russia, venezuela, our european allies, all come into play in ways. number five, it undermines our diplomacy, it isolates us from our allies, it isolates us from our trading partners. number six, it undercuts international energy companies who work in a back channel road to try to help us with our diplomacy. number seven, it undermines democracy in iran. all of us have seen those pictures, they've been all over the tv and the internet in the last few months, about a growing democratic movement in iran. this sanction will force all people to close iran's leadership, it will strengthen the hardliners who undermine democracy. next, it will make the u.s. presence in iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, even more dangerous for our troops. number nine, it's a path to military escalation. i will be discussing that later. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio reserves his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. berman: mr. speaker, can we get a little summary of the time remaining on this complicated -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman

and we can go throughout venezuela and other places. minorities also obscures the fact of african descendants. brazil could be as much half appro-brazilians -- afro- resilience. it needs to be revealed in sociology that the person -- the people in the hospital appeared there's a connection to cuba there. that is probably why they did that. that is said to write -- a direct hit on the democracy of these people being put under the framework of minority. and the 400,000 displaced people in colombia, we need to speak more directly about that terminology. and let me just out by saying -- bring some darkness to the slight. yes. -- to this white. yes. -- to this light. yes. they are calling for two basic things from the outside. open travel and normalization of relations says that differences can be taken up in the protocols established by the family of nations, oas, etc.. and i would urge that when we talk about cuba, to talk about the internal debates going on between the cuban citizens and their elected representatives, whether we like them

the voters that he saw himself in the fashion of governing like brazil, not like hugo chavez in venezuela. contrary to some of the trends in europe and elsewhere where we may see a backlash, and in the u.s. going towards a conservative end of the spectrum, i think that election points to the fact that people will alleged leaders that can produce results for them. if you are good for people and is more in tune with market- based policies from an economic standpoint that will recognize human rights, i think those are themes that can produce a somewhat different way, very much grounded in what we call the common-sense conservative outlook that started back with the founders in the 18th- century. i think you may see a trend again, deliverable spawned by a hearing to market-based principles -- spawned by adhering to market-based principles. >> i think for next year there will be this growing trend that is boring but very significant, which is the fact that teh g-20 is the -- the g-20 will be the global economic regulator. it is a major shift in what was the [unintelligible] >> two g-20 summits

several of these nations who are opposed to what the united states does -- hugo chavez from venezuelaompared bush -- compared obama to bush in his speech and implied that obama was as much as the devil as bush was. so i do the know to what extent the administration will be able to bring those countries into the fold. it underscores the challenge you have when you are working internationally trying to get a consensus agreement with 193 countries. that is a hard thing to do. host: what does on the agenda for 2010? is there another level meeting? guest: -- is there another global meeting? guest: there is another meeting. that is really going to be one of the top issues, and in some sense it is going to be determined by what the united states does here and whether we have a binding, the bill. that will be a key factor and there will be others as well. host: said this kind of -- so this kind of ups the ante? guest: president obama that with these other world leaders from china, india, europe, and other countries, and he personally invested in it being a successful outcome. whether he can e

several of these nations who are opposed to what the united states does -- hugo chavez from venezuelampared bush -- compared obama to bush in his speech and implied that obama was as much as the devil as bush was. so i do the know to what extent the administration will be able to bring those countries into the fold. it underscores the challenge you have when you are working internationally trying to get a consensus agreement with 193 countries. that is a hard thing to do. host: what does on the agenda for 2010? is there another level meeting? guest: -- is there another global meeting? guest: there is another meeting. that is really going to be one of the top issues, and in some sense it is going to be determined by what the united states does here and whether we have a binding, the bill. that will be a key factor and there will be others as well. host: said this kind of -- so this kind of ups the ante? guest: president obama that with these other world leaders from china, india, europe, and other countries, and he personally invested in it being a successful outcome. whether he can en

but e of the first to arrive, venezuela's president d major oiexporter hugo chavez, told the conrencee agrees with the protester- the burden is on rich nations to more. >> ( translated ): in the streets they are saying e following: if the clime was a bank, you would have alrdy saved it. and i thinthat's true. if the climate was a b capitast bank, you would have alreadsaved it. you, the rich governmes. suarez: still, deadlock persisted on major iues: first, setting firm targs for cutting greenhouse g emissions by industrialized natis and ining in emissions growth in the developing world. cond, getting the u.s. and other rich nationso spend billions of dollars on hping poorountries adjust to global warming. and third, verifying that emergingowers like china and india stick to their promis to cut emissions. china's lead negotiatocharged again today developed cotries are asking too much. and, hsaid, they are backsliding on the commitmen they made inyoto, japan more an a dozen years ago. >> ( tranated ): if we look at the difficulties in negoations, we find the additional and unreasoble re

we get our oil more from canada and venezuela and nigeria, but also saudi arabia. but the world oil market is affected by what happens in those very large pools of oil in the persian gulf. and they sometimes in deed often manipulate the price to reach two objectives. first, naturally they seek to maximize their revenues. they want to get as much money as they can, and we are sending hundreds of millions of dollars to foreign countries every year just for the millions of pairs of oil that we use every single day. about a half a second objective. and we haven't really taken into account in our thinking their second objective. they seek to manage our political will in the united states. the price goes way up, and we begin to feel the sense of shock. and we get our act together a little bit. we say we're going to get office for a low, we're going to do something about it. but then when they see us getting close to shifting away from foreign oil, then the price comes back down again. you know how that happens. and then we relax and we wait for more of the next cycle. so

cuban government still been reticent, and also saying, "hey, we have another option, and that is venezuela," and they kept saying 2010, 2010, 2010. that has been the argument or the x q's up until now. one thing i will say in the last few minutes is just to sketch of the history. -- that has been at the argument or the excuse up until now. there is actually a whole world connected to that, so first, let me talk about history, and then i will talk about projects. in my analysis of her bkloglog,u can break it up into six stages, and we can come back to it if you're interested. exorcisms, personal exorcisms you could call it, what she calls it. six out -- six months later, october 2007. then there was international recognition from about october through march, and march is when the cuban government started to clamp down and blocker site from access within cuba. -- and block her site. the next stage, you had fidel castro, without mentioning her name, criticized for in a book about bolivia. that was the next few months, from march to august 2008. then, there are two stages that are quite intere

that country that he saw himself in the fashion of governing like brazil, not like hugo chavez in venezuela. and i don't think anyone was surprised at the outcome of that election. and contrary to maybe some of the trends in europe and elsewhere where we may see a backlash and-day think in the united states going back towards the conservative end of the spectrum, i think that that election in uruguay points to the fact that people are going to elect leaders that can produce results for them. if you're good for people, if you're good for their life and is more in tuned with market-based policies from an economic standpoint that will recognize human rights and the defense of those rights, i do think those are some themes that perhaps can produce a somewhat different way. again, very much grounded, though, in what we like to call in virginia the common-sense conservative outlook that started way back with the founders of 18th century servants of jefferson, madison and the rest. i do think you may see a trend again, deliverables spawned by adherence to these market-based principles of a limited

according to president obama, venezuela has failed during the past year when it comes to counter narcotic efforts. the obama administration has strong evidence that venezuela has refused to cooperate on almost all couldn'ter narcotic issues. hugo chavez's refuse -- refusal to act responsibly not only hurts americans, they have the second highest murder rate in the world. it is so pervasive that ministers of the chavez government are now categorized as tier two kingpins. it's pretty clear-cut, madam speaker, that chvezz and the flow of drugs into the united states is something we cannot ignore. i want to thank chairman engel again for his leadership and urge my colleagues to vote yes on the western hemisphere drug policy commission act, h.r. 2134. thank you, chairman and enkle. thank you, madam speaker. thank you to the ranking member , ileana ros-lehtinen. thank you. ms. ros-lehtinen: with that i'd like to yield the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida yields back her remaining time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel: madam speaker,

where we can change the nature of world politics, and iran is where it should be focused as well as venezuela right now with hugo chavez. >> host: here is a republican caller from tallahassee, florida. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i guess we can't use powers of impeachment, the laws on impeachment if we're basically a country of lawlessness, so if we can't use that, i think we're in trouble, and maybe you can come up with some way that we could use those particular laws. and i have a question in reference to the czars and how congress itself, our own senators and representatives, are giving their power away by allowing this to happen. and i guess they'll just stand up there as foot stools while the czars take care of all the business, and i wonder what your opinion on all that is and why charlie rangel isn't in jail. i know if i cheated my taxes -- well, i got audited, and i made $15,000, and i got audited for it because they didn't believe my son was my son, and i had to go through five months of changes, you know, making $15,000 a year being audited by the irs, and this man's walk

russia, venezuela, our european allies, all come into play in ways.umber five, it undermines our diplomacy, it isolates us from our allies, it isolates us from our trading partners. number six, it undercuts international energy companies who work in a back channel road to try to help us with our diplomacy. number seven, it undermines democracy in iran. all of us have seen those pictures, they've been all over the tv and the internet in the last few months, about a growing democratic movement in iran. this sanction will force all people to close iran's leadership, it will strengthen the hardliners who undermine democracy. next, it will make the u.s. presence in iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, even more dangerous for our troops. number nine, it's a path to military escalation. i will be discussing that later. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio reserves his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. berman: mr. speaker, can we get a little summary of the time remaining on this complicated -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman f

he saw himself in the -- in the fashion of governing like in brazil, not like chavez in venezuela and i don't think anyone was surprised at the outcome of that election and contrary to maybe some of the trends in europe and elsewhere. . . economic standpoint that will recognize human rights and the defense of those rights, i do think those are some themes that perhaps can produce a somewhat different way. somewhat different way. again, very much grounded, we like to call in virginia the common-sense conservative outlook that started way back with the founders of 18th century servants of jefferson, madison and the rest. i do think you may see a trend again, deliverables spawned by adherence to these market-based principles of a limited government, but taking care of folks. >> i think conversely, you've got to avoid elections more and more, which will be one of the fallouts from iran and elsewhere. i also think that for next year there's going to be this growing trend. it's boring, it's organizational, but it's nonetheless very significant, which is the fact -- the view that the g-20 is

country, that he saw himself in the -- in the fashion of governing like in brazil, not like chavez in venezuela and i don't think anyone was surprised at the outcome of that election and contrary to maybe some of the trends in europe and elsewhere. . . economic standpoint that will recognize human rights and the defense of those rights, i do think those are some themes that perhaps can produce a somewhat different way. somewhat different way. again, very much grounded, we like to call in virginia the common-sense conservative outlook that started way back with the founders of 18th century servants of jefferson, madison and the rest. i do think you may see a trend again, deliverables spawned by adherence to these market-based principles of a limited government, but taking care of folks. >> i think conversely, you've got to avoid elections more and more, which will be one of the fallouts from iran and elsewhere. i also think that for next year there's going to be this growing trend. it's boring, it's organizational, but it's nonetheless very significant, which is the fact -- the view that the g-2

we will see a 2010 brings a connection with venezuela.ega. let me talk about history and then i will talk about the project. you can break up her blogged to six stages. i will -- her blog into six stages. action chisholm, a personal exorcism, which is what she calls it -- exorcism, that is what she calls it. Ñimarch is when the cuban government started to clamp down and blocked her sight from access within cuba. the next stage you can call the stage of repression. that was from march to august 2008. then there is "from cyberspace to public space." this started a with yoani and her friends protesting the arrest of a rockero. they camped outside of where he was being held and then he was released. then there were increasingly public activities where there were leaving the blogosphere and entering the public sphere. Ñito her credit, she uses her on popularity to try to spread the power, and effectiveness of the blogoshpere encourage other people in cuba to start their own blogs. concenso, desdecuba, con todos, voces cubanas, iteniario, and d

next to her is cynthia venezuela the director of litigation for the mexican- american legal defense and she is one of california's top 20 attorneys under the age of 40. she has also served as the assistant u.s. attorney office of public corruption and government fraud section. she served as the special assistant to the former california supreme court justice, cruz renoso. next to her is the senior advisor to the muslim public affairs. he is the chairman of the council of southern california and the spokesperson for the islamic center for southern california. he is the author of a major work called, "in pursuit of justice, the jurisprudence of human rights in islam." he is an advisor to several muslim american organizations throughout the country. he has spoken at the state department and in several interface forms on the topics of the islamic democracy -- interfaith forums. he is spoken on the issue of our modern society. with that, could you please give us a warm welcome to our panel. [applause] >> unfortunately david eggers was slated and was unable to join us. i am confident these pa

the voters that he saw himself in the fashion of governing like brazil, not like hugo chavez in venezuela. contrary to some of the trends in europe and elsewhere where we may see a backlash, and in the u.s. going towards a conservative end of the spectrum, i think that election points to the fact that people will alleged leaders that can produce results for them. if you are good for people and is more in tune with market- based policies from an economic standpoint that will recognize human rights, i think those are themes that can produce a somewhat different way, very much grounded in what we call the common-sense conservative outlook that started back with the founders in the 18th- century. i think you may see a trend again, deliverable spawned by a hearing to market-based principles -- spawned by adhering to market-based principles. >> i think for next year there will be this growing trend that is boring but very significant, which is the fact that teh g-20 is the -- the g-20 will be the global economic regulator. it is a major shift in what was the [unintelligible] >> two g-20 summits

you know, he's the guys that's buddies with venezuela president hugo chavez. he tried to nullify his term limits to hold on to power. his actions were illegal under honor duran law. he was arrested by the army under the order of the supreme court. and even though the united states inappropriately tried to interveer, he was put in arrest. and the people elected a new person as their new president. congratulations to the people of honduras for sticking to the rule of law despite great odds. they held free and fair elections. the national triumph for the people of honduras is a victory for all those anywhere in the world who live in freedom and seek freedom over tyranny, and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? ms. sanchez: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor a fallen soldier from my district, jesus flores jr. was killed in action on october 15 of this year in afghanista

it is turning into cuba or venezuela, i think that is where chavez's, anytime the government gets involved in february for a medical mission, and i can't get a hepatitis a shot because they are all out. my father wants to get a flu shot and he can get them because it is all out. it goes to show you want the government gets involved in anything it makes a mess out of it. i am so dead set against that. i think it is the biggest mistake -- plus, i want you to comment on what that senator from minnesota said to joe lieberman on the floor of the senate. that is how it is getting. it turns into some kind of country i don't even recognize. host: let us show you the exchange between senator franken, in the chair presiding over the senate, and senator lieberman. >> for 10 minutes. >> i wonder if i can ask unanimous consent for just an additional moment. >> in my capacitor -- capacity as senator of minnesota, i object. >> really? ok. don't take it personally. >> that is on the floor of the senate. newark, ohio, george, a democrat. health care as political suicide according to kemberly -- of "the wal

developed our own oil and gas resources in america, became less dependent on, you know, hugo chavez in venezuela or some of the other countries that frankly aren't real friendly to us, what if we stopped funding some of the things they do to actually work against our way of life by not sending money on oil, what if we -- spend money on oil, what if we developed our own resources? they say, it will take you 10 years. let's get started. while we work in a transitional vehicle that doesn't have to use oil and gas, which i'm all for, but in the meantime, hardworking americans have to take that pickup truck, and do the work on the cattle ranch. there are a lot of people hauling things back and forth so that our economy functions. $3, $4, $5 diesel about killed them economically. so why don't we access our great oil and gas reserves? we should. and we generate revenue to the government that if you had a fiscally responsible congress, we used to pay down the debt and pay down the debt before our kids come of age and our grandkids come of age. that's the christmas present i'd like to see. that would be

that country that he saw himself in the fashion of governing like brazil, not like hugo chavez in venezuela. and i don't think anyone was surprised at the outcome of that election. and contrary to maybe some of the trends in europe and elsewhere where we may see a backlash and-day think in the united states going back towards the conservative end of the spectrum, i think that that election in uruguay points to the fact that people are going to elect leaders that can produce results for them. if you're good for people, if you're good for their life and is more in tuned with market-based policies from an economic standpoint that will recognize human rights and the defense of those rights, i do think those are some themes that perhaps can produce a somewhat different way. again, very much grounded, though, in what we like to call in virginia the common-sense conservative outlook that started way back with the founders of 18th century servants of jefferson, madison and the rest. i do think you may see a trend again, deliverables spawned by adherence to these market-based principles of a limited

that country that he saw himself in the fashion of governing like brazil, not like hugo chavez in venezuelaand i don't think anyone was surprised at the outcome of that election. and contrary to maybe some of the trends in europe and elsewhere where we may see a backlash and-day think in the united states going back towards the conservative end of the spectrum, i think that that election in uruguay points to the fact that people are going to elect leaders that can produce results for them. if you're good for people, if you're good for their life and is more in tuned with market-based policies from an economic standpoint that will recognize human rights and the defense of those rights, i do think those are some themes that perhaps can produce a somewhat different way. again, very much grounded, though, in what we like to call in virginia the common-sense conservative outlook that started way back with the founders of 18th century servants of jefferson, madison and the rest. i do think you may see a trend again, deliverables spawned by adherence to these market-based principles of a limited g

next to her is cynthia venezuela the director of litigation for the mexican- american legal defense and she is one of california's top 20 attorneys under the age of 40. she has also served as the assistant u.s. attorney office of public corruption and government fraud section. she served as the special assistant to the former california supreme court justice, cruz renoso. next to her is the senior advisor to the muslim public affairs. he is the chairman of the council of southern california and the spokesperson for the islamic center for southern california. he is the author of a major work called, "in pursuit of justice, the jurisprudence of human rights in islam." he is an advisor to several muslim american organizations throughout the country. he has spoken at the state department and in several interface forms on the topics of the islamic democracy -- interfaith forums. he is spoken on the issue of our modern society. with that, could you please give us a warm welcome to our panel. [applause] >> unfortunately david eggers was slated and was unable to join us. i am confident these pa

the courage to say that we may not like the north korean government or the iranian government or venezuela but we have to engage before you even contemplate the use of military force, you have to sit down and see if there is a diplomatic solution possible. that is not a weakness, that is being smart. president obama has been smart but president bush tried to negotiate with the iranians. they rebuffed him. president obama has tried. the united states at a meeting with the iranians in september. that was the only meeting we have had and the iranians have backed away from the commitments they made at that meeting. i do not fall president obama at all. i think he has gone the extra mile. he does not have a government that is willing to negotiate. it may be because they are badly divided. you all know about the june 12 elections. he saw the iranian people contest a clearly stolen election. that government in iran is badly divided. that means it is a mobile. they cannot make the tough decisions that they need to make when they get to the table with a country like the united states. host: what ju

that country and saw himself in the fashion of governing like brazil, and not like hugo chavez in venezuelacontrary to the trends in europe and elsewhere where we may see a backlash back to conservatism. and i think that points to that people the elect leaders good for them. if you are good for your life and more in tune to market-based policies that recognizes human rights and the defense of those rights. i think those are themes that can perhaps produce in a different way. very much grounded like we call in virginia the common sense outlook that you may see trends again. of this adherence of limited government and taking care. >> i think you can't avoid elections and that's a fall-out of iran and elsewhere. i think next year there is a growing trend it's boring and organization alal -- organizational and the fact that the g-20 is the regulator. and it's a major shift of what was the polar world and that the united states was in effect. >> two g-20's next year, and that will be prominent. can i ask one final question and then go to the floor. europe is not something that happens people spe

florida, off the other coasts so that we don't have to import our oil from cuba or from russia or from venezuela, that we could produce more domestically and then, as you said, move more quickly to alternative energies creating all sorts of wonderful domestic jobs whether it's in wind or solar or building efficiencies or energy efficiency. and, yes, we can save a tremendous amount of money. and i think you've really hit on the right piece here. this health care reform issue is one leg of the stool. if we're going to try to get our country back into economic competitive status and lower our costs, health care must be reformed. the next big win could be energy. jobs and energy efficiency and energy savings. and then the third big piece is reforming our education system. and i've always been proud to be part of all three of those and looking forward, hopefully, we can convince some republicans to come on board. lindsay graham has indicated an interest, there are others to really be forward leaning and not trying to just hold to the status quo. >> host: port charlotte, florida. john on the independe