i said before and i will repeat because senator kyl made reference to it. at the base of this argument made by senator mcconnell and senator kyl is year. not just fear of extremists and terrorists and violence but fear that this great country of america can all stand by the values which we have honored for generations and still be safe. fear we can't stand for the constitutional principles that we swear to uphold and still be safe. fear we cannot trust americans in our court system, the best in the world, to in fact try these prisoners if they are guilty and incarcerate them. fear that we can't do that and be safe. fear that we can't trust the men and women working in prisons across america, super max facilities to incarcerate guantanamo detainees, that kind of fear which is what we hear on a regular basis, the regular diet fed to us by the republican senators is no basis for a sound american foreign policy. if we are going to have a policy that protects us abroad and at home we should recognize threats for what they are, understand our were strengths and w

senator kyl alluded to specific frustrations felt by small business owners across the country. well, believe me, i understand that issue better than some. i've been working with senator blanch lincoln of arkansas, senator snowe of maine, senator klobuchar of minnesota, to come up with a plan so that the small business owners will be able to afford health insurance. and i'm happy to say that at least at this moment in time there's an indication the finance committee is considering our bill as part of their overall work product. just as important as keeping your health plan, if you like it, if you're a small business owner, you find your health premiums have increased 200% because you have one sick employee or one sick baby born to one of the families of your employees, we want to make sure you're no longer subject to those unfair practices of raising premiums for that kind of situation. in today's system at the end of the contract small businesses are really at the mercy of insurance companies who are in it for profit. earlier this week, i talked about a small business man in sp

i'm glad senator kyl acknowledged the obvious. of course we have to bring these terrorists to justice. and an american court is the best place to do it. the u.s. government frequently brings extremely dangerous individuals to the u.s. for prosecution. ramsey youseff, mastermind of the 1993 world trade center bombing, brought to the u.s., convicted, now being held in a federal supermax federal prison, a convicted terrorist. some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue continue -- continually argue that we should not prosecute detainees in u.s. courts because no prison in america is safe to hold them. yam see youseff was held in the metropolitan corrections center in new york during the course of his trial for over two years. safely. my colleagues seem to think ma that american corrections -- think that american corrections officer are not capable of safely holding terrorists. lindsey graham, who's a military lawyer, said -- and i quote -- "the idea that we can't find a flies securely house 250-plus detainees within

you for joining us. -- senator john kyl, thank you for joining us. we continue our conversation with our reporters. how is the fact that republicans in the minority in the senate translates into what some interpret from the interview as senator kyl past frustration -- >> it reflects what it means we have the congress split like this. the republican congress is increasingly conservative and kyl seemed to dismiss the idea getting a few remaining republics -- republican market -- republican moderates would create a better bill. there's a question of how far into the cockpit yet to go for something to be bipartisan result. the need senator kyl possible vote? the five republicans? -- do you need five republicans? their views are so divergent at this point, there's a wide chasm between the two parties on many of these ideas. >> what are you hearing and seeing? >> when the republican minority was diminished, all that was left for the conservatives and that is why you see people making a big deal about guantanamo bay, sonia sotomayor, because the band of the

some, such as republican senator john kyl of arizona, -- jon kyl of arizona, and chuck shumer of new york, voiced their support of the bureau's decision which was a step further than my initial letter. but they, too, desire to, quote, understand the situation more fully as senators kyl and shumer wrote. when i received response from the f.b.i. on march 9, only one of the 10 questions i posed was unanswered which prompted me to send a second letter restating the original questions and pressing the f.b.i. for a timely and detailed response. i submit a copy of that letter for the record. days after my second letter care launched a public attack against me claiming in a march 12 press release that i abused my office by seeking to pressure the f.b.i. to produce negative information about the organization. those assertions are patently untrue and would not even warrant a response. were it not that they were symptom attic or i believe a larger pattern of intimidation undertaken by care. intimidation which is of great consequence given the national security matters at stake. as my letter to

kyl: thank you. mr. president, today i'd like to talk about a bill which today senator mcconnell and i introduced and i think a companion bill will be introduced by some of the leadership in the house of representatives. the number of the bill is 1259. and this bill is called the patients act. patient as in doctor and patient. and the idea is to focus on health care as it relates to patients. the health care reform should be patient centered. that nothing should come between the physician and the patient. and we're concerned that there is something that is being done that we need to stop because it could, in fact, insert government bureaucrats in between the patient and the physician. what's happened is that in the stimulus bill, the congress appropriated $1.1 billion for something called comparative effectiveness research. now, comparative effectiveness research has been used for years by physicians and hospitals, medical schools do research and they determine what kind of treatments are best. for examp

sessions: i thank senator kyl for his leadership on this committee. he's one of the senate's great lawyers. i appreciate his insights, as we all do. i would just note i think this rush is ill-advised. in truth, the white house was determined to get the nominee's questionnaire to the senate in a hurry, and there are a number of cameras and crews and press releases that went out when boxes were delivered. but in many ways the questionnaire was incomplete. the result, i think, of that kind of rush. the nominee failed to provide sufficient details that were required by the questionnaire. for example, the judge did not include her troubling recommendation to the puerto rican appeal defense fund to lobby against a new york state law that would have reinstated the death penalty. and it had quite a bit of intemperate rhetoric in it. after that was noted, she admitted she failed to and got that document in. but i suggest perhaps if somebody hadn't been aware of that omission, maybe we would not have received that document at all. what else might she have faile

do you need senator kyl's vote? do you need someone more conservative? five republicans? it's questionable how influential they can be on the policy when their views are so divergent at this point. there's this wide chasm between these two parties. >> what are you hearing and see sng >> i think that he makes a good point here in that when the republican minority was diminished, all that was really left were these conservatives. and so that's why you see people making a big deal about guantanamo bay, about the supreme curt nominee. because of the bent of the conference in the house and senate is very much more conservative where as the democratic ranks of centrists have expanded. you you brought up the issue of guantanamo bay and he became animated about his response, who cares? >> and that's exactly how a lot of republicans feel and even some democrats, they feel like, look, we don't have to bring these people into this country and we -- and the -- obama this is a symbol, a recruitment tool. i think that he really speaks for a lot of republicans in that way by saying we d

it would be difficult for us to pull off. >> centre jon kyl at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> and now, the federal communications commission holds a conference on the digital television transition which took place on friday. all rebroadcast television signals are digital, requiring a converter box. this is about 10 minutes. >> are we ready to go? >> good afternoon. i am from the federal communications commission. this is a historic day here at the fcc. it is a historic day or around the country as we transition from analog to digital television. it strikes me as kind of the end of the dinosaur age and the beginning of the digital age. there are a lot of benefits that millions of american consumers are beginning to enjoy today. i think that we will find that this is good for consumers and good for the country. the transition is far from over. we are in the midst of it. there will be some dislocation as we have said over the period of the past several months. we are hard at work what teams in the field. we have a call center. it is a lifeline for consumers

. >> lamar alexander, with me, senator kyl is going to join the senate humans. he is coming from the finance committee. we are introducing today the auto stock for every taxpayer act to require the treasury to distribute to individual taxpayers all the stock in the new gm and chrysler within one year following the emergence of the new gm from bankruptcy proceedings. this is the best way to get the auto companies out of the hands of washington bureaucrats and politicians and into the hands of the american people in the marketplace where it belongs. so instead of the treasury polling 60% of the shares of new gm and 8% of shares of chrysler, he went on them. if you are one of 120 million americans who paid federal taxes on april 15th. this is the fastest way to get the stock out of the hands of washington and back into the hands of the american people who paid for it. to keep it simple and to help the little guy also get an ownership stake in america's future, the treasury would give each taxpayer an equal number of the available shares. the treasury department has

senator kyl has joined. >> i support the kyl-bennett -- just kidding. [laughter] the joint to excellent ideas together on something critical. first american people are really fed up with this notion of the federal government taking over business and running those businesses. and part of this is response to that, but there is a very good governance aspect of this i want to bring to your attention. you know, the government of the united states of america is made up of the people. the people came first. adis week, the people come to form the union and get the government some of our rights and then we will see where it goes from there. so the people are the government of the united states. when we talk about the government owning something it is the people who own it and so it is the people who should have share of stock, not the government. and that is the first great idea here. that the stock in this company the people now alone would be held by the people. now it's not just an abstract notion. the second important reason for what senator alexander is doi

kyl: thank you, madam president. when it comes to health care, republicans want reform that respects patient freedom and choice and maintain the doctor-patient relationship. we believe doctors, not washington, shaw should tailor e car. washington, d.c. would dispolice millions of americans who are happy with their current health insurance. federal bureaucracies are not known for being efficient, innovative or hassle free. on wednesday, the majority bhip said -- and i quote -- "those who come to the floor of the senate defending the health insurance companies and saying they want no change in health care system have to defend the indefensible." well, who, exactly, has come to the floor and said that? who on the senate, in the senate, has come to the floor and said they want no change? i know of no one who has done that. this is a strawman argument usually made when you can't win an argument on the merits but it has become the familiar refrain from friends on the other side of the aisle. they present a false choice bet

senator kyl is going to join us in a few minutes. he is coming from the finance committee. we are introducing today the auto stock for every taxpayer act to require the treasury to distribute to individual taxpayers of the stock in the new gm and chrysler within one year following the emergence of the new gm from bankruptcy proceedings. this is the best way to get the auto companies out of the hands of washington bureaucrats and politicians and into the hands of the american people in the marketplace where it belongs. so instead of the treasury zero ng 60% of the shares in the new gm and the percentage shares of chrysler you would own them. if you are one of 120 million americans who paid federal taxes on april 15th. this is the fastest way to get the stock out of the hands of washington and back into the hands of the american people who paid for it. to keep it simple and to help the little guy it also get an ownership stake in america's future, the treasury would give each taxpayer in equal number of the available shares. the treasury department has said it wants to sell t

kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. kyl: mr. president, do i understand that the time for morning business has now reverted to the republican time, is that correct? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. kyl: thank you very much. mr. president, i'd like to address two subjects. the first is the subject that my colleague from new york was just discussing. it's what to do about health care issues that we have in the united states. specifically, i'd like to refer to some comments that beth he made and that the assistant majority leader made this morning. the first point i want to make when the assistant majority leader came to the floor this morning and in effect said unless you agree with our solution you don't believe that there's a problem. that's a fallacy, of course. i think everyone agrees there are lots of question. we all agree this are problems but let's don't suggest unless you agree with my solution or your solution that somehow or other we don't appreciate there are problems. we're frustrated. a lot of ameri

another person i am impressed with is jon kyl. unfortunately, i think jon kyl is not ambitious enough. he has been hesitant politician. i do not think he would personally run for office. adding that is a shame. i think he would do a great job. host: tom from michigan, good morning. caller: rush limbaugh the stakes for the conservative party. mitt romney is level by to see ron. host: david in denver, what do you think? caller: i have a few comments. i think is pretty clear that -- i'm a moderate republican. my family always has been. the right ring republican party has been speaking too often. i saw newt gingrich yesterday at that dinner. i would say that ye-- it is very scary, some of the things that he says. he is a very smart man. just disrespecting the world mainly because this is a globalized economy. we have to be cautious of that. host: tyrrone is joining us. guestcaller: i feel and lookingr is the republican party spokesperson, as he is setting forth the ideals and the agendas of the republican party. host: leanne in ohio,

go back and forth -- senator kyl is working on health care as a number of us are. . and i think it is a disparity that is destructive to our whole penal system and our justice system and to our respect for the rule of law. i will work with senators on both sides of the aisle that have expressed for some time they have a problem with this disparity. i don't want what appears to many people to be one rule for white america, a different rule for black america. >> senator, can i just say i share those concerns. senator hatch and i have had nine years of legislation to make a substantial improvement in that. we have created a bipartisan bill. other attorneys have also supported significant improvements in the way that is done. it is not healthy now. we need to fix it. one problem we are having on our side is the finance committee. senator grassley let me know he is, of course, ranking on that committee. senator kyl and senator hatch are also members of that committee. >> i will keep the record open for the rest of the week for additional questions to be submitted. senator

: "the washington times" reports that senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and minority whip john kyl have a different -- guest: evidence will be put out there to help doctors guide their decisions. the two senators have said they do not want the government to determine what doctors will do for their patients, and so they are trying to codify that language. yet the president yesterday did say something similar, and jon kyl and mitch mcconnell did say that obama endorsed their approach. host: pennsylvania, martin, on our independent line. caller: what the president is trying to do with his health care plan, that is not the problem. the problem with the people in washington, d.c., is that they are bought and paid for by the medical companies just like the oil companies. with the medical companies, there was a man on your show the other day that he did right on the head -- we should be suing the people letting these medical companies get away with reaping the public for what they charge and what they charge us for because their prices are way high and this country. the same medications i

senate majority whip john kyl discusses some of the issues on the senate's agenda, including health care and preparing for the confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. >> i was reading last night, there is a lot of reading involved here. i was reading some very troubling things last night about her views toward international law. in effect saying that you can interpret the united states constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. well, public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. and if that's really her point of view, that's very troubling. i mean, i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she said it on several occasions. i'm going to have to ask her what do you mean by that? when people talk about a filibuster, understand that republicans probably couldn't filibuster this nomination on our own. there aren't enough of us. so even if we wanted to -- by the way, none of us are talking about filibuster. it's all in response to questions from the media which are fair questions, but we're not propo

kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: the senator from tennessee has been a leader in pointing out the problems that these health care expenditures would impose on our states. it is important for the governments of the states to begin to let washington know what they think about these new costs that they're going to have to bear. let me begin at the outset here on the same subject to make it clear that republicans are very eager for serious health care reform, just as i think the american people are. that's why we support new ideas that would actually cut health care costs and make all health care more affordable and accessible. republicans want to reform our medical liability laws to curb frivolous lawsuits. we want to strengthen and expand wellness programs that encourage folks to make healthy choices about smoking and diet and exercising. all of those have huge impacts on the cost of health care. we also want to address the needs of the unemployed, those who work for or own a small business, those with preexisting

. >> today on c-span's "newsmakers," senate minority whipe jon kiln -- jon kyl discusses pre35euring for the hearing of supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. >> i was reading troubling things about her views to international laws, saying you could interpret the united states constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that's really her point of view, that's very troubling. i mean, i would -- i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she said it on several occasions. i'm going to have to ask her, what do you mean by that? when people talk about a filibuster, understand republicans probably couldn't filibuster this nomination on our own, there aren't enough of us. even if we wanted to. and none of us are talk act filibuster, it's all in response to the media. we're not proposing this. as you point out, it would be difficult for us to pull off anyway unless democrats joined in. >> newsmakers," with senator jon kyl, today at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the government

kyl: thank you. mr. president, today i'd like to talk about a bill which today senator mccnell and i introduced and i think a companion bill will be introduced by some of the leadership in the house of representatives. the number of the bill is 1259. and this bill is called the patients act. patient as in doctor and patient. and the idea is to focus on health care as it relates to patients. the health care reform should be patient centered. that nothing should come between the physician and the patient. and we're concerned that there is something that is being done that we need to stop because it could, in fact, insert government bureaucrats in between the patient and the physician. what's happened is that in the stimulus bill, the congress appropriated $1.1 billion for something called comparative effectiveness research. now, comparative effectiveness research has been used for years by physicians and hospitals, medical schools do research and they determine what kind of treatments are best. for example

kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: mr. president, next week president aribe of colombia will be meze meeting with president obama at the -- meeting with president obama on obama aatthe white house. i support the colombia free trade agreement because of its importance to colombia but also because i think it's important for u.s. firms to gain access to markets of fast-growing developing nations abroad. our economy will revive only if we create jobs. enacting this colombia free trade agreement will help to do that. america's two-way trade with colombia reached $18 billion in 2007, making colombia our fourth largest trading partner in latin america and our largest export market for u.s. agricultural products in south america. exports are the only major sector of the private economy actually making positive contributions to u.s. economic growth. in my own state of arizona, nearly 40% of all of our manufactured goods were export exported. on average, net exports added more than one percentage point overall to our economic growth

kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: the problems with the current state of health care in america are well known. republicans don't need to be convinced for the case for reform. we hear from our constituents who have concerns about their own health care dilemmas and those of their neighbors. we all agree that the millions of uninsured americans need access to high-health care. though we agree on the need for reform we have disagreements on how best to accomplish our goals. republicans favor a patient-centered approach that allows individuals to choose their own insurance, keep it if they like it, and never have to get permission from a washington bureaucrat to get the test or treatment that their doctors say they need. president obama wants congress to pass a sweeping new washington-run health care system that we believe would jeopardize the care most americans already have. such a system would likely lead to the collapse of private insurance and replace it with an enormous washington bureaucracy that would ration

this week, on c-span is newsmakers, senate minority whip jon kyl discusses issues on the senate agenda. including confirmation hearings. >> i was reading last night. there is a lot of reading involved. i was reading some very troubling things last night about her views towards international law. she said you could interpret the united states constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in your. public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that is really her point of view, that is very troubling. i could not vote for a judge who believe that. she has said it on several occasions. i will have to ask her what she meant by that. when people talk about a filibuster, understand that republicans could not filibuster this nomination on our own. even if we wanted to prove that none of us are talking about filibuster's. is all of response to the media. we are not opposing this. it would be difficult for us to pull off unless the democrats joined us. >> news makers with senator jon kyl. sundays at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> the gov

this week on c-span's "newsmakers," jon kyl talks about what is on the senate's agenda. >> there's a lot of reading involved here, and i was reading some very troubling things last night about her views toward international law, in effect saying that you could interpret united states's constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that is really her point of view, that is very troubling. i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she has said it on several occasions. i'm going to have to ask her, what you mean by that? people talk about a filibuster, understand that republicans could not filibuster this nomination on our own. there are not enough of us. and by the way, none of us are talking about filibuster. it is all in response to questions by the media, which are fair, but we're not proposing this. it would be very difficult to pull off any way unless the jet -- unless the democrats joined in. >> that is sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the go

senator bennett of utah and i, cosponsored by the republican leader and senator kyl, the whip, we have a bill we call the auto stock for every taxpayer legislation amendment. we'd like to offer it this week and get a vote on it. it would say that the treasury can't put any more tarp funds to bail out general motors or chrysler. that while the government has stock in these companies, the secretary of the treasury or his designee has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayer to get a return on that investment. and most importantly, it says that in the year after general motors comes out of the bankruptcy, that the government should distribute its stock to the 120 million americans who pay taxes on april 15. in other words, let's have a big stock distribution the same way procter & gamble did when it distributed clorox or other companies do every year. we've got a core business -- the car company -- that has nothing to do with the owner -- us -- and we should give it to the owners, the 120 million people who pay taxes. that's what we ought to do. and the rationale is i paid for it, i sho

health care and will eventually be used as tools to ration care, unless we pass legislation senator kyl had legislation on the floor of the senate trying to protect from us something called cer, comparative effectiveness research. it's a good idea in regards to care, covering care. also to control costs. but not just to control costs. could be very similar to the united kingdom's medical advisory council, which i have an example here where, in one egregious case, in the united kingdom they limited access to drugs to treat macular degeneration in seniors until the senior had already lost vision in one eye. i'm not making that up. that's another example. let me go back to comparative effectiveness research. and i beg the indulgence of the chairman. this will end. 25 -- more years than that because i've been a staffer on the senate side, house side, house member 16 years, now member of this distinguished body, third term. i remember the days of hew and joe califono. i remember the days of hcla. i remember when some secretary came in and said we're not going to call hcla, we're going to cal

when you have senator kyl or senator sessions say sonia sotomayor is far out of the mainstream, and you are looking at a 5-4 decision, it has nothing to do with the facts on the ground. it has to do with the way we are conducting this conversation. we are talking to people who we want to send us checks. this is how we talk about abortion in this country. this is how we talk about gay marriage. this is how we talk about judges. it is happening in code. it is certainly true that it looks like there's a huge double standard. john roberts called out liberals for this a couple years ago in his affirmative action decision that had to do with schools and voluntarily integration programs. he said the only way to get past two races to get past race and liberals have to start favoring one race over another. that is an open question. there really depends on whether you think we're at the moment in history where we fix to the problems and we do not need all these remedial efforts. that is at the heart of the case. that is the heart of the voting rights case that was decided last week. that is the h

host: you will be able to see the entire interview with senator jon kyl later on this morning after this program, at 10:00 a.m. on c-span. we are going to continue our discussion of spending by the obama administration, especially with regards to health and other areas right after this break. we will be right back. ♪ >> the government funding of direct aid to colleges and students is aid late 1960's thing that has grown rapidly since then. >> today, not even government- backed student loans at hillside cut -- hillsdale college are accepted. >> we have a lawyer in town that tries to keep the government from giving us money. he said there would be no use in trying to read the paper work. >> tonight, at 8:00, on c-span's "q&a." >> more nonfiction books with author's later today on c-span 2's "book tv." joel rosenberg takes you inside the revolution. this is followed by a look at what is next for the economy. a discussion on taxes and the end of prosperity. later, "foreclosure nation." housing and where it is headed. afterwards, how do you run for congress with only $7,000 in your sixth gr

. >> senator sessions, senator kyl and i will talk about the supreme court proceedings leading up to the nomination, and i have notified the democratic floor staff that it might slightly delay the 425 vote and i don't fine that objectionable on the other side. i would just inform our colleagues that we're going to proceed here. >> no objection. >> it will not cause much of a delay if any on the 420 vote i would announce to our colleagues. senator sessions is up and will be the first speaker. >> i want to thank senator mcconnell for his leadership in so many ways, but in particular his concern that he has shown repeatedly on the united states judiciary from a member of the judiciary committee, and he takes these issues seriously, and i think it's important that he we all do so. i have to say i'm disappointed that this morning we learned from media reports, i did, that the chairman of the judiciary are ry committee, senator leahy, announced that he we would begin the hearings july 13 on judge sotomayor. i believe that's too early. i don't believe it's necessary. it's far more important

the amendment is identical to senator kyl's. the reason all this title was that together was because everything has to be an acronym in washington and this is called the patience of bill. after that explanation, the bill is endorsed by the american medical association. i am a co-sponsor. it ensures that patients and doctors remain in charge of making treatment decisions by prohibiting the federal government from using the results of comparative effectiveness research, cer, to deny coverage under medicare or any other federal health program. it requires that cer be accountable for the treatment responses and preferences of individual patients. these provisions are required because current law does not prohibit the government from using the $1.1 billion awarded in the stimulus package for cost containment and to achieve cost savings but th. neither do the bills before us today. we've all heard the stories of the united kingdom national institute for health and clinical excellence, the acronym for that is nice. still lying access a

this week on "newsmakers," we talked to senator jon kyl from arizona. that is sunday at 10:00 and at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> there is still time to get your copy of c-span's 2009 congressional directory with information on house and senate members, the cabinet, supreme court justices, and the nation's governors. it is $16.95 online at cspan.org/products. >> the government funding of colleges and their students really is a late 1950's and early 1960's thing that has grown very rapidly since then. >> today, not even government- backed student loans are permitted at hillsdale college. >> we have a lawyer here in town who tries to keep the government from giving us money. he said there was not in use in title for funding. -- and use -- any use in title iv funding. >> today, bank of america ceo ken lewis was here on capitol hill testifying about his company's merger with financial services firm merrill lynch. committee members questioned mr. lewis about recently uncovered e-mail's suggesting that bank of america may have been unduly pressured into th

president, the distinguished ranking member of the judiciary committee, senator sessions, senator kyl and i are going to take a few moments here to discuss the pending supreme court nomination and the proceedings leading up to that. i've notified the democratic floor staff that it might slightliedly the 4:20 vote. i find that not objectionable on the other side. so i would jus inform our colleagues that we're going to proceed here as if in morning business and i ask consent we proceed as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: it will not cause much of a delay, if any, on the 4:20 vote i announce to our colleagues. senator sessions is up and will be the first speaker. signature session mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president, i thank senator mcconnell for his leadership in so many ways but particularly his concern that he has shown repeatedly on the united states judiciary. he's a member of the judiciary committee and he takes these issues seriously and i think it's important that

senate minority whip jon kyl discusses the issues on the senate goes the agenda, including health care and preparing for the confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. >> there is a lot of reading involved here. i was reading some very troubling things last night about her views towards international law. she says you could interpret the and that it states constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that is really her point of view, that is very troubling. i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she has said it on several occasions. i am going to have to ask her, what you mean by that? when people talk about a filibuster, understand that the republicans could probably not filibuster this nomination on our own. there are not enough of this. none of us are talking about filibustering, it is only in response to questions from the media. we are not proposing this. it would be very difficult for us to pull off any way. >> "newsmakers." sunday at 10:00

and other senators, including republicans jon kyl and tom coburn, have support voice with the f.b.i.'s actions to sever ties with care. i stand with the f.b.i.'s former chief of counterterrorism who has stated, quote, care, its leaders and its activities has effectively gave aid to international terrorist groups, end of quote. and perhaps most importantly, i stand with thousands of american muslims for woman care does not speak. in june, 2007, "the washington times" published a report which analyzed care's documents and found that care's membership has declined by 90% since 9/11. jasser of the american islamic forum tore for democracy said, this is the untold story in the myth that care represents the american muslim population. they only represent their membership and donors, end of quote. in 1999, the islamic supreme council of america, isca, sheik cobani spoke at a state department open forum on islamic extremism and came under public attack by several organizations, including care. in an open letter isca says the organizations of attacking cobani, among them, care, quote, have not

and that's why my friend, senator kyl, will propose a drug bill that will prohibit the government from ever using comparative effectiveness in this ways. it is a wise bill. and it should be included as part of any health reform we consider. americans want their doctors to have clinical information on which treatments work best and which ones don't. but government bureaucrats shouldn't be able to use that information to determine what treatments americans can or cannot get. that's a decision we currently leave between a patient and his or her doctor, and that's where it should remain. now, americans want to see changes in the health care system. but they don't want changes that deny, delay, or ration care. they want reforms that control costs even as they protect patients. they want us to discourage frivolous liability lawsuits that limit care in places. they want to help people to overcome illnesses. and they want us to address the needs of small businesses without imposing new mandates or that kill jobs. all of us want reform. but the government-run plan that some are proposing here i

jon kyl had and agenda on the senate floor, you get into the weeds on this and you bunch of acronym acronyms and whatever else so nobody pays any traengs. i can tell you that every time that has popped out of the woodwork it has been manage that came out of the hew, you remember joe califano and all of that, we had a wonderful seg suggestion from hew, no medicare bill would be paid unless was reviewed every 24 hours by three doctors. under cost containment. sounds pretty good. now my boss said, my lord, we can't do that i said be for it, maybe they'll give us the doctors. now that's kind of thing that has happened down through theiers. now when my amendment comes up, i'm going to give some specifics and some of my conversation with kerry weems who used to be, i don't know if he's still around, the head of cms. what worries me is that okay, i am delighted to learn from my distinguished colleague and my very good friend that we have set up a new agency, if you will, to do this kind of research. i'm not sure that we have the people or the expertise to do it, but yet they contract out to nih, fi

decision according to the way the law is today eq he saysç it's a large amount of stock and as senator kyl said the selling would probably be done in stages over years. this could be done in a few months and we're out of it, it would mean 120 million or so americans who own general motors and chrysler, 60% of gm. in the uaw owns about 17 percent, that is nonvoting, the government of canada owns 12% and the bondholders would be widely dispersed that we would be back in the way the companies are supposed to operate and the president is set of driving their hybridsç from detroit to washington every day to answer some subcommittees' questions about the next car model couldç focus on designing and building and selling cars and competing and try to make the value of the stock go up. >> senator alexander, with so many in your home state would to support any legislation that would support those jobs? >> i don't know what kind of legislation would that be? i believe in the freeç market. the jobs are in tennessee them have gone from having no jobs to having a third of our manufacturing auto jo

. >> i thank senator kyl for his leadership. i appreciate his insiepghtses as we all do. the white house was quick to get the noom knee's confirmation through the senate? in a hurry and the number of press releases went out and boxes were delivered but in many ways the questionnaire was incomplete, the result of that kind of your, and in others the nominee failed to provide s.u.v. sufficient details required. the scwumg did not include her recommendations to the puerto rican legal defense fund to lobbies against a new york state law that would have reinstated the death penalty, an and it had quite a bit of rhetoric in it, but i suggest that if somebody hadn't been aware of that omission, maybe we would not have received that document at all. what else might she have failed to include might be an important bit of information as our committee does its oversight work. in addition, the nominee was supposed to provide opinions and filings for cases going to final decisions for three cases, and he indicates that the district attorney's office is searching for records and she di

kyl: mr. president, i've been talking about health care reform being urgently needed. mine is satisfied with the status quo. we have all heard unfortunate stories of americans who cope with health insurance. all americans deserve access to high quality health care. in a country as innovative and prosperous as ours we can achieve that goal. republicans believe we can do so by putting patients first. we believe americans should be trusted with their own money to make wise decisions about the health care plan that best fits their family's needs. we do do not believe forcing everyone into a one-size-fits-all washington-run system as the president wants to is the solution to our health care problems. indeed, we believe a washington takeover would create a whole new set of problems, the likes of which are experienced every day in countries like canada and great britain. president obama often says that if you're insured and you like your current health care, you can keep it. but as i pointed out several times, the president's plan would in fact force millions of americans int

kyl: i commend my colleague from nevada for his excellent remarks and associate myself with him. i would like to speak to the issue of health care and the reform we are attempting in washington. little disagreement exists about the node for health care reform. routine trip to the doctor's office can be surprisingly expensive and many fear if they lose their jobs or if they switch they will be left without health care. others who are unemployed may wonder how they can afford to see a doctor at all. so the question is, how can we reform health care so everyone has access to high-quality care without changing what works for millions of americans? president obama wants to centralize power in washington to change the way health care is obtained by all. he would create what he calls a "public option." this would not be an insurance program run by the public but run by the federal government. that is to say, bureaucrats in washington. and i believe it would result in a one-size-fits-all government system that depending on complex rules and financing schemes, some kind of federal health

. >> this week on c-span's "newsmakers," senate minority whip jon kyl discusses some of the issues on the senate agenda including health care and preparing for the confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. >> i was reading last night -- there is a lot of reading involved here. i was reading some very troubling things last night about her views toward international law. in effect saying that you can interpret the united states constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. well, public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that's really her point of view, that's very troubling. i mean, i would -- i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she said it on several occasions. i'm going to have to ask her what do you mean by that? when people talk about a filibuster, understand that republicans probably couldn't filibuster this nomination on our own. there aren't enough of us. so even if we wanted to. by the way, none of us are talking about filibuster. it's all in response to questions from the medi

we talked to senator jon kyl of arizona. we look at the nomination of judge sonia sotomayer. the government funding of college is direct aid to colleges and their students really is a late 1950's, early 1960's thing that has grown very rapidly since then. >> today, not even government-backed student loans permitted. >> title four of the higher education act is 400-roughly pages long. if we have a lawyer here in town who tries to keep the government from giving us money and i asked him to send me a title four, he said i wouldn't be able to read it. >> larry srnn sunday night at 8:00. download the c-span cod cast. >> how is c-span funded? >> private donations? >> taxpayers? >> i don't really know. >> from public television. >> donations. >> i don't know where the money comes from. >> federal aid? >> contributions from donors. >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service. a private business initiative. no government mandate. no government money. >> bank of america c.e.o. kenneth lewis testified at a house hearing today that l

the amendment is identical to senator kyl's. stick with me. the preserving access to targeted individualized and effective new treatments and services act. now the reason that all that was stuck together is because, as you know, everything has to be an acronym in washington and that is called the p.a.t.i.e.n.t.s. bill. so after that explanation, the bill is endorsed by the american medical association, and i am an original co-sponsor. it ensures that patients and doctors remain in charge of making treatment decisions by prohibiting the federal government from using the results of comparative effectiveness research, i.e., cer, to deny coverage under medicare or any other federal health program. in addition, it requires that cer conducted account for differences in the treatment responses and preferences of individual patients. these prohibitions are required because current law does not prohibit the government from using the $1.1 billion awarded to cer in the stimulus package for cost containment and to achieve cost savings. along with other go

we will hear from jeff sessions, minority leader mitch mcconnell, and minority whip jon kyl. >> for the sake of my colleagues, i want to talk about the time of the hearing of the sotomayor -- judge sotomayor nomination. i talked with the distinguished ranking member last week on the schedule, and i would note the concerns he raised. but i am announcing today that the senate judiciary committee will hold a confirmation hearing on the nomination of judge sonia sotomayor to associate justice of the united states supreme court on july 13. it is a reasonable schedule. it will be the middle of next month. it is in line with past experience that will allow for several more weeks for committee members to prepare for the hearing -- and several more weeks that i had held the hearing this month. there is no reason to

. >> on newsmakers, arizona senator john kyl, the minority whip, discusses healthcare issues and the senate agenda. newsmakers sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> a look at conservative leadership with remarks from rebekah hagelin from a conference at the clare boothe luce policy institute in washington. it's about 30 minutes. >> hello. my name is avila molina. i'm a summer intern with the clare boothe luce policy institute. our next speaker is a syndicated columnist, political commentator and acclaimed author. she's been married for almost 25 years and is the proud mother of three children. she served as the heritage foundation -- is currently their senior communications fell low. she has worked in public relations for the septemberer for judicial studies and director of communication of concerned women for america. she also found her own consult will business and was vice-president of communications at well net daily.com. she's been a strong conservative voice for many years advocating a pro-family message and challenging a molly bankrupt society. she's written

kyl: thank you, mr. president. first of all i was going to interrupt and ask a question. but i simply confirmed with senator mcconnell, and i will state and the record can reflect the fact, i believe that senator mcconnell asked the question of where he would be released in he were acquitted. i don't believe that he asserted that he would be released into the united states. i just wanted to clear that up. obviously we can check the transcript and determine it. i think that was his intent because of the question that robert gibbs had posed. that is my understanding of it. we can resolve that. i would like to say a couple of other things. first of all, i think it is important to have this debate. the senate had a debate some weeks ago and it is true that 90 senators voted against funding a -- a program to close the prison at guantanamo bay. and six senators voted in favor of moving forward with that. i appreciate the senator from illinois starchily defending the lonely -- starchily defending the -- staunchl defending the lonely six of but they also reflect the american opin

. >> thank you very much, senator kyl. >> i second senator cardin's motion. er we get your response the sooner we can deal with it. secondly since i'm the ranking member on the same subcommittee and i have been advised we are going to have a hearing on the detainees at guantanamo, i'd like to also ask you to get some information to us on that. i had asked in a letter i sent back in may for some information following the president's speech when he talked about the effect our supermax facilities hold hundreds of convicted terrorists. i had written asking if you could break that down. i don't have a response. i'm going to submit for the record a question because i know you can't answer it sitting here to find out who they are, what kind of gatt gorse of folks they are. -- categories of folks they are. second, if you'd like to comment right now, fine, to get a sense of what kind of capacity we have. my understanding is that we are way overcrowded in the supermax facilities today. by the way can you just tell us do you know whether that's true or not? >> whether t