senator whitehouse? >> your remarks about the cybersecurity legislation, that we ought to be and shall be undertaking fairly soon makes a good segue into my questioning. let me first ask you, what level of urgency and dispatch would you advise that we proceed to this legislation with? >> i would hope that you would proceed as quickly. this is an area involving rapidly. i think having a basis in statued, of jurisdiction, authorization, and a light, is very important. work has been done on the senate side, work has been done on the house side. i would hope that congress could move very quickly to resolve this and give us a bill. >> do you hope that we can do it quickly because it -- what? >> this is an area that deserves foundation in statute. right now we are moving administratively, and things are moving and moving expeditiously. but it does seem to me there is a lot happening here which ultimately needs to be established, not just jurisdictionally but fiscally as well so it is something congress has to

joining me now is senator sheldon whitehouse, democrat from rhode island. senator, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> good to be with you, reverend, thank you for having me. >> senator, the other side of the aisle is clearly not focused on jobs. >> clearly. >> and they are -- let me just ask this -- are they trying to just hurt the economy on purpose? >> well, i think the president has said that they would rather see him fail than get the economy back on its feet. if you look at the vote that they just took in the senate the other day, we tried to move to proceed to the president's jobs bill. one we had moved to proceed, they could have offered any amendment they wanted. we would have had a discussion about it, we would have begun the legislative process process about jobs in america. they wouldn't open the door to that discussion. they slammed the door shut. they said no, we're not going to discuss it. as you saw, they moved immediately into the house to an attack on women's health rights. so trying to get them to focus on jobs in a real way is prov

whitehouse: thank you very much. mr.is is a peculiar condition of washington. if you go out into our, say, military and intelligence communities, they understand and are planning for the effects of our carbon pollution on climate change. they see it as a national security risk. if you go out into our at least nonpolluting business and financial community, they see this as a real and important problem. and of course it goes without saying that our scientific community is all over this concern. but, like i said, washington is a peculiar place, and here it is getting very little traction. here where the dark hand of the polluters can tap so many shoulders and where there is power and money behind that dark hand, and, therefore, a lot of attention paid to that little tap on the shoulder. what we overlook is that nature, god's earth, is also tapping us all on the shoulder with messages that we ignore at our peril. we ignore the messages of nature, of god's earth, and we ignore the laws of nature, of god's earth, at our very g

>> i. >> senator whitehouse? >> aye. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> senator enzi,? >> a. >> senator burr? >> aye. >> senator isakson? >> aye. >> senator hatch? >> aye, by proxy. >> senator mccain? >> aye, by proxy. >> senator roberts? >> no. >> senator mirkouski? >> i. >> senator harkin? >> no. >> the amendment is good adopted. >> mr. chairman? [inaudible conversations] [laughter] >> if i could be recognized for one minute? >> i wish my little state to be held harmless. >> senator? >> inform the chair and ranking members, we worked on a formula change to title one. we hoped to have it done for the mark up. we are not there, but i want all members to know the same disperties exist in title one formula as they do in title two. case in point, the dollars in title one range from a low of $1238 per poor child to a high of $3576 per poor child, and when you add in the additional stimulus money that was targeted towards title one in 2009, the range grew from a low of 21 # 25 per poor child to 644 per poor child in another state. though not at the bottom of the list, north

senator whitehouse has worked a great deal on this. we are having a meeting this afternoon of some of us on cybersecurity. we passed a bill out of this committee. there are other committees, intelligence and commerce and others and we have to do it. i am not as concerned -- obviously i am concerned. we have to be. but i am concerned someone will try to hijack a passenger plane as much as i am what happens when it is the middle of the winter, ranging from 10 above to 30 below zero throughout the northeast and all the power grids shut off. you are talking hundreds of thousands of people could die in a large period of time. what happens if our air traffic control is turned off? not only the images to the rest of the world but the huge commercial disruption, plus the very real possibility of loss of life depending where the planes are and what the weather is. these are things we have to look at. communications. phones all go dead. we move trillions of dollars worth of commercial activities today in this country and overseas. these are thin

whitehouse: thank you mr. president. i rise today to speak in support of the ciewrnz exchange rate oversight reform act of 2011, and by note the presence on the floor of one of its principal sponsors senator sherrod brown of ohio, who i've been very pleased to work with on this legislation. i'm proud to be one of the original cosponsors of this bill an important piece of bipartisan legislation that will help protect american workers from the trade distorting effects of currency manipulation. in particular, this legislation will allow to us fight back against policies that china has used to gain an unfair advantage over american manufacturers. our american trade deficit with china rose from $83 billion in 2001, the year that china joined the world trade organization to $273 billion in 2010. that trend is discouraging enough on its own but it is more troubling to consider that the growing trade deficit ultimately represents goods that are no longer made in the united states of america by u.s. workers. in fact, the economic

senator whitehouse? >> your remarks about the cybersecurity legislation, that we ought to be and shall be undertaking fairly soon makes a good segue into my questioning. let me first ask you, what level of urgency and dispatch would you advise that we proceed to this legislation with? >> i would hope that you would proceed as quickly. this is an area involving rapidly. i think having a basis in statued, of jurisdiction, authorization, and a light, is very important. work has been done on the senate side, work has been done on the house side. i would hope that congress could move very quickly to resolve this and give us a bill. >> do you hope that we can do it quickly because it -- what? >> this is an area that deserves foundation in statute. right now we are moving administratively, and things are moving and moving expeditiously. but it does seem to me there is a lot happening here which ultimately needs to be established, not just jurisdictionally but fiscally as well so it is something congress has to

senator whitehouse? >> your remarks about the cybersecurity legislation, that we ought to be and shall be undertaking fairly soon makes a good segue into my questioning. let me first ask you, what level of urgency and dispatch would you advise that we proceed to this legislation with? >> i would hope that you would proceed as quickly. this is an area involving rapidly. i think having a basis in statued, of jurisdiction, authorization, and a light, is very important. work has been done on the senate side, work has been done on the house side. i would hope that congress could move very quickly to resolve this and give us a bill. >> do you hope that we can do it quickly because it -- what? >> this is an area that deserves foundation in statute. right now we are moving administratively, and things are moving and moving expeditiously. but it does seem to me there is a lot happening here which ultimately needs to be established, not just jurisdictionally but fiscally as well so it is something congress has to

>> senator whitehouse. >> mr. chairman, i'd like to thank senator alexander for the enemy and he has made. i was one of the senators who requested that the subject of turnaround elements that pertain to the first six turnaround methods also be retained for the seventh. and i also thank you for clarifying the voucher issue. i agree that this language not support a voucher program. and i think it's important we make that legislative record clearly and now. and i think the center has just done so that i hope i have hammered it home yet and with the in the senate has proposed i'm pleased to support his amendment. >> thank you. i want to follow this up. i am concerned about the voucher issue, that we had a preliminary, i will say preliminary, probably crs, saying that this could allow for vouchers. i see nothing in there that prohibits it. what if a local state cayman, you know, you don't know the government is or the situation is in the state and say well, as turnaround model for this school is, close the school and p

senator whitehouse. >> thank you, chairman cardin. ms. darcy, you were last here in march.and after you came, i asked questions for the record. and we never got an answer to them. i don't know why. it's been quite a while and they were quite simple questions. one was how much funding is currently available for section two of five project. i assume somebody in the corner is the question just a sending that e-mail to sp or the other is whether the funding will allow for new projects or whether it's fully subscribed. again, i assume somebody knows than information and so i don't have been asking for exhaustive researcher complicated analysis to be done. they just seem to have their questions answered. the third is whether the army corps is planning for any increase in the section 205 project did request and what are you doing to prepare for that? can i have your firm pledge right now is to not get answers to those questions from april? >> yes, senator. >> went? >> we will have been before the week is out. >> perfect. i appreciate it. then he had a new one and that is the trans

. >> senator whitehouse has worked a great deal on this. there is a meeting this afternoon with some of us on cybersecurity and we passed a bill out of this committee. there are other committees, intelligence, commerce, and others that have evolved. i am not as concerned -- obviously i am concerned, we have to be, but i am not concerned now that somebody is going to try to hijack a passenger plane as much as i am what happens when it it is the middle of the winter, it ranges from 10 above to 30 below zero in the northeast and all the power grids are shut off. you are talking about hundreds of thousands of people who could die at any time. what happens if air traffic control is turned off? not only the images given to the rest of the world but the huge, huge commercial disruption, plus the very real possibility of loss of life, depending on where the planes are and where the weather is. these are things we have to look at, communications, the phones all go dead. we move trillions of dollars worth of commercial activities a day in this countr

i was just on the floor with senator harkin, casey and whitehouse.ds, we send them to crumbling school buildings. do we rebuild, or do we -- and pay for it by a tax on -- just 5%, we're not taking away all their income. or do we just -- it's so clear, as you said that this would put people to work immediately, whether it's bridges, highways, community colleges. it would help us employ, ultimately likely help us employ more teachers, and then put manufacturing employees to work -- for renovating these school billings. ultimately it sets the stage for long-term prosperity. in the '50s, '60s, '70s, the world had never seen infrastructure like we built, and we've let it decay and fall apart. this is what we need to do, short term and long term. >> we're seeing people march, rights groups coming to washington in a couple beaks. people are outraged. i think part is the arrogance and insensitivity of saying geffen this economy, given that our people are suffering on the ground, they are actually fight you you in the senate to maintain that millionaires havi

the department of justice, the entire department of justice which senator wows -- senator whitehouse and i served in and we're proud to do so gets $31 billion. the federal highway bill, the federal highway funding for the entire year, $40 billion. food stamps are twice the federal highway bill. customs and border patrol, they get $12 billion. the education department, federal education aid is $30 billion. $80 billion dwarfs the budgets of, i think, most any state in the country unless it's new york or california. alabama's general fund budget and educational budget is less than $10 billion. this is $80 billion, and it increases $10 billion this year under this bill, and i would just say to my colleague we have got to get real. we don't have the money. we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend. no wonder congress is in such disrepute. how can we defend ourselves against a charge of irresponsibility to good and decent american citizens when we are spending at this rate and continuing to show increased spending at this rate now? i'm still amazed that the budget the president su

i think the whitehouse on this particular visit to the valley recognized there may be an opportunity to do something like this. they reached out to us. with a jumped at the chance. you know, i think longer term when it comes to the value we can add in the world, creating economic opportunity for people is a big part of that. and you think about the 153 billion peop inhe american work force,.3 billion people in the global work force and ultimately the vision is to be able to touch all of those folks by leveraging our platform. and with the president recently announcing the ameran jobs act, i thi they felt the whitehse felt this would be a good opportunity to reach out. we solicited questions from members at one point we were receiving one question every five seconds. we received thousands of questions from thousands of men's and had a chance to actual fly some of those members in to ask the president some of those questions directly. and he responded and talked about his plans for the jobs act. >> charlie: back to the technology issue. based on so of the things you guys have both said

. >> senator whitehouse. >> no. >> senator blumenthal. >> no. >> senator enzi. >> no. >> senator alexander. >> no. >> senator burr. >> aye by proxy. >> senator isakson. >> in on the paul amendment? no. >> senator paul. >> aye. >> senator hatch. >> aye. >> senator mccain. senator roberts. senator murkowski. >> no. >> senator kirk. >> no. >> i'm sorry? >> no. >> chairman harkin. >> no. >> 17 nays, three ayes. >> 17 fillets, three ayes. the amendment -- 17 nays, three ayes. the amendment is not agreed to. senator haggan has an amendment. senator sanders and i recognize senator sanders. >> yes, thank you, mr. chairman. this is sanders title 1. >> senator is recognized for amendment number 1. >> thank you. this is a pretty simple, modest amendment which i hope is not too controversial. i think everybody in the congress is deeply concerned about the high level of dropouts that we see in our school systems. approximately 30% of our children drop out. among african-american kids, 50%. latino kids, the number is even higher than that. and i know that in this bill there are various tools that we are

the presiding officer, senator whitehouse and senator casey from pennsylvania. you said something earlier about the super committee and deficit reduction. what you said is exactly right, that many in this institution and down the hall in the house of representatives don't seem to understand, and that is you can't only cut your way to prosperity. you've got to grow your way to a more balanced budget and prosperity. one of the things this china currency bill will do is it is estimated by the economic policy institute that over ten years it will cut the deficit $600 billion to $800 billion. why is that? because of job growth, because this bill provides, according to the economic policy institute study, creates more than 2 million jobs. that's 2 million people instead of receiving unemployment benefits, instead of being eligible for food stamps, instead of other kinds of things we do for people who are out of work, it will mean those 2 million people will actually be working, many of them in manufacturing. those are $12, $15, $20 an hour jobs. they'll be paying taxe

>> no. >> senator whitehouse? >> aye. >> senator enzi? >> aye >> [inaudible] >> aye? >> senator paul? >> i. >> senator hatch? >> [inaudible] >> senator mccain? >> aye. >> senator cassidy? >> aye. >> senator kirk? >> [inaudible] >> mr. chairman? >> no and vote know be proxy. >> [inaudible] >> i'm sorry? 15? 15 ayes and 7 nays, the amendment is adopted. next amendment. >> mr. chairman? >> senator? >> mr. chairman, i hope what will be a simple what i hope is a straightforward amendment. it is blumethal13 that aims to consider in amplifications for competitive grants, the numbers of of or percent of students who are two or more years underage or under credited for their grade level. the reason for including this statistic in the assessments that have to be done is it is simply the best predictor of drop outs, and therefore in the competitor grant program is a factor that should be considered, and i ask for voice vote. [inaudible conversations] it's amendment-3. >> amendment number 3; right? >> as i understand it, the secondary school reform program requires grant applican

. >> senator whitehouse. >> no. >> senator bloom that you will. >> senator alexander. >> no. >> senator burr. >> aye by proxy. >> senator isakson. >> no. >> no paul. >> aye. >> senator hatch. senator mccain. senator roberts. senator -- >> no. >> chairman harkin. >> chairman harkin. >> no. >> 17 nays, 3 ayes. >> the amendment is not greed to. >> senator hagan. >> senator sanders. i recognize senator sanders. title 1, right? >> yes, this is sanders k title 1. >> the senator is recognized for amendment 1. >> this is a pretty simple modest amendment which i hope is not too controversial. i think everybody in the congress is deeply concerned about the high level of dropouts that we see in our school systems. approximately 30% of our children drop out. among african-american kids, unbelievably that number is 50%. kids were dropping out. in latino kids, the number is higher than that. and i know that in this bill there are various tools that we are developing to try to address this issue. all this amendment does is give us a little bit more information about the number of kids who are dropping

rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable sheldon whitehouse, a senator from the state of rhode island, to perform the duties of the chai. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. rye reid mr. president? the presiding officer: the distinguished majority leader. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. i have the rare opportunity today to introduce and say a few words about the gest chaplain. -- about the guest chaplain. reverend chaney has just delivered, as usual, an eloquent invocation. reverend chaney is originally from south carolina, but for the last two years has led his flock at the second baptist church in las vegas, one of the older, extremely well-established, large churches in las vegas, nevada. he's a man who's involved in the community, very, very deeply. he serves on the board of the urban league and the naacp, but in addition to his service in the spiritual line, he's also served as a patriot in our nation's armed services. he has served in the navy for four years, as has our chaplain, barry black, both naval officers, and rec

district we announced, along with our governor and our entire congressional delegation, senator whitehouse, senator reid, congressman langevin and i, the launch of a new $13 million loan fund, it's federal funds, again, to be administered by the rhode island economic development corporation and to assist an organization called beta spring and the slater fund. both of these organizations are really designed to help startup entrepreneurs access to capital they need to start a new business and to grow jobs. and i think one of the things i've heard repeatedly is that small businesses need access to capital, they need an environment which they can start and grow their business, but the other thing that businesses need, small businesses need that i hear about all the time is they need customers to buy the goods and services they produce. and so i think one of the things that is really important about the president's american jobs act is it really focuses on tax cuts for small businesses, tax credits for small businesses, particular attention to our returning veterans, our heroes and those who ha