whitehouse: very good. i rise today to speak in support of the nomination of john mcconnell to be the united states district judge in my home state of rhode island. i had the occasion yesterday to be here on the floor and to associate myself with the remarks of my senior senator, jack reed, but i'd like to add some remarks of my own regarding how worthy an addition to the federal bench jack mcconnell will be and to urge my colleagues to support his nomination and in particular to support an up or down vote on his nomination. the mcconnell nomination has been reported on three separate occasions by the senate judiciary committee. each time with a bipartisan vote. this bipartisan backing is not a surprise given the broad support his nomination has found across the political spectrum in my home state of rhode island. i won't read all the quotes of support from prominent republicans back home, but let me just touch on a few. republican former chief justice joseph r.weissberger, a respected jurist of our state's

chairman whitehouse, thank you for the opportunity to address the important issues prescription drug abuse and i'm very grateful for the committee's attention to this topic. prescription drug abuse has been a major focus at omb pc since my confirmation and i've directed the national drug control program agencies to address this epidemic in our country. i have the responsibility to raise public awareness and coordinate federal activities and take action on drug issues that affect our nation. the efforts that we have taken are balanced and they incorporate the research and evidence-based approaches to address drug use and its consequences. prescription drug use -- abuses the fasted growing to problem in the united states. it is categorized as a public health epidemic by the centers for disease control and prevention. the number of individuals who for the first time consumed prescription drugs for a nonmedical purpose was similar to the number of first-time marijuana users. we have also seen a fourfold increase in addiction treatment at missions or individuals primarily abusing prescrip

senator whitehouse. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. breuer, does the department have a position on mr. edny's recommendation that there should be a cardiovascularout for intelligence actsivities and, more specifically, should that carveout include the crime of rape? can you identify any situation in which rape is an approved intelligence activity? >> no, senator, i cannot. so rape is off the table. we do think that there should be an intelligence carveout. we think that authorized intelligence activity has to be permitted to continue, and we don't want our intelligence community being, feeling as if they're being second guesses. so -- second guessed. so we do think there's an appropriate role for the carveout, but rape absolutely cannot and would not be a part of that. and, indeed, we would continue to pursue unauthorized activity of anything. the carveout makes the lanes that much more clear as to what we will pursue, and we'll absolutely pursue unauthorized activity. >> and the focus on authorization allows the intelligence agency or

whitehouse: with that, i yield the floor. mr. sessions: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama is recognized. mr. sessions: madam president, i thank the chair and just would share a few thoughts on a very important matter of the financial health of the united states. we had a nice meeting with the president earlier today. republican senators, virtually all, were there, shared their thoughts, and the president responded. all in all, it was a good exchange. those are the kind of meetings that i don't talk about what is said in detail or quote anyone. i was asked by a number of reporters what happened and what qusay about it -- and what could you say about it. and i guess my conclusion is that not much happened, that no commitments were made that i could see that indicated to the president had made any change in the budget he had submitted or the speech he gave somewhat amending his budget a few weeks ago. he did not make any changes in the plan that i am seeing out there. he discussed it. maybe something will happen. well, what is t

if you would like another round -- >> i wanted to follow-up on senator whitehouse pose a question aboutght trim programs. i know there is some reluctance to make it more national and impose national requirements. but i wonder where you see the resistance to increasing the interoperability, which i think is really key, as it is in so many criminal-justice information programs. the state system is a barrier. would you like to think further about it and respond in writing or have a conversation about it? i would be interested in following up on that issue. >> i would note that the state of ohio and the state of kentucky have signed an interoperable agreement to begin sharing information. i think that shows some promise and i would be happy to follow up to that question. >> a great. thank you. >> let me thank the witnesses. let me reference back to a statement that the director made about his role as the bully pulpit at the white house on some of these issues, which is a role that we obviously encourage, but i would hope that you would also be a bit of a bully pulpit -- political but -- bul

thank you both. >> senator whitehouse. >> thank you, senator franken. quick question and a longer one. the quick question is both of you had a chance to look into the, you might call it the dark side of the interpret, the dark underbelly of the internet, and you're also people who use it and have families who use it, and so you both have the experience of the regular american dealing with the internet with a certain measure of confidence in it, and you have a hyingenned a-- heightened awareness based on your professional obligations. based on that, how well informed do you believe the average american is about the dangers and hazards that lurk out there on the internet, and is this significant in terms of things as simple as willingness to down load protective patches and get up-to-date with commercial technology to protect yourself, setting aside other responses that the public might have if more informed. can you quantify a little bit how well-informed the average american is about the risks? >> we believe that consumers really have no idea of the lay

whitehouse, and the senator from oregon, mr. merkley, who have been very involved in bringing this to our attention. i also want to thank the chairwoman of the committee. she has shown a great willingness to work with everybody, to listen, and i have to say that i expect, once the committee examines this issue more closely, that i think many more of our colleagues will want to join news reforming the law -- to join us in r reforming the law in this eample area. mr. wyden: let me just make one more last comment. i also want to express my appreciations to senator merkley, who has been an extraordinarily outspoken advocate of our civil liberties and our privacy, in striking a good balance between fighting terror and protecting the rights of our people, and i have so appreciated his leadership on this issue, and let me just kind of sum up. first, i am very grateful to our chair and pleased with this agreement. the chair has indicated that she believes that those of us who want to reform secret law have raised a serious and important

whitehouse: madam president, 50 years ago on this day, john f. kennedy addressed a joint session of congress and he presented to our nation a bold challenge. he said -- quote -- "i believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." it was and remains a memorable challenge. to meet it would require long-term commitment and unprecedented resources. it had great risks and it had no simple solutions, but president kennedy put his faith in the talent and dedication and discipline of america. he believed that his challenge could mobilize our country to meet this challenge and succeed, and he was right. president kennedy's goal to in ten years put a man on the moon and return him safely was clear, was direct and was accountable. the result was a vast mobilization of private and public resources that collaborated in innovative ways to achieve that singular purpose, and we did. i come to the floor today to call for a similar challenge to reform our

whitehouse: we must clamp down on excessive oil sperks. speculation, i proposed a to cut one-third of the funding for the commodity trading commission. the commission is responsible for cracking down on illegal speculative activity that artifically inflates the price of oil. we need to make sure that wall street is not hurting middle-class families. we should not be taking this cop off that beat. i'm joining senators cantwell and wyden in sending a letter calling on the commission to impose the position limits on oil trading that were required by the dodd-frank wall street reform bill. this deadline has passed and the commission should act swiftly to protect consumers. i'm glad that president obama has directed an investigation into the role of speculation in our current gas prices. in the long run, we must invest in electric vehicles. alternative fuels, public transit, high-speed rail, and freight rail. each of these transportation methods can significantly reduce our reliance our oil in the transportation sector. indeed, moving freight b

charlie: having understood the position that you've served both as a naval officer and then at the whitehouse as direc of national intelligence. tell meow you see this, how you see the wayother played out and who should we be talking about? >> yes, i think it was really done wel on all sides. the thinking about it that was so good was it a team effort with everybody playing this position, nobody trying to run anybody else's position. the intelligence community,cia, national security agency, national geo spacial agency, they practice, practice, practice, rehearsed more than intelligence. the president gave the go ahead. i give full credit to the president for making the decision to make that raid. >> charlie: tell us y it took a lot of sort of intelligence and courage on the part of the president. and what could be, go wrong and what are the ramifications of that for someone who is planning these kind of missions and soone o has to pull the trigger. >> i think what's good about this decision, contrasted to the decision of iran where you had a president president, brilliant, very smart guy insi

senator whitehouse and i recommended mr. mcconnell to the president after publicly seeking applicants, talking to attorneys throughout our state, interviewing almost every single applicant. and we took this decision seriously as you would expect. and we know it's a reflection both upon ourselves and upon our state. and from this pool of applicants we selected mr. mcconnell because we found him to be among the best attorneys in the state, a pillar of our community, one of the most generous philanthropists in our state and in most cases anonymously and in many cases, not simply writing a check, but standing in a superline -- soup line early in the morning handing out food to people who need it without acclaim, without fanfare. this is the character of an individual and a character i think ultimately is the test of a judge. and he has a true desire to serve this country. indeed, mr. mcconnell has practiced law for decades. he has never been subject to an ethics claim, a malpractice claim, a rule 11 motion, and, most importantly

the whitehouse said we know that. itoesn't maer as long as people feel likeit's getting better. it's the old right track/wrong track. if they feel like their01(k) is back to a 301 k from the 201-k it w a yr ago, if they're feeling better he'll be okay. i don't know about that. we'll have to see. but there is their prediction. >> any of the three, pawlenty, romney, huntsman, i think if they live up to their potential will win all the mccain states except maybe arizona and they're probably going to win virginia, north carolina, colorado and indiana. >> charlie: ohio and florida? >> that's it. they just move on. i think it's pretty easy to see. the the economy is bad. if the trend lines as tom referred are are not that good i think any of those guys could win. romney could win michigan, maybe pennsylvania. >> charlie: how much has obama been held by osama bin laden in the sense that he is a commander in chief? >> i don't think it has a lot of legs. it takes away one of the republican arguments. their main argument is the economy, big government. he's done a lousy job. a secondary a

thank you, senator whitehouse. you were just talking about the screen and signing off on privacy agreements. you emphasize the ftc possibility to protect consumers against sensitive trade practices. they have to click and agree to a software license agreement. that tells users they can withdraw the concern to apple's collection of information and any time by turning off the location services button on their phones. i will add a copy of that agreement to the record. as it turns out, turning off the switch to not stop the collection of location information by apple. my question, is that the deceptive trade practice? >> i cannot comment on specific company's practice. if a statement is made by a company, it is a deceptive practice. if there is a misleading statement and some sort disclaimer in fine print, that could be a deceptive practice. there is a lot we can do under our authority to challenge the types of practices you are talking about. i am not going to comment on specific company. >> i have one comment. i thin

. >> mit >> mitchell: again, as we point pointed out, the whitehouse earlie earlier was calling this unquote, big deal. what what is the buzz at the white white house tonight, what is the the mood like there at this point? point? >> we >> well, i tell you is franti frantic. when i when i first got here everyb everybody thought it had to do do with libya although we heard heard the rumors about aline baden. baden. but th but there was too much activi activity for this to have to do do with libya. so i so i think immediately everyb everybody assumed it was much much bigger than that and that o that osama bin laden was probab probably the issue here. and o and of course we have confir confirmed that osama bin laden laden has been killed. >> mit >> mitchell: let me ask you the s the same question i supposed to dav to david martin. were were you getting any indica indication that the efforts to ge to get bin laden had been steppe stepped up in recent weeks and mo and months had? >> >> we really were not. in fac in fact, you may recall recent recently some wikileaks docume documents came o

. >> senator whitehouse. >> thank you, chairman franken. a quick question, both of you have had a chance to look into you might call it the dark side of the internet, the dark underbelly of the internet, and you were also -- you use it and have families who use it so you have the experience of the regular american dealing with the internet and a certain measure of confidence in it and have a heightened awareness based on your professional obligations. based on that, how well informed do you believe the average american is about the danger and hazards that lurk out there on the internet, and is it significant in terms of things as simple as willingness to download patches and get up to date with commercial technology to protect yourself, setting aside other responses the public might have if they were well informed. can you quantify a little bit how well-informed you think the average american is that these risks. >> we believe that consumers have no idea of early years of sharing that go on behind the scenes. so, for example, many consumers

senators as follows: reid of nevada, leahy, cole, feinstein, franken, coons, blumenthal, klobuchar, whitehouse, brown of ohio, udall of colorado, durbin, carper, sanders, rockefeller, shaheen, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 61, there be three hours of debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number number 61, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further statements be in order to

captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [unintelligible] [unintelligible] d >> brazil whitehouse coverage continue as. john huntsman makes remarks at a meeting agreed in franklin in pension. live coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span. it is also available on our website, and later available on our video library. >> next, rahm emanuel is one in that chicago marion -- is sworn in as chicago mayor. >> history, as you know, is much more than politics and soldiers. and social issues. it is also medicine and science and art and music and theater and poetry and ideas. and we should not want things in the categories. it is all part of the same thing. >> samuel morse, james been more cooper,. beatrice doh, henry adams -- sunday night, part one of two weeks with david mccullough on the americans who made the " greater journey" to 19th century paris. >> on monday, former white house chief of staff for rahm emanuel was sworn in as mayor of chicago. in his inaugural address, he talked about his plan on importing the chicago school system. -- zero in improving -- on improving the

reid of nevada, leahy, schumer, blumenthal, akaka, franken, durbin, whitehouse, feinstein, merkley, coons, begich, globe cher, boxer, reed of rhode island, stabenow, and brown of ohio. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business for debate only with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. yesterday the white house announced that it will not submit three pending free trade agreements, the f.t.a.'s with south korea, colombia, and panama, until -- until congress reaches a deal on reauthorizing the trade assistance adjustments -- the trade adjustment assistance for workers program, the so-called t.a.a. i applaud president obama for putting workers first before we do these trade agreements. the trade agree

. >> now to senator whitehouse and senator blumenthal. i should note the issue of arbitration -- i think what we're saying. we have arbitration if it is agreeable to both parties. i also agree with what miss lee said. on both civil and criminal litigations, the results are not always satisfactory. >>> good afternoon. we'd like to thank all of you for being with us today. in 1965, the same yar medicare was created, president johnson signed another landmark bill for america's seniors, the older americans act. today the program's authorized by the oaa serve more than 10 million oldermericans nationwide and over 386,000 in my state of wisconsin. they help seniors live independently in their communities through home care, home delivered and group meals, family caregiver support, tranortation as well as other services. while the need for such vital oaa services has increased ring these difficult economic times, federal funding for oaa programs has not. this year, oaa programs were cut by 17% from last year. every five years congress takes a fre

leahy, conrad, kerry, whitehouse, klobuchar, cardin, bingaman, boxer, merkley, wyden, menendez, shaheen, sanders, lautenberg, reed of rhode island, murray and durbin. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent that on monday, june 6, 2011, at 4:30 p.m., the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 118, that there be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual form prior to the cloture vote. further, that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent to resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 56, h.r. 754. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h h.r. 56, h.r. 754,n act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for intelligence and intelligence related activities by the united states government and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. ms. klobuchar: i ask consent

minutes off the democratic time: senator menendez, senator lautenberg, senator begich and senator whitehouse. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: madam president, i just briefly want to address this question of why we on our side have not laid down our budget proposal. and let me just repeat, we are in an unusual year. this is not going to be a circumstance in which there's a republican budget, a democratic budget, you go to conference committee and they're resolved, because we have a new process underway at the leadership level involving the white house. this is what the republican leader himself said about that process. the discussions that can lead to a result between now and august are the talks being led by vice president biden. that's a process that could lead to a result, a measurable result. and in that meeting is the only democrat who can sign a bill into law; in fact, the only american out of 307 million of us who can sign a bill into law. he is in those discussions. that will lead to a result. madam president, we don't need a democratic budget and a republican bu

whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, first, thank you for the courtesy of taking my time in the chair so i have a chance to deliver these remarks. it is very much appreciated. we are gathered here on the senate floor to face a very stark fact, and that is that the house republican budget would end medicare as we know it for future generations. the house republican budget would increase costs for current beneficiaries right away, and the house republican budget would do real damage to seniors across this country and in my home state of rhode island. with gas prices at near record highs, unemployment numbers still in double digits, most folks are focused on making ends meet. they deserve a budget that will improve economic opportunity in our country, balance our budget and maintain medicare, medicaid and other programs on which so many americans rely. the house republican budget fails every one of these tests. it ends medicare,

whitehouse: mr. president, i had planned to make some similar words. if my senior senator would stay just for one moment with me on the floor. he spoke so eloquently, that i am simply going to associate myself with his remarks. but i also want to add one additional point, which is how much i appreciate his leadership and how hard he worked and the extent to which the credibility that he has built over years with his colleagues in this institution has helped to get us to this point. this was not preordained. there are times when it feels here a if the interest groups that seek our attention and our good wishes control the day around here, and there is not much of an institution. but today was a day in which te institution stood up for itself, in all the ways that senator reed mentioned. i will add my gratitude and respect to him for his leadership through this process. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york is recognized. mr. schumer: first i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business and my time be co