, d.c., that hundreds of staff people were waiting at their post, doing their jobs on a saturday in the middle of a snowstorm when virtually every business around washington was closing down.

. >> the supreme court historical society hosted this discussion on tuesday in washington d.c.. you can watch this program again or other recent programs at c- span.org. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, i -- i rise to speak on the bill -- the pending bill before us. one of the great pork barrel earmark-billed pieces of legislation that i seen come before this body. i'd like to quote from abc news by jonathan carl and def inn -- devin pryor, this is the season of pork, i quote -- "before returning to their -- excuse me. "just weeks before returning to their districts for christmas, congress is poised to give the gift of pork, roughly $4 billion of it. more than 5,000 earmarks were included in the $447 billion omnibus bill, funding pet projects of key members of congress from both parties in all regions of the country. senate will vote on the bill this weekend. independent analysis of the bill reveal a whopping 12% increase in government spending for 2010 while the inflation rate in the country remains near z

i wish everyone in washington d.c. would read it. host: here is a look at one of the authors. >> we make progress as a society where everybody pursuing their own interests as soon as possible. he believed that is almost my duty as a citizen to pursue interests and fight for them. he thought that is what everyone should do. one of the exceptions is, he was deeply patriotic. he had three sons. he named them after his heroes -- george washington was one. and so when the civil war came around, he tried to? a large steamship's and given to the union navy. they said no. he was prickly. they never thought the war would last that long. the ship was expensive. so he ended up being forced against his will to lease it for large sums to the war department. host: t.j. stiles. you confine all kinds of video on our website. your favor nonfiction book of 2009. here is dennis in michigan. caller: merry christmas. there are a lot of nonfiction books the came out. i think the very best this year was "end the debt." or heard discussion about the differe

the washington d.c. region was buried under nearly two feet of snow, forcing federal agencies to close today. and everywhere commuters had to brave icy roads and slick sidewalks this morning. those who opted for public transportation ran into delays in bus, commuter rail and subway service in several major cities. early holiday travelers were left struggling to salvage flight plans after thousands of flights were delayed or canceled. >> on a flight from boston yesterday at 3:00 and got here at 5:00 p.m. and have been here since trying to get to pittsburgh. right over there behind the christmas tree. >> we called up the airline last night. everything was totally fine. we arrived this morning. the flight was canceled. a lot of people confused not knowing what's going on. >> reporter: as the day went on, runways began to reopen and flight schedules slowly began returning to normal. >> brown: the blizzard also left shopping malls snow bound with merchants scrambling to recoup a critical weekend of lost busin

, d.c. tonight, the debate over how to improve teaching standards. >> it's a terrible thing to say but ha of this past year ought -- half the staff here ought not be. they just don't fit into what we are doing here. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron invests $62 million in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, building. fueling growth around the world to move us all ahead. this is the power of human energy. chevron. intel. supporting math and science education for tomorrow's innovators. >> bnsf railway. toyota monsanto. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions a

we revisit the schools from rhee first month on the job. >> repter: in washington d.c. the new leader of t public schools iputting her house in oer. >> the bottom line is don't believe that you are gng to be the leadewho is going to take the schls in the direction that we ne to go in and have the hiest expections for the kids. >> reporter: miclle rhee spent the first weeks the schoolear meeting one on one th all 156 principals under her charge? >> in y other sector emplees are expected to to meet certainutcomes or delivebles. everody knows that if you don't meet those numbers, u go that's what we're creating. i'm terminating your incipalship now. >> rorter: any compassion? >> compassion? think that when you're doing the kind of work tt i'm doing in public ucation wherthe lives and futures childrenang in the balance, you cannot... you can't play th that. >> the wheels are in motion foaction. and the time for dramatic ange begins today. >> reporter: re's campaign for reform began six month ago with full support om washington's new mor aide ran. >> there will beeople along

i wish everybody in washington, d.c. would read it. >> host: one of the things recovered was a book called teaching styles book, the first tycoon. here is a look at what the author had to say during the book tv and we covered. >> he believed we make progress as a society by everybody pursuing their own interest as fiercely as possible and he firmly believed it is almost my duty as a citizen you pursue your interest and fight for them and he thought that is what everybody should do. but what of the exceptions of that is he was deeply patriotic. and he named it to a foot, three sons after his heroes, george washington, henry emmerson and cornelius vanderbilt. [laughter] and so when the civil war came around, he tried to give his largest steamship which cost nearly a million dollars. he tried to give it to the union navy and giddy and said no the secretary of the navy. he was a little prickly. nobody thought the war would last that long. never going to have this expensive ship it's going to be a white elephant for the navy.

he says to his excellency president lincoln washington, d.c. i beg to present you as a christmas gift the city of savannah. and as i said i hadn't expected to write this book. i was working on the soldier vote and so i was at a book signing for one of the books you see up there on the battle -- eleven days in december and one fellow came to the signing and said have you thought about writing the civil war? and by selling working on the civil war right now and explain why was doing. he said no i mean writing about the civil war and christmas. what do you mean? and he said lincoln as a telegram from sherman saying you have savanna for christmas. well, i took my research and turned it around, and i hope to have a book signing i'm going to in about ten days this fellow whose name i don't know will turn up and i can thank him for the idea for the book. maybe some of you have ideas for another one that at this point i am not planning on another book out in military christmas. i'm not succeeded with military christmases but there is so much of this su

now, the last point on this phase are the types of lobbyists that exist in washington, d.c. and this is rough. i'm not sure you will find it in any textbooks. but if you look at all the lobbying groups around, here's how you might want to think about it. one would be, you have all kinds of we call them individual lobbying shops, like google, ford, chrysler, gm. they have their shops on k sthreet headed by someone by vice president of public affairs and if we are talking about the automobile industry, it is a two-way process. that the job of this vice president and the folks who work with him, it's to communicate detroit's views to lawmakers and at the same time, the people here, they communicate with what's going on on the hill to those folks in detroit. two-way process each dependent on the other. second kind of lobbying group, organization or entity would be the associations that i already mentioned. in terms of the telephone directory. big ones we all know, afl-cio, chamber of commerce, national association of manufacturers, american medical association, the american poli

had to do is give names and identification to the fbi in washington d.c.. give their destinations come all of the stops they were going to make and their intent when they made the stops. so it filtered down through all these cities where they made their stops. but as you get further south you get into the klan country and there were plans were policemen and fbi and so they knew and they would tell their friends we've got eight or ten or 11 freedom riders coming and this is what they look like and this is who they are so they knew it, exactly who to attack. that was a bittersweet day for natural, may 14, mother's day. john lewis was on the original freedom ride, but he signed up for the peace corps, and somewhere between rock hill and anniston he had to get off the freedom ride. she came back to nashville so he was in nashville when all this happened. john symbol -- seigenthaler was there when the attacks on birmingham it was his job to see that they were able to get out of birmingham and to new orleans because it was too dangerous with what had happened the

in washington, d.c., there is a lot of talk but very little action. but in state houses, we educate, medicate, incarcerate -- that is 87% of our budgets. we have to balance budgets every single year. we keep that people in prison, could teachers in front of students, -- bad people in prison, good teachers-of students, and it sure that the last and least half health care. host: with two defeats for democrats running for governor in virginia and new jersey, what lessons have you learned from those defeats that you will carry forward into to as a tad? -- in 2010? guest: you don't win them all. just because you have sex does that mean you will not have a good year next year. -- just because you have setbacks does not mean you will not have a good year next year. host: but the democrat in new jersey was favored their purred what went wrong? -- the democratic incumbent in new jersey was favored there. what went wrong? guest: he had a 12- 415-point deficit at the close to about even and it was the question of getting turnout. it is tough to get committed vot

and i suggest if you want to get a sense of what moves washington, d.c. at times, i can recommend reading the constitution, that's valuable. but look at the telephone directory and whether it's d.c. or fairfax county or maryland. you will list all kinds of associations and wonder what they do for some of them. but they all represent someone, because this is a representativive democracy. and congress gives to the voice they represent or businesses, whatever it may be. so well represented. and another point that is part of that, probably the third largest business or industry in washington, d.c. besides government and tourism. so there is lots and lots of people affiliated with the lobby ing -- lobbying broadly. you can probably identify registered lobbyists. and i am not sure of the vñstow 15 or 20,000, but it varies. and now there is movement for deregistration. but there is far more people involved in the lobbying community than those just officially registered. your professor, jim, the head of the center for right next door. i think you counted over 26

. >> we're at the national press club's author night in washington, d.c. you lead here and you lead temperance tours, if i was to go on one of those, what would be the first place we would go. >> the very first location starts off at the coggs wells temperance foundation, at 7th and pennsylvania, and it was a fountain put there in 1882 by henry dogswell as a reminder to washingtonians to drink water instead of whiskey and we visit the calvary baptist church and we finish off at the woodrow wilson house and he has a fascinating wine cellar in the house, which was during prohibition, transported out of the white house to his new house. >> the book is "the prohibition hangover." thanks. >> thanks for having me here today. >> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals. over the next few months. >> david wessel argues that pep burn single handedly came to the rescue of the u.s. economy hand prevented a second depression. mr. wessel claims that bernanke's response effectively made the federal reserve the fourth branch of government. mr. bernanke was

, d.c., these days, leave them with the answer is that they don't know what the rules are going to be and why in the world would you want to create a job, expand your business or make an investment when the very premise upon which you did so would change because of all the chaos here in washington. the facts of our debt crisis are not in dispute. the total public debt stands at about $12 trillion. we have in 2009, a $1.4 trillion fiscal deficit. in other words, we spent more than $1.4 million than the treasury brought in in fiscal year 2009. and then we're accumulating dent even faster during this year than we did last. according to the treasury department, the deficit for the first two months -- two months of the new fiscal year was almost $300 billion. $300 billion for two months. a total larger than the full year deficits in 2002, 2006, or 2007. so in two months the deficit is worse than the entire years of 2002, 2006, and 2007. our deficits will average nearly $1 trillion every year for

the clerk: washington, d.c, december 20, 2009. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jeanne shaheen, a senator from the state of new hampshire, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of the health care legislation with the time between 1:30 between the two leaders and their designees, between 1:30 and 11:30 tonight, there will be alternating hours with the republicans controlling the first hour. at 11:30 p.m., the senate will recess until 12:01 a.m. with the time until 1:00 a.m. equally divided and controlled between their leaders their designees, with the democratic leader controlling the final ten minutes and the republican leader the ten minutes before that. at 1:00 a.m., the senate will proceed to a vote in relation to the health care bill. that time unt

in washington, d.c., there is a lot of talk but very little action. but in state houses, we educate, medicate, incarcerate -- that is 87% of our budgets. we have to balance budgets every single year. we keep that people in prison, could teachers in front of students, -- bad people in prison, good teachers-of students, and it sure that the last and least half health care. host: with two defeats for democrats running for governor in virginia and new jersey, what lessons have you learned from those defeats that you will carry forward into to as a tad? -- in 2010? guest: you don't win them all. just because you have sex does that mean you will not have a good year next year. -- just because you have setbacks does not mean you will not have a good year next year. host: but the democrat in new jersey was favored their purred what went wrong? -- the democratic incumbent in new jersey was favored there. what went wrong? guest: he had a 12- 415-point deficit at the close to about even and it was the question of getting turnout. it is tough to get committed vot

and then they both end up being appointees to the federal court of appears in washington for the d.c. circuit and they are both former law professors and they start exchanging writings between each other. they are asking each other for advice on everything from the legal reasoning even though cases from other ideologies from the legal reasoning to punctuation. there are both picky intellectual types in various ways and they both share a love of opera, they share a love of travel and their french upstarts' to deepen and toward the end of a his tenure on the d.c. circuit in the mid '80s this are to spend years eve together a. at one point robert bork was part of this group and for lots of reasons in part because of his disappointment to not get on the supreme court it becomes awkward to have him at the new year's eve group but they start to spend a year's leave together and with their respective spouses to get along very well. marty ginsburg and more rain scalia, is a nice for some. although everyone is baffled by it. as i said, two constantly is irked by things he does but still there

then they both end up being appointees to the federal court of appeals here in washington for the d.c. circuit. and they are both former law professors. and they start exchanging writings between each other and asking each other for advice on everything from the legal reasoning even though they are coming at cases from different ideologies from everything from the legal reasoning to punctuation. they are both the key intellectual types and various ways. and they both shared love of opera and love of travel and their friendship starts to deepen and toward the end of his tenure on the d.c. circuit in the mid 80's they start to spend new year's eve together and at one point robert bork is actually part of this group and then for lots of reasons in part because of his disappointment to not get on the supreme court becomes awkward to have him in this new year's eve group but they start to spend new year's eve together and with prospective spouses who get along very well, marty ginsburg and maureen scalia. it is an ice for some. although everyone is baffled by it. and as i said, she constan

warner: efforts to reform washington, d.c.'s public schools. then tells us wh's ahead. >> we have been totall disrespected. have been treated like we don't matter. >> reporter: that's all coming on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding r the pbs newshour is provided b monsan. producing more conserving more. improving farmers' les. that sustainable agriculture. more at producoreconservemore.com. >> chevron. is is the power of hum ergy. d by toyota. and the lliam and flora wlett foundation, working to solve social and eironmental proble at home and around the world. d with the ongoing support o these institutio and fodations. and... this programas made possible the corporation for public badcasting. and by contribions to your pbs ation from viewers like you. thank yo >> brown: this chrisas day with all the chrisas festivits and observances but it was also marked by quesons about the pope's secury and by misery in the american midwe. >> we need help. >> we needome help! >> bro: for many people in t nation's midsectn, there was no w to be home fo

most of it is still in washington, d.c. an example, a smart grid program, none of the funds have been spent. $2.2 billion alternative fuel program, none of those have been spent. $4 billion energy innovative technology program,. there is an $8 billion high-speed rail project with zero funds been spent and funds for the cops program and no funds have left for washington, d.c. before we spend additional money, wouldn't it make sense to figure out what the logjam is. you go to the web site and you see the jobs created in the 99th district of virgin islands. there are no such districts. or go to augusta, georgia and look at the housing projects, 317 jobs were created. it was a bonus for the existing employees or again from the administration's website, 937 million was spent on $10,000 projects in which no jobs were created. the stimulus program is not working. we need to revamp it. another reason why we don't have jobs under this administration is because of the cap and trade policy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's tim

the international spy museum in washington d.c. hosts the hour-long event. >> good afternoon everybody. while come to the international spy museum. i am delighted to have you here. i think you are in for a very terrific session, let me put it that way. i included a podcast with our distinguished guests and i urge you to listen to that too if you enjoy the lecture today. i would make one request, if you would turn off your electronic devices, cell phones, pda's and so forth. it can interfere with the powerpoint and the applications that we very much appreciate you doing that. alright? okay, thank you. there will be time for professor andrew's presentation and there will be time for q&a and we will ensure there is time for a book signing for those who came for that as well, and the books can be purchased in the back. last thursday, the shooting at ft. hood royal the country and they highlighted once again the challenge we face in coping with even identifying islamic extremists. in great britain that task would be undertaken to a larg

i wish it never when in washington d.c. would read it. >> host: one of the events we covered was the tj stiles book the first tycoon. here's a look at what the author had to say during the booktv event recover. >> and he believed that we make process is impropriety not by a friend pursuing their own interests as fiercely as possible. and he firmly believes that it's almost my duty as a citizen, you pursue your interests and you fight for them. and he thought that's what everybody should do. but one of the exceptions to that is he was deeply patriotic. auntie named, he had three sons and he named them after he put it after sears, george washington, william henry harrison and can resend her belt. and so when the civil war came around, he tried to give his largest steamship which cost nearly a million dollars. he tried to give to the union navy and he said no. and the secretary of the navy said no. he was a little and he didn't link it would last that long. and so vanderbilt ended up being forced actually against as well to le

. >> warner: efforts to reform washington, d.c.'s public schools. then tells us what's ahead. >> we have been totally disrespected. we have been treated like we don't matter. >> reporter: that's all coming on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: monsanto. producing more. conserving more. improving farmers' lives. that's sustainable agriculture. more at producemoreconservemore.com. >> chevron. this is the power of human energy. and by toyota. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: this christmas day with all the christmas festivities and observances but it was also marked by questions about the pope's security and by misery in the american midwest. >> we need help. >> we need some help! >> brow

and the reason is because here in the washington, d.c. public schools we spend almost more money per child than almost any other jurisdiction, urban jurisdiction in the country, and our results are at the absolute bottom with. so when i took control of the school district in 2007 because the mayor got mayoral control, i inherited a district where we had a 70 percentage point achievement gap between our white students and our black students, 70 percentage points. of a all of the ninth graders who began high school with us, only 9% of them would end up graduating from college within five years. we had a circumstance where, where we were the only school district in the country that was on high-risk status with the u.s. department of education, and we of all of the eighth graders in the district according to the naep assessment, only 8% of them were on grade level in mathematics which means that 92% of our young people did not have the skills and knowledge necessary to be productive members of society. and probably the most disheartening data

professor nash spoke at the heritage foundation in washington d.c. >> good afternoon, thank you for joining us here at the heritage foundation. i'm john, directer of lectures and seminars, and it's my privilege to welcome you to our louislerman auditorium. those who will be joining us on a future occasion through c-span booktv, and we do watch those in house to check that cell phones have been turned off as a courtesy to our guest. we do remind our internet audiences that questions can be submitted or comments at any time simply e-mailing us at speaker at speaker@heritage.org. we will, of course, post the the program on the web site within 24 hours for your reference. hosting our special guest this morning is dr. lee edwards, the distinguished fellow and conservative thought in our b. kenneth simon center for american studies. he has published over 17 books including biographies of ronald reagan and ed meese as well as histories of the intercollegiate studies institute. he serves as adjunct professor of politics at the catholic university of america and is also chairman of the victims of co

. >> we are now up on a hill overlooking washington, d.c., at the lee mansion. and i am aiming the camera at mrs. lee's camera spirit this is mrs. lee's garden, the highest point of arlington national cemetery. this was the home of robert e. lee, marylee, before the civil war. and at the height of the civil war in 1864, the first of military aerials were made in the cemetery. the lower cemetery out of sight of the mansion. quartermaster general didn't think that the graves were close enough to the mansion, so that he found officers who had died and in service and he had been buried around mrs. lee's garden to make it more difficult for the leaves to return to arlington after the war. >> as we walk on water, we see these tombstones actually encircle the garden? >> yesterday don't go all the way around it but they form a border around part of the garden. i think there is something like that at the end of the war there was something like 40 graves of officers. and we don't know exactly what he's thinking was, but i suspect he chose to bury officers here, rather tha

. >> the supreme court historical society hosted this discussion on tuesday in washington d.c.. you can watch this program again or other recent programs at c- span.org. just click on "america and the courts." >> tonight, on c-span, part of today's senate debate on health care and on the omnibus spending bill. later, the opening seraph money for the conference in copenhagen -- opening ceremony for the conference in copenhagen. >> and now, a news conference on health care. the senate was in session today to debate a package of spending bills. formal debate on health care is expected to continue on monday. senate gop leader mitch mcconnell speaks first at this briefing. >> i can tell that everyone in the room is happy to be here on a saturday morning. good morning. i think a couple of observations this morning would be timely. yesterday, we heard from both the cms -- the actuary reported that this bill will not mend the health care cost curve. i would mention comments that said, "if we pass health care reform legislation without addressing health-care spending, we will fail. -- we

partisan politics has become a blood sport in washington d.c. it's a blood sport on the floor of the united states senate. and the point from the republican side of the aisle has been very clear. that is to make this president obama's waterloo. to quote, break president obama, close quote. and i saw the ramifications when we took up the stimulus package or earlier this year. and there were only three republicans, senator snowe, senator collins, and myself who would even talk to the democrats. and there was a determination to look ahead to the 2012 elections of the presidency, even before the ink was dry on the oath of office taken by a president obama on january 20. this was the second week of february, the week of february 6th as i recall, just a couple of weeks. and already the plans were for the next election. and as i reviewed the matter, it seemed to me that we were on the brink of going into a 1929 depression. the 1929 depression was very hard on the specter family. living in wichita kansas at the time, both of my parents were immigrants i

you can believe in coincidences or you can work in washington, d.c. we did not believe this is a coincidence. we don't think it is part and parcel of a larger debate over creating momentum behind the cap and trade. we think this was an effort largely born of the conclusion that because we are in the worst recession in 26 years, because of the widening academic scandal known as climate-gate, because of the absence of a national consensus on climate change legislation, and because of the uncertain prospects of cat and trade legislation in the senate, the administration concluded they had to do something to bolster their image on the world stage that the president had the ability to enforce something that he negotiated at copenhagen. our message to the president is it is altogether inappropriate for him to engage in national, international negotiations in the midst of this recession and academic scandal and in the absence of academic consensus. that is the connection. thank you. >> just to give you sort of the way that we view it on oversight, water coul

here in washington, d.c. we seem not to be listening to what's happening in america, because marking spending bills up at 12% over last year's level at a time when the c.p.i. is actually running in the negative -- you've got negative cost-of-living increase -- and yet we are marking up appropriations bills that represent a 12% increase over last year's spending level? and you put that on top of a stimulus bill that passed earlier this year that with interest is a $1 trillion spending bill. so you have a $1 trillion spending bill with interest passed earlier this year, much of which went to the very same federal agencies that are going to benefit from this 12% increase over last year in annual appropriations. so you put $1 trillion stimulus bill, you look at appropriations bill -- and, again, this being representative of most of the bills this year, that year-over-year increase at 12%, at a time when most americans are having to tighten their belts. we hear that. we also hear that the tarp program is now going

senator hatch, when you go to washington, d.c., please do not cut our medicare advantage programs. vote to maintain our present systems, and thank you for your service. sincerely. p.s., i speak for my husband, too." [laughter] i'll bet. okay. "honorable senator hatch: please do not vote for any bill which would compromise my medicare advantage plan. i'm 92 years old and of necessity worked until i was 87 and have taken pride in being self-supporting. hi to retire 6 1/2 years ago because of pancreatic cancer. amazingly, i recovered and live an active, useful life. my medicare advantage plan makes the difference between living with self-respect and having to depend on others. once again, i beg of you, don't deprive me of my self-respect. let me keep my medicare advantage plan

i've been based in washington, d.c.. much of my career i was in washington, d.c.. it's 55 miles to dallas. were they commuting? most of the troops were out of baltimore but sometimes we had to fly out of dallas. i hate to fly out of the dw law because it was an hour-and-a-half drive and ifill was bad weather i was looking at a couple of hours if there was an ice storm. was on a commuter? i was based here. this is my domicile. as opposed we have so many ways somebody could show up for tea and it's difficult to put your arms are bound is it the fatigue or do we have a prescriptive rule that says you commute to come to have to be here 12 hours. we don't have any assurance if that 12 of ours was good rest. we don't have a way of measuring the quality of rest you got any more than we have of measuring i live here and i had a child of the midnight and it can to the emergency room at 2:00 in the morning and was due on the flight at eight. i have no business fleeing the flight but i'm not a commuter. so these are some of the difficulties we are faced with and the burden wo

we got noted washington d.c. jeb highsen to look at the issue to see how they would analyze it from a economic standpoint. he put together a short paper which i'm happy to introduce in the record. his conclusion, was this. it is very expensive to build a broadband platform and the costs of getting the first subscriber is very high. but if you could make your service popular, as you add more and more people to the service, the average cost of providing the service it each subscriber comes down. in that circumstance, you're actually putting downward pressure on retail pricing. we would be happy to submit that for your review. >> professor, your testimony, you, you refer to several technologies that play be employed to prevent infringement through rebroadcasting. which technologies in your opinion is the most realistic option for entities such as u.f.c. and professional sports leagues. >> when you see how piracy and other problems have been addressed on the internet in other contexts, it is rare to see one single st

the clerk: washington, d.c, december 10, 2009. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mark l. pryor, a senator from the state of arkansas, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, president pro tempore. reid mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of 3590, which is the health care reform legislation. the time until 1:00 p.m. today will be equally divided and controlled. it will be for debate only. the time until 11:00 a.m. will be controlled between the two leaders or their designees and then the remaining time will be controlled in 30-minute alternating blocks of tiesm the majority will control the first block, the republicans will control the next. senators will be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. i expect the house of representatives to send to the senate this afternoon a conference report. when it arrives, we'll cons

he was a prominent physician in washington d.c. this tells the story of how we went from poverty and discrimination from mississippi to a status in washington " i counseled with presidents like john f. kennedy and lyndon johnson and just the struggle of getting to the point. they were a family of slaves in mississippi and became one of the largest landowners in mississippi. host: thank you. a book you may be interested is "and mighty long way." before it is by bill clinton. florida, joseph, nextel. -- next up. caller: it is a book i saw on c- span not too long ago. it was "operation solo." it is the story of a jewish immigrant who became our spike in the kremlin for about 27, 28 years. -- who became our spy in the kremlin. the offer was the number two man and he interviewed morris sober who came to america in the 1900's. there was a second one that has not been critiqued yeah. assault on another show called "witness to nurembough." he was small in stature but served oscar very well. he became our number one intercurrent from the no

the president is thrilled the international aids society will hold this conference in washington d.c. and we look forward to working with their local and federal partners to make this conference a success. we have major accomplishments to celebrate but we also know that much work remains to be done so as we commemorate world aids day what recommit ourselves to increasing awareness about how to prevent the spread of hiv/aids and ensuring access to care to people living with the disease of this concludes our offense. we bit like to thank you for joining us and thank you for your ongoing partnership with us on world aids day and every day of the year. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> tonight on c-span2 "the communicators" with fcc commissioner meredith attwell baker. following that, a senate hearing on internet sales tactics. also a look at some of today's senate health care debate. this week on "the communicators," a discussion with fcc commissioner meredith attwell baker. she discusses several issues currently before the fcc including net neutrality, the med

she's not going to be able to go to washington, d.c., and lobby for this like some of the -- all the companies that have come over here and lobbied for this thing and that thing much she needs us to be her voice. and that's what this is b now, the good thing here, mr. president, is we look at some of the things that are in the bill -- i didn't get everything i wanted to reduce costs in this bill. but there are some great things in this bill. look at this. first of all, according to researchers at dartmouth medical school, nearly $70 million is wasted on ineffective health care. that's 30% of total health care spending. to rein in costs, we introduced a value index that -- i introduced the bill, senator cantwell, senator gregg were coyoauthors of the bill and senator can't bell got it on the finance committee bill and it's still in the merged bill today t says when you look at the medicare fees, evaluate them on a lot of things but make sure you evaluate them on value. this index willing help reduce unnecessary procedures because those who produce more volume will need to also improve

you can believe in coincidencess or work in washington d.c.. we don't believe this was a coincidence. we don't think it was part and parcel of the larger debate over creating momentum behind moving the cap and trade bill. this was an effort that was largely born of the conclusion that because we are in the worst

that gets worse in cities in washington, d.c. the disparity is about 3.5%. excuse me, three and a half times. that leads directly to low birth weight babies and, obviously, you know, all the research shows that lack of access to health care going back to prenatal care means worse childhood health. if you have worse health, you're not going to be in school. you're not going to do as well in school. and that leads to the statistics that hilary and jeff were just giving you. so the question is, you know -- and thn you get sort of the next step is if you're not graduating, you're not going o get a good job with good health care benefits. the cycle is going to begin again. when you take that to a whole community, you get the poverty that jeff was just talking about. so that is not an excuse for failing schools. cycles can be broken. and we see it in every community and every city that has a failing system of schools, you see some exceptional schools where students really are excelling. so the question is what can the federal government do? what can it do in healt

the impact of this provision is perhaps no greater than here in washington, d.c., in our washington, d.c. metropolitan area, which is home to over half a dozen law schools. it comes as no surprise that many of these schools' students are also federal government employees. some of the schools are night programs where the students work full-time in the day and take classes at night. many times, they do work for the federal government or the d.c. government. but because of their employment, they are therefore disqualified from participating in these extremely beneficial programs. this was most certainly not congress' intent when it enacted section 205. h.r. 4194, remedy this is problem by extending an existing exemption within the statute to include federal employee law students. the bill therefore appropriately allows students and staff to participate in clinics, including those that are adverse to the federal or d.c. government. however, and this is important, the bill continues to prohibit any actual conflict of interest involving specific parties. therefore, if the student or staff

washington, d.c. caller: help are you? host: i am fine. caller: i agree with the editorial you are reading. all we're doing is warehousing the detainees for indefinite periods of time. it does not answer the question of what we will do with them for the rest of their lives. a lot of these people are dangerous. we do not have a framework of justice for people. host: what is the difference between having them here in the united states or in guantanamo bay? caller: 9 as far as i am concerned. we're moving of one warehouse to the other. houghton >> there is no difference as far as i am concerned. removing them from one warehouse to the other. this is so obama can save that he is doing what he said he would do. there is no answering of the larger question of how we will go and solve this for good. it is pushing aside the problem for later. that is not why i voted for obama. i voted for accountability down the line. it was my mistake for believing i could get some accountability for stuff like this. host: the next call is from pam in new york. c

. >> hello, i am from as so well politics here in washington d.c. and i wanted to ask you first of all, i want to say really enjoyed the lecture and i wanted to ask you if, to what degree and do you believe that ron paul phenomenon has the potential to reenergize sing american conservatism? >> it represents one branch of a broader coalition, to give you a very quick capsule word. he obviously is in the libertarian wing of the movement that raises traditionalist neoconservatism's, and others, so it is, i think of the conservative movement and i think if it is going to be successful when coalition all terms and he represents one wing of that and he represents what i call in mine speech the language of liberty, which is really taking hold again at the grassroots and this is a language that has indigenous origins and our historical experience, so that in itself bodes well for conservatives because they tend to relate to two fellow americans in language that means something to us historically. it is not all abstract or imported, so i think what represent

. >> steve: damien wilkins was born in washington, d.c. kevin love the rebound. that will give him nine for the game. he is continuing his torrid pace. in the last ate games he came in averaging 13 rebounds per game. >> phil: right now he has the longest streak of consecutive >> steve: he has a double- double in the last 10 games, as well. he has 16 points tonight. he misses that free throw. 100-89. wizards feel like coming into this game they had a good shot to take this team and head to memphis with a three game win streak, but it's not going to happen. just not going to happen and it just shows you that any team in the league, just like in football, any given night in the nba you can get beat by even the teams that have struggled, this will be the seventh win this season for the minnesota timberwolves. >> phil: coming into this game, wizards had a 10-17 record and thinking they could come away with a win here. >> steve: flip saunders the winningest coach in minnesota timberwolves history suffers his first loss as the opposition in this building. emotionally it

host: one of the reasons that the washington, d.c. area has been less hit is stimulus is a boon to d.c. area contractors. here is the story. "to a sizable sum has gone to contractors in the washington area who are helping to implement the initiative. they are being paid a hefty slice of the money to help spend the rest of it. the energy department is paying technology and management services $6.9 million to review applications for renewable energy loan guarantees. the contract represents a relatively small portion of the spending but they understand why the washington area is weathering the issue so well." democratic line, good morning. caller: i have a few things. we need to rein in some of the lobbyists. we should not allow politicians to work for lobbyists in any fact after their term. we need to disband the wal-mart and other box stores like that from the profits they are taking, splitting it up and giving the tax breaks to the local businesses. and then we need to reform the conservation corps rather than giving contracts to vari

theoretically, a person could see in washington, d.c., where they are getting a feed and feed it back. >> i'm going to close with a small statement which i'm taking for the chairman, partially. our problem on the day is we pass laws or observation or petitions by the courts as part of promoting commerce, protecting intellectual property and recognizing that laws are only effective if they are one, supported by the masses, and two, enforceable. what i'm hearing here today is that potentially we would reinterpret a law. my question to all of you in the abstractor, hypothetical is, how would we enforce -- you can do this but you can't library it. the sony product was a durable product that and it was portable. and it met a whole bunch of requirements. so from the side or from the men and women in robes across the street, how in the world would we, one, enforcer, and two, why would it be the burden of the federal government to bring about that very aims under expensive of enforcement to find out whether they are fording, whether it is durable? we have been asked over the years to buy into

shows that bipartisanship can exist in washington d.c.. let them have it. >> thanks for having me this morning. i want to say that if you are serious about working on campaigns, this is the best piece of education you can take with you. i occasionally -- you have better bound books than we had in and 90s. i occasionally go back of i am stuck with a task i am not familiar with to review the course materials i had. there are a lot of great speakers that come through here, people you will remember for a long time. i will talk about making voting work for your campaign. part of what i am going to talk about is from the arnold schwarzenegger example. the john mccain campaign may have the worst reputation compared to the obama votes. some of that was funding, some just the regular challenges our campaign had that was more global. it was not specific tactical things. i have some good examples from john mccain about why early votes helped us make different decisions or inform us on things we did that may not be logical. but why we made the decisio

now, if you want jobs for washington, d.c.--based government contractors, i don't know how that is sustainable. the red line is not getting lower. it's getting higher. we would have been better off under the president's proposal, the democrat's plan on the stimulus to have no stimulus at all. if they look at what they predicted versus what reality is. if you want to talk about healthy rural areas is, one of the people that's been involved in the government here tells the "post," the reason this money is being spent back here in the washington, d.c., area is i'm not sure if i've heard of a government contract supporter in washington. well, maybe that's part of the problem. maybe if we had some of this actually flowing out to people who need the help and not government maybe things would be better. so where is the money going and where are the jobs? now, we know that on february 25 in an interview with abc's "good morning america" robin roberts, joe biden said, and i quote, we got to make sure this is done by the numbers, man. w

host: washington d.c., maria, and again in line. caller: my question to you -- my daughter and her husband, between them they make $100,000. [unintelligible] she lost her job for about six months and it was the second job. where can they go because they have been calling everywhere and they are not able to get financed guest:. : that is a great question. refinances -- not able to get financed. guest: that is a great question. if there is not equity in the home, and sometimes that is difficult to do. you are talking about a real issue that the second line of defense is to modify the loan, which means getting more affordable payment. disruption in income can be a significant factor in whether you qualify or not for a refinance. call 888-995-hope. and you can also go to the website of hope now for counselors in d.c. jpmorgan has a lot of good programs in place. host: mark on the independent line. caller: six months ago, i contacted hauope and they triedo help me. and it has been a wild and nobody should be able to help me out. i lost m

$3 million for bicycle racks in washington, d.c. $1.5 million for streetscape project in detroit around a casino. $578,000 to fight homelessness in union, new york, a town that reportedly has no homelessness. i could go on and on. it makes no sense to be doing this, but i think maybe one of the most egregious parts of the bill that i want to focus on for a few minutes really goes back to those values issues. you know, it's one thing to make abortions legal. it's quite another thing to force americans who consider abortion immoral based on their moral beliefs, their religious beliefs. it's immoral to make them pay for it, to actually promote abortions. and that's what this bill does. everywhere you turn, this administration is promoting any life initiatives and advancing policies that most americans find morally objectionable: namely, taxpayer-funded abortions. we've seen that throughout this health care debate and we've seen now in the very set of bills that fund our government that it is promoting and funding abortion. folks, this nation has had a debate about whether we should even al

shortly after reading the book i went to a meeting in washington d.c. of the last graduating class of american high-school in shanghai purposes the men and women met there i graduated before world war ii i fell for the first time in many years like again on to new in the room and in any case the graduates could not have been any nazer brass of i have read the book and then warned me not to believe everything he said. having come to this conclusion on my own i was discussing we proud of myself parker early research aside to help to do in this book was find out who chang known as an angel by some and as the dragon lady by others really was. the historical information was fairly easy to dig out. but the motivation behind her accomplishments and mistakes was not. the only guy i found to menem's personal life is in the archives of wellesley college which she attended for four years and i attended for only two. these are letters between the young women known before her marriage as sung and her best friend, a girl named minnesota bills to she continue to have