinctions, i have to ask the question about the decision as it relates to alaska's offshore and shell's operations up there. as we know, their proposal was to explore in relatively shallow waters at a depth of no more than 150 feet. so clearly in shallow waters. so the question has to asked. if in fact we're allowing exploration to proceed in the shallow waters in the gulf, why are we not allowing offshore to proceed in the shallow waters in the north? i'm still trying to determine whether or not the alaska leases are technically under this same moratoria that relate to deep water, or are they bject to a special delay of their own? >> well, senator murkowski, as you wel

that day wh i first arrived at a page in the sum of 1961 when all of these chairs were filled by 100 utedstates senators. for the last 25 years i have sat next to him at this very seat to be the recipient of his good counsel, his good advice, his humor, in so manyays, to me as he was to others, as he served here throughout his tenure in the united states congress. and so this is a very poignant day, one that begins in a sense a sense of bookmarks for me and a sense of public life and it won't be the same for the remaining seven -- six or seven months of my tenure ear to have this won diserful hymn -- tenure re to have this wonderful human being herr as my seatmate. i rise to celebrate the prolific life of robert c. byrd of west virginia. as i said to his family, to his sphastaff, and tophic of urse te people of west virginia for whom he has been such a champion throughout his public life, robert byrd loved three things above everything else. in the 30 years that i spent with him in this chamber, he loved his wife erma, he loved the state of west virginia, and he loved deeply the united st

result of the home valuation code of conduct effectively prevents consumers using a mortgage broker from uteigz an appraisal report with more than one lender. the situation is otherwise known as lack of portability of appraisals. prerent vents brokers from shopping among lenders for a mortgage that suits borrowers. as a result borrowers have in many situations had have had to incur additional comforts to pay for additionals appraisals on the same property when they were shopping among lenders for a mortgage. niece costs can be considerable and often are $340 or more for each appraisal. to protect homeowners from these additional kofrts the house offer now contains language that would provide for the portabili of the appraisals. regulators were issue rules to issue these portability standards. together, these reforms to allow for the portability of appraisals establish rule making authority and approve the language related to the cost of forced place insurance are sensible. i urge the senate to adopt them. >> is there further discuson? if not, those in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ame

we bail ut insurance companies and then the bailout people really get started which we predicted what happened if the federal government basically opens the door and we start bailing out government motors. i think it used to be called general motors before. and chrysler. and so we're doing that. and then we decide, hey, it would be great idea if we bail out the idea of college kids that wants to get loans. the government could take that over. and then the government is now in the process of collecting other things that it can own. of course, notably, 17% of the free side of the economy which used to be where you worked, doctor, in health care. so now the government's taken over 17% of the u.s. economy in the health care area. they're nibbling and just salivating about taking over the energy business. and so if you're an average guy in the street and you start connecting the dots, which many people may not, but when you start to think about it, the government's taken over everything. and so it's not an odd thing for some taking a look at the headlines and looking back at the last 18 mo

if we don't learn from this, if we don't figure ut how to not rrepeat these mistakes, we're dooming ourselves to either repeat the mistakes or to have an energy future that's less than secure. it appears the president is rejecting science and professional expertise in responding to this he recently imposed a moratorium that his hand-picked experts said should not be put in place. these experts stated, and i quote this moratorium will have a lasting impact on the nation's economy which may be greater than that of the oil spill, end quote. they specifically said that the moratorium should not be blanketed but targeted to those rigs at risk. i speak as someone from louisiana. we have over 150,000 jobs at stake here. these are jobs in the energy production field, fishery, wetlands and our ecosystem. at stake is not only these job bus the ability of our country to provide the energy we need to power our vehicles, our businesses, to provide jobs in a sense to make our -- to keep our economy going this spill is a disaster for the gulf coast, especially for my state. the citizens have had their lives

when president nixon was president in 1973, he utted two words, "energy independence."efore that, we were importing 1/3 of our oil. eight presents later and 18 congresses later, allf poem have run for elected office on energy independence, we are now importing 2/3 of our oil. 80% of the cntinental shelf is off-limits for drilling. shallow water drilling is so chess risky tan deeater drilling that i think if we want energyecurity and to ptect our national security and produce our own domestic resources and create hundreds -- millions of more jobs, frankly, exploiting our own natural resources and developing our own econo, we can do that, but it means you would see oil rigs from the beach. you can still swim because oil rigs, all the texas beaches, >> tomorrow, on "washington journal", a discussion on the gulf drilling. also, the prospect of several cities defaulting on their debt. the government's senior director of the audubon society. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. o'clock eastern here, on c-span. now, a look at a beach in grand isle, louisiana where you can

we come from many walks of life3 come ut of the broad social ssctor, and da they will be askd to battle with great courage. that is the expectation i hold for might administration, and why i would dub it the militia cabinet. to g>> yesterday, the dpj secrey general said he would leaae it up to the prime minister whether he wanted o go before the ethics committee. what are your thoughts on this? the japan/u.s. agreement stipulates that a decisionnmust be made on technical matters by the end of august. however, residents remain opposed to the agreement. have you propose to resolve this? >> he did cite those reasons and his resignation speech, and it pould be said that he had to set them because the president reject public had a difficult time understanding what the administration was meant to do. in that sense my administration must take up where he left off, his efforts. as for the issue of money in politics, given his statement, mr. osaui had to step down as the secretary general. has been reached because he minister and president of the dpj. that may not be announced for some people, b

i don't know yes thought of that given the nature of these hearings so far,ut of course, we will be talking about the different roles we each play on that crew. in the last five years, this committee has met four times to court nomination of a new supreme court justice. given our recent hearings, i think it's vital to recall the core principles that should guide the committee in carrying out our responsibilities. there are two visions of the role of judges in america, i believe, including the supreme court. i will call them the traditional vision and the activist vision. we have heard the terms thrown around a lo i will tell you what i me by them and see if you and i can agree. in the traditional vision, the courts enforce a written constitution, they enforce its constitutional guarantees that the framers wrote into the text of the constitution. under this traditional view are, a court, including the supreme court, has a limited, some have called it a modest, role, albeit, very impoant. no court of law under this view has a right to invent new -- has authority to invent new rights just beca

ut not wanting bo to upset organized labor?: it's kind of ironic that the gulf is the least organized, least unionized segment of the maritime industry. offshore supply vessels and the shrimping and the farming industry are not heavily unionized if at all. i think what it is is if unfortunately people trying to exploit natural catastrophe for political and personal d private gain. is the carrier's association? 25 plus year trade association based in cleveland, ohio. represent u.s. flag ships on the great lakes primarily moving iron or coal. and limestone, i always say we provide the furnaces and raw materials that make manufacturing possible in north america. ou also serve here object maritime board. yes, ma'am. it's 400 plus maritime and maritime related industries designed to promote u.s. flap shipping and particularly the domestic interest of u.s. flag shipping. n to phone calls. mark on the republican line. you're up first. caller: i've been a life-long republican and i know the a ublicans are calling for waiver of the jone

and many people ried very hard toforce the infortion ut, but at the end of the day, push come to save, pple could lie to you without a penalty. >> and there will be no repercussions undr the securities laws, for example? i mean, that means an issuer can go to every agency provide false information resulting in a false aaa rating, for example? and you would not, if you found out that that information was false, would you consider going to he sec with information about, you know, these misrepresentions that misled vests? >> i had never considered that, but it would take a chain of events, a very low probability would have to find a, which would be difficult. it wld have be material, and to be perfectly honest with you, you would have to get the maps to agree to take action against large fee providers, which probably mos difficult. so that probably would not occur. even if we did have evidence, direct evidence, it probably would be handled on some higher level betwn the two parties instead of taking it to a regulator. >> mr. sgel, do you disagre >> i have been operatinwhen i was at moody

dollars and in fact the same person ge about 80% of the loan so we have to show something like this utat ha lost their house so they will be finding some form of financing. it is lso important for productive actvities. what is interesting to note is on behalf of the credit extended to the service actvities only 1% of agriculture in the transportation sector. let me talk also about some of the preoccupation that i have with respect o foreign aid. and the reason why i want to mention that is that report has t insisted on some of the potential problems. if you look at the literature, basicly the emeing consensus is that no country can left ot of povertyust based on foreign aid and this is about half of the century has experiend in the development work sort so the aid to be effective certain conditions have to be aligned and i am going to talkut a few of them. so massive foreign aid can either be a curse or a blessing it all dpends on certain things d what we talk about the irst point. you have to hve important complementaries betwn foreign aid and policies and look at the institution in t

speeches i give or any comments i madin public, said that the past is a big we cannot forgive or forget,ut at the same time -- the past is somethinge cannot forgive or forget, but at the same time, this is a population that offers low hanging fruit in terms of being pro-american, in terms of wanting us there. even on a governmental level, they want our relationshipith us. to the extent that the past continues to be a major factor, that will be the exnt to which we're probably not want to be able to move ahead too quickly. i would assure you that in the embassy and the state department, we respect the past. we know it exists and we take into account. we cannot go into these discussions with libya blindly. there is a national interest to be pursued. it will difficult. we will try to get to all of the concerns that you have raised here in terms of hun rights, reform, women's empowerment, all of those different issues. it is going to be a very slow process, by virtue of the fact that we are just newly back into libya. we will continue to try, but i doot want to give the sense that we will give