voinovich: mr. president, i rise today to speak about one of the recess appointments president obama made when the senate was not in session. before i get into my concern about this, i would like to emphasize the fact that i have been the ranking member or the chairman of the over saoeufgt government management and district of columbia and several years ago the federal workforce. working with senator akaka, we have conscientiously tried to make the most significant improvements in federal service in terms of human capital and looking at title 5 of the code that deals with our federal workers. and that if you really look at the past and determine why we've had some real bad situations in the federal government, as we haven't had the right people with the right knowledge and skills at the right time at the right place. and so the whole effort has been to try and improve the management of our government to work with senator akaka to try to get federal agencies off the high-risk list. and high-risk list

i'm looking, voinovich, he's thinking of becoming a -- judd d gregg. you know, these guys look like kit bond, at least three of these guys are leaving. is that why they want to do the right thing? they want to look good on the way out the door? >> no, judd gregg and i worked on issues over tile. and kit bond and i wrote the family medical leave together. george voinovich. these are decent good people. and there are other people as well. richard shelby and i worked together, we met the other night to work on this some more. the door is open to get a compromise on the bill, if we can. i'm not interested in just scoring points, i'm interested in writing a good bill. this is not about washington. it's about the $8.5 million who have lost their jobs and seven million who have lost their homes. the millions who watched their retirement accounts evaporate overnight because of the tricks that went on in the financial sector. this is about a country that came to the brink of financial collapse and whether or not we're going to take the steps to correct the syst

. >> senator voinovich, with such her testimony? senator hutchison. >> thank you, madam chairman. and i do appreciate your holding this hearing and i would say that as the ranking member of the commerce committee, i have invited the administrator to come to a hearing next week where others have been invited, but have been told that the administrator is not available and i hope, madam chairman, that that changes, general bolden, because i think after the incredible consequences of the president's decision that i would ask you to be available -- >> senator, may inquire, the daytime and date of the hearing? >> april 28 at what time? 2:30. >> perhaps administrator bolden staff can check it while engaging in this. >> i think there may be some confusion over lack of communication at this time. we moved it to the 12th of may and i was going to be there because i'm scheduled to be at the johnson space center on the day of the hearing that your originally scheduled. but will resolve the issue. >> thank you. general bolden, i read your testimony, i perjured testimony. over the president's s

. >> senator voinovich. >> thank you, ma -- madame chairman. first of all, i'd like to say nasa in my state and plum brook station are unique and powerful resource for our state. more than 3500 highly skilled civil service and contractor employees work at these facilities. and your agency economic impact to the state exceeds $1.2 billion. further it's a catalyst for 1200 aerospace companies that employ iowans. the undertoe and a lot of the comments that you are getting today is nasa has been very, very helpful to our respective states. and the constellation program has been very important to nasa glen. on the other hand, last year, for every dollar that country spent we borrowed 41 cents. our debt is out of control. it's not sustainable. as far as we look down the road, we have budgets that are not balanced. and we have to come to some point that we start to analyze what we are doing. i think that it's important that you do a better job of clarifying what you are trying to get done. are you trying to get a rocket made quick to go up to the spac

i then spoke with senator voinovich. he signed off on them.both of them were submitted to the president who in turn submitted them to the judiciary committee, to the senate and the judiciary committee. the senate judiciary committee voted overwhelmingly for each of them. yet, they still haven't come to a vote on the senate floor. i mean, i couldn't have done this more bipartisanly and fairly to make it happen. i know senator voinovich would like to move on these judges. he has signed off on each. he approved them. the day he announced them, he and i shared a statement, a statement he put out. it was quotations from both of us that thaoers important people -- that these are important judgeships and we have the right people. as senator hagan said, from north carolina, you don't fill these -- justice delayed is justice denied. there are backlogs in the northern district and the southern district. we've got these two ready to be voted on -- it could be today. we could do the unanimous consent request that the senator from colorado suggested. there

senator shelby, senators cochran, voinovich and hudgens. as a privilege to be with you. i would ask the madam chairman that my full steam and replaced in the record. >> without objection. >> thank you, i am puzzled by the administration's request. this proposal calls for the termination of project constellation and associated rocket systems. >> we really want to hear every word and. >> i will move closer. >> is the microphone on? >> is on the paris senator feinstein quit mumbling. i bet to speak a little louder i'm afraid. well, like i say this proposal calls for the termination of project constellation and the associated and rocket systems, the ares one and the ares five. as a result of ratified our congress could capitulate our position as the world leader in space exploration as well as forego the technological harvest which is historically a company such endeavors. let me be clear, if project constellation is cancelled, our nation will not in the near future be able to travel beyond lower earth orbit. this is ironic considering the president's and as administration a

scott brown, a and b is no, susan colin and george voinovich. it will extend long-term on and when the benefits and cobra until may 5. "the wall street journal" lead editorial argues extending these benefits is an incentive not to work. we want to get your thoughts this morning. the phone numbers are on the screen. here is the editorial. it says here, quoting lawrence summers -- that was lawrence summers writing in his concise encyclopedia of economics published in 1999. do you agree with "the wall street journal" or disagree? you can start dialing in now. the brookings institution, whose panel of economic activity reported this month jobless insurance extensions correspond to 0.7 or 1.8 percentage points of the 5.5 percentage point increase -- joining us on the phone is martin kady of "the politico" to talk about what the senate did yesterday. they approved a cloture vote, a procedural hurdle. what happens next? guest: at this point the way is cleared for this extension of unemployment benefits as well as other programs to pass within 30 hours.

people of poland and our shared grief to the loss of that great nation, senators kerry, senator voinovich, senator brown of ohio, senator cardin and others have joined me in considering this resolution. i come to the floor, mr. president, with a heavy heart. i express my sympathy to the people of poland to the ambassador becky who is here representing them. i shared a moment with him earlier this are morning when i heard the news of this tragic loss, my thoughts went back immediately to 47 years ago when we lost our president, john kennedy, and what it meant to our nation, how devastating it was. this city ground to a halt on that day and the bells began to peel in the church towers all across washington every hour on the hour as our nation reflected on this great loss. it was a time of great sadness as it should have been in our history as i'm sure it is now as people reflect in poland that on the morning of saturday, april 10th, a plane carrying polish president, lech kaczynski, his wife maria and 94 other high-ranking government military and civil leaders crashed while traveling to a m